Why I can’t follow the revised Dietary Guidelines

The revised Dietary Guidelines are not for me.

They might not be for you, either.

These guidelines — which now do lift restrictions on things like eggs and shellfish and call for some (but not enough) limits on added sugar — are very much the same as they’ve been for almost four decades. The reliance on carbohydrates remains, even if whole grains are what are pushed. (Eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains and fish, they basically say, as they have since the beginning.) Remember, many fruits are high in carbohydrates, too.

During these 35 years, Americans have gotten fatter and sicker. Some 10 percent of our nation suffer from diabetes, which translates to about 29 million of us, according to American Diabetes Association statistics. (I wrote about that here.)

I don’t buy the blame game that the panel revising the Dietary Guidelines plays. We don’t pay attention enough to what we eat; we don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables is what the panel says. Baloney! Go into any grocery store and you will see shoppers thoughtfully perusing the nutritional info on the label. When Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans was first published in 1980, were you eating leafy greens (beyond iceberg lettuce)? Was kale on restaurant menus? Did you eat a piece of fruit more than once a day, if that? I doubt it. Americans do pay attention to the Dietary Guidelines, they have impacted how we eat and that has not resulted in us being thin and healthy.

My biggest beef (no pun intended) is the tightening even further on saturated fats (think red meat, butter). The guidelines used to at least allow lean red meat; now that’s gone from the recommendations. I’m thinking the beef industry will really fight this, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be successful.

Just like the science on eating dietary cholesterol was faulty, so is the data on saturated fat. In fact, for more than a decade, more and more experts have been saying saturated fat is not the cause of heart disease. In Nina Teicholz’s best-selling “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet,” she dismantles study after study on limiting saturated fat. She shows how the ban on saturated fats had more to do with strong-willed scientists than actual science itself. Personalities shaped our nutrition guidelines, not strong science. (I spoke with Teicholz last weekend; she’s not happy with the revisions, either. Read what she has to say here.)

So, I can’t go along with these guidelines. I have to keep eating as I, a diabetic, have been. That means I eat red meat pretty often (although poultry — with the skin on — and fish are part of my diet, too) and butter. Some cheese, and it’s always full fat; nuts, too. I try to limit my fruit (not always successful there because I LOVE fruit), but eat a generous amount of non-starchy vegetables.

I do not eat bread, pasta, rice or cereal except for rare occasions (like last week, when I was delivering a loaf of freshly made pumpernickel from the bakery to my brother). I don’t drink milk. I limit starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn. I try to stay away from sugar, desserts, candy. I drink lots and lots of water and plain herbal tea. No more diet pop, except on rare occasions.

Limiting my carb intake has made me feel so much better. I struggled for years with low blood sugar. That’s not a problem anymore. My blood sugar remains stable.

If you, too, are a diabetic, you might consider doing something similar. But don’t do it just because I suggest it; do some reading of your own. Read Teicholz’ book; read Gary Taubes “Why We Get Fat.” (Those two books are like my bibles.) See what others say: Dr. Eric Westman, Tim Noakes, Jimmy Moore.

If eating the “right” way just has made you fatter and/or sicker, consider that that might not be the right food choices for you. That’s the other thing I haven’t been able to figure out; why can’t the panel admit that there can and should be different ways of eating for different types of people? Why does there have to be but one way?

I have friends who follow vegetarian or vegan diets and are at a good weight and healthy. To me, that’s how they should eat then. But if you are like me and tried that way without health/weight success, you, too, might want to think long and hard before just going along with these guidelines that so limit saturated fat.