Category Archives: Conventional Wisdom – How I hate you
Spam Mail
I thought this was funny!
So of course around Black Friday the spam mail seems to double. But what really caught my attention was all the health and fitness spam mail that I received.
I got a bazillion “Eat This, Not That” emails along with emails from Men’s Health and Women’s Health with some sort of line about how to lose 10 pounds in just seconds! (haha ok a bit of an exaggeration but that is how stupid most of the emails were!) I even get emails from Runner’s World Magazine and as far as I know…I’ve never read Runner’s World Magazine.
And two years ago…I would have opened and read each and every single one of them. I would have opened them knowing that I already knew everything they were going to say BUT hoping that one would reveal something, ANYTHING that would be the key to quickly getting the perfect body.
Now…well now I delete them without even opening them. I should really unsubscribe to those email lists since most of the time I don’t even want to open the emails to make fun of the stupid tips they provide.
But I don’t.
I think partly I keep them in case I get writer’s block and need something to rant about and partly because I think I, like everyone else out there, secretly wishes that there is a quick fix.
Even though I KNOW that there isn’t some part of me does hold out hope. I mean who doesn’t want get the perfect body or be able to lift a bazillion pounds in ONLY 30 days!?!
Thanksgiving – Diet or Indulge
I swear if you looked at top searches over the past week you would find something involving “Thanksgiving” and “diet.”
It seems like half of the United States population decides to freak out about their diet around Thanksgiving…not the 364 other days of the year…but on Thanksgiving…the one day they should, in my opinion, indulge.
And most of the tips that you will find are absolutely ridiculous:
- Drink water so that you feel fuller and don’t eat as much. (That has never ever worked for me..I always still eat as much but just feel way fuller at the end…like I’m going to explode…)
- Use a smaller plate (I’d love to see someone ask their host for a smaller plate…)
- Make sure to eat breakfast (If you’ve ever done IF, you will be better off fasting UNTIL the meal)
- Exercise on Thanksgiving (How about you exercise the other 364 days and take Thanksgiving off. That will probably help you burn more calories in the end than going for a long walk on Thanksgiving)
- Skip the dark meat (UHM HELLO!?! The dark meat is the best part! AND not bad if you eat Primal/Paleo.)
Ok so those tips are totally bogus. People waste a perfectly good holiday meal trying to stick to their diet by following those tips.
And I even tell most of my clients that if they like Thanksgiving food, this is one day they should indulge. I tell them they need to stick to their diet until the day of and go right back on afterwards, but for that one day, that is based around food and family, they can indulge.
I just think there can be too much stress and deprivation involved in trying to stick to a diet on Thanksgiving.
But not everyone agrees with me. And while I don’t believe in dieting on Thanksgiving (I DEFINITELY count it as a cheat meal!), Mark’s Daily Apple does give some good recommendations on how to prepare a Primal Thanksgiving or how to stick to Primal if you’re not cooking.
So if you think a cheat day will derail your progress or make it hard to get back on track, maybe following good (underlining good) tips like the ones on Mark’s Daily Apple will be the way to go.
For me though there is no question about whether or not I’m dieting or indulging. I’m always going to cheat on Thanksgiving. For me, it is absolutely worth it to eat pie, gravy, cranberries cooked with sugar and stuffing (I LOVE STUFFING).
What do you think? Is it worth it to indulge? Or do you stick to your diet?
Is High Cholesterol the Problem?
If you dropped the bun that would be a healthy meal! 😉
My incredibly fit Man Bicep Mom has high cholesterol. Her doctor put her on a statin.
I have super high cholesterol. My doctor tried to put me on a statin at the age of 23. I refused. And I will keep refusing.
I don’t think cholesterol is the cause of the problem – inflammation is. I think red meat is great to eat. AND saturated fat? NO PROBLEM!
Of course, my doctor and even the Man Bicep Mom think that I’m crazy for thinking this, but I’m not. I think I’m avoiding the real problem – inflammation from carbs and vegetable oil.
Let’s look over a few facts and then I want you to decide…Am I crazy?
Where/when did this connection between cholesterol and heart disease begin?
- This connection was proposed in the 1850s by German pathologist Rudolf Virchow and it was called the lipid hypothesis. It proposed a connection between plasma cholesterol levels and the development of coronary heart disease. So saturated fat and cholesterol in the blood became known as major factors in causing cardiovascular disease.
- This lipid hypothesis began to receive greater attention in the middle of the 20th century when cardiovascular disease became a major cause of death in the Western world.
- In 1951, Duff and McMillian created the modern form of the lipid hypothesis.
- In 1953, Ancel Keys, one of the most well-known early modern proponents of the fact that saturated fats and cholesterol in the blood cause heart disease, wrote the book “Eat Well and Stay Well,” which helped the issue gain popular awareness.
- One of the major players in bringing cholesterol to the public’s awareness was Time magazine. Its piece on cholesterol in the March 26, 1984 issue was a devastating piece on both dietary cholesterol and dietary fat. Both – the article explained – were a main driving force behind the development of heart disease.
BUT is this lipid hypothesis correct?
- The lipid hypothesis was created based on OBSERVATIONAL data. BUT observational studies can’t necessarily show that correlation equals causation.
- There’s never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease.
- Dietary cholesterol has actually been proven to be pretty benign.
- The Framingham heart study showed NO CORRELATION between high cholesterol and heart disease. Below is an excerpt from the study.
In undertaking the diet study at Framingham the primary interest was, of course, in the relation of diet to the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). It was felt, however, that any such relationship would be an indirect one, diet influencing serum cholesterol level and serum cholesterol level influencing the risk of CHD. However, no relationship could be discerned within the study cohort between food intake and serum cholesterol level.
In the period between the taking of the diet interviews and the end of the 16-year follow-up, 47 cases of de novo CHD developed in the Diet Study group. The means for all the diet variables measured were practically the same for these cases as for the original cohort at risk. There is, in short, no suggestion of any relation between diet and the subsequent development of CHD in the study group…
With one exception there was no discernible association between reported diet intake and serum cholesterol level in the Framingham Diet Study Group. The one exception was a weak negative association between caloric intake and serum cholesterol level in men. [As to] coronary heart disease–was it related prospectively to diet.
No relationship was found! AND they tried VERY HARD to find one! The data showed NO correlation between diet and serum cholesterol and between diet and the incidence of coronary heart disease!
- Virtually every cell in the body has the ability to make cholesterol because cholesterol is so important to survival.
- As heart-disease rates were skyrocketing in the mid-1900s, consumption of animal fat was going down, not up. Consumption of vegetable oils, however, was going up dramatically.
- Half of all heart-attack victims have normal or low cholesterol. Autopsies performed on heart-attack victims routinely reveal plaque-filled arteries in people whose cholesterol was low.
- Asian Indians – half of whom are vegetarians – have one of the highest rates of heart disease in the entire world.
- From Good Calories, Bad Calories about the study that Time magazine used to PROVE how bad cholesterol is for you (actually what Gary Taubes shows us is that researchers MISUSED inconclusive data to PROVE what they WANTED):
In January 1984, the results of the trial (N.H.L.B.I. study) were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Cholesterol levels dropped by an average of 4 percent in the control group – those men taking a placebo. The levels dropped by 13 percent in the men taking cholestryramine. In the control group, 158 men suffered non-fatal heart attacks during the study and 38 men died from heart attacks. In the treatment group, 130 men suffered non-fatal heart attacks and only 30 died from them. All in all, 71 men had died in the control group and 68 in the treatment group. In other words, cholestryramine had improved by less than .2 percent the chance that any one of the men who took it would live through the next decade. To call these results “conclusive,” as the University of Chicago biostatistician Paul Meier remarked, would constitute “a substantial misuse of the term.” Nonetheless, these results were taken as sufficient by Rifkind, Steinberg and their colleagues [those who had been searching for ‘proof’ for decades that cholesterol causes heart disease] so they could state unconditionally that [Ancel] Keys had been right and that lowering cholesterol would save lives.
- Time Magazine also used Fred Shragai as an example of a man who now had to live without fear of a heart attack because he had switched to a low-fat diet and his cholesterol was down to 195. Of course, what the article doesn’t tell you is that Fred died of a heart attack two months later. Sounds like the low-fat diet and lower cholesterol really helped him…
- Same for Eisenhower…his cholesterol was only 164 when he suffered his first heart attack. AND what about Tim Russert? His cholesterol was only 105 (AND HE WAS TAKING A STATIN) when he died of a heart attack at 58.
- If you look at the anthropological evidence, the health of early humans took a turn for the worse when agriculture came along. Read the linked article by Michael R. Eades for more proof.
- Making fat and cholesterol the problem helps make companies money! Marking low-fat products as heart healthy makes the American Heart Association money! SO why wouldn’t they keep supporting a theory that makes them a profit? If it came out that animal fats were good for you, “heart healthy” veggie oils wouldn’t be making companies as much money!
- And Ancel Keys…he sounds like a vegetarian to me…which means of course he supports this theory! If fat is bad, people will abstain from fatty meats eat, in his opinion, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables! I thought this was also an interesting comparison between him and Jack Lalanne.
- Did I mention that making cholesterol and fat the problem makes people money? I mean statins make pharmaceutical companies MONEY! So of course they hope everyone believes the lipid hypothesis!
AH! Ok…that is all I have energy to rant about for now.
Here is one last article to look at if there isn’t enough proof here to convince you (and if this article doesn’t do it, take a look at the one in my post the other day that talks about how eating like a Caveman is good for you! OR just buy this book if you aren’t convinced – The Great Cholesterol Con.
And here is a good quote that I found during my research to leave you with…The Lipid Hypothesis (fat and cholesterol are the problem) is all one big lie that’s been repeated so often that we believe it!
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. – Goebbel
Love the Support
So yesterday I stumbled upon two different articles that support the Man Bicep beliefs.
This first article basically states that eating like a Caveman is good for you! THANK YOU!!! The diet can help you lose weight and improve your health – it can lower your blood pressure AND your cholesterol. Seems like carbs may be a bigger problem when it comes to high cholesterol than fat is!!
Of course, this article does recommend lean meats, which you may think is contrary to what I’ve said in the past, BUT I support eating “fatty” naturally raised meats such as grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef, even the fatty cuts, is leaner than it’s grain-fed counterparts. So yea…eat “lean” aka grass-fed, naturally raised animals! 🙂
Second article that I LOVED is about NOT RUNNING! This is a post about weight training and dieting to lose weight/fat NOT running. I totally agree that cardio isn’t the best tool for weight loss and that there are actually a lot of negatives to chronic cardio.
So if you want to look super hot, stop the chronic cardio and start weight training! 🙂
Chalk up two more points for Man Bicep and 0 for Conventional Wisdom!
Vanishing of the Bees
Ok so sometimes I’m really glad that Ryan picks out the TV shows and movies that we watch because I would never have watched this documentary on my own (of course this also has a downside…sometimes I’m forced to watch movies like Step Brothers BLEH).
Anyway, yesterday we watched Vanishing of the Bees. The documentary talks about the fact that honeybees have been literally disappearing from their hives…just sort of dying off.
Which may leave you thinking…who cares all they are used for is honey…BUT THAT IS FALSE!
Honeybees are the reason that we have most of our vegetable and fruit crops.
Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
So without the honeybees, we would be EXTREMELY dependent on foreign crops.
So of course…scientists began trying to figure out ways to SOLVE the problem…let’s be clear here…not ways to PREVENT the problem…but ways to SOLVE the problem.
They tried dividing up the hives to repopulate the abandoned ones. They tried antibiotics. But nothing was really solving the issue of the disappearance of the bees (or as they call it Colony Collapse Disorder). Hives were still being abandoned and droves of honeybees were still dying off.
The farmers then find out from their European colleagues that the disappearance of their honeybees may have something to do with the pesticides being used on some of the crops that the honeybees are pollinating.
The pesticides may be killing off the bees! But does the government respond by pulling the product off the market? NOPE!
Why? Because we would rather solve a problem with a new product rather than prevent it by not using an old one.
We would rather create drugs for ailments and disease than prevent them by educating people on healthy eating.
We have the attitude of we can SOLVE any problem so we don’t need to worry about PREVENTION.
BUT PREVENTION IS KEY!!!
Prevention will help us keep this planet healthy. Prevention will help you keep yourself healthy!!!
It’s like I tell my clients, you invest in your health now (prevention) so you don’t have to spend more money later dealing with all the medical bills (trying to solve the problems).
The same applies to almost every aspect of our lives, including the fact that it is worth spending more money on grass-fed beef and organic vegetables to save our environment and our health.
I mean…think about it…if pesticides are killing the bees…they’ve got to have some effect on us. Not to mention if the bees die off so do most of our fruits and vegetables!!
So stop believing there will be a solution to any problem and start trying to PREVENT the problems!!! Start eating well and buying organic and taking care of yourself!!!
PREVENTION may be the BEST SOLUTION to any problem!
(DISCLAIMER: I’m really not a hippie…not that there is anything wrong with being one).
Oh Conventional Wisdom- How I HATE YOU!
So I may have hinted at this before…but I LOVE a good diet and fitness debate. hehe
(And I’m apologizing upfront to any of my readers who are vegetarians…but I mean come on the comic is funny!) 🙂
For the first time this week I slept in (till 7 am!!! YAY!), and when I woke up Ryan had a nice article up on the computer for my post today – “The Paleo-Diet: Not the way to a healthy future.”
THANK YOU NPR!
First off, like many people you talk to, the author of this article Barbara King, got stuck on the fact that the Paleo diet is modeled on a hunter-gatherer diet. Most people get turned off of the diet because of this, which is why you hear people scoff at the idea of a “caveman” diet.
In this case Barbara King tries to prove that the Paleo diet DOESN’T in fact mimic the diet of paleolithic people. She even states that a true “paleo” diet may in fact be vegetarian:
Our ancestors began to eat meat in large quantities around 2 million years ago, when the first Homo forms began regular use of stone tool technology. Before that, the diet of australopithecines and their relatives was overwhelmingly plant-based, judging from clues in teeth and bones. I could argue that the more genuine “paleo” diet was vegetarian.
Ok that may be true…but then again we evolved into Homo form and those are probably the species more similar to our own so wouldn’t it make more sense to follow their diet than the one of a species that eventually EVOLVED into a hunter? Makes sense to me, but hey…
Next point…
Again she tries to prove that the Paleo diet isn’t a true paleolithic diet. She states:
First, ancient hunter-gatherer groups adapted to local environments that were regionally and seasonally variable — for instance, coastal or inland, game-saturated or grain-abundant (eating grains was not necessarily incompatible with hunter-gatherer living). Second, genes were not in control. People learned what worked in local context for survival and reproduction, and surely, just as in other primates, cultural traditions began to play a role in who ate what.
In short, there was no single hunter-gatherer foraging strategy, and genes no more “designed” our eating behavior than they designed our language or our ways of relating between the genders.
I think most Paleo and Primal followers agree that Paleolithic people ate what was regional and seasonal. AND many Paleo and Primal followers TRY to follow that. Of course since we do get produce from other places, we do make exceptions especially if it is organic. I also think people following the Paleo and Primal diets do adjust them to fit the region they are from just like our ancient ancestors did. Plus like any “diet,” the creators and main promoters of these diets have to promote a BASIC set of principles to follow. It is up to the “dieter” to adjust it to fit where they are from.
Just like vegetarians. Just because someone is a vegetarian doesn’t mean their diet is the exact same as another vegetarian yet both are following the same BASIC set of principles outline by the person (people) who started/promoted vegetarianism. Sooo….what’s your point Barbara?
Oh, and also, our genes may not “design” our eating behavior but they do react better when you eat a certain way. I think all of the testimonials you can find in Paleo and Primal books as well as on blogs do prove this point. I mean just check out marksdailyapple.com and read a few of the testimonials there! (I mean shoot, if you are reading this blog and agree send me your testimonial and I’ll post it here as proof! haha)
OK! Next point! And the one that made me laugh out loud!
Barbara states:
But the paleo-movement seems to doom (even if unintentionally) more animals to life and death in factory farms. A greater percentage of grain crops would also be diverted to rich countries’ animals and away from poor countries’ people.
Uhm has she done any actually reading about Paleo/Primal? Doesn’t sound like it! WE AVOID GRAIN FED ANIMALS!!! So uhm…the poor countries can have all the grains they want! haha
Most true followers of Paleo try to eat only grass-fed animals. We are trying to promote a Paleolithic lifestyle, remember Barbara. SOOOO we want animals that were raised in a way that mimics the way Paleolithic animals lived…aka roaming free and eating what they naturally ate (grass for cows, grubs for pigs and such!).
So actually the Paleo diet is trying to get rid of factory farms. We are actually promoting a diet that is more humane to animals (if you look at the “5” rating at Whole Foods those animals actually got to live out a very nice long life!).
So Barbara didn’t convince me. Anyone out there have something better? haha
Conventional Wisdom – BS about Breakfast
Oh Conventional Wisdom…I HATE YOU.
People believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day…my question is why is it so important?
The common answers are:
- If you skip breakfast you are more likely to become obese because you will overeat later.
- Breakfast kick starts your energy level after fasting all night which can help prevent you from overeating later in the day.
- Breakfast is also supposed to kick-start your metabolism and increase your metabolic rate, which will help prevent weight gain.
So what I’ve deduced from all of this is that breakfast is important because it is supposed to prevent obesity and help you control your weight.
But seriously, how is it supposed to do this? Consuming calories at a certain point in your day is really going to help you lose weight and fight obesity?
I DON’T THINK SO!
I mean just look at our breakfast eating society…seems like breakfast is really helping with our obesity problem!
Maybe breakfast isn’t really the key to preventing obesity. Maybe overeating is. Maybe weight gain has more to do with ingesting the wrong foods than it does with eating at certain times of the day!
I believe you should eat when you are hungry. If you want breakfast, eat it. BUT if you aren’t hungry in the morning, don’t eat. What benefit can eating when you aren’t hungry have?
If you only eat when you are hungry, you WON’T overeat later! For more information about how breakfast isn’t the most important meal of the day check out the two links below.
To Eat Breakfast, Or Not – Mark’s Daily Apple
Interview with Mark – Underground Wellness
“All Natural” – HA!
Honestly, what does “all natural” mean?
When it’s on a food label, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I found this “all natural” product the other day on a fitness blog (which will remain nameless because they should be ashamed of themselves for recommending this product!).
Vanilla frosting flavor...definitely sounds all natural to me
This is what the blog said, “A single-serving bag of these popped potato and multigrain crisps (similar to Popchips) have about 110 to 120 calories of crunchy munching in them. Not to mention that they’re all natural, with no cholesterol, no trans fat, no saturated fat, no preservatives, no MSG, no high fructose corn syrup, and are gluten-free and Kosher certified.”
These chips that they claim are “all natural” have tons of all natural ingredients in them like “vegetable oil, gum arabic, natural flavor, disodium phosphate, and vanilla frosting seasoning (which contained the gum arabic).”
Yea…sounds REAL natural to me.
The blog article also states, “While they don’t have a ton of nutritional value, they certainly don’t have a bunch of bad stuff in them and are a huge improvement over your usual full-fat chip.”
A huge improvement? Not bad? No nutritional value?
They sound just as bad to me! I mean they are freaking chips with no nutritional value!!
If they lack any nutritional benefit, why eat them?
If they are empty calories, you probably shouldn’t eat them unless you are cheating. I mean most of us aren’t active enough during the day to use those empty calories.
PLEASE DON’T LISTEN TO ARTICLES LIKE THIS!! If you have to make an excuse as to why a food is “ok” to eat, you probably shouldn’t be eating it!!!
AND don’t be fooled by food labels that say the product is “all natural.” If they have to tell you the product is “all natural,” it probably isn’t.
Conventional Wisdom is wrong – The Skinny on Fat
So last night Ryan made pork belly…which was juicy and fatty and ABSOLUTELY delicious.
Soooo good! And perfectly healthy!?!
Today when I came into work and talked about eating the super fatty piece of pork (which is what bacon is made out of), I was told that it sounded like an artery clogging meal.
I, of course, disputed the statement because I believe that fatty meats are good for you ESPECIALLY when the animal is raised in a NATURAL way.
Which our pork belly was. At Whole Foods, they have a rating system, which goes 1-5 (5 being raised PERFECTLY naturally). Our pork belly was a 4, which means that our pork was pastured pork. The pig was allowed to roam and grub and socialize as it would naturally. Because the animal lived naturally, the meat is actually better for you!
As an article I found on The Benefits of Pastured Pork states, “Pastured pork is more nutritious. Pastured pork has higher levels of vitamin E, healthy Omega-3 fatty acids,and many other nutrients than conventionally raised pork.”
All naturally raised animal meats also have more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA may “help reduce body fat mass, reduce risk for certain types of cancer — including stomach and colon cancers — and protect against arthrosclerosis, according to a 2003 study published in “Lipids in Health and Disease.” It also has purported benefits for high cholesterol and alleviating inflammatory bowel disease.”
AND GUESS WHAT!?!
Conjugated linoleic acid is a FAT!
So the fatty, naturally raised meat that I’m eating isn’t going to clog my arteries, but may actually help with my high cholesterol!!! This FAT may also help me stay SKINNY.
Still don’t agree that fatty meat is good for you? Still think that what I’m saying is all well and good, but that the saturated fat in the fatty meats isn’t good for me?
Well you are wrong. Here is a study that shows that saturated fat may not in fact be connected to an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease.
Don’t let conventional wisdom fool you into thinking that fat is bad for you! Do your own research. Here are a few other articles with the real facts about fat!
The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat – Mark’s Daily Apple
Robb Wolf also has some good info about fats and the Paleo diet in general. Click here.
How’s that working out for you?
Maybe it’s just that I have a mean streak, but don’t you ever just want to ask someone “How’s that working out for you?”
Like don’t you just want to ask when someone (who is clearly out of shape) orders a non-fat skinny soy chi tea latte with 7 pumps, thinking they are being extremely healthy? I must admit, even if you don’t want to…I DO!
I want to ask people who all the time.
Like when a man with a beer belly walks into the gym to sign up. And I ask, “Would you like to set up one of your complimentary training sessions today? And he says, “No. I already have a program. I’m all set.”
I just want to look down at his belly and ask, “How’s that working out for you?”
How do these people think that what they are doing is working? How do they not see that they aren’t getting results?
My theory is that they just BELIEVE what they are doing SHOULD be working. Conventional wisdom – magazines, TV, radio, internet – have all told them that it should work. Low-fat diets are SUPPOSED to lower your cholesterol and make you healthier. Non-fat milk is SUPPOSED to be better for you (I mean it has fewer calories right!?!).
People ignore the obvious fact that they still haven’t reached their goals because they are doing what is SUPPOSED to work.
These people really should be taking a look at themselves and asking, “How is this working out for me?” I bet you a lot of them would want to reassess their diet and exercise programs afterwards.
So if you aren’t seeing the results you want, stop assuming that because the magazine or some celebrity said the diet works that it works. Because it probably doesn’t.
For example…the workouts in Muscle and Fitness. Those workouts, with some huge guy posing next to them, only work for that guy because he is taking STEROIDS. Just like in Muscle and Fitness most of the popular diet out there have some hidden stipulation that you probably aren’t doing.
Do some research. Experiment. Try different things and let the results speak for themselves.
Please don’t be that person walking down the street following the newest diet trend that makes me want to ask, “How’s that working out for you?”!!!!
Man Bicep 