The Fat-phobic Mainstream and your Heart Health
Low and behold – the hearty truth about blood fats
Once again, there’s scientific evidence that the fat-phobic
mainstream’s got it all backward when it comes to your heart
health.
Some new research reveals the strong likelihood of an INVERSE
relationship between a low-fat diet and blood-borne levels of the
“good” cholesterol thought to actually prevent heart disease.
What, a low fat diet BAD for your heart? Where have you heard
THAT before?
According to Reuters Health, researchers at Buffalo’s State
University of New York tracked a group of healthy, sedentary
adults who ate a low-fat (less than 20 percent of calories from fat)
diet for three weeks and discovered that levels of HDL (good)
cholesterol in their blood plummeted by more than 14% as
compared to a similar group that chowed down on a high-fat (50%
or more of calories from fat) eating plan.
Further, the high-fat group increased their HDL count to 63 mg/dl
- well above the 60 mg/dl many experts feel is the base HDL cut-
off point for boosting heart health.
For those of you who are a little sketchy about the difference
between “good” and “bad” cholesterol, here’s a primer: Low-
Density Lipoproteins are the kind of “bad” cholesterol complexes
that cling to and accumulate in microscopic scratches on arterial
walls (these micro-injuries are likely put there by chlorine in the
blood – but don’t get me started on this) and lead to blockages
which can cause heart attacks. High-Density Lipoproteins, on the
other hand, are complexes that tend to whisk cholesterol away to
the liver, where your body can safely process it.
In simpler terms, HDLs are good for your heart, LDLs are bad.
Interestingly, the same research team that authored this recent
study of healthy, non-athletic adults also conducted similar
research previously on endurance runners – with identical
findings!
The bottom line is this: Low fat diets are good for no one, athlete
or not – and the true relationship between dietary fat intake and
blood LDL levels is exactly the opposite of what the mainstream’s
telling you.
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Chuck joint leaves couple wondering: “Where’s the beef?”
What does “buffet-style” dining mean to you? To most, it means
“all-you-can-eat.”
But it seemingly means “all you can eat of what WE want you to
eat” to one buffet chain. According to CBS News, CNN and other
national sources, a Utah couple was recently asked to leave -
under threat of police escort – a Salt Lake City location of the
Chuck-A-Rama restaurant
Their crime: Eating too much roast beef!
The couple was in the early stages of the Atkins low-carb diet, a
pivotal period in the dietary plan when virtually no carbohydrate
intake is allowed – and had been twice-a-week customers since
starting the diet. Apparently, these facts held little sway with the
restaurant’s manager, who no doubt became concerned that the
couple’s return trips to the roast beef block (instead of the
macaroni and cheese trough) might be cutting into his profits
But what does he expect at a restaurant name CHUCK-A-RAMA!?
Vegetarians?
A district manager for the restaurant chain claims that “buffet”
means simply a style of dining, not any promise of unlimited
portions. Of course, I’ve got to believe that this hapless couple
wouldn’t have been given the bum’s rush for loading up on cheap,
high-calorie junk like cheese sticks.
Naturally, all the negative press has prompted the chain to issue a
formal invitation to the couple to come back in whenever they
please. Maybe they’ll just claim to be out of the very food their
buffet is named for if they show up
Raising a “beef” against the meat-hating mainstream,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
