Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Low Fat Diets Are Grossly Misrepresented
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.  September 28, 2010 07:00 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t-colin-campbell/low-fat-diets-are-grossly_b_740543.htm

excerpts

....... By falsely blaming low fat, 'high carb' diets for the obesity crisis, 
these writers were then free to promote the opposite: high fat, low 'carb', 
high cholesterol and high protein diets rich in animal-based foods, a 
so-called low 'carb' diet. During the initial discussions of this 'low carb' 
diet, no distinction was made between the refined carbohydrates (sugar and 
white flour as commonly present in processed foods) and the natural 
carbohydrates almost exclusively present in plant-based foods.

...... Obesity continues to climb but not because of a switch to a 
plant-foods rich diet naturally low in fat and high in carbohydrate (TOTAL 
carbohydrate, that is). Rather, obesity increases as physical activity 
decreases and as sugary, fatty, salty processed food consumption increases.

More serious, however, is the effect that this mythology has had on 
suppressing information on the extraordinary health value of diets that are 
truly low in fat (10-12 percent). I am referring to a whole foods, 
plant-based diet that avoids added fat and processed and animal-based foods. 
This diet contains about 10-12 percent fat, sometimes pejoratively referred 
to as "extremely low fat". Call it what you will, but this diet (also low in 
total protein, about 8-10 percent) produces, by comparison, "extremely low" 
incidences of sickness and disease. In fact, it now has been shown not just 
to prevent these illnesses but to treat them. Importantly, this dietary 
lifestyle cannot be dismissed by the mythological argument that so-called low 
fat diets have been proven to be questionable.

... It is time that we seriously consider the health benefits of a whole 
food, plant based diet, which is naturally low in total fat, animal-based 
protein, and refined carbohydrates but rich in antioxidants and complex 
carbohydrates. The health benefits that are now being reported for this 
dietary lifestyle are unmatched in scope and magnitude of effect. It is time 
to discard the gibberish about low fat diets being responsible for the 
obesity epidemic. This demonizing of low fat diets does not apply to whole 
food plant-based diets, even lower in fat, because this dietary lifestyle 
really works. Just try it, but stay with it long enough to allow your body to 
overcome your taste preferences for fat that arise from its addictive nature.