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There's this radical new study that found if you reduce your caloric intake and increase caloric burn you loose weight. Freaking crazy!
Btw, Dr. Campbell from 'Forks over Knives' is so full of crap and bad science he even has no choice but to basically concede it if you actually read his study. He tucks it away and buries it. Watching that movie was like reading most of the stuff in the 'science' forum here. The logical flaw should be easy to spot in the analytical linkage he makes with his conclusion. That guy is a borderline shill. It's just a diet gimmick like all the rest.
Don't eat crap and don't overeat. The answer has always been there.
Sorry, but where is the "logical flaw" that is so obvious. You're talking about this
Dr. Campbell who is largely responsible for
this study as being "full of crap and bad science", yes? Gimmick diet? It's a diet millions of people have maintained healthy lives with for centuries. How is that a gimmick? I guess I missed some of that, or just don't share the same cynicism. That said, I don't subscribe to his diet as a cure-all, but it wouldn't occur to me to throw out that kind of criticism either. The film is not rhetoric, in my view. It's simply people sharing their enthusiasm for what they've found works for them and others. What's wrong with that? You can take it or leave it. No one is twisting your arm.
I'd have to agree with you on your other points, most certainly - don't eat crap and don't overeat, and watch your calories and exercise. Can't argue with any of that. Good sound simplistic and basic advice that withstands the test of time, though may not withstand the test of what's being done to our livestock and food supplies in recent years. I think it's not getting so simple as that anymore. Or rather the definition of "crap" may have a much broader application now and likely forever more.
I guess my lack of cynicism in viewing Campbell's findings (I've only just recently, as in the past month, become aware of him and his study) come from some personal experience that happened a few years ago. One of my best friends is around 62. A few years ago he had a heart attack. He'd smoked a pack a day most of his life and chews nicotine gum now. It had been 10 years since he'd quit cigarettes when he had his heart attack. He ate poorly, was overweight and out of shape. He had two stents put in, and was told that when he had recovered from that surgery that two more arteries were so clogged that he'd have to have two more put in, or else have bypass surgery. Barring either of those his prognosis pointed to his moving six feet under sometime quite soon. He was looking death square in the face, and the doctors were not at all encouraging. He did a whole lot of research in the time that he was recovering and his research lead him not to Dr. Campbell, but to some other Chicago surgeon who subscribed to some of the same beliefs as Campbell concludes in his study. As a result he went on a vegan diet cold turkey (pun not intended). This is a guy who ate meat at every meal, ate fast foods, ate out a whole lot, drank every night, chewed nicotine gum, was about 50 lbs overweight and couldn't do much sustained physical effort. In two months he'd lost 40 lbs and I hadn't seen him looking so fit and healthy since he was in his 30's. He did some regular exercise as well during his recovery (and still does). When he went back to the hospital and went through the barrage of tests, scans, probes and xrays that the docs put him through they were all dumbfounded. His clogged arteries had entirely opened up and were completely normal, and his stress test reflected the results of a much younger man. He no longer had to make the choice to go under the knife again. Two years later he's remained on that diet and continues to amaze his heart specialists, his arteries remain clear, and he remains healthy and very happy. They took him off of Plavix a year ago and he's doing just great. Pretty amazing what the human body is capable of.
As I said in previous posts, I don't subscribe or advocate any one way of eating healthy. Everyone is different. A vegetarian diet has not worked well for me, but I'd not be adverse to trying again, being more informed now than I was in the past. In general, I've found a wider range of healthy food in moderation has worked pretty well for me as far as I can tell. But I'm definitely inspired by stories like my friend's, which I witnessed first hand. I'm glad he's still here. I'm sure he, and his wife and kids are as well. His transformation is truly astounding on any terms.
If Campbell wanted to just make some money being a shill, he could have stuck with the family business and promoted the family dairy farm and not had all of the food and health establishment all over him like white on rice for actually encouraging people to take control of their own health in a way that does not support the power players in the food and health industries. Instead his studies do not make him very popular at all in the research community or the food and agriculture and health industries. Not really an easy way to make a buck if you ask me. Or in short, he simply comes off to me as someone who believes in what he's dedicate his life to, and indeed walks the walk himself, and is living proof of the validity diet he advocates...for him, not necessarily for everyone.
If I found something that worked for me that way, I'd want to share it with everyone I could who would listen too. It gives one a sense of contributing in some small way...to helping others. Whether it's sharing enthusiasm for headphones, a diet, a film, or simple advice that has worked for you in the past.