About 60 years ago, we were told that fat was the root of all evil.  We seemed to forget that most of the people in the world had been eating fatty foods for millennium without any detrimental effects, and all jumped on the fat free bandwagon.  Give us a study, any study, publicize it enough, and we take it at headline value.  We never read the study, or try to find out who funded it.  But we accept the results because it made the headlines.  And then, of course, there are the physicians who get behind these studies, and if a physician says something, we must believe.  Never mind that in all their schooling, they get less than 10 hours of training on nutrition.  Check your brain at the door.

Cholesterol was given the blame for heart disease.  For decades we were told that trans fats were a healthier alternative to saturated animal fat. However, over the past 60 years, research has repeatedly demonstrated that there is no correlation between high cholesterol and plaque formation that leads to heart disease. What is to blame?  Trans fats or hydrogenated fats are the real culprit, as well as oxidizided cholesterol from fried foods, as all fats get damaged when heated.  At this point I will ignore cholesterol medication and the roll of the pharmaceutical industry, but suggest you do your own research into that myth.

Once we were rid of all fats, except the unhealthy trans fats, we had to give food some flavor, so the fat was replaced with sugar.  This, as it turns out, was a case of the cure being worse than the disease.  Not only did we replace good fat with bad, but we added sugar, and sugar is poison.  Sugar is a primary dietary culprit in heart disease, as well as diabetes, and cancer.  Sugar is not only the white stuff we all know and love, but it comes in many forms, such as corn/corn products, grains, and carbohydrates.  Don’t forget dairy, which has a good amount of sugar in it too.

Now, almost all processed foods you buy are loaded with high fructose corn syrup, corn sweeteners, or other forms of sugar, labeled in increasingly inventive ways.

Coincidentally, since the mid 50’s, with the fat free revelation, heart disease has increased, obesity has become an epidemic, diabetes is significantly on the rise, and don’t forget the increase of cancer, which feeds on sugar.

The way out of this mess?  Don’t believe the fad of the month.  Do some research of your own when the new craze comes out.  Go back to the basics, the basics that kept mankind healthy for most of our existence.   Avoid processed foods, fast foods, and most restaurants. Eat lots of fresh, preferably organic vegetables.  Minimize your sugar intake, try Stevia as an alternative, and get some exercise. Not so difficult to figure out, but in our fast paced society, often not the easy choice to make.

By Donna Knezevich.