Has the whole world been brainwashed?

I think our media has been overrun by self-proclaimed "experts" with vague to no credentials who are trying to sell us a product and justify their own TV show/blog/book/job description/whatever, and we're happily buying into their propaganda for whatever reason. Maybe we've forgotten how to trust our own better knowledge and prefer that someone else does all the thinking for us, who knows? Sad.

People have known how to eat for thousands of years and have survived, and even thrived, on whatever they were able to grow, hunt, herd, gather and/or trade. Still do. The basic mechanics of that have not changed; the only thing that's changed is the way we manipulate it and the scale on which we do it.

It's really not rocket science, or much science at all for that matter. It's common sense and instinct. We're omnivores, for good reason, cause we need to be in order to survive. Variety is where it's at. The rest is merely preference, so please stop beating on me with yours and I'll be more than happy to not beat on you with mine.

We all know how to eat. I mean really, come on. It's so simple, anybody can do it. If we get our head out of the media hype and propaganda long enough and just focus on the basics and pay attention to our bodies. They know.

SO MANY PEOPLE could give a crap how healthy the food is, as long as it's tasty. Drives me NUTS because healthy food is DELICIOUS!!!!

I've experienced no ill effects from eating them, although I might cut them out for a week and see if there is any difference.

Give it 2 weeks if you can-I didn't notice anything but intermittent misery when I quit wheat. But wham! 2 weeks to the day and I woke up feeling better than I can remember feeling in years.

Isn't there something about "it takes 2 weeks to form a good habit"?

Anyway, just my experience, thought I'd share.:drinker:

. A little education without much perspective sends a person quickly into brainwashed turf, however.

I nominate this my favorite quote of the day. So much truth so simply put!!

I second this.

Too often one spends a few hours learning about the role of insulin off Wikipedia and becomes the next new low-carb guru.

As one of my professors once said: "A little bit of information is a dangerous thing".

There is no paleo diet. Early humans ate whatever they could get their hands on, which varied from place to place. The 'optimal' diet was whatever kept you alive long enough to have kids.
Evolution is not survival of the fittest, it is survival of the minimally fit. You don't have to be the best to survive, you just have to be able to get by, and that is all our ancestors did. They got by.


Also, I didn't have to buy any books to eat my 'brainwashed' moderate diet, but I'm guessing there were more than a few copies of "The Paleo Diet" sold among this crowd.

For the record, I don't think its that bad of a diet...but it won't cure all your ills, nor is it the ONLY WAY to lose weight and be healthy.

In for the fruit pastels. Because they sound yummy and colorful.









How do we know lions don't like them, BTW?

Because lions are carnivores.

Dogs are too, but I have a Siberian Husky who goes berserk for carrots.

Dogs are actually omnivores, cats are carnivores. True story.

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I love the 'eat raw food' argument... yes, fruit. Vegetables.. no, have you ever wondered how many thousands of years we have had fire? And how our ancestors must have been like 'holy moly, so THATS what roasted potatoes/wild carrots/hazelnuts taste' .... dont you think if they thought it was bad to eat, they wouldnt have carried on cooking all those vegetables for thousands of years?

I don't want to say it was aliens but.....












It was aliens.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE that guy. This post just made my morning!

I cannot literally believe some of the things I hear or read about nutrition and diet. Everything is so contradicting and I now have to question everything that I've ever believed.

Surely I am not the only one that feels this way?

Okay, so I don't have the cleanest diet yet, but I'm getting there. By clean, I mean relatively paleo

But WHY are doctors and nutritionists telling us this!

It's not rocket science is it. All this unnatural, processed food (wheat and dairy included), how can this possibly be good for us when we aren't actually designed to eat it. You'd consider feeding a lion fruit pastels outrageous right?

Yet few people seemed to have considered the effect of what they eat.

It makes me feel disgusted, I want to question everything!!!

because "clean eating" is just scientifically not justified.. u think the body can tell if the micronutrients/macronutrients come from organic vegetables or non-organic vegetables? organic bread, or non organic bread? white potatoes or sweet potatoes? brown rice or white rice? cashews or almonds? farm raised beef or hormone beef?

no

does the stomach have a camera that sees u eating pizza and says this is going straight to fat storage?

no

sure there are health scares with eating mass produced food with hormones, pesticides or whatever but do you know how much you would have to consume to yield any type of health damages?? and how would you know the health problems are from the food and not your extremely large portions, lack of exercise, and smoking habits??

outside of things like trans fats, and HFCS, its mostly speculated with no REAL data on the issue, anyone can pick and choose studies on this and the real key to optimal health is

....exercise and moderation.

I disagree. one example. Grass fed beef vs grain/corn fed has a much higher omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. The majority of the fat found in non grass fed beef is polyunsaturated which can cause inflammation and damage to the artery walls in those quantities. All observational studies I've read do them on normal beef, not grass fed. This is why said studies tell people to shy away from fat and meat. This however is not the same thing at all as grass fed beef. There is a big difference, and it is very much so scientifically justified.

There's almost no polyunsaturated fat in beef, comparatively speaking. And the omega ratios are similar.

Yes I understand your point seriously though, I agree eat as clean as you can, and in many tragic ways we have polluted our food chain, but we are all individually unique, some of us have adapted to eat grains and harvested farmed foods through many generations over thousands of years some have not, so yes Paleo is a good concept but its not going to apply for everyone, you would have to profile your individual genetic geanological ancestral line, and undergo allergy test on thousands of substances to truly know the best for any individual, I would say that clean organic food (home grown if possible) is certainly the right track.

This article is very interesting, its about how the people in the mid Victorian period had the best diet health and longevity, well worth a read.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672390/

Here is a quick snip from the article:

The mid-Victorian period is usually defined as the years between 1850 and 1870, but in nutritional terms we have identified a slightly longer period, lasting until around 1880. During these 30 years, we argue here, a generation grew up with probably the best standards of health ever enjoyed by a modern state. The British population had risen significantly and had become increasingly urbanised, but the great public health movement had not yet been established and Britain’s towns and cities were still notoriously unhealthy environments [4,5]. Despite this, and contrary to historical tradition, we argue in this paper, using a range of historical evidence, which Britain and its world-dominating empire were supported by a workforce, an army and a navy comprised of individuals who were healthier, fitter and stronger than we are today. They were almost entirely free of the degenerative diseases which maim and kill so many of us, and although it is commonly stated that this is because they all died young, the reverse is true; public records reveal that they lived as long – or longer – than we do in the 21st century.

These findings are remarkable, as this brief period of great good health predates not only the public health movement but also the great 20th century medical advances in surgery, infection control and drugs [6–8]. They are also in marked contrast to popular views about Victorian squalor and disease, views that have long obscured the realities of life and death during that ‘period of equipoise’

Hmm not sure why everyone is being so rude:( Post had alot of merit to it....

This is a great point actually!! People don't think or realize that what they eat effects not only their physical appearance( weight) but their minds, energy, hair, skin.... Everything!

People are suppose to eat raw foods. Veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains like rice, quinoa, millet... Not wheat. Meat.... I don't think so.. Maybe fish but when we eat large amounts of meat, those specific protiens screw with our bodies. And your right, dairy is something we can't digest properly. People now eat because it is an addiction, or whatever the reason ( processed food taste so good) not because they are hungry. We are suppose to eat for energy, not because we are hungry.

I personally think that alot of doctors may not know the importance of eating "clean" or perhaps they have given up trying to convice people to change. Hey! After watching "super size me" people still eat mcDonalds food so it doesnt matter what you do, people will only change what they eat, if they want to.

I also think all the processed foods, chemicals, additives, preservatives play a big part in all our disesases... Cancer!!

A good book that supports this is " you are what you eat" by Gillian mckeith.

Good point! And we have been brainwashed!!

Hmmmmm... while I do love fresh food I would take anything "Doctor" Gillian McKeith says with a big handful of (organic) salt.

There was a really good article in The Guardian a while back about her false claims, fake qualifications and litigious nature: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/feb/12/advertising.food

IMO the writer summed it up really well:

And that's the most sinister feature of the whole nutritionist project, graphically exemplified by McKeith: it's a manifesto of rightwing individualism - you are what you eat, and people die young because they deserve it. They choose death, through ignorance and laziness, but you choose life, fresh fish, olive oil, and that's why you're healthy. You're going to see 78. You deserve it. Not like them.

Or to put it more simply (for a bit of fun!)...

I don't know what fruit pastels are, but I know that you can drive yourself crazy worrying about all this. It seems to me that if you just eat everything in moderation, you'll probably be okay. I mean, it wasn't too long ago that "scientists" were saying that eggs were going to kill us all. You can ask 10 different "experts" what's "healthy" and you'll get 10 different answer. We are all gonna die of something...I'd rather die of food than die of stress about food.

I am several red wines to the good (or bad, depending on your moral compass) but this is quote worthy in the extreme.