Most doctors are still trying to put us all on statins. Most life insurance companies still won’t sell you insurance if you’re really fit, have great bp and ‘high cholesterol’. Talking with a person visiting from Scotland yesterday, it is painfully obvious that Americans are penalized in this for not buying into the corporate food, medicine and entertainment industry. Makes you want to be like the Amish.
Here's one for you. My doctors wanted to put me on a statin as I had total cholesterol of 227. I told them I could reduce the cholesterol by diet, alone. (Luckily, I like salmon and avocadoes) Got the total cholesterol down to 161. They STILL wanted me to take a statin. So I did. Awful muscle aches and cramps. Threw that garbage out. So riddle me this - if cholesterol is supposed to be under 200 and I got mine to 161 why a statin? The only thing I could assume is that most of the medical profession has become clinically retarded.
The pHarma companies continuously "update" these drugs so they can re-patent and reap the profits from the "new and improved" version. The doctors, to a significant degree, push these newer drugs as they receive compensation for prescribing the "new" one - none for prescribing the out-of-patent version. And the drug companies are always sending young attractive females to the docs' offices to tout these "miracles" - so THAT's why you were Rx'ed even though you didn't need it. I'll bet the Rx was for the newer model med - was it?
My husband's doctor tried to bully him onto statins with no supporting data or tests. He didn't even meet their (false) criteria for taking statins and he was trying to force him onto them. We fired that doctor. My mom's doctor pushed her onto them when she was around 83 or 84, she ended up stopping taking them, but continued to suffer an injury from them for at least a year after stopping. It is a fraud and I don't know how they can live with themselves knowing that they are following protocols for profit and not acting in the interest of their patients.
That indeed is ridiculous! I just wrote my (long) story, at the end also about a prescription I didn't need; two kinds of medication to lower my blood pressure that was not just high, it was fluctuating after a serious incident causing stress (and having had hypothermia because I had fainted and fell, laying a while in the cold), one of them was a beta-blocker.
Just take away the source (stress and get over what happened), no she said... just take the medication, it is dangerous when you have high blood pressure. I asked if it wouldn't be more dangerous to take medication for high pressure while also having long episodes of real low blood pressure as it was fluctuating. No answer.
Once I had a nasty wound and needed to go get it treated; they wanted me to take a mammography. For what? I asked. Just in case. It was a cut, a nasty embracing of a bush with thorns, I don't need a mammography for that. Yes but what if you may also have a breast-tumor,about you don't know, you never know... I was like: really? Thanked for the treatment of the cut and walked away.
Physicians not in private practice are now required to prescribe a statin if the persons cholesterol is above a base number. Regardless of the health of the individual. Medicine by the numbers is the path we are on! Also includes injections for grading.
Same - except for around 20 years. Year after year, I always say no. I watched my father's health deteriorate from statins years ago.
Doctors are also incentivized with bonuses to prescribe statins, like they are with the bioweapon jabs, and chemotherapies. It's so disgusting. I no longer trust allopathic medicine.
Back in the early 80’s I was told my cholesterol was “high”; so, I was prescribed a statin & took it for a few years. But, I read about a study concerning statins, & the fact statins could actually cause someone to have a heart attack. I stopped taking the statin, & my cholesterol is not high & I’m happy I quit taking it. I read a great article from a doctor on this substack, Remnant MD (don’t have his name handy), about cholesterol & statins; I made a good decision not to take this horrible drug!
Exactly. Keep reading articles on the need and merits of computer directed care. Have been reflecting on whether tele-care isn't playing a role in making this acceptable?
My doc told me every year to get on statins and Al ways said, “No way!” In 2021, she said I should go and get a heart scan or take statins. I said I’d do the heart scan. That report came back with a “perfect heart condition.” I quit going to that doc.
I don’t have and don’t want life insurance. Kids are grown and self-sufficient. Told hubby to cremate me and scatter the ashes on the ocean (our favorite place). Funeral industry is a racket. A memorial service is nice though.
Glad to see that you finally found out the bad news about breakfast cereal. Those of us in the parallel economy of health foods have known this for decades. Our government, medical authorities, and big business have always supported junk science on junk foods. Whole food, organic and/or regenerative grown, is the only way to eat and thrive. Eggs have always been the perfect food, as long as the chickens are properly cared for. 👍❤️
I eat two eggs & meat every morning! But, the eggs I buy are Vital Farms, & also Happy Eggs, & prices went up from $5.92/doz, to $8.08-$10.00/doz. I’m searching for a local chicken farm in our area again!
I am so sorry that Jill had all those injuries, trials, & tribulations. Her recoveries & healing could not have been easy. Thank-you for sharing some of what you have learned along the way where diet & food choices have played a role. It is very much appreciated.
Yep! It all boils down to lifestyle. Chickens in tin barns deliver zero &/or 1 mg of Vitamin D. When we consume about 70 billion eggs per year with little or no Vitamin D, it contributes to D deficiency. I like the documentary called "Forks over Knives" how people avoided heart issues by changing their life style..ala the Malones! Good discussion. Also, excellent research paper called " Lifestyle Medicine A Brief Review 2017". Should be required reading in all schools of medicine.
We can't be a healthier nation when our food and health corporations put the bottom line as their number one goal.
I can barely write after hearing John. He once sang "someones in the kitchen with ----" while I was cutting his hair in the kitchen. All the rest of your advice is well taken. I've been altering my diet and lifestyle for 55 years or so and still tweek my personal findings. What a journey of mistakes and successes! I didn't know some of you and Jill's personal experiences, quite a load! I appreciate your flexibility for change and encouragement for a better life.
It reminds me that as a young man/boy I was in love with Frosties. Not only for breakfast, but just munching on them. Then the body sent signals and I stopped. Decades now and no cereal in any home I lived in. Not because of any "education" but because, despite the instant gratification (I can sense and miss the taste of Frosties now!), the after-effect was not nice.
Worst part was: I thought there was something wrong with me.
Now the knowledge comes in to back up the gut feelings (quite literally!)
Beyond the USA and Europe (justifiable target of your article), in the "third world" cereal consumption is viewed positively, because it is associated with the "advanced West". And those boxes are re-assuringly expensive. So, if you eat the stuff, you are "elite" and "modern". The same applies to many other things. Sadly.
Check out Hall et al., "Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation", PLOS Biol 16(7): e2005143 (2018). Part of the study involved measuring glucose response to standardized meals, one of which was cornflakes and milk. This meal caused glucose elevation to the prediabetic range(>140 mg/dl) in 80% of the individuals in the study. The authors conclude, "these commonly eaten foods might be adverse for the health of the majority of adults in the world population". And corn flakes are not even one of the high sugar cereals. There were no children in the study, so maybe one needs to be funded - by a government agency that has the health of our children in mind. RFK, Jr. can't take office fast enough!
For years they have been trying to get my mother on a statin. Her numbers are always around 220-250. She would never take them. She is 95, goes to church every day, and is sharp as a tack mentally.
I will spare the reader what I had for breakfast back in the 60s (naw, I think I will: sugary cereal with sugar added by the spoonful - if there wasn’t undissolved sugar in the bottom of the bowl in the milk…); 40 years later "sugary" cereals were a treat for my son, like dessert, not a staple - blessedly son developed a passion for Q oat squares (maybe not as good as the best but far and away better than the worse). Anyway, here it is after 2pm, AM chores are done, still sipping on my daily liter of tea, downed another liter of protein/fruit/supplement smoothie and I just had a hard cooked egg (steamed) as I prepped my weekly oats/dried fruit/soy milk b’fast - 4 portions. Had bacon and eggs on homemade sourdough for b’fast last night at 9pm; and I could go on…
My thought is that a diet of "low fat," ultra processed convenience food has created our epidemic of unhealthy people in America. But it’s not just here: if you look at data from around the world, we may be bad, possibly in the running for worst, but we are far from alone. AND it’s becoming a social norm in America: just look at tv commercials the past few years and in addition to those obviously overweight the morbidly obese are included. These are not just ads for the latest GLP-1 drug of the day.
A couple decades ago I tried non-fat yogurt (Activia) because it was "healthy" and to please son’s mom - compared to whole milk yogurt it was thin, lifeless and unsatisfying. Oh, and at times filled with sugar, or sugar substitute.
Fat is necessary for bodily processes, it’s filling, it’s satisfying - I add a spoonful of peanut butter to my oats (Adam’s) to compliment the benefits of my 4x/wk oats.
Wanna know what’s unhealthy⁉️, a stressful marriage! 3 decades and 3 strokes will put you in the ground just as surely as a coronary. At the same time, sometimes no matter how healthy you are when your number’s called, you’re gonna check out: 2 months of tests last year, 8 years post marriage, and the docs still can’t tell me what caused stroke number 4 🤣 — but boy-o-boy, docs were sure eager to put me on all sorts of meds - precautionary, ya’know.
And I’ll finish with this about when it’s time to check out: an "idol" of mine back in the day, before destroyed knees ended my joy of distance running, was Jim Fixx (Joy of Running) who died of a massive coronary at 52 - probably due to hereditary factors and a previous unhealthy and stressful life. It’s funny, I was 52 when I had my first 3 strokes - but unlike my "idol," I’m still here aggravating the world.
Dr Jill you have had to deal with a lot of health issues. I’m so sorry that you had to deal with this.
You got to love John Denver!
Growing up my mom rarely bought cold cereal. If she did it was Rice Krispies . There used to be to be toys in the cereal boxes. Some of them were really cool. They would advertise them on TV . Like most kids I would ask mom to please buy the cereal so I could get the toy. Most of the time she told me no but occasionally she would buy the cold cereal with the toy inside.
My mom never did buy into eggs being bad for you. She always said that it was the perfect food.
My mom was really skinny and didn’t eat much when the first 3 children were born. They were all premature. My mom got on a health kick. Made homemade bread and read up on good nutrition. I was the last baby . I came on time and weighed 8 lbs. My mom was 4’10 1/2”.
Eating good Whole Foods makes a big difference in the health of your children when you’re pregnant. Have a great day!
Exactly a year ago today, I watched a documentary (available on Amazon Prime) called That Sugar Film. The premise: What would happen if I ate only “diet” foods for 60 days? We watch a 30-something lean Australian man start the diet, then take us on a journey to explain what is happening internally. It’s done so creatively that I was entranced. He does some traveling to help us see what is happening because of sugar — to the indigenous lands of the Aborigines, and then to a few places in the U.S..
As I was saying, overweight for over 50 years, I struggled to lose weight nearly every day. But I’m a sugar addict, plain and simple. Long story short, I was blown away by the documentary. I watched it again the next day, Dec 31. And the day after that I started a reverse experiment: I vowed to eat no refined sugar for 60 days, then another 60, and another. I also used intermittent fasting. I exercised only a very little bit, mostly because I couldn’t walk much because of extreme pain before and after a knee replacement on April 1. I’ve lost 35 pounds. I’ve been lazy this last 90 days, so tomorrow I will watch the documentary again and start another 60 days on Jan. 1st. I have 35-40 pounds more to lose and I pray I am successful this year. The hardest part — because, remember, I’m a sugar addict — has been not allowing sugary foods into my home. I don’t have the ability to have just one . One cookie, one piece of pie, one snack size Snickers. And when sugar is out of my system it’s astounding how much the aching in my bones quiets down, how much less pain I experience over all.
You may wonder why I’m writing this when much of this is about cholesterol. Two years ago, I had two stents inserted into my right coronary artery, after learning I had a 98% blockage. The cardiologist wanted to prescribe a statin and I absolutely refused because I’d read enough about how “unhelpful” statins are. He was not happy, but I didn’t care. There are scientists who believe it’s sugar, not cholesterol, that destroys the heart. That argument — I read — started after President Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1952. The cholesterol “team” finally won the argument. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the sugar team had won. What would our country look like? Would we be slimmer? Healthier? My final recommendation, if you’re still reading this: please go and watch the documentary (That Sugar Film). It was an absolute paradigm shift for me. I saw me toward the end of that film. Dozing off. Unable to concentrate. Drugged up by sugar.
It's worth mentioning that sugars and other carbs, to excess, have a great deal to do with "high cholesterol": If that "low fat" diet is high in carbs (typically is), beyond the small amount stored as glycogen, the liver converts the rest into triglycerides (fats) for storage in the fat cells. This VLDL are a component of total cholesterol. Cut back on carbs and that portion of the "total cholesterol" usually drops substantially. I know from first hand experience that taking a statin* appears to make most of the lipid panel numbers “better” and that includes VLDL (“triglycerides”). A curious mind inquire what is happening to the excess carbs, absent a change in diet, when one is taking a statin. The transparent profit motives aside, the widespread [over-]use of statins is a textbook example of “treat to the numbers,” i.e. treating the “symptom” (which in the case of cholesterol, doesn’t even seem to be a medically valid “condition”!) instead of the underlying cause (a bad diet.).
*Before I wised up reading A Midwestern Doctor and others.
Blah blah blah. Maybe you could say this without all the big words. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but most people might have to read your reply three times to deconstruct it. I’m guessing you’re a scientist. (Not a bad thing; just an observation because of writing style.)
Genetics has so much to do with cholesterol levels it astounds me sometimes. My cholesterol scores have always impressed my doctors, with one declaring to me in my 20’s that I would never have heart problems. Yet two years ago (50+ years later), even with that total score nearly the same, my calcium score was 1308 on the cardiac CT, (shocking!) and two stents had to be inserted. It took two tries and a micro drill to break up the rock hard calcium before the could insert the stents (a very weird feeling, by the way.). In my case, I know it’s genetic. My dad, most of his five siblings and his dad, had heart issues—death for two, quad bypass for dad, etc. Not one was overweight. It goes to show a lot is yet to be learned. Maybe, as I said before, it’s more about the sugar. Some aunts/uncles drank a lot, and some just loved desserts. Sugar.
And then there’s a longtime friend — an MD, PhD, retired director of a medical laboratory—who vehemently disagreed with my decision to refuse statins. He’d been on them for 40 years or so, and was fine, he said. Within a year I learned he’d researched the issue more after our talk and had ditched the statins.
The simplest thing — but not easiest by any account — is to cut out refined sugar. Of course, if people actually did that, the cereal industry— which is what Dr. Malone’s article was about — would collapse. Probably not a bad thing.
Such an informative stack Docs Malone. So glad you both are healthy and have changed to a healthier way of eating. I have high cholesterol and would NEVER EVER consider being on a statin! I eat red meat and eggs and I stay away from processed food and seed oils. The stinking government has been wrong about so much and I’m just glad people are waking up to a better way to eat and live! HAPPY NEW YEAR to 2 heroes! God bless you both! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
American Heart Association hasn't gotten the message about seed oils and are still recommending them over saturated fats as "healthy cooking oils." Unbelievable.
I also perpetually have high cholesterol, and have had it as long as I have been tested. I don't remember getting cholesterol tests when I was younger (I'm now 75) so I have no idea about my cholesterol historically. Part of my high cholesterol number is because my HDL is very high, usually in the mid 70's. It's my LDL that is high, but I refused statins about 10+ years ago and demanded a particle test, which is not typically used unless you press for it. That test showed my particle type was the Pattern A fluffy, which is not dangerous. Since there is zero heart disease in my family, my doctor decided I have familial high cholesterol and it's not a danger to me. I'm low normal weight, eat a mostly meat and fresh veggie diet, no grains, virtually no sugar, but such a healthy diet doesn't change my cholesterol levels. I take no meds, either. I've recently read things about how higher cholesterol is actually a good thing in older people, especially for the brain.
Most doctors are still trying to put us all on statins. Most life insurance companies still won’t sell you insurance if you’re really fit, have great bp and ‘high cholesterol’. Talking with a person visiting from Scotland yesterday, it is painfully obvious that Americans are penalized in this for not buying into the corporate food, medicine and entertainment industry. Makes you want to be like the Amish.
Here's one for you. My doctors wanted to put me on a statin as I had total cholesterol of 227. I told them I could reduce the cholesterol by diet, alone. (Luckily, I like salmon and avocadoes) Got the total cholesterol down to 161. They STILL wanted me to take a statin. So I did. Awful muscle aches and cramps. Threw that garbage out. So riddle me this - if cholesterol is supposed to be under 200 and I got mine to 161 why a statin? The only thing I could assume is that most of the medical profession has become clinically retarded.
The pHarma companies continuously "update" these drugs so they can re-patent and reap the profits from the "new and improved" version. The doctors, to a significant degree, push these newer drugs as they receive compensation for prescribing the "new" one - none for prescribing the out-of-patent version. And the drug companies are always sending young attractive females to the docs' offices to tout these "miracles" - so THAT's why you were Rx'ed even though you didn't need it. I'll bet the Rx was for the newer model med - was it?
My husband's doctor tried to bully him onto statins with no supporting data or tests. He didn't even meet their (false) criteria for taking statins and he was trying to force him onto them. We fired that doctor. My mom's doctor pushed her onto them when she was around 83 or 84, she ended up stopping taking them, but continued to suffer an injury from them for at least a year after stopping. It is a fraud and I don't know how they can live with themselves knowing that they are following protocols for profit and not acting in the interest of their patients.
I’m sorry. That’s ridiculous.
What's ridiculous? My doctors' nostrums or my telling of it?
Not LDT, but I read them as saying that it's ridiculous that you were still prescribed a statin after reducing your cholesterol.
You being prescribed something you don’t need.
That indeed is ridiculous! I just wrote my (long) story, at the end also about a prescription I didn't need; two kinds of medication to lower my blood pressure that was not just high, it was fluctuating after a serious incident causing stress (and having had hypothermia because I had fainted and fell, laying a while in the cold), one of them was a beta-blocker.
Just take away the source (stress and get over what happened), no she said... just take the medication, it is dangerous when you have high blood pressure. I asked if it wouldn't be more dangerous to take medication for high pressure while also having long episodes of real low blood pressure as it was fluctuating. No answer.
Once I had a nasty wound and needed to go get it treated; they wanted me to take a mammography. For what? I asked. Just in case. It was a cut, a nasty embracing of a bush with thorns, I don't need a mammography for that. Yes but what if you may also have a breast-tumor,about you don't know, you never know... I was like: really? Thanked for the treatment of the cut and walked away.
Spot on
Physicians not in private practice are now required to prescribe a statin if the persons cholesterol is above a base number. Regardless of the health of the individual. Medicine by the numbers is the path we are on! Also includes injections for grading.
They may be required to prescribe but no one is required to comply. I have said no for around 40 years, and I'm still here.
Same - except for around 20 years. Year after year, I always say no. I watched my father's health deteriorate from statins years ago.
Doctors are also incentivized with bonuses to prescribe statins, like they are with the bioweapon jabs, and chemotherapies. It's so disgusting. I no longer trust allopathic medicine.
And the in many cased the doctors get bonuses for each vaccine given.
It's horrific...I wish more people knew this...
Back in the early 80’s I was told my cholesterol was “high”; so, I was prescribed a statin & took it for a few years. But, I read about a study concerning statins, & the fact statins could actually cause someone to have a heart attack. I stopped taking the statin, & my cholesterol is not high & I’m happy I quit taking it. I read a great article from a doctor on this substack, Remnant MD (don’t have his name handy), about cholesterol & statins; I made a good decision not to take this horrible drug!
Pharmakeia
Sorceries...
Greek Word with a lot of meaning.
Yep.
Pure Evil Big Harma!
I don’t think everything is bad, much of modernity has been shifted. There are physicians and scientists who are actually looking to help people.
Exactly. Keep reading articles on the need and merits of computer directed care. Have been reflecting on whether tele-care isn't playing a role in making this acceptable?
This is because medicine is now practiced with a use of algorithms! Especially if the physicians practice is owned by a hospital consortium.
My doc told me every year to get on statins and Al ways said, “No way!” In 2021, she said I should go and get a heart scan or take statins. I said I’d do the heart scan. That report came back with a “perfect heart condition.” I quit going to that doc.
I don’t have and don’t want life insurance. Kids are grown and self-sufficient. Told hubby to cremate me and scatter the ashes on the ocean (our favorite place). Funeral industry is a racket. A memorial service is nice though.
I agree that it is a racket… but many people believe that part of a civilized society is how they treat their dead.
Glad to see that you finally found out the bad news about breakfast cereal. Those of us in the parallel economy of health foods have known this for decades. Our government, medical authorities, and big business have always supported junk science on junk foods. Whole food, organic and/or regenerative grown, is the only way to eat and thrive. Eggs have always been the perfect food, as long as the chickens are properly cared for. 👍❤️
The "FOOD PYRAMID." Devised by clowns for morons.
I eat two eggs & meat every morning! But, the eggs I buy are Vital Farms, & also Happy Eggs, & prices went up from $5.92/doz, to $8.08-$10.00/doz. I’m searching for a local chicken farm in our area again!
Hey, just get fourhens. You’ll have about 3 eggs a day on average. Eat two, save one for other goodies.
I am so sorry that Jill had all those injuries, trials, & tribulations. Her recoveries & healing could not have been easy. Thank-you for sharing some of what you have learned along the way where diet & food choices have played a role. It is very much appreciated.
Yep! It all boils down to lifestyle. Chickens in tin barns deliver zero &/or 1 mg of Vitamin D. When we consume about 70 billion eggs per year with little or no Vitamin D, it contributes to D deficiency. I like the documentary called "Forks over Knives" how people avoided heart issues by changing their life style..ala the Malones! Good discussion. Also, excellent research paper called " Lifestyle Medicine A Brief Review 2017". Should be required reading in all schools of medicine.
We can't be a healthier nation when our food and health corporations put the bottom line as their number one goal.
I can barely write after hearing John. He once sang "someones in the kitchen with ----" while I was cutting his hair in the kitchen. All the rest of your advice is well taken. I've been altering my diet and lifestyle for 55 years or so and still tweek my personal findings. What a journey of mistakes and successes! I didn't know some of you and Jill's personal experiences, quite a load! I appreciate your flexibility for change and encouragement for a better life.
I loved John Denver (still do)
He is timeless and enjoyed around the world.
the "pandemic" led me to lifestyle change. Lost about 25 pounds, off all prescription drugs.
have been lax on my exercise and time in the sun. Time for new years resolutions!
one of the biggest steps was intermittent fasting. Before that food controlled me.
now I am responsible for my health
many thanks to Robert Malone and many others including those from flccc.net
Thank you for this article.
It reminds me that as a young man/boy I was in love with Frosties. Not only for breakfast, but just munching on them. Then the body sent signals and I stopped. Decades now and no cereal in any home I lived in. Not because of any "education" but because, despite the instant gratification (I can sense and miss the taste of Frosties now!), the after-effect was not nice.
Worst part was: I thought there was something wrong with me.
Now the knowledge comes in to back up the gut feelings (quite literally!)
Beyond the USA and Europe (justifiable target of your article), in the "third world" cereal consumption is viewed positively, because it is associated with the "advanced West". And those boxes are re-assuringly expensive. So, if you eat the stuff, you are "elite" and "modern". The same applies to many other things. Sadly.
Thank you for sharing this, I have been saying this for a while.
R/
Dr. Lucks PhD Lifestyle Medicine Health and Well-being Practitioner and Nutrition Scientist
Need more Dr. Lucks!
Check out Hall et al., "Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation", PLOS Biol 16(7): e2005143 (2018). Part of the study involved measuring glucose response to standardized meals, one of which was cornflakes and milk. This meal caused glucose elevation to the prediabetic range(>140 mg/dl) in 80% of the individuals in the study. The authors conclude, "these commonly eaten foods might be adverse for the health of the majority of adults in the world population". And corn flakes are not even one of the high sugar cereals. There were no children in the study, so maybe one needs to be funded - by a government agency that has the health of our children in mind. RFK, Jr. can't take office fast enough!
I admit it, I cried at the part in .Gov Story when they said "Being an expert means never having to say you're sorry."
And never caring either! It's all about money! Not health or human welfare!
For years they have been trying to get my mother on a statin. Her numbers are always around 220-250. She would never take them. She is 95, goes to church every day, and is sharp as a tack mentally.
I will spare the reader what I had for breakfast back in the 60s (naw, I think I will: sugary cereal with sugar added by the spoonful - if there wasn’t undissolved sugar in the bottom of the bowl in the milk…); 40 years later "sugary" cereals were a treat for my son, like dessert, not a staple - blessedly son developed a passion for Q oat squares (maybe not as good as the best but far and away better than the worse). Anyway, here it is after 2pm, AM chores are done, still sipping on my daily liter of tea, downed another liter of protein/fruit/supplement smoothie and I just had a hard cooked egg (steamed) as I prepped my weekly oats/dried fruit/soy milk b’fast - 4 portions. Had bacon and eggs on homemade sourdough for b’fast last night at 9pm; and I could go on…
My thought is that a diet of "low fat," ultra processed convenience food has created our epidemic of unhealthy people in America. But it’s not just here: if you look at data from around the world, we may be bad, possibly in the running for worst, but we are far from alone. AND it’s becoming a social norm in America: just look at tv commercials the past few years and in addition to those obviously overweight the morbidly obese are included. These are not just ads for the latest GLP-1 drug of the day.
A couple decades ago I tried non-fat yogurt (Activia) because it was "healthy" and to please son’s mom - compared to whole milk yogurt it was thin, lifeless and unsatisfying. Oh, and at times filled with sugar, or sugar substitute.
Fat is necessary for bodily processes, it’s filling, it’s satisfying - I add a spoonful of peanut butter to my oats (Adam’s) to compliment the benefits of my 4x/wk oats.
Wanna know what’s unhealthy⁉️, a stressful marriage! 3 decades and 3 strokes will put you in the ground just as surely as a coronary. At the same time, sometimes no matter how healthy you are when your number’s called, you’re gonna check out: 2 months of tests last year, 8 years post marriage, and the docs still can’t tell me what caused stroke number 4 🤣 — but boy-o-boy, docs were sure eager to put me on all sorts of meds - precautionary, ya’know.
And I’ll finish with this about when it’s time to check out: an "idol" of mine back in the day, before destroyed knees ended my joy of distance running, was Jim Fixx (Joy of Running) who died of a massive coronary at 52 - probably due to hereditary factors and a previous unhealthy and stressful life. It’s funny, I was 52 when I had my first 3 strokes - but unlike my "idol," I’m still here aggravating the world.
Unicorn’ish?
🤔 me thinks I rambled 🤣
Dr Jill you have had to deal with a lot of health issues. I’m so sorry that you had to deal with this.
You got to love John Denver!
Growing up my mom rarely bought cold cereal. If she did it was Rice Krispies . There used to be to be toys in the cereal boxes. Some of them were really cool. They would advertise them on TV . Like most kids I would ask mom to please buy the cereal so I could get the toy. Most of the time she told me no but occasionally she would buy the cold cereal with the toy inside.
My mom never did buy into eggs being bad for you. She always said that it was the perfect food.
My mom was really skinny and didn’t eat much when the first 3 children were born. They were all premature. My mom got on a health kick. Made homemade bread and read up on good nutrition. I was the last baby . I came on time and weighed 8 lbs. My mom was 4’10 1/2”.
Eating good Whole Foods makes a big difference in the health of your children when you’re pregnant. Have a great day!
I'm shocked. SCHOCKED, I TELL YOU....
Fauci, & Gates with COVID and the Jabs was much worse, of course. The greatest genocide in world history. Worse than WW I and WW 2 combined.
Exactly a year ago today, I watched a documentary (available on Amazon Prime) called That Sugar Film. The premise: What would happen if I ate only “diet” foods for 60 days? We watch a 30-something lean Australian man start the diet, then take us on a journey to explain what is happening internally. It’s done so creatively that I was entranced. He does some traveling to help us see what is happening because of sugar — to the indigenous lands of the Aborigines, and then to a few places in the U.S..
As I was saying, overweight for over 50 years, I struggled to lose weight nearly every day. But I’m a sugar addict, plain and simple. Long story short, I was blown away by the documentary. I watched it again the next day, Dec 31. And the day after that I started a reverse experiment: I vowed to eat no refined sugar for 60 days, then another 60, and another. I also used intermittent fasting. I exercised only a very little bit, mostly because I couldn’t walk much because of extreme pain before and after a knee replacement on April 1. I’ve lost 35 pounds. I’ve been lazy this last 90 days, so tomorrow I will watch the documentary again and start another 60 days on Jan. 1st. I have 35-40 pounds more to lose and I pray I am successful this year. The hardest part — because, remember, I’m a sugar addict — has been not allowing sugary foods into my home. I don’t have the ability to have just one . One cookie, one piece of pie, one snack size Snickers. And when sugar is out of my system it’s astounding how much the aching in my bones quiets down, how much less pain I experience over all.
You may wonder why I’m writing this when much of this is about cholesterol. Two years ago, I had two stents inserted into my right coronary artery, after learning I had a 98% blockage. The cardiologist wanted to prescribe a statin and I absolutely refused because I’d read enough about how “unhelpful” statins are. He was not happy, but I didn’t care. There are scientists who believe it’s sugar, not cholesterol, that destroys the heart. That argument — I read — started after President Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1952. The cholesterol “team” finally won the argument. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if the sugar team had won. What would our country look like? Would we be slimmer? Healthier? My final recommendation, if you’re still reading this: please go and watch the documentary (That Sugar Film). It was an absolute paradigm shift for me. I saw me toward the end of that film. Dozing off. Unable to concentrate. Drugged up by sugar.
Thank you for sharing this - sugar and the inflammation it causes are deadly. You are spot on.
It's worth mentioning that sugars and other carbs, to excess, have a great deal to do with "high cholesterol": If that "low fat" diet is high in carbs (typically is), beyond the small amount stored as glycogen, the liver converts the rest into triglycerides (fats) for storage in the fat cells. This VLDL are a component of total cholesterol. Cut back on carbs and that portion of the "total cholesterol" usually drops substantially. I know from first hand experience that taking a statin* appears to make most of the lipid panel numbers “better” and that includes VLDL (“triglycerides”). A curious mind inquire what is happening to the excess carbs, absent a change in diet, when one is taking a statin. The transparent profit motives aside, the widespread [over-]use of statins is a textbook example of “treat to the numbers,” i.e. treating the “symptom” (which in the case of cholesterol, doesn’t even seem to be a medically valid “condition”!) instead of the underlying cause (a bad diet.).
*Before I wised up reading A Midwestern Doctor and others.
Blah blah blah. Maybe you could say this without all the big words. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but most people might have to read your reply three times to deconstruct it. I’m guessing you’re a scientist. (Not a bad thing; just an observation because of writing style.)
Genetics has so much to do with cholesterol levels it astounds me sometimes. My cholesterol scores have always impressed my doctors, with one declaring to me in my 20’s that I would never have heart problems. Yet two years ago (50+ years later), even with that total score nearly the same, my calcium score was 1308 on the cardiac CT, (shocking!) and two stents had to be inserted. It took two tries and a micro drill to break up the rock hard calcium before the could insert the stents (a very weird feeling, by the way.). In my case, I know it’s genetic. My dad, most of his five siblings and his dad, had heart issues—death for two, quad bypass for dad, etc. Not one was overweight. It goes to show a lot is yet to be learned. Maybe, as I said before, it’s more about the sugar. Some aunts/uncles drank a lot, and some just loved desserts. Sugar.
And then there’s a longtime friend — an MD, PhD, retired director of a medical laboratory—who vehemently disagreed with my decision to refuse statins. He’d been on them for 40 years or so, and was fine, he said. Within a year I learned he’d researched the issue more after our talk and had ditched the statins.
The simplest thing — but not easiest by any account — is to cut out refined sugar. Of course, if people actually did that, the cereal industry— which is what Dr. Malone’s article was about — would collapse. Probably not a bad thing.
Such an informative stack Docs Malone. So glad you both are healthy and have changed to a healthier way of eating. I have high cholesterol and would NEVER EVER consider being on a statin! I eat red meat and eggs and I stay away from processed food and seed oils. The stinking government has been wrong about so much and I’m just glad people are waking up to a better way to eat and live! HAPPY NEW YEAR to 2 heroes! God bless you both! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
American Heart Association hasn't gotten the message about seed oils and are still recommending them over saturated fats as "healthy cooking oils." Unbelievable.
https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/fats/healthy-cooking-oils
I also perpetually have high cholesterol, and have had it as long as I have been tested. I don't remember getting cholesterol tests when I was younger (I'm now 75) so I have no idea about my cholesterol historically. Part of my high cholesterol number is because my HDL is very high, usually in the mid 70's. It's my LDL that is high, but I refused statins about 10+ years ago and demanded a particle test, which is not typically used unless you press for it. That test showed my particle type was the Pattern A fluffy, which is not dangerous. Since there is zero heart disease in my family, my doctor decided I have familial high cholesterol and it's not a danger to me. I'm low normal weight, eat a mostly meat and fresh veggie diet, no grains, virtually no sugar, but such a healthy diet doesn't change my cholesterol levels. I take no meds, either. I've recently read things about how higher cholesterol is actually a good thing in older people, especially for the brain.