Rethinking fat and cholesterol

OMG, The Week Magazine having changed their on-line presence I now need to jump when the new magazine comes out if I want to share anything with my readers. I have been cutting and pasting to share, but it seems that now they are not providing everything on line for an extended period of time, so if I dally, I loose.

Anyway, how incredible is this below? Now we have come full circle in our thoughts about cholesterol and fat. Mark's Daily Apple has been telling us this for a long time, and now conventional wisdom is catching up. In my humble opinion, it's those dang processed foods which are killing us.

A bad rap
For decades, health experts have issued stark warnings that foods high in fat and cholesterol cause heart disease and other illnesses. But new research has determined that these guidelines, which prompted millions to shun red meat and eggs, were not supported by good evidence and were, in fact, in error. In the late 1970s, Americans were encouraged to reduce their fat intake to about 30 percent of their total daily calories. But after reviewing the research available at that time, a team of British scientists has concluded there was never any evidence that eating less fat would help reduce the risk of heart disease. When Americans were told to avoid meat, dairy, and fat, they increased their consumption of simple carbohydrates such as sugar, white bread, pasta, and processed foods—the real drivers of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. “The obesity epidemic basically began with the first dietary guidelines,” points out Nina Teicholz, who’s written a book on that topic. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is no longer classifying cholesterol as a “nutrient of concern.” The decision, which reverses four decades of government advice, reflects recent research suggesting that eating foods high in cholesterol does not significantly raise cholesterol levels in the blood or increase the risk of heart disease. Genetics, it turns out, has a much greater effect on cholesterol levels than diet. “We got the dietary guidelines wrong,” Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic tells USA Today. “They’ve been wrong for decades.”

We all need to return to eating just meat and veggies with some nuts and fruit thrown in for fun - in my humble opinion. (I just wish the pasta, bread, cookies, etc. didn't taste so good!)