25. Isn’t it Important to Eat a Balanced Diet?

Isn't it important to eat a balanced diet?

How many times have you been told it's important to eat a balanced diet? Doctors, mom, health class, magazine articles, everywhere.

Remember to eat a balanced diet. It's been repeated so often that it's accepted without a thought. Except, of course, by me, you, and our low-carb ilk. Let's talk about it. 

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Isn't it important to eat a balanced diet?

Well, maybe. The big question is, what the heck is a balanced diet? The phrase doesn't seem to have any concrete meaning. Certainly, it varies from species to species. A balanced diet for a tiger would be very different from a balanced diet for a rabbit. Similarly, historically, human diets would have varied dramatically from region to region and from season to season.

Is the government, my plate, successor to the food pyramid, a balanced diet? 

It suggests more of some kinds of foods, particularly grains, than others. Is it balanced to eat six to ten one-ounce servings of grains a day, but only five or six one-ounce portions of protein foods? Is it balanced to omit fats entirely as a food group and recommend low-fat or fat-free dairy, restricting saturated fat to 10 percent of calories?

Remember that there are essential fats, but the essential level of grain intake, and of carbs in general, is zero. 

Remember hardcore low-fat diets, some as low as 10 percent of calories from fat, Ornish, Pritikin, those guys? I never heard “not balanced” thrown at them. Many of the same people are now pushing a plant-based diet, i.e. vegetarian or vegan diet, nearly devoid of saturated fat and cholesterol.

I find it incredible that we could increase our intake of any highly concentrated substance by over 2,000 percent in 200 years time, the increase in American sugar consumption between 1800 and 2000, and not have it be a health threat. Heck, if we drank that much more water, it might be a danger. 

Two better questions would be:

What diet comes closest to that on which the human race evolved?

And, What diet makes my own personal body work best? 

Links and Show Notes

https://www.carbsmart.com/podcast-25-isnt-it-important-to-eat-a-balanced-diet.html

Website CarbSmart.com

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Find Hundreds of Articles and Delicious and Easy-to-Make Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender

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Show Notes

https://www.carbsmart.com/podcast-25-isnt-it-important-to-eat-a-balanced-diet.html

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