from CNN's front page: "Vintage Health Advice ~ 1915"

[James71]

Lolly, does that mean I am obliged to the occasional excess so that the moderation doesn't get out of hand?

 

[Paisley]

The prevailing wisdom on what is and is not healthy to eat seems to change every 30 years or so based on new scientific studies, which always contradict the findings that came before. Are we supposed to overhaul our diets accordingly? For an overview of the many different diets touted as "ideal" by scientists throughout the 20th-Century I recommend Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories.

For those of us who read studies and books about nutrition with a critical eye, the prevailing nutrional advice to avoid fat and eat plenty of healthy whole grains and copious amounts of fruit are meaningless.

Bacon every day? Why not? Humans have eaten meat--as in, whole animals, snout to tail, fat, marrow and organs included--for hundreds of thousands of years. In some cases (e.g., the cro-magnons), that was pretty much the whole diet. The cro-magnons were healthy and strong enough to live through the Ice Age as nomads and hunt aurochs and other big game; the Plains equestrian Native Americans were, during the late 19th century, the tallest people in the world. (Edible veg is pretty thin on the ground here on the Plains; antelope, bison and other game were plentiful.)

Gary Taubes has a new book out called Why We Get Fat. It's a pretty easy read, but I'll provide a clue: the bacon didn't do it.

 

[Alex]

I apologise, but with all due respect I must beg to differ again.

Designed?

We evolved as a species to eat an omnivorous diet. We did not start to develop the large brain that has given us such a competitive advantage until we not only started to eat meat, but in fact started to cook meat. Cooked meat allows the amino acids, (the building blocks that make up the complex proteins we need to build such wonderful brains) to be readily available for digestion. If we stuck with a purely grain and leaf based diet we would never have evolved this brain.

If we were "designed" to be purely vegetarian we would have a much much longer large intestine and a huge appendix to be able to digest cellulose. (which we cant). We might even share a well evolved system of fermentation based digestion like the ruminants. We would also spend most of the day grazing and laying about burping up our food for a bit more chewing to help break down that nasty cellulose. (We dont bother, we just excrete it)

What we did evolve, and that we have forgotten, is a digestive flora assemblage best suited to a particular food almost exclusively for a given period of time. To use your phrase, "think about it". As hunter gatherers, we subsisted on whatever was in season at a particular time. If the proto-wheat seed grains were out, then thats what you ate exclusively until they ran out. Then it might be fish for a few weeks. You might be lucky enough to kill a beast at which time it would be meat out the wazoo until it went off or was gone.

You dont think we wandered about in a pre-historic utopia where there was a wonderful modern array of foodstuffs just laying about like a primitive mini-mall do you? Do you think our esteemed forbears sat down to meat and three veg at every meal?

"Grog, you will not leave the eating rock until you have finished your potatoes and spinach".

Our stomach flora is "designed" to change to a single set of inputs for a particular period of time. It becomes very efficient at digesting that food before making a change of flora in response to a change in food input and once again efficiently breaking down a particular foodstuff.

If you want to eat the way that we evolved to eat, then stick to one thing for a week at a time before changing it. You will find that after a day or two you will very efficiently break down that food.

Personally, I will stick to bacon and let the evolution continue. Its arrogance to believe that we are the end of the evolutionary line. In the far future, (if we manage not to make the world uninhabitable for our own species in the interim) we may evolve a digestive system "designed" to efficiently live on a diet of varied inputs.


Oh, and sheeplady, good move trying to distance yourself from fructose based sweeteners. Fructose is as hard for the liver to break down as alcohol. (why does america have such a love affair with fructose sweeteners anyway? Just as an aside, Honey is a health food, and it is the fructose in it that makes it sweet....well, at least 80% of the sweetness comes from fructose - the rest from glucose which is readily adsorbed)

So you think we evolved from like a one celled organism and now have very powerful brains with personalities? Alright. Well I'm just saying, people benefit highly from eating raw fruits and vegetables. Why? The body uses most of its energy to digest food. Raw fruit is very easy to digest, and takes very little energy to process the fiber. Fiber helps clean you out and keep your digestive tract clean. If you eat meat, that has no fiber, and can cause residue in the body. This also creates an acidic environment, which is not good because bad bacteria flourish in this type of environment. Good bacteria thrive on food that digests with an alkaline environment, which is how fruit and vegetables digest. If you ate all raw, even though I don't because it's very hard to in my circumstances, you would have way more energy. Your body could also use that newly preserved energy to better repair cells and muscle at night, as well as provide alertness.

I'm not trying to spawn a religious argument here. Meat does have benefits with it, and I do consume it occasionally.

 

[sheeplady]

Oh, and sheeplady, good move trying to distance yourself from fructose based sweeteners. Fructose is as hard for the liver to break down as alcohol. (why does america have such a love affair with fructose sweeteners anyway? Just as an aside, Honey is a health food, and it is the fructose in it that makes it sweet....well, at least 80% of the sweetness comes from fructose - the rest from glucose which is readily adsorbed)

That is interesting about honey, and something I didn't know. I can't tolerate honey or things with honey in it (it makes me get some not so nice symptoms immediately- even a teaspoon). I always assumed it was due to the sugars, but I've noticed I can actually eat quite a bit more maple syrup without getting sick than I can honey. I always thought it had something to do with the sweetness level or perhaps how it was processed. But perhaps it is the fructose I'm sensitive to. I will need to check this out- thank you for telling me this!

 

[Pompidou]

I knew high fructose corn syrup is bad for you, but I didn't know that the liver had the same problems with it as with alcohol. The Pepsis and Cokes that I drink so much - second only to coffee - are loaded with it. I think in Canada, the Cokes at least are made with real sugar.

 

[martinsantos]

The traditional cane sugar is very different than the usual. This is white and dry; the traditional, not refined with sulphites, is maroon, and very better. Not everybody's taste, because have an accentuated cane taste.

 

[lolly_loisides]

Lolly, does that mean I am obliged to the occasional excess so that the moderation doesn't get out of hand?

Correct! You know it makes sense.

 

[James71]

Whenever I go over to the states I am amazed by how sweet everything is. Even the bread is full of sugar. And its all that nasty corn based sugar... even my Pittsburghian wife cant stand it when she goes back to visit family. All our sugar here is sucrose from cane sugar. It makes the coke taste better.

Here's a quick comparison. I know, I know a very small sample size, but it does illustrate my point. (Given what I do for a living non-statistically significant examples make me cringe, but if theres an excuse to post a pic of Nigella I will take it!)

This woman is 51.

She is a TV “health guru” advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and ill health, promoting exercise, a pescetarian diet high in organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox diets colonic irrigation and supplements, also making statements that yeast is harmful, that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and about the utility of lingual and faecal examination.

This woman is 50.
She is a TV cook, who eats nothing but meat, butter and deserts


That year between 50 and 51 must be a rough year......

Ill take my Nigella with extra cream please.

 

[martinsantos]

:eusa_clap

 

[scottyrocks]

Nothing like a little anecdotal evidence.:eusa_doh:

 

[rue]

Whenever I go over to the states I am amazed by how sweet everything is. Even the bread is full of sugar. And its all that nasty corn based sugar... even my Pittsburghian wife cant stand it when she goes back to visit family. All our sugar here is sucrose from cane sugar. It makes the coke taste better.

Here's a quick comparison. I know, I know a very small sample size, but it does illustrate my point. (Given what I do for a living non-statistically significant examples make me cringe, but if theres an excuse to post a pic of Nigella I will take it!)

This woman is 51.

She is a TV “health guru” advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and ill health, promoting exercise, a pescetarian diet high in organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox diets colonic irrigation and supplements, also making statements that yeast is harmful, that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and about the utility of lingual and faecal examination.

This woman is 50.
She is a TV cook, who eats nothing but meat, butter and deserts


That year between 50 and 51 must be a rough year......

Ill take my Nigella with extra cream please.

That was great

 

[rue]

I'm on a vintage diet now which isn't really a diet at all, it's just how people ate 50 years ago and I've lost all kinds of weight, my skin is clear and I have more energy. After listening to all the 'diet gurus' for years and never getting the weight off I finally figured out what works.... eating what grandma would have cooked

 

[Gingerella72]

Saturated fat is not the culprit in health problems and weight gain, trans fats and hydrogenated oils are. We've been told by the "experts" for years that refined vegetable oils are healthy and animal fat is not....but as someone pointed out earlier, you have to look to see who is funding the research. And who had a vested interest in pushing refined oils? Big agri-business who was getting government subsidies for their soybean and canola crops. Lets not forget the corn industry while we're at it and its subsidized manufacture of high fructose corn sryup!

http://trusted.md/blog/vreni_gurd/2007/04/06/saturated_fat_the_misunderstood_nutrient#axzz1DJ5MI8zI

http://www.optimumchoices.com/Soy.htm#Is_Soy_a_Health_Food

http://www.goodhealthwellnessblog.com/260/canola-oil-the-great-con/

For further reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Tr...9735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297111338&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Unhealthy-Tru...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297111370&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Fat-Lose-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297111409&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Real-Revival-...=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1297111431&sr=1-3

(Can you tell I'm a recent Real Food convert? Only whole milk, real butter, and non-processed food for me now!)

 

[Paisley]

Gingerella and Rue--:arated:

It's hard for me to believe that foods that we've eaten for hundreds of thousands of years, like saturated fat, are responsible for modern diseases.

Stephen Guyenet at Whole Health Source did an informal review of observational studies on saturated fat intake and cholesterol. The studies didn't turn up much of a relationship.

Denise Minger reviewed the new USDA guidelines (where do these people find the patience?) and found them to be mostly hogwash (surprise!). My favorite part: the USDA's to-do list: see whether the recommendations on carbohydrates and vegetables are actually right.

Another fave of mine is the movie Fathead. Search Youtube, and you'll find interviews and snippets from the comedy-documentary.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Official U. S. Government dietary recommendations, 1942. I have a version of this poster hanging in my kitchen.

 

[rue]

Gingerella and Rue--:arated:

It's hard for me to believe that foods that we've eaten for hundreds of thousands of years, like saturated fat, are responsible for modern diseases.

Stephen Guyenet at Whole Health Source did an informal review of observational studies on saturated fat intake and cholesterol. The studies didn't turn up much of a relationship.

Denise Minger reviewed the new USDA guidelines (where do these people find the patience?) and found them to be mostly hogwash (surprise!). My favorite part: the USDA's to-do list: see whether the recommendations on carbohydrates and vegetables are actually right.

Another fave of mine is the movie Fathead. Search Youtube, and you'll find interviews and snippets from the comedy-documentary.

Thank you Paisley for the articles. I have some reading to do

Official U. S. Government dietary recommendations, 1942. I have a version of this poster hanging in my kitchen.

That is so neat Lizzie. I hope you don't mind if I make a copy of it for myself.