Buzzwords change over the years, don’t they?
In the 80’s it was “low fat” and “no fat” and 6 servings of carbs per day!!
But today the buzzword in nutrition seems to be “low carb”.
What does low carb mean exactly and why should we pay attention?
In the United States, our government has revised the nutritional guidelines 5 times since WWII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_USDA_nutrition_guides
Most of us grew up learning about the 4 food groups : meat, dairy, fruits/ vegetables and starches. Your plate was supposed to have food from each group to create a balanced meal.
In the 1970’s we were told to ditch butter, eggs and cheese because they were harmful and that margarine, egg substitutes and low fat dairy were needed to prevent heart disease. Type II diabetes and obesity rates have skyrocketed since then as people have replaced fats with processed carbohydrates which contain boat loads of refined sugar. And…..heart disease is still the #1 cause of death in the U.S. So, you could say that we’re sicker now than we were before.
How times have changed
Last month, Time magazine’s cover story said “Eat Butter” with the tagline :
“Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why they were wrong.”
Mainstream publications are slowly/finally giving copy to these facts:
1. To the body a whole wheat bagel and a bag of M&M’s are the same — sugar
2. Sugar causes inflammation in the body.