04-12-04 10:31 PM - Post#1807    

The Number One Biggest Threat To Our Health... by Veterinarian Bud Kelly

"You are what you eat." ...Sixties saying

Becoming a veterinarian requires a tremendous amount of education and training. One of the most important areas of study is nutrition. Unlike medical doctors, veterinarians are well schooled in nutrition. Moreover they are well schooled in the nutrition of a large number of different species, including humans. You might say veterinarians are experts in comparative nutrition.

There are good reasons for this emphasis on nutrition. For one thing, a lot more is known about animal nutrition than about that of humans. Animals are easier to study under controlled conditions, where diet and other lifestyle factors can me measured and quantified. We humans cannot be kept in cages or pens and studied in such a way.

For another, veterinarians must advise their clients about nutrition in a way that produces results. The health, growth rate, milk production, egg production, and quality of animals all depend almost entirely on the diet they are offered. When the veterinarian's advice does not give good results, the client is not happy.

(Physicians, on the other hand, seem to operate on the premise that the diet their patients eat is of little or no relevance with regard to their health. This is certainly not the case with any other species, so how can it be reasonably assumed to be the case with humans? The first questions any veterinarian asks a client while examining an animal are about the animal's diet. Physicians, in my experience, rarely ask their patients questions about diet, and at most ask a few perfunctory questions before moving along to the "important" issues.)

Almost everything we know about human nutrition comes from the study of animals. In fact the current U.S. RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) of various nutrients is actually extrapolated from the study of primates. The official government recommendations for humans are only a guess based on this. Even in today's high-tech world no one can say for sure what kind of a diet we humans require for optimal health and longevity. It seems only a matter of opinion.

As a veterinarian I simply view human beings as a species that evolved for over 2 million years as hunters and gatherers. Our teeth, digestive tracts, and biochemistries have evolved to exist on meat, fish, fowl, and whatever nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruits we could find. There are still many groups of hunters and gatherers still left living on this earth, and their ancient ways of life vividly recount our own recent past. They bear witness to where we came from.

As politically incorrect as meat may be today, it has been the mainstay of the human diet for a long long time. (If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?) Ancient living quarters are found littered with animal bones. The artifacts found are knives and spear points, not pasta strainers and salad bowls. (The blades were carefully fashioned and razor sharp. In fact, they were so sharp that modern day surgeons are going back to using scalpels made of obsidian in place of steel.) As Dr. Robert Atkins quips in his excellent book Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, "What do you suppose they used them for, letter openers?"

This is the reason human digestive tracts so closely resemble those of carnivorous animals, and bear very little resemblance to those of cows, horses, and other herbivorous animals. This is the reason our eyes are set in front like those of hunting animals, not on the sides like those of their prey. This is the reason our fang teeth are still vestigially present in our mouths. This is the reason our hormones, digestive enzymes, and metabolic enzymes have evolved to efficiently process a meat-based diet. This is the reason we so thoroughly enjoy it.

About 10,000 years ago, only about 0.5% of our history, mankind learned to farm. Anthropologists call this the Agricultural Revolution, and a true revolution it was. We learned that stable societies could be built when people were relieved of the labors and dangers of hunting and gathering. We learned to grow grains as a stable and relatively non-perishable source of food. At last we humans had time to establish governments, build cities, and write poems. We became civilized.

But our teeth, our digestive tracts, our biochemistry have not had time to become civilized. We have not had a chance to evolve to fit this sudden change in diet. (Ever notice that Paleolithic skulls always have perfect teeth, with no cavities?) We are still, biologically speaking, Stone Age people. Yet the diet that has been thrust upon us so suddenly is no longer a Stone Age diet.

The diet we now eat is the diet that is pushed upon us by the food industry, the diet that is endorsed by the Surgeon General, the physicians, the nurses, the dieticians, the writers, and the educators. It is represented by the sacred icon of the new religion of nutrition, the USDA Food Pyramid. The Food Pyramid is in every health book in every school, high school, college, and medical school in the country. It is quite literally the law of the land.

The Food Pyramid depicts a diet of about 70% carbohydrates, 15% protein, and 15% fat as being ideal. It tells us that grains should be our primary source of calories. Grain, a food item that did not appear in the diet of humankind until about 10,000 years ago, should now be its primary component.

Now when a veterinarian visits a farmer, and is asked how to fatten farm animals, he recommends grain. Grain fattens pigs. Grain fattens cows, sheep, and chickens. Grain has reliably fattened animals of all species for centuries. Grain is not food, it's what food eats. Why is it physicians recommend grain to become thin and healthy?

The food pyramid has the same nutritional profile (70% carbohydrates, 15% fats, 15% protein) as the pig-fattening formula sold at your feed stores. Check it out and see.

Your physician is recommending a pig-fattening formula for your diet. Buy a bag of it and bring it to him as a gift. Maybe he can explain why?

According to the NCC Handbook the actual human nutritional requirement for carbohydrates is zero. That's right, zero. We do not need any carbohydrates at all. This is borne out by the robust health of the Eskimos of North America, the Masai of Africa, and all manner of aboriginal people whose diets have had little or no carbohydrates for centuries. Ever notice how these people, even in middle age, look fit and trim like our triathletes?

Carbohydrates consist of starches and sugars. Starches are nothing more than sugar molecules (glucose molecules) linked together into long long chains. They are broken up into glucose by the action of the enzymes called amylases. These amylases are found in our saliva and also in the digestive secretions of our pancreas. Proponents of a high carbohydrate diet claim in defense that the carbohydrates they are recommending are "complex carbohydrates." True, they are complex, until you put them into your mouth that is. Then they are broken down by the enzymes in our saliva and pancreas into sugar. This conversion to sugar begins to take place the moment we put the starch into our mouths. The sugar appears in our bloodstream almost instantly.

For example, a medium baked potato, considered a healthful food by today's experts, contains about 50 grams of starch. When eaten, this becomes glucose in your bloodstream even faster than table sugar (sucrose) does. That's correct, it has a higher glycemic index than table sugar. Yet none of today's experts would recommend you scoop 50 grams of table sugar into your mouth for dinner.

(The irony is that that putting fats like butter and sour cream on your baked potato actually coats the starch molecules and delays their conversion into sugar. It actually makes the baked potato a healthier food. Yet our experts all recommend that you avoid such fats like the plague.)

Carbohydrates, once broken down by your body's enzymes into sugar, are stored in body cells as glycogen and as fat. This storage is accomplished by the endocrine hormone insulin. Without insulin there would be enough sugar in a baked potato to raise your blood levels high enough to put you into a diabetic coma. Insulin is the storage hormone. Insulin comes along to save your life.

When your blood sugar rises, from carbohydrate intake, insulin is secreted by your pancreas. (From the Islets of Langerhans. Remember that from health class?) Insulin comes to the rescue and brings the blood sugar level down to safe levels. It does this by storing the sugar in your cells as glycogen (about 400 grams of glycogen are present in the body for short-term energy needs) and then as fat. This all occurs in a matter of moments.

Remember, however, that this human insulin control mechanism has not had time to evolve for the high carbohydrate diet we are eating today. In time, the bodies' cellular receptors become resistant to the action of insulin. They begin to burn out. In response, the pancreas must secrete greater and greater amounts of insulin to store the glucose in the bloodstream. In response, the cellular receptors become even more resistant to the action of insulin. As the years pass, the ratcheting up of insulin levels and cellular receptor resistance can have serious consequences.

In fact, according to Dr. Atkins, Drs. Eades, and a growing number of respected physicians in this country it is simply high insulin levels that are the primary cause of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. They are the cause of the epidemic of these diseases that we are witness to today, diseases that have suddenly become the leading causes of death. Yes, these diseases are manmade, caused by a high carbohydrate diet leading to ever-rising levels of insulin.

The conventional medical opinion seems to be that rising insulin levels, and rising cellular receptor resistance, are a normal sign of aging.(Yes, normal in today's carbohydrate-sickened population.) Of course it would be easy to conclude that this is so; after all, measured insulin levels do rise as people in our society grow older. But this is not necessarily a normal consequence of aging. Rather, it is a normal consequence of eating too much starch and sugar.

Perhaps a worse consequence of eating too much starch and sugar is the chemical damage that high blood glucose levels cause to the body's proteins. This damage is called glycation, and it affects all proteins in the body. It does this damage so predictably that one of the most reliable tests physicians perform on diabetes patients to check their recent average blood sugar levels simply measures the glycation of the blood protein hemoglobin. Glycation of the body's proteins is now believed to be a major cause of premature aging, sickness, and death. You cannot have high levels of sugar in your blood and remain young and healthy.

Although it is today a little known fact, cardiovascular disease and heart attacks were rare in the United States until the twentieth century. The first cases of atheroschlerosis, blockage of the coronary arteries and heart attack, were reported by Dr. James P. Herrick in the June 1911 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Paul Dudley White, who later went on to become famous as President Eisenhower's cardiologist, read about these cases with interest.

Dr. White later reported in his memoirs that during his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1920 he saw no further cases of heart attack. During his years at Harvard Medical College in the 1930s he saw them rarely. Imagine how many heart attack cases are seen in Boston hospitals today? The emergency rooms are packed with cardiovascular emergencies and people are dropping dead from heart attacks by the thousands!

It's safe to say that people in those days were not going to the gym, taking their vitamins, and following a low fat diet. They ate plenty of fat, an estimated 14% more than we do today. Some of them got a lot of exercise, but many led quiet sedentary lives as well. The only thing that changed was the arrival of refined carbohydrates.

I recently caught an old black and white Lone Ranger episode rerun on TV. In it, the frontier doctor said to Tonto, "You look terrible... you must be eating too much of the White Man's starch." The White Man's starch!

The White Man's starch... In 1974 a British physician Dr. T.L. Cleave wrote a monumental book entitled The Saccharine Disease. As a surgeon in the British Navy Dr. Cleave had traveled the world observing that, in every culture studied, obesity and diabetes and cardiovascular disease did not occur until 20 years after the arrival of the White Man's starch. And, in every culture studied, within 40 years of its arrival these diseases were epidemic.

The White Man's starch is doing its ghastly work here in the United States today. It has been since the middle of the twentieth century. It has joined ranks with some very powerful allies- the medical establishment, the food industry, and the pharmaceutical industry among its most fierce. All of these special interest groups want to see the continued consumption of high carbohydrate diets by the population of this country.

The medical establishment can thus save face, after having long supported the view that these diseases are caused by eating too many fats and oils. (By the way, did you ever stop to think that telling people to give up delicious fats and oils is advice that physicians can be fairly certain will not be followed?) They can be assured an endless supply of sick people who need prescriptions and operations. Business is good, and getting better.

The food industry can continue to enjoy the wide profit margins that come with the sale of low-cost processed carbohydrate foods and beverages for our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. (By the way, did you ever walk around the supermarket and notice how much of the floor space is dedicated to sugars and starches?) Business is good, and getting better.

The pharmaceutical industry can go about marketing and endless number or medications and devices to treat these diseases, while turning a blind eye to the fact that they are man made, caused by nothing more than an improper diet. (By the way, have you ever read the annual report of a major pharmaceutical company and noted their incredible acumen at making profits?) Business is good, and getting better.

The White Man's starch is not a nutrient. It is an anti-nutrient. Not only does it contain little or no vitamins, minerals, or other health-promoting nutrients, it takes the place of the dietary items we need to eat to obtain them. I have heard that the average American eats his weight in sugar every year, and in addition about 200 pounds of starch. That comes out to about 1,600 calories a day in sugar and starch. (An average sedentary person doesn't need many more calories a day than this to begin with.) It is difficult to imagine anything a person could eat in addition to this that would make up for this glut of "empty calories" and provide them with a balanced diet.

No wonder we suffer from obesity (over half the people in the United States are now obese) while at the same time suffer from massive deficiencies of needed vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients. We are, and it has been said before, starving in a sea of plenty.

Jack La Lanne pointed this out many years ago. I recently found a pamphlet that was given to new members of his now defunct health clubs. In it he urged people to stay away from sugars and starches saying, "The body must have proteins and animal fats. It has no need for carbohydrates, and given the two essential foodstuffs, it can get all the calories it needs from them."

Jack was ahead of his time. The fact that, at this writing, he is over 90 years old and can still do more pushups than you and I put together. He is living proof of the truth of his own opinions. Jack is fond of saying, "I can't die. It will ruin my image." We all know Father Time can't be beat but Jack La Lanne is way ahead on points.

Dr. Robert C. Atkins, in my opinion one of the most brilliant and truthful physicians in history, pointed this out back in the 1970s. His books urged people to go on low-carbohydrate diets to lose weight and become healthy. Though often been vilified by the medical establishment, his advice has helped many millions of people. His New York City Medical Center, where he practiced as a cardiologist, stands as a living monument to the truth of his opinions.

Dr. Atkins is an internationally respected best selling author. He treated over 75,000 patients himself, and has clinical and laboratory data to supported his methods. If there was anyone truly qualified to be considered an expert in this area it was Dr. Atkins. At age 73 he continued to work hard, investigate new developments in health and nutrition, and write books about his findings. Though many authors have now taken up his low-carbohydrate viewpoint, Dr. Atkins remains a vibrant influential figurehead who never rested on his laurels. His death, which was accidental, was truly a tragedy. History will show him to be one of the most important medical authorities of our age.

The White Man's starch... can be shaped, flavored, and textured in any number of delicious ways. From sweet delicious drinks to hearty pasta dinners. It's pretty hard to resist. In addition, once your brain chemistry becomes dependent on a continual supply of glucose you can actually become addicted to it. Your brain actually releases neurotransmitters that make you feel happy when you eat carbohydrates. Mine releases these "happy chemicals" just at the sight of them.

The White Man's starch... recommended by virtually every medical and health authority you have heard from. Cheap, widely available, and delicious. It can be colored, textured, flavored, and shaped into an endless variety of taste-tempting products. Not an easy thing to give up. For this reason it is the number one biggest threat to our health and happiness.

W.J. Kelly, D.V.M., aka Bud
San Diego CA

Re: Kelly: Down with Empty Carbs
05-28-07 10:16 PM - Post#304982    

• Quote:

That's funny, earlier today before I read this I was watching the HBO film 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' and I was thinking it's little wonder the assimilated Natives fared so poorly when they were forced to give up hunting and eat the white man's food!

"When [defeat] comes, I won't even notice. I'll be too busy looking good."

06-02-07 10:01 AM - Post#306868    

Bud, thanks for this writeup, was very interesting and an eye opening way to start my day.

-- JMac's Web Design

01-09-08 05:55 AM - Post#393880    

Great read, thanks.

01-09-08 07:10 AM - Post#393886    

this is a great article!

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

02-25-10 10:36 PM - Post#608145    

An amazing article!!!! WOW!

Braken Wear Enter gym, lift weights, feel good, go home. What more is there to say? D.Draper Log Progress Pics Dead lift PR 506lb (Video)

02-27-10 03:05 PM - Post#608456    

I agree. Thanks for diggin' this one out Griffo.

Today...give all that you have. For what you keep inside, you lose forever. ~Owen Marecic~ Steve's athletic-art.com IronLoft Training YouTube

02-28-10 10:06 PM - Post#608676    

Now if only I could afford to eat like that lol!!!!

"Strict form ain't for sissies." -Plateloader

03-02-10 11:54 PM - Post#609241    

No worries Ty

Braken Wear Enter gym, lift weights, feel good, go home. What more is there to say? D.Draper Log Progress Pics Dead lift PR 506lb (Video)