SAY NO TO TIM NOAKES Dear Antonia, Thank you for asking for my impressions of the proposed cookbook, “The Real Meal Revolution” by Noakes et al. I must be honest and say that this book is about as far from my experience with the evidence as one could be. The discussion of the evidence in the back of the book is the poorest that I have ever observed. The authors both make really outrageous claims and fail to cite references for most of their claims. Also their reference to the recent history of dietary policy is incredibly misinformed. Their commentary is unusually creative and either is personal conjecture and/or reference to unqualified sources (e.g., journalists, Internet authors where no one is held accountable for what they say, books by physicians who have had no training in nutrition and no experience in the research world). It is my opinion that were you to endorse this book, you would appear to be completely reversing your stance on the diet and health issue and undoubtedly create a personal difficulty that you would find difficult to explain. The overall recommendations of this book is nothing more than an attempt to re-create yet another version of the failed low carb idea. It is an attempt, perhaps for sincere personal beliefs, to tell people good things about their bad habits, AND THIS IDEA SELLS. The combination of huge corporate investment and the perception of many people in the public that a diet high in meat, dairy and eggs is good for us makes it difficult for people like myself who actually did the research to go up against such power. For example, they and/or their sympathizers will cite so-called studies that purport to show that we have been on a low fat diet since about 1977, as Noakes et al claim and this is strongly favored by the food industry. But the facts are the opposite. The best evidence that anyone can show (from U.S. national data) is that we went from an estimate of 35% of total calories as fat to an estimate of 33% of total calories as fat, without changing our consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains. Indeed, during this time, because of slightly increased consumption of total food thus calories, our consumption of absolute amounts of fat actually increased! One observation to which we all agree is that we have increased our consumption of refined carbs—sugar, refined flour—and this is not good for anyone. But it is not good because, it means, generally speaking, even less fresh fruit and vegetables and these are the foods that have all those good antioxidants! Many of the apologists for the status quo are those who want to support the low carb diet (actually high fat, high protein, meat/dairy/diet). They will often say that it is better than the so-called low fat diet advocated first in 1977. This is egregiously false. Moreover, as far as total fat is concerned, the whole food plant based (WFPB) diet (about 10-12% fat, 10-12% protein, 75-80% total carbohydrate, like what you and your father grew in your garden and put on your customers’ plates!) is very different from the standard, already unhealthy Western diet (35% fat, 18% protein—70% of which is animal-based—and 45-50% total/natural carbohydrate). The low carb diet, such as espoused by Noakes et al (~30% protein, 40-45% fat and 10-25% carbohydrate) only makes matter worse, much worse. Yes, body weight will decrease slightly at the onset of using the Noakes/Atkins/Paleo type diet—because of substantial decrease in total calories—but fortunately, most people do not sustain this diet over a long time. Substantial data have long existed to show that people who subsist on high fat, high protein diets have MORE HEART DISEASE, MORE CANCERS, AND EARLIER DEATHS, AMONG OTHER DAMAGED HEALTH. I wish that, for personal reasons, I could provide a happier commentary but I must be candid. Here’s wishing you all good cheers and many more years doing what you do so well! Bradley Colin Watt T Colin Campbell Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14882 Author of The China Study
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:57:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015