When Did America Get So Fat

Nov. 15, 2009 - PRLog -- I am not sure precisely when I first asked myself; when did america get so fat?  Like most people I was slow to notice. But unlike most people, I do remember when and how it began.

When self proclaimed experts make a truth out of believable, but false statements, all they have to do is repeat it often enough, to enough people to make it a fact. That is unless somebody speaks up and proves otherwise.  Sometimes, by then it can be too late.

If no one intervenes these same false statements move from facts to dogma.  Usually that means nobody dares to challenge it.  By that time, there is often no one left who can remember how the dogma came to be or, who started the myth in the first place.

The only thing that will expose false dogma is the courage to shine a bright light on it and demand the proof. Even then it may not be enough. You see, such a challenge is usually up against overwhelming vested interests.

To give you an example: About eight years ago the CSIRO, the most respected science research facility in Australia, decided to do the first ever, serious, scientific study of diets and dieting.

Three years later, they published a paper which, amongst other things, made the excessive use of cereals and grains the reason why diets were making people fatter instead of slimmer. They said if you eat correctly, as people once did, by instinct, few people would need to diet. There was an immediate outcry of abuse from nutritionist, supported by the diet food manufacturers.

The CSIRO retaliated by publishing their own diet book on how to get slim and to stay there.  The nutritionists, who already had regular spots on TV and columns in newspapers, went on a massive publicity campaign to vilify the CSIRO and their evil, misguided results.  They claimed their own research proved that a healthy balance diet, as developed by their own research proved theirs was the only way for people to lose weight and become healthy.

It seems the CSIRO had finally had enough. A spokesman appeared to make a brief statement. I do not remember the words he used but it went something like this: We are a respected, scientific research facility. We have done three years intensive study on diets and dieting and our findings are published for all to see.  If anyone has reason to dispute that with some evidence, I suggest they publish their own detailed findings.

This was a big reality check for nutritionists because they would have suddenly realized that the dogma on which they based their philosophy was based on very tenuous grounds with no scientific proof. So they retreated and things calmed down.

At this point you may think that people would prefer to accept the science instead of the hype, and that we had seen the last of the diet industry, but that is not how it went down.  Sure the entire diet industry was silenced for a while and the CSIRO sold a lot of books. But it didn’t take long for the diet industry to recover and regroup.

Nutritionists announced that they had been in intense study and had discovered that the true cause of the ever growing weight problems were due to fat. If you eat fat you get fat.  They already had a diet ready to go.

It was a very seductive notion which made people throw away their old diet books for the new shiny fat free diet. Very soon, the carbohydrates were back to replace all that missing fat. The butchers trimmed their meat till it was almost tasteless and the diet food manufacturers launched a whole new range of fat free products.

The CSIRO did not bother to make an appearance to explain that the fat we eat is easily turned into glucose by the body and it is burned for energy, while carbohydrate has to be processed, with some difficulty, by our metabolism which turns it into body fat. You know the kind of fat I’m talking about. The kind that sticks to your body and hopes to stay there. It protects you against the famines you cause your body by your frequent, erratic diets.

So next time you ask yourself when did america get so fat. Have another read of this article, or find even more information below.

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Kirsten Plotkin is an expert on how to lose weight without a diet. If you are interested in that subject, I strongly recommend her book My Own Plan. It covers five years of successful permanent weight loss, it is a must read for anyone who has a persistent weight problem and is tired of diets that promise weight loss but never deliver permanently.

http://www.my-own-plan.com/cap/index4.html

Kirstenplotkin@my-own-plan.com