The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) giveth to the low-carb community, and it taketh away. In late June 2011, the HSPH published a study singling out potatoes as a particularly fattening food, especially in the form of french fries. Having sworn off fries forever as part of my low-carb way of eating, I applauded the brilliance of the findings. I also liked the general conclusion that all calories are not equal when it comes to packing on pounds. Now I'm wondering what could have caused … [Read more...]
Beliefs can cause inflammation of the brain
How dangerous is that beef-steak? Beliefs, dogmas and habits of mind are powerful things. I'd sooner have them on my side in an argument than the puny forces of reason and evidence. Take the belief that saturated fat is the source of all evil in the modern diet. It's a deeply and widely held notion in the Western World. Somehow, we all just know that eating red meat will kill us by clogging up our arteries with its saturated fat. Doctors, nutritionists, media pundits and ordinary people have … [Read more...]
Flax seed meal revisited: nutritious and low carb
A while ago, I wrote about flax seed meal in a post entitled Great foods for a low-carb diet (part 2): seeds. I was mildly disparaging, not about the obvious nutritional benefits of flax seed meal, but about the taste and consistency. Having now finished my first bag of flax seed meal, it's a good time for a second-look. My overall impression is positive. Flax seed meal satisfies my craving for a hot cereal that is easy to prepare and non-grain based. Pictured is the actual one-pound bag of … [Read more...]
Yes, tax bad food — after we all agree on what it is
Because thou art vegan-leaning, shall there be no bacon cheeseburgers? Taxing other people's vices always seems like a win-win. It allows the majority to feel holier-than-thou and adds money to the public coffers. For instance, I've favored the enormous taxes placed on tobacco. As you can probably guess, I'm not a smoker. I have no vested interests that keep me from seeing the logic of the standard public health argument. Smoking is implicated in widespread health problems that cost … [Read more...]
Reviewing some good and bad advice for spotting bogus diets
Is a diet "bogus" because it bans "fat, sugar or carbs"? Yes claims an article at USA Weekend: Five ways to spot a bogus diet. I'll get to the other signs of dietary bogusosity in a minute. Let us first examine the assertion that banning or limiting particular foods or nutrients from your diet is "both nutritionally deficient and not sustainable." Sure, banning all fat would create a diet that is seriously deficient and unsustainable; in fact, it would kill you. Therefore, no one ever … [Read more...]
Setting the stage for tragedy: changes in the U.S. diet, 1970-2006
In the years 1977-1984, the U.S. government pushed out dietary recommendations to the American people to cut their intake of saturated fats (as in butter, lard and red meat) and increase their intake of carbohydrates and fiber (as in grains, fruits and starchy vegetables) and of "healthy" fats (as in poly and monounsaturated vegetable oils). The goal was to prevent heart disease. The theory was, dietary fat -- especially saturated animal fat -- causes a build up of fats in the blood, leading … [Read more...]
Have we been “brainwashed against carbs”?!
“We are brainwashed against carbs. But it is the wrong message" -- Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, coauthor of The Carb Lovers Diet and senior food and nutrition editor of Health Magazine, quoted in Diet Review: The Carb Lovers Diet and Resistant Starch Foods. WebMD. Before I discuss this brainwashing claim, let me explain the context. Most mornings, I get up early, brew coffee, eat breakfast and turn on the TV to catch the local news and weather. The best local TV news happens to be on an … [Read more...]
Fudge on granola bars
For the sake of argument, let's say that a granola bar by itself is "wholesome." Is it still wholesome after you dip it in fudge? Traditional fudge is made with sugar, milk and butter. I don't see butter and milk listed in the ingredients of the Keebler Granola Fudge Bars, but among the listed ingredients are sugar, brown sugar syrup, corn syrup, and hydrogenated and/or partially hydrogenated oils. If the granola bars are truly wholesome to start with, as Keebler claims in its ad … [Read more...]
Exploring the HuffPo: Sugar, Paleo and Plaque
Man does not live by steak-and-eggs alone. Woman either, from what I can see. Having consumed plenty of editorial red-meat in recent days, I decided to venture beyond the low-carb blogosphere this weekend to see who else was writing about diet and health. There was bound to be somebody. I ended up at the Huffington Post. All Internet roads seem to lead there. The HuffPo (as we insiders call it) is the New York Times of the Digital Age, except that apparently the HuffPo doesn't pay its … [Read more...]
Help fight the good fight against dietary dogma and bad science
In a recent article published in Diabetes Health, Hope Warshaw, a nutrition/diabetes consultant and author, calls the idea of controlling type-2 diabetes with a low-carbohydrate diet an "old dogma" that needs to give way to a "new reality." Warshaw's statement ignited a fire-storm of opinion among diabetics and low-carb dieters, including vehement responses from bloggers Dana Carpender, Jimmy Moore, and Tom Naughton. (No one does vehement like Naughton, who wrote two brilliant posts about the … [Read more...]