arkie6

The low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diet debate rages on. The government and health "experts" continue to advocate the low-fat diet as the cure for obesity and other common health problems, but as the consumption of dietary fat has decreased over the last 50 or so years, and in particular natural saturated fats, the occurance of obesity, heart disease, and cancer has skyrocketed. So, what is the explanation for this? In my opinion, it is the increased consumption of processed foods at the expense of whole natural foods. The problem with processed foods is that they typically contain very little protein and are loaded with carbohydrates that metabolize quickly and result in high insulin levels in the blood (insulin is absolutely required to store bodyfat). And almost all processed foods also contain what I believe to be is the worst form of fat - highly processed polyunsaturated (read "unstable") and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Saturated fats like that found in meat, eggs, cheese, milk, and real butter (amoung other things) are the healthiest fats out there in my opinion. They are stable and do not tend to oxidize (read that they do not tend to produce free radicals) like highly polyunstatured vegetable oils. Saturated fats have been a part of the human diet for eons while vegetable oils have only been on the scene for less than 100 years.

Well, I've ranted on long enough. Any comments? Anyone care to challenge the above statements? Alan S.

Here is an interesting article relating to this topic that I happend across and might be of interest to others:
[url="http://bodysoul.chickclick.com/articles/11922p1.html"]http://bodysoul.chickclick.com/articles/11922p1.html[/url]

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The tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact. T H Huxley