It’s a couple years old, but it’s that time of year again for instructions on how to discuss Star Wars over dinner with your ignorant rebellion-supporting uncle.
And speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, here is my recipe for cornbread, sausage, wild-mushroom and pomegranate dressing.
As I tweeted to Ron (he hasn’t responded), my concern is that, being derived from soy, it won’t have the same nutritional value as actual beef.
Is eating it raw bad for you? I always cook it, but now I’m starting to get concerned about other cruciferous veggies. Is cole slaw a problem?
…has reviewed Nina Teichholz’s book
Many readers will be incensed by this book. If you think saturated fats and cholesterol are bad for you, you’ll be incensed. If you think the fat story is exaggerated, you’ll be incensed. If you trust in the objectivity of science to inform health policy, you’ll be incensed. Stories of shocking scientific corruption and culpability by government agencies are all to be found in Nina Teicholz’s bestseller The Big Fat Surprise. This is a disquieting book about scientific incompetence, evangelical ambition, and ruthless silencing of dissent that has shaped our lives for decades.
Good for her.
A major new study. This is an important point that too few pay attention to; it’s not about weight loss per se:
The 18-mo moderate weight loss of 3.7 kg was similar in both groups, but the reduction in waist circumference was higher in the MED/LC group (−6.9 ± 6.6 cm) than in the LF diet group (−2.3 ± 6.5 cm; P = 0.01). After 18 mo, the IPF volume had reduced twice as much in the MED/LC group compared with the LF group [−37 ± 26.2 mL (−22% ± 15%) compared with −15.5 ± 26.2 mL (−8% ± 15%), respectively; P < 0.05, after adjustment for changes in weight or visceral adipose tissue]. [My emphasis]
This is one reason BMI is BS. Another is that it doesn’t take into account the difference between muscle mass and fat.
I’m not concerned at all about the GMO issue, but given that it’s soy based, I wonder if this burger is nutritionally equivalent to beef, and not just tastes like it.
Removing refined carbohydrates, such as sugar, flours, fruit juice, and cereals, makes ANY diet healthier. This is the most likely reason why plant-based diets appear healthier than meat-based diets in some clinical studies. All of the studies I’m aware of claiming that plant-based diets are superior to omnivorous diets suffer from the same tragic flaw. Researchers conducting these studies NEVER simply ask people to remove animal foods from their diet. They always change more than just that single variable—such as lowering fat content or adding exercise—and they always instruct people in the plant-based group to eliminate refined carbohydrates and processed foods. In almost every case, these special “plant-based” diets are then compared to a junky omnivorous diet loaded with sweets, baked goods and manufactured foodstuffs.
This is not a fair fight. How do we know whether it was the removal of the meat, refined carbs, industrially-produced oils, or artificial additives that was responsible for the benefits? I’ve engaged in countless social media conversations with plant-based diet experts in which I politely ask for scientific evidence that simply removing animal foods from the diet—without making any other changes—results in health benefits. None of them have ever been able to cite a single article for me.
The amount of junk science in nutrition studies is just appalling.
No, American Heart Association, butter, steak, and coconut oil won’t kill you.
I consider this reckless disregard for the truth. Any lawyers out there who can tell me why they wouldn’t be subject to massive class action?
Related: Moving on from “Let’s Move”:
In 2010, Michelle Obama kicked off the “Let’s Move” campaign to help combat childhood obesity. This well-intentioned effort drew national attention to a serious topic that needed to be addressed.
Sadly, I knew the campaign was doomed to fail; because failure is easy to spot when you wage war against the wrong enemy.
Exercise and healthy eating were central themes of her effort. I am the first to admit that exercise is vital to maintaining overall health, considering that I made my living as a personal trainer. But as I explain to all of my clients, exercise is a lousy way to lose weight, in spite of its many benefits.
Every week, I interview doctors, scientists, and researchers who are on the front lines of combating obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and other metabolic syndrome conditions.
The fact is our diet is almost exclusively to blame for these issues. For years, we have been focusing on the wrong enemy, as healthcare professionals, encouraged by the federal government, told us that fat in our diet was the root cause of these diseases. The so-called ‘experts’, aided by activist front groups, demonized saturated fat, and advised us to eat ‘heart-healthy’ grains and lean proteins. It turns out that this was exactly the wrong strategy.
Yes. And yet they continue to recommend it, and commit massive physical child abuse in Michelle’s school-lunch program.
She tried it. As she writes, it not only didn’t end well, it didn’t even begin well. Cruel, but hilarious.
The tide continues to turn.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Why are doctors so stupid?
Basically, when they do have any time to keep up with the literature, much of it remains bogus.