Food Myths, Fake Meat, Bigger Farms, Vegetable Oils And More
Here’s a recap of the latest information in the nutrition world
Food myths busted: dairy, salt and steak may be good for you after all
A major study of 4,150 Swedes followed over 16 years, has reported that a diet rich in dairy fat may lower, not raise your risk of cardiovascular disease.
This Swedish study echoes the findings of a 2018 meta-analysis of 29 previous studies, which also found that consumption of dairy products protects against heart disease and stroke.
A body of research also suggests that consumption of dairy fat is protective against type 2 diabetes.
Fake meat is about profit – not sustainability
An article in the Financial Times called out lab-grown meat.
It explained how big business is set out to “convincingly” manufacture “meat.”
And as these companies perfect their craft, they’ll continue to push for everyone to consume it.
Big business is using every trick in their playbook to get people to consume their plant-based slop.
Despite their efforts, lab-grown meat will never be as healthy or sustainable as real beef!
Developing nations NEED animal products.
Surprisingly, an article from The Guardian explained how criticisms of animal agriculture are putting the world’s poorest people at risk.
The article admits that livestock are essential to preventing malnutrition. And malnutrition reached decade-high levels during the pandemic…
Unfortunately, the article bought into some of the “animals are bad for the climate” propaganda.
Nevertheless, it states that the nutrients in animal products cannot be replaced by plant-based alternatives and that criticisms of animal agriculture undermine the developing word.
An antibiotic-resistant gut microbiome & the brain
Tim Rees’ latest article discusses the gut, the brain, and antibiotic resistance.
Certain pathogenic bacteria found in the gut can trigger an immune response that effects our brains – especially developing brains.
And because of the misuse and over prescription of antibiotics, these bacteria are becoming increasingly difficult to treat…
Tim recommends fortifying our diet with certain fermented foods that make our gut and body more resilient.
The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic
A recent video from What I’ve Learned discusses the switcheroo that the vegetable oil industry pulled on the world.
The industry convinced us to swap the natural saturated fats found in butter and lard with polyunsaturated fats from industrial seed oils.
As a result, we have more linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) in our body than ever.
There are more than just correlations that these oils are driving chronic disease…
As Cate Shanahan says, “Nature does not make bad fats, factories do.”
Bigger farms, Bigger Problems
In the United States, the number of farms is decreasing, but the average farm size is increasing.
This consolidation is the result of a broken system that favors large, industrial practices.
We’re moving further away from feeding our communities and becoming more reliant on large corporations.
These corporations don’t have a vested interest in our health or the health of the planet.
We can reverse this trend by spreading the regenerative message and voting with our wallet!
Bison vs. Beef
Here’s a cool article that pits beef up against bison meat.
Beef has made a comeback. Consumers are beginning to realize that it is healthy.
But what about bison? Well, it may be an even more nutrient dense option…
It’s much harder to contain bison which means they’re more likely to have been raised entirely on pasture. It’s also illegal to use antibiotics and growth hormones with bison.
Bison meat is considered to be drier and leaner than beef, but it’s a flavorful meat to mix into your meal plan!
The Amazon: A Man-Made Food Forest?
You would think that a tropical forest like the Amazon Rainforest would be NATURALLY rich with edible plants like fruits.
But one study found that humans have been cultivating crops there for around 4,500 years.
Ancient horticulturists used manure and compost to create fertile soil for these plants.This means that most of the edible plants there were initially planted by humans.
One permaculturist even suggested that the Amazon was a man-made garden. This shows that foraging wasn't easy – we were forced to cultivate and breed plants to be edible.
Plant foods are simply less available in the wild which explains our species' reliance on hunting.
Linoleic Acid – A driver of heart disease?
As our butter and lard consumption has declined, the rates of heart disease in this country have gone up.
This paper posits that the linoleic acid found in vegetable oil (soy, corn, sunflower, safflower) is a driver of coronary artery disease.
The linoleic acid in our adipose tissue has more than doubled since the 1960s. Plus, total linoleic acid concentrations are higher in patients with coronary artery disease.
The diet-heart hypothesis has been put to bed, but this paper suggests that it’s the oxidation of LDL that is causing most of our problems.
The polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oil are unstable and more prone to oxidation.
Large corporations and the American Heart Association won’t tell you this though…