Just a few days ago, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the US came out with their new dietary guidelines. The basis for the radical change, indeed a 180 degree change, was based on credible published data, not the self-serving industry sponsored studies that our Australian authorities have been foisting on the public for the last three decades.
Cholesterol and saturated fat have been removed as ‘nutrients of concern,’ salt restriction has been recognized as being causative of health issues, rather than the opposite and we have been warned that added sugars are a health hazard. On the last, they could have gone further, and in the future, they likely will, and will suggest that a very low carbohydrate diet, virtually free of non-seasonal fruits is more ideal. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and loads of hot rice -take a hike!
This is revolutionary. Prof Tim Noakes, Dr Andreas Eenfeldt and hundreds of other medical professionals, and intelligent chefs like Pete Evans have championed this cause for years, mostly to be attacked by the vested interests and ignorant dietician as “killers, nut cases and dangerous to our children.” The truth is, the opposite was the case. Those people should actually have been pointing the fingers at themselves!
Filling our kids up on “wholesome” grains and lots of fruit has led to our obesity and diabetes epidemics. Big bowls of sugared cereal and low fat milk are fictitious ‘healthy’ foods, concocted by a greedy food industry purposefully addicting our children to sugar at an early age.
Hunter gatherers did not need spears and bows and arrows to hunt corn flakes and bananas!
The idiotic advice coming from our heart and diabetes associations: the endocrinologists and cardiologists who have been promoting disease rather than preventing it; and the cadre of dieticians who should have known better; all who savaged Pete Evans owe him one massive apology. Now, they need to re-educate themselves and embrace the truth about macronutrients and promote healthy living based on rationality and facts. Tipping melted fat down a drain to prove how it blocks arteries was not only stupid, it was dangerous because it reinforced a fanciful fear that benefitted only the food industries and Big Pharma and the medical profession: they’ve all taken part in creating absolutely preventable diseases.
Will we see an immediate change? Unlikely. As is usual in these circumstances, there will be silence for a while, then a cry for more studies while the old and destructive advice is still promoted. A class action lawsuit might actually bring about the change. Surely, that tactic will do some good- it is long overdue.
Let’s begin by thanking Pete Evans and his colleagues for a fantastic job on TV and in his books. His new book for children is refreshingly honest and the best ‘recipe’ book for kids I have ever seen. And while we are at it, a big round of applause to ABC’s MaryAnne Demasi for her incisive, honest and informative series on ‘The Heart of the Matter’ cholesterol con and the episode about the Paleo dietary pattern on ‘Catalyst.’ The ad hominem attacks by the vested interests towards MaryAnne and the real experts in the series virtually guarantees she was right!