Eat Like a Cave Man!

Shattering some of our most cherished myths about food and diet, psychologist Deirdre Barrett in her book Waistland explains the science behind obesity. The Harvard Medical School professor says our bodies are hard-wired for existence in the brutal environment of our cave man ancestors. That and the myths we've built around food and diet create stumbling blocks to healthy eating. She sets out to dispel the myths and remove the stumbling blocks in our path.

Myth #1: If we would just listen to our bodies, we would crave healthy food.

• Actually, if we listen to our bodies, we crave all those nasty high calorie fast foods and snacks we love! Why? Because our bodies are wired for the cave man era before agriculture when nutrients like fat, salt and sugar were rare commodities and necessary to stay alive. Our environment has changed, but our body still thinks we struggling to eek out an existence as a hunter/gatherer on the savanna. It's just our bad luck that McDonalds is around every corner!

Myth #2: Our society is uniquely obsessed with being thin.

• Our society's love affair with a svelte body image isn't new to our generation. Admiration for the lean hunter/gatherer look has been pretty consistent over the ages. Perhaps we focus our attention on athletes, movie stars and models today because they are the groups who consistently evidence our ideal body type. The difference with our generation seems to be the desire to achieve thinness instantly through unhealthy eating and diet practices. We should emulate cave men who out of necessity ate small meals and got plenty of exercise catching them.

Myth #3: You have to address the underlying cause of overeating before you can successfully lose weight.

• While it is more difficult to lose weight if you are depressed or anxious or have post-traumatic stress syndrome, you can change the habits that lead to overeating before you fix the emotional problem. In that regard, overeating is just like smoking. We get into unhealthy routines about food that our brain is wired to help perpetuate. We can change the routine and rewire our brain's reaction.

Myth #4: It takes willpower to change habits.

• Actually, it takes time, not willpower, to change habits. It takes 21 days of consistent action to create a new habit. You can train yourself and your brain to act consistently. Willpower -- resolutely following a program without getting derailed by short-term temptations -- is a trainable skill.

It seems clear that our modern habits are killing us. It's time to toss out old myths, recognize our hard wiring and eat and exercise like the cave men our bodies think we are!