Shocking Programme on TV Last Night - Diet Yo-Yo

I feel it is truly shocking that there are people out there who fully believe they are eating a "balanced" diet, calorie counting, getting their 5 a day and as a result are getting fatter and fatter and they can't understand why.  This programme showed a number of women who throughout their whole lives had yo-yo'd between weights.  The diets they had been on and he fads and the massive weight losses and regains.

It then went on about the inverted food pyramid we see these days and there are all these people basing their diets on carbs and fruit.  Some were juicing huge quantities of fruit and that nearly finished me off when I went down that route.  Some were exercising but once again it was this myth that by reducing calories you can somehow lose weight when clearly a calorie isn't a calorie (you need to read Protein Power, Gary Taubes, The DIet Doctor or The Insulin Factor).  

It was heart rending to see these women doing crazy things to try and get thin and for some, the mental anguish was palpable.  There's merit in many things but an Occam's Razor approach to the problem would surely provide some sort of clue here.  Before the 1970s, you rarely saw an obese person, I think the rates were 1% or 2%.  Then, to support the Corn Farmers of the US a new dietary pyramid was produced that shows carbohydrates making up the base of the pyramid with protein at the tip.  It all looks rational and sensible as it has been "sold" to us as being good for us.  Since that time, with everyone changing their diet, obesity and diabetes have soared and it's costing us our health and straining our medical system.  It doesn't seem to be straining the drug and food companies.  Just saying :-)

The hidden sugar in drinks which is pretty much artificial and unbelievably high in quantity is also present in many forms in day to day foods.  Watch out for Dextrose, Fructose and Glucose all in the ingredients even of pickles and mustard.  This stuff is addictive and of course leads to most of the diseases and conditions we see rife today.

I like the fact that there were no dieticians, cardiologist, personal fitness trainers and many other new professions back in the day, mainly because they weren't needed.  Rarely did people die from heart disease, rarely did people become fat, not even in old age.  It's all a bit strange that all of a sudden obesity and diabetes, heart disease, dementia and the like are now at 'epidemic' levels (not sure if that is true - the papers say so - and I've no figures to go on).

Is it me or are there vested interests out there that want us to be dependent on the drug and food companies?  It's amazing that breakfast cereal has big green ticks on it saying it's good for your heart?  Really!!!  No I mean really?  It's a box full of carbohydrates FFS and some of the levels of sugar in them are also atrocious especially kids stuff and we are told it is good for us.

Seeing all these sad ladies who just couldn't shake down their weight was tragic and I was constantly shaking my head whilst listening to the same old nonsense pumped out by slimming clubs and organisations - you can't get slim on cakes and chocolate.  You can't get slim on grains and fruit - period - it will never happen.  Most of these end up starving you, you end up losing muscle mass (not fat) and you forever feel hungry.  I've lost 3 1/2 stone - have hardly ever felt hungry and gained muscle but lost fat - go figure.

I wonder whether this will end up like the Tobacco industry with damages being awarded to people because of the addictive ingredients used in processed foods?  Who knows?