Which Is Worse: Fat Or Carbs?
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Dr. McDougall’s latest news flash answers the question. You should read the whole article by Dr. McDougall, but here’s the central point: A healthy diet for humans should consist mostly of complex carbohydrates. Both saturated fats and simple carbohydrates can be unhealthy. Both should be reduced as much as possible or entirely eliminated from your diet.
As a reminder of how natural a carb=centered diet is, McDougall says:
“Starches have fueled the engines of human civilizations for at least the past 14,000 years. Carbohydrates (starches), such as rice in Asia, corn in Central America, potatoes in South America, and barley and wheat in Europe, have provided the bulk of the calories for almost all human diets.”
Now, go read the whole thing here: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2010other/news/weil.htm
McDougall is just repeating what he always says. He will never change his views because his career depends on promoting a high-starch diet. Weil, however, is altering his stance in response to evidence.
In Eating Well for Optimum Health (2001), Weil “warns readers to not fall under ‘the spell’ of the anti-carbohydrate Atkins Diet.” I don’t think he ever promoted a strict low-fat diet (he critiqued Ornish’s plan for being deficient in Omega-3), but it’s still news when Weil blames starches rather than fats for heart disease.
Virginia Messina and Jack Norris (two dietitians who would rather high-carb be the healthiest) also turning against low-fat diets is another sign that low-fat is on the way out.
McDougall will have to do better than this short, hastily written regurgitation which “fails to mention” the main text informing Weil’s conclusions, Good Calories, Bad Calories, a book that explains how low-fat erroneously became indisputable gospel. McDougall is still reaping benefits from the fear of cholesterol and saturated fat that Ancel Keys seared into the national consciousness, but that free ride is ending.
.-= Rhys´s last blog ..Vegans of Color Ponders Good Calories- Bad Calories =-.
Rhys, I believe you are suffering from a bad case of confirmation bias. McDougal points out that the studies that Weil’s sites have been debunked and too much saturated fat does in fact lead to heart disease and other problems. He also points out that processed, simple carbohydrates are bad for our health, not moderate amounts of complex, unprocessed carbohydrates.
I would believe that you are unintentionally misrepresenting the positions of McDougal, Messina and Norris, but your anti-vegan blog makes me think you have a very clear bias.
You are oversimplifying things. Carbs and fats are relatively meaningless terms in nutrition circles because it is the type of carb and the type of fat that is more important than the amount.
I became a vegan for 4 months to see if I could lower my cholesterol without statins. My recent blood work showed a total cholesterol level of 280 with a triglyceride level of 900. Scary! Those numbers are the same as before the vegan diet, but the triglycerides are much higher.
“McDougal points out that the studies that Weil’s sites have been debunked and too much saturated fat does in fact lead to heart disease and other problems.”
McDougall links to an editorial that he says debunks the analysis that Weil cites, but you need to pay $40 to read it. Most people are not going to do that. Did you? Or are you just taking McDougall’s word for it?
McDougall doesn’t even slightly address the real source of Weil’s conclusions, Gary Taubes’ “Good Calories, Bad Calories.” That would take more effort on his part than bringing up potatoes in South America.
“He also points out that processed, simple carbohydrates are bad for our health, not moderate amounts of complex, unprocessed carbohydrates.”
Moderate amounts of complex carbohydrates? “On the McDougall diet, between 70 and 90 percent of your calories are derived from complex carbohydrate” (http://www.drmcdougall.com/free_2e.html). McDougall’s diet is almost purely complex carbohydrate. How is that moderate?
Here is Virginia Messina on low-fat vegan diets:
http://veggiedietitian.blogspot.com/2010/03/fat-in-vegan-diets-how-low-should-you.html
Jack Norris doesn’t talk too much about it himself, but he approvingly links to Messina’s entry:
http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=924
.-= Rhys´s last blog ..Vegans of Color Ponders Good Calories- Bad Calories =-.
Nutrition experts Messina and Norris both recommend against excessive saturated fat intake. Neither recommend cholesterol consumption. Both are vegan.
I have been vegetarian since age 6 and vegan since age 30. I’m 34 now. My cholesterol was 116 the last time I checked.
Ed’s cholesterol went from 296 pregan (pre-vegan) to 171 as a vegan. He’s been vegan for the last 4 years and vegetarian for a bit before that. Ed’s story is here:
http://www.vegansoapbox.com/my-effortless-vegan-weightloss/
Let’s all at least agree that exercise is crucial to preventing or reversing heart disease. Meg Lane, are you exercising enough?
“Nutrition experts Messina and Norris both recommend against excessive saturated fat intake. Neither recommend cholesterol consumption. Both are vegan.”
I know they don’t agree with Weil on saturated fat. My point was they don’t agree with McDougall on low-fat veganism, even though they are ethical vegan dietitians. Since veganism tends to be high-carb as opposed to high fat or high protein, vegan dietitians would love it if a low-fat diet was the healthiest. A sign that the low-fat argument is on its way out is that even those who have ideological reasons to want it to be right are turning against it.
.-= Rhys´s last blog ..Vegans of Color Ponders Good Calories- Bad Calories =-.
“they don’t agree with McDougall on low-fat veganism”
Disagreement is inevitable; what’s important is to note where the exact disagreement lies. Messina, Norris, and McDougall (as well as Dr. Ornish, Dr. Barnard, and many others) all recommend a vegan or vegetarian diet that is lower in fat, particularly saturated fat, than the standard American diet of hamburgers and french fries. They all promote eating complex carbohydrates as well.
Messina promotes fat consumption mostly because “very low-fat diets add a layer of restriction that can make vegan diets look limiting and unappealing” whereas McDougall promotes fat reduction because of the high caloric density of fatty foods. He says “The fat you eat is the fat you wear,” and recommends a low fat vegan diet as a weight loss or weight management tool. For people who don’t need to lose weight, McDougall’s dietary recommendations are not not as low in fat. In essence, it seems that Messina and McDougall agree. They’re just too busy talking over each other to admit it.