Deidre Currie Festival

In the final post on my notes from last Saturday’s Deidre Currie Festival, Sally Fallon’s talk on “The Oiling of America” tells how we came to believe the myth that saturated fats are harmful to our health. It grinds me like crazy that it is still quite common to hear someone say their doctor wants them to cut back on saturated fats, and often go on dangerous statins, because their cholesterol is too high. When I hear this, if it’s not the type of situation where I can talk openly, it’s torture keeping it in.

PLEASE, spread the word – send friends and family to this site or to the WAPF site. Let’s wake people up to the facts! Our bodies naturally crave healthy fats, and the more “they” try to beat this out of us, the more fat and unhealthy we become… Read on for some amazing facts that will surely convince you: eating the way our ancestors did is our ticket to good health. (There’s more on how I was convinced at the end of this post.)

First, be sure to also look over my notes from the other talks last Saturday:

• Milk comes from cows, not beans – Karen Lubbers at the Deidre Currie Festival
• Sally Fallon – Dirty Little Secrets of the Food Industry
• Autism, ADD, ADHD, constipation, candida, asthma, learning / behavioral problems & depression: Natasha Campbell-McBride: Gut and Psychology Syndrome

THE OILING OF AMERICA by Sally Fallon

photo by Cheeseslave

As I go through my notes I see I have many holes, so here’s a link to the same information at the Weston A. Price site online: The Oiling of America. I’ll just hit on a few highlights here, but be sure to go there to learn more about the big picture, and more importantly, to see all the resources listed to back up the following…

THE LIPID HYPOTHESIS

• The American Heart Association was founded for the main purpose of promoting the “prudent diet”: corn oil, margarine instead of butter, cereal, and heaven forbid you have any lard or cream. Dr. White (the EEG inventor) on the panel at the AHA disagreed: “See here, I began my practice as a cardiologist in 1921 and never saw an Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) patient until 1928. Back then the diet was butter and lard, and we would all benefit to go back to when no one had heard of corn oil.”
• The “edible oil” industry is very powerful.
• For years after this myth took hold, most doctors still believed that low cholesterol caused heart disease. The AMA held out a long time before finally adopting this theory. They knew that low fat diets carry risks and cause some nutritional deficiencies. Most scientists waited until they were retired to speak out, or their funding would be pulled.
• Trans fats are usually lumped in with saturated fats, so when studies showed a correlation between fats and cancer, it was due to the trans fats.
• Mary Enig got an article published, which criticized the manipulation of the data. It showed that people eating animal fats had less cancer and heart disease, and asked for more research into trans fats. It was published in an obscure journal, but got a lot of publicity. The industry was not happy, and six weeks later she was called to a meeting at the University of Maryland. They were very angry, one had a stack of newspaper clippings and said, “We’re not happy about this article, we watch the journals to make sure only articles favorable to our industry get published. I thought my colleague was watching it and he thought I was, this is not going to happen again.”
• Mary was told, “If you continue this research, we’ll cut off your funding, because we control the funding.”
• Mary was able to finish her PhD, and she showed how trans fat interferes with the enzymes that your body uses to fight cancer. She was completely blackballed by her profession.
• She once overheard people arguing in the hall about what the official “too high” number should be for cholesterol. “We have to make it 200 or we won’t have enough people to test.” Today they have lowered it even more and say we can’t get it low enough. If someone had a heart attack and their cholesterol was low, they still put them on drugs because it was “obviously not low enough.”
• William Castelli, Director of The Framingham Study: “We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, and ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.”
• Whatever we might gain in not dying of heart attacks from low cholesterol, we’re now dying instead of other things like cancer and suicide. (Due to the effects of lowfat diets.)
• The Lipid Research Clinic’s Coronary Primary Prevention Trial in 1984 used 150 million taxpayer dollars and is the study most often used to justify lowfat diets. One group was on cholesterol lowering drugs and the other group was on a placebo. They were all on a low cholesterol/low saturated fat diet – non-dairy creamers, Wesson vegetable oil, margarine, etc. The group taking the drug had a decrease in heart disease, but an increase in death from cancer, stroke, violence & suicide. (As above, this is due to the effects of lowfat diets and not having the protective effects cholesterol provides.)
• The “French Paradox“: in France they have high levels of cholesterol and low levels of heart disease. There are Dutch, Swiss, Finish & Austrian paradoxes as well. (Note from Kelly: you’ve probably heard of the book, French Women Don’t Get Fat - I haven’t read it, but love the title.)
• There are many other studies going on that contradict the lipid hypothesis.
• You’ve got to read this amazing story about George Mann, who was a former associate director of the Framingham Project. Here’s an excerpt from his comments on the lipid hypothesis: “It is the public health diversion of this century…the greatest scam in the history of medicine.”
• The National Cholesterol Education Program’s stated goal: “Change physician’s attitudes.” They showed docs how to measure for cholesterol, how to give dietary advice, and how to treat and reduce cholesterol and saturated fats. In 1990 they recommended the “prudent diet” for all Americans over the age of two, and packets were given to pediatricians all over the country to make sure they were giving this advice to mothers: use margarine instead of butter, no more whole milk, not too many eggs.”
• Children need animal fats for normal growth from birth to 18 or 21 years. Adults need fats for normal growth and for reproduction, for brain connections, for all systems in the body.

This was more than just bad advice, this was genocide

• This is the #1 reason why we have learning disabilities, autism, growth problems, health problems, and infertility (an epidemic now). Our kids can’t grow normally without animal fats in their diets.
• Women on low-fat milk often can’t get pregnant. No one looks at what this does to little girls if they’re on low-fat diets at the age of two.

CHOLESTEROL IS A GOOD THING:

• Cholesterol is KEY to animal and human life. It is nature’s healing substance. When there are wounds or tears in the arteries, cholesterol goes in for repair. Cholesterol provides structural integrity and proper “stiffness” to cells. It is a precursor to vitamin D, and needed for healthy bones, metabolism, and reproduction. It is a precursor to the sex hormones – they are made from cholesterol. It is a powerful anti-oxident protectant against free radicals. It is needed for proper brain and nerve functioning and required for the serotonin receptors in the brain. (Vicious dogs tend to have low cholesterol.) It is needed for good blood pressure levels and blood sugar levels.
• As we age we need more protection, so it is natural for cholesterol to go up, it is the natural role of the body.
• Accurate cholesterol readings are difficult anyway. Differences can show up due to someone’s age, what they ate, their stress level, the time of the test, whether it is after fasting or not.
• Our body in its infinite wisdom will make more cholesterol when we’re stressed, to help the body deal with it. It’s your best friend when under stress.
• For men, if their cholesterol is over 300 and under 60, there is a slight increased risk of coronary heart disease. For women and elderly, there is no difference in the CHD rate for any level of cholesterol. Higher cholesterol is actually associated with a longer lifespan.
• We should worry if our cholesterol is too low, not too high.
• There is little evidence that HDL or LDL even matters – our body makes both and knows more than all our PhD’s.
• Oxidized cholesterol IS a problem – found in powdered milk (which is in all reduced fat milks at the store), powdered eggs, etc. They oxidize cholesterol by forcing fat into teeny tiny holes under high pressure.

DANGERS OF STAINS/CHOLESTEROL LOWERING DRUGS

• Statins were discovered by the Japanese, who found the substance very toxic in animal trials. It was then sold to Merck who speedily got FDA approval.
• In every rat study, stains caused cancer.
• It is currently being promoted for healthy men and women categorized as “at risk” for any little risk factor, including children over age 8 (now they’re trying to change this to 7 months!), teenagers, diabetes in the family, etc.
• According to promoters, stains have very few side effects. However, these have been reported: fatigue, memory loss, reduced mental capacity (freak accidents), muscle wasting, intestinal disease, reduced libido, depression, accidents, suicide, cancer, reduces production of CoQ10 which is needed for normal function of muscles and heart.
• Sadly, many who develop these side effects will think, “What do you expect, you’re getting old.”
• Statins block the absorption of vitamin A, which is critical for hormone production.
• They can result in neuropathy (weakness, tingling, and pain in hands and feet).
• Go to www.askapatient.com and read reactions from people reporting side effects. Many are delighted that their cholesterol went down…
• The warnings when taking statins say that they are “not for those who are pregnant or may become pregnant” due to the horrible birth defects they can cause; yet they’re pushing them on 8 year old children…don’t they think those girls will be pregnant someday?!

THIS IS SHOCKING – no need to wonder after you read this:

• Honolulu Heart Program 2001 – published in Lancet 2001: “Our data accords with previous findings of increased mortality in elderly people – the lower the cholesterol, the greater the risk of death.” Take this to your doctor and have him read it out loud to you.

WHAT DOES CAUSE HEART DISEASE THEN?

• Too much omega 6 in our diets
• Oxidized cholesterol (in powdered milk, found in all reduced fat milks)
• Heated milk proteins (pasteurized dairy)
• Lack of exercise
• Stress
• Inflammation
• Coffee consumption
• X-Rays

WHO PROFITS FROM THE MYTHS ABOUT CHOLESTEROL AND SATURATED FATS?

• Cholesterol testing and treatment is a 100 BILLION dollar business
• Hydrogenated fats are a 150 billion dollar industry
• Cancer and other diseases (often caused by avoiding healthy, healing fats) – 100 billion dollars
• Behavior and learning disabilities – 70 billion dollars

That’s the end of my notes on Sally’s talk.

I’d love to hear what you think about this. If you haven’t commented before, I’m asking you to do it now. Is there something that keeps you believing there is some truth in the lipid hypothesis? Share it with us, let’s talk about it more! If you now believe how beneficial and healthy saturated fats are, but you were a “hard sell”, please tell us your story! What finally made you “get it”?

For me it came down to common sense. Looking around I saw friends and family who struggled with weight issues their whole lives, but stuck to the lowfat diets because that’s what they were told by their doctors, Weight Watchers, TV commercials, magazine ads, etc. I came to realize the missing link was the basic truths found in what people ate for thousands of years, before “they” said that things like butter and real, whole milk were evil. Read more about my “food conversion” story.

MORE READING

• Cholesterol, saturated fat & heart disease
• What if it’s all been a big fat lie?
• You’ve switched to much healthier WHOLE milk now, right???
• Cholesterol Doesn’t Cause Heart Disease
• Does fat make you fat?
• Many more topics along the right in the sidebar

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