Post presentation

Overall it went well.  I updated the link to the final version of the slides (includes hidden slides too and final edits).  We have a pretty savvy audience here in Corvallis.  I cannot argue against a varied diet with whole, real foods as Michael Pollan and a few in the audience suggested.  Certainly nothing is wrong with it.  I just don't know how useful the advice is in practice, as opposed to recommending a particular diet to someone who is already obese.  Others pointed out that really maybe the glycemic index is the key.  A moderate carbohydrate diet with whole grains, fruits, and minimally processed foods is probably going to be made up on average with foods with a lower glycemic index.  Teaching people to choose foods based on the glycemic index is not very intuitive though.  Some of the values don't make intuitive sense or are very misleading.  For instance, refined white flour pasta has a low glycemic index, but the glycemic load with a typical serving size is very high.

I think eating like Michael Pollan would want us to can keep a lean person lean, but I think people who are obese with insulin resistance or diabetes are going to need pretty significant weight loss first.  As shown in many studies, this is more likely to occur on a low carbohydrate diet than trying to cut calories and portions on a more balanced diet (though perhaps the comparator diets were not as whole/real foods based as M. Pollan would have us eat).