Lean and Hard

Authority Nutrition - 8.26.13 by Kris Gunnars

I’m tired of having to constantly defend my position regarding animal foods, so I decided to summarize what I think are the key problems with vegan diets.

There is no one right way to eat for everyone.

We are all different and what works for one person may not work for the next.

I personally advocate consumption of both animals and plants and I think there is plenty of evidence that this is a reasonable way to eat.

However, I often get comments from vegans who think that people should eliminate all animal foods.

They frequently say that I’m giving out dangerous advice, that I must be corrupt and sponsored by the meat and dairy industry, or that I’m simply misinformed and need to read The China Study.

Really… I have nothing against vegans or vegetarians.

If you want to eat in this way for whatever reason and you are feeling good and improving your health, then great! Keep on doing what you’re doing.

But I do have a serious problem when proponents of this diet are using lies and fear mongering to try and convince everyone else to eat in the same way.

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Sorry, juicers. Eating it is good. Drinking it, not so much.

The Verge - 8.31.13 By Vlad Savov

"FRUIT JUICES LEAD TO MORE RAPID AND LARGER CHANGES IN SERUM LEVELS OF GLUCOSE AND INSULIN."

A study published by the BMJ this week affirms one piece of conventional wisdom — that eating fruit is highly beneficial to your health — while refuting another — that fruit juice is just as good as the unprocessed stuff. Analysing the dietary habits of 187,382 subjects over multiple decades, the research team concluded that "greater consumption of specific whole fruits ... was significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas greater fruit juice consumption was associated with a higher risk."

Type 2 is the more prevalent kind of diabetes and, unlike type 1, can be actively prevented through a balanced diet. The new data from the BMJ identifies blueberries, grapes, apples, and pears as among the most significant reducers of diabetes risk, which echoes findings published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition last year. Where the new research goes further, however, is in looking at the effects of drinking fruit juice, which you might expect to be equivalent to eating whole fruit, but turns out to slightly increase your chances of developing diabetes.

In juicing the fruit's flesh away, you remove the dietary fiber and other nutrients that may be contained in the peel, while increasing the glycemic index by making its sugar easier to digest. Diabetes is a disorder of the body's ability to regulate blood glucose levels, which is why you might want to reconsider that glass of orange juice in the morning.

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The Atlantic - 7.19.13 by Paul Offit

At least 15 studies have now shown that vitamin C doesn't treat the common cold.

On October 10, 2011, researchers from the University of Minnesota found that women who took supplemental multivitamins died at rates higher than those who didn't. Two days later, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that men who took vitamin E had an increased risk of prostate cancer. "It's been a tough week for vitamins," said Carrie Gann of ABC News.

These findings weren't new. Seven previous studies had already shown that vitamins increased the risk of cancer and heart disease and shortened lives. Still, in 2012, more than half of all Americans took some form of vitamin supplements. What few people realize, however, is that their fascination with vitamins can be traced back to one man. A man who was so spectacularly right that he won two Nobel Prizes and so spectacularly wrong that he was arguably the world's greatest quack.

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