I’ve lived long enough to see America champion or vilify certain foods every decade or so.

In the eighties, it was “low fat” everything and “SlimFast” meal replacement shakes, even though fats are one of three important macro nutrients our bodies need everyday, and chewing food is a lot more fun than drinking it.

In the nineties, “carbs are the enemy” was the new craze that continued into the early aughts, even though carbs (or sugars) are one of three important macros our bodies need everyday (and frankly about the only macro our high-energy brains can use).

In the aughts, “juice cleanses” and liquid diets were there surefire way to good health, even though our livers cleanse more in an hour than a lifetime of green smoothies.

Today, “high protein” diets and pseudo science “gut health” are all the rage, and yet America is as fat as ever, something calorically dense proteins and weird gut foods do not help us with.

The way we talk about food matters. While I believe there is such a thing as “good” and “bad” foods that can affect or long-term health, in the short-term, food is just food.

Moreover, as omnivores, our bodies need carbohydrates, fats, and protein to survive. Amazingly, our bodies will even convert its fat storages to whichever macro it needs most before sending it to our liver for rapid use.

Long story short—eat your macros, mostly plants, not too much, and have fun once in a while with the “bad” stuff.