How did we get here?
The idea that red meat and saturated fat are unhealthy is so ingrained in our culture that many forget that it started as just an idea.
So how did we get brainwashed in the first place?
In 1952, biologist Ancel Keys presented the diet-heart hypothesis that linked heart disease to fat intake. His hypothesis is why we fear eating fat to this day. Since his initial “findings”, avoiding fat has become synonymous with a healthy diet.
Americans have dutifully followed Keys’ advice to their own peril. Chronic disease has skyrocketed around the world as refined carbohydrates and cancer causing polyunsaturated fats have replaced saturated fats.
Digging a little deeper, research ends up producing results that disprove the hypothesis.
Shocking, right?
And the USDA has done absolutely nothing to clear the damage caused by Keys’ hypothesis.
The USDA still recommends getting 45% of calories from carbs and minimal animal/saturated fats:
Keys first targeted cholesterol as the culprit for coronary heart disease. He found that arterial plaques contain cholesterol, and since animal fats also contain cholesterol, he claimed that cholesterol causes heart disease.
Keys spent the 1950s trying to prove his theory, but ended up finding that no matter how much dietary cholesterol he fed volunteers, the level in their blood was unchanged.
“The evidence – both from experiments and from field surveys – indicates that cholesterol content, per se, of all natural diets has no significant effect on either the cholesterol level or the development of atherosclerosis in man.”
Still interested in cholesterol as the root cause, Keys aimed his sights elsewhere.
To silence the doubters, Keys interviewed 12,700 middle aged men in Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Finland, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States and measured key health information.
This is the infamous Seven Countries Study.
The results showed vastly different rates of heart attacks between countries.
But most importantly, it uncovered the correlation he sought between saturated fat and heart disease. In the chart above, as calories from fat increase, deaths from heart disease also increase.
Keys concluded from the above:
“Whether or not cholesterol etc., are involved, it must be concluded that dietary fat somehow is associated with cardiac diseases mortality, at least in middle age”
America was in need of an answer, and the results were celebrated.
But Keys’ conclusion would turn out to be incorrect and dishonest.
In 1957, Perushalmy and Hilleboe presented a more comprehensive study with more countries included.
France, Switzerland and Chile were outliers with high fat consumption but low instances of heart disease – all left out of Keys’ study. With all twenty-two countries included, there was no longer any statistical significance.
Not only did Keys cherry pick seven countries, he bypassed one of the most important scientific notions: correlation is not equal to causation.
What really destroys your health?
In the early 1900s, an evil genius at Procter and Gamble came up with the idea to use cotton seeds — a toxic waste product — and turn them into a cooking oil.
P&G used cottonseed oil for candles and soap, but later discovered that they could hydrogenate the oil into a solid that resembled animal fats.
Behold…Crisco.
According to Jason Fung:
“Crisco was skillfully marketed as a cheaper alternative to lard. In 1911, Proctor & Gamble launched a brilliant campaign to put Crisco into every American household. They produced a recipe book, all of which use Crisco, of course, and gave it away for free. This was unheard of, at the time.”
Crisco was adeptly marketed as a more versatile butter. It could be used for frying, baking and cooking. It could be stored at room temperature. They even claimed it was easier to digest and healthier too.
The AHA got behind the health claims in the early 1960s, recommending Crisco and other unsaturated seed oils because of their ability to lower cholesterol.
Throughout the 1900s, Crisco and other cottonseed oils consumption skyrocketed.
The P&G alchemy of turning toxic byproducts into an ostensibly healthy cooking product was indeed too good to be true. Hydrogenation created “trans-fats” which studies indicate doubled the risk of heart disease for every 2% consumed . Meanwhile, American’s were consuming upwards of 10kg a day.
Some estimates are that trans fats were responsible for 100,000 deaths . The number is likely higher if you count all the second and third order effects. The AHA, an entity that we still trust today, was basically recommending that people consume poison.
What happened was the following:
- Step 1: Get everybody to eat vegetable oils, Crisco and Margarine
- Step 2: Massive heart disease increase
- Step 3: Blame it on natural fats, and tell people to eat MORE vegetable oils (Crisco)
- Step 4: Pharma, doctors and CPG profit. All of us lose
And the new guidelines only increased the severity of this trend.
Disastrous Health Consequences Ensued
The consequences of this shift in nutrition recommendations have been disastrous.
- Over 60% of people in the US have diabetes or pre diabetes
- Only 12% of people are metabolically healthy
- Over $1.7tn is spent on chronic disease annually
- Addiction to comfort is at all time highs
It’s no coincidence that the largest increase in obesity in human history was right after the USDA told us what to eat.
From 1975 to 2018 obesity TRIPLED worldwide: 2bn adults are now obese
These corrupt forces have destroyed our health. When carbohydrates, grains and seed oils were elevated to a dietary staple our health was traded in exchange for profits for big pharma and big cpg.
Ultimately it was really these carbohydrates and seed oils that have caused chronic disease and weight loss issues, NOT animal products and saturated fat.
The food pyramid is simply moronic. It has been an absolute disaster – the BIGGEST public health crisis of the last 50 years.
I’m here to propose a counter-solution. One that I will prove is very beneficial to your health.
Your health has been liquidated and put in the pockets of pharma & cpg execs.
Are you ready to take back control?
Onward.
