Did anyone see yesterday's Oprah about fighting heart disease?

Low carb eating was only briefly mentioned but again not in a positive light. It was mentioned that low carb eating will speed up heart problems.

I have a real problem with this. I don't understand how doctors can look at people today and tout that low-fat is good for anyone! I am more inclined to believe that if low-carb were to solve the obesity problems of the world, most doctors would stand to lose the hefty profit made off office visits to prescribe diet pills.

There was a doctor locally to my town in Wyoming known for prescribing Prozac to heavy people because they must be depressed if they were overweight. Then if they still didn't lose he'd prescribe something else.
Give me a break!!

You know what study I'd like to see? I'd like to creators of the beloved food pyramid to take a large consensus of the general public's eating habits and average them out and make a pyramid. My guess is it will be highly top heavy and only balanced by the bottom carb section which is likely to be more than 3 times bigger than it should. Even in people who believe they are living by it. There are just so many hidden carbs and if you aren't paying attention they add up.

How many of us have learned that just in limiting our own?

Anyway, I guess I am done venting. I get so frustrated hearing someone who exercises up to 3 hours a day and starves all in the name of good health and weight loss criticize anyone.

Shelley

I have a sinister view of why the media demonizes low carb.

After automobiles, I think junk food companies are the biggest advertisers.

The junk food business has it "made in the shade" they can buy inexpensive ingredients add sugar (also cheap) and salt and create salty sweet crunchy things that keep the zoo animals (us) happy and make them rich.

Practically speaking, if all developed countries stopped eating carbs, could the world's agriculture system feed us? And at what cost.

Maybe we are better off with our own little secret. A famous Marie said, perhaps prophetically, one fateful day, "Let them eat cake." Perhaps we should say the same; for the world to adopt low carb eating, we will need a revolution in food production or a lot fewer people.

It is annoying when others don't understand and when our friends criticize us, but in the end if you know what is right for you, you just have to smile and say thank you for eating all those carbs, so I can have the protein.

I thought he looked like SH*T! Absolutely NOT the picture of good health! I only caught the last half of the show and was horrified at what Ornish said in the last few minutes. Something like, "If you can get your cholesterol down to below 150, that's even better." Apparently, Dr. O is unaware of the many studies showing higher cancer rates correlating very strongly to increased cancer incidence. Furthermore, many decades of research have shown that you can't lower serum cholesterol significantly with dietary changes, yet there was Ornish misleading people into thinking they can.

I thought the worst part of the show (and the most misleading) was the story of the African-American woman who had 4 heart attacks and two bypass operations who finally got around to changing her lifestyle. I was glad she was feeling better (for now) and had started exercising, had lost weight, etc. But was very unhappy when she related her new dietary habits which were basically ultra low-fat and ultra-high carbs. The show showed her serving soy burgers and making macaroni and cheese with fat-free ricotta and soy cheese. BLECH!!! Her "new" ham hocks and collard greens contained no ham and no fat, just greens with peppers. Most likely, she used to eat lots of sugar and Crisco and refined carbs like white rice--the real causes of her heart problems, but the show made it sound like it was from her eating meat and animal fats.

God how I hate Dean Ornish!

Okay Ferrando... it'll be our little secret....


And you are right, DrByrnes, he didn't look overly healthy.

I guess that I my "beef"...the misleading information. It has little to do with the health of their patients and a lot to do with lining their pockets. Always when someone goes on a low fat diet, the meat is always blamed rather than the 15 candy bars a week or the 24 pack of Mt. Dew.

I also heard a commercial on the radio for a carb blocker pill last night. It touted low carb eating as "those tasteless low carb meals." Anything to make people fork over money.

Shelley

Re"...she used to eat lots of sugar and Crisco..."

Coincidentally, DrByrnes, just this morning I was remembering someone tell me that when she wants to lose a little weight, she's found that just eating less fat does it for her. She was actually eating less pastries, fat meat on BREAD, ice cream with sugar, butter on her TOAST, chips, etc.

Ferrando:

I don't think the world would have to change it's basic food production much.

If you have looked at the sugar busters WOL you will see that not all carbs are bad. Their premise is that highly refined carbs are bad and all "added" sugar is bad. Consequently you can eat fruit, whole grain bread, whole grain rice and of course all protein.
If people eat this way their diabetic tendencies, obesity, sluggishness, heart problems, intestinal and rectal (to name few) will be a thing of the past.
If manufactures would stop the madness and over-refining foods we would all benefit.
Who needs white bread, white rice and added sugar or corn and potatoes for that matter?

The French say "Potatoes are for pigs and corn is for cows". It sure does a good job of fattening up those animals!

my two-cents worth.

Hi Quincy:
I think you are right.

Maybe the problem is the manufacturers who take the good stuff out of foods and then jack up the price so we can munch cheese doodles that are mostly starch and have only a passing relationship to cheese.

LOL Of course that might affect me as I like to buy a lot of the by-products that they take out of grains, things like wheat germ, bran, rice polishings, soy fiber etc.

Ferrando