Type the word "diet" into a search engine and... bam... you’ll unlock a goldmine of results: diet books, diet blogs, diet pills, and other evidence of a diet-crazed world.
But what drove society to become so obsessed with food restriction? How did something as simple as eating become so complicated?
This hour, we take a bite out of... diets and diet trends... with guest host David DesRoches.
We also look back on the history of the federal government's Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). What impact has the program had on the diets and health of Native communities?
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
GUESTS:
- Ann Gibbons - Contributing correspondent for Science magazine and author of The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors (@evoluationscribe)
- Dr. Ania Jastreboff - Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine
- A-dae Briones - Director of Programs-Native Food and Agriculture Initiative at the First Nations Development Institute
READING LIST:
National Geographic:The Evolution of Diet - "These examples suggest a twist on “You are what you eat.” More accurately, you are what your ancestors ate. There is tremendous variation in what foods humans can thrive on, depending on genetic inheritance."
Huffington Post: The U.S. Already Tested Trump’s Canned Goods Idea On Native Americans. It Was Bad. - "FDPIR remains an option for Native Americans, although it is now administered locally by tribal organizations and state agencies. The program got $151 million in federal funding last year and serves about 90,000 low-income households every month. In 2009, the average FDPIR box was valued at about $78 per recipient per month."
Catie Talarski contributed to this show.
