Fad Diet

There are many fad diets out there and I’ve come to believe the biggest and most popular one is the “Standard America Diet “. Prior to 1977, the standard diet that most north American people ate was roughly 40% fat, 30% protein, and 30% carbohydrates. That all changed with the 1977 publication of Ancel Keys “Seven Countries Study” which led to the government recommended food guides of the early 80’s. These recommendations demonized fat, especially saturated fat and advised an increase in carbohydrates to replace them. Here’s what happened.

Ancel Keys became famous during WW2 for inventing the “K” ration, the “K” was for Keys. In the mid 50’s, President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack and was out of office for 10 days. This was disturbing for him and the public so he decided to have top doctors and scientists look into the problem. He noticed that heart disease was increasing within the American population and wanted to know why. Ancel Keys was a member of this group thanks to his rise to fame and he hypothesized cholesterol and saturated fat were to blame. He guessed high cholesterol in the blood caused increases in heart disease and saturated fat in the diet raised cholesterol in the blood. Of course no one thought to think that the president’s condition could have been helped along by the 4 packs of cigarettes he smoked every day. So in short, Ancel Key’s theory on heart disease led to the heart healthy hypothesise which led to new nutritional recommendations. All these changes but there was little data to back them up. Keys undertook his “Seven Counties Study” to provide proof of his hypothesise. He actually went to 22 countries to compare rates of heart disease with local diet but only 7 supported his theory, thence the “Seven Counties Study”. The other 15 countries actually largely showed the opposite, that high saturated fat led to less heart disease and death. He referred to these countries as “paradoxes” and ignored data from them.

At about the same time a doctor from England was conducting studies that implicated sugar as the cause of heart disease and many other health problems. John Yudcan wrote the book “Pure, White, and Deadly” in 1972 which implicated sugar as the likely real villain. Unfortunately he was buried by the Sugar Foundation, Keys and his followers and his ideas never made it into the mainstream. You can still find his book on Amazon and I think he made a very compelling argument! So with poor science backing him up, the government decided to go with Keys’ hypothesis, sugar good, fat bad and the country became fatter and sicker!

So based on very poor science it was decided that a heart healthy diet was a low fat diet. Once the dietary guidelines came out supporting this idea, big food companies started to cash in. The recommended diet became 50 to 65% carbohydrate, 30 to 25% protein, and 20 to 10% fat. Even now the American “My Plate” recommends no more than 10% fat and 7% or less from saturated fat. The new Canadian food guide came out recently and unfortunately promotes vegetarianism which is at least a small improvement but still downplays the importance of meat. This guide still is recommending reduced saturated fat and sodium which displays a lack of proper research, sad. “Low Fat” labels became the norm and guess how high fat foods become low fat foods. The process removes the fat and adds sugar. Fat in food makes it taste good and food without fat tastes like cardboard so sugar is added to make them palatable. Also, we are told to replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oils as they lower cholesterol. If you’ve been reading my other articles, you already know what I think of that!

People tend to believe what they are told and most followed the new guidelines. Guess what happened. We are now seeing epidemic obesity and chronic disease. Go to the mall and look around if you need proof. Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other chronic diseases are skyrocketing. Statins are the biggest selling drugs of all time but heart disease is still on the rise and still killing and as many people have had heart attacks with low cholesterol as high. We have been duped by big food and big pharma!

Okay so that is why I think the “FAD” diet of the last 40 years is a high carb diet. I’m referring to a diet high in sugar and processed carbohydrates and acknowledge that a near vegetarian diet which is high carb can also be healthy. Hey, I was fooled too. I ate a low fat diet for my entire adult life and up until last year, spent most of it overweight and unhealthy. I was told over and over again, “eat less and move more”. I feel stupid but don’t take any blame and nor should you. Guess what I now think is the proper diet for humans? Could it be one that humans have been eating for thousands if not millions of years? Could it be a diet that keeps insulin levels generally low and greatly reduces inflammation in the body? Inflammation leads to all sorts negative health outcomes like athorcolorus and CHD. A healthy diet is a diet made up of real food, food that doesn’t come in a box or bag (unless it’s just one ingredient). Food that doesn’t need a label to tell me how much crap is in it. If that’s not common sense then I don’t know what is.

You have probably seen from my prior posts what I think a high carb diet has done and is doing to society. Now let’s look at why I think a low carb or even a ketogenic diet is healthy. I’m not going to go into all the science that shows benefit to low carb, it’s easy to research if you are interested. Neither I’m I going to take on the naysayers here although I feel much of the criticism against low carb is strictly money driven. Big processed food companies stand to lose millions of dollars as low carb becomes more and more popular. The only negative that I have seen to low carb/ketogenic eating is the initial withdrawal that comes with dramatically restricting sugar. Like kicking any other highly processed substance, it may take a couple of days to a couple of weeks to kick the sugar habit.

Lastly, I want to share all the positives that I have felt, seen in friends and family, and read about. Obviously the effortless weight loss is the first thing people notice. I have come to see that with so many other benefits weight loss is not the most important but a nice side effect. Ketones, thought to be the superior fuel for the body, are produced in the liver from fat cells so one can derive energy from fat. See “Burn Fat Not Sugar”. Now that you are able to readily use body fat, you find that hunger and food cravings go away which is very liberating! The 3 meals a day rule and breakfast is the most important meal of the day are no more. I normally eat twice a day, mid morning and dinner. Intermittent fasting is now becoming popular and is easy when one is not hungry. Initial bad breath goes away and the mouth and teeth feel cleaner, teeth shinier. Skin problems clear up and the skin feels and looks better and people report huge weight loss without loose skin. Mental clarity and the loss of mental fog are reported by many including myself. Low carb/ketogenic diets dramatically lower blood sugar and insulin levels in the body and therefore it is used to reverse type 2 diabetes. Those with hypertension see their blood pressure return to normal. Individuals who have had issues with heartburn and other GI problems find their symptoms disappear. Any bowel problems improve or disappear. Ketogenic diets are being used as a first line of treatment for some cancers. Makes sense as most cancer cells are fed by glucose not fat. Ketogenic diets are helping people with dementia, Parkinson’s, and arthritis. Gout disappears in some and kidney function improves in others. Endurance athletes (including myself) have seen improvements in performance due to weight loss and having the ability to use body fat as fuel. Many people who have been taking different drugs for years find that they are no longer required. You can see why big pharma and food companies are not happy with this lifestyle and the real food movement. The more grass fed beef and pork, free range chicken and eggs, green vegetables, healthy oils, and whole fat dairy we eat, the more profits the big processed food companies seem to lose. Of special note; when you cut sugar, processed foods, grains, and starches from your diet you are basically eating low carb.

If anything here is getting your attention, I again highly recommend you read or listen to “Good Calories, Bad Calories” and/or “Why We Get Fat” by Gary Taubes and “The Big Fat Surprise” by Nina Teicholz.