Have you relearned what you know about nutrition?
If you haven’t immersed in something more than headline or a few documentaries in the last 3-5 years, then it’s probably time.
The nutrition landscape is bumpy, and be warned; if you miss a turn, you will easily get lost.
Oh, and don’t count on your map. In fact, you may as well throw that away right now.
Brand new advice from the Heart Foundation in Australia now states that full fat dairy is no longer bad and there is no longer a limit on eggs we can consume in a week. This is itself is a massive u-turn on previous advice to limit eggs and eat low fat.
They still say to limit red meat to reduce heart disease, which ironically contains the same type of saturated fat as in dairy, and that if you have high cholesterol you will want to limit eggs. Even though it is well known that the liver manufactures 90% of your cholesterol.
Ok. Anyone else confused here?
Move over to the Australian Health Star Rating System (HSRS) and after a 5 year review Extra Virgin Olive Oil now stands at a shocking 3.5 stars, below Sunflower and Canola Oil, which received 4 and 4.5 stars respectively. This slippery manoeuvre contradicts all the best scientific evidence there is on edible oils.
You have to wonder what is going on behind the scenes.
In Canadian public health, all dairy is still recommended to be low-fat (must be different science in Australia?), and ‘plant-based’ products are now preferred in their place. (Did anyone else notice Beyond Meat shares just went up?)
Industries such as dairy farmers, meat ranchers and any agriculture with a vested interest in their position on the old ‘food pyramid’ are now understandably upset.
The food guidelines are a money maker if you are well placed.
Interestingly, in this Sunrise On 7 clip , the Australian Heart Foundation has publicly said ‘sorry’ for all the previous wrong advice on dairy and eggs for so many years. Oh, and they seem pretty sure they got it right this time.
Right. And that makes it all better?
Have a read of this article on Crossfit.com outing the Australian Heart Foundations’ numerous vested interests. Yes, they are shaking hands with McDonalds.
Instead of taking a ‘guess’ based on who-knows-what quality of research, wouldn’t it make sense if they simply said something guaranteed to be good health advice such as: just eat real food.
Q: How is food so complicated?
A: It’s not. But the politics certainly are.
“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.”
– Daniel Kahneman, Author, Thinking Fast and Slow
Half the battle we are in is to somehow undo all the years of misinformation that has been woven through our public education system. Has anyone in authority considered the real impact when taking responsibility for ‘being wrong’ all these years? All the textbooks, the outdated food pyramids, the misinformed nutritionists and dieticians, and all of our health professionals and ‘experts’ that are still giving the WRONG advice. The mindset of dieting, of fearing fat. It is deeply pervasive, still. It is in our social conditioning, on our food packaging, and ingrained deeply in our psychology of eating.
What about the people who have been following previous advice until now and have experienced massive health issues because of it? The stats are scary. Many of the foods we eat, and most worryingly the foods that are endorsed, are making us sick.
We have such a long way to go. And so I urge you to move forward very cautiously and take it upon yourself to relearn what you think you know about fats, sugar, and everything in between.
The reality is, our nutrition system is broken. We all need to start from the beginning.
As a Nutritionist I am angered by the current state of affairs. I’m not a politician, but politics are saturating my scope of practise. I am not a journalist or reporter, but critical thinking and research has become more important than making recipes.
This is something we all need to embrace in order to steer safely through this political and economic food wilderness: Find information that is not biased or tainted with greed. Sift through.
“Our most fundamental thought processes have changed to accommodate increasing complexity and the need to derive new patterns rather than rely only on familiar ones.” – David Epstein, Author, Range
Switch vehicles. Change your energy source. Empower yourself with up to date information provided by people you trust, those who offer balanced points of view, and most importantly walk the talk. Explore it with an open mind.
Move towards food as if your life, and your loved ones, depended on it.
I had the honour of meeting Dr. Maryanne Demasi a few years ago at a conference in Melbourne. She is bravely standing up and speaking out about the corruption of research. It’s not easy for anyone, especially PhD scientists, to rock the establishment. Listen to what they have to say.
The big lesson we are learning collectively is to put our health in our own hands, not in the hands of a group of so-often-biased, flip-flopping ‘experts’.
Beyond the media machine we can only speculate.
Who just bought shares in what. How the cracks got there.
But we see them and we hear them, loud and clear, and cracks they are.
Your best move towards food empowerment is to turn off course and walk away from the glorified packages. Make time for learning more about food. Enjoy the rediscovery, and make this journey a priority in your life.
This. Simple rebellion. Is the map.
Yours in shining health,
Sita
Functional Medicine Nutritionist + Founder of Mind Body IQ + Host of Eat in Love
Begin your journey here. Join the Mind Body Reset a foundation deep healing and learning.
