Insane fat-fighting strategy in the UK

October 26 2013 by in Failed low-fat diets, The obesity epidemic

Apart from the thought-provoking quote in the picture, Einstein also famously said this:

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Both quotes fit perfectly to the new UK strategy to reduce obesity: Cut down on saturated fat in sugar-stuffed candy and junk food.

SKYNEWS: Fat-Fighting Strategy To Slim Down Nation

The problem? This is exactly what people have been trying to do for 30 years, while obesity rates have skyrocketed! So why will the exact same strategy suddenly have the opposite effect?

Here’s why the old fat-phobic advice is bad for your health:

Saturated fat has little or nothing to do with heart health
Reducing fat means you’ll likely increase carbohydrates (or stay hungry). Junk carbs – like sugar – in processed foods is the most fattening thing you can eat. It makes you hungrier and makes you want to eat too much.

England is already the most obese nation in Europe. Expecting that this 80’s style fat-phobic campaign will have a different result is simply insane.

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25 comments

1
Robin Nixon
October 26 2013
Whatever is policy in the US tends to become the same in the UK, whether food, medicine, finance, or even war.
2
Michelle
October 26 2013
As long as they don't raise the price of individual items, such as butter, meat and veg, I don't care what they do. I cook from scratch and these ready meals or boxed items have no interest for me. Therefore this 'policy' from the UK supermarkets, who only have their own interests at heart, will go where all their 'policies' go; no where.

Mx
3
Julia
October 26 2013
Yep that's it >_> And people refuse to listen to anything else, because WHY WOULD THE NHS BE WRONG?! or everything in moderation! Or calories! :D I'm seriously so tired of this.
4
Graham_LCHF
October 26 2013
If you live in England (and value your health) the appropriate action upon seeing a dietitian from the NHS is to run - and I mean run - the other way.

Reply: #6
5
Gill P
October 26 2013
I saw this on Breakfast this morning and couldn't believe that in three days they went from reporting Dr Malhotra's findings to this about cutting out the saturated fats! I really despair sometimes!

By the way, it isn't just England but the whole of the UK - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
6
Reply to comment #4 by Graham_LCHF
sten
October 26 2013
Right, run for your life while you can, as if you get too old, or are being "taken care of" you just have to eat what they concoct to you.
7
kym
October 26 2013
I live in England and I am the only person I know that is following LCHF, but I am spreading the word! some people it's like switching on a light, but others look at me as if I'm totally bonkers! Well I'm only at the start of my journey, but I'm hoping that when I'm slim again, everyone will see it works and start it themselves!

Reply: #11
8
Brad
October 26 2013
You can say you don't care what they do, but lots of stores have already stopped shelving anything except low-fat yogurt, won't sell macadamia nuts, won't sell chocolate without sugar for example. They see these things as choices they shouldn't even offer.
9
Michelle
October 26 2013
@ Kym. I live in the UK and follow a LCHF eating plan. I am spreading the word too, but this is massive in the UK at the moment and everyone is asking; what is my evidence? I have had to download and print out studies and I have given them to those that I have tried to 'convert' (sounds religious, LOL).

There was a cardiologist on the ITV news this evening claiming sat fat is the enemy. What can we do in the face of such opposition? I point everyone who asks to this site and MDA, which in my opinion are the best sites that are full of info.

I am worried about this; it smacks of a scape goat that the government have dragged out to be eaten by T-Rex. Remember, T-Rex likes to hunt, not to be fed.

@ Brad. I have yet to visit such a shop in the UK.

Mx
10
Marcy
October 26 2013
Agreed, Brad. There are about 100 types of yogurt on the shelf, I can only find one Greek plain that is full fat, the rest are zero or low fat. You should see me grumbling out loud about this every time I see this crime.
11
Reply to comment #7 by kym
Gill P
October 26 2013
I live in England too Kym. I am following the diet and have lost weight and feel fine!
12
AnnFlan
October 26 2013
I am a dedicated low carber - but even my own mother said she didn't know sugar was a carbohydrate! I tried to explain that saturated was is the best fat for us and our cells need cholesterol for optimum health. When people ask me advice I sometimes feel like an evangelist! But so many people can't get their head around it - I always tell them to read Gary Taubes and dietdoctor.com?
13
BR
October 27 2013
Here in the US it's a challenge to find a full fat yogurt in a supermarket. No wonder we're the slimmest and healthiest nation on the face of the Earth. :-)

Finally Brits are starting to get a clue!
14
London Lady
October 27 2013
Well public health messages in the UK are as contradictory as anywhere else in the world I guess. One day we have a cardiologist gaining huge coverage in the media for refuting the whole 'fat is bad and kills you' thing followed 24 hours later by a diametrically opposed argument. Fear. It's fear of what is involved in shifting the balance of 30+ years of public health education. That much was admitted by a guy called Tam Fry, the Chair of a government Quango by the quite laughable name of the National Obesity Forum in reply to Dr Malhotra. Fry appeared to suggest that the public at large are far too stupid to be able to cope with a scientific argument. So essentially what they - they being the shapers of public heath and nutrition policy - are saying is that the volte face on fat is too big a concept for the man in the street to deal with and thus the best option is to keep this man in the street in a state of ignorance.
15
GP
October 27 2013
It is a bit ironic that you used an Einstein photo for this post. It is disputable, but many people consider that he was mostly vegetarian.

It is amazing what kinds of people chose to be vegetarian:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vegetarians

Da Vinci, Einstein and Isaac Newton (even though both are disputable) are some of the greatest minds in human history. If vegetarianism is bad, as most of use here agree, then it is a pity they chose it. Do you think they've put any scientific reasons for going vegetarian or there were some other reasons?

Reply: #16
16
Reply to comment #15 by GP
Gill P
October 27 2013
You can practice LCHF and still be a vegetarian! I have a friend who has lost quite a bit of weight and she is veggie!

Reply: #17
17
Reply to comment #16 by Gill P
FrankG
October 27 2013

You can practice LCHF and still be a vegetarian!

I was about to make the same comment. I also know someone who is a Type 2 Diabetic and eats LCHF with all its health benefits but for her own personal reasons does not eat meat or fish She does however admit that it would be easier if she did choose to eat meat and fish. The virtually complete nutrition one can get from a decent (grass-fed) steak needs a large variety of plants to replicate -- that is why I prefer to let my "food" eat the veggies for me. Fortunately she is OK with eggs.

Vegan I think may also be doable but I suspect you'd need a degree in food science to be sure you were completely nourished. That is why I am concerned about the children of vegan parents... how sure are they that they are properly nourishing those growing and developing bodies?
18
Zepp
October 27 2013
And I say the same.. LCHF is not a meat diet.. its this that most of us is meat eaters.. and advices is often frome this origin!

But its many vegetarians that eat LCHF too.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/whatveg.htm

And even some vegans try to eat less carbs.. and ad more fat!

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/vegetarian/a/veganlowcarb.htm
19
Kindke
October 27 2013
what can I say? Confirms my current opinion that england is a shit-hole.
20
Marcy
October 27 2013
First of all, I LOVE England. I have spent several months every couple of years going all over the UK, and I love the people, their sense of humor and friendliness, the history, well really, everything about the place. But my real point is I stopped eating meat because as I got older, I am now 62, I found I just couldn't justify the killing of animals anymore. I still eat free range eggs, grass fed butter and grass fed cheese. I just don't eat anything sweetened with sugar or any other sweetener or any of the other refined 'white' grains. I am the thinnest I have ever been in my life keeping my weight at or below 125 pounds. So you can be LCHF and not eat meat. Maybe Einstein did it for reasons of compassion to animals, the same reason that I don't eat meat.
21
BR
October 28 2013
Marcy, where is your compassion for unborn baby chickens?

Reply: #23
22
Thang
October 28 2013
Would you really take health and diet advice from an organisation (the DOH, encompassing the NHS and other government wings) that managed to kill off 1200 people unnecessarily, IN JUST ONE HOSPITAL?

The DOH is a sad oxymoronic joke.
23
Reply to comment #21 by BR
Gill P
October 28 2013
Baby chickens come from fertilised eggs. If they are not fertilised they can be eaten!

England is great on the whole. It is the Powers That Be that aren't so great! But don't forget that the NHS and DOH cover the whole of the United Kingdom, not just England!
24
Graham_LCHF
October 29 2013
Just on the yoghurt thing I can only find one decent full fat greek yoghurt in my local supermarket - it also happens to be one of the most expensive (in the 'finest' range). But a few extra pence is worth it for a much better taste and much, much less sugar.
25
Rachel Walker
December 19 2014
My partner and I started LCHF 6 months ago. He was diagnosed with RA 3 years ago. He is now off his medication (Methotrexate which can cause a lot of other problems including liver damage) and we are both feeling so much better. I would say I've gone from a 10-12 out of 20 to a 16-18 out of 20 in terms of energy and health. Sadly, the health professionals are not listening - we just want a conversation and some interest in the fact that a patient has done a lot of reading and research and wants to take control of his own condition.

A friend of ours with hypercholesterolemia has decided to go LCHF too, and is now off his statins and also his antibiotics for acne (20 years of taking antibiotics can't be good). Again, the lipidologist he saw wasn't interested in his story and just showed him lots of statistics on how high cholesterol will kill you. Our friend's cholesterol has gone up, but his HCL has too, and his triglycerides have gone down. But that's his story, not mine.

We've started a UK blog as we want to talk with other LCHFers, as well as health professionals in the UK - https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ourbigfatlife . If you are in the UK and interested, then please post a comment on the blog (or please point us towards other UK bloggers). LCHF can feel like a lonely place to stand when family and friends (and health professionals) constantly tell us this diet is extreme or going to kill us. We need to hear from other people and so we can help each other. Thanks.

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