Lean and lovin' it: Keeping it lean for 24 years now
Today Lean and lovin' it celebrates its 24th anniversary.
If you haven't been reading for long, you don't know that when this column began in 1992, it appeared every other week. When readers clamored for more, it went to every week until a few years ago. Through the years, nearly 1,000 columns and recipes have appeared. Jiminy.
Over the years my opinions about food, especially fat, have changed; sometimes significantly. Here are some myths that got busted during that time.
Myth: Dietary fats make us fat.
At first, it seemed obvious that high-calorie fats (especially saturated fats) made people fat and contributed significantly to heart disease. For years, the LeanWizard guided readers to lower their dietary cholesterol and saturated fat in their food plans.
We now know those were big fat fables disguised as facts. Turns out, since the mid-1950s studies showed that dietary cholesterol is benign and doesn't appear to affect heart disease. Yes, some food plans have been shown to lower cholesterol levels, but that would be important only if someone had genetically high cholesterol issues.
Nina Ticholz in her book “The BIG Fat Surprise” ripped back the wizard's curtain to expose studies that showed that cholesterol levels below a certain point actually elevated cancer risks.
Myth: Dietary saturated fats cause heart disease.
The words “saturated” fats seemed so obviously unhealthy we were all easily convinced that those nasty “saturated” fats should be cut to zero.
Unfortunately, that advice was also wrong. Studies seem to show that the right kind of saturated fat (like those found in coconut oil) need to be part of a healthy food plan and, surprisingly, don't cause heart disease.
Our saturated fat fears led to near devastation of the coconut oil industry. Today, coconut oil is the new dietary “fat” darling. And, vegetable oils, like GMO soybean or GMO canola oils, are not thought to be quite as healthy as they once were.
Myth: Sugar has no fat, making it the perfect substitute for fats in processed foods.
The real story: Beginning in 1965 the Sugar Research Foundation funded a coronary heart disease study and did not reveal its funding or role in that study. The goal: blame dietary fat and give sucrose a “get out of jail free” card.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association study, it suggests that: “the (sugar) industry sponsored a research program in the 1960s and 1970s that successfully cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose while promoting fat as the dietary culprit ...” in heart disease. We were intentionally misled.
This obfuscation led to food manufacturers creating sugar-loaded fat-free and low-fat products that would fan the flames of obesity. Over the years, the less fat we ate, the fatter we got.
Today, these are exciting times because it appears that, based on “true” science we may finally be getting it right.
It has been a distinct pleasure to share my stories and recipes with you for the last 24 years. I can't wait to share more “good eats” with you in the coming years.
From the bottom of my healthy heart, thank you for the opportunity.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at don@ theleanwizard.com.