Common Sense Nutriton: A Pragmatic Approach to an Issue Made Complicated

Nutrition, like many areas where academia has meddled too strongly, has become a rather complicated topic these days. We used to eat food for nutrition. Now, we blame those foods of the past for diseases of the present, those same diseases that surfaced decades after our grandparents were gone. Smart people, some with good intentions, have caused a lot of this ruckus. We promoted counting calories, filling certain percentages of your plates with certain foods, avoiding vital nutrients, and consuming the sludge created from animal feed byproducts processed with bleach at high heat, known as seed oils. When it did not work, we told patients to starve themselves and exercise more. And this is recommended to us by our ivory tower overloads with a straight face! Perhaps applying a little common sense could go a long way.

Colin Champ, MD, CSCS, a breast cancer, nutrition, and exercise specialist, designed, built, and runs the Allegheny Health Network Exercise Oncology and Resiliency Center, where he and a team of expert exercise physiologists coach, train, and advise hundreds of clients per year on nutrition, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle. He has also authored Misguided Medicine and Leonardo’s Legacy, which offer different perspectives on the state of medicine, cancer, and taking responsibility for our health. He is invited to speak around the world, and his research has been extensively published in peer-reviewed journals. He advises companies and clients worldwide and lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with his amazing wife and two daughters. In this work, he gives his two-cents derived from countless hours of dialogue with patients discussing everything from nutrition to those nasty “friends” that try to derail our efforts. A simple return to common sense may be the first step to regaining our health.

Colin E. Champ, MD, CSCS, is a radiation oncologist specializing in the treatment of breast cancer and lymphoma. His passion for nutrition and exercise have guided his research for his entire career. This passion led him to design, build, and run the Allegheny Health Network Exercise Oncology and Resiliency Center, where he and a team of expert exercise physiologists coach, train, and advise hundreds of clients per year on nutrition, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle. He has also authored Misguided Medicine and Leonardo’s Legacy, which offer different perspectives on the state of medicine, cancer and taking responsibility for our health. He is invited to speak around the world, and his research has been extensively published in peer-reviewed journals. He advises companies and clients worldwide and lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with his amazing wife and two daughters.