How things go downhill

[hugh_mannity]

You go to the doctor. Perhaps because you're feeling under the weather, perhaps for your annual physical -- because you've been told it's the right thing to do to

Comments

[bitterlawngnome]

that no one tells vegans or vegetarians that their diet is "too restrictive", "excludes essential nutrients", or is "too difficult to maintain long term".

oooooh think again LOL

[bikergeek]

yeah, people actually do tell vegetarians/vegans that all the time.

[hugh_mannity]

I'm seeing massive amounts of "more healthy whole grains", "less meat and animal fat", "vegetarian diets are healthier", etc. No one's saying "have a steak!" or "eat more butter".

Even the experts who don't advocate a completely vegetarian diet are still repeating the same old, same old "animal fat will raise your cholesterol, clog your arteries, and kill you" meme. Along with "have some healthy oatmeal".

The only time I've got a blood glucose reading of 300mg/dL was when I had a bowl of healthy oatmeal, no sugar, just some frozen raspberries added for breakfast. And it wasn't the raspberries that spiked my blood glucose -- I still eat them with no ill effects.

[bikergeek]

40-50 years ago we were using lard and real butter in damn near everything and a lot fewer people died of heart disease and similar ailments.

At this point I'm convinced it's all a collusion between Big Med (who profit from research dollars), Big Food (who profit from crappy food), and Big Pharma (who profit from expanding the user base for their medications).

[kass_rants]

Ever since I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for the company that makes drugs like Lipotor, I have been preaching about there being no conclusive proof linking high cholesterol (LDL/HDL/whatever) with heart disease. People with high cholesterol numbers don't necessarily have plaque in their arteries. And that's what causes heart disease. If they don't have the plaque, why put them on a systemic poison like statin drugs? It's just insane. And after years of showing that low carb diets like South Beach (originally developed as a cholesterol-fighting diet) actually improve blood results, why is the mainstream media still promoting an animal-free diet. As you said, we ARE animals. To avoid animal protein is against our nature. We are omnivores. We can eat anything and survive, but we are most healthy when we eat animals

[kls_eloise]

It's funny though, that no one tells vegans or vegetarians that their diet is "too restrictive", "excludes essential nutrients", or is "too difficult to maintain long term".

Nope. I have a good friend who is a vegetarian. Not only is she perpetually lectured by people who know her, total strangers feel free to walk up and criticise. People get downright nasty.

[dreda]

If only there were a way to make eating low-carb, high-animal less of a first-world option - animals (and high-quality veg) are really spendy and grains are not. I often wonder how the big swaths of the world where people have been eating mostly plants for generations are not overrun with carbohydrate-linked health problems.

[bikergeek]

There's also the fact that in a post-industrial culture, people get nowhere near as much exercise as people in agrarian or industrial societies. Working on a farm or in a factory, or doing household work without the benefit of mechanical assistance, takes substantial amounts of effort. Sitting at a desk, not so much.

As far as the rapidly expanding (pardon the pun) growth of obesity and type II diabetes among youth, I think we're seeing the effects of "indoor kids" who were raised after it became a sign of bad parenting to let your kids outdoors to play, unsupervised. *That* came about because of what I call "milk-carton mania"--the moral panic in the U.S. over the abduction of children by strangers, occasioned in the 1980s by a few high-profile cases (Adam Walsh and Etan Patz, to name two). IMO that's also to blame for the increase in ADHD diagnoses among children. they can't go outside and run around to burn off excess energy so they sit in class and fidget and act out.

[noveldevice]

Yet the actual amount of obesity in the US has remained steady for decades, from what I can actually tell. I don't think there is an "obesity epidemic", and I suspect that the apparent increase of type II diabetes is A) smaller than one might think based on reporting and B) due mostly to what Hugh mentions above: improved diagnostic techniques, diagnostic creep, and medical bias.

[sunfell]

I did a ton of research to find the right combination of Things That Work so I could lose weight. I did them- started exercising (combo aerobics and weights) 3 times a week. Eliminated most grains from my diet- especially wheat (then learned I had an allergy to it!). Ate high quality protein- but not too much. Ate fresh, home-cooked meals. Upped the 'real' fat (butter, lard, coconut, olive oil), deleted 'fake' fats. Removed nearly all sugars- real and especially fake- from the menu. I ate smaller portions, too.

The weight came off. And stayed off. My blood pressure dropped. My metabolic syndrome went away. I felt better. And I'm doing well today- 3 years on.

[hugh_mannity]

My focus has been on normalising my blood glucose without drugs. I'm pretty close right now. I'm on the border between normal and pre-diabetic.

I've lost a little weight and gained a little muscle, I need to up the exercise part of the program next. Walking is good, but I need to add something like Tai Chi or Yoga and get some flexibility going.