American Heart Association: New Guidelines

When is the AHA going to bite the bullet and give people the truth - that a high meat and dairy diet *kills*, and is a leading cause of heart disease.

What does *high* mean? Simple: if you're eating meat more than once a week, and consuming dairy daily, you're on your way to heart disease. The effects of animal products in the diet were made perfectly clear by the massive research of the China Study, led by T Colin Campbell of Cornell University.

Why isn't this publicly known? Simple answer yet again - there are massive vested interests involved in keeping the status quo. Big agribusiness and dairy corporations are getting fat on the poor health of Americans,and they want things to stay exactly the way they are. They want you to buy their products, and buy more of their products if possible. To make them richer.

In the meanwhile, to confuse the issue, they'll do whatever they can to fund all sorts of ill-conceived studies that suggest everything from the ridiculous assertion that consuming dairy will help people lose weight through to pseudo-scientific claims that red meat is actually *good* for your heart.

What you can do: Read 'The China Study'. Get educated. Get your cholesterol down below 150 by following a low or no-animal product diet that is based in great nutrition (lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds). Get regular movement into your life. And if you see yet another study suggesting that red meat is good for you, fish is good for you, or dairy can help you to lose weight, check out who funded it, the scientific method behind the study and whether it was valid or not, and who stands to gain from the so-called 'results'. In short, dn't just believe everything you read in the mass media.

It's not meat and dairy that's necessarily so bad for you, it's the saturated fat and cholesterol found in them that is bad. Fish is good for you because the fat in it is not saturated and dairy products that are fat free are pretty much just protein.

On the AHA website they have a grocery shopping guide. One product in it is Betty Crocker's buttermilk biscuit mix. When I clicked on the product, I read on the chart that it has 2.5 grams of trans fat and not a speck of whole grain flour. I also saw in that grocery guide fruit loops and frosted flakes. I have found this sort of contradiction on the ADA website as well. What is the point of telling people something is bad and then telling them to eat it.

How many times to the AHA has to bite you in the but? You need some saturated fat in your diet or else you are going to get bone problems. But you should have ZERO tolarence of trans fats (The Partially Hydrogenated trans fats). We've consumed meat since the beginning of time. Look, the Chimps do eat meat. Do you people want to go on a restrictive vegan diet and wind up with degenerative diseases? You need stearic acid for bone health. We, in the past consume the fat content of: moderate amounts of saturated fat, high amounts of oleic acid, and balanced the monounsaturated fat intake on Omega-3, omega-6 ratio of one to one. However, the American Heart Association tells us just to minimize the intake on partially hydronated oils. I say, you need to eliminate, NOT reduce, but eliminate partially AND fully hydrogenated oils from your diet. Fully hydronated oils is the worst oil you can consume, because that oil contains the most trans fats. You CAN'T make saturated fats by hydrogenation of these oils.

And doughnuts, baked goods, crackers, and snacks like these? eliminate them. Avoid these margarines, as even the trans-free versions are liquid plastic.

Here's my rundown on fats:

Monounsaturated fats: In abundance.
Polyunsaturated fats: In Moderate amounts, and in balance. Keep Omega-3, omega 6 levels as 1:1 as possible.
Saturated fats: About a third of your fat intake.
Trans fats: avoid them. Animal trans fats are an exception. Hydronated trans fats are a killer, even in the smallest amounts.
Cholesterol: Unlimited. They won't effect your cholesterol.

"Chimps eat meat"? Eh? I wouldn't call insects, fruit, etc meat.

Actually, chimpanzees do eat meat occasionally. They hunt in coordinated groups and catch small monkeys (Colobus monkeys, I think, but I could be wrong on that, it was a long time ago that I studied this stuff). I don't recall it being a huge part of their diet, but they do eat meat periodically.

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Also, in addition to the chimpanzee comment, some monkeys cannot be bred in captivity without having animal protein added into their diets.

I think James' recommendation is a good comprimise. Even if you're afraid of saturated fat, this is still safe intake. As far as cholesterol intake, if you eat more good cholesterol, your body makes less to maintain a balance. Your body makes cholesterol because it needs cholesterol. Also, your body can only absorb 300-500 mg of cholesterol a day. After about 2-3 egg yolks, it doesn't matter how much actual cholesterol you eat.

People often don't understand cholesterol and its functions. Your hormones are made from it, you need it to produce Vitamin D, it acts as an antioxidant to protect against free radicals, as well as many, many other things.

Saturated fat and cholesterol even act to provide stiffness and stability in your very cell walls. If you eat a lot of polyunsaturated fats, these will start to invade your cell walls. Your body, in response to this, will use cholesterol to maintain the structure of your cells. This results in a drop of serum cholesterol until the liver can catch up. This has been interpreted as a reason to eat more polyunsaturated fats though.

Leanne said:
if you're eating meat more than once a week, and consuming dairy daily, you're on your way to heart disease[...]

Why don't you try telling that to Frank Zane, Larry Scott, or Mohammed Makkawy?

My cholesterol is 112 and I eat dairy daily (2 or even 4 cups of milk a day, plus occasional yogurt and cheese), and meat/fish everyday. 2 or even 3x a DAY. Red meat around 3x a week. And of course, I eat eggs around 4-5x a week.

My blood pressure is 110/80 and my triglycerides are 58mg/dL. My diet is clearly going to give me a heart attack.

I found something interesting. Due to the content of my posts, people may be surprised to find out I did give the vegan whole foods diet a try once, for about three months. It was very carefully constructed and supplemented. I wanted to give it the fairest trial I could. My cholesterol beforehand usually stayed between 160 and 180. After three months on the diet, I went to have it checked again. It had shot up to 215, not to mention I felt like sh*t while on it.

Also, I had a martial arts instructor who ate at least 2 pounds of meat every day. He died at 93 from internal bleeding. He was still competing in full-contact, and apparently he "got whacked a little too hard".

Ryan, the lack of animal protein probably caused you to consume more carb - and more triglycerides, more cholesterol. Makes perfect sense.

I was a vegetarian once too. 14 months. I had eggs and milk though, but no meat or fish whatsoever. I looked a bit green and went from swimming 1,000 meters in 50m regularly to 700m in the same 50m.

Jan: That's pretty much what I figured. I definitely looked different when I went off of meat too, and I was nowhere near the same athlete.

Ryan--I too, tried to go vegetarian for a while and I noticed the same thing with my athletic performance. I went from running 7.5 miles in 60 minutes to running it in 66 or so. Once I was back on meat and eggs again, I did a lot better. I didn't check my blood triglycerides during that time, but I wonder what they were doing. I found that I craved a lot of sugary things when I tried the veggie thing...I think it could definitely have been lack of protein.

HI, thank you to everyone on these posts. I got on the internet to find out more on partially hydronated oils and also what was up with the fully hydronated ones. I didnt know they were worse for you. I had seen on the back of a peanut butter label that it had the fully hydronated oils in it and it was scary cuz I wanted to be tran fat free from now on and didnt know about this. Thank you for the info, but i still need more!!!

Starlight, I recently put my husband on a totally trans-fat free diet and he lost 12lb in 6 weeks, without eating less or even really eating healthier (he didn't replace his trans-fat laden crackers with carrots, he replaced them with french bread and butter, for example). Aside from the health risk, I think they are a big factor on weight too.

Wow.

There are good ways to go about being vegetarian and not so great ways. The first time I was vegetarian I simply cut out meat and didn't learn how to balance my diet. It was ok, but I went back to eating meat for a few years.

I went vegan 8 months ago (with one veggie month before). I've lost 30 pounds, and my boyfriend who went veggie and just recently vegan lost 40 pounds. The only reason he is interested in the diet is that he INSTANTLY felt much better and had much better energy.

I also recommend reading the China Study.

There are plant based saturated fats, so if you feel you need a small amount you can still get them. There is ample evidence that a plant based diet lower cholesterol, and I'm shocked to see so many claims to the contrary.