Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Politically Correct Nutrition, meaning what the "government would have you eat" or what the typical college-educated dietitian would have you eat", is based on the assumption that we should reduce our intake of fats, particularly saturated fats from animal sources. Fats from animal sources also contain cholesterol, presented as the twin villain of the civilized diet.
Although hydrogenation of fats began in 1912, coronary heart disease was rare in America before 1920- so rare that when a young internist named Paul Dudley White introduced the German electrocardiograph to his colleagues at Harvard University, they advised him to concentrate on a more profitable branch of medicine. The new machine revealed the presence of arterial blockages, thus permitting early diagnosis of coronary heart disease. But in those days, clogged arteries were a medical rarity, and White had to search for patients who could benefit from his new technology. During the next forty years, however, the incidence of coronary heart disease rose dramatically, so much so that by the mid-fifties heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans. Today, heart disease causes at least 40% of all deaths in the US. If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet. Actually, the converse is true. During the sixty year period from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%, and butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. During the past eighty years, dietary cholesterol intake has increased only 1%. During the same period, the percentage of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400%, while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%.
The much-maligned saturated fats- which Americans are trying to avoid- are not the cause of modern diseases. If they were, and if the saturated fat or cholesterol myth were true, none of us would be alive today because saturated fat was the primary energy source for most of our ancestors. Studies of North American Indians, Eskimos and other tribes suggest that as much as 80% of their daily caloric intake was from fat, most of which was saturated animal fat
Info from How to Eat, Move and be Health by Paul Chek

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Katie
Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand
Hi.. Im Katie. I am 20 years old. I am a student nurse. I love learning about healthy eating and living healthy lifestyles. There are so many lies and myths about the food we eat today and I am determined to spread the word. If you have any questions don't be shy to ask. Email me at k_rotgans@hotmail.com P.S I am not a doctor, I do not diagnose conditions. I am just hear to educate myself and others. Any symptoms I address please see your doctor.
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