I have changed so much in what I believe is nutritious. Growing up, and really until 2 years ago, I very much followed the food guide pyramid. We ate whole grains, fruits, veggies, beans, meat, a little bit of cheese, skim milk, and small amounts of extra virgin olive oil and canola oil.
Then, I started to see deception in the FDA. I could write on and on about that, but I want to get to the FAT of the issue. Anyway, I came to the conclusion that if you believe that God or Mother Nature knows more than man knows, you can't believe the FDA, because they promote many things which are unnatural.
A little over two years ago, I found 2 views - two opposing views - in 2 books. The first was the China Study. This is a very convincing book about a huge, huge study done, and what they found was that animal products cause disease. If you eat more than 10% of your daily calories of animal products (meat, dairy, eggs, etc.), your chance of diseases like heart disease and cancer go up. What's more convincing, is the study was done by a researcher and a doctor who were both raised on farms. They argue that humans are not baby cows, and therefore, should not be drinking the milk of a cow. We are the only species to drink the milk of another animal. I also read research about how early consumption of cows milk was linked with an increased incidence in Type 1 Diabetes. As you know, Jason's sister has type 1 diabetes, which puts my kids at highest genetic risk for the disease. I am paranoid of it, and because of that I gave up dairy. We were more or less vegetarians at the time. I have always eaten eggs.
The same time I heard about the China Study, I heard about another book called Nourishing Traditions. I knew it was opposite the China Study. It highly promotes animal products. It claims that our ancestors were incredibly healthy because of what they ate. I brushed this book aside for a long time, because vegetarianism seemed healthier - doesn't it? But I couldn't get it out of my head: The pictures I'd seen of the isolated primitive peoples and their perfect teeth, etc. I bought the book. And it knocked my socks off. It turned my world up side down.
There is so much I've learned, and so much I think, and some day I think I'll make a video where I can talk about it, because I don't want to type up my own book about it. But I do want to tell people to PLEASE eat saturated fat. Please eat butter - and lots of it. I really believe it is vital to our health. Of course, don't eat shortening. But eat the skin on your chicken, don't cut the fat off your steak. Back when I was an "FDA follower" (i.e. normal), I remember looking up recipes, and I came to a nutrition blog, and on the top of the web page was a picture of eggs and bacon. The post was titled something like, "Why saturated fat is good for you." I raised my eyebrows in disbelief that people could be so stupid - EVERYONE knows saturated fat is bad for you.
Well, guess what? "Everyone" has been duped. There is so much evidence to the contrary. Consider the following:
1. Breastmilk is mostly saturated fat. Our physiology doesn't change as we get older. The ratio of saturated fat should stay about the same throughout life.
2. Heart disease is going up. Guess what? Animal fat consumption is going DOWN considerably. This is something that's hard to see, as we only see life as it is today. We are the first group of people in the earth's history to eat a low-fat diet. Or even a moderate fat diet. All groups of peoples valued fat, especially animal fat, and ate of it liberally. And yet, heart disease is largely a 20th century epidemic.
3. If people ate these fatty foods for thousands of years, guess what that means for us? Our bodies are ADAPTED to eat these foods. We need them.
4. Auto-immune diseases, cancers, autism, ADHD, depression, allergies, etc. are not normal. A study of primitive cultures shows that these things did not exist. We are much less healthy than we are supposed to be, than our bodies were meant to be. And cutting down on saturated fat is part of the reason that is so.
5. Yes, there are studies that show fat causing disease and obesity. But they don't distinguish between natural saturated fats and artificial ones. They also are very politically driven. There are also plenty of good research works done showing saturated fat is good for us.
6. Do you really think that God would tell us to kill a chicken, use it's breast, and throw out the rest because it's too fatty? Or a cow - only use the lean meat? It's extremely wasteful. I can see, if you believe we shouldn't eat animal products, well, fine, believe it. But I hope nobody believes we should eat only lean animal products. I don't think God would make it that way.
Today I was listening to the radio, and they were saying they are trying to help the obesity epidemic, and are trying to cut down on fat in children. EEEKKK! It makes me so mad. Okay, I'm not saying McDonalds is good for you. But what is bad for you about it is NOT the saturated fat. It's the refined carbohydrates and sodas, the preservatives, the VEGETABLE oils, etc. etc. Anyway, the media and the food industry have a lot of power, and they control a lot of information that gets passed along. But thankfully we live in a day where we have blogger (and youtube) and regular persons can have a voice. I really had to hear, and read evidence of saturated fat being good for you over the course of several months to believe it. We are conditioned from the time we are tiny that it is bad for you. So we all think it, and we think that we think it because it's true, or it makes sense. But we all think it because we've been taught it forever. So I'd like to plant the first seed in your minds about this. It may take you, like it took me, a long time to let it sink in. But that's okay. You may think I'm crazy now, but I'm telling you, I'm right :) I'm just doing my part to try to clear up the lie that has been taught by the food-industry-controlled FDA to the unsuspecting doctors and nutrition experts, then passed on to us.
So do your kids a favor, and melt butter over their veggies - every meal. And make sure it's not margarine.
