It's no coincidence that the vast influence of the multi-national corporations that produce and manufacture food products in this country have exercised their wealth and influence to pay for scientific studies, research, lobbying and extensive marketing to influence We the Sheeple into adopting dietary advice that is just as toxic to our bodies as is their propaganda regarding gender relations is to our families.
Blogger "agnostic" from Dusk in Autumn, has blogged as of late on the topics I've referenced before here regarding the low-fat/high-carb paradigm vs. the high fat, high protein/low carb diet that I believe is the optimal one for our human physiology. He recently started a new blog that dedicated solely to the topic of diet and nutrition, called Low Carb Art & Science.
His first posting "Did following the experts' diet advice make us any healthier?," offers a great timeline in seeing how the traditional American diet has been deliberately changed in the last half century, via the influence of the Agri-business, or BIG FOOD, industry and it's pernicious influence.
It all starts with shaping We the Sheeple's "Conventional Wisdom" about diet and nutrition...which makes us fooled into buying their products, mistakenly thinking their processed, manufactured junk is "healthy." This "conventional wisdom" gets propagated by "scientific studies" that get reported as proven facts...but when one reads the study itself, rather than the journalistic piece reporting on the study, one can see how the reporters conclusions don't really add up to the actual study...yet it's the reporters reported conclusions that in reality become the conventional wisdom.
First, the "News Report"
Animal fats linked to pancreatic cancer: Study
Researchers have linked high intake of fat from red meat and dairy products with increased risk of pancreatic cancer, in a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Sounds like the conventional wisdom we hear all the time in our media, and based on the advertising of all the various food products in all of our stores, eh?
But re-read that opening statement a little more carefully...that word "linked."
What does that really mean?
Is it not the scientists first mission to determine whether or not we have correlation by coincidence, or directly attributable causation? Either it's proven, or it's not. "Linked" is just a way of making you THINK it's been proven.
However, if one reads the rest of the article with a critical, skeptical eye...
Pancreatic cancer is fatal in 95 per cent of cases, and smoking and obesity are among the known risk factors, but scientists at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland said that previous studies into the impact of fat intake on pancreatic cancer had proved inconclusive.
The authors used data collected by the National Institutes of Health-AARP Health Study to analyze the diets of 500,000 people who had completed food frequency questionnaires in 1995 and 1996.
Participants were then followed for an average of six years to track a number of health issues, including pancreatic cancer. Of those sampled, 1,337 were diagnosed with the cancer – 865 men and 472 women.
The authors wrote: “We observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources.”
Food frequency questionnaires? That's IT?!?!? A research company tries to determine whether or not a widely consumed food (animal fat) causes cancer by using computer models to calculate probabilities based on people's self-reported questionnaires?
This is what we call "science?" I call it statistical manipulation to reach a pre-determined conclusion!
What happened to double-blind studies, using a control group and carefully observing the results to come to a reasonable scientific conclusion?
This is utter garbage! You're average person doesn't actually understand the difference between natural animal fats, hydrogenated animal fats, monosaturated, polyunsaturated and fully saturated fats.
Furthermore, many manufactured foods and fast food products will contain a variety of animal fats and vegetable fats. How the hell can they differentiate between them when the source of info is a QUESTIONNAIRE?!?!
Go look at typical brands of bread products in your grocery store...a good percentage of them will have paritally-hydrogenated (soybean) vegetable oil as an ingredient in your hamburger bun/hot dog bun/bread.
So if someone fills out their questionnaire that they ate hamburgers every single day for years...and they develop pancreatic cancer...how is the "scientists" supposed to ascertain whether or not the "animal fat" or the hydrogenated fats in the bread are the cause of the cancer?
Furthermore, studies on pubmed find that pancreatic problems associated with Diabetes are implicating daily refined sugar consumption as the primary culprit (Which is my belief probably the much more common denominator of pancreatic cancer than animal fats). Everytime you eat fast food, restaurant food, or convenience food, you are not just simply getting "animal fats." You are also eating polyunsaturated vegetable oils (usually rancid to boot), partially hydrogenated oils, as well as a host of laboratory created additives, preservatives and sweeteners.
Take your typical value meal at a hamburger fast food joint. It will contain saturated fats from the hamburger, partially-hydrogenated soy bean vegetable oil in the bun, rancid, poly-unsaturated vegetable oil for the deep fried french fries, not to mention copious quantities of corn syrup sweeteners and additives in the soda and condiments. If you are eating fast food, restaurant's meals, convenience food, etc., your meal will contain a variety of both animal and vegetable fats in it.
How the hell is a self-answer supplied questionnaire supposed to be able to adequately account for that?
It can't. Which is why the rest of the article is loaded with caveats and weasel-ly language.
They added: “We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources. Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis.”
The reason for this could be connected to the role the pancreas plays in excreting enzymes that digest fat, they suggested. The authors also noted that studies have linked saturated fat consumption with insulin resistance, and that diabetes and insulin resistance are risk factors for pancreatic cancer.
However, an accompanying editorial questioned whether the increased incidence of the cancer could be reliably attributed to higher meat consumption, saying that “other dietary or lifestyle preferences associated with meat consumption” could also have a role.
No shit, Sherlock.
The editorial added that the study was “well-performed and a good addition to the understanding of pancreatic cancer.”
Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute
This is how " dietary conventional wisdom" starts.
After bilge like this gets reported on the news, people everywhere get all concerned about that evil demon, ANIMAL FAT.
This infects We the Sheeple's subconscious, so that we walk through the grocery store and load up our carts with all of those highly manufactured and processed food products (not food, FOOD PRODUCTS...big difference!), all with the prominent marketing labels of NON-FAT...LOW-FAT...LITE...FAT FREE... and you think you're eating healthy!
After all, these manufactured products contain GRAINS, and grains are FIBER...and:
...everybody knows "A diets high in fruit, vegetables and fiber that also limit red meat consumption, such as the Mediterranean diet, have been linked with longer life and lower rates of heart disease."
This, folks, is the exact phrasing used by public service announcements on the radio and TV, by groups such as the AHA, ADA, USDA etc...and it's no accident that such a phrase was used almost verbatim in this "news report."
Who was it that said, "Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth..."
Fact of the matter is, if one looks at the source of this article, FOOD Navigator-USA.com, you will see an abundance of manufactured food product advertising and large, corporate agri-business companies logos and prominent products all over it.
It takes no stretch of the imagination to make the connection here:
The more BIG FOOD can make people think animal fats are bad for you, the more people will associate their NON FAT/LOW FAT/FAT FREE/LITE processed garbage as healthy food alternatives.
16 comments:
Question -
What type of ratio in calories would a high-fat low-carb diet follow? 40/40/20 (fat/protein/carb)?
I haven't read your links -just- yet, but am more than fairly interested in health/diet concerns.
Also perused several prior posts - good reads and food for thought re: the "USA Inc."
Hey Mr. M,
Actually, I don't follow "ratios" at all...I'm far more concerned with the type, quality and origin of all three groups of macronutrients...fats, proteins and carbs.
As far as I'm concerned, one can actually eat a high carb diet...if they are eating fibrous, vegetable carbs. Grains and starchy vegetables like potatoes and such should be eaten sparingly or not at all.
That being said, I eat as much proteins and healthy fats as I want to, until I feel full. With fats and protein, your body signals the satiation signal as soon as you are full, while carbs won't trigger the same response.
This is why you can eat an entire plate of pasta, or a whole ton of bread and not feel full....than 10 minutes later, you feel like your belly is going to explode.
You literally cannot overeat on fat and protein...only carbs.
I guess my next question would be what exactly are healthy fats?
Rather, what sources of fats would be considered healthy? Red meat? Oily fish? Avocados?
I know too too well the effect of processed carbs on the body, and even learned about blood sugar levels and the glycemic (sp?) properties of many diff types of food... I can't even eat white rice anymore, it feels like it throws my body in a feeding frenzy that has no limits.
Well, the most important consideration is this: the source. How were the animals raised? On their natural diet?
Take Cows for example: cows were designed to eat grass. The current industrial farming practice is to raise them on corn and soy feed in feedlots. The fat, butter, milk and cheese from the grass fed, free range cows is certainly healthier and more beneficial than the fat from a feed lot raised cow.
Same goes for chicken and pork. Modern factory farming was designed to raise and fatten animals as quickly as possible regardless of the health and nutrition. Factory farmed chickens are kept in a confined pen, never see sunlight, and are fed soy feed. Chickens are naturally omnivorous and eat grass, bugs as well as grains. Eggs from free range chickens on a varied diet have yolks that are bright orange and rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, while factory farmed, soy fed chicken eggs are pale yellow and almost devoid of Omega 3 fatty acids...in fact they contain higher levels of Omega 6 because the soybean feed they eat is rich in Omega 6.
As for vegetable oils? For the most part, they are ALL unhealthy, and rancid, unless they are extra virgin - i.e. expellar pressed.
If you really want to read up more on it, here's the website that got me really interested in these topics, caused me to change my diet, and helped me lose 35 lbs. over 6 months and keep it off for 3 years now.
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
Whole food is the only food worth eating. Organic and free range is requisite for animal foods though.
We're organic farmers of sheep and cattle but it's not enough to just "not use chemicals" in farming. As Hawaiian Libertarian pointed out, it depends on what the animals are fed. We prefer to be known as "biological farmers" because organic farming brings up an image of hands-off no chemicals.
Cattle and sheep are not designed/evolved for consumption of grains like barley. They are made for living off of grass. When they are fed too much barely then (and here's where I stumble because I've forgotten the name of the fat...) a key fat is developed wrong in the animal. The animal becomes unhealthy and the farmer ends up paying out the wazoo for antibiotics and vet care etc.
We humans then consume that fat and end up sick with cancers and other problems ~ immune system problems etc. We end up paying out the wazoo for antibiotics and vet care ~ or a funeral.
Nature has her limits and we cannot play God and tweak nature to meet our whims without paying dearly for it!
A fantastic source for actual scientific data, rather then my rambling, is AcresUSA.
When I was preggo with the first baby the medical folk tried to terrorize the crap out of me with their "diet advice" ~ which was total nonsense!
I did what was only natural: feasted on organic lamb, beef, vegtables. Ate lamb livers every week, drank dark ale, ate unpastorized cheese and butter...
I shrank while pregnant! So much so that I never even had to wear maternity clothes. Then, I hucked out a healthy 8lb baby who is doing just fine.
They say that fat women (like me!) have an "increased risk" of suffering from pre-eclampsia. They say they have no idea what causes it but it's "linked" to "obesity."
The thing is, any farmer worth the title can tell you that pre-eclampsia is the result of *malnourishment* in the mother. (Low salt intake doesn't help either.) What do the medical folk do? Scare fat pregnant women so much about their "high risk pregnancy" due to their "obesity" (the high risk is so minimal it's laughable) and said fat woman DIETS. As in, eats all of the low-fat, no-fat, diet processed crap you wrote about. Viola! An increase in pre-eclampsia amongst fat women! (But not by much, actually.)
All of the "increased risks" experienced by fat pregnant women are due to the terrorizing treatment they get from their health care providors and their risk-causing diet advice!
Hello, Hawaiian!
I´m a big fan of sports nutrition and fitness and I agree that we live in an age of misinformation regarding nutrition.
My diet consists of healthy fats, fibrous carbs (eaten for breakfast and after exercise, which is a period when the body welcomes carbs) and good protein sources such as red meat, chicken breast, fish and free range eggs.
I also consume a lot of coloured veggies, all organic, of course.
I´m actually weighing around 200 pounds, at 6% bodyfat.
I learned to manipulate my diet, specially in regard to carb consumption to fit my goals: I increase carbs and decrease fats when trying to gain muscle, and do the opposite when trying to lose bodyfat (I always keep protein intake high, though).
All I can say is that there is definitely a conspiracy. Big business and big brother government want to keep us fat, weak, unhealthy and ignorant, completely dependent on medication. They want us to die earlier than normal.
Make no mistake: the world is run by evil, soulless people who consider us cattle.
What they are doing is criminal.
Brazilianguy
Any more links to high-fat low-carb diet/advice?
I noticed that the ones you linked were a little older - mostly around 2000.
Also, coffee catholic brings up a concern (and good point) about what foods are given to animals........how can a consumer find out exactly how an animal is raised and fed?
Hey Mr. M, here's a link to the original book documenting Dr. Weston Price's research and travels...it's not from the official Weston Price Foundation's website...
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects
I have to ask, where do you specifically get your food from?
I've been searching for places to find free-range grass fed food, and so far I've only come up with:
http://www.beefhawaii.com/
I'm still curious about eggs, chicken, and fish (obviously that which is not farm raised).
I'm also seeing that the terms "free-range" are not really truly regulated (so it becomes harder to find a credible food source)...
Oh, and I'm on oahu...if that's not obvious.
Oh cool, M!
I get my free range grass fed beef from Safeway, Kapolei, and it runs about 7.00 a lbs. It occasionally goes on sale for 6.00 a lbs., than I buy it all up and stock the freezer.
I've heard that Whole Foods in Kahala has a wide variety of free range/organic meats...but than their common nickname is "Whole Paycheck" for a reason.
As for eggs...I have 15 egg laying chickens and a coop, but than I live in a rural area on the island, so I can have my own chickens. However, egg laying hens are not noisy like roosters, so you could get a couple if you live in an area where you have even a small backyard.
You can order egg laying chicks for 2.50 a piece and raise them from Asagi in Kalihi, off of Nimitz Hwy.
Yeah...I went into Whole Foods shortly after it opened and just couldn't believe the prices. Unbelievable.
Re: the egg laying hens... how's the cleanliness of having that many birds? And the eggs? i could probably swing raising some but that would probably be my largest concern....then there's my dog...
Do all the safeways have free-range grass-fed beef? I never noticed it before, but its probably because I wasn't looking, either.
I don't know...I've seen it at Mililani and Kapolei...haven't shopped at any other Safeway. It's usually right next to the Ground Buffalo (I buy that too...it's great, but they are "finished" with corn before slaughter, so they're not as good as 100% grass fed beef).
As for the chickens...yeah dogs can certainly be a problem. I had my dog kill all 9 of the first batch of chickens I had when he busted out of his kennel one day. That's why I had to start all over again, which is why I got 15 of 'em.
As for the smell of the coop, Asagi has this product called "EM-1" that is a microbial solution that you can dilute with water and put it into their drinking water. It almost completely nullifies the smell of the chicken crap.
Update -
I've been trying a diet of more whole foods, the the only exception being a "Zone" bar and a protein shake....
I have to admit, my body is responding quite well to the change. Most important to me is that I'm 100% content throughout the night so I avoid late/mid night snacking. I've lost weight, but thats also attributable to eating less overall and increasing my activity.
Also, is the grass-fed beef you find from safeway ground beef? I was a little disappointed at that (I was picturing lovely steak cuts).
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