SAD
by David
In the paleo world you will often here the phrase “standard American diet,” or “SAD.” I don’t use it.
Bad diets are not exclusive to Americans, as international statistics on obesity and diseases of civilization show. If you live in New Zealand, do you eat the SNZD? In Hungary, the SHD? I don’t think it’s helpful to deprecate the eating patterns of any one country; nor is it helpful to give a pass to unhealthy from other places.
Also, does “SAD” mean the diet eaten in the United States, or does crap food from any country in North or South America count?
It’s a dumb term. I use “industrial Western diet,” personally. I know “IWD” doesn’t exactly flow trippingly off the tongue, but I tend to prefer precision over vapid catchiness.
