Part of Dr Mansfield's argument for this is that the US has the lowest fat diet in the world and the fattest people. The UK is not far behind on either of these measures. In contrast to this, the French eat the most fat and are one of the slimmest nations.
Dr Mansfield pinpoints 1980 as a significant moment in time for obesity in the USA and the UK - suddenly the number of clinically obese people started to rise. Just a year or so before this, both nations were told that they should reduce the amount of fat in their diet. This advice came following the wide acceptance of the theory that saturated fats cause high cholesterol and heart disease - a theory which Dr Mansfield disagrees with. Within 10 years of this change to a lower fat diet, the number of cases of obesity had doubled in both the US and the UK. By 2005 we had trebled the number of cases. The French on the other hand continue to eat a larger amount of fat, including saturated fat, and have a much lower incidence of coronary heart disease.
Dr Mansfield actually goes as far as to say that
"Eating fat has nothing to do whatsoever with becoming fat, and nothing to do with diabetes or heart disease. The concept that eating fat is bad for you is the biggest mistake in medical thinking in the past century"Obviously a controversial statement - but one which many dieters will of course welcome with open arms. My diet at the moment contains plenty of fat. I am using lots and lots of olive oil for cooking and for salads, eating many avocados and an enormous amount of nuts, particularly macadamias. I have added butter and eggs back in recently too as I didn't find a sensitivity to either.
There are several chapters in the book which discuss exactly why Dr Mansfield thinks we should all eat fats, but in summary, my understanding of it is that fats make you feel full so you eat less, and if you are on a low fat diet you consume more carbohydrates, which do make you fat!
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If you are interested in buying the book it is available at Amazon, Waterstones and The Book People. It maybe be worth checking them all as prices do change. Amazon also have a Kindle Version
So far I'm agreeing with the concepts in this book (though I have to disagree about the saturated fats - they and trans fats are both bad for the cardiovascular system). I try to get plenty of the healthy fats (unsaturated) and a little of the saturated fats every day and steer clear of trans fats like the plague.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have the patience for going through the whole elimination thing right now, but it's fascinating watching you go through it!
Yes I am with you I think. I find it hard to accept the saturated fat thing, but that might also just be what I have been conditioned to believe! I still choose butter over margarine though - I'd rather have natural saturated fats than highly processed unsaturated ones - plus it tastes so much nicer! I guess too, if eating a small amount of saturates, particularly in meat where there is protein too, you will be fuller, and eat less carbs. I know as a vegetarian for 27 years (now eat chicken fish and pork products) I definitely over compensated with carbs, which is what I think caused my PCOS. Changing that seems to have reversed the condition.
DeleteI also tend to agree with the idea that you should try and stick to foods that have only one ingredient, which of course this process makes you do. It has been really great for getting sugar out of my diet, which I think is really what the main issue is. I am testing sugar today - I rather hope I react to it as it might just make me stop forever, which I know I should!
It's actually not as hard to do as you would think. I have found it remarkably easy in fact, as long as you get your own food and don't have a lifestyle where you eat out a lot.
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ReplyDeleteThans for that - it looks really interesting. I have followed some of the master cleanse stuff before. This is a good reminder that I should do another liver flush before TTcing again next month.
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