H
Hannah Gruen
Guest
"FOB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I think the media just pushes what they get from the medical establishment.
> They listen to dieticians who are almost all still low fat pushers. They
> take the PCRM seriously and do lots of promos for them. The media is all
> too happy to have a nice ready made story plop into their lazy laps.
> Makes
> it easy for those pushing a point of view to get air time. The PCRM gives
> awards to schools serving their version of healthy lunches. One of our
> stations has a weekly segment on their news with Florine Mark of Weight
> Watchers--she's a local minor celeb.
Yeah, I agree, they often do this. And then sometimes they like to latch
onto "contrarian" stories, like they did with Atkins. "Look, this guy lost 2
gazillion pounds eating bacon and cheeseburgers!" I guess it's safe to
conclude that the primary focus is *not* really educating the consumer, but
more like (1) filling columns without too much effort or expense, and (2)
reporting improbable stuff that will catch viewer/reader interest.
> Actually, I think the recent low carb frenzy hurt the low carb cause.
> Because so many latched onto it without actually understanding it and
> doing
> it correctly, a lot of people got a bad impression of low carb in general.
> I think the medical community will gradually come to view low carb as a
> positive thing because the research that supports it is showing up, but it
> will take a long time, several years at least.
That happened the first time around, too. Too many people who just ate the
steak and eggs and a handful of iceburg lettuce for months on end, and then
didn't feel well so went off and regained and decided Atkins "doesn't work."
Although there was a lot more fear and loathing among the rest of the
medical community in the '70's. I agree that the improved medical
understanding may help make at least reduced carb diets acceptable, maybe
even popular, in the not-too-distant future.
The current popularity of the South Beach diet may be an indicator of what
is to come. Reduced carbs, and much less of the high-glycemic stuff. Of
course this isn't strong enough medicine for many people, but it's better
than the very-low-fat-high-carb approach, at least.
HG
news:[email protected]...
>I think the media just pushes what they get from the medical establishment.
> They listen to dieticians who are almost all still low fat pushers. They
> take the PCRM seriously and do lots of promos for them. The media is all
> too happy to have a nice ready made story plop into their lazy laps.
> Makes
> it easy for those pushing a point of view to get air time. The PCRM gives
> awards to schools serving their version of healthy lunches. One of our
> stations has a weekly segment on their news with Florine Mark of Weight
> Watchers--she's a local minor celeb.
Yeah, I agree, they often do this. And then sometimes they like to latch
onto "contrarian" stories, like they did with Atkins. "Look, this guy lost 2
gazillion pounds eating bacon and cheeseburgers!" I guess it's safe to
conclude that the primary focus is *not* really educating the consumer, but
more like (1) filling columns without too much effort or expense, and (2)
reporting improbable stuff that will catch viewer/reader interest.
> Actually, I think the recent low carb frenzy hurt the low carb cause.
> Because so many latched onto it without actually understanding it and
> doing
> it correctly, a lot of people got a bad impression of low carb in general.
> I think the medical community will gradually come to view low carb as a
> positive thing because the research that supports it is showing up, but it
> will take a long time, several years at least.
That happened the first time around, too. Too many people who just ate the
steak and eggs and a handful of iceburg lettuce for months on end, and then
didn't feel well so went off and regained and decided Atkins "doesn't work."
Although there was a lot more fear and loathing among the rest of the
medical community in the '70's. I agree that the improved medical
understanding may help make at least reduced carb diets acceptable, maybe
even popular, in the not-too-distant future.
The current popularity of the South Beach diet may be an indicator of what
is to come. Reduced carbs, and much less of the high-glycemic stuff. Of
course this isn't strong enough medicine for many people, but it's better
than the very-low-fat-high-carb approach, at least.
HG