By Jessie Reimers
I have recently commenced a campaign asking that the Heart Foundation stop promoting processed foods and rethink their tick of approval program.
After years of my own ill health and research as well as my studies in Natural Medicine I realised that much of their advice was actually causing illness rather than wellness. Firstly the Heart Foundation promote substances such as margarine which are very highly processed, partially hydrogenated and contain trans fats as well as artificial colours and are unfortunately not good for the health of anyone. According to Dr Sandra Cabot and many others, margarine causes harmful free-radicals and inflammation which has been linked with cardiovascular disease and cancer [Dr Sandra Cabot, Cholesterol: The Real Truth].
The Heart Foundation also make statements such as “There is no scientific consensus that sugar as a nutrient causes heart disease. We believe that while overall kilojoule intake is important, other factors such as levels of sodium, fibre and saturated fat and trans fat are more important in preventing cardiovascular disease.” [Source] Which I believe is a seriously dangerous statement to make and flies in the face of current scientific evidence that sugar is extremely dangerous and leading to all kinds of inflammation, illness and lifestyle diseases.
They also make statements such as
“Cereals are eaten in large amounts and should provide the bulk of your energy (kilojoules) each day, so try to eat them at each meal. Choose wholegrain varieties when you can.” and “If you are trying to maintain a healthy weight, you might think that cutting out ‘carbs’ or starchy cereal foods like bread and pasta is the best way. However, foods in this group are all low in fat and, providing you don’t add lots of oil or butter when you’re preparing them, you can eat and enjoy them as part of your healthy eating plan.” [Source] Again I find this advice alarming, processed cereals contain very little nutritional value and actually our bodies require healthy fats from natural sources in order to function adequately.
Dr Sandra Cabot explains in her latest book that the real truth is that the CHOLESTEROL in your diet actually has very little, yes very little effect on your blood cholesterol levels. Around 80% of the cholesterol in your body is made in your liver from excess calories and carbohydrate. SO the things causing high cholesterol then are not cholesterol itself but our liver trying to cope with loads of processed foods and carbs as well as excess calories from things like soft drinks [Dr Sandra Cabot, Cholesterol: The Real Truth].
Cyndi O’Meara explains in her report on cholesterol that saturated fat is not the enemy. Saturated fats actually play a very important role in the total health of the body. Saturated fats actually make up 50% of our cell membranes and are vital for the stiffness and integrity of the cells. It goes much deeper than this saturated fats (healthy natural ones such as organic virgin coconut oil, raw organic butter from grass fed cows and animal fats, again organic, grass fed) are vital for healthy bones (no milk is not going to save you from osteoporosis, that’s a whole other scam and for another post). Our bones require saturated fats in order to effectively absorb calcium and other minerals. These amazing fats also enhance the immune system, contain antifungal and antimicrobial properties and are protective against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract. Even more amazing is that they are the preferred foods for the heart. The fat around the heart muscle is saturated fat and in times of stress the heart will draw on these reserves of saturated fat. So the Heart Foundation promoting a diet low in saturated fat but high in carbs and not taking issue with substances such as sugar is literally completely backwards and the opposite of what you want to be doing if you want to live an optimally healthy life and give yourself the best chance at protecting against cardiovascular disease and illness [Cyndi O’Meara, Cholesterol Myth Report].
I would like the Heart Foundation to remove their tick of approval from margarine and all foods containing sugar, in fact I don’t want to see any processed foods at all being promoted. I would like to see the public provided nutritional advice based around natural, whole foods (mostly vegetables, some fruit, seeds and nuts, organic grass fed meat, pure water, a SMALL amount, not 6-11 serves of soaked organic grains, not highly processed ones) and good healthy fats INCLUDING the saturated fats from healthy sources such as organic butter and animal fats from grass fed cows, organic unrefined coconut oil and fats from healthy sources such as soaked seeds, avocados etc. I do not want to see the promotion of highly processed substances such as margarine, Canola Oil and other vegetable oils being promoted as ‘heart healthy’ and I don’t want to see the tick of approval on cereals that contain nearly 30% sugar. Hopefully even if the Heart Foundation don’t change their advice this campaign will help educate the public and eventually they will be forced to change as people will no longer consume these products when they are educated about the extremely detrimental effects of them.
Really you just have to look around at places like America and Australia where the consumption of saturated fat has been dramatically decreased and consumption of sugar, processed foods and inflammatory vegetable oil and margarine has increased dramatically and look at the amount of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and other lifestyle illnesses as well as chronic degenerative disease there is today in comparison.. It is really just too obvious!
I will leave you with a quote by Christine Cronau- Author of the Fat Revolution series.
“It astounds me how health ‘experts’ keep blaming butter and other natural saturated fats for heart disease when the facts are clear. When we SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED our saturated fats, and SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED our intake of processed vegetable oils, rates of heart disease sky-rocketed. It doesn’t even take much investigation to see that this is a documented fact. Eventually, I think health ‘experts’ touting these old ideas will feel embarrassed, because it will become SO obvious that they were very wrong, and that it wouldn’t have taken much intellect to figure that out [Christine Cronau, The Fat Revolution Series].
Please sign the campaign here at http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/heart-foundation-stop-endorsing-unhealthy-margarines-and-immediately-review-the-tick-of-approval-program for the health and wellness of everyone.
Get involved in social media and help spread the word!
Jessie Reimers- The Healthy, Allergy Free Home
