In the 1930′s, a doctor and scientist by the name of Fancis Pottenger did experiments with cats that involved diets over a period of more than 10 years and several cat generations. Certain groups of these cats were fed quality, fresh food and others were fed varying degrees of processed food and the effects were noted over several generations.
For the first-generation cats, the results between the diets weren’t that great. However, for each subsequent generation the impacts were greater and greater. The processed diet cats started showing higher and higher incidents of structural deformities, birth defects, stress-driven behaviors, higher susceptibility to illness, allergies, reduced learning ability and reproductive problems. When Pottenger tried to reverse the genetically weakened later generation cats by greatly improving their diets, it took FOUR GENERATIONS for the cats to return to “normal”.
So based on this information, I believe we humans are somewhere along the spectrum of Pottenger’s experiment based on our diets. We all know high fructose corn syrup (pure devil of an ingredient) is in everything now, but it wasn’t until about 1970 that it took off.
HFCS has been linked to diabetes, cancer, obesity, gout, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, elevated cholesterol levels and mineral deficiencies Please, oh please corn growers and processors of the world, give me some more of the delicious nectar of the gods!
The brainwashing of USDA and other organizations (see lobbyists and those with vested interests in these determinations) that grains are good, eggs are bad, soy is good, meat is bad, ad nauseum has directly impacted to our health epidemic here in the United States. Grains have been linked to autoimmune diseases such as celiac disease where your body identifies grains as an antigen and attacks it. Even if you can tolerate grains, they don’t have much nutritional value compared to “real” food.
I’m not here to preach this diet or that, but know that a whole food, nutrient dense diet will kick the ass of one with grains, sugars, processed foods and rancid oils. Our family isn’t perfect, but we try to do our best. Holly and I are both going to be doing the Whole Life Challenge that starts in a couple weeks that promotes and scores you based on healthy (and very restrictive) diet, exercise, sleep and other things over 8 weeks. I think she lost 7-8 lbs the last time she did this, and we’re both looking to LGN in time for beach season. Regardless of how you decide to live your life, try and improve for your sake as well as that of successive generations. Let’s try and stop the growing obesity and health epidemic one person at a time. Let it begin with you.
Hey AMD,
Good luck on your goals…quick question (and don’t worry I realize you aren’t a doctor) but I have IBS and have to make sure to get enough fiber to control my symptoms, but I have to avoid beans as they are a trigger food for me. How do you ensure that you get enough fiber. I am supposed to have almost 30 grams per day.
First, I don’t know much about IBS and I never even think about fiber in my diet. Beans/legumes tear me up and I avoid them too (maybe eat some kind of legume bean soup a few times a year). A couple things I found real quick for you though:
From: http://www.drbriffa.com/2007/05/28/what-really-causes-irritable-bowel-syndrome/
“No tests are foolproof, however, and there is usually no reason why individuals should not make self-styled changes to their diet without testing. I generally advise such individuals to try a diet devoid of wheat (e.g. pasta, bread, biscuits, pastries, and breakfast cereals) and cow’s milk (another common offender) for a week or two. Better tolerated grain include rice and oats (e.g. oat-based muesli, porridge and oatcakes), and rice and oat milks are good swaps for dairy milk too. ”
Basically, he’s saying try removing certain food types for a couple week and see if that improves.
On the fiber issue: I generally only get fiber from veggies or nuts. Spinach and sweet potatoes/yams (which also have a fair amount of decent carbs) seem to have more than others. May be hard to get that amount of fiber if you cut out grains (without supplementing). Here’s a link of fiber in foods: http://www.wehealny.org/healthinfo/dietaryfiber/fibercontentchart.html
Thanks for the links! I wanted to try to cut out more grains, but was concerned about how to get my fiber…this gives me some ideas…I already do whole wheat or whole grain everything. I know you said something about zucchini as pasta…thanks for the links…this stuff can be a bit overwhelming as there are so many different things out there. I am trying to make the lifestyle changes gradually so that a. I stick to them and b. my family doesn’t freak out:)
Bea