Opinion Opportunities

By now you have ascertained that I write (and hold) conservative opinions. Alan contributes factual information; I hope to offer things to ponder. Not that you can’t ponder information -you can and I hope you do – but I wish to offer a different reference.

Lately there has been such an abundance of subjects that it is hard to keep up with all the opportunities to opine about. That and some personal issues have distracted me from delivering my missives. I hope that the drought is over.

The other day RFK jr. – a liberal that I can stomach (very rare) – was using the governor of West Virginia as his foil to emphasize his MAHA agenda. One comment that seems to have escaped much attention was his remark about becoming the Gov’s personal trainer. And putting him on a carnivore diet.

As much as his nefarious stance on vaccines – he is against unproven, dangerous ones, much to the dismay of unelected oligarchs called “bureaucrats” – is often ridiculed and railed against, it was his support of the carnivore diet that caught my ear.

The carnivore diet is a subset of the ketogenic, or “fat burning” diet. Carnivore, if properly implemented, requires eating the organ meats, not just the muscle. For several reasons, I do not find them appetizing. Liver and onions, steak and kidney pie, chitlins’ – all fail to entice me. I’ll take my steak or burger with a salad, thank you.

But RFK jr.’s embracing of the carnivore diet recognizes his acknowledgement that the conventional Standard American Diet as recommended by the FDA is not just flawed, but deadly. Got high cholesterol? It doesn’t come from eating meat or butter. It comes from eating carbohydrates. Want to lose weight and keep it off? Low fat doesn’t work, low carbohydrates do. Sugar, starches, all carbs, whether simple or complex do the same thing: they raise blood glucose. Which causes insulin demand which stores excess carbs as fat.

Ancel Keys is responsible for the war on saturated fat in our diet. He was an epidemiologist. An epidemiological study is nothing more than an opinion poll.  What did you eat on Tuesday six months ago? What about a Monday eight months ago? How many can answer a dietary questionnaire ACCURATELY and HONESTLY that way? But that was the basis for driving the Standard American Diet – SAD.

And it is. The SAD is killing more adults and children than anything else in our lifetimes. Overweight, diabetic children. Children with heart disease. CHILDREN WITH HEART DISEASE. All due to diet. All due to the war on dietary fat in favor of carbohydrates – sugar. Is exercise helpful? Certainly. BUT you can NEVER outrun a bad diet. Exercise works up and appetite. Which is frequently satisfied with twice the calories that were burned.

Here is a dirty secret (sorry Granny G but this might get some flak) carbohydrates are NOT an essential nutrient. Fats are, proteins are, but not carbs. Carbs taste sooo good. Comfort food. They bring a smile to your face. They bring huge profits to Big Food. Carbs have a huge contribution to bad health, especially when overeaten, which they frequently are. Big Food has learned how to make carbs even more addictive than they naturally are. Sugars activate the same pleasure centers as opioids.  “Betcha can’t eat just one”. Or just one bag. Chips, Oreos, Bryers, it doesn’t matter. They’re killing us.

GO, BOBBY GO!

ciao,

The Snark