Coronavirus – Obesity increases risks from COVID-19 – How to improve your metabolic health

It seems that nutritional science today is completely dominated by the financial interests of the powerful Big Food and Drink companies. If we look at the diet of humans from a historical perspective, things could not be more different from the food that modern day humans are eating!

It seems that nutritional science today is completely dominated by the financial interests of the powerful Big Food and Drink companies. If we look at the diet of humans from a historical perspective, things could not be more different from the food that modern day humans are eating!

What Happens when Politicians get involved? In 1977, the US Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, led by Senator George McGovern, comprising of lawyers and journalists (spearheaded by Nick Mottern, a vegetarian), recommended that the ideal diet should be comprised of the following: fat reduced to 30% of calories with saturated fat capped at 10%; and an increase in carbohydrates to between 55 – 60 % of calories.

Isn’t it interesting, that throughout all our existence, humans have been lean and it is only over the last number of decades that obesity has become a worldwide phenomenon of epidemic proportions? The increase in obesity occurred immediately after we started eating more carbohydrates (carbs for short) and processed foods as recommended in the nutritional guidelines.

Can you remember your parents telling you not to eat fat because it will clog up your arteries and give you a heart attack? It creates a vision that our arteries might resemble something like a clogged-up waterpipe! This theory that saturated fat in our diets raises blood cholesterol concentration which then causes heart disease, is known as the “diet-heart” or “plumbing theory” of heart disease.

Many people with diabetes have improved their health with the correct dietary changes. In fact, over a 100 years ago (before prescription medications were available), low-carb diets such as ours, were routinely prescribed with excellent results!

Hot flushes, nausea, aching joints, allergies, mood swings, memory loss, heart palpitations, food cravings etc …. does any of this sound familiar?