… and highs in the lower teens.
Yes, friends, Hell must’ve frozen over, because for the first time ever I find myself on the same side of an issue as Rush Limbaugh.
Apparently Limbaugh is a fan of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories. I also am a fan of the book, and I hope to write a review of it soon.
Surprisingly, Limbaugh does not state explicitly that this is another example of how the government should stay out of people’s lives. But I ask you, is it ethical or even sensible to have the United States Department of Agriculture, an agency that lists “keep[ing] America’s farmers and ranchers in business” as one of its missions, telling Americans what to eat? Think of that the next time you look at the Food Pyramid – is there any possibility that the foods at the bottom of the pyramid have better, smarter lobbyists, with bigger lobbying budgets, than the foods at the top? Is there any possibility that an agricultural establishment can make more money selling highly processed corn than it can selling natural beef? Question: how many manufacturered products in your grocery store contain large amounts of corn, including high-fructose corn syrup? And how many manufactured products are made of beef? How many ads do you see on TV for corn products? How many do you see for beef products? If those corn products didn’t make big money, manufacturers wouldn’t keep churning out more products just like them. So which industry has more money to lobby the USDA – the corn producers, or the beef ranchers? I’m not saying the ranchers aren’t out there spending money to persuade government officials to promote beef; I’m just saying that a look through your grocery store, at the TV ads, and yes, at the USDA Food Pyramid might tell you something about who’s winning hearts and minds at the USDA.
I’m sure my liberal readers are going to have a, sorry for the pun, cow when they read this, so let me just point out the fallacies sometimes known as Personal Attack, Poisoning the Well, and especially Guilt by Association. Just because Rush is usually a gasbag doesn’t mean that he’s wrong this time.
Migraine aura picture from 
Other than diet, the studies Gary Taubes review also reveal the necessity of cholesterol for building healthy cells and the fact that it has become the “fall guy” for heart disease when it is probably carbs doing the damage. This is eye opening and chilling for folks taking statins to reduce their cholesterol levels down to potentially unhealthy levels. Many are suffering terrible side effects (muscle wasting, difficulty walking, etc) from the statins while they take medication to knock down their cholesterol….and maybe because of faulty or political interpretation of heart study results. Shame.
Comment by quietrunning — October 16, 2007 @ 1:05 pm |
‘The survival of the fittest, or shall we say the ones with the deep pockets’ is motto of ’successful’ lobbying. Just take a look at the ‘interior’ aisles of your grocery store and you will see where most folks shop. That’s where all the ‘man-made-over-processed-over-hyped’ junk food is sold! Sadly, most of it is labeled as ‘healthier’…what a joke!
Shop the perimeter of your grocery store [produce, meat and dairy] and you won’t encounter the crowds. They’re all looking for the ‘healthy’ stuff on the interior.
It’s become nearly impossible to find a product that’s not HFCS laden anymore. The few that are not, are sugar laden. Anyhow, that’s one of my pet-peeves. End of rant.
Ron
Comment by Ron — October 16, 2007 @ 2:51 pm |
Quietrunning – yes, the whole Lipitor thing is scandalous. When my cholesterol crept up from about 150 to 170 during one of my carb-binging periods, my doctor said, “Well, your cholesterol has edged up a bit, but we won’t put you on statins yet.” I told her I refused to take them, even if she prescribed them – her jaw dropped!
Ron – not only is it getting hard to find things without HFCS, it’s getting hard to find normal, full-fat versions of products that are naturally high in fat. Fage, a Greek company, makes fat-free, low-fat, and full-fat versions of its excellent yogurt, but there are a lot of stores that don’t carry the full-fat version. I had one grocery store clerk pop his eyes in disbelief when I suggested the store should carry full-fat yogurt – 12 brands of yogurt, including Stonyfield Farm and Fage, which both make full-fat yogurt, and not a single container of the full-fat stuff to be found. People think we’re crazy, but I’m truly convinced that the best way to lead is by example. When I’m finally thin and healthy enough that people just HAVE to notice, I’ll be delighted to tell people it’s because I ate yogurt with 16 grams of saturated fat per serving – 80% of the maximum the government says you should consume in day. I can’t wait for that day to arrive, because it will mean there is more demand for the good stuff, and there will more of it in the store.
Comment by Migraineur — October 16, 2007 @ 3:35 pm |
[...] ice cream, the kind where one serving provides 75% of the maximum saturated fat the USDA (screw them, by the way) says you should eat in a day. And there are four servings in a pint. And I would [...]
Pingback by Moral Judgments from The Fat Pig « The Migraineur — October 22, 2007 @ 7:14 pm |
I think eat food pyramid diets.THE BEST WAY.
Comment by Foodguru — June 20, 2009 @ 9:25 am |