I came across a four volume set of the 2005 Second Edition of the Encyclopedia of Nutrition and I’ll admit I didn’t read it from cover to cover. However the section on carbohydrates by C L Stylianopoulos of John Hopkins University Baltimore was depressing reading. Most insistent that a substantial amount of carbohydrates are necessary for a suitable diet. I won’t go on about the section on vegetarianism or veganism…!!
What does concern me is that this is probably a book that’s referred to my medical professionals who will use it to back up their dogma about low carb being wrong if not downright dangerous !
Depressing Reading
Ronald_Weaver
(Ronald Weaver)
#1
Shinita
#2
I really don’t understand scientists sometimes. It’s very easily proven (and known, I read it even on vegan sites if I remember correctly) that carbs aren’t essential… People may argue about what is ideal for whom but we clearly don’t die if we don’t eat carbs… Carbs are way too important for our body and we didn’t always had a lot of it so the body learned to be without dietary carbs. We never learned the same with vitamin C because we always had access to enough as long as we had food (until not natural things happened like sailing with dried meat and hard tack and booze but that was a short time and didn’t even affect a very big part of humanity).
My nutritional knowledge isn’t very big but even I know that. 
What was about vegetarianism? I liked that, it just turned out my body prefers extreme low-carb, not just keto (but keto was tricky too, main reason I started my on/off keto years, I missed my vegetables). There are some pretty good vegetarian diet styles I am sure if it fits the one in question. Mine was nutritious, very rich in fatty animal protein, high-fat and as time passed, less and less carby though I was just almost vegetarian after a while, except when I did keto and tried to eat adequate protein. I failed, it was still high but I felt okay so I stopped trying. I am somewhat aware there are very different styles and those are more common.
And I can imagine a lot of wrong and stupid or at least questionable things said about vegetarian diets… I probably saw a lot of them.
Sad thing but humans are so tiny at this point, it’s scary. Morals, medicine, so many things… At some fields we can do great things and other parts are so outdated and barbaric, wrong, undeveloped or whatever. The medical field has both, some parts develops quickly, others seemingly not, maybe because things still work that way and who cares about the comfort and mental health of people (I pretty much hate unnecessary casts on my limbs. I never had any but not because they didn’t try).
Ronald_Weaver
(Ronald Weaver)
#3
I read something recently, ( probably on here ! ),saying that specialists are people who learn more and more about less and less. Kind of sums it up, doesn’t it ?
A friend of my daughter’s if lying very poorly in a cottage hospital in Northern Ireland being attended to by three different “Specialists” , none of whom can agree with the others how best to treat the poor woman.
As a result she’s getting no treatment at all !
The section on vegetarianism tended to describe the reasoning behind vegetarianism, and to me, came up with the conclusion that there was a small hard core of quasi-religious fanatics who are determined to bend the world to their will. While the book did say that a vegetarian diet for most people doesn’t do much harm ( in their opinion ) the writer did give out serious warnings about the inadequacies of a strict vegan diet.
RightNOW
(PJ)
#4
I worked for a major national university-level textbook corporation for 14 years, until a few years ago. Although all the big corps that do this, the top six for example, are the same.
Carbs are required. In most, eggs/cholesterol are still bad, red meat is bad, meat fat is bad, whole grains are required, supplements are just ‘expensive urine.’
One book (seriously) suggested if you wanted a supplement just drink an energy drink like Red Bull. OMFG. This is training the doctors, nurses and nutritionists of tomorrow.
I used to offer to paypal my coworkers to do the nutrition titles because I was an absolutely enraged nut working on them. They volunteered just so they didn’t have to hear me go on about it.
Bear in mind that going back decades this has been the mainstream line, and these people being taught will be the medical professionals for the next 4-20+ years, and they will in turn teach (and write textbooks in a few cases) others.
The science is already past this in most cases. The problem is humans, including many scientists, but especially people taught in the past who are set in their ways, are still parroting BS that was false in the 1970s… and is criminally false, given the research evidence, by now…
FIFTY YEARS LATER.
SomeGuy
(Joey)
#5
Perhaps the root of the problem is that we often equate truth with books. The relationship between the two is more fraught than that.
Aqua_chonk
(Stickin' with mammoth)
#6
…money. Money is the root of the problem. Follow the money.
Carbs (mostly grains) are major crops in the U.S., subsidized crops. The USDA’s job is to sell those crops. The USDA also makes up (as in fictionalizes) the food pyramid every time a new shape comes out.
Ain’t dat just a cozy lil’ arrangement, though?
PS: If Red Bull was actually quoted in the book, someone paid to get it in there.
RightNOW
(PJ)
#8
There used to be a mural on a wall when I was a kid that said, “I’ve read so much about the evils of drinking, and smoking, that finally, I’ve decided to stop reading.”
This is still the best comic of all time about the food pyramid:
SomeGuy
(Joey)
#9
