Dear Dr. Ferril, Here's a synopsis of a fabulous book that you no doubt have heard of. In it are a couple of links you will find interesting since you are working with aboriginals.

A Summary of
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Fred Cory, RMT*
March, 2009

After a hugely successful feature article in the New York Times in 2002, which challenged the conventional wisdom that blames dietary fat as a primary factor in the epidemic rates of chronic disease such as heart disease, obesity, and Type II diabetes, Gary Taubes,** an award winning science journalist, was commissioned to write a more extensive work.
Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007 Knopf books) is the result of a five year exploration of the modern history of diet and health theory and the dietary etiology of these and other chronic, degenerative “diseases of western civilization”. It is estimated that 75% of health care costs go to treating chronic disease and Taubes makes a compelling case that dietary fat, far from being the culprit, is significant part of the solution. If Taubes’ conclusions, based on data that is fastidiously cited in over 60 pages bibliography and 44 pages of notes, are sound then conventional medicine has been operating under a fundamental and colossal error and the advice that we have been given for 40 years to avoid these diseases is fundamentally flawed. Obviously, this would be a huge embarrassment to both the medical establishment, government, and the pharmaceutical industry. GCBC has been praised as “easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the last 100 years.” - Richard Rhodes (Pulitzer Prize winner for non-fiction/history)

I first heard of Taubes when he was a featured guest on CBC radio’s popular science program “Quirks and Quarks”. His book is also a definitive reference in the recent diabetes and obesity study “My Big, Fat Diet” in Alert Bay, BC where the Namgis First Nation community was challenged to give up junk food for one year and return to their traditional high fat, high protein, high cholesterol primarily seafood diet. Incidentally, the Namgis have no word for an illness with signs and symptoms like Type 2 diabetes in their native language. This study was chronicled by the CBC documentary program “The Lens” and has a website link at CBC.ca. Some of the early results of the study were nothing short of amazing. Under medical supervision many of the participants, many being very obese, were allowed to discontinue their diabetes medication even after a matter of days after switching to their new/old traditional high fat diet. Those who stuck with it saw their obesity problems safely and steadily melt away. It should be noted that most traditional cultures eat animal-based diets. Vegetarian diets are rare and usually driven by ascetic, transcendental religious ideology such as found in parts of India.

The fundamental error that Taubes points to is one of the biggest mistakes science can make: to assign a cause and effect relationship to phenomena that may only be merely associated. Mistaken identities and misunderstandings are the stock in trade for comedians but for the scientist these mistakes can have serious consequences. If a premise or first principle is flawed, then everything that follows will also be flawed. It is very easy to do bad science and it is crucial that scientists keep in check their conscious and unconscious motives and maintain a detached skepticism. This is not as easy as it sounds because of the potential for professional advancement, financial rewards from third party interests in the form of patents, further funding, etc., and just maybe one day even a Nobel Prize could be won. Professional pride, and a reluctance to give up a precious hypothesis combined with financial imperatives and incentives are always lurking nearby.
This theme of how vulnerable scientific enquiry is to error and corruption threads through the entire book and it is punctuated with pithy, cautionary quotes from the giants of science and philosophy as far back as Aristotle. Taubes is also an advocate for those in the scientific community who over the years dared to speak out against “academic totalitarianism”. For many, professional marginalization and for some, even personal ridicule was the price for going against the conventional wisdom. Taubes makes a deliciously ironic analogy that present day scientific authorities are not unlike the irreproachable cardinals and bishops of Rome in the Renaissance. In effect, today’s “scientific clerics” have robed themselves in their own beliefs and dogma and beware anyone who dares to challenge their authority. The oppressed becomes the oppressor…

Another parallel, strange as it may seem, can be made between the politics of the cholesterol/ heart disease hypothesis (CHDH) and the politics of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Ancel Keys, a leading proponent of the CHDH from the 1940’s until his retirement in 1975 was a kind of George W. Bush of diet and health. Keys took an aggressive “you’re with us, or against us” stance and dietary fat was the “weapon of mass destruction” that was never really proven. Anyone that questioned his hypothesis was labeled medically unpatriotic, as it were, and summarily ignored or discredited. Again, it’s a simple case of mistaken relationships and a refusal to accept data that contradicts the assumptions. Taubes even goes so far as to say that he was reluctant to refer to some of the leading experts as scientists at all because their science was so badly done.

GCBC also brings great comfort and renewed inspiration to the millions of people who put their trust in the conventional advice and yet struggle unsuccessfully to achieve their goals regarding weight-loss and heart-healthy living. It is nothing short of tragic that the blame for millions of failed attempts at weight-loss is put squarely on the shoulders of the individual for “having no will-power and just being lazy”. Taubes brilliantly observes that lack of will-power, laziness, and obesity can easily be argued to be symptoms of an imbalance as much as the cause. He points to decades of bad public health policy, a multi-billion dollar low-fat food industry, and of course the persuasive power of “Big Pharma” and the array of drugs they aggressively peddle to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. This cascade of failure has resulted in skyrocketing health care costs that have brought our precious publicly funded health care system to the brink of collapse.
Though great strides have been made in treating chronic illness, the numbers of people getting ill steadily increase. Practice makes perfect. This may sound cynical, but chronic illness appears to be a renewable resource that keeps the medical industry humming and there are people who gain enormously from keeping it this way. Taubes drops the gauntlet, as it were, and offers a simple proposition to the medical establishment in the form of two, simple and relatively very inexpensive clinical studies that could resolve the entire issue. But, because the medical, pharmaceutical, and food industries are so invested in both professional pride and profit to the dietary fat/heart disease hypothesis there has been little interest in taking him up on his challenge. The other reason of course, is that a colossal error could be exposed that might well be very embarrassing for some but would be sweet vindication for others. To bait you into buying the book I’m not telling what Taubes’ proposed experiments are.

Taubes lists “ten inescapable conclusions based on the existing knowledge” in the epilogue of GCBC. The implications of some of these conclusions are astounding:

• “Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
• The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis––the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrate, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.
• Sugars––sucrose and high fructose corn syrup specifically––are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates
• Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
• Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.
• Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
• Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance––a disequilibrium–in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormone regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
• Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated–either chronically or after a meal––we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
• By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
• By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.”

To summarize − low-fat diets often fail because:

• THE CONVENTIONAL ADVICE TO “EAT LESS AND EXERCISE MORE” LEADS TO HUNGER. BECAUSE WE ARE TOLD TO AVOID DIETARY FAT WE GET SHORT-TERM SATIETY FROM CARBOHYDRATE.
• CARBOHYDRATE, ESPECIALLY IN REFINED FORM, ELEVATES INSULIN.
• STORED FAT WILL NOT BE USED FOR FUEL AS LONG AS INSULIN LEVEL IS ELEVATED.

In practice, the data would suggest that we:
• Drastically reduce consumption of bread, pasta, rice and eat grain-based foods only their whole-grain form.
• Sweets should only be consumed as a rare, special treat if at all (high cocoa chocolate is less harmful) consider using stevia as a natural sugar substitute. It is diabetic friendly and very alkaline
• Avoid all “diet” “fat-free” “sugar free” and “junk” foods and beverages because they do not satiate and indeed make us hungrier. They are also acidifying and adversely affect the body’s acid/alkaline balance.
• Freely consume high fat foods such as eggs, high-fat yogurt, all meats and sea-foods, nuts, dairy (butter, cheeses, and milk). Most of these foods are at or near zero on the Glycemic Index.
• Freely consume low starch vegetables and fruits preferably in raw form. Avoid fruit juice.
• Alcohol always in moderation. (“Wine is proof that God loves us” – some wise soul)

I urge anyone who is interested in this topic to buy Taubes’ book and enjoy it in its entirety and then lend it to your family doctor. Also, there is a fascinating 2hr.webcast lecture by Taubes’ on obesity and a radio debate with Taubes and a leading nutrition researcher/expert:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/even...

And, check out “My Big, Fat Diet”: http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfat... as mentioned above. The site has clips of the TV documentary, a blog hosted by the head physician, and is a web resource site on the current medical study. (This would be an excellent classroom project).

Be well. Fred Cory, RMT. fhcory@eagle.ca

* Registered Massage Therapist. The information here is complimentary to, but outside the official scope of practice of an RMT. The intent is to educate and inform, not to prescribe. Always inform your medical doctor before you make fundamental changes in your health choices.

* *Gary Taubes, author of Bad Science and Nobel Dreams, is a correspondent for Science magazine. The only print journalist to have won three Science in Society Journalism awards, given by the National Association of Science Writers, he has contributed articles to The Best American Science Writing 2002 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 and 2003. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

I am keeping my microwave. I use it to heat a cup water and reheat whatever it was I made previously. I also heat up plain frozen veggies. They don't burn if I forget to turn them off. I very seldom buy pre-made frozen food. His reasons for throwing out your microwave are stupid.
I used Equal for 3 monthes some years ago. I felt like I had railroad spikes in my heels. I had very painful leg and foot cramps daily. I stopped using the stuff and it took 2 years for my feet to mostly heal up. I still don't have feeling in my toes from using Equal. Equal or aspartame is a nuerotoxin. I use stevia to sweeten coffee and tea.

This was a great article. It doesn't get into too much detail about each of the points being made, but it is enough detail so that we understand, and can do our own further research if we want to.

I know I do better with higher protein/higher fat diet, and less carbs, even the good carbs... And animal protein is what I need. I drink raw milk for breakfast every morning. If I had more time I would make a homemade smoothie/breakfast shake, but I am getting up too early as it is...

I also like the part about the exercise... how funny it is that we think we are exercising when we are barely increasing our heart rate. I have heard of Dr. Sear's PACE workout and have the book but I really haven't gotten into it yet. I know, what am I waiting for? Well, I have been chronically suffering from bursitis in my shoulder and rotator cuff tendinitis... I have been doing physical therapy and rolfing and acupuncture and trying to control the pain before I start on a difficult exercise regiment. It is just tough to do anything with this pain. Chronic overuse injury along with playing volleyball too much and not taking care of myself. Now I am paying the price.

My comment has more to do with Detox Food Pad's bursitis than weight loss: My husband suffered from bursitis in his sholder for about 5 years. After I read about Lyprinol (green lipped muscle extract) and he took that for three years with a continuous 90% reduction in pain. Two months ago he switched to AdvaJoint, also a green lipped muscle extract formula and his bursitis pain is completely gone. One pill twice a day. He's 60.