FDA claims Frosted Flakes are healthier than avocados

August 20, 2016August 19, 2016 ~ admin ~ Leave a comment

Isabelle Z. – The FDA is supposed to be a trusted organization, but many people who have even the remotest inkling of basic nutrition are scratching their heads over the agency’s official definition of “healthy.” You don’t need an advanced science degree to wonder how a highly processed cereal made in a factory could be considered healthier than a fruit plucked directly from a tree, but that’s exactly what the FDA would have you believe. That’s right: according to the FDA, Frosted Flakes are healthier than avocados!

The system by which it classifies food as healthy or unhealthy is very basic and outdated. It suggests that foods that have low amounts of sodium, fat and cholesterol, along with some “beneficial nutrients,” are considered healthy, without bothering to distinguish between unsaturated and saturated fats.

This is extremely misguided to say the least, as the source of a fat is a big consideration when it comes to health. In addition, food that was formed naturally is a lot healthier than its chemically engineered counterparts.

According to the FDA’s definition, avocados are not considered healthy because 1 ounce contains 4.5 grams of fat. It doesn’t matter to them that it is the “good” type of fat. Likewise, almonds, with their 14 grams of fat per ounce, and salmon, with its 11 grams of fat per 3-ounce serving, are also considered unhealthy foods despite their well-documented health benefits.

Pop Tarts, Spaghetti-Os and Frosted Flakes are better than salmon and almonds?

Continue reading →

The Dairy Query: Is Low-fat or Full-Fat More Healthful?

September 7, 2014November 13, 2019 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment

“. . . the low-fat diet has not proven to be effective at reducing heart disease or our waistlines, and the resulting increase in refined carbohydrates hasn’t done us any good, either.In fact, several recent studies have shown that dietary fat (even saturated fat) and cholesterol are actually associated with LESS obesity.” L Egan

Milk_WholeVsFatFree It seems obvious: eating fat makes you fat and unhealthy, right?

Well, not quite. As with most things related to nutrition and health, it isn’t that simple or straightforward. A combination of flawed studies, political bias, and clever marketing by the food industry led to the birth of the low-fat craze – a trend that has lasted nearly 40-years. Thankfully, that craze finally appears to be in its death throes.

The idea that dietary fat was bad for health didn’t start until around 1940, when some scientists and physicians started to suspect that diets high in saturated fats and cholesterol were linked to heart disease. This was based on their interpretation of some research, which was not without controversy – some experts were skeptical and didn’t jump on the “fat is bad” bandwagon.

By the 1950s, doctors were recommending low-fat diets to patients who were considered at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Even though some studies did not support what came to be known as the “diet-heart hypothesis”, and there was no proof of a link between dietary fat and cardiovascular disease, the ideology picked up speed.

And the low-fat craze slowly began. Continue reading →

Coconut Oil Can Help You Lose Belly Fat

August 14, 2013September 25, 2020 ~ admin ~ 1 Comment

NaturalSociety August 13 2013

Men and women alike have excess ‘belly-fat,’ usually an anthropomorphized representation of a lack of healthy fats in our bodies- like the ones in coconut oil. A peer-reviewed study from Brazil shows how eating just two tablespoons of coconut oil a day can help whittle our middle faster than spending months on the dreaded treadmill.

Coconut oil is full of medium chain triglycerides. (MCTs) The good thing about this type of fat is that it is more likely to be burned as energy than turned into extra blubber. Additionally extra virgin, organic coconut oil is full of lauric acid and caprylic acid, two important fatty acids that contain anti-viral and anti-microbial properties, so while your body can more easily utilize these fats as easy energy, coconut oil also helps to boost immunity and keep you from getting sick.

Furthermore, the Brazilian study showed that participants had exceptionally higher rates of good cholesterol, or HDL. Also, people who ate other forms of ‘good’ fats, like soybean oil did not realize a smaller waistline, while those who consumed coconut oil did. Part of this may be because participants ‘spontaneously’ reduced the number of unhealthy carbs they were eating and naturally increased their consumption of healthy proteins – which may also account for the loss in belly fat.

The researchers in the study concluded, “Supplementation with coconut oil does not cause dyslipidemia [an abnormal amount of fats in the bloodstream] and seems to promote a reduction in abdominal obesity.”