There’s an excellent article in yesterday’s Times Online that provides and in-depth story of Arthur DeVany and the whole idea of how “power law” principles permeate our lives. I recommend you read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt that outlines the essence of this hypothesis:
The obsession with the bell curve and the average has corrupted us. We tend to think of stable models not just of the human world but also of the human body. Almost all dietary and fitness regimes are based on a homeostatic view of the body – meaning it is a self-regulating system that maintains itself in a continuous, stable condition. The average is the ideal. So we are told to eat regular meals consisting of a balance of the food groups and to take regular exercise, dominated by steady aerobic activity like cycling or jogging. This is all wrong.
Bear in mind that power law principles largely run counter to the “conventional wisdom” of today’s health and fitness community/industry. As an example, the U.S. Government’s current “food pyramid” recommends that most adults consume an average of six (6) ounces of grain-based products per day. So, in order to get your daily grain “requirements,” you would have to consume one of the following during a 24-hour period:
– 6 mini-bagels
– 6 slices of bread
– 30 whole wheat crackers
– 6 pancakes
– 18 cups of popped popcorn
– 3 cups of cooked pasta
– 3 cups of cooked rice
Since human beings flourished for over 50,000 years without any grains whatsoever, why are they now something that every adult “needs” in his or her daily diet on a regular basis?
Bottom line – they aren’t.