LA Times Confirms What I Wrote: Carbs, not Fats, Need to Be Curbed

by Melissa Diane Smith

(Opinion) – Refined carbs, not fats, are what is making us fat and sick. It isn’t really news, but I guess it is when a mainstream newspaper like the Los Angeles Times runs a big feature on the topic right before the holidays.

“Fat is not the problem,” Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, told the Times. “If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases (such as metabolic syndrome or Syndrome X).”

My coauthors and I revealed this information eleven years ago in our book Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent & Reverse Insulin Resistance, which became a national bestseller. I followed that with my Going Against the Grain book a few years later, my User’s Guide to Preventing & Reversing Diabetes Naturally a year after that, and Gluten Free Throughout the Year last year. Many of you who have read my books or who visit this website already are very familiar with the idea that it’s excess carbs, not fat, that put weight on and lead to increased blood fat levels, such as elevated triglycerides. When people cut the carbs, specifically the grains and sugars, excess pounds fall off and heart-disease factors such as high triglycerides normalize.

Dietary fat intake is not directly related to blood fat. But the mainstream media continues to push the idea that fat is our main dietary villain and we need to cut excess fat from the diet. We read about it in newspapers and magazines, see detailed segments on how to cut fat in recipes on morning shows, and yes, now force-feed both the message and low-fat food to our kids in schools.

Recently, the first new school lunch guidelines in fifteen years called for an increase in fresh vegetables and fresh fruits in school meals, which is a very positive step for weight control and good health. But it’s coupled with an increase in whole grains, which is bound to cause new health problems to develop. (See this post and my book Going Against the Grain for more info on that.)

The L.A. Times avoids the question: What about whole grains? One day soon I hope that is where the debate will turn to, instead of refined grains and sugars, which is old news.

Copyright © 2011 Melissa Diane Smith

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