Farewell

A post over at what I ate yesterday has inspired me to be honest with myself. Clearly she is doing the same. I am finding this blog is too far removed from what I am doing right now and the way I feel. I really would like to keep going on with it, but the fact remains that I feel like a hypocrite every time I write on this. Last week I thought I would try and incorporate grains, saturated fats etc back into my diet. To be honest it was good for the first few days but then I started to feel….well its hard to explain, but glunky (not a word I know). Maybe clogged up? Regardless, I have returned to a Paleo diet (vegetables, fruits, meats and nuts) and I like it because I don’t get hungry, I can eat as much as I want, I am in control of my eating, the food is completely natural and I enjoy it. I welcome anyone to come over to my blog about this – darwinstable. In fact, I would love you all to come over and start reading it. I would be happy for anyone to be added to my blogroll as I have always enjoyed everyones comments, but I would ask you email me or send me a comment at the other website first, so I don’t send you unwanted traffic by adding you to my blogroll (not that their is that much traffic – hahahaha). I feel so sad saying this and I have really enjoyed the journey, and the blog friends I have made, but it has taken me to a completely different place that deserves its own blog. I hope you all understand.

Food Chains – Ecology and Food

I have two passions in this life – food and nature. There has always been an ongoing battle between these two passions with each drawing me to it. I wanted to be a chef and I wanted to be an ecologist. Well in the end, science won the game and I got my Doctorate in Ecology. But I have always felt that pull towards food and felt the need to contribute in some way to this field.   

Lately, I have become focused on consuming more natural food, and when I read ‘the omnivores dilemma’ by Michael Pollen, I realised that these two passions are completely interlinked. When mother nature is our cook she provides us with foods that our bodies have evolved to eat. In stark contrast, when we industrialise food – start adding hormones, chemicals, and feeding animals food that is not a part of their natural diet – then we are creating an artificial diet and going against our evolutionary past, and our genome. This is probably not the best for our health, and in hunter-gatherer societies, as well as modern day tribal farmers, the rates of the diseases of modern civilisation are extremely low. These groups rarely get cancer, heart disease, stroke or diabetes. All the food that they eat are natural foods that have no artificial additives and are grown naturally. In addition, their diets are high in fat and protein and lower in carbs. This is important because it wasn’t until the 1970′s that the US government started telling people to eat more carbs, and less fat, in order to be healthy. This ‘advice’ was based off of very little evidence, and seems to have more to do with the fact that carbohydrates are cheaper to make and therefore lead to bigger profit margins. Americans were perfectly healthy, prior to these ‘guidelines’, and they used to consume vast amounts of meat and eggs. Remember the old adage to get your meat and eggs to be healthy. Well I think their is an element of truth to this. In essence, eat natural.  

As long as we are eating real food from a natural ecosystem (or one that mimicks it such as cows on a paddock) their probably is not too much to worry about. When farmers grow cows in paddocks they move them often, so that they don’t overgraze the grass. In New Zealand, the cows can often be waiting by the fence to move to the new paddock because they know that there will be fresher grass over there. Or should I say the grass is greener. The farmer and his/her dog fulfills the same role as the predator in a natural ecosystem, constantly moving the grazing animals onwards so no patch of land is overgrazed. In some cases the chickens will then be brought in to feed on the cow manure. This spreads the cow manure over the paddock providing natural fertilizer to the grass to help it grow back. This too is what usually happens in nature with other species of birds providing this role. But the main point is that cows are eating grass, a product that they have evolved to eat. Not grain. The meat of these grass fed cows is known to be far more healthier than grain fed cows. For example, it is full of Omega 3 fats, those same fats that everyone keeps trying to get by eating fish oil. 

So as an ecologist I fit into that food chain. I learn about natural ecosystems, and in doing so, we can learn to further mimic nature in growing our food. Also by protecting our natural resources, these foods are available to go right up the food chain, from the earth to the dining room table. When we industrialise food, you take me out of the food chain and bring an economist in. Animals are looked at as production units rather than being an integral part of nature. Economic laws begin to govern – how can we make these units get as big as possible, as fast as possible, to maximise profit. The problem is that these ‘units’ are biological organisms from a natural ecosystem and there are detrimental health consequences by taking this industrial approach. Managing these individuals in a way that mimics nature is surely the best way, and it is this part that I play a role. 

Question of the day: How do you feel about grain fed vs grass fed cows? 

For dinner last night I decided to make some burritos, I bought some wholewheat buritto’s so at least it wasn’t all refined flour. I then made some refried beans from scratch (see recipe). I made some guacamole and some salsa (lime juice, olive oil, peppers, spanish onion, cilantro). I also marinated some lamb in lime juice, chilli, garlic, olive oil, ground coriander, cilantro, and cumin, for three hours. I also had some full fat yoghurt, which I used as a substitute for sour cream. Only because I had the full fat yoghurt and needed to use it. I then cooked everything and pieced it all together. I fried the burrito over a dry heat to make the outside nice and crispy. 

For lunch, I used some of the left over sauce that I had made yesterday, and had it with roasted meatballs. The meatballs consisted of paprika, cilantro (coriander), garlic, egg and ground beef. It was yum.

We are not robots

I was reading this post over at Babble, and I think one of the things briefly discussed their deserves to be looked at more closely. She talks about how fat people have body hate days, but thin people also have these days, and it was this comment that got me thinking. Everybody has body hate days, its just that when you are overweight it is an easy physical target to focus your hate on. A target that we, as fat people, are constantly reminded to hate. But, because of this constant reminder, it can become easy to think that normal weight people do not have body image issues. However, what I have noticed in my life is that everyone I have ever met, regardless of size, has days of self loathing. I believe this is the human condition, what we see as abnormal we want to change. 

The difference for people who are fat is that we are constantly told that all our negative thoughts about our bodies will vanish into thin air, if we do the same. So we naturally want to lose weight to get rid of these horrible feelings. But it is important to remind ourselves that this is not a fat issue but a human issue. Everyone is critical of themselves and naturally thin people also have body hate issues.  I think one major difference is that naturally thin people probably realise that this is a part of the ups and downs of life, and it is something that just has to be dealt with. They are not promised magical cures for their body hate and so don’t see an exit strategy. They probably have a better realisation that this is a part of being human.

Now, I don’t want to diminish the experience that we as fat people have. There are far more reminders in this day and age of why it is bad to be fat, more than any other physical factor. All I am trying to say is that if all this fat hate died down – we would still find things to hate about ourselves. Because everyone, and I mean everyone, has these days of body hate. This internal dialogue of self criticism is a part of our humanness. If we didn’t do it we would not be aware of things about ourselves that may need to change, such as that mole that is starting to grow and might need checking out. But when that voice gets excessive, or is unreasonable, thats when you can choose to ignore it. I believe it is this difference that seperates seemingly confident people from those lacking confidence. Confident people have these voices but can choose to ignore them if they are deemed inappropriate. They are not controlled by them and don’t let them affect their life. In short, we are not robots, we are emotional beings. If we didn’t criticise ourselves then we would never improve, but it is important to put it into context, and choose which criticisms are worthy of our attention and action!

Anyways, here is the food I ate last night for din dins. I was totally craving meatballs. I was going to have it with pasta but then it dawned on me that I just felt like big chunky meatballs in a tomato sauce. So I made the meatballs with some egg, mint and garlic, and roasted them for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a frying pan I cooked some onions, bacon and garlic in olive oil. Once cooked, I added a can of chopped tomatoes and some olives and boiled it down until the sauce was quite thick. So yummy. I only had two meatballs but that was enough and I felt so satisfied afterwards. I do need to slow down on my eating though as I go through these smaller meals pretty quickly. 

Meatballs

Food limits?

Shit! As all our allies seem to head to the left side of the political spectrum we have gone against the grain and have gone right. It was a very sad moment, especially when our now ex prime minister gave her conciliation speech. She did a good job as our prime minister for 9 years but now we have someone new. Thanks Helen you were great!

So my eating patterns of late. I have noticed that as long as I typically eat unprocessed foods its actually quite hard to have a lot of carbs. Well at least for me, Im more of a savoury kind of guy, and so I typically don’t want too many carbs anyway. If I had 8 slices of bread then yeah sure I will be cranking up in the carb intake. But I generally can have whatever I want. The other night I had some chocolate ice cream and only had a small amount. It was top quality, premium, full fat ice cream with huge chunks of chocolate in it. I had about a scoop but that was a perfect amount. If I had of had more it would have become boring and I wouldn’t have walked away with a ‘wow that was great’ feeling. So naturally I have started to eat fairly small meals (compared to what I am used to anyway) that are packed with flavour and goodies and unprocessed stuff. That way I get the ice cream effect. 

So all in all introducing carbs back was ok. My world didn’t fall apart, I didn’t suddenly balloon, and I didn’t start bingeing. I just, well, ate normally. However, as I mentioned on a previous post, I did weigh myself and I had put on about a pound. My water percentage is higher and this is obviously because Im eating more carbs. It is well known that low carb eating tends to act as a diuretic. My scales tell me that my body water percentage has increased by 1%, and this extra water would easily make up 2 or 3 pounds. So intellectually I don’t see this as a big deal. But emotionally, I am freaked out and I keep checking those damn scales everyday to make sure that I am in control.  Argghh. That damn control.

But I know with me if I take the brakes off I do tend to derail and just eat and eat and eat because I have no limits. Im that kind of person. Ill eat if Im bored, happy, sad, angry, anxious, depressed, ectastic or if I don’t feel anything. If I can eat as much as I want, trust me I will! By checking my carbs, and weighing myself, it acts as a little reminder to be slightly conscious of the way I eat. So is this bad? It feels bad. I know this isn’t a normal relationship with food. But neither is having to eat all the damn time because you can. I know that if I didn’t have something that makes me aware of the way I eat then my bad eating patterns would slowly creep back. I know that I have made huge progress towards eating more normally. I don’t count calories, Im not bingeing, I am eating whatever and whenever I want. At the moment this is working for me. 

This is the food I have been eating over the last day. For breakfast I had some vogel toast, which is mixed grain, and when I look at the ingredients I know what they all are. Nothing that has agent 103 on the end of it. Just flour, water, mixed grains (24%), milk, salt, vinegar and yeast. On top of that I had a fried egg and bacon, which were cooked in butter. On the side I had some HP sauce, which is quite vinegary.  

Breakfast

This next one I have been having weird cravings for. Full fat yoghurt and pears. I usually mix in just a tiny bit of sugar to sweeten it up a bit. Oh its so creamy and fruity and delicious. Weird craving though I just really felt like it for days. In fact, I am going to go have some now before I finish off this post. 

Snack

I was watching Jamie Oliver the other night and he made this recipe that I thought I would mimic. As usual I bastardised it completely. But in essence, you get some skinless chicken and put it into some water with a few teaspoons of salt. This brine mixture essentially forces water into the chicken making it nice and moist (this was my idea not his, you don’t have to brine your chicken). Then, after an hour or two you get out the chicken and you smash it flat with a rolling pin or a pan. This is so it cooks evenly. Before you smash it you need to mix up some butter, rosemary or thyme, and garlic and rub it over the chicken. Then place some bacon on top of the chicken and proceed to beat the hell out of it. The bacon will stick to the chicken. Then you just fry it for about three or fours minutes each side and voila. I decided I would also fry some pineapple slices and add them on top. 

Dinner

The worlds eyes are on New Zealand…..not.

As usual the left wing party (Labour) does well in the cities.

Now the US elections are over it is time for the world to start paying attention to the great mighty powerhouse of the world…..New Zealand. Well maybe the pacific rim. Well, actually maybe the south pacific. Well ok now I know no one gives a shit about what happens down here in the ass end of the world but…..

Here are the main players. 

Labour Party: Helen Clarke is head. A left wing party. First woman to be elected prime minister of New Zealand. Has run for three terms (nine years). Pro social spending and environment (ie. Democrats). Didn’t go to war with Iraq despite immense pressure from our biggest trading partners (USA, Australia, UK).  

 

National Party: John Keys is head. A right wing party. They are doing much better in the polls. Pro tax cuts and economics and anti immigration (ie. Republicans). Would have gone to war with Iraq. 

 

 

I am totally voting Labour. If you want a reason to like her heres one. 

She's wishing he would shut the hell up.

So who would YOU vote for. Make sure you give your country of origin. I wont take offense if it isn’t Helen. 

Chillaxed

Before I start with my food issues I wanted to explain the above pictures. I went to the beach the other day and the pictures above are from that beach. It is called Piha, and is about 20mins from the major city centre in New Zealand. Getting back to nature was great and it gave me an epiphany. I have two passions in this life…food and nature. I used to have internal battles on which one I wanted to do as a career. But I realised they have become one in the same. Nature provides us with bountiful unprocessed foods that are good and healthy for us. Even if it is a cow grazing on grass in a paddock. Therefore, it is imperative that we protect these natural resources so we are not all forced to eat highly processed chemically created foods. Such as grain fed cows. It is about a natural food chain rather than an industrialised food chain. By been an ecologist and working at protecting and understanding these natural resources this provides the opportunity for natural food to go up the food chain and be served at restaurants. Thus my two passions are inextricably intwined. 

Anyway in terms of eating I decided to stop been so restrictive and allow myself to eat carbs, but just not go over the top. It went amazingly well. I was a little scared that I would be very hungry. But in fact it was quite the opposite. I didn’t eat nearly as much as I have been lately, and yet felt completely satiated. I don’t know why? As usual I have a theory. When I cook, I jam pack the meal with lots of flavours and goodies so it is yummy, flavourful and rich. I do believe that when you eat you get a food buzz or a high. If you eat a meal full of flavour then it makes sense that you don’t need to eat as much to get that ‘high’. In contrast, if you eat some boring, bland, diet fad, commercially processed crap then you are going to need to eat more to obtain that same food buzz. I think this is probably what fine dining is all about. You give them a smallish meal but loaded with flavour. They get that food buzz quickly, but it only just gets you full. Thus, you have a slight remnant of the delicious meal you just ate and it makes you feel full, but most importantly, HIGH!!!

Of course I could never have done this if I was still eating lots and lots of carbs. I think that tends to overide my system a little and just tells me to eat and eat and eat and eat. On the flipside, now I know I can eat carbs, in moderation, and my appetite doesn’t go crazy!!! This is very freeing because it means I don’t have to be all anal about watching my carb intake. Just don’t overdo it. For me it seems it is just about balance and not loading up on carby meals.  I believe my relationship with food just took another step towards normal.

But…dum dum dum dummmmmm. In my stupidity I weighed myself.  This of course is a natural thing to do, when your fucked in the head about food, and you change your eating regime. Scarily, and much to my disgust, I had jumped up half a kilogram. Now I know, I KNOW, this is bullshit. I know that this is water retention because Im not low carb’ing it as much. I know this because my scale measures my water % and the value it gave me is higher than it normally is. So it is so strange how I KNOW that I havn’t gained (in fact I ate LESS yesterday because I was so satisfied and just didn’t want anymore) but that number on the scale still petrifies me. Yes I am going to put them away now. 

Here are some of the meals I had yesterday. 

Breakfast

Oh this was just what I felt like too. I was totally in the mood for bacon so I went to the supermarket and bought some Hellers Bacon. It is really good quality bacon. Very meaty. So I fried the bacon and egg in some butter, along with sliced tomatoes. Once they were cooked I put them aside and quickly tossed some baby spinach in with the juices from the bacon until cooked. I toasted a slice of bread and then assembled it together. I tell you it was divine. 

Food Buzz: 8/10

Dinner

For dinner I had some steak left over from the butchers. So I put it out to warm it up to room temperature. Once this was done I mixed together some butter, garlic and rosemary and I rubbed it all over the steak. I then seasoned the steak and put it onto a really hot frying pan. I like my steak quite rare so I tend to only cook it for a couple of minutes each side at a really hot temperature. It had caramelised the meat really nicely and it was nice and pink on the inside. I put it aside for a few minutes (very important with steak) and then I served it up with some fried baby spinach leaves and sliced tomatoes. Again total food buzz and the steak melted like butter in my mouth. Yum. 

Food Buzz: 8.5/10

Do calories make us fat?

 

If overeating was the cause of obesity then by reducing the number of calories you eat would result in weight loss. This of course is obvious to just about everyone – the media, public, politicians, scientists, clinicians etc. But what if it is wrong? It is well known, much to the medical communities frustration, that only 1% of diets work. Clearly, reducing calories has not resulted in a reduction in obesity. In fact, in many situations obese people have been shown to consume less or as much calories as their lean counterparts but still remain obese. A reduction in calories does not necessarily mean a reduction in weight. Only on extremely restrictive diets do obese people lose weight but they are found to lose muscle and fat from their organs and often still maintain a very high level of fat in their adipose tissue – they are simply emaciated fat people. 

However, some of the best examples to prove this point is through animal studies, which can directly test whether obesity is caused by eating too many calories. We simply ask ‘when animals become obese do they do this by eating more calories’? The examples I will give involve influences from genetics, neurobiology, hormones and natural circadian ryhthm’s.  

The first example I give looks at animal hibernation, which decouples food intake from weight gain. Hibernating squirrels will double their body weight during late summer in preparation for the hibernation in winter. This is remarkably controlled and unaffected by food intake. Squirrels, in the laboratory, will gain this weight even if calories are severely restricted. In addition, if the fat stores are surgically removed they will still gain that fat back very quickly despite limits on calories. This seasonal fat deposition is strongly genetically programmed and is robust to changes in food supplies. 

Investigators who have looked at weight regulation and reproduction have also shown this type of pattern. Female rats who have had their ovaries surgically removed exhibit a reduction in the amount of the female sex hormone estrogen. Without estrogen the rats develop out of control appetites, severely reduce their physical activity, and quickly grow obese. Rats put on weight even if their diets are restricted to what they were eating before the surgery. When estrogen is infused back into the rats they lose the weight and adopt the normal eating and exercise behaviours exhibited prior to surgery.  Thus, calorie intake and physical activity were directly influenced by a change in hormone levels.  

Another example shows that mice who have had lesions applied to their hypothalamus (a region of the brain that regulates fat metabolism) become severely obese and gain six times as much weight per calorie of food compared with normal mice. These mice became so lethargic that they barely move, and develop voracious appetites. Again a change in the biological controls of fat storage results in changes in eating and physical behaviour – not the other way round.  

Genetic studies on obese strains of rats show that individuals that are placed on a restricted diet from birth onward, grow fatter by adulthood than their littermates who were allowed free reign over what they ate. Therefore, calories did not effect the obesity of these rats over their lifetime. Quite the reverse, a reduction in calorie consumption seemed to be associated with increased obesity.  In addition, those rats on a restricted diet had 50% less muscle mass than normal rats and 30% less muscle mass than their counterparts who could eat what they wanted. Emaciated fat mice. 

It is clear from these animal studies that the intake of calories has no influence on weight gain. In some cases the animals would severely reduce their physical activity becoming very lethargic. However, it would be difficult to propose that a reduction in physical activity was the CAUSE for these changes but rather an associated behaviour. These studies certainly suggest that the cause of obesity is programmed by our biology and is difficult to change as the body will fight to maintain homeostasis. A reduction in calories leads to increases in fat deposition and changes in behaviour (overeating, lethargy) in order to avoid weight loss. 

In this final and human example I hope to put an end to the hypothesis that overeating is the cause of obesity. There is a rare condition known as lipodystrophy. In one case in 1913, a ten year old girl first loss fat from her face, then, over the next three years, this emaciation gradually extended down her trunk and arms. Obesity of the lower body began at fifteen and by the time she was 24 she had all the body fat localised in her lower waist. You can see the example below. 

This is clearly not a case of overeating. The most obvious explanation is fat was placed due to some genetic or hormonal condition. In fact, this is seen in the differences between the sexes. Males tend to store fat around the waist while females at the hips and this is large genetically and hormonally controlled. Although these are obvious examples they do beg the question – is fat deposition controlled by our biology and physiology or is it controlled by our behaviour. If it is not controlled by our behaviour then it is difficult to argue that obese humans are that way because they have no willpower, eat too much and do not exercise. Obesity is likely to be due to slower rates of fat metabolism programmed by our genetics. Asking obese people to eat less calories or to exercise more is equivalent to telling a seven foot man that they need to stop eating and exercise less in order to become shorter

Thank you Big Fat Delicious

Bigfatdelicious made an extremely interesting point in the last post and so I need to revise my thinking a bit. Please bare with me Im thinking out loud here. This is what I know. 

1. Reducing calories makes me hungry and obessive.

2. Eating whatever I want makes me feel unhealthy and hungry

3. There is nothing wrong with fats

4. I still think diets are bullshit. 

5. But I seem to stop craving food when I eat reduced carbs, which allows me to be an intuitive eater. 

6. I like and feel strongly about eating unprocessed food. 

So….

It is not calories that are MY enemy. It is not fat that is MY enemy. It is highly processed carbs that spike my insulin levels and then make me hungry. In fact, carbs are not even my enemy its just too much of them are. This explains (for me) why after eating a really nice meal how I can still be craving more food. It is simply high glucose levels. Now I know this is not going to work for everyone but it does seem to be working for me. Its almost as if earlier, when I gave up on dieting, I had to eat a lot and whatever I felt like to prove to myself that I was no longer dieting. But it made me feel like crap. 

The whole POINT of this website was to build a normal relationship with food. Perhaps by paying a little attention to the carbohydrates I eat, and making sure they are not highly refined, is ok and is not anti fat acceptance. It is simply trying to eat what works best for me. I think that I have been a little too focused on the nutrition breakdown and perhaps I could ease up on that a bit and just watch my carb intake. I guess I was just acting paranoid.  

So I guess all I did was take eating natural foods one step further. Well, about five steps further because I did go a bit extreme. But its time for the pendulum to swing back somewhat and just focus on eating good healthy, unprocessed food with a little bit of an emphasis on carb intake. If you think about it the French paradox can be explained this way. They eat really good nutritious food. For example, when they have milk it is often full fat. This is anti current nutritional advice. But we know this advice is somewhat, well, fucked. But thats the point isn’t it? Full fat milk is not as processed as reduced calorie milk. It is REAL milk. Logically, if you are eating a diet higher in fats then you wont be eating as much carbohydrates. The carbohydrates they do eat are good quality stuff not processed shit. So they don’t have the huge insulin spikes that cause them to get hungry and overeat. I know I am probably grossly overgeneralising here but still. 

So thank you big fat delicious you really have swung my thinking around a bit on this and I can reconcile my dilemma. You may have just brought me closer to that normal relationship with food. So I will begin posting about my revelations and tribulations…again. I don’t really see how much is going to change from before since I was eating natural foods predominantly anyway. But I was eating a lot of carbohydrates. Which, for me suck. 

Now I have a question for everyone.  I have started losing weight since I started this. I would like to put it on here but tucked away somewhere in the tabs so people don’t have to read it if they don’t want to. Do you think this is acceptable or would people feel offended, annoyed, depressed, angry, or any other negative emotion, if I did this? Would it seem too much like a ‘diet’ blog then? I really appreciate the readers here and I don’t want to lose any by scaring them off. So please comment or forever hold your peace.

Absence

Food I have been eating lately

So a lot of people have commented on where I am. So I thought I would confess. When I first started doing this website, and intutive eating, it was in response to all the crap diets I had done. I was so sick of always fighting my biology and always putting the weight back on. But on the flip side of the coin when I did intuitive eating I kept eating more and more. It was as if I couldn’t feed myself enough. If I did have a meal that was filling I still wouldn’t feel full. I was putting on the weight quite dramatically and there were signs my body wasn’t coping well, like pains in my chest. 

Then I naturally progressed, after reading the Omnivores Dilemma, to trying to eat more natural, unprocessed homemade food. I started cooking freshly made pasta, bread etc. This was great, but again i kept eating it and eating it. No matter how much I made I would still eat far too much. I was between a rock and a hard place. If I don’t diet I eat too much and feel unhealthy, if I do diet I eat too much and feel unhealthy. I knew I didn’t want to go on a diet because it wouldn’t work and they were not for me. But I was heading in the direction of trying to eat more natural foods. 

Then I read a book called ‘the diet dilemma’. It is written by a guy who regularly writes for Science and he looked at all the evidence for diets. I bought this book because I was really into reading about the studies that show diets don’t work. That is how it started off. Firstly, he explained why diets don’t work but there is no need to go into that here because we already know. Then he explained how diets high in saturated fats are not bad for you. Again, already know this but he explains it very well. However, then he started to talk about hunter-gatherer societies and the modern diseases of civilisation. How these old tribal groups never got heart disease, cancer etc and were in perfectly good health. They only died from trauma (ie accidents) or disease. He explained how modern processed foods can really stuff up our systems. These groups ate diets low in carbs, especially processed carbs. I guess the take home message was that our bodies have simply not evolved to cope with the highly industrialised food that we consume now. 

Because I was already heading in the ‘more natural food’ direction I I decided to take it to a new level. I cut out all processed carbs (including bread, pasta) and based my diet around vegetables, fruits, lean meat, fish and nuts. (You can see some of the foods I have been making at the top of this post.) At first I did this as a little test. Would I feel more healthy? It wasn’t even about the weight. But it seemed that for the first time I stopped getting hungry. Since then my weight has slowly decreased and decreased. Now I feel I am more of an intuitive eater than I ever was before. Now I really CAN eat as much as I want but also stop when I am full. I don’t feel I am missing out on anything.Every now and then I might have a craving for salt or carbs but it isn’t a binge like craving but rather fond memories or ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ kind of a feeling. In other words, its not obsessive thinking. 

Anyway, I felt like somewhat of a hypocrit and so I stopped writing on this blog. I was fairly certain that people would not want to read about my new approach, especially if they were dealing with the diet mentality. It would be disrespectful. I originally didn’t expect me to last so long and only intended to do it for a week or two to see the difference. But it worked so well I have kept going. But then I have noticed people wondering where the hell I am. I felt guilty because I see a lot of the people on here as my friends and asking me where I am. I also felt guilty because I thought that people may think Im turning my back on them. But Im not. I would never do anything where I was starving or hungry all the time. I truly am eating what and when I want.

US government – the biggest diet pusher

When was the last time anyone heard that in order to lower your cholesterol and reduce your chances of heart disease you need to cut down on calories and fat – especially saturated fat. As you may remember I mentioned in my post about saturated fat that Ancel Keys pioneered this idea with the landmark six countries study. Since then it seems that this idea became so well established scientifically that it has become almost law. The American dietary guidelines were based off these principles, when for the first time, they told the american public what to eat. Surly this is based off good science and well established opinion right. 

WRONG!!!!!!! Much to my absolute dismay this hypothesis has only been tested twice. TWICE!!!!! Im sorry but its hard to yell this at you from the page but freaking TWICE (***yelling***). Only in two control studies has calories, dietary fat and especially saturated fat been lowered to look at its effects on heart disease in humans. Guess what – only ONE of the studies came up with slight support for the theory. The other one showed no correlation between lowering dietary fat (esp saturated fats) and increased risk from heart disease and contradicted the first. In addition, there are confounding variables that also must be considered – 1. In order to reduce fat you must increase carbohydrates and sugars, 2. Not just fat was reduced but also calories. 3. Reducing saturated fats leads to an increase in polyunsaturated fats. Any one of these may have produced the results and NOT just the reduction in dietary fat. 

There has been HUGE dissent amongst scientists about this. Many scientists have spoken out in the past stating that diet just does not have much of an impact on the cholesterol found in your blood and that lowering fat intake does not produce lower cholesterol levels. When they tried to push through dietary guidelines many years ago a review panel looked at the evidence and said it is completely irresponsible for them to suggest that a diet low in fat will help prevent heart disease due to the extremely conflicted and weak evidence. But four years later Ancel Keys was on the advisory board and the board members were reduced to six. No surprises then when all of a sudden dietary guidelines came out recommending we eat less meat, saturated fat and total fat and reduce calories. This is despite any new studies bringing any new light to the subject. 

But america and the world were hooked. No one wants to print a story that says “Um, not sure we really need to do more studies to prove this”. No, people wanted to hear newslines like ‘FAT KILLS’. Indeed it didn’t really matter what science did after that because the public and government had decided that fat was bad. In fact any scientist who tried to get funding to show that fat was NOT bad for you would simply not be funded. It was basically tow the line otherwise no funding buddy. Funding is the life blood of any academic and so it is not surprising that we only hear of studies that prove that fat is bad for you AND usually results are interpreted so that they confirm this theory even though the results typically do not. Worse case scenario the story just doesn’t get published. The USA government spent 700 million dollars to try and prove this theory but found time and time again that a diet low in fat just did not show any effects on cholesterol or mortality. They kept the results quiet. In one case when the results did not show what they wanted they tried to stop them from been published in the medical journal the Lancet. But were basically told to f**k off. 

Well all I can say is we have been DUPED. I spent my whole childhood and many many years been told that fat is bad, don’t eat fat. I ate polyunsaturated fats (margarine, vegetable oils) only to discover now that these are far worse for you than saturated fats and HAVE been linked with cancer, heart disease etc. How irresponsible of the american government to tell us to change our diets, while the jury was very much still out, and to change it to a diet that in fact is worse for you. This I believe is a complete injustice. Imagine if this happened to a drug company. Imagine if they pushed a drug, with no science to back it up, that actually ended up killing more people. What would happen to that company?

Eye opening!!!!