For the past thirty-five years, we’ve been told that fat should be avoided if we want vibrant health. Our government has spent billions scaring us about the dangers of eating fat. Few refuted that claim and those few were either ignored or attacked-Doctor Robert Atkins. And most Americans bought that lie. Few people noticed that Ancel Keyes buried several societies reports that at least moderate amounts of fat and even copious amounts while maintaining vibrant health. Eskimos and the Masai come to mind. Northern France was left out of his report because it didn’t jive with his low fat theory. They ate butter, cream, eggs and cheese and were quite healthy, not showing the heart disease he promised was the precursor to heart attacks and high cholesterol from eating fat.
No one seemed bright enough to remember that mankind for thousands of years ate just those things, along with-gasp-red meat when they could get it. They certainly didn’t eat canola or soybean oil. So, how did those get to figure so prominently in our diets and in highly processed food? “An unhealthy marriage of food industry lobbying, medical celebrity self promoting, governmental intervention based on no sound science, advertising, a hyperactive health police with media visibility, and our own eager Puritanical desires to deprive ourselves in order to purge our sins of excess and even the salvation of a healthy old age.” According to a cover story in the New York Times Magazine by Gary Taubes.
But, doesn’t low fat eating give us a healthy old age? Well, we’ve had thirty-forty years of over fifteen thousand new low fat products. Eating margarine instead of butter, skim milk instead of whole milk, non fat, non dairy creamer instead of cream. Have you ever read the ingredient list on that one? Fat free (plastic) cheese instead of the full fat cheeses from around the world, Egg Beaters instead of orange yolk, free range chicken eggs, dry chicken breasts and lean pork, which by the way, all have a longer shelf life than real food. Have we gotten healthier?
Heart disease hasn’t declined, but instead is higher. We are fatter than ever and diabetes has exploded. But, don’t those ‘real’ foods have higher amounts of cholesterol? One would hope so as the brain is made up of cholesterol to a large degree. In the late 1800’s people consumed about thirty pounds of butter a year. Two years later, breakfast cereals began to replace bacon and eggs. Who profited from that. It certainly wasn’t the public. It was people with names like Post, and Kellogg who saw an opportunity to profit from scaring people about eating fat.
When Dr. Atkins introduced his Diet Revolution book promising weight loss while eating protein and fat with very little carbs, he was vilified. But his diet worked, without a sense of deprivation. I lost the 70 pounds I had gained while stopping smoking. Still, the Food Industry doubled down, predicting that Atkin’s followers would soon be dropping dead from heart attacks. We’re still waiting. When that bogey man didn’t keep people from at least trying Dr. Atkins eating plan, they started scaring people by telling them that a high fat diet caused cancer. But, there was no scientific proof that medium to even a high fat diet caused either of those killers.
In the late eighties, soybean producers joined in the fray. Even though some doctors and scientists were saying there was no such thing as dangerous tropical oils-coconut and palm-the damage was done as they were banished from most food products and replaced with soybean oil. I wonder who profited from that switch? Today, when you read an ingredient list, it is normally soybean, canola (what is a canola) or cottonseed oil. Cotton isn’t even a food. None of the three are at all healthy.
In 1999, the Lyon Diet heart Study showed over it’s four year trial, that the Mediterranean diet was far healthier than the diet promoted by the American Heart Association. The medical community could hardly believe it. Dr. Atkins was vindicated. Since the late 70’s Americans have dropped fat consumption by 17%. Yet, obesity rates increased by 25%.
One of the worst dietary advice's put out by the USDA was the Food Guide Pyramid. I nearly passed out when I looked at the advice on the base of the pyramid. Six to eleven servings of carbohydrates a day? Were they on crack? Having the family tendency to turn carbs into love handles unless it is accompanied by rigorous physical exercise. I could barely keep from gaining weight on Gayelord Hauser’s diet allowing only three carb servings a day. Probably because he had drank the Koolaide and was at the same time trying to keep fat consumption low as well. And, at the top of the USDA pyramid, was fats, oils & sweets. All the USDA was doing was kowtowing to American agriculture.
I decided, out of curiosity, to give it a try. My results were, as I suspected, an enlarged derriere, a spare tire around the middle, thighs that rubbed together so hard you could have started a fire from the friction and very dry skin and hair. The chart made a nice bonfire out back. I also tossed anything with trans fat, high fructose corn syrup and white sugar, especially beet sugar. Besides GMO’s, we now have to watch for bioengineered food products. I went back to raw honey, mostly for yogurt, black strap molasses, pure maple syrup, occasional date and coconut sugar and Stevia as sweetener for ice tea and not a lot of any of them.
Following a version of a low carb Mediterranean diet of clean, whole foods, the fat melted off that I had gained with my experiment. I shared my experience with many in my circle and since they had observed my weight gain and loss, it didn’t take much to convince them that, just like Big Pharma, the USDA couldn’t care less about our health as long as the food lobbyist kept that money rolling in. But, don’t be too hard on those scientists that went along with the low fat/high carb bullshit. It takes a lot of money to fund research into food or drugs. Of course, the deepest pockets are going to win that toss of the dice. It is up to us to do our own research and maintain our health, instead of relying on people wearing white coats and stethoscopes.
When my husband had a mild heart attack after several months of pigging out on junk food and high carb, sugary treats from Halloween through Valentine Day, my daughter and I overruled his cardiologist’s drugs and diet advice. Yep, a high carb- low fat diet. But, the high carb is what caused his drop in good health. He is also very happy to be registering a fasting blood sugar that dropped from a regular of 165 to 104 in a very short time. His cholesterol to triglyceride number improved and I didn’t have to nag him. We have one day a month that we eat whatever we want. Usually pizza and Amber-Bock beer and a scoop of real ice cream. It gives us something to look forward to and keeps us from ‘cheating’ the rest of the month. Resuming walking, which in my opinion, is the best exercise for all age groups, was a no-brainer. By the way, the Metformin and statins are still sitting on his desk, unopened. Proving that you can improve your health through diet and exercise.
I read to him the diets of the various cultures around the world who are the healthiest and live the longest, from the Hunzas, to the mountain people of Ecuador, to the people in various Asian areas. Once our American junk food is introduced into that culture, within one year, they are vying with us for unhealthy stats. The choice is ours. We can be lazy and follow erroneous medical-dietary advice in this country. Or we can take a clue from the indigenous people of Planet Earth.
So, the answer is yes. They most certainly would do that. People who think nothing of jabbing a client with an experimental drug while they only pretend to take it themselves? Oh yes, they would most certainly do that and more. Follow the money!
