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21 sats \ 4 replies \ @Signal312 3 Mar \ on: How can we combat the obesity epidemic? AskSN
The problem with education is that it's going in the wrong direction. The more you "educate" about nutrition now, the more people will be mis-educated, and will be convinced that they should eat the following:
- vegan foods
- more fiber
- more fruits and vegetables
- more grains.
And nutritional education now tells you to eliminate meat, eggs, whole fat dairy, etc - anything with saturated fats. Even though science has known for decades now that saturated fats are not bad, and that lower carb diets can bring about seemingly miraculous cures.
I think the USDA (source of the US nutritional guidelines) should be abolished, number 1.
There's also a problem in the opposite direction where people think you're supposed to eat no fruits or vegetables. Too many people are making money off of making bold unsubstantiated claims in the fitness and nutrition industry.
While i don't think there's anything particularly wrong with things like the carnivore diet, I'd argue that any balanced diet full of mostly single ingredient foods is going to be fine.
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I haven't looked into it, but I strongly suspect you're right on the mark with that last remark.
I think a great deal of the benefits that come from the carnivore diet aren't actually from cutting out non-meat food, but rather are from cutting out all the highly processed cereals and grains.
Fruit and vegetables are good for you, so is meat, and natural un-processed carbs. It's the artificial stuff that contains a billion ingredients that's the problem.
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The whole "fruit and vegetables are good for you" idea is so very deeply ingrained in culture and nutritional teaching now. It was a huge shock to me when I first started reading credible sources saying no, fruits and vegetables are not superfoods, it's meat and eggs that are the superfoods.
I'll refer you to the book The Big Fat Surprise, by Nina Teicholtz. I wrote up a post on it This book is blowing my mind - The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholtz
Also I wrote up this post Weird, oddball health improvements I've experienced on the Carnivore diet, all about the changes in health I've experienced since starting the carnivore diet.
@elvismercury asked the very good question, "Where were you starting from?" In other words, were you starting from a complete crap diet?
And my answer was - I switched to a carnivore diet from a what would be considered a very good diet, according to current nutritional advice. Full of fruits and veggies, and whole grains, and limited in meat. See details here: #882782.
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"Super foods" is a made up term to sell you on diets. If you disagree, tell me a definition of "super food" that anyone agrees on.
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