4 ms·

In the US I always felt part of the problem was the fear fat campaign we've had for so long that has convinced people to have diets that are low in fat and high

by talmand 14y ago

In the US I always felt part of the problem was the fear fat campaign we've had for so long that has convinced people to have diets that are low in fat and high in carbs as opposed to a more balanced approach. Plus so many of our foods here are processed, including almost everything having cheap sugars in them, that it cannot be healthy. I have no evidence to back it up but I would think the spread of obesity can possibly be tied to the spread of industrialized processed foods, just as you say.

yummyfajitas 14y ago
We were a lot thinner back when we ate primarily carbs, most of which were processed (historically the American diet was primarily white flour and potatos). https://docs.google.com/a/patch.com/viewer?url=http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/publications/foodsupply/foodsupply1909-2004report.pdf https://docs.google.com/a/patch.com/viewer?url=http://www.cn...
- travisp 14y ago
  Putting aside the problems of accurately figuring out diets, your charts show very little different consumption in total carbohydrates per day. In 1909-19 it shows 487g carbs per day, and in 2004 is shows 481g carbs per day. The carbs in 1909 were often processed, but there was less sugar (potatoes are starch, and don't contain fructose). Sugar/sweets consumption increased from 12.9% of the diet in 1909-19 to 17.3% of the diet in 2004. Further, your chart shows that meat consumption went down (13.3% of diet in 1909-19 to 8.2% in 2004), whole milk consumption switched to lowfat milk and cheese, green vegetable consumption dropped, butter dropped (4.4% to 1%), lard & beef tallow consumption dropped (3.8% to 1.4%). These animal fats were replaced by salad and cooking oils (vegetable oils), going from 0.7% of the diet to 11.1% of the diet. Basically, while total carbohydrate and cholesterol consumption remained the same, Americans began eating more sugars and less starches and ate less animal fat and more vegetable fat.
- roc 14y ago
  I think we may benefit from drawing a distinction between processed foods as in processed flour and processed foods as in "rolled off an assembly line with added sugars, preservatives, etc." My concern is much more for the latter. Paleo-fans may well have a point about whether flour and such is less healthful than raw plant matter. But that difference didn't seem to manifest into a society-wide weight problem until industrially packaged food gained wide circulation. Not even the achievement of food-security or the introduction of 'fast food' aligns with the obesity problem like the massive increase of consumption of ready-to-eat types of foods. Including, notably, chain restaurants peddling industrial foods, displacing local restaurants cooking from scratch (or at lest more often from scratch, or from a place much closer to scratch).
  - yummyfajitas 14y ago
    Now that chain restaurants are pushing all sorts of healthy and less "industrialized" food, do you expect obesity to go down?
mindcrime 14y ago
Not sure why you got downvoted. There's a lot of evidence for what you say. The book Living Low Carb by Jonny Bowden provides a ton of citations and information to support exactly this mindset. In fact, it's what I believe as well. Since I was just diagnosed with diabetes, I've eliminated from my diet: all grains potatoes all bread pasta table sugar most processed foods sodas and other sugar laden beverages I now eat meat, fish/seafood, dairy, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables, with a focus on making sure that the carbs I do get are mostly low glycemic load carbs, and that the sugar I get is part of something (fruit,milk) that requires digestion for the sugar to hit my bloodstream. Living Low Carb makes a strong case that the "fear fat" campaign is, indeed, utter bullshit. And given how damaging sugar is to your body (excess blood sugar contributes to so many maladies it's ridiculous) I'll take my chances going low carb / high fat & protein.

by talmand 14y ago

yummyfajitas 14y ago

We were a lot thinner back when we ate primarily carbs, most of which were processed (historically the American diet was primarily white flour and potatos). https://docs.google.com/a/patch.com/viewer?url=http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/publications/foodsupply/foodsupply1909-2004report.pdf https://docs.google.com/a/patch.com/viewer?url=http://www.cn...

travisp 14y ago
Putting aside the problems of accurately figuring out diets, your charts show very little different consumption in total carbohydrates per day. In 1909-19 it shows 487g carbs per day, and in 2004 is shows 481g carbs per day. The carbs in 1909 were often processed, but there was less sugar (potatoes are starch, and don't contain fructose). Sugar/sweets consumption increased from 12.9% of the diet in 1909-19 to 17.3% of the diet in 2004. Further, your chart shows that meat consumption went down (13.3% of diet in 1909-19 to 8.2% in 2004), whole milk consumption switched to lowfat milk and cheese, green vegetable consumption dropped, butter dropped (4.4% to 1%), lard & beef tallow consumption dropped (3.8% to 1.4%). These animal fats were replaced by salad and cooking oils (vegetable oils), going from 0.7% of the diet to 11.1% of the diet. Basically, while total carbohydrate and cholesterol consumption remained the same, Americans began eating more sugars and less starches and ate less animal fat and more vegetable fat.
roc 14y ago
I think we may benefit from drawing a distinction between processed foods as in processed flour and processed foods as in "rolled off an assembly line with added sugars, preservatives, etc." My concern is much more for the latter. Paleo-fans may well have a point about whether flour and such is less healthful than raw plant matter. But that difference didn't seem to manifest into a society-wide weight problem until industrially packaged food gained wide circulation. Not even the achievement of food-security or the introduction of 'fast food' aligns with the obesity problem like the massive increase of consumption of ready-to-eat types of foods. Including, notably, chain restaurants peddling industrial foods, displacing local restaurants cooking from scratch (or at lest more often from scratch, or from a place much closer to scratch).
- yummyfajitas 14y ago
  Now that chain restaurants are pushing all sorts of healthy and less "industrialized" food, do you expect obesity to go down?

mindcrime 14y ago

Not sure why you got downvoted. There's a lot of evidence for what you say. The book Living Low Carb by Jonny Bowden provides a ton of citations and information to support exactly this mindset. In fact, it's what I believe as well. Since I was just diagnosed with diabetes, I've eliminated from my diet: all grains potatoes all bread pasta table sugar most processed foods sodas and other sugar laden beverages I now eat meat, fish/seafood, dairy, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables, with a focus on making sure that the carbs I do get are mostly low glycemic load carbs, and that the sugar I get is part of something (fruit,milk) that requires digestion for the sugar to hit my bloodstream. Living Low Carb makes a strong case that the "fear fat" campaign is, indeed, utter bullshit. And given how damaging sugar is to your body (excess blood sugar contributes to so many maladies it's ridiculous) I'll take my chances going low carb / high fat & protein.