President Dwight D Eisenhower suffered a heart attack that shaped our entire nutritional framework
In 1955, President Dwight D Eisenhower suffered a massive heart attack while playing golf.
What happened next brought on the BIGGEST obesity epidemic the world has ever seen.
While playing golf in Colorado, President Eisenhower felt like he was experiencing intense indigestion.
Throughout the day, his indigestion continued worsening, and his family worried that something was seriously wrong.
He was rushed to the hospital for a diagnosis.
Ike's indigestion was declared a heart attack at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center.
The president was out of the oval office for ten days.
The stock market plummeted and lost $14 billion in value.
This was the worst single day for calls since the start of WWII.
Heart attacks were becoming increasingly common amongst middle-aged American men and nobody could figure out why.
The nation was in shock and the public was desperate for answers.
It is important to note that in the 1950s - 1960s, cigarette consumption was the highest it's ever been.
Eisenhower himself was smoking upwards of 4 packs of cigarettes per day at the time.
Ancel Keys, a University of Minnesota, Pathologist vehemently insisted he had the answer.
He believed there was a strong correlation between the consumption of Saturated Animal Fat and the increased occurrences of heart attacks at the time.
Keys believed that Saturated Fat increased LDL Cholesterol, also known as BAD Cholesterol.
When Bad Cholesterol levels get too high, arteries become encased in plaque, which results in heart attacks.
This famously became known as Keys' "Diet Heart" Hypothesis.
Meanwhile, we have been eating butter and saturated fat for years.
Keys started blaming ancient foods for what modern lifestyle choices were causing (cigarette smoking & alcohol consumption).
To support this, Keys organized a study of Saturated Fat consumption amongst various countries around the world to prove if there was a correlation to heart disease.
Keys strategically chose 6 countries to study: US, Canada, Australia, England & Wales, Italy, and Japan.
When you look at the graph, it looks like there is an exact linear correlation between Saturated Fat and heart disease.
BUT...
What if I told you there weren't just 6 countries... But 22 instead.
Keys cherry-picked 6 countries that would show a perfect correlation between Saturated Fat consumption and Heart-Disease related deaths.
When you plug in the remaining 15 countries, there is no correlation at all.
Keys knew it was a HYPOTHESIS and cherry-picked his data.
The public did not know this however because the 6 countries shown on the graph were the only published countries released during this study.
Keys recommended that a diet low in Saturated Fat was what Americans should be following.
Eisenhower started implementing Keys' recommendations for a low-fat diet, and Cholesterol became the boogeyman overnight.
Even though it has been proven that raising LDL cholesterol from the diet does not translate to heart attacks and death.
It is also important to note that Keys had a fiery personality and was willing to argue with anyone, anytime, anywhere.
He was able to maneuver his way onto the board of the American Heart Association (AHA).
In 1961, the AHA gave the first advice EVER to cut back on Saturated Fat to prevent heart attacks.
Until this point, Americans consumed almost 50% of their calories from fat and were relatively slim.
The sugar industry also did not want to be blamed for heart disease and metabolic disfunction.
In 1965, the sugar industry paid off Harvard Researchers to produce 2 articles to exonerate sugar and blame saturated fat for cardiovascular disease.
In 1977, a select Senate committee recommended The Low-Fat Diet to the nation (against scientists' pleas) to seal the deal.
They argued, "We cannot afford to wait for evidence on Saturated Fat."
Scientists warned the senators, and they ignored it.
By 1980, the first US Dietary Guidelines were released, and the campaign against fat officially began.
They recommended 7 - 11 servings of bread daily and 50-55% of your calories from carbohydrates (primarily grains).
Saturated Fat consumption was decimated to 10%.
So what did we do when we took the fat out of our food?
We supplemented with sugar and vegetable oils that were "fat-free."
Marketing companies spend millions convincing consumers that sugar and vegetable oils were "low-fat" and therefore "healthier" than Fat.
Food companies also paid $100,000s to pay for the American Heart Association "Heart Healthy" check-off designation.
Even the AHA was able to cash in on this money-making operations.
Americans obediently listed and cut back on red meat, whole milk, eggs, and butter.
The result?
Some of the highest obesity rates the world has ever seen.
Currently in America:
- 70% of Adults are overweight or obese
- 10% of all people (34M people) are Diabetic
- 96M Adults (1 in 3) are Pre-Diabetic
- 7 out of 10 modern deaths are chronic diseases (largely preventable by diet and lifestyle changes)
Americans consume over 130 Ibs of sugar per year and over 1,095 tablespoons (4 gallons) of inflammatory Vegetable oils every single year.
We know that Chronic inflammation caused by refined sugars, grains, and vegetable oil is far more dangerous than Saturated Fat ever could be
I share this long thread with you to unravel the history of our current dietary guidelines that were built off of an unfounded hypothesis.
Our system has failed you and it is our responsibility to turn our current dietary guidelines upside down so you can THRIVE.
You are responsible for being the CEO of your own health.
Experiment with REAL FOOD as your medicine.
Find medical practitioners that want to help you be metabolically healthy and not just treat disease.