Sunday, June 21, 2009

Why traditional nutritional science fails..

I was just watching the Simpsons.. I used to be a big fan, but lately it doesn't do so much for me, but occasionally there'll be a little pearl of humorously shared wisdom..

Take this last episode, Homer, in one of his hair brained schemes to earn some extra cash, signs up to be a lab rat for the testing of new drugs.. One drug he takes as a supposed appetite suppressant, has the additional side effect of turning him blind.. The following brief dialog ensues..

First scientist: Who in the world will buy a pill that turns you blind?
Second scientist: Don't worry, we'll let marketing take care of that..


Durian on the Beach

And such a profound truth there is there, for few of us are genuinely capable of seeing just how powerful the world of commercials and effective marketing truly is..

They managed to sell cigarettes and alcohol to the masses, despite the long term health effects associated with both, and they have manged to sell all kinds of other detrimental health products, with little more than a few catchy slogans, jingles, glossy magazine ads, and colourful tv commercials..

I suspect that it's probably true that much of so called nutritional science that the majority of us take as common knowledge and quote freely, has it's roots in advertising..


Opening the durian

Take the protein thing.. large financial institutions have had vested interests in telling us how important protein is for us.. Who do you think has paid vast sums of money to tell the public just that? Making us believe that without the vasts amounts they propose, we will likely shrivel up an die.. You don't win a prize if you guessed correctly the butchered-flesh industry.. Think about it, it's very clever advertising.. Of course, humans were eating flesh long before advertising became such a lucrative means to sell things, but I'm sure never to the extent that we do now..

The same goes with the whole calcium thing, which no doubt was kick started by the dairy industry, in a once more ingenious attempt at selling their wares..

There's this TV ad at the moment, for some kind of fish oil, they show you a whole load of food that one would need to eat daily in order to get ones recommended daily dosage of omega 3s.. (But recommended by who?) .. It's so much food, that we'ld have to be more or less continuously stuffing ourselves in order to reach our supposed safe level of intake.. And their smart solution? Just take 3 of their fish oil capsules a day, and you'll be ok..

Now that's clever.. Dark side clever, that is, not light side clever.. sly, artful, conniving, devious, covert clever.. Because most of us are unquestioningly hoodwinked into accepting their story as indisputable truth..


Real food..

Even the nutritional scientists that have no real vested interest in selling any particular wares (if such exist?), are caught up in it all, and already have their foundation knowledge set by facts that have never actually been unbiasedly proven to be facts at all..

Statistics, based on blood analysis and similar, taken from the general masses, are based on people that eat in, let's say, traditional ways still generally accepted as being sound, when long term observation shows (to those that can step back in honesty) that this is clearly not the case..

The laboratories where research is conducted are sterile, and everything is sliced so finely that before it can be microscopically investigated, it is already void of any meaningful substance.. most particularly it's life-force, thus rendering the results of no real and consequential value..

This is why I don't do nutritional science, and why I often refer to it as a pseudoscience.. Try to defend fruitarianism with science, and you will likely loose.. OK, you may be able to defend certain aspects, but for every evidence one way, there is likely conflicting evidence that points elsewhere..

Eating fruit just makes common sense. It is, I believe, the ideal food for all humans.. I don't believe that some of us are inherently different, I don't believe in doshas, different diets for different blood types and all that jazz, i don't believe we need to have any knowledge of minerals, vitamins or callories. Eating correctly does not require us to be rocket scientists..

I believe a fruitarian diet makes sense, because love, if you'l pardon the cliché, is what makes the world go round, and no diet is more loving than fruit.. so either love makes the world go around, or it doesn't.. it's your choice..

Leave the dark side, eat fruit, live long, and prosper..
mango.

14 comments:

  1. don't forget my pretties:

    "HAIL THE PROTEIN GOD! HAIL PROTEIN OR GET STAKED!"

    Hah, the last time I consumed "so much animal protein" my bones were so frail that punching the wall hurts.

    I really empathize with ya Mango. I'm always for personal senses, and if I were to do a blood test, I would rather do it with someone who ain't got that anti-[insert_non_animal_diet_here] attitude.As would be for sure, I will be all thumbs up whenever on fruit, especially after that long and hard work of defending against the inner detoxes/cleanses.

    But don't worry, hockey tends to thrive against the protein fanactics, despite how annoying the fandom gets..hahah

    Cheers!

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  2. I plan to cut and paste some of your genious blog entries, especially this one...wow..profound....thanks for sharing,D

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  3. Heya, Really appreciate the feedback!!

    Thanks Adam & Orange!

    Wo_Dao, peace to you brother.

    Cassandra - what's stopping you??

    Kayla - Sound advice.. I've heard they sometimes pick them with heavy duty leather jackets and bike helmets.. You wouldn't want one landing on you day or night..

    Vagabonding Vegan, cut and paste away!

    peace,
    mango.

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  4. What about people who are diabetic? They CAN'T base their diet on fruit, because of the high sugar content. Whether fruit can cause diabetes or not (it probably can't), the fact is if the damage has already been done, ANY high sugar intake, which occurs in lots of the fruits you promote, is potentially fatal to some diabetics.

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  5. @Ryan, actually, it's a common misconception.. comparing fruit sugars to sugar' it's simply not a fair comparison. Sugar is a refined, highly unnatural product, what we have in fruit is very very VERY different.

    Diabetics may appear to have difficulty eating fruit, but their issue is too much grain and fat in their diets. if they cut down on those, and increase on fruit, they can totally rid themselves of diabetes.. It is often link with being overweight, and fruit has no connection with that.

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  6. I'm not sure only the overweight can be diabetic, but it usually is the case with most diabetics, because many of the same lifestyle choices that lead to obesity also lead to type 2 diabetes (not just diet, but also lack of exercise, because exercise increases insulin sensitivity). However, not all fruits are created equal. The common theory about why fruit sugars don't cause problems is because the fibers in the fruits prevent the sugars from entering the bloodstream too rapidly. However, bananas seem to not pass the common criteria, because a medium sized banana has 21 g of carbohydrates (sugars) yet only 2 g of fiber. If only 2 g of fiber can offset such a high amount of carbs, then all diabetics should just say, "To hell with my diet, just write me up a prescription for high-fiber oatmeal." LOL

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  7. Oh yeah, I should also add, like I mentioned about the documentary "Fat Head" in another post, filmmaker Tom Naughton actually partly blames the USDA food pyramid's recommendations for the rise in diabetes and obesity over the past thirty years, because of its recommendation to eat so many grains.

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  8. @ryan

    filmmaker Tom Naughton actually partly blames the USDA food pyramid's recommendations for the rise in diabetes and obesity over the past thirty years, because of its recommendation to eat so many grains.

    yep.. now you're getting it..

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