Axel’s Rantings
Have read with interest the frustration with the willful ignorance and blind
obedience of many people to long “established” nutritional dogma. I think
there are two roadblocks to acceptance of Blood Type/Low Carb diets: Naivete
and Emotion.
By naivete I mean the average person has complete trust in the nutritional
guidelines promoted by the government, and the food and medical industries.
People can’t believe that the infamous pyramid was put together by
agricultural and food industry lobby groups, and each group’s place on the
pyramid is indicative NOT of the relative importance of that food group, but
rather of each group’s purchasing power. The profit margin for ranchers is
much smaller than that of grain producers, and with less dollars, one
industry has less clout than the other. So the pyramid is taught in schools
and universities and is accepted as “fact”. But it’s all a game of politics
and influence. The same groups that had enough money to buy the big base of
the pyramid are spending a lot more to be sure they keep their position.
Think what they have to lose. Imagine if the majority of our population goes
to the meat market and the produce mart ONLY, and buys NO OTHER FOOD. Do you
think General Mills and Pillsbury will stand for that? And what about the
grocery chains. like Safeway? What is going to happen to them if America
stops buying potato chips, Cap’n Crunch and Potato Buds? Be assured, the
ongoing deluge of ridicule and misinformation about low carb diets will
continue.
The other issue is that most people are very emotional about their food. I
have heard several people tell me they “can’t live without a lot of
carbohydrates in their diet”. The book Carbohydrate Addicts addresses the
endocrinology of the hormonal process that occurs when carbs are ingested,
and to greatly simplify: The more you eat, the more you want. People on a
high carb regimen, whether whole grain “health food” or highly refined junk
food, are in the same cycle. Their bodies literally do have an intense,
irresistable physical/emotional meltdown every few hours, and they crave
carbs to relieve that feeling, and be satiated for another short while. I
was stuck in this cycle for 30 years till I read the book. But here’s the
key: Before I read Carbohydrate Addicts (and ER4YT) I had admitted my food
issues were emotional. This cycle where carbs assuage deep food cravings is
transferred by many people over to a way of dealing with ALL cravings, and
feelings of emptiness, frustration and emotional confusion. Food is a
socially acceptable, legal substance for people who are self-medicating, and
avoiding their “issues”. I had a personal crisis in 1998 that forced me to
confront my “issues” and find substantive ways to address them, and stop
hiding from them.
When this group discusses ER, there is an emphasis on the diet itself. In
reality, Dr. D’Adamo’s books address exercise, stress, and other emotional
issues. The diet is not a quick fix nor a magic pill. It only works as part
of an overall lifestyle and total mind/body wellness approach. So much more
than questioning the food pyramid, this flies in the face of the way many
people see themselves. Part of their emotional attachment to their eating
habits is avoidance of personal problems. Carbohydrate Addicts addresses
this very well, the extent to which our personal tendencies and the hormonal
effects of carbs combine to perpetuate a cycle that is truly an addiction.
So we are fed misinformation, and most people desperately want to believe it.
If you have read Fast Food Nation, as well as Drs. D’Adamo, Atkins, Sears,
etc., there is a growing body of research and published material to support
the idea that much of our nutritional information is misguided, and a growing
number of authors and researchers are gaining access to public forums to
continue the re-education of our society. The resistance they encounter at
the professional and public level is the same we as individuals are running
up against when we attempt to discuss ER with friends and family. The same
people that marvel at my incredible vitality (never sick, never tired, more
active than anyone), my healthy, resilient emotional state, my extremely
youthful appearance (44 going on 30), and my effortlessly slim figure are
the same people who get angry and literally shut me up when I try to tell
them about ER.
I come to this group not only to share information and learn as much as
possible about this way of living, but also to be part of a supportive,
enlightened group. I watch as my friends eat. Many of these people have
serious, ever-degenerating health issues. It’s like watching a train wreck!
So, I understand Axel’s rant, and now I’m ranting too. I hope our SUPPORTIVE
group will understand a little venting.
Thanks All!
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:26 am
Why the Current US Dietary Guidelines are Making Americans Fat
by Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.
The McGovern Committee Senate Hearings, held in the 1970s, grew out of
the ideas for developing nutrition policy that were put forth at the
1969 White House Conference on Foods and Nutrition. Some of the
recommendations that came out of the White House conference were
orchestrated by lawyers and lobbyists from the food industry. The
McGovern Committee originally planned to hold hearings on heart disease
and diet, but evidently changed to hearings on all the killer diseases
and their nutritional causes, although the major emphasis still came
from the National Heart and Lung Institute (as it was called at that
time) and the American Heart Association, with much testimony
orchestrated by the American Health Foundation. Behind the scenes, the
edible oil industry and the Grocery Manufacturers of America played a
major role in lobbying efforts.
The McGovern Select Committee heard erroneous testimony from various
research scientists, most of whom had particular biases against animal
fat and meat. For example, Dr. Gio B. Gori from the National Cancer
Institute and Dr. David M. Hegsted from Harvard School of Public Health
testified that there was a direct relationship between dietary intake
and forms of cancer and that it was their recommendation that Americans
should cut down on the amount of food they eat, and specifically, eat
less meat and fats (Congressional Record 9/16/76 p S15993-4). The
animal fat and cancer connection was first introduced by Dr. Ernst
Wynder from the American Health Foundation using processed vegetable fat
data mistakenly labeled animal fat. Colon cancer was also tied to beef
in an erroneous interpretation of the National Cancer Institute
Japanese-Hawaiian study which actually showed macaroni, green beans and
peas to have higher risk associated with colon cancer than beef or lamb.1
Committee members ignored testimony debunking the anti-animal fat agenda
even though the testimony defending meat and animal fat was supported by
science and came from highly qualified researchers. The meat and dairy
lobbies were very ineffective in defending their products.
The Select Committee produced a report that called for the decrease in
consumption of animal fat, dairy fat and eggs. If you decrease the
amount of fat in the diet, something has to increase to take its place
and that something was to be the carbohydrates.
Once mandated, no government employee or government-funded researcher
could contradict the US Dietary Goals. All the research from that point
on had to be geared to creating educational material to match the US
Dietary Goals and to produce a science to support them. If a researcher
wanted another grant, the results he or she came up with would have to
fit the guidelines.
Even though these goals/guidelines originally had no science to back
them up, and still have no clear science to support them, they have
become the law of the land.
Thus the Senate, with the help of the food industry and the complicity
of a major part of the nutrition community, came up with a low-fat,
high-carbohydrate Rx that produced profound changes in the way Americans
ate. Vegetable oil and carbohydrate (mostly refined carbohydrate)
calories replaced animal fat calories resulting in massive obesity in
the populace. The US government is now proposing more of the same to
combat. . . the massive obesity epidemic among Americans!
1. Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD, Its the Beef, Wise
Traditions, the quarterly Journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation,
Spring 2000 1(1):27-35.
First published in Wise Traditions, the quarterly journal of
The Weston A. Price Foundation, Volume 3, Number One, Spring 2002.
March 24th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
I think Annie’s Naturals makes some OK ones.
-R
On Wednesday, September 4, 2002, at 02:31 PM, Courtney Jones-Ramirez