| Locke |
03-16-2014 02:26 PM |
I've read more literature than I can recount on both sides of the high carb vs. low carb debate. I've come to the conclusion that human beings are omnivores that can find health and nourishment at a wide variety of different macronutrient ratio intakes. Both sides like to use the quote by Hippocrates: "Let food be thy medicine". I think that both are guilty of drawing too strong a connection between nutrition and disease and using scare tactics to get their points across. There are people who are afraid to eat a bowl of cereal because it will make them diabetic and people who won't eat meat for fear of a stroke.
America is one of the fattest countries around, and it's not because we eat *gasp* refined carbs or *gasp* meat and cheese. It's because we let scientists and doctors tell us how to eat instead of our own bodies. Americans are some of the most health and diet conscious people in the world. Eating breakfast when you aren't hungry for it because common knowledge says that it's the most important meal of the day is overeating and will lead to weight gain. There is a fundamental problem with nutrition science these days if two different factions can draw opposite conclusions based on cherry-picking data.
Look around the world- there are people happily eating their native diets without dropping dead. The French eat rich sauces and refined carbs. Asians eat white rice as a staple. These countries have lower incidences of the so-called "lifestyle" diseases of Americans. The biggest problem is that Americans overeat. We put away more calories than almost any other country. We need to stop the "eat more fats", or "eat more unrefined carbohydrates" endless debates and simply eat less food. EAT LESS FOOD. Put down the fork. Stop eating when you aren't hungry and I bet my last buck that most of these "lifestyle" diseases blamed on carbs or fat will go away.
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