Bye-bye, Fathead. I've enjoyed the blog, but can't endorse the high-fat, high-carb Perfect Health Diet that somehow makes so much sense to some otherwise bright people. An astrophysicist makes some rookie mistakes on a LC diet, misdiagnoses them, makes up "glucose deficiency," and creates a diet that's been shown in intervention studies to increase small LDL, which can lead to heart disease. A computer programmer believes in the diet and doesn't seem eager to refute it because, perhaps, scientists are freakin' liars and while he's good at spotting logical inconsistencies, lacks some intermediate knowledge of human biology. To Tom's credit, he says it's not the right diet for everyone, but given the truckload of food that has to be prepared and eaten, impracticality of following it while traveling (or even not traveling), and unsuitability for FODMAPs sufferers, diabetics and anyone prone to heart disease (i.e., much of the population), I'm not sure who it's right for.
Hello, Hyperlipid. Much of what you say is over my head, but I'm learning. Anecdotes and n=1 experiments are good most of the time, but they've also given us the Twinkie diet (remember the nutritionist who lost weight on a calorie-restricted Twinkie diet?) and claims of LC diets ruining metabolism and blowing up people's previously healthy thyroids. Many people claimed to see the sun careening towards the earth on a day in 1917; do we re-write the laws of physics for this? Finding a balance between cases and textbooks is hard, but Peter has a good deal of both kinds of knowledge and admits what he doesn't know.
Hello, Hyperlipid. Much of what you say is over my head, but I'm learning. Anecdotes and n=1 experiments are good most of the time, but they've also given us the Twinkie diet (remember the nutritionist who lost weight on a calorie-restricted Twinkie diet?) and claims of LC diets ruining metabolism and blowing up people's previously healthy thyroids. Many people claimed to see the sun careening towards the earth on a day in 1917; do we re-write the laws of physics for this? Finding a balance between cases and textbooks is hard, but Peter has a good deal of both kinds of knowledge and admits what he doesn't know.
Comments
After reading your post I went over to the Fathead blog. Another individual selling the RS way to enlightenment, for most if not all. I can see your point. Tom’s changed his mind of what constitutes the ‘Perfect Health Diet’ and carbs are back on the menu. If safe starches don’t work for you, it’s because you are doing it wrong, or you have the wrong gut bacteria, is the general idea. Total hogwash in my opinion. At first I thought Tom was playing the devils advocate to get the kettle whistling on his blog, but no, he actually believes this (this week). RN has been pushing RS for a while, and then we hear a book is on the way. Tom’s a convert, and low and behold he is working on a ‘Perfect Health Diet’ book for kids. The lunatic EK has been pimping a book ‘Restriction Addiction’ although that much talked about project appears to have gone on the back burner. How long before Jimmy is telling us the keto diet very near killed him, and get those carbs and RS down ya neck with every meal. Obviously another book will be on the way ‘The Keto Killers’
Welcome to the crazy world of Paleo and Low Carb. We get enough nonsense from big pharma and junk food and the likes of the NHS, ADA, and most dietitians etc. etc. now we have so called diet gurus talking nonsense, anything that rings the cash register. A sad state of affairs in my opinion. Just as saturated fats from healthy sources are getting the thumbs up, and sugar and highly refined starches are getting the thumbs down, these ‘gurus’ want to add more confusion to the confused. For years I have wondered, why do people with no reported serious health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, thyroid problems etc. etc. spend a huge chunk of their lives discussing diet. It’s a mystery to me, or could the motivation be money.
Kind regards Eddie
I recently read Rosedale's book, and found it interesting and helpful. (his website reads like a bad-hair-day, though.) just like Harris -- their composed writings are much better than their talks and blog-COMMENTS. I also get a great deal out of Feinman's blog, but Peter's the king (though he loses me in the protons series).
I'll have to check out Rosedale's book.
My guess many healthy people who discuss diets on blogs are doing it as a hobby which motivates them to stay away from industrial foods. The pressure from the environment could be significant, especially at work.
Why so many healthy people are interested in diets I don't know. May be they motivate themselves with such discussions to stay away from the industrial foods and often don't know where to stop and start doing stupid things like taking statines like Charles.
I agree that it's good to have a support group when you're surrounded by carbivores. Many professionals think they're really helping people by writing about low-fat diets. But mostly healthy people from outside the system who are smart enough to understand raw data, studies, biochemistry, etc. recommending low-fat or high-carb diets in 2014? You do have to wonder what their motivation is. I think Tom was overly swayed by anecdotes.
For the adults I don't see how they can not reduce fat while increasing starches unless it is some odd thing like mix of powdered potato starch in a liquid.
I am not a JM fan, he is a very money-oriented person by the necessity, and I don't like his style of thinking. There are sophisticated religious people, but Jimmy is not one of them.
I like Jimmy Moore. He's a good interviewer, a positive person and his site has a huge repository of information from hundreds of researchers and clinicians, including a few LC antis.
Haha, never heard that one. Made me laugh out loud (and leave a comment!).
Thanks Tess.
Unfortunately, some total frauds (like Ancel Keys and T. Colin Campbell) are terrific communicators. Some people might pooh-pooh Dr. Davis, but he's moved a mountain in getting a lot of medically ignorant people to improve their health--it had much to do with the delivery of the message.