Obesity is a staggering problem, yet health authorities seem powerless to do anything about it.
Guidelines on nutrition are issued by trusted health experts. Some make sense, like the ‘Eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day’ guideline. Fruit and vegetables are sources of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.
Some guidelines however, can be misleading. For example, when in 1987 the UK government asked medical experts to come up with a safe alcohol consumption limit, nobody could because no studies had been done.
An arbitrary safe figure of 21 units per week for men and 14 for women was arrived at, but these were simply plucked out of thin air.
In 2016, a panel of experts downgraded this figure to 14 units per week for both sexes. Some panel members were found to represent the Temperance Society and anti-alcohol lobbies. The drinks industry was never consulted.
Do you smell a rat?
Are there any guidelines for damaging fructose consumption? There are none. Fructose is as bad for the liver as alcohol, if not worse.
What if everyone who eats processed foods (most of us) have damaged livers because of excessive fructose intake? If so, then what if alcohol consumption just simply compounds the problem?
Without fructose, maybe alcohol consumption actually makes no difference? It never did in days gone by.
Alcohol consumption in the UK has fallen over the last two decades, yet liver damage is in on the increase. A high fructose diet seems to be the culprit.
Expect no fructose guidelines to emerge soon because the food industry will not allow. Profits are more important.
Sensible Nutrition Guidelines
There are three nutritional guidelines which ought to help prevent the obesity crisis worsening:
1. Restrict non-fibrous carbohydrate intake.
Good carbohydrate foods contain dietary fibre. These are vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, etc. They fill the stomach and contain essential minerals and vitamins. The dietary fibre is converted to short-chain fatty acids which help the body to burn fat.
Potatoes are a source of vitamin C and minerals, but should be eaten sparingly because the starch they contain raises blood pressure.
However, cooking and then chilling potatoes for use in salads produces resistant starch. That reduces the blood sugar-raising effect.
2. Restrict Fructose Consumption
Cease fructose intake. Read the labels. Fructose is present in processed foods and is harmful to health.
Eat no more than 25 grams of fructose a day.
All refined carbohydrates turn to sugar and may cause insulin resistance, which is behind chronic illnesses such as obesity.
3. Replace Unsaturated Fats with Healthy Saturated Fats
Instead of relying on non-dietary fiber carbohydrates like sucrose and fructose – healthy saturated fats present in coconut oil, olive oil, butter from grass-fed cows, raw nuts, organic-pastured eggs, avocados, etc, are sources of long-lasting energy.
Even pastured meat fat like lard is fine.
