I’m starting a new category for posts here on the ELHD titled Rants And Praise. This category will feature some interesting articles I’ve come across in my travels. The rants section will shine a spotlight on posts that contain bad advice or appear to intentionally wish to mislead readers in some cases.

My reaction to this type of thing in the past was to write an article that contained accurate information in an effort to educate and inform readers. However, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that this approach misses a great opportunity. No matter what I say or how I say it, I could not possibly make as strong an impression as would result from reading the actual posts.

 

Rants And Praise Aug 2015

In this first edition of rants and praise, special mention goes to an article on Dr. Carney’s website where in a guest post, Jeff Novick categorically states that most authors who advocate a lower carb diet do not differentiate between good carbs and bad carbs. All of us fail in that regard and, according to the author, we all advise readers to cut carbs without even suggesting there’s such a thing as good carbs and bad carbs.

Enough said for now. I will go into this in more detail later in this issue of rants and praise because, as I mentioned earlier, Dr. Carney wins the special mention award in today’s edition of Rants And Praise.

Rant #1 – This one’s good for a chuckle

Health Tip: Set a date to lose weight

MedicineNet carried an article with the title ‘set a date to lose weight.’ This was thankfully a short piece with this priceless bit of advice:

Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables at each meal, with small servings of carbohydrates and protein.

While this might sound like great advice, it’s difficult to follow because fruits and vegetables are in fact carbohydrates. How could you possible eat a lot and a little at the same time?

Rant #2 – A 21st Century Procedure Draws Disparaging Headline

Newspapers go for headlines that are meant to get our attention and we have come to expect that. Most papers chose to exercise a level of sensitivity when reporting on certain topics and obesity should be considered one of them.

Someone in the medical community had a brainstorm and has found a way to help some severely obese individuals with a much less invasive surgery than was previously being used. The device is obviously intended to save the medical system money and possibly save some people from having to undergo a much more serious procedure.

The Daily Mail UK chose to report it in this way:

The ‘eat like a pig’ slimming device that will turn your stomach

 

A highly controversial weight-loss device that lets people ‘eat like pigs’ and then pump out the contents of their stomachs will be available in Britain within months.

 

 

SPECIAL MENTION AWARD

Every now and again I find a post that is truly mind-boggling in one way or another. This week I came across an ‘expert’ who has his own data and charts that show how everyone else has it wrong. Our special mention award in this week’s rants and praise goes to Jeff Novick who posted an article on Dr. Carney’s website titled ‘has eating a low-fat, high-carb diet failed us.’

In this article Mr. Novick claims that almost all authors who advocate a lower carb diet are in fact contributing to the obesity epidemic with their low-carb lies.

In one fell swoop, authors and bloggers like Dr. Mark Hyman, Mark Sisson, Kris GunnarsChris Kresser, myself and countless others are all accused of misleading dieters everywhere by perpetuating the low-carb lies.

 

Here are a few gems from the article in abbreviated form:

  • Americans have not been following a high-carb diet, we’ve all been on a high-fat diet for the past 50 years
  • Low carb advocates all urge people to get most of their calories from animal protein and saturated fats
  • We don’t even mention good carbs and bad carbs
  • We don’t talk about refined carbs – they’re all bad

I can’t do this article justice, you need to see this for yourself. This article is worth a read. Rarely will you find so much misinformation and contradiction in one single article.

Praise For Worthwhile News

Science Daily reports: A diet high in soybean oil causes more obesity and diabetes than a diet high in fructose, a sugar commonly found in soda and processed foods, according to a new study.

Science Daily reports: One more reason why you might want to have a bit more fat in your diet. Dietary fatty acids may modulate inflammation and cartilage degradation to prevent or slow down Osteoarthritis (OA) through the orphan receptor GPR40

Leo Babauta tells you how to break habits for those of us who have problems with habits on Zen Habits

Mark Sisson provides an interesting list of 10 primal foods you probably aren’t eating enough.