A large population always needs a cheap "staple" in its diet. Some cultures use corn, beans, or other carbohydrates, America chose wheat. Wheat products are such a huge part of our culture that most people couldn't imagine life without them. Americans want their wheat, it fills peoples stomach's at a low cost. It lacks nutritional value, but there has to be some filler food, or else much of the population couldn't afford to eat.

At the military gym I go to they have a nutrition bulletin posted above the urinal stating that all sugar is the same and that your body cannot tell the difference between the naturally occurring sugar in a banana and the added sugar in a banana nut muffin.

The footer at the bottom identifies the bulletin being published by The Sugar Association, Inc.

Here's their website: http://www.sugar.org/


A couple months back they also posted a wonderful bulletin debunking the myth of the high protein diet, naturally, it suggested I should be focusing on a diet consisting mostly of whole grains...

I couldn't agree more, I have a 1-year-old so have been reading lots of books to get ideas what to feed her and constantly come across the advice "try to base all meals around starchy foods like bread and pasta." I wonder if the writers also produce books about how to play with matches and run with scissors. I see it as an act of defiance against the watering down and de-testicalizing of society to feed my baby girl real healthy foods that are basically banned by the so-called experts.

Great post Chris,

When I think back to the first 10 years of my life (I was raised in the former Soviet Union) there was a very old and seemingly banal piece of advice that was given to people wanting to get fitter or lose weight. "Avoid bread and potatoes".

Then I moved to Australia and for the first time was introduced to the food pyramid...as you know the base of that pyramid is...8 servings of grain a day. Pasta, bread etc. Stupidly I thought this was healthy and followed the advice for a while. Thankfully I met some knowledgeable people later in life who pointed me in the right direction.

While I still love the occasional slice of bread and a bowl of pasta or rice, I never delude myself that this is a healthy part of any diet, basically I think of them as treats, in the same category as ice cream or cakes or the occasional coffee with sugar.

Really, anyone who thinks that bread and pasta are the foundation of a healthy diet is very misinformed.

On another note, saw an article the other day which I can no longer find which suggested that YO YO dieting is much healthier than just being over weight...I cannot remember their whole argument but it was based on a study of mice, those that were going fat to thin fat to thin apparently lived 2 years longer than those that were just constantly fat. I mean..."they" must be f*cking joking right? That is like saying, having no arms is much better than having no legs...both are really really bad but if we are going to choose.... I don't really understand the motivation behind these sort of studies...why can't they just say that being fat for any periods of time, long term or short terms is BAD. FFS!!!!

Haha...the sugar article///

"Sugar is all-natural, has just 15 calories per teaspoon, has been used safely for more than 2,000 years, and remains the world's sweetener of choice"

I love the ALL NATURAL label. Just because it's all natural does not make it healthy in the least. Polio and malaria are also.."all natural" diseases not man made ones..does it make them any better?

Safely used for 2000 years? I doubt that 90 % of food 2000 years ago contained sugar as does 90% of the food today. Sure maybe people chewed on the occasional bit of sugar cane or came across some honey but to say that it was a regular part of a balanced diet is a complete joke.

It depends. If you are more active you need more energy right? What's a good place to get energy, starchy food.

If you live in california/arizona and you spend time outside shirtless once in awhile you probably wont need d-vitamin especially during the summer.
If you work in an office and the only sun you see daily is through your windows, then you need alot more.

I hope you guys still feed your children with starchy foods, too, as ketogenic diet increases the risk of retarded growth, brain development issues etc...

@NikH: I'm not a keto guy for sure, and Indigo-3G has fixed many of the my underlying issues that forced me to be such a low carber in the past. But I read recently that 50% of the average person's calories are from wheat, corn, and soy. The USDA suggests more like 60% now, even though this is obviously making people fatter. Not great carb choices, and lots of them. Not good. I stick to rice, quinoa, buckwheat, potato and workout nutrition supplements myself for most carbs.

Yeah I totally understand. My carb comment was mainly pointed to the gentleman thinking what to feed his 1-year old daughter, just to make him aware that he wouldnt put her on a salad & beef -diet only.

And I agree the average americans consume too much carbs and calories.