Revolution comrades!!

[ChubbieChops]

The more I read in posts here and links that people post or I have found elsewhere, the more I am horrified by the damage that the misinformation of information about diet, weight and related health issues seem to be causing. How can we change this?? I can't think where to begin but I would love to have a go. Revolution, protests on the streets, any ideas?

[Stoozie]

Posting on a forum which Google would point any layperson seeking an NHS approved weight loss scheme to and it's sister forums would do the trick

[ChubbieChops in reply to Stoozie]

I wouldn't have a clue how to do that - do you??

[ChubbieChops in reply to Stoozie]

Oooops, didn't twig what you meant!!

[Stoozie in reply to ChubbieChops]

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

Come the revolution, the dieticians will be first against the wall!

It is hard to know what to do about it, but as Stoozie said, simply being here (an NHS-approved site), and giving newbies practical information is a productive start.

The winds of change are actually blowing in the right direction. There's a whole rash of books coming out promoting low-carb eating concepts, and more and more people are realising that they've been duped. Sooner or later, something's gonna give. If I weren't sticking to my diet, I'd be breaking out the popcorn to watch the show.

[ChubbieChops in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I did post a link somewhere here which was about LCHF eating and which was produced by the NHS, so why isn't advice changing in the consulting rooms - another rhetorical question!

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to ChubbieChops]

Do you mean the NHS are producing information with the intent of encouraging people to eat LCHF, or warning them away from it?

Can you repost? I don't recall seeing that.

[ChubbieChops in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I googled 'proven link between eating sat fat and heart disease' and found this article

nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs...

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to ChubbieChops]

Oh, that's a classic. Another round of frantic moving-of-goalposts:

"In contrast to current recommendations, this systematic review found no evidence that saturated fat increases the risk of coronary disease, or that polyunsaturated fats have a cardioprotective effect.

Current UK guidelines remained unchanged:

The average man should eat no more than 30g of saturated fat a day.

The average woman should eat no more than 20g of saturated fat a day."

Riiiight. So they're going to completely ignore a study which, by their own admission, was well-run, and carry on regardless. Any why? Hold onto your hats, people ...

"Even if saturated fats don't directly harm your heart, eating too much can lead to obesity, which in turn can damage it."

Except that that's not even close to being true. And if it were true ... why is it only true for saturated fats? Sorry guys, but you've run out of places to put those goalposts. Try that again, and you're going to start looking really silly. But perhaps you're past caring?

[ChubbieChops in reply to TheAwfulToad]

lol, that was what prompted me to write the revolutionary post!! I must try to find the author of that article!

[ChubbieChops in reply to TheAwfulToad]

I have found a place on an NHS site where I was able to send a complaint which I have done. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it!

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador in reply to ChubbieChops]

Oh, I did that too, a couple of years back. I pointed out that their dietary advice not only has no scientific support, it flatly contradicts what we know about physiology.

They responded by sending me a document, prepared by some thinktank, outlining their "evidence". I think I've still got it somewhere in my inbox, if anybody's interested. And that was the end of that. Do keep us updated though!

[ChubbieChops in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Will do. It will be interesting to see if things have changed at all!

[Subtle_badger in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Also

However, some of the pooled studies involved people with cardiovascular risk factors or with cardiovascular disease, so the results may not necessarily apply to the population at large.

Yeah, except that you are giving the advise explicitly to people with cardiovascular risks/disease, so who does that make sense?

[ChubbieChops in reply to Subtle_badger]

But what caused their cardiovascular disease? Not necessarily sat fats - possibly a high carb diet? I keep coming back to the fact that the massive rise in diabetes and obesity from the 1970s on, coincided with the recommendations that we eat a lot less fat (sat.) and lots more grains

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

I don't think there's any mystery there. The experts are right by definition - because they're experts. Therefore the general public are all recalcitrant idiots. QED.

[Subtle_badger]

My dad, for example, who was robbed of one of his last great pleasures, the world of cheese, because after a cholesterol test his doctor told him to go on a low saturated fat diet. It was the tiniest of the losses that plagued his last years, but an unnecessary one.

I didn't know any better, so stood back and said nothing.

[ChubbieChops in reply to Subtle_badger]

Have you heard today that people with high cholesterol are now going to be given 2 injections a year to reduce - God bless the pharmaceutical industry

[Subtle_badger in reply to ChubbieChops]

+ stay on statins, according to the Beeb.

"Gene silencing" Yup, that's not going to have any unintended consequences.

[Hidden in reply to Subtle_badger]

My grandmother in her 80s developed diabetes. Having been a plump woman all her life, by this stage she was a wraith as she was too frail to be bothered with food. The surgery nurse put her on a low fat, slimming diet. My mother who provided a lot of her care, took no notice,

[ChubbieChops in reply to Hidden]

And this type of diet (LCHF) has got to be so good for diabetes!

[Subtle_badger]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be confusing. I've edited it to be more straightforward.

(For the record, it was probably warfarin that killed him)