Author Archives: Bill

There’s a New Petition In Town! :(

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While this is good for the community as a whole, it is just really a bummer for me. I think this petition journey is probably coming to an end when I was pretty hopeful it was just beginning.

I learned earlier this evening that some well-known members of the low-carb/keto community, Judy Barnes Baker and Dr. Richard Feinman decided to create a new, more eloquently written petition titled “REPLACE THE DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS”.

I can’t fault them for creating a new petition to more accurately reflect what is needed, but I am bothered by the fact that there are now two different petitions about a similar subject circulating at the same time. In an ideal world, both petitions should be successful, but I can foresee my petition being archived in the history of unsuccessful White House petitions while the more established names in the community get the support that is really needed to make the petition a success.

It is frustrating to me that it took me nearly a week of tireless promotion to get the first 100 signatures, and instead of getting behind my effort to stand in a united voice and really help me get the word out, they did not agree with how I articulated the message (my underlying theme is change as well) and felt the need to create a new one. In the span of several hours they already have the same amount of signatures it took me nearly 7 days to get. I am really happy for them, but at the same time rather… well that’s enough for now! 🙂

As I stated to Judy on Facebook, change is the key component I am striving for. I was able to plant a seed that helped the community organize and attack this problem from the bottom-up. I am happy that I, a nobody in the health and nutrition world, took a first step in ACTING on the issue and others are now interested in the cause of standing up and fighting for change.

There are many bloggers, authors, celebs, filmmakers all bitching about this issue and no one is coordinating and trying to organize the people (E.g. The Crowds) and ACT; most are content on bitching or throwing their arms up in the air in defeat without even trying. That is, pardon my French, bull-shit.

I hope the community will stand behind Judy and Dr. Feinman in the petition and I hope it is successful and changes the future of our country. I would really love for both petitions to make their goal. I feel that would really send a message to the Administration that people are fed up with these conflicted bought-off dietary guidelines that are killing people, not making them healthier.

Here is the link to Judy’s site where she has posted some information about the new petition:
htp://carbwars.blogspot.com/2014/02/white-house-petition-replace-dietary.html

Here is the direct link to their new petition:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/replace-dietary-guidelines-americans-dga/NlHHpqqk

For those who provided support to my petition and those who plan on continuing to support it for the long haul (as I will), I thank you all for your wonderful support!

I need to extend a very special thank you to Dr. Perlmutter (Grain Brain) and Jimmy Moore (LLVLC, Cholesterol Clarity) for being kind enough to mention my petition on Twitter and Facebook, your good deeds will not be forgotten, thank you!

I bid you all a nice evening and Aloha.
-Bill

Historical View of Obesity and Dietary Guidelines

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I put this handy graphic together to show the increased recommendation of grain and decreased recommendation of fat vs. the overall increase of obesity in this country. The guideline graphics are from the USDA site and the graph is from the CDC website.

To sign the #USDAPetition you can go here: http://wh.gov/lnK4u

Obesity and Dietary Guidelines

Historical view of rise in obesity and changes to USDA dietary guidelines

Meet Luise Light

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It should be noted that I first learned of Luise Light while reading “Death by Food Pyramid” by Denise Minger. Luise Light was the USDA Director of Dietary Guidance and Nutrition Education Research in the 1980’s and was responsible for the team that provided the recommendations in the first food pyramid. Here is a story of the USDA’s conflict of providing guidelines, promoting agricultural products and the success of the food industry getting itself into our homes.
“Where we, the USDA nutritionists, called for a base of 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, it was replaced with a paltry 2-3 servings (changed to 5-7 servings a couple of years later because an anti-cancer campaign by another government agency, the National Cancer Institute, forced the USDA to adopt the higher standard).
Our recommendation of 3-4 daily servings of whole-grain breads and cereals was changed to a whopping 6-11 servings forming the base of the Food Pyramid as a concession to the processed wheat and corn industries. Moreover, my nutritionist group had placed baked goods made with white flour — including crackers, sweets and other low-nutrient foods laden with sugars and fats — at the peak of the pyramid, recommending that they be eaten sparingly.
To our alarm, in the “revised” Food Guide, they were now made part of the Pyramid’s base. And, in yet one more assault on dietary logic, changes were made to the wording of the dietary guidelines from “eat less” to “avoid too much,” giving a nod to the processed-food industry interests by not limiting highly profitable “fun foods” (junk foods by any other name) that might affect the bottom line of food companies.”


Secret Crop Subsidies, More Secrecy and Conflict of Interest

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Just read this article and it doesn’t sound like a good deal for us American Tax Payers.
This sounds like a win for the USDA, the food industry and those growing the crops (likely to be primarily for Corn, Wheat, Soy, Cotton and Rice) and receiving …the subsidies. The USDA should not be promoting and subsidizing crops on one hand, and on the other, telling us what to eat in order to be “healthy”.
In 1980, the USDA Dietary Guidelines of Americans (DGA) stated “Eat Foods with adequate starch and fiber” When speaking about Dietary Fat it said “Avoid Too much fat, Saturated Fat, and Cholesterol”. The same message was echoed in the 1985 DGA.
In 1990, things changed a bit and the recommendation for veggies turned into “Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain products”. It appears that grain was now important to our diet. It also stated to “choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol” which is a reason for the low-fat craze that continues even today.
In 1995 the veggies statement changed yet again to include “choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits.” Grains now took a front-row to vegetables and fruit; this should be rather evident by looking around the grocery store. As for fat, it states “choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol”.
In 2000, they took it to a new level by declaring “choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains”. For fat intake they cautiously said “choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat”. The moderation in total fat mentioned of course being those “heart-healthy” vegetable oils we now use everywhere and overload our Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) ratio becoming pro-inflammatory.
The overall message: Whole grains this, whole grains that, low fat this, no cholesterol that. This trend of placing an emphasis on promoting agricultural products in the diet while placing the blame on dietary fats, or the people (lazy, eat too much, stupid) continues even today. The new USDA Dietary guidelines are supposed to be released in 2015, but only if we, the American people, let them.

Welcome to Dietary Dogma. We Have Launched!

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Hi everyone,

Let me start off by welcoming you to Dietary Dogma. We plan on becoming a community that individuals can turn to in order to educate themselves and also promote alternative ideas about diet, health and fitness. As we role out, we may stand up a forum, make some vids, recipies and other great things.

We are big into changes in dietary guidance at the national level in the U.S. It is our hope to become a community player in promoting an honest, scientifically based, lobby-restricted dietary organization which provide general guides for the citizens of the U.S.

As far as disclosures: I have no ties to the food industry at all.

As far as bias: I personally enjoy LCHF fare (healthy fats, meat, veggies, eggs, nuts, limited starch) though I am only “preachy” about eliminating refined carbs and sugar.