Carbs, fat, and politics

After years of pushing low-fat and high-carbohydrate diets, [the federal health agencies have finally flipped their recommendations](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/opinion/why-is-the-federal-government-afraid-of-fat.html):

> Following an Institute of Medicine report, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines quietly began to reverse the government’s campaign against dietary fat, increasing the upper limit to 35 percent — and also, for the first time, recommending a lower limit of 20 percent…the scientists on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, for the first time in 35 years have sent recommendations to the government without any upper limit on total fat.

[The guidelines themselves take a strong stance on sugars](http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015-scientific-report/PDFs/Scientific-Report-of-the-2015-Dietary-Guidelines-Advisory-Committee.pdf) and refined carbohydrates as well:

> Higher consumption of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages as well as refined grains was identified as detrimental in almost all conclusion statements with moderate to strong evidence.

And it looks like [those egg council creeps](http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Egg_Council_Guy) finally got to the scientists too:

> Available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary
cholesterol and serum cholesterol.

I switched to a vegetarian protein- and fat-heavy diet with lots of raw vegetables, oils, eggs, yogurt and nuts this year and I’ve lost significant weight and felt amazing. It’s fascinating to see the tides change as scientists finally have the tools and data to run big studies on nutrition:

> Confirming many other observations, large randomized trials in 2006 and 2013 showed that a low-fat diet had no significant benefits for heart disease, stroke, diabetes or cancer risks, while a high-fat, Mediterranean-style diet rich in nuts or extra-virgin olive oil — exceeding 40 percent of calories in total fat — significantly reduced cardiovascular disease, diabetes and long-term weight gain.

But all of this threatens a huge packaged-food industry that thrives on shelf-stable grain products, and the political deck is stacked against change. Hopefully the evolving scientific consensus will bolster efforts like the ones led by [Alice Waters](http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/delicious-revolution) and [Michael Pollan](http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pollan_gives_a_plant_s_eye_view/) to move our eating back toward freshness, sustainability, and health.