Western Diet

[saevel25]

I have been reading a bood, "Good Calories Bad Calories." Its basically a study done on how nearly all carbs are bad. It basically attacks all common knowledge of what we think good eating is. From this book, i have to agree with him on the following.

Heart Disease is not caused by high fat diets

Cholesterol is not lowered with a low-fat, low cholesterol diet.

Fructose, goes directly to the liver and converted directly to fat. So HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), which is 55% fructose is the worst of both worlds. 55% of the sugar is converted directly to fat, and 45% of the rest raised the blood sugar causing you to crave food. Also it has been found that HFCS damages the liver like Alcohal does.

There is no evidence showing low-fat diets cause weight loss. To the contrary, even eating less food than taking in might not cause weight loss. A study done by the Mayo Clinic on a group of men, were given the same diet, 1000 calories less than there normal. The weight loss ranged from 1 lb to 9 lbs over an 8 week period. So calories isn't the thing that matters in weight loss. This was shown with President Eisenhower, when he tried every low-fat, calorie restriction diet, and he diet of heart failure, his cholesterol skyrocketed and he gained weight. Another good point is that those who breed cows know the genetics of the cows they breed. They know that certain cows fatten up better than others. So our bodies process foods, genetically more than we think. So to generalize a healthy diet by the food pyramid is not smart. But the data is compelling that people started getting unhealthy, obese, having disease related to poor eating when carbs were introduced as the primary source of food, and when HFCS was introduced in the 70's as an alternative to sugar. Even before that, heart disease was isolated to those who had diets similar to what is advocated as a higher carb diet, and low-fat.

The point of this book is that cultures that take in the western diet, that is majority of carbs, low-fat, and rest protein, they gain weight, have health problems.

The book really hasn't given what foods to eat yet, i haven't gotten to that point. But i can say that it advocates eating as much meat as you want. Eat no sugars, no carbs (other than fruits and veggitables). So basically, diets like; Atkins, South Beach Diet.

The author makes a compelling arguement supported by factual data. nearly 30 pages of the book is his references. Its a very scientific book, and is not out to promote one style of diet, or one gimic. Its to promote a whole change in how we eat, proposing that we are not suppose to be eating carbs.

I will be trying this new eating style, limiting all my carbs and going on majority of fats and protein.

[Joehuggy]

check out the work of Dr Weston Price