But despite the disappointing results from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines (and I have some BIG NEWS to share soon about some rather interesting comments made by one of the former members of the Scientific Advisory Board regarding these final recommendations during a recent speech), I think the large turnout of pro-low-carb, high-fat voices that testified before the USDA left quite an impression. They now know the gig is up and they cannot pretend to hide behind the notion that the Dietary Guidelines is based on ALL the latest science when they blatantly and I dare say deliberately ignore the studies showing saturated fat is not as harmful as we’ve been led to believe and that carbohydrate is a much bigger villain in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. The USDA minions may think “the evidence is just not there” regarding low-carb nutrition improving health, but we’ve seen the studies pouring in at breakneck speed over the past few years (including this one just released today published in the journal Cancer Research that found a low-carb diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow tumor growth).

It was an honor standing alongside like-minded supporters such as low-carb researcher Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut, Nutrition & Metabolism Society Founder and President Dr. Richard Feinman, doctorate nutrition student Adele Hite, Sally Fallon from The Weston A. Price Foundation, the co-author of The Silver Cloud Diet Linda Eckhardt, and many more at this very formal meeting that featured more lobbyists on behalf of special interests ranging from sugar to dairy to vegan diets (in fact, I was seated right next to the President of the pro-vegan activist group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. Neal Barnard). You can read all about my experience testifying to the USDA last year which was something I won’t soon forget. I didn’t prepare any remarks and simply spoke passionately from my heart of hearts about the incredibly positive impact low-carb living has made in my life since 2004.

So why am I bringing it up nearly a year after it happened? Well, despite the promise by the USDA to provide a transcript of the oral testimonies at their web site shortly after the proceedings, I kept checking back month after month for the past year. August, September, October, November and December. Then they released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and still no transcript in January, February, March, April and May. But in June 2011, they FINALLY decided to release the transcript of the proceedings to the public. Better late than never I suppose. You’ll slog through reading many of these comments since they were read from a script by these paid lobbyists with special interests in mind. But there are a few golden nuggets in there that’ll be worth your while to check out and enjoy, especially from the pro-low-carb people I shared above and a few others who testified.

Here’s what I actually said verbatim according to the court reporter at the USDA:

What’s funny is I was so emotionally caught up in what I was saying as I was testifying that I didn’t even remember exactly what I said. I know I didn’t even use up the full three minutes that were allotted to me, but I had my say and I was done. My intention was to show them a real person who has been negatively impacted by the information they are disseminating to the public and that they needed to consider other alternatives within the scope of making dietary recommendations for people to consider. Dr. Volek later told me that when I started speaking, every member of the USDA Committee who was present looked up from their papers and was staring at me as I testified. They heard me. They saw me. And I bet they won’t forget me and what I said anytime soon either.

Although the testimony I gave didn’t make an impact on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, I have a distinct feeling we’re gonna see some pretty radical changes happen when the 2015 Dietary Guidelines start being debated in a couple of years with a new panel of experts that will include at least one low-carb researcher and/or practitioner on it. Call me eternally optimistic, but the growing swell of discontent with the current direction of nutrition in America combined with the continued rise in the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and more make it virtually impossible for this bureaucratic shell game to continue on for much longer. They can’t ignore the science or the wave of testimonies that continue to be published online from people like me who have seen remarkable turnarounds in their weight and health by “not doing the things” they’ve been telling us to do for decades. We will not be ignored. And believe me, I will be back in 2015 to ask them “why” obesity, diabetes, and heart disease is still out of control despite their recommendations. This nutritional nonsense has got to stop sooner rather than later. Let the low-carb revolution continue!

You might be wondering why the heck I’m even talking about Sarah Palin on a blog dedicated to the subject of nutrition, health and low-carbohydrate living. Well, there’s a perfectly good explanation for it that I’ll get to in a moment. But lest I’m somehow misunderstood or misconstrued, let me be extremely clear: I am by no means endorsing or asking people to support Sarah Palin in any way. As I’ve already stated, most people already have an opinion about the woman that will determine whether you would or could ever support her if she does end up running for President of the United States. And this issue I’m about to talk about is relevant if somehow we end up with a President Palin someday (okay, about half of your just fainted, but stick with me on this).

Honestly, this really has little to do with Sarah Palin as much as it does someone in her position of power. And that’s the crux of this news I have to share with you today that should be the take away message. You see, there have been some rather interesting revelations come out in the past few days from the release of nearly 25,000 e-mails while Palin was the Alaskan governor. Most of the information contained therein was about her gubernatorial duties, party politics, and whatnot. But hidden among all those folksy responses was an interesting exchange she had with her residence manager named Erika Fagerstron on July 29, 2008 about her dietary habits revealed in this ABC News story:

Fagerstron told the governor she was heading to the store to buy “a couple of things for the house.”

“Do you need anything?” Fagerstron asked, noting “I have formula and mocha stuff on my list.”

Palin’s response “Small bottles of champagne, low carb foods. Thanks!”

Erika replied, “Sorry, but Im not sure what kind of low carb stuff to buy.”

“It’s cool,” Palin wrote back. “I’ll get to the store at some point here for that. Mainly, just dont want the kids to have too much sugar/white carb stuff.”

WHOA! Did you see that? At the time that was written, Palin was a sitting governor and close to being selected as John McCain’s running mate on the GOP ticket. While it doesn’t appear she necessarily used her position of power to influence public policy regarding nutrition while in office, she obviously believes in the value of low-carb diets especially with her children. It makes you wonder how many other governors, U.S. Senators, U.S. Congressmen, and even presidents are closet low-carbers. And if they, like Palin, believe this way of eating is healthy for their families, then why wouldn’t they want to promote it to their constituents as well?

All it takes is one look at the recently-released “Food Plate” from the USDA to see why the promotion of a healthy low-carb lifestyle to the masses is so sorely needed:

http://youtu.be/SEFmSk08LIE

In the recent survey of my readers in April 2011, one of the questions I asked was what it would take to make high-fat, low-carb nutrition more mainstream. One answer that received a lot of votes was “a famous person starts promoting it.” In fact, some people responded more specifically with “when the President of the United States starts promoting it.” And that’s why Palin, President Barack Obama, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and all the other contenders for POTUS are a possible missing element in seeing major changes happen at the USDA before they come up with the 2015 Dietary Guidelines.

Whoever is President of the United States after the 2012 election will be choosing who will serve on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The current leaders at the USDA say “the evidence is just not there” about low-carb diets despite overwhelming genuine science that IS there which Consumer Reports reported on in their June 2011 issue. The fact is the low-carb research was ignored in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines and it’s not surprising–not one single low-carb researcher was asked to serve on the Committee. But what if we had a President who believed strongly in the message of livin’ la vida low-carb like Sarah Palin expressed in these e-mails? Would it make a difference?

Again, please don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m promoting Sarah Palin for President of the United States. I am not. But she serves as a good example of the kind of thinking we’d like for our political leaders in positions of power to have to get past the stigma about low-carb diets being a dangerous fad that still exists despite the fact that respected Harvard School of Public Health leaders are now publicly bemoaning low-fat diets. The tide is indeed turning in favor of healthy saturated fats and a significant reduction in carbohydrate intake from the Standard American Diet. Will a pro low-carb president who isn’t afraid to take on the special interests in the food and pharmaceutical industries help to push low-carb living into the mainstream? In the style of Palin, all I can say is “you betcha!”

I admit it’s not and easy task trying to figure it all out, but there’s one thing I always do to help remind myself about what is most important–if what is being shared in a magazine article, newspaper column, or television report doesn’t match up with what I know to be true based on the facts as I know them, then I’m immediately skeptical and will do my own investigation. Too often people become trustworthy of others by buying into a health headline as the gospel truth without doing their own due diligence to verify that what they are saying is true. One of my readers e-mailed me about this yesterday stating his theory that we’ve lost the “skill of critical thinking” because of our inadequate public education (he recommended the book The Underground History of American Public Education for evidence of this).

Perhaps that’s somewhat true that as a culture we’d rather be told what to believe rather than spending the time to investigate it ourselves. Or maybe our lives have become so encompassed in just doing the day to day stuff of life that we can’t possibly try to go behind everything we read somewhere, hear on the radio or watch on television to make sure it’s right. Regardless of our reasons for being this way, I do think we have a responsibility to question any source of information that seems out of place or that doesn’t make sense based on our own life’s experiences. It’s why I try to read any low-carb news and health headline looking at it through the prism of what has made me who I am. Even if I agree with the information presented in a news story about health, I try to double check everything and make sure it is on the up and up. And that even includes the stuff I share about here at “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.” Don’t take my word for it–see for yourself if what I’m sharing matches up with what you know to be true and act accordingly. It’s this rebirth of cognitive thinking that will help bring low-carb nutrition to the forefront again.

Here are some low-carb news & health headlines for February 2011 to help get you started: