Cholesterol and US Nutrition Guidelines

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Here is a new article about a change in US nutrition guidelines related to cholesterol. It's pretty comprehensive and illustrates why nutrition guidelines evolve.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/10/feds-poised-to-withdraw-longstanding-warnings-about-dietary-cholesterol/

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

It must drive people crazy to even make these recommendations...LOL

I have a sis who is a self professed health food nut but she is obese. All the gluten free, organic, no GMO, yadda yadda yadda does no good if you top it off with a bag of (gluten free) chips or a huge bowl of organic ice cream.

I was raised on a farm and I remember my mom being bewildered how anyone could say eggs were unhealthy. She had spent her whole life eating fresh farm raised (we now call it free range) eggs and she had very low cholesterol. It was the beginning of my suspicion about some of this.

Even as I read the updated recommendations, I found it interesting that they jumped to blaming dairy. Okay, I kind of blame MILK (not dairy specifically milk) because it was designed to fatten little calves into huge animals very quickly - and appears to have that same effect on me. However, i would expect the article to blame the real culprits - doritos, crackers, pastries, fast food, greasy pizzas, bar food, junky low quality food as a general catagory! I believe that real food (ie not processed) grown and prepared in high quality environments are the fuel our bodies need.

The nutrition guidelines get very specific... don't eat too many eggs or whatever but it is like stomping on ants while the elephants escape out through the front gate. The main point is eating wholesome foods in rational (not obscene) quantities and generally avoiding the total CRAP that is contained in aisle after aisle at the grocery and is served in every drive through.... I bet if we could fix two key problems our obesity crisis would begin to improve

1. better quality of food considered the normal (this means that McD doesn't set the standard!)

2. rational quantities based on your physical needs become the normal rather than the idea that more is better. This means that middle aged women can't eat like teenage boys - duh!

[JamieLogical 8,727]

It's about time. It's been ages since we figured out that dietary cholesterol is meaningless. I remember when I was a kid there was a whole campaign to cut back on eggs and whatnot, but that "conventional wisdom" shifted years and years ago. It's about time labeling caught up.

[Stevehud 1,790]

Well it doesn't really say cholesterol doesn't matter it just says that cholesterol is primarily genetic and that external sources don't really change cholesterol that much. That being said people with high cholesterol are probably that way for reasons they cannot control. Which makes a lot more sense. But I do love the obese health food story. I know people like that as well, a friend who wont eat anything unless its bought at a health food store. When I told her about gluten free products actually are not regulated yet in this country or how free range doesn't really mean what people think it means or how organic is a label that in many cases just means the farm does one thing organic, but can still use pesticides , etc. they just ignored it all. Organic oreos are still oreos. I do think about the milk thing, I don't blame milk at all for obesity think people report drinking milk and we equate that as being fattening, but who do you know just drinks milk, all by itself. everyone I know ( myself including) has milk with some Cookies, or a brownie or some little debbies or tastycakes or hostess or drakes cakes, or pie or cheesecake or whatever. That's why I think milk gets its bad rap. Just a thought.

[JamieLogical 8,727]

@@Stevehud Dietary cholesterol in foods doesn't matter. Dietary cholesterol in your food does not translate to cholesterol in your blood and arteries. It's saturated and trans fats that increase the cholesterol in your body. This has been know for many years now, but they are finally updating the labeling standards to reflect what has been common knowledge for at least 20 years.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I am convinced that milk drinking alone is not the culprit in obesity but the hormones used in milk production are.

[drmeow 323]

Actually, it's not even saturated fat (gasp!) that is the problem. It's the type of saturated fat - fat from grain-fed animals is way too high in Omega 6 vs the Omega 3 ratio. Grass-fed cows have a much healthier ratio of Omega 6:3 that is actually good for you.

Also, high cholesterol is not the problem - another fact that has been known for quite awhile. It's the ratio, and specifically of the LDLs, the type of particle - large fluffy LDLs are good for you, while the small hard particles are bad. But few labs automatically report that breakdown, and few doctors bother to ask for it.

Two excellent books on nutrition are http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About-ebook/dp/B003WUYOQ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423833525&sr=8-1&keywords=why+we+get+fat+and+what+to+do+about+it+by+gary+taubes Why We Get Fat and What to do about it, and

The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_21?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the%20art%20and%20science%20of%20low%20carbohydrate%20living&sprefix=the+art+and+science+o%2Caps%2C263

The second one is more sciency but I highly recommend both books.< /p>