American Heart Association Brainwashing Kids

(Michelle C.) #1

My husband and I had to have a tough talk with our 6 year old today. The American Heart Association is in his school this week and giving them a very hard sell to fund raise. They bait the kids with “prizes” and even made an interactive game that in order to “play” you have to fund raise for keys.

We fully stand by our decision not to donate. But, explaining to a 6 year old why we think an organization is not helping people and spreading bad information is tough. Especially when when our knowledge goes against the grain (pun intended.) How have other parents tackled stuff like this?

(Tom Seest) #2

We home school. So, we don’t get the pressure socially to support them. I do get pressured to contribute to them from different bicycle rider friends during the year, and I politely decline. If they ask why, I will tell them.

On another note, the AHA is still brainwashing adults…It’s an equal opportunity propaganda organization…

Sad really, because most people don’t realize what they are doing…

(Ethan) #3

And, to go full circle, the previous-generation AHA brainwashed the current-generation AHA, which is why they still spout–and believe–what they say.

(Michelle C.) #4

Absolutely. We had to have the discussion that his teacher likely believes the AHA messaging but that’s because she “doesn’t have the information” Mom and Dad have (how we put it nicely.) Our kids aren’t fully keto like we are (we encourage them to be and steer their choices, but they still have some junk). But we at least want them to be fully informed and knowledgeable.

(Ethan) #5

This remind me…

My parents were over the other day, and my dad was playing with my 6-year-old son. My son was pretending to make food and deliver it to his grandfather (whom he calls “Pop-Pop”)–it’s a game he has played since he was 2 years old with all of us. This time, he only brought fake meat and veggies to Pop-Pop, who asked him, “can I have some oatmeal, too?” My son says to him, “No, my mama and baba are on a low-carb diet. No oatmeal.”

(CharleyD) #6

Over this past year of my Keto, by the light of a blue-light-filtered Kindle, I’ve read Max Dr Nasha’s book, Dr Cate’s Deep Nutrition, Dr Lustig’s Hacking, and we’re starting on The Salt Fix.

He knows how I feel about ‘sugar’ as I’ll make the bitterest looking face whenever I say it. It’ll be a harder sell explaining starch to a 6 year old, and that’s where the AHA can slip in…

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #7

I’m going to be a bit sympathetic to the AHA. It’s a thing left over from business school, and I don’t want this to be confused with an actual defense of their position. It’s lifted from Gary Taubes.

They bought Ancel Keyes and rejected John Yudkin. That was 50 years ago, give or take. Ever since then, they have pushed the Keyes theory of CICO/6-10 servings of grain, sugar in place of fat for heart health. They have hammered that home and spent billions searching for the data to back it up. They went with the US government, the American Diabetes Association, and more.

Consider how you, as president of the AHA would approach the task of reversing 50 years of advice that has lead to diabetes going to epidemic status, adult onset diabetes being seen in children and being rebranded as type 2, metabolic syndrome exploding, obesity going up, and more. And they have been recommending the precise prescription to get you there, against the accepted wisdom of the the years immediately ahead of the recommendation.

I don’t think you can have a big press conference and say, "you know what, we screwed the pooch… sorry that we made diabetes a global epidemic. Sorry your dad died from heart disease. Sorry the statin industry is a billion dollar enterprise and we pushed the recommendations to mess up cholesterol to where you’d need statins. Sorry. But trust us now, we have it right this time.’

It’s gonna take the AHA a loooong time to come around to ketogenic dieting without shredding their reputation. Should their reputation be shredded, absolutely. But with a little shift of POV, you can see as how the AHA doesn’t see it that way.

That said, they should probably fold tents and reform under a new banner, and push the actual facts. Of course, I should also be a Men’s Health cover model and independently wealthy.

(Ethan) #8

This is exactly right. The AHA is not trying to hurt anybody, but they actually believe that dietary fat (especially saturated fat and from animal sources) causes heart disease. They more than believe it–THEY KNOW IT! They know it like we know that carbohydrates (especially refined sugars) cause heart disease. They know it so much that they feel it as an emotion! When you tell somebody the truth that is the opposite of what they believe, they actually feel it as an emotional and personal attack. Minds do not reverse quickly.

(Brian) #9

True. There usually has to be some form of personal crisis before many will even entertain the idea that a deeply held belief could possibly be wrong.

(Ethan) #10

Exactly! It’s actually more than that still though. The connections are on multiple levels. Disgust is actually an emotion, according to research scientific analysis. They feel disgusted about anybody eating that much fat. The emotional response enforces the emotions they feel about healthy being low-fat, high-carb grains.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #11

That said, the growth of diabetes during the Food Pyramid/Keyes/DASH era should be a crisis for any organization involved.

(Ethan) #12

In time, the tide will change as science wins. Many people will not make it to then. Last year, I had a conversation with a Ukrainian immigrant about the ketogenic diet and diabetes. I told him about my success, and he lamented about all the medications he needs to take and still cannot control his sugars. He was not in good shape. He passed away a few months ago.

(Brian) #13

That is so sad. There are people who would rather die than change their way of thinking. I’ve known a few of them, too. It is sad. In so many cases, it doesn’t have to end that way…