Over the last 50 or 60 years there have been many dietary recommendations. Some of these recommendations have become so popular that the originator of the plan or lead spokesperson has risen to the level of a Diet “Guru”. The world is full of all sorts of gurus; before we examine a recent list of so called diet gurus, lets examine the definition of guru.

Oxford dictionary defines it thus: (in Hinduism) a spiritual teacher, (in Sikhism) any of the first ten leaders of the Sikh religion, an influential teacher, a revered mentor.

Now could be a good time to pause and reflect on why is a Hindu and Sikh term “guru”, being applied to “dietary” advice supposedly targeting and being advocated to the majority of the population? Also, who decides or decided that these people were “gurus” after all. Are they revered mentors, a Hindu spiritual teacher or one of the original leaders of the Sikh religion?

Before we digress further lets examine the list of Diet Gurus Who Died of Poor Health:

1. “James Fixx: author of ‘The Complete Book of Running’, ran 10 miles per day, advocated running as being great for the heart and cardiovascular health. Dropped dead of a heart attack at 52 while running.
2. Michael Montignac: developed a weight loss program that layed the foundation for the anti-carbohydrate movement, focused on ‘good versus bad carbs’ and the glycemic index. Died of prostate cancer at 66, his book ‘Eat Yourself Slim’ sold millions of copies around the world.
3. Nathan Pritikin: recognized a connection between diet and heart disease, and had many media appearances. Battled with Leukemia and committed suicide at 69.
4. Robert Atkins: creator of The Atkins Diet, advocated avoiding carbs (similar to Michael Montignac) and eating a diet high in fat and animal protein. Died at 72, and it was later revealed that he suffered from a history of serious heart problems, including congestive heart failure and hypertension.
5. Robert Kowalski: His book ‘The New 8 Week Cholesterol Cure’ spent 115 weeks on the New York Times best sellers list, as well as several other ‘8 week cure’ books, died at 65 from a pulmonary embolism.”

The original article which appeared in “Mother Nature Network”, listed a few more “gurus” and also calculated that the average age of these gurus was far below the national average. These five had an average age of 64.8, compared to the national average in the US which is generally around 80 years old, if you average out men and women.

Often times, people will ask “What do you think of the advice given on the TV, radio etc…, regarding diet:? Your National Taoism Examiners answer is usually: “stick with what is tried and tested and does not waver, pick something that has been proven time and time again to be accurate and is not interested in becoming a fad or best selling information.” Then they are reminded of the Taoist Dietary principles and philosophy which have been around for over 5,000 years. Principles such as: eating less meat, drinking less, balancing the 5 tastes and colors, making sure you balance the acid/alkaline nature of the food etc…

We must learn to distrust or at least be wary of the latest fads, which more often than not, are just slick marketing ploys designed to get us to buy something, that we really do not need.

Another tip or principle, is to examine the source of the information. For instance, if you are reading or hearing health related news, ask yourself “what is the health of the person that is telling me this or advocating that”. If the person is not healthy then why listen to them? If a person who is overweight, sells a book about weight loss, why would we listen to them? If a person advocating a particular diet dies from cardiovascular disease, then perhaps, they did not know what they were talking about.

Remember the 100 year principle, which basically states, that if something has been around for at least 100 years, with no negative side effects, and it actually produces the result advocated, then perhaps, that is worth listening to. Everything else just has to wait, and either become time tested, or drift away with the rest of the slick advertising disguised as beneficial advice.

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