Posted on 05/04/2014 12:04:14 PM PDT by Rusty0604
"Saturated fat does not cause heart disease"—or so concluded a big study published in March in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. How could this be? The very cornerstone of dietary advice for generations has been that the saturated fats in butter, cheese and red meat should be avoided because they clog our arteries.
The new study's conclusion shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with modern nutritional science, however. The fact is, there has never been solid evidence for the idea that these fats cause disease. We only believe this to be the case because nutrition policy has been derailed over the past half-century by a mixture of personal ambition, bad science, politics and bias.
One consequence is that in cutting back on fats, we are now eating a lot more carbohydrates— ...Excessive carbohydrates lead not only to obesity but also, over time, to Type 2 diabetes and, very likely, heart disease.
The real surprise is that, according to the best science to date, people put themselves at higher risk for these conditions no matter what kind of carbohydrates... Yes, even unrefined carbs.
The second big unintended consequence of our shift away from animal fats is that we're now consuming more vegetable oils...All of these got a boost from the American Heart Association—which Procter & Gamble, the maker of Crisco oil, coincidentally helped launch as a national organization...but it brought many potential health problems in its wake.
Seeing the U.S. population grow sicker and fatter while adhering to official dietary guidelines has put nutrition authorities in an awkward position. Recently, the response of many researchers has been to blame "Big Food" ... but it is also fair to say that the food industry has simply been responding to the dietary guidelines issued by the AHA and USDA, which have encouraged high-carbohydrate diets...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Yep. Carbs are easier and shelf stable.
I love taters and bread, but limit my consumption of them.
I’m totally amazed that so many gullible people never realized the whole fat thing was just a way for everyone and their uncle to make money from obesity and all the other attendant ailments. Look at what people eat who live in remote areas that don’t have many stores, and who do some physical work-they are not obese...
Brought up on a ranch, we ate meat and cheese, fresh veggies and fruit-all fresh from the garden, orchard and livestock. White/refined sugar was believed to be bad, as was bleached flour-my mom and aunts made corn tortillas, not flour ones. There was fresh locally harvested honey, but usually no sugar except raw brown for baking-I live in the country now, where free range meat is still available, and I grow veggies-so I still eat that way. I smoke a cigarette or two every few days, and have an occasional glass of red wine, or a beer-all things in moderation...
Being overweight is not common in the family-I’ve weighed 108-112 since I was 17-and living into one’s 90’s, or to 100 is not uncommon.
I was given a food pyramid by a well-meaning pediatrician when my cub was a baby, just to “be sure” I knew how to feed my kid. I showed it to my aunt who was an herbalist, who threw it in the trash, and I fed her the way I was fed and it all worked out fine-if I’d have listened to that doc, my child would have looked like a “before” ad for Nutrisystem...
I don’t use any kind of drugs, either, prescription or illicit, and seldom even OTC-I was brought up believing they are unnatural and not that good for the body-but I do use natural remedies, vitamins and supplements, and have a job that requires hard, physical work.
I still don’t buy that the govt doesn’t influence peoples diets. They’ve been working on it for decades.
People don’t watch the food pyramid, except for schools. People choose their food based on cost, taste, and preparation.
Taste is largely irrelevant once behaviors are set. Food we’re used to eating tastes good.
Yep, grains are a treat for me.
Complex carbs are not so bad a s highly refined carbs.
I love Rye bread.
Again, the influence from subsidies is minimal. Government-subsidized lunches in school have been criminal, but I think five out of 21 meals a week for only 36 weeks a year—for someone who chooses to eat the stuff—only works out to 180 out of 16% of a kid’s meals. The home influence and other 84% of meals eaten is far greater.
Of course, the feds are working toward feeding poor kids breakfast and lunch, including weekends and summers, so they’re aiming to have a far greater influence.
Yes, except now there are some researchers saying that whole grains are actually worse than the traditional stuff. Complex carbs in veggies definitely tend to be better.
The elephant in the diet room is genetics. It is quite probable that people with different genotypes respond differently to the same diet.
I mostly eat meat and veg, but bread is the staff of life.
That or beer.
And again you’re looking at it from a simplistic view. Through regulation, food stamps, direct subsidies, indirect subsidies, and a myriad of other methods the govt controls peoples food choices.
They’ve been pumping up grains/carbs/veg oils for decades, and peoples diets are very heavy in those.
It certainly isn’t because the those diets taste good.
Most of the kids are getting free breakfast too, and many go all summer long, even when la escuela is not in session. At least that’s how it is here in Indiana and we’re not a high welfare spending state per capita.
Also I have discovered there is no reduction in the SNAP if the children get meals at school.
How's that again? Whole grains were around long before processed foods.
Yes, that’s what I said, the guv is moving to feeding the little brats twice a day, 365 days a year. I’m aware of it more in cities and poor neighborhoods, maybe it’s already more widely implemented than I realized.
What’s interesting is that many of these underfed starving youts appear to have a BMI in the 30+ range.
Actually, it is in part because those diets taste good.
I said that they’ve been pumping the food pyramid for decades, and of course they influence dietary research as well. But the cost subsidies work out to about 10 cents per American per day, so I still hold that that is not a major factor in people’s food choices. Food stamps doesn’t favor unhealthy carbs over more healthy foods—that comes as a result of the recipients’ choices.
The government is a bad actor here, but to dump it all on the bad-actor government is, IMO, simplistic.
E. coli is definitely a love/hate relationship. They are essential to the lower colon, but anywhere else in the body they are a dangerous risk.
It remains one of the most diverse bacterial species: only 20% of the genome is common to all strains. To put this in perspective, humans and fruit flies share 60% of their genome.
That’s the latest theory. Here’s an explanation:
http://dsdaytoday.blogspot.com/2011/10/whole-grains-reduce-mineral-absorption.html
We’ve only been eating grains, whole or otherwise, for a very, very short portion of the evolutionary life of modern humans.
Which actually pretty much assures that they have been starved of proper nutrition. (Hint: too many simple carbs.)
Yes I’m sure you’re correct.
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