I received this article by Dr. Andrew Weil on Friday. This arrived Tuesday.
If you want to get even more confused, or amused, read the comments to Weil's article. I think both of the doctors are at least partially right.
Dr. Weil isn't saying that all grains are bad, just the "processed, quick-digesting carbohydrates -- especially added sugars." He's also not saying that we should eat foods high in saturated fat as desired or in unlimited quantities -- just that there's no reason to fear them as we have in the past.
Dr. McDougall is right that carbs have been -- and still are in many cases -- the primary food throughout the world. He's also right that a few groups of people have existed primarily on animal foods high in saturated fat. He does neglect to say that those people have been equally as healthy as those who have grains as their primary food. Although it's not addressed in this article, he tends to downplay the importance of vegetables not only in our diets, but in the diets of the various groups of people around the world. They're definitely second in importance to grains.
I don't think saturated fat is bad; I don't think grains, even some refined grains, are bad. Just over a year ago Martha Rose Shulman wrote the following about rice in her column in The New York Times:
I feel the same way about white flour and some white flour products. But many people don't combine white rice or white flour products with vegetables and legumes.I don't share the current national aversion to white rice. True, nutritionists prefer brown rice because the high fiber content slows down the carbohydrate absorption rate. But you can get the same benefit by combining rice with high-fiber vegetables and legumes.
Dr. Weil mentioned his Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid in the article. I first read about the anti-inflammatory diet several years ago in his book Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being. It sounded very much like the Mediterranean diet, so I skipped over it. I came across it somewhere else and my interest was piqued, in part because of something else I've wondered about. Here's more about The Anti-Inflammatory Diet.
I've read a lot about the Mediterranean diet. One thing that fascinated me was that the Greeks have had very low rates of heart disease, stroke and some cancers, but they smoke -- a LOT. I've always wondered how that could be. It's possible that their diet is protective against the harmful effects of smoking, even though cigarette smoke causes inflammation.
I suspect that the overly refined and processed foods, fast foods, faux foods, trans-fats, chemicals and some vegetable oils increase inflammation in our bodies leading to heart disease and so on. What I think is bad, especially here in the US, is that so much of the daily diet is based on these foods, with a notable absence of vegetables and fruits -- with the exception of potatoes in the form of French fries! The vegetables and fruits are probably the foods that most fight inflammation.
I don't think food is the only thing that contributes to the inflammation -- other chemicals and such in our environment probably does as well. But food is one of the easiest things for us to control.
