Four Pillars

I posted the study about the mice first, but really the first study that started to convince me was this one. It is an analysis of a multitude of previous studies about saturated fat and heart disease. Its conclusion is that there is no measurable relationship between saturated fat and heart disease.

I saw this and my jaw dropped. WHAT? This is supposed to be a foundation of nutrition! Saturated fats bad! Unsaturated fats good! Right? I consider myself a nutrition geek, so how could I be wrong about this?

Maybe it was a bad study. Maybe there's something they missed. But the more I look back at studies which have supposedly demonstrated a heart disease/saturated fat link the more those look like bad studies.

I'm not convinced yet. My beliefs have too much intertia to be swayed yet. But I have to take another look at things. Here's what I still believe and have for some time:

1. We should eat like our ancestors ate
Not much evolution has taken place since prehistoric times, so we're probably designed for a diet not unlike that of the stone age.

2. We should eat "whole foods"
No, I'm not talking about the overpriced grocery chain. The more processing food goes through, the more components it has, and the more additives it contains, the less we control what we're eating. Period. And, as a corollary to 1), our ancestors didn't eat McNuggets and Cool Ranch Doritos.

3. We should enjoy our food
What is the point of eating something for good health if it isn't delicious? Are the extra years of life really worth it? Food is an enormous part of life. It brings us together, it affects our mood throughout the day, it forces us to sit and slow down for a few minutes.

4. Convenience should be the least consideration
Food is life. It is health. It is happiness. It is not just another of life's unavoidable burdens. If anything is worth spending a little extra on it's good food. Even if you don't love food like I do, from a purely fiscal perspective good food will reduce your medical bills down the road.

During a time where my secondary beliefs about food (saturated fat is bad, all calories are created equal, animal products are evil) are coming into question, these primary beliefs are all the more important.