Every year we hear about an April Fools’ prank that makes the news. In 2000, a British newspaper announced that a health club had launched a line of socks that would help the wearer lose weight. These revolutionary socks, “Fat Sox,” would remove body fat from sweating feet due to a patented nylon polymer fiber. As body heat rose, the socks drew excess fats from the body through the sweat. When finished with your workout, you’d simply remove the socks and wash the fat away.
Unfortunately, many of us follow blindly without thinking to get more information. Here are a few examples of where we may be fooled year around. Perhaps we should question the media, politicians, health-care professionals, advertisers and the experts.
Food additives
Did you know that many of the foods Americans consume on a regular basis are banned in other countries?
Examples:
- Olestra, a fat substitute used in some chips that has no calories! FDA approved in 1996, it was labeled by TIME magazine as one of the worst products ever developed. Why? It affects the body’s ability to absorb essential vitamins. Side effects include cramps, gas, and loose bowels. Oops, you’re excused.
- Soft drinks (citrus flavored) with BVO (Bromated Vegetable Oils). Classified as a flame retardant, BVO has been reported to cause nerve disorders and memory loss. If you’re concerned that you may spontaneously combust, drink up!
- Dairy products containing rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone), a man-made hormone to increase milk production. FDA approved in 1993, it was banned in the European Union, Canada and around the world. Side effects: rBGH contains higher levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Early studies have linked IGF-1 as a contributor to tumor development. Gulp, got milk with rBGH?
Food subsidies
The food industry continues to obtain massive subsidies from the government (your taxes) to keep genetically modified soy and corn products incredibly cheap. How about the vegetable growers? They receive almost nothing! This has resulted in cheap, high-carb, low-nutrition processed foods. Imagine a complete meal for only 5 bucks providing more calories in one meal than an average female would consume daily on the Zone Diet, about 1,200. And we wonder why we lead the world in obesity. I’m lovin’ it. Are you? The growing use of processed food has caused increased dietary-induced cellular inflammation that accelerates chronic disease, i.e., cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and dementia (Alzheimer’s). We’ve been fooled again!
Media Madness
Gross Misreporting of Science by the Media
Examples:
- “Omega-3 supplements linked to prostate cancer” (Fox News)
- “Men who take omega-3 supplements at 71% higher risk of prostate cancer” (NY Daily News).
- “Hold the salmon: Omega-3 fatty acids linked to higher risk of cancer” (CNN).
Dr. Sears’ response: The assumption that consuming fish or supplementing with omega-3s increases prostate cancer is simply not supported by the data. Even if it were true, then the Japanese, who are largest consumers of fish in world, should be decimated by prostate cancer. Yet the Japanese have among the lowest rates of both incidence and mortality from prostate cancer in the world.
- Harvard Heart Letter dated March 2011 titled, “Fish Oil questioned as treatment for heart disease."
Dr. Sears’ response: Did they mention to get therapeutic effects, one has to supplement with therapeutic doses? No. Do they inform the reader of the difference between the short-chain ALA, and the long-chain EPA/DHA? No. Or the importance of an anti-inflammatory diet? No. Why did they avoid mentioning the success of supplementing with EPA to improve clinical outcomes in the JELIS trial published in Lancet (369:1080-1098) in 2007? The JELIS study also indicates that if you are taking a statin and not taking high levels of fish oil to reduce the AA/EPA ratio to less than 1.0, then you are practicing bad medicine. You can always tell a Harvard man, you just can’t tell him much. These are only a few examples of false reporting of science by the media. Perhaps you should question the media with regards to the truth and your health.
Government Policies
Seems reasonable that you have a right to know the contents of your food, but not according to Monsanto or our government. To date, only a few states have passed laws that would require a food label to list “genetically modified organisms” (GMOs), but the legislation is being challenged and may take years to go into effect. What’s so bad about GMOs? With Monsanto’s genetically modified plants you can use Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup (Glyphosate), which is more toxic than the banned chemical DDT. “Roundup-Ready” crops are designed to withstand lethal doses of this chemical and more than 90% of the GMO corn and soy we consume is sprayed on these crops. Unbelievable! It accumulates in the soil for years, kills off beneficial microbes, stimulates pathogens and may be responsible for the development of many of our chronic diseases. Twenty-six countries (including Russia) have partial or total bans on GMOs, but not here. How could this happen in America? Political favors and corporate greed. (A former executive of Monsanto was appointed head of the FDA.) Unfortunately, President Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act into law. The bill bars our federal courts to stop the sale, planting or consumption of these products, even if they cause problems in the future.
Need more governmental recommendations regarding your health? Well, there’s the famously flawed USDA food pyramid that led to generations of obesity by recommending high-density carbohydrates as the base of their original pyramid. Enter Jonathan Gruber. You remember him, the architect of ObamaCare, who discussed the necessity of taxing fat people by body weight to help fight obesity. Gruber wrote in an essay for the National Institute for Health-Care Management: “Ultimately, what may be needed to address the obesity problem are direct taxes on body weight.” Let me get this straight. You follow their bad advice, and then they tax you when you become obese!
Help! What’s the solution? Spending a little more time in the kitchen preparing unprocessed whole foods. See our hundreds of easy Zone recipes. Yes, it may cost more than a cheap bag of fast food, but you’ll be healthier and less dependent on some expensive medical procedure or medications that may only mask the symptoms.
It’s a gift to know you’ve been fooled because then you won’t be fooled again!
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