Most people are 'vertically ill'

[xNFJiminy]

UK diet and health study

I've given up trying to quote it. But the statistics are fascinating. I already knew about the links between diet and well-being, and am aware that most humans seem more miserable, listless and frequently sick than the members of any other species I know of, but to see what such a large portion report when actually questioned is quite something. Now I can be smug when people pick on my food-freakery: 'At least I don't get bowel disturbances I never talk about and my breakfast doesn't make me emo"

[ptgatsby]

I found that really interesting. It confirms a bunch of individual statistics.

I think I'm going to roll over my diet to their simplified version... I am, however, surprised at the amount of oil they recommend. I wonder if it is assumed that oil will be part of other parts of the diet... doesn't seem likely, considering how little meat there is!

[Kiddo]

Oh, I thought I was sick because they were spraying barium and aluminum in chem trails or something like that. So it really might be my diet. Fascinating stuff. I'm thinking I really need to rethink my diet.

[Athenian200]

Ah... so fruits are healthiest? I've felt fine on grains, vegetables and meat for most of my life... but I'm so unaware of my body that I've actually worked on the computer when I had a fever, and only had to stop when I started feeling faint. I may be rather unaware of being vertically ill... it's just hard for me to focus on how I feel rather than what I want to do.

[xNFJiminy]

The majority of most people's fat intake is currently from meat and dairy products (and hydrogenated oils ), so I suppose they're just replacing it with other sources. Unprocessed vegetable oils I believe are entirely or almost entirely unsaturated, which may underlie that advice.

It's so thorough and large, I do wish it had also recorded the differences between organic and non-organic consumers, which is a major interest for me (I'd actually support non-organic farming practices being outlawed, except that the population has grown so much because of the abundance of third-rate food they result in that we'd probably starve completely if everything suddenly went small-scale again). That issue really needs more research. The research that has been done has all been in North America, where farming practices may be different for all I know, so I'm still waiting for a large British study about that. The biggest problem I see in this study is that they didn't control for those things. They should have asked what kind of meats and dairy products people were consuming. I wouldn't touch non-organic milk with a barge pole just for all the junk in there, but raw, organic forms are said to be highly beneficial. Also what kind of fish people were eating would be good to know. Wild Alaskan salmon are supposed to be the least polluted and therefore should bring with them the least toxicity symptoms. Tuna meat is the worst common one because they're higher in the food chain, collecting more heavy metals than smaller fish. Purified fish oil or algae derivatives should theoretically be the healthiest, to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway, I'm glad reading this one article has made people reconsider their lifestyle already, that gives me more hope. We're not going extinct through heart disease and cancer rates if I can help it...

[Natrushka]

Be leery of any diet advice you get from the medical establishment. They've got a bad track record in general.

Example one
Example two

[xNFJiminy]

Totally agree with those articles. Cutting cholesterol intake is not going to cure cardiovascular disease except in cases of real obesity. The only evidence that fat causes it (except transfat which is pretty bad all-round) seems to be correlational, and not with correlations controlled for other dietary factors like in the above study; but people who consume a lot of fat tend to be doing a lot of other things wrong too. They're generally eating the most poisoned, nutritionally barren versions of everything. Balance of fatty acids seems more important than amount - omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory (vascular damage being the real cause - I even learned that in Biology yet the medical establishment seems strangely slow to react to it) and having a low ratio of them to omega 6 is one major risk factor that most Westerners share. It has recently been admitted that statins don't work because they reduce cholesterol, but because they happen to also reduce inflammation - the very thing that nutrients ordinarily would do. Yet the companies are still recommending them even pre-emptively now, despite their serious risks and death rate.

[Natrushka]

Originally Posted by xNFJiminy

Totally agree with those articles. Cutting cholesterol intake is not going to cure cardiovascular disease except in cases of real obesity. The only evidence that fat causes it seems to be correlational, and not with correlations controlled for other dietary factors like in the above study; but people who consume a lot of fat tend to be doing a lot of other things wrong too. They're generally eating the most poisoned, nutritionally barren versions of everything. Balance of fatty acids seems more important than amount - omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory (vascular damage being the real cause - I even learned that in Biology yet the medical establishment seems strangely slow to react to it) and having a low ratio of them to omega 6 is one major risk factor that most Westerners share. It has recently been admitted that statins don't work because they reduce cholesterol, but because they happen to also reduce inflammation - the very thing that nutrients ordinarily would do. Yet the companies are still recommending them even pre-emptively now, despite their serious risks and death rate.

The connections that have been posited thus far have between cholesterol and cardio vascular health have been observational - based on some very shoddy science at best.

The key, IMHO, is inflammation The ratio today of n6-n3 is so out of whack in many populations it is scary. Add to that high glycemic loads cause a reaction similar to consuming n6 (pro inflammatory [and most high glycemic foods are made with vegetable oils]) and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Being fat has more to do with insulin (resistance and sensitivity). Which is why people with 'normal' cholesterol still (and will continue to) die from CVD and strokes and people like me, who eat a diet that is 60% fat (mainly saturated and mono unsaturated) have normal to low cholesterol levels.

[xNFJiminy]

Originally Posted by Kiddo

Oh, I thought I was sick because they were spraying barium and aluminum in chem trails or something like that. So it really might be my diet. Fascinating stuff. I'm thinking I really need to rethink my diet.

I wouldn't be surprised if that affected people too, though I don't know a great deal about it. I 'played' with some barium in Chemistry yesterday and it had a kind of smell that meant you didn't need the label to tell you it was toxic.

[xNFJiminy]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Being fat has more to do with insulin (resistance and sensitivity). Which is why people with 'normal' cholesterol still (and will continue to) die from CVD and strokes and people like me, who eat a diet that is 60% fat (mainly saturated and mono unsaturated) have normal to low cholesterol levels.

Yup. Well, that and the chemicals (industrial waste, usually) that non-organic farmers poison their animals with to make them expand.

How does your doctor react to you, Natrushka?