Interesting items from my inbox …
ADA Diet Fails Again
That should have been the headline: ADA Diet Fails Again. But it wasn’t. The headline on MedPageToday was Lifestyle Changes Don’t Protect Diabetic Heart. Here are some quotes:
An intense lifestyle intervention for patients with type 2 diabetes that was focused on diet and exercise failed to protect patients against heart problems, researchers reported here.
Final analysis of the randomized, controlled Look AHEAD trial, which was halted in September for failing to show cardiovascular benefit, revealed no significant differences in a composite of cardiovascular endpoints between those who had the intervention and those who only received advice (1.83 events per 100 person-years versus 1.92, P=0.51), according to Rena Wing, PhD, of Brown University, and colleagues.
Wing said during a press briefing that there are a host of explanations for the lack of benefit, among them the fact that participants in the control group were on more medications, particularly statins, which could have lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease, and they also received good education on their disease and on lifestyle.
Also, Wing and colleagues noted, the weight loss achieved by those in the intense group may not have been sufficient to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease; or the education received in the control group could have lessened the difference between the two groups.
Hmmm, when researchers more or less trash their own study design after the fact, you know they aren’t happy with the results. If the diet and exercise program had produced a significant drop in heart-attack deaths, I doubt they’d be pointing out potential confounders in the study. I’m surprised they didn’t try to save face by announcing that they found a “suggestion” of a benefit despite no significant differences in the data.
Wing noted that subgroup analyses looking at outcomes by history of cardiovascular disease didn’t turn up any significant findings, but they did show “some suggestion” that the intervention was effective at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients without a history of heart problems.
I stand corrected.
The MedPageToday article didn’t spell out the “intense” lifestyle intervention, so I had to look it up in the full study. Here it is:
Specific intervention strategies included a calorie goal of 1200 to 1800 kcal per day (with <30% of calories from fat and >15% from protein), the use of meal-replacement products, and at least 175 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week.
A low-fat, low-calorie diet plus a half-hour or so of aerobic exercise per day … in other words, exactly what the ADA, AHA, USDA, your average doctor, and all the other experts recommend.
I think we know why the study was such a disappointment.
No-Carb Breakfast Gives You Fatigue?
An article on the Huffington Post titled 7 Little Habits That Are Making You Tired offered this advice:
It’s a myth that if you eat carbohydrates it can zap your energy later on. In reality, your body needs carbs to produce fuel.
I guess it’s a miracle that I’m able to program computers, write blog posts, produce videos, play 72 holes of disc golf and lift weights without any fuel.
A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that low-carb dieters experienced greater fatigue and reluctance to exercise than dieters who ate more carbohydrates.
I’ve seen that study. The researchers took people who were living on high-carb diets, put them on zero-carb diets, then tested their energy levels a few days later – before they had time to adapt. Then they concluded that people who don’t eat carbs feel fatigued.
Let’s apply that logic elsewhere. People who quit smoking often feel fatigued and depressed for several weeks. Therefore I can only conclude that non-smokers suffer from fatigue. When you’re wolfing down your energy-producing, high-carb breakfast, don’t forget to enjoy a Marlboro afterwards.
As for a meal high in refined carbs zapping your energy later, let’s look at part of an article about another study on that subject:
New brain studies suggest that carb addiction could be real.
Boston Children’s Hospital researchers who scanned the brains of men after they drank milkshakes containing rapidly digesting, highly processed carbohydrates found the men experienced a surge in blood sugar followed by a sharp and sudden crash four hours later.
That plummet in blood sugar activated a powerful hunger signal and stimulated the brain region considered ground zero for addictive behaviour.
“We showed for the first time that refined carbohydrates can trigger food cravings many hours later, not through psychological mechanisms — a favourite food is just so tasty, you need to keep eating — but through biological effects” on the brain, said lead author Dr. David Ludwig.
A load of simple carbs. Glucose spike. Glucose crash. Hunger. Sounds like my experience with the Fit For Life diet.
Earlier studies have shown that tasty, high-calorie foods can trigger the pleasure centre in the brain, raising the notion of “food addiction.”
Ah yes, the food-reward theory. We overeat foods that taste good – just because they taste good. Keep reading:
But Ludwig said those studies typically compared “grossly different foods,” such as cheesecake versus boiled vegetables.
His team performed functional MRI brain scans — machines that capture the brain at work in real-time — on 12 overweight or obese men aged 18 to 35 after they consumed two liquid test meals that looked and tasted identical, and contained the same amounts of calories and carbohydrates. The only difference was that one shake contained fast-digesting, high-GI carbs, the other slow-digesting carbs.
The shakes looked and tasted identical. The food-reward stimulus should be the same. So what happened?
After the high GI liquid meal, blood sugar surged initially, but then crashed four hours later. The men not only reported greater hunger, their MRI scans also showed intense activation in the nucleus accumbens, the part of the brain involved in reward and craving.
It wasn’t the taste that created the craving. It was the glucose crash.
For the record, I don’t totally dismiss food-reward as a factor in obesity. Food manufacturers have made a lot of foods that spike glucose levels taste really, really good. The hyper-rewarding taste draws people to the foods – but it’s the glucose spike-and-crash that causes people to overeat, not the reward factor. I find bacon highly rewarding, but I never gorge on the stuff.
The Guy From CSPI Strikes Again
In Fat Head, I showed the Guy From CSPI declaring fettuccini alfredo a heart attack on a plate and the Hardee’s Monster Thickburger a heart attack on a bun. I’d wager he’s been anxiously awaiting a chance to expand his heart attack on [something] repertoire. Well, he got his chance last week. Now he’s discovered the Heart Attack on a Hook:
A consumer advocacy group is threatening to sue a seafood chain if it doesn’t stop its use of a trans fatty oil, which has contributed to nutrition stats that lead the group to label one of its menu items the “worst restaurant meal in America.”
The Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a formal complaint to Long John Silver’s this week and put out a press release to the public stating that the fast-food restaurant’s “Big Catch” meal — a fried haddock filet, fried onion rings and fried hush puppies — has 33 grams of trans fats, which it states adds up to two weeks worth of the amount recommended by American Heart Association.
If memory serves, The Guy From CSPI has now identified 30 or 40 different meals as the worst restaurant meal in America. Anyway …
“Long John Silver’s Big Catch meal deserves to be buried 20,000 leagues under the sea,” CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson said in a statement. “This company is taking perfectly healthy fish—and entombing it in a thick crust of batter and partially hydrogenated oil. The result? A heart attack on a hook. Instead of the Big Catch, I’d call it America’s Deadliest Catch.”
CSPI announced that it had contacted Long John Silver’s CEO Mike Kern to say the chain would be sued if the use of partially hydrogenated oil isn’t discontinued.
I agree that trans fats are bad news. Among other nasty effects, they lower HDL quite a bit. So I’m sitting here scratching my head, trying to remember why the heck restaurants started frying foods in hydrogenated soybean oil instead of in good fats that raise HDL, like lard or beef tallow. Wait … it’s coming back to me.
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Why hasn’t someone sued CSPI for initially getting everyone to switch to the transfats they’re now condemning?
I’ve wondered that myself.
I wonder the same thing..So what,prey tell,do these folk want them to fry it in anyway?
The Guy From CSPI wants them to use canola oil. Lots of restaurants use canola oil now, which is why fried food no longer tastes very good.
It’s also why I can no longer digest fast food. I am un/fortunate that my body simply does not consider canola, vegetable, or soy oils to be food. The less said about the speed and enthusiasm with which my body purges itself of these substances, the better.
Seriously though, it’s bad. I can’t even get “safe” foods like steaks or fajitas at mid-tier restaurants because canola oil is used as a cooking medium or to make things look juicy.
I am no longer tempted by fried foods in restaurants because they taste lousy. We can thank The Guy From CSPI for that.
Canola oil not only tastes bland, but I suspect it was helping to reduce my HDL. Before I knew better, I used canola oil almost exclusively as my fat source. My HDL was in the low 50’s. I could not get it higher, and I was eating relatively low carb. Since I replaced it with saturated fat, it has only increased, and is now at 79. Of course it could have been the lack of saturated fat as well, but I still stay away from it. Saturated fat gets the blame…
I suspect it’s more a case of the saturated fat raising your HDL than canola lowering it.
This stupid fish dinner this numbskull is targeting – how random. I would bet that the reason pulled this entrée out of seemingly thin air is because he eats them. I can see this now “oh lord this thing is sinfully decadent… I see a press release coming, chomp chomp… Siri… call my agent”
Why hasn’t someone sued CSPI for initially getting everyone to switch to the transfats they’re now condemning?
I’ve wondered that myself.
I wonder the same thing..So what,prey tell,do these folk want them to fry it in anyway?
The Guy From CSPI wants them to use canola oil. Lots of restaurants use canola oil now, which is why fried food no longer tastes very good.
It’s also why I can no longer digest fast food. I am un/fortunate that my body simply does not consider canola, vegetable, or soy oils to be food. The less said about the speed and enthusiasm with which my body purges itself of these substances, the better.
Seriously though, it’s bad. I can’t even get “safe” foods like steaks or fajitas at mid-tier restaurants because canola oil is used as a cooking medium or to make things look juicy.
I am no longer tempted by fried foods in restaurants because they taste lousy. We can thank The Guy From CSPI for that.
Canola oil not only tastes bland, but I suspect it was helping to reduce my HDL. Before I knew better, I used canola oil almost exclusively as my fat source. My HDL was in the low 50’s. I could not get it higher, and I was eating relatively low carb. Since I replaced it with saturated fat, it has only increased, and is now at 79. Of course it could have been the lack of saturated fat as well, but I still stay away from it. Saturated fat gets the blame…
I suspect it’s more a case of the saturated fat raising your HDL than canola lowering it.
This stupid fish dinner this numbskull is targeting – how random. I would bet that the reason pulled this entrée out of seemingly thin air is because he eats them. I can see this now “oh lord this thing is sinfully decadent… I see a press release coming, chomp chomp… Siri… call my agent”
I saw that article on the web a couple days ago. I immediately thought of your movie. And of course, the little cartoon depiction of the weasely guy from CSPI! thanks for spreading the word about all of the BS surrounding the food in America.
I love that cartoon. When Chareva drew that and showed it to me, I burst out laughing.
Didn’t Albert Einstein have an opinion on this? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I’d love to see a study on the long term outcome of diabetics who eat a low carb/paleo type diet. I just get so frustrated reading a story like this one you’ve linked to. So they feed diabetics all the foods that will raise their blood sugar and wonder why there is no improvement?
I liked your analogy too about overeating “reward” foods v eating bacon. I think you are exactly right in saying that reward foods draw people to it in the first place but it is the glucose spike/crash that keeps then eating. I couldn’t overeat on bacon no matter how much I love it.
You are a very wise man Tom Naughton and I wish (as another commenter said the other day) that you could make this your day job 🙂
I hope the book/DVD companion help put me in that position.
Will the CSPI also sue the manufacturers that have on their label (legally) that this food contains no transfats, but can only claim that because they lowered the serving size down to an amount that is less then .5 grams?
I love battered and fried fish (I don’t eat it very often), but throw in onion rings AND hush puppies? It would be a night of Tums for me!
I also think that the studies done on the ADA diet will soon include the confounder of GLOBAL WARMING..or GLOBAL COOLING…um, er, how about CLIMATE CHANGE!!!!!!!!
Reminds me of what Mike Eades told me: when the low-fat theory fails, they decide something must have been wrong with the study, then keep designing studies until they get the results they want.
A Night of Tums sounds like an opera! 🙂
Look forward to this!
I saw that article on the web a couple days ago. I immediately thought of your movie. And of course, the little cartoon depiction of the weasely guy from CSPI! thanks for spreading the word about all of the BS surrounding the food in America.
I love that cartoon. When Chareva drew that and showed it to me, I burst out laughing.
I for one, train in the morning on an empty stomach. According to that report, I should not be able to do my incline bench presses with 95 lbs. dumbbells or leg presses with 720 lbs.
You’ve seen it before but it is worth sharing again. Julia Child on McDonald’s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF31qCrclC0
Definitely worth a another look.
Love that clip. I have been watching some of the original French Chef shows and Julia was a slim woman in her fifties at that time despite all the butter and lard she ate. And let’s see…she died early didn’t she? At the tender age of…91.
Yeah, the butter finally caught up with her.
Didn’t Albert Einstein have an opinion on this? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I’d love to see a study on the long term outcome of diabetics who eat a low carb/paleo type diet. I just get so frustrated reading a story like this one you’ve linked to. So they feed diabetics all the foods that will raise their blood sugar and wonder why there is no improvement?
I liked your analogy too about overeating “reward” foods v eating bacon. I think you are exactly right in saying that reward foods draw people to it in the first place but it is the glucose spike/crash that keeps then eating. I couldn’t overeat on bacon no matter how much I love it.
You are a very wise man Tom Naughton and I wish (as another commenter said the other day) that you could make this your day job 🙂
I hope the book/DVD companion help put me in that position.
“”We showed for the first time that refined carbohydrates can trigger food cravings many hours later, not through psychological mechanisms — a favourite food is just so tasty, you need to keep eating — but through biological effects” on the brain, said lead author Dr. David Ludwig.”
“…for the first time…”? Hmmmm. I clearly remember reading a similar account in one of Adele Davis’ books, in about… 1974. She wrote how a woman who ate a whole box of chocolates experienced a blood glucose peak, followed soon after by a drastic crash that caused her to pass out.
Of course, researchers looking for funds are always subject to strong temptation to use that seductive phrase “for the first time”. But, mostly, “there is nothing new under the sun”. As readers of Mr Banting know full well.
I believe he was referring to tracking the activity of the reward center in the brain and showing it was linked to the glucose levels. I don’t know if that specifically has been tracked before or not.
Will the CSPI also sue the manufacturers that have on their label (legally) that this food contains no transfats, but can only claim that because they lowered the serving size down to an amount that is less then .5 grams?
I love battered and fried fish (I don’t eat it very often), but throw in onion rings AND hush puppies? It would be a night of Tums for me!
I also think that the studies done on the ADA diet will soon include the confounder of GLOBAL WARMING..or GLOBAL COOLING…um, er, how about CLIMATE CHANGE!!!!!!!!
Reminds me of what Mike Eades told me: when the low-fat theory fails, they decide something must have been wrong with the study, then keep designing studies until they get the results they want.
A Night of Tums sounds like an opera! 🙂
Look forward to this!
Tom,
Ever consider opening a Fat Head Forum? It would give us something to do while waiting for your posts.
Next week I’m going to a lunch time presentation by health advisor (Dr.) to the company for which I work. In 2002 I followed his low fat, low calorie (i.e. relatively high carb) diet and lost a lot of weight. I started at 290 in January and lost about 80 pounds by August. I got ill from the effects and started packing on the pounds. By the following summer I was where I started and beyond, eventually peaking at about 340.
So frustrating, so much work and such a bad end. My wife reminds me of how miserable I was on that diet. The food was not neither tasty nor satisfying. Just enough carbs to keep the addiction going but not enough to satisfy. My health was worse in the end. I eventually needed a CPAP machine. Just being able to sleep helped bring my weight down to hover between 300 and 310.
After two straight Fall seasons dealing with foot problems I started in on a low carb lifestyle in Jan 2012. It was a little slower than the low fat, low calorie diet taking me one year to lose 93 pounds. The weight is trending now but still going down, for a current sum of 108 pounds off. A year and a half in and still going down on low carbs. Opposed to a complete cycle + (290 to 210 to 300+) on a low fat diet.
So I’m going to hear what his current thinking is, see if he has anything new to say. I’ll be polite but I will speak truth to power if need be. I may not be an MD but I am a pretty good scientist. MDs often hate to deal with scientists because they know we know how flimsy their facts often prove to be.
A loss of 93 pounds in a year is excellent, especially if the diet didn’t leave you feeling tired and hungry.
The Fat Head Facebook group is a forum, with lots of very well-informed people contributing.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57440891958/
Speaking of “heart attack on a plate”, I miss that KFC double-down…
You mean it’s gone?
Sigh… the importance of research in the CSPI part. LJS doesn’t have onion rings. It does have hushpuppies.
I for one, train in the morning on an empty stomach. According to that report, I should not be able to do my incline bench presses with 95 lbs. dumbbells or leg presses with 720 lbs.
You’ve seen it before but it is worth sharing again. Julia Child on McDonald’s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF31qCrclC0
Definitely worth a another look.
Love that clip. I have been watching some of the original French Chef shows and Julia was a slim woman in her fifties at that time despite all the butter and lard she ate. And let’s see…she died early didn’t she? At the tender age of…91.
Yeah, the butter finally caught up with her.
““We showed for the first time that refined carbohydrates can trigger food cravings many hours later, not through psychological mechanisms — a favourite food is just so tasty, you need to keep eating — but through biological effects” on the brain, said lead author Dr. David Ludwig.”
“…for the first time…”? Hmmmm. I clearly remember reading a similar account in one of Adele Davis’ books, in about… 1974. She wrote how a woman who ate a whole box of chocolates experienced a blood glucose peak, followed soon after by a drastic crash that caused her to pass out.
Of course, researchers looking for funds are always subject to strong temptation to use that seductive phrase “for the first time”. But, mostly, “there is nothing new under the sun”. As readers of Mr Banting know full well.
I believe he was referring to tracking the activity of the reward center in the brain and showing it was linked to the glucose levels. I don’t know if that specifically has been tracked before or not.
Oh and “leagues” is a measure of distance traveled… not depth.
I wonder what’s happened to Mary Enig. We haven’t heard from her in the last few years. She deserves more recognition. She was a brave, lone voice against transfats DECADES before the mainstream realised their dangers. She was derided as a quack and a fraud for this. In reality, she was prophetic, and has been completely vindicated, if not acknowledged. In a just world, she’d have won the Nobel Prize for her work.
Yup, and CSPI slammed her publicly when she tried to tell them trans fats were bad news.
She’s in her 80s, so it’s no surprise we haven’t heard from her as much lately.
Hmmm. A shiny new Nobel Prize like the ones received by Al (jazeera) Gore and Barrack Obama and Paul Krugman?
It seems to me that NOT getting a Nobel Prize is better recognition of making an actual valuable contribution to improving the human condition.
Cheers!
That’s a fair point.
Tom,
Ever consider opening a Fat Head Forum? It would give us something to do while waiting for your posts.
Next week I’m going to a lunch time presentation by health advisor (Dr.) to the company for which I work. In 2002 I followed his low fat, low calorie (i.e. relatively high carb) diet and lost a lot of weight. I started at 290 in January and lost about 80 pounds by August. I got ill from the effects and started packing on the pounds. By the following summer I was where I started and beyond, eventually peaking at about 340.
So frustrating, so much work and such a bad end. My wife reminds me of how miserable I was on that diet. The food was not neither tasty nor satisfying. Just enough carbs to keep the addiction going but not enough to satisfy. My health was worse in the end. I eventually needed a CPAP machine. Just being able to sleep helped bring my weight down to hover between 300 and 310.
After two straight Fall seasons dealing with foot problems I started in on a low carb lifestyle in Jan 2012. It was a little slower than the low fat, low calorie diet taking me one year to lose 93 pounds. The weight is trending now but still going down, for a current sum of 108 pounds off. A year and a half in and still going down on low carbs. Opposed to a complete cycle + (290 to 210 to 300+) on a low fat diet.
So I’m going to hear what his current thinking is, see if he has anything new to say. I’ll be polite but I will speak truth to power if need be. I may not be an MD but I am a pretty good scientist. MDs often hate to deal with scientists because they know we know how flimsy their facts often prove to be.
A loss of 93 pounds in a year is excellent, especially if the diet didn’t leave you feeling tired and hungry.
The Fat Head Facebook group is a forum, with lots of very well-informed people contributing.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57440891958/
I sometimes gorge on bacon, but then I don’t want to eat anything for 12 hours afterward.
Speaking of “heart attack on a plate”, I miss that KFC double-down…
You mean it’s gone?
I haven’t seen it in a long time. It’s not on their website. I really did like it though. It was a nice alternative to lettuce wrapped burgers when you had to eat fast-food.
At least here in Vegas, though the Double-down isn’t on the menu it can still be ordered. Its on the KFC secret menu like the Fly Dutchman at In-N-Out.
KFC in Chicago only sells the BREADED version of double down. Arghh!!! At least they have grilled chicken and we can ask for a side of cheese and bacon.
Jeez, the grilled one wasn’t health food, but it wasn’t too bad either.
If I ever find myself at a KFC, I will typically order a 4-piece box and sub out the breast for another thigh. I’ve found this to be far more filling than the double-down ever was. Of course, you then constantly have to deal with the new employee who doesn’t know where the button is. Its apparently as elusive as the “no bun” button at burger places.
I once ordered two cheeseburgers with no buns at the McDonald’s drive-up window. When I got to my destination and opened the bag, I had two buns with cheese, but no burgers.
Then, according to “experts” you now have what they call a “healthy” diet. The preparer must have been a vegan.
When I dropped my carbs down significantly I was rather uninterested in exercising after a week…and then by week 3 I was back to bouncing off the walls, this time with a MUCH longer battery life.
Doing a study on carb content and performance only a few days out is as short sighted as having someone cut out sugary drinks and then saying it doesn’t lead to weight loss if they haven’t lost five pounds in two days.
I suspect they design some of these studies specifically to trash low-carb diets.
Sigh… the importance of research in the CSPI part. LJS doesn’t have onion rings. It does have hushpuppies.
Oh and “leagues” is a measure of distance traveled… not depth.
I wonder what’s happened to Mary Enig. We haven’t heard from her in the last few years. She deserves more recognition. She was a brave, lone voice against transfats DECADES before the mainstream realised their dangers. She was derided as a quack and a fraud for this. In reality, she was prophetic, and has been completely vindicated, if not acknowledged. In a just world, she’d have won the Nobel Prize for her work.
Yup, and CSPI slammed her publicly when she tried to tell them trans fats were bad news.
She’s in her 80s, so it’s no surprise we haven’t heard from her as much lately.
Hmmm. A shiny new Nobel Prize like the ones received by Al (jazeera) Gore and Barrack Obama and Paul Krugman?
It seems to me that NOT getting a Nobel Prize is better recognition of making an actual valuable contribution to improving the human condition.
Cheers!
That’s a fair point.
Good point, for sure! Mary Enig’s “Know Your Fats” is a great little resource. I’ve always wondered why it seems to have been ignored. To my knowledge, no one has ever lifted part of it and quoted it unreferenced in their own blog — something I see all the time with other publications.
I sometimes gorge on bacon, but then I don’t want to eat anything for 12 hours afterward.
When I dropped my carbs down significantly I was rather uninterested in exercising after a week…and then by week 3 I was back to bouncing off the walls, this time with a MUCH longer battery life.
Doing a study on carb content and performance only a few days out is as short sighted as having someone cut out sugary drinks and then saying it doesn’t lead to weight loss if they haven’t lost five pounds in two days.
I suspect they design some of these studies specifically to trash low-carb diets.
The shenanigans that pass for health and diet studies in this country along with the shenanigans of the FDA bedded down with Monsanto have finally and painfully ripped the veil off of my eyes. I am genuinely a bit afraid of my government making my healthy diet illegal. I’m already a bit pouty that unless I want to go out for truly fine dining (a C-note per plate of loco-vore food) I know I’ll be eating a ‘heart attack on a plate’. I do like your idea of taking your own butter for your veg to a steakhouse. I’m tempted to also take my own salad dressing.
And as far as my cravings are concerned I had forgotten until I read this that I used to just be hungry all the time regardless of how much I ate. I was so frustrated. I truly had hunger pains every two hours! It is practically impossible to discipline against that. Now I often eat two meals a day. Bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast, a nice steak or salmon or some such fatty meat for lunch along with a salad or veg, and that happened at 2:00 because I wasn’t hungry until then…and…well…if I go to bed late I might have a handful of nuts or a glass of raw milk. It is sooooo nice to not be a slave to my stomach. I am even okay with just skipping a meal or just having a nibble if I go to a gathering and am faced with a table full of carbage (love that word.)
Given the way our government is clamping down on real-food producers, if you’re not a little paranoid, it means you’re not paying attention.
Tom, why hasn’t the guy from CSPI acknowledged that seed oils are excessively high in omega-6s, and that they promote systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and GI problems? I’m honestly wondering, because I find it odd that they either don’t know, or refuse to acknowledge known facts. Really, can’t anyone show these people that canola oil is made rancid by the process used to create it, and thus has had all of its health benefits negated? There has to be someone out there to challenge these folks, otherwise it looks like they’re right!
Simple answer: he’s a vegetarian and refuses to acknowledge that animal fats are better for anything, including frying. That’s why he promoted hydrogenated soybean oil in the first place.
This “food reward” theory is one of the dumbest things I ever heard. Good tasty food doesn’t leave me craving for more it. Bland, tasteless food or food that looks and tastes like food but isn’t does. Years of experience with all sorts of diets and WOEs have shown that to me over and over again. The body will not be fooled. Not even by “experts”.
Indeed. I ate a LOT of pasta that didn’t taste as good as the meals I eat now because my body (not my tastebuds) was screaming for more.
The shenanigans that pass for health and diet studies in this country along with the shenanigans of the FDA bedded down with Monsanto have finally and painfully ripped the veil off of my eyes. I am genuinely a bit afraid of my government making my healthy diet illegal. I’m already a bit pouty that unless I want to go out for truly fine dining (a C-note per plate of loco-vore food) I know I’ll be eating a ‘heart attack on a plate’. I do like your idea of taking your own butter for your veg to a steakhouse. I’m tempted to also take my own salad dressing.
And as far as my cravings are concerned I had forgotten until I read this that I used to just be hungry all the time regardless of how much I ate. I was so frustrated. I truly had hunger pains every two hours! It is practically impossible to discipline against that. Now I often eat two meals a day. Bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast, a nice steak or salmon or some such fatty meat for lunch along with a salad or veg, and that happened at 2:00 because I wasn’t hungry until then…and…well…if I go to bed late I might have a handful of nuts or a glass of raw milk. It is sooooo nice to not be a slave to my stomach. I am even okay with just skipping a meal or just having a nibble if I go to a gathering and am faced with a table full of carbage (love that word.)
Given the way our government is clamping down on real-food producers, if you’re not a little paranoid, it means you’re not paying attention.
I take my own butter to restaurants that I know serve margarine. It usually leads to some interesting conversations about what butter really is, vs the “butter” that’s being served at the restaurant.
I would feel strange walking into a restaurant with a tub of butter in my hands. Fortunately, I’m married to a woman who carries a purse.
A man bag would have been an okay thing in LA. In Tennessee it could be problematic. 🙂 You both have me convinced. It really is a great idea.
I could only get away with it here if I convinced the staff I’m in the music business.
Tom, why hasn’t the guy from CSPI acknowledged that seed oils are excessively high in omega-6s, and that they promote systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and GI problems? I’m honestly wondering, because I find it odd that they either don’t know, or refuse to acknowledge known facts. Really, can’t anyone show these people that canola oil is made rancid by the process used to create it, and thus has had all of its health benefits negated? There has to be someone out there to challenge these folks, otherwise it looks like they’re right!
Simple answer: he’s a vegetarian and refuses to acknowledge that animal fats are better for anything, including frying. That’s why he promoted hydrogenated soybean oil in the first place.
This “food reward” theory is one of the dumbest things I ever heard. Good tasty food doesn’t leave me craving for more it. Bland, tasteless food or food that looks and tastes like food but isn’t does. Years of experience with all sorts of diets and WOEs have shown that to me over and over again. The body will not be fooled. Not even by “experts”.
Indeed. I ate a LOT of pasta that didn’t taste as good as the meals I eat now because my body (not my tastebuds) was screaming for more.
Ah, my response to grain products is they dilute the taste of food. Can be useful, if you are eating a hot curry type dish wherein white rice is soothing, but I don’t know for aught else it’s useful.
Yeah, I pretty much used pasta as a carrier for sauce.
I followed the low fat, high carb, “healthy whole grain” diet for several years. I was morbidly obese and got diabetes – along with high blood pressure and messed up cholesterol. I know from personal experience it does no good.
As for the guy from the CPSI, I agree that fettucini alfredo is heart attack on a plate – due to the pasta, of course. The sauce may be a problem if it contains flour or corn starch, but that made with simply butter, cream, and parmesan cheese is great.
Heart attack on a bun, should be heart attack from a bun.
Trans fat is bad, but legislating or suing makes things worse. Just let the free market work and get us back to real fats.
I just have to tell you…this is now my favorite blog. You had me with the “Tab/burger/cottage cheese” lunch post (brought back memories!)…but I really appreciate you taking these studies and dissecting them for us.
Oh, I’ve watched Fat Head several times on Netflix already. But I heard there’s a revised version? Will it be coming to Netflix?
Thanks for such an awesome website.
No word yet on whether Netflix is taking the Director’s Cut version. The two-year contract on the original version ran its course.
I followed the low fat, high carb, “healthy whole grain” diet for several years. I was morbidly obese and got diabetes – along with high blood pressure and messed up cholesterol. I know from personal experience it does no good.
As for the guy from the CPSI, I agree that fettucini alfredo is heart attack on a plate – due to the pasta, of course. The sauce may be a problem if it contains flour or corn starch, but that made with simply butter, cream, and parmesan cheese is great.
Heart attack on a bun, should be heart attack from a bun.
Trans fat is bad, but legislating or suing makes things worse. Just let the free market work and get us back to real fats.
I saw a cooking show on PBS a couple of DECADES ago that showed that true Alfredo sauce in Italy was butter, with more butter, then cream. Like Chinese food in China, it is NOT what they call Alfredo sauce in the US.
My quick & easy version is butter, sour cream, garlic salt and parmesan.
Alfredo sauce: Onions boiled in lots of butter, add a half-pint of Dean’s heavy whipping cream (no additives), and dump in a bag of grated parmesan. Heat until cheese is melted. Great “gravy” for just about anything. 🙂
I just have to tell you…this is now my favorite blog. You had me with the “Tab/burger/cottage cheese” lunch post (brought back memories!)…but I really appreciate you taking these studies and dissecting them for us.
Oh, I’ve watched Fat Head several times on Netflix already. But I heard there’s a revised version? Will it be coming to Netflix?
Thanks for such an awesome website.
No word yet on whether Netflix is taking the Director’s Cut version. The two-year contract on the original version ran its course.
Back to the original topic of this post: Last night I was reading an obit. A 67 year old man died after a long illness. Suggestions for memorial donations were 1) his church, 2) the American Heart Association, and 3) the American Diabetes Association. I couldn’t help wondering if this was another ADA diet failure. Another ADA tragedy.
I’d like to report on my recent 2 week vacation to the Pacific Northwest, which, because of my terrible habit of eating nothing but bacon and eggs for breakfast, I was only able to hike a total of 53 miles up and down the mountains of the Olympic National Forest, Olympic National Park, and Mt. Rainier National Park.
Too bad you didn’t load up on hearthealthywholegrains. You might still be hiking.
Back to the original topic of this post: Last night I was reading an obit. A 67 year old man died after a long illness. Suggestions for memorial donations were 1) his church, 2) the American Heart Association, and 3) the American Diabetes Association. I couldn’t help wondering if this was another ADA diet failure. Another ADA tragedy.
I’d like to report on my recent 2 week vacation to the Pacific Northwest, which, because of my terrible habit of eating nothing but bacon and eggs for breakfast, I was only able to hike a total of 53 miles up and down the mountains of the Olympic National Forest, Olympic National Park, and Mt. Rainier National Park.
Too bad you didn’t load up on hearthealthywholegrains. You might still be hiking.
The main premise behind the movie is that the narrator is considered obese even though he appears not to be. Well, guess what? At 206.5 lbs, 5″11 inches, he is merely considered overweight, NOT obese, as determined by the BMI standard. Did the sponsor behind the film not think that the audience would not fact-check the main premise behind the film? As such, the film automatically loses all credibility with the point that it was attempting to get across.
There is no sponsor. If you’ve actually done some fact-checking, then you should know that the definition of obese is 1) a BMI of >30 or 2) a bodyfat percentage of > 30% … although some medical authorities consider men obese if their bodyfat percentage is > 25%. Bodyfat is actually the more important measurement, since it accounts for people with thin bones (like me).
Unless you slept through that part, you saw that my bodyfat was 30.2%. And so, as the doctor explained to me, I was obese by the current medical definition.
The main premise behind the movie is that the narrator is considered obese even though he appears not to be. Well, guess what? At 206.5 lbs, 5″11 inches, he is merely considered overweight, NOT obese, as determined by the BMI standard. Did the sponsor behind the film not think that the audience would not fact-check the main premise behind the film? As such, the film automatically loses all credibility with the point that it was attempting to get across.
There is no sponsor. If you’ve actually done some fact-checking, then you should know that the definition of obese is 1) a BMI of >30 or 2) a bodyfat percentage of > 30% … although some medical authorities consider men obese if their bodyfat percentage is > 25%. Bodyfat is actually the more important measurement, since it accounts for people with thin bones (like me).
Unless you slept through that part, you saw that my bodyfat was 30.2%. And so, as the doctor explained to me, I was obese by the current medical definition.