July 22, 2008

Makes Me Question Their Climate Advice...

John Tierney with more mad, libertarian ravings in the New York Times:

Why does the [American Heart Association] continue to insist that saturated fat should be avoided, if these trials repeatedly show that high saturated fat diets lead to better cholesterol profiles than low-saturated fat diets? And how many of these trials have to be done before the National Institutes of Health or some other august institution in this business re-assesses this question? After all, the reason the food guide pyramid suggests we eat things like butter and lard and meats sparingly (and puts them high up in the pyramid) is that they contain saturated fat. This is also the reason that the A.H.A. wants to lower even further what’s considered the safe limit for saturated fats in the diet.

Could we -- maybe -- have the government NOT take our money to give bad diet advice? I see the new food pyramid PSAs when I'm watching the tour. They've co-opted Disney's Jungle Book characters to tell kids to go to a government website to get [bad] diet advice. I hate to see Louis Prima abused so.

I was raised on the 4 Food Groups, which had the virtue of being a blatant advertisement for the four big ag lobbies. You knew if M&M/Mars ponied up some dough, that Snickers® could have been the fifth. Nobody really pretended it was science -- though it was probably better diet advice than when the government took the job seriously.

The first food pyramid (all-carbohydrates, all the time) would have been a target for malpractice lawsuits were the government not protected. I don't know what the new one is about. But does anybody doubt that there is a robust private market in research and products for dieters? I ridiculed government involvement in dieting in May of 2003:

The guidelines and all the new posters and the new “Healthy Kid” logo on the menu (you can see it already, can’t you?) will all highlight low fat, high carbohydrate foods. I should take consolidation that nobody will pay much attention to these, but some people will and their health will be worse because of government intervention.

Let the marketplace decide on nutrition, it’s what works. If you think I am crazy for bucking conventional medical wisdom and following Dr. Atkins, fine. That can be discussed, just like my preference for Mises over Lord Keynes. But let’s not allow the feds to give us one side, and then use threat-of-lawyer to force their advice on everyone.


Not sure my writing ages too well, but the ideas do. The government’s advice has been:
  • Sold for money (four food groups)

  • Health-threateningly wrong (food pyramid)

  • Hopelessly outdated (saturated fats)

In short, it displays all the flaws of top down, command and control structure. I wonder if this would not be a good target for a little-l libertarian attack. I think you can convince people that federal nannyism in food is counter-productive, liberty eroding, and supra-Constitutional. I think conservatives and liberals might come together. That's change I can believe in.

Hat-tip: Instapundit

Posted by jk at July 22, 2008 4:00 PM

One thing I learned while dropping 40 pounds was that low-fat, high-carb foods can be just as bad: calories DO count and should be counted. It doesn't matter whether you eat excess calories in the form of carbs, fats or proteins; your body will store whatever excess as fat. If you eat 500 calories a day more than what you burn, you'll gain about one pound of fat per week.

Don't follow Atkins, though, because that's way too much fat. Eat enough protein depending on your muscle mass, but do your health a favor and cut out the fatty kinds as much as possible. You want fats in the form of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, not the fats you'll find in bacon and ribeyes (which you don't have to avoid, just don't eat them every day). Most people don't need as much protein as they think. Bodybuilders do fine on 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, per day. And don't be afraid of carbs. You need carbs -- complex carbs with lots of fiber. Brown rice, whole wheat flour.

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 23, 2008 10:38 AM

Mmmm. Bacon.

I lost 70 lbs on Atkins and never felt better in my life. Once the weight was gone, I had a difficult time converting to a maintenance plan that was Atkins-friendly. And now I consider it too difficult.

I doubt that we disagree on the Federal Government's role in this, however. You and I chose different methods that worked for us, for different reasons. I wrote that essay when I was on Atkins, it was clearly working for me, and I was disheartened to see so many of my tax dollars being spent to contradict it.

Posted by: jk at July 23, 2008 11:11 AM

Of course, you should know as well as anyone that I abhor government telling us what is "healthy" and what is not. Jefferson knew two centuries ago that "Were we directed by Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon starve from want of bread."

Atkins is effective for losing weight, but not healthy for a continued lifestyle, and even losing weight on Atkins will leave you nutritionally deprived. Ketosis by definition is nutritional deficiency, because your body is breaking down fat on an emergency basis to get what it needs. You need a healthy balance, and a whole lot of vegetables. Make at least one meal a day a vegetable-based meal, like a salad for lunch; some meat is ok but it can't be the main ingredient. Eating 7-10 "servings" of vegetables daily crowded out the bad stuff I would have eaten. The weight came off and I felt better in that I could move more easily, but my biochemistry was much better, and that's not always possible to feel. It's much easier to get vitamins and nutrients by eating a healthy diet, rather than forcing your body to break down complex foods to get what it needs.

Besides, once you're off Atkins and start eating carbs, your body will feel so deprived that it will seem to try to save every carb calorie as fat. Every french fry, chip and

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 25, 2008 3:26 PM

piece of white bread will go almost straight to your middle.

Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 25, 2008 3:28 PM | What do you think? [4]