Quote:
Most people can count calories. Many have a clue about where fat lurks in their diets. However, fewer give carbohydrates much thought, or know why they should.
But a growing number of top nutritional scientists blame excessive carbohydrates — not fat — for America's ills. They say cutting carbohydrates is the key to reversing obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
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Americans, on average, eat 250 to 300 grams of carbs a day, accounting for about 55% of their caloric intake. The most conservative recommendations say they should eat half that amount. Consumption of carbohydrates has increased over the years with the help of a 30-year-old, government-mandated message to cut fat.
And the nation's levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease have risen. "The country's big low-fat message backfired," says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "The overemphasis on reducing fat caused the consumption of carbohydrates and sugar in our diets to soar. That shift may be linked to the biggest health problems in America today."
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http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-...431,full.story
Been saying it for how long?
Now, I'm not anti-carb. In fact, I'm all about eating according to your lifestyle. But there is no question in my mind that a government backed 'diet', nevermind certain policies like the subsidization of corn which gave us HFCS in literally everything, not to mention how many transfats we ate until it became apparent that they weren't healthy either.....is one of the biggest reasons our obesity levels are sitting at 50% plus.
This is exactly why it annoys me when people go on a 'diet' where they eat pizza for 3 months and lose weight, and then try to tell the whole world that there is nothing wrong with eating carb heavy foods. Simply put, you can't sustain a diet like that. Any normal person with a normal lifestyle, normal 9-5 job cannot live like that for 65+ years, considering that is our average age. Of course, there is nothing wrong with pizza, provided you eat it in moderation.
Like I said before, that is why you have to eat according to your lifestyle. And there are too many people who have desk jobs and never exercise that eat WAY too much, which includes too many carbs. If you're not extremely active, there is no way in hell you should be eating 300g of carbs per day.
But try preaching moderation and responsible choices to a generation of people who live in the here and now and they'll kick you out of the room.