Re: AHA dietary recommendations

x-no-archive: yes

MarilynMann wrote:

I am not saying they don't promote vegetarianism at all, but it is not
the main focus of their organization. Mostly, they are trying to do
things like improve nutrition labels, ban transfats, cut down on the
selling of soft drinks in schools, and so forth. Michael Jacobson is
a pretty media-savvy guy and he is not about to damage his credibility
by promoting some kind of strict vegetarian agenda. Whether he
personally eats any meat or not I do not know.

He damages his credibility with his militant anti dietary fat, high starch agenda.

I believe he's written often about his vegetarianism, and has vigorously promoted Dean Ornish's crap. Even when Ornish was anti fish consumption on religious grounds, not scientific ones.


I would not say they heavily promote the Ornish diet or meat
replacements. Not that I recall seeing. They probably have reviewed
veggie burgers in Nutrition Action, but only to say which ones they
think are better.

I don't know how long you've been reading it, or how they may've changed, but they constantly promoted all the textured soy fake meats. All that processed soy is associated with dementia, goiters, etc. but as long as it's not fatty meat, they love it.


In any case, let he who is without bias throw the first stone. If you
have a developed a way of discerning truth without having your past
experiences color your perceptions, please let the rest of us know.

That's always a challenge, of coures. OTOH, I NEED to work hard at not filtering any potentially useful info out, my health concerns demand openness to find answers.

And I don't collect money for pushing my biases (if any) on others as if it's based upon a sound, unbiased reading of the science.
I have no stake in anything but what works.

Again, I think the problem here is discerning what is true and what is
false, what is objective and what isn't. Whether Jacobson's views on
the health-promoting effects of vegetarianism have any basis or not I
do not know. I suspect that the average vegetarian is healthier than
the average American, but that is not saying very much, and would not
prove much anyway. Vegetarians would tend to be different from the
average American in numerous other respects.

If they were healthier, their mortality rates might be lower. But they're not. Just one kind of heart condition is; ischemic.


For someone like yourself, you are not going to be impressed with a
publication like Nutrition Action anyway, because it is not that
sophisticated. It is written for a lay audience. They are consumer
advocates, not scientists.

I read it for years, and accepted its pronouncement uncritically, to the detriment of my health and my family's. I didn't always spend hours on end cruising Medline, it became necessary when the advice I'd followed effed me up big time. I was shocked to find what I did when I reviewed data and methodology and then the conclusions that weren't supported by them. I changed my diet very gradually, kicking and screaming, I did it for my health against my personal inclinations and previously held convictions about diet.


Some of what they are doing I agree with, some I am indifferent on.
Overall, I think they help to counterbalance the influence of the food
industry to some extent. I'm sure they have made mistakes along the
way. Who hasn't? I sure have, and I'm sure I'll make more in the
future.

They mostly make mistakes. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
They make them by being dishonest and spinning stuff.

Susan
.

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