Make this New Year an Opportunity

I'm not much one for preaching.  Except when I've found something that works.  And boy, have I ever. 

This is a post about change. The story begins over a year ago.  It's not new.  Man goes to doctor for checkup, finds he has high cholesterol and low vitamin D levels, and panics.

Now here is where it gets interesting.  But only if you can agree that convention wisdom is just that...conventional.  That sometimes what we have known (or thought we knew) for our whole lives, is, well, wrong.  Consider that at one time we all believed that the world was flat...and you could be burned, yes burned, for disagreeing with that conventional wisdom. 


But let's back up.  Two years ago I had a moderately disappointing cholesterol test.  Just over 200...lousy level of HDL (you know, the good kind).  Curious, I thought.  I'm not overweight, am physically active, and no health issues. 

So, two years ago, I did what I was told.  What conventional wisdom requires.  I virtually cut out cheese, and eggs, ate low fat everything.  Virtually no saturated fat, or cholesterol in the diet.  It was a year of lean, lean, lean.

Fast forward to a year ago.  Doctor emails that my cholesterol has gone from average...to, well, nasty.  That it had shot up by more than 50 points in the past year, and that my levels of vitamin D and good cholesterol were pathetic.

The first day I wandered around the grocery store in a daze.  What could I eat?  It seemed that doing the right thing, had the opposite effect than had been promised.

Out of fear, came action.  I began to read.  Not what had been "known" for so long, but what the latest research was uncovering about the relationship between food, and health.

You know what?  The truth is out there, if you care to find it.  But, for now at least, it isn't the conventional wisdom.  Not yet.  No wonder our nation is facing an obesity crisis, a heart disease crisis, a health crisis, which has been building for the past 50 years.

At this point I'll acknowledge that you probably don't want to read a long post about a "journey to health."  Or how early research upon which our conventional food wisdom was built was well intentioned, but went badly off the tracks.  So let me sum it up for you clearly, and without confusion.

Carbohydrates = Fat in the Body, and Fat in the Blood, and High Cholesterol.

There it is.  From grains (yes, bread and rice), to sugary drinks, to pasta in every form, to chips, and cake, we just eat too much of it.  We didn't evolve the body systems to handle it.  Our early forebears didn't have access to it.  But in our country, and in most others, there are billions of dollars at stake each day in making sure we continue to overindulge in these things.  Think Coke, Pepsi, Frito Lay, Archer Daniels Midland.

Now I'll admit.  It's hard to believe that a loaf of bread can be evil.  Really, a loaf of bread??  That a potato can be like sugar.  I know.  I am just here to tell you that, that is precisely how the body sees it.  They are all carbohydrates, and are converted to sugar, and then to triglicerides, then to cholesterol, and then to the bad cholesterol, in our livers, and in our blood stream.

So, unless you're running a daily marathon, or riding a 100 miles on your bike and can burn them, consider cutting back.  If you make a real change, I guarantee you'll feel, and see, the difference.

If you'd like to read more about this topic, look up "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes, and check out the Heart Scan Blog by noted cardiologist Dr. William Davis Heart Scan Blog, or check out The Healthy Skeptic Blog