Thank you for all positive work you’re doing!

Be well!

JP

You make some very important points. Eating a whole food diet is something to strive for. But eating whole foods that are grown and raised in a traditional manner is even better, IMO. What could be more natural than that?

Be well!

JP

The other major factor in the rise of heart disease was the introdction of margarine (hydrogenated fat) in the late 1800′s and early 1900s. Coronary artery disease was very rare at the beginning of the 20th centuary and only took off in the mid-1920s. In fact the inventor of the ECG was initially told that it wasa a useless invention as there was no need for it.

Be well!

JP

It’s been known information among researchers for years that diabetes and heart disease are two sides of the same coin. Even if you are not officially diagnosed diabetic, if you have blood pressure or cholesterol issues, you are on the same metabolic spectrum as type 2 diabetics and could easily wind up with it if your doctor puts you on the typical low-fat diet to address the cholesterol. Yes, even if you’re slender.

Saturated fat is needed for so many bodily structures and processes that the replacement of it with high-glycemic foods in the American diet is not the only problem. The fatty acid profile in our diets has also suffered and we find ourselves struggling with hormonal imbalance, infertility, and mental health problems among other issues. This is all related to fat intake and quality of fat eaten. The best thing the “experts” could do for human health is to admit they were wrong about saturated fat causing disease, and encourage us to eat it liberally.

I suspect saturated fat even has a protective effect in a diet that’s relatively high in starch. Think back to what Americans ate in the 1700s and 1800s, and even early in the 20th century before the low-fat anti-cholesterol dietary dogma took hold. Heart disease was not difficult to diagnose. If nothing else, they could do an autopsy afterward and see the clots in the person’s arteries. But there was less heart disease than there is today, and they ate pounds and pounds of butter and lard year after year, right next to their wheat-flour bread and biscuits.

I like to say that part of what trips us up as a civilization is that we focus too much on how we think things ought to be, rather than observe them as they are, and work with “what is.” Possibly nowhere is this more true than in the area of diet.

Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the full text of the study. All we have to go on is the substitution of low vs high glycemic carbs for saturated fat in general.

If the full text becomes available soon, I’ll replace the abstract link with the full text version – and then add some additional details to this column.

Thanks for the great question!

Be well!

JP

I suspect that the substitution of saturated fats with high-glycemic carbs may have resulted in a lower fruit and veg intake and possibly a high intake of processed foods – but then I have not read the study. Did it say what high-glycemic carbs they used?

Thank you for explaining the German system of carb counting. I wasn’t aware of that. Very interesting.

I agree with you that most beverages and foods – such as coconut water – can be worked into virtually all diets (even low carb diets). It’s also a matter of the quantity consumed.

I wish you and your husband the same! Enjoy your days off!

Be well!

JP

one add to the carbs: maybe you know that already: in Germany diabetics use the term “BrotEinheiten (BE)” for the carb content, 12g carbs = 1 BE, 2 BE=24g carbs. Its neccessary in therms of insulin injections that means 2 units insulin for 2 BEs. I or we don’t suffer from diabetes but we find it helpfull to count our carbs in that way. So we eat not more carbs than 6-8 BEs a day, allways under 100 g carbs, so thats still a antiinflammatory dosis. The carbs are most of veggis, fruits and for me sometimes from oats, lentils and whole grain toast (1 slice has 1BE).

What i wanna say is that you can drink coconut water if you love it too, you must only watch a little bit the other carbs in your meals, than its ok.

Wish you both a funny-sunny-and-super-duper-relaxing weekend

Your friend from the far side
Nina K.