Last week marked the annual celebration of Mardi Gras, which means “Fat Tuesday” in French. It’s a day when people traditionally indulge prior to the Lenten period of abstinence.
In Italy and in Spanish-speaking countries, they call the day Carnevale, meaning literally “goodbye” (vale) to “meat” (carne).
And indeed, during the 40 days of Lent, Catholics around the world traditionally give up meat. When I was a child, Catholics abstained from meat every day during Lent (and all Fridays the rest of the year). Today, they typically only abstain on Fridays during Lent (and on Ash Wednesday itself, which is the beginning of the 40-day Lenten period).
Of course, giving up meat for Lent is a spiritual pursuit intended to commemorate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.
Meats once favored by ancient man
Our prehistoric hunter-gatherer ancestors craved fats in meat for the essential fatty acids, complete protein, and vitamins and minerals. And when agriculture became widespread beginning 10,000 years ago, human health and nutritional status started to decline. People couldn’t obtain essential fats and vitamins from plant crops alone, according to Mark Nathan Cohen, author of The Food Crisis in Prehistory: Overpopulation and the Origins of Agriculture.
Even during the early 20th century, farmers, doctors, parents, and sick patients prized “rich” foods with fats for their health and nutritional value. The USDA still scores more fatty meat as a better grade.
But, in the late 1970s, the misguided government recommendations came out against dietary cholesterol and saturated fats. Despite the fact that the government never had any evidence to support these recommendations.
These misguided dietary recommendations — which we now know were all wrong, all wrong — led Americans to substitute unhealthy sugars and carbs for healthier fats. Plus, we now know the absence of sufficient doses of nutrients, especially fat-soluble vitamins, leads to chronic inflammation, metabolic syndrome, Type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. And consuming excess sugar and carbs leads to excess body fat and obesity.
No wonder, 40 years later, we now face epidemics of Type II diabetes, cardio-metabolic heart disease, and even cancer.
Dietary fat is our friend
Finally, in 2017, the whole cholesterol-fat-heart-disease myth began to fall apart. And I’ve started to see headlines such as:
– “Eating low-fat could increase early death risk”
– “High carb diet increases heart risks”
– “Saturated fat myth challenged”
Thankfully, more and more of the general public are getting the message — and even some doctors. (Unfortunately the delusional duo of cardiologists and the American Heart Association still turn a deaf ear!)
The real evidence shows sugar is the true culprit behind chronic diseases. And the sugar industry played a major role in covering it up.
So, without further ado, here are three simple tips for a healthy diet:
1. Limit carbs — especially processed carbs.
2. Base your meals on foods with plenty of essential dietary fats and oils, such as meat, fish, nuts, and dairy.
3. Strive to eat one to three servings of fresh fruit — in addition to at least five or six servings of vegetables — each day.
In fact, as I reported last month, eating fruit can help prevent Type II diabetes. And for those who already have the condition, it can help manage blood sugar.
So, if you said “goodbye to fat” last week and gave up meat for Lent, like me, it’s fine to substitute with fish and other seafood.
If you’d like more information on how your diet and other lifestyle habits can protect your heart, refer to my online protocol, my Heart Attack Prevention and Repair Protocol. And to find out more about lowering your blood sugar without harmful drugs, check out one of my newest online tools, my Integrative Protocol for Defeating Diabetes.