Introduction

[MikePollard]

Hello Folks,

My name is Mike Pollard, and I am encouraged to write this introduction after receiving favourable comments on the few responses I’ve put up on this site.

I am 66, married, with two sons aged 14 and 12. I work converting bathrooms for the disabled and my hobbies include flying microlights, sailing and writing. I live in the UK.

I am a passionate researcher on the subject of diet and health and have been posting and commenting on Health Unlocked (Heart UK) for some 5 or 6 years.

My stance is that we are being swept along on a Tsunami of misinformation that started in the 1950’s and took off in the late ’70’s. We abandoned out traditional diets of unprocessed, natural foods and replaced them with highly refined carbohydrate; largely due to the fear of saturated fats and their association with heart disease foisted upon us by flawed research. The heights of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimers etc are unprecedented in the history of the world and it is an exponential rise that shows little sign of slowing.

This started in the US and is now a worldwide phenomenon. This is a disaster of unprecedented scale and is killing millions of people prematurely. And yet those people suffering from just one of the dreadful consequences, in this instance diabetes, have been faithfully following the guidelines (eat healthy whole grains, fear fat) but are as bewildered as to the reasons for their disease as are the doctors and politicians who advise them but can’t cure them. On the back of this we have the vested interests of the agricultural, pharmaceutical, and food industries, whose bottom line is unquestionably the dollar. In my opinion that dollar would be better spent, for instance, on real healthcare such as providing clean water and tackling endemic disease (and not be going to multinationals abroad).

Outside of medical interventions the only recourse we are in charge of is what we feed ourselves. You have very little choice in what you eat when it comes down to basics, you either base your diet on carbohydrate or you base it on fat. Protein remains roughly the same.

It’s complicated if you believe the powers that be, or simple if you believe the Hippocratic ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’.

I am not diabetic nor hypertensive, (though I shall qualify the ‘diabetic’ in a later post) and I intend to stay that way. I largely eat LCHF (low carbohydrate, high fat) and have recently embraced intermittent fasting. My blood profiles are optimal over the entire spectrum (again, I will qualify this - see above) despite my diet consisting of roughly 70% fat, mainly saturated.

I will point you to evidence that supports my stance, but it is not intended as medical advice. Even if what you read convinces you I would strongly advise that you do your own research - this can’t be stressed strongly enough.

I will point to hard clinical data wherever possible. And most of sources are clinical researchers, doctors, and surgeons; anecdote though comes a poor second.

I realise I am diametrically opposite the current dietary guidelines and am willing to discuss with those who support that paradigm. However, to get the best response from me I would encourage you to go for the science and data and not the messenger. The log jams of discussion are ad hominem attacks and I will not respond to those. I have wasted too much time and been frustrated by having to defend someone who has spent a lifetime in research against online ‘experts’ firmly attached to their prejudice who airily dismiss the man (or woman) and will not provide supporting evidence for their stance. An ad hominem argument is a lost argument.

If the above chimes with the followers and moderators of this site, I look forward to interesting and fruitful times.

To your health,

Mike

[nairrajis]

we are guinea pigs in their research. we end up with all the disease due to this.

While in USA, I was diagnosed with cholesterol, and started on atorlip in 2005.l. Later in 2008 diagnosed with diabetes. and still on atorlip. In 2012, my cholesterol medication was changed to simvastatin, for no apparent reason, even though my health care provider knew that new statin would cause muscle cramps in my legs. She told me that insurance were no longer supporting atorlip due to its high price and didnot mention anything else. Later, through media, I was came to know that class action suit was being initiated against the manufacturer of atorlip in USA, because it caused diabetes in women in menopause-pre-post staged-women. I was also contacted. I was disgusted. I am diabetic now because of their mistakes. I moved to India in early 2014. I realised I need to be less depended on these big coglomerates and find resource in nature. Since then, I take recourse in natural cures, home remedy and ayurveda. While, in the USA, I became a veg, later vegan since 2008. I rely on good post from our forum to keep going.

[cure Administrator]

Very true nairrajis