Not a new idea

Taken from Taubes:

Farinaceous and vegetable foods are fattening, and saccharine matters are especially so…. In sugar-growing countries the negroes and cattle employed on the plantations grow remarkably stout while the cane is being gathered and the sugar extracted. During this harvest the saccharine juices are freely consumed; but when the season is over, the superabundant adipose tissue is gradually lost.
THOMAS HAWKES TANNER, The Practice of Medicine, 1869

Starch, carbs and sugar make you fat. They're all the same thing, anyway. We've known this for a long time. Note there's no mention of dietary fat, or calories consumed and burned off.

More support for fats

Go keto:

In recent years, evidence has come from another quarter of the influence of diet on resistance to infection. I refer to the observations of Helmholz40 and Clark 41 on the curative effect of a ketogenic diet in many cases of urinary infection. It is true that the effectiveness of this therapy is regarded as depending on the actual excretion of ß-oxybutyric acid (Fuller42), and the acid reaction of the urine, but it would be surprising to me if these cereal-free and high vitamin A-containing diets commonly given to such patients had not the power of raising the resistance of the body to infection, apart from the ketogenesis they produce. Evidence of this nature ought to be examined and the use of such diets extended to other forms of infection than those of the urinary tract. The curative effect of diets devoid of cereal and rich in fat-soluble vitamins on dental caries (M. Mellanby and Pattison) has already been referred to (p. 25). It may prove that the best form of diet for combating sepsis is a combination of high vitamin qualities, especially of high fat-soluble vitamin content, with low cereal and a definite ketogenic action.

Put on your sat fat hat

This would be a decent response to the ludicrous butter-banning doctor.

Dead Tree Media, null points

I see this on the same day as this. As a I learn more about the issue of health, fats and carbs, I now get pretty pissed off when I see things like that written in the Twatgraph. There's just no need for anyone to be so sloppy: the writer, the editor, or the "scientist" making the claims.

Good to see Free the Animal spotting the same appalling load of bollocks.

I love the smell of napalmed tofu in the morning

Stumbled across this, and it made me quite happy. This is someone who has bee blogging for over a year and a half about vegan "food" and how it is the right way to go. All the vegans I've known have converted in the end - sometimes for serious health reasons. What a load of old bollocks it all is.

The food of slaves, prisoners... and us.

Yup, it's bread.

It may be getting to the stage now where people are realising just how bad bread is for you. And pasta, noodles, and all other grains and grain derivatives.

Here is just a small sample of what it has been linked to:

• myopia in children
• enslavement
• destruction of whole ecosystems
• degenerative diseases
• diabetes
  
• gall stones
• depression
• gout
• addiction
  
• lower brain power
• hindering athletic performance
• decline in skeleton health
• cancer

Oh, and obesity. But you knew that.

Yeah, it's kind of a shame, because I miss Marmite on toast, and aga toast with butter, and beautiful sourdough and French breads. And pasta, I used to love it. But if they are, as Arnie Schwarzenegger allegedly said, "poison", then I'm gonna forgo them in favour of steak. Hm. Not much of a sacrifice there after all.

Are we meat eaters? You betcha.

A remarkable blog posting here from Dr Michael Eades, who shows, stunningly, that we didn't just evolve to eat meat, but actually evolved because we eat meat. The argument is clear, well-structured, and very difficult to refute. It derives from the "Expensive Tissue Hypothesis", and an article in the 1995 journal "Current Anthropology" by Aiello and Wheeler. Read it, it's gripping and may change the way you see food forever.

Carbs are the blue pill

As a fan of Roissy’s blog, I’ll follow his recent post with an account of my experience on the Paleo diet.

Actually, in my case, it’s more a cross between the Paleo and ketogenic diets. In the Paleo diet you eat plenty of meat and avoid carbs and sugar. In the ketogenic diet the focus is more on consuming as much fat as possible – the perfect ratio is something like 4 to 1 in favour of fat versus protein and carbs. So that means plenty of double cream and butter, lard and so on.

Like Roissy, I have been unable to stay away from beer. Fortunately, my ancestors were all Northern European and must have drunk a truckload of the stuff. I have tried to substitute for whisky as much as possible, as it is zero-carb. And wine, too, which is low-carb.

I’ve only been on this for about two months. And I haven’t been really strict. But pretty much on track.

Weight loss has been something like a stone (14 pounds). And much has been off the gut, as I’ve lost about a belt notch and a half. I seem to have kept my muscle, too – unlike a period about 5 years ago when I exercised a lot and half-starved. I got the hipster-look, then, more or less, but it didn’t particularly suit me. My face got a little too gaunt and sharp.

But I'm not going for that now. I want lean muscle. So anyway - I've been getting very thirsty, at times. And I've wanted to drink more alcohol. My energy levels are good, but what’s really happened is that I have a shit load of nervous energy that I didn’t have before. I guess my testosterone levels are up, as I’m more contrary than ever. My dreams at night are more vivid, and I wake up earlier – although I mostly feel compelled to go to sleep earlier, too.

But yeah, my mood – like I said, I think my testosterone levels are up. And this doesn’t make you feel “good” in the sense that eating a pie or a pile of spaghetti would. I feel like I’ve been removed from a comfort zone, somehow. It feels like a loss, of sorts.

It has been shown that carbs are addictive. And so the withdrawal may be much like a withdrawal from drugs. This is not a flippant comparison – the effect on my emotions has been interesting, to say the least. And it is probably the case that carbs are just another thing that keeps the populace docile and happy with their lot. Just like prescription drugs, TV sports and soaps, and so on. And like those, they are all brought to us by Too Big to Fails, Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, Big Corporate Media etc.

So I’m going to stick with the lifestyle. It seems the perfect nexus of improving health whilst Sticking it to the Man. Dietary fat is the red pill.