"Being a clinician, I'm responsible for outcomes. Studies are fine...evidence-based medicine is fine...but really what drives clinicians is the health of our patients. And, if we give them advice that works and they follow it-they get healthier. And, so over time, this is what we look for...we look for these patterns.  If you tell an overweight person to restrict their calories and exercise...your outcomes are going to be pretty lousy. And patients are going to start rolling their eyes because they've tried that for 20 years-it doesn't work.  So, if you give patients good advice that actually helps them number one their compliance improves and outcomes improve."                                                                            
Bill Wilson, M.D., CARB Syndrome

     This was a quote that made a lot of sense to me as I was searching a few months ago into the "fat-cholesterol hypothesis," which basically blames fat and cholesterol for coronary heart disease. You can find this quote in this interview/podcast:
http://www.askthelowcarbexperts.com/2013/06/41-dr-bill-wilson-anxiety-bipolar-the-carb-syndrome/

     If we keep telling obese or fat people that they need to eat less calories (have more self-control, starve yourself) and exercise more ( get off your toosh/stop being lazy!), then we are going to continue in the last 50 or so years of dietary/health advice concerning the heart, health and obesity, the same advice that maybe got us here in the first place! When "they" replaced "bad" lard with "good" crisco, replaced "bad" butter with "good" margarine and replaced "bad" saturated fat with "good" vegetable oil...I think I might have a few more examples, but hopefully we get the point...we bought in to a system that overwhelmingly tells us that fat is bad so we should eat less of it and carbohydrate is good so we should therefore eat more of it. And don't even try to think about protein-look what happened to Atkins! But I digress...

     What Dr. Wilson is saying is that we have tried the low-fat, high-carb way for 20 years and it doesn't work! When we give the right advice...not just the "better" advice, "outcomes improve." Some people have no problem staying skinny (or not-fat). These people can eat all they want and they have no problems. But there are a lot of other people that can look at a cinnabun and put on weight just looking at it ( and salivating...well, this is probably not true but it sure feels like that to some of us!). For these people (one of which I count myself), we have been sold the criscos, the margarines, the canola oils, the exercising more and the eating less...but it hasn't really worked or if it does work for a little, it isn't sustainable...it doesn't last. Yes, you can be fed the "better" advice of "have moderation in all things" and lose some weight for some time perhaps...or you can go with this advice of "be a vegan" and lose some weight for some time perhaps or until maybe other things in the health become a problem...but mostly these things probably work due to giving up things (more processed foods and sugars) rather than eating more plant-based foods than animal-based. When we eliminate white flour and substitute whole wheat maybe we get some improvement...when we eliminate white rice with brown rice...well, this won't necessarily solve everything ( as the analogy goes...that one broken leg is better than two). When we tell overweight people to follow the Mediterranean diet, it isn't always the answer either ( these diets still include whole grains and "healthy" vegetable oils).  This type of reasonable advice may not be getting to the core problem.

     Let's get to the core here. If you have been riding the fence about the cholesterol hypothesis, go to the last post with the four lectures. Fence riders can listen to one or all of the Jimmy Moore podcasts with Dr.'s Briffa, Gerber, Shanahan and Lundell as you continue in your quest to "seek truth" much as Professor Tim Noakes admits in his lecture before TEDxCape Cod (found under videos).

     This next interview is for those NOT on the fence about the cholesterol hypothesis-you don't even think it is a hypothesis...you thought it was proven already, that there is no doubt of its validity. Probably if you are that person, you quit reading a long time ago or more than likely never even made it over to this blog or anything like it which could actually question "hard science" and the "facts" that cholesterol does indeed cause heart disease. Anyway, if you made it this far...I actually really appreciate that you made it. Thank you. And please listen to this podcast and tell me what you think (humor me...haha).

Jimmy Moore with Cardiologist William Davis, M.D.
http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/8510/718-cholesterol-clarity-interview-with-cardiologist-dr-william-davis/

#lowcarboptometrist #realfoodoptometrist #LCHFOptometrist #NutritionalOptometry