"In 1988, the surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, proclaimed ice cream to a be public-health menace right up there with cigarettes. Alluding to his offices famous 1964 report on the perils of smoking, Dr. Koop announced that the American diet was a problem of comparable magnitude, chiefly because of the high-fat foods that were causing coronary heart disease and other deadly ailments.
He introduced his report with these words: The depth of the science base underlying its findings is even more impressive than that for tobacco and health in 1964.
That was a ludicrous statement, as Gary Taubes demonstrates in his new book meticulously debunking diet myths, Good Calories, Bad Calories (Knopf, 2007). The notion that fatty foods shorten your life began as a hypothesis based on dubious assumptions and data; when scientists tried to confirm it they failed repeatedly. The evidence against Häagen-Dazs was nothing like the evidence against Marlboros. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/science/09tier.html?_r=1
"...a small but growing minority of establishment researchers have come to take seriously what the low-carb-diet doctors have been saying all along. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, may be the most visible proponent of testing this heretic hypothesis. Willett is the de facto spokesman of the longest-running, most comprehensive diet and health studies ever performed, which have already cost upward of $100 million and include data on nearly 300,000 individuals. Those data, says Willett, clearly contradict the low-fat-is-good-health message ''and the idea that all fat is bad for you; the exclusive focus on adverse effects of fat may have contributed to the obesity epidemic.''
These researchers point out that there are plenty of reasons to suggest that the low-fat-is-good-health hypothesis has now effectively failed the test of time. In particular, that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic that started around the early 1980's, and that this was coincident with the rise of the low-fat dogma. (Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, also rose significantly through this period.) They say that low-fat weight-loss diets have proved in clinical trials and real life to be dismal failures, and that on top of it all, the percentage of fat in the American diet has been decreasing for two decades. Our cholesterol levels have been declining, and we have been smoking less, and yet the incidence of heart disease has not declined as would be expected. ''That is very disconcerting,'' Willett says. ''It suggests that something else bad is happening.''" http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=2
"The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet reduces the risk of getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet has no effect.
The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.
These studies are revolutionary, said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy. " http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/the-low-fat-diet-flunks-another-test/
It's great to read study after study on the internet, education does strengthen the brain. I'm not going to disagree or agree at this point. I work in the real world. I've been a critical care nurse since 1984, my specialty is cardiology and cardiovascular medicine. I see countless young patients with triglycerides hitting the roof, the diets we have today are horrible and we need to either think about what we are eating or realize you won't watch your grandkids grow up. There are more and more young people with heart disease, just had an open heart patient last week that was 24 years old.Think this was rare, guess again. Diet does not always play a role, genetics do as well. We are literally killing ourselves in this society, saturated fats do play a role and part of saturated fats is your animal fats such as red meat products.
If you are a woman and your mom had a heart attack, your risks doubles. Sames with you guys with your dad. Try eating multigrains and your good fats for 6 weeks. See the difference in how you feel. I'm done off my soapbox.
I did the multi-grains. I did vegetarian. I cut out all animal fats and ate low fat in general. I gained weight until I was 280lbs. I also developed high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. The reason I went vegetarian and low fat was precisely because of my family history of heart disease.
Turns out the cure was worse than the disease. Since going back to meat, fat, and other natural non-refined foods, my blood pressure is fantastic, my pre-diabetic symptoms are gone and my weight is down considerably.
You are right that triglycerides levels in young children are scary. The numbers developing non-alcoholic liver disease is incredible. Type 2 diabetes is rampant. The problem is what is being blamed for causing it is completely 180º out of kilter.
Saturated fat and red meat ingestion is DOWN, not up as these cases rise. What is WAY up is sugar and vegetable fat ingestion, yet fat gets the blame. And by sugar I don't just mean sugar, I mean rice, flour, potatoes or anything else that rapidly converts to sugar in the blood stream. This includes whole grains.
A carbohydrate based diet was killing me. It is killing many young people as well. It killed 2 of my uncles, my grandmothers and my grandfathers. My dad is a type 2 diabetic.
I am not just reading studies off the internet. They are, however, easiest to link to. The truth is out there so to speak. You just aren't going to read it in a popular magazine or hear it from drug company representatives.
As for triglycerides....
"When the content of dietary carbohydrate is elevated above the level typically consumed (>55% of energy), blood concentrations of triglycerides rise. This phenomenon, known as carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia, is paradoxical because the increase in dietary carbohydrate usually comes at the expense of dietary fat. Thus, when the content of the carbohydrate in the diet is increased, fat in the diet is reduced, but the content of fat (triglycerides) in the blood rises. The present article will review studies of carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia, highlighting data obtained in fasted subjects habituated to high carbohydrate diets, data obtained from subjects in the fed state, and metabolic studies investigating fatty acid and triglyceride synthesis in subjects consuming diets of different carbohydrate content. The available data have been recently expanded by new methodologies, such as the use of stable isotopes, to investigate the metabolism of sugars in humans in vivo. Given the significant increase in body weight observed in the American population over the past decade and the changing availability of carbohydrate in the food supply, future studies of carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia promise to provide important information of how the macronutrient composition of the diet can influence health."
From Doctor Mike Eades... "After years of low-carb dieting myself and of taking care of thousands of patients on low-carb diets, I can tell you one thing with pretty much certainty: Low-carb diets reduce triglyceride levels markedly. And I can tell you that low-carb diets reduce blood sugar levels as well. Most of the patients with the highest fasting triglyceride levels also have elevated fasting blood sugars. On a low-carb diet, these patients drop their triglyceride levels like a rock." http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...rides-are-driven-by-carbohydrate-consumption/
When losing weight there is one key whatever you take in must be less than what you put out. Calories taken vs energy expended. There are many things that affect our blood pressure and alot of times diet alone cannot control it. Our family history really plays alot, I see alot of vegetarians with heart disease so just because you give up the meats does not mean it will go away. I'm glad you found something that works for you. I found a sensible diet with multigrains(vs your white flours), with a exercise program will make a noticeable difference. We are all unique if you find something that works then do it!
The reason giving up meat does not eliminate heart disease is because meat and fat aren't the cause.
As for exercise, I worked out an hour a day six days a week for 2 years while eating whole grains. The weight never came off and the blood pressure stayed high.
Your triglycerides sometimes needs meds to come down. I also reccomend fish oil capsules twice a day for everyone. A good med for your triglycerides is tricor or lopid. These do not affect your liver as much as the statins that are out there. How high are we talking about? If over 2000, probally genetic and need the meds.
There is nothing wrong with my triglycerides. I was discussing the cause of high triglycerides in children that you brought up. Mine are fine thanks to a diet that does not include the cause of high triglycerides...high carbohydrate levels.
So ANYway...back to low carb support.
I have perfected the low carb fudge pop recipe. I will give you all a link as soon as I get it posted.