Post #631

TED Talk Video: In the US, 80% of girls have been on a diet by the time they’re 10 years old. In this honest, raw talk, neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt uses her personal story to frame an important lesson about how our brains manage our bodies, as she explores the science behind why dieting not only doesn’t work, but is likely to do more harm than good. She suggests ideas for how to live a less diet-obsessed life, intuitively.

Sandra Aamodt explores the neuroscience of everyday life, examining new research and its impact on our understanding of ourselves.

Why you should listen to her:

Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist and science writer, who takes the complexities of neuroscience research and whips them into fun reads that give people a better understanding of their minds and behavior. Her books Welcome to Your Brain and Welcome to Your Child’s Brain (both written with Sam Wang) are designed to bring neuroscience to a general audience, and they’ve both been widely translated. Aamodt’s science writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, El Mundo and the Times of London.

From 2003 to 2008, Aamodt was the editor-in-chief of Nature Neuroscience, a leading scientific journal in the field of brain research. She brings a significant scientific background to the task of explaining new research without creating neurobunk. During her career, she has read over five thousand neuroscience papers, and written many editorials on science policy.

“If the human brain came with an owner’s manual, it might well look like this.” – Dan Gilbert, reviewing “Welcome to Your Brain”

[ted id=1900]
Video Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/sandra_aamodt_why_dieting_doesn_t_usually_work.html