Saturday, September 5, 2015

In Digestible Form: A Brief Overview of "Diet Advice That Ignores Hunger" (Opinion Column, THE NEW YORK TIMES)

PRIMER ON THE SCIENCE OF STARVATION, PUBLISHED LATE LAST MONTH BY THE HERALDED SUNDAY REVIEW, WITH HEAVY DEFERENCE PAID TO LOW-CALORIE WEIGHT-LOSS APPROACHES OF MODERN FIRST-WORLD ADOPTION.  ALSO SPEAKS OF MENTAL & PHYSICAL CRISIS-STATE BEARING UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE TO THE ANOREXIC ARCHETYPE, WITNESSED IN MY OWN PRIVATE ENCOUNTERS AND MEDICAL HISTORY.  FED A DIET "CHOSEN TO REPRESENT THE FARE OF EUROPEAN FAMINE," A POOL OF THIRTY-SIX WW2-ERA RESEARCH SUBJECTS DEMONSTRATED TO OBSERVERS MARKED DETERIORATION OF BOTH BODY AND CHARACTER, WITH AT LEAST ONE MAN'S DECLINE SO EXTREME AS TO WARRANT REMOVAL BY-WAY-OF PSYCH WARD.  TWENTY-FOUR WEEKS OF CONTROLLED RESTRICTION SAW THESE UNFORTUNATE TRIALISTS "OBSESSING OVER FOOD," UNABLE TO THWART DEPRESSION OR INTOLERANCE TO COLD -- METABOLIC AND HORMONAL SYSTEMS ON THE FRITZ.  GARY TAUBES' EYE-OPENING ESSAY CONCLUDES WITH A FITTING, SOLEMN HAT-TIP TO GREEK KING ERYSICHTHON OF THESSALY, WHO IN ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY WAS CURSED BY GODDESS CERES WITH INSATIABLE HUNGER, ULTIMATELY CANNIBALIZING HIS OWN MORTAL FORM.
IMAGE CREDIT:  TED HUGHES, TALES FROM OVID:  "THE SACRED GROVE" (ISBN 0141802480)