Everything You Thought You Knew About Healthy Eating Is Wrong
We all know it well enough: Eat fat, and you’ll not only gain too much weight, but you will also end up with heart disease and a slew of other illnesses. Right? Well, actually, probably not. After years of being told how to eat healthy foods and avoid unhealthy ones, we’re learning the horrible truth of what it actually means to eat a balanced diet — and it’s not even remotely what you think it is.
While we have been told for years that fatty foods are what make us sick, a new story is emerging, and not only is it not even close to what we’ve been told, it’s also a pretty damning report of how money can buy favor in the world of marketing.
According to a published study in JAMA Internal Medicine, over 50 years ago, the sugar industry spent lots of money and energy to bury research that proved that sugar and not fat was the leading cause of heart disease. Their campaign, it turns out, was so very successful, it changed the way that our entire nation looks at food.
While this might seem like ancient history, it’s had a huge effect on everything from how sweetened junk food is marketed, and how we view food. With more and more evidence pointing toward sugar as the main culprit in heart disease, we’re wondering what other food lies we’ve been told over the years.
At least with this news, we won’t feel guilty any more when we reach for some bacon in the morning, right?
Will you avoid sugar to avoid heart disease? Tell us @BritandCo!
(h/t NPR. Photos via Getty.)