This is one long blog but stick with it— digging through meters of BS in hip-boots, a shovel and a bucket takes a bit of time.
Recently Pete Evans came under yet another attack by the ‘authorities’ for his support and promotion of The Paleo Diet. Michael Gannon, the President of the AMA called him ‘Paleo Pete’: derision I suspect, to lower Pete’s status in the eyes of the Australian public.
Here are some of the less than articulate comments from said President after the release of a film by Pete which claims the paleo diet can treat chronic disease.
This film has been slammed by Australia’s top doctors. Of course, because it tells many unsettling truths about the dogmas uttered from the medical pulpits.
Well unfortunately, in the little piece of terra firma we call OZ, these ‘top’ doctors are often experts in their own minds, and as is way too often the case, just dead wrong.
Pete’s film, The Magic Pill, claims people suffering from illnesses such as diabetes, cancer and autism can reduce their symptoms and reliance on prescription drugs by adopting the diet for just five weeks.
With his usual bravado against Evans, Dr Gannon fired off with nary a nod to the facts.
He compared the documentary to controversial anti-vaccination film, Vaxxed, and said the two were competing ‘in the awards for the films least likely to contribute to public health’.
‘Elements of the discussion are just plain hurtful, harmful and mean,’ Dr Gannon said.
Cheap, low shot and doesn’t discuss the facts—so very Aussie to attack the messenger and not the message.
I am not in any way supporting Pete on all his issues, but on the paleo Diet, he is spot on. A mounting body of published evidence shows that the low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF) diet is indeed capable of reversing Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome.
(I have a paper to be presented on that in a few weeks in the US)
Dr Gannon, clearly with little knowledge about ‘things’ dietary, goes into ‘snowflake’ mode and says, ‘Elements of the discussion are just plain hurtful, harmful and mean.’ Awww…
Actually, Dr Gannon can have no opinion on dietary issues because AHPRA, the watchdog (as in woofy) of Australian Medical practices, said so. Yes, I know you are wondering how that could be, so let us digress for a moment.
In Tasmania, an orthopedic surgeon Dr Gary Fettke, advised his obese patients to embrace a LCHF diet and a petulant dietician reported him to AHPRA for giving out harmful, even lethal, advice. Oh dear!
Unable to parse even simple information, such as what constitutes primary dietary building blocks, this organization forbade him to discuss diets with any patients ever again, because— wait for this, he isn’t an expert in dietary matters–threatening him by taking away his license if he continued to do so. And not just in Australia is he prohibited from speaking, but anywhere in the world. Yes—incredible.
Well, here is an excerpt from an article from Diabetes UK:
An Australian doctor has become yet another collateral victim of a medical board extremely zealous in enforcing regulations for ignoring official nutrition guidelines.
Dr Gary Fettke has recommended low carb living for at least two years in his practice before the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) decided to silence him.
Fettke, who is trained as an orthopedic surgeon, discovered about low carb by doing his own research and has been lecturing at length about the science behind low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF).
He and his wife founded a dietetic organization called Nutrition for Life in 2014 to share and apply this knowledge to diabetes management.
But, Fettke was anonymously *reported to the AHPRA health board who requested that he be banned from communicating nutrition advice in any way as a doctor.
(*Brave little twerp, no?)