what we used to think about a 'balanced diet' (i.e. the food pyramid) was way off.

I won't tell you what to believe, but my own look at the arguments and evidence led me to try the high-fat ketogenic diet. I'm down 20lbs in 3 months, and am only 5lbs off my target weight. I feel better, have more energy. I think this is going to be a long-term lifestyle choice for me. If you want the scientific arguments, there are a few people worth reading, including BYU's own Ben Bikman, who does research on insulin resistance. Basically, we eat so many carbs in today's diet that our bodies have to pump out tons of insulin to deal with the constantly high blood sugar. Eventually, our bodies can't handle so much insulin and we develop a resistance to it. That's when we either start getting fatter and fatter or, else, diabetic. And we also tend to get sick. Bikman has a new book on it.