Weekend Roundup: The FDA and Hydrogenated Oils, Nutrient Benefits of Grass Fed Beef, and Using AI to Improve Healthcare
This week I'm sharing some featured health stories that hit headline news.
Back in 2014 - 2018
I was in college.
Where were you?
At this time there was quite the kick to reduce animal meat intake as most of the research literature was pointing to "ALL” meat being bad and increasing risks for cardiovascular disease and cancer, two of the leading causes of death in America and around the world.
Whole-heartedly, I had joined the #plantbased movement.
I’m a fan of food, I’m not a fan of killing animals. I’m not a vegan and never have been, but I have on occasion found myself following a vegan / vegetarian diet and lifestyle by accident as I gradually grew farther and farther away from consuming red meat, all meat, and all animal products in general.
It wasn’t until I was on my own, after university when I began traveling down rabbit holes on my own around the topics of regenerative agriculture, grass-fed vs. grain fed animals and really educated myself on all the controversy involved with food, agriculture, climate, and nutrition.
Diving into the world of nutrition and dietetics as a young blood, I would have never anticipated what relationships would be interlaced within these realms of science, biology, agronomy, biochemistry, and good ole food. Nowadays, dietitians are far much more involved with global conversations of conservation, permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and climatism than I would have ever expected.
This is not usually our first language I assure you. Most dietitians are immigrants to these ideals. So, when dietetics professionals are speaking on matters of climate and nutrition and promoting any ideological nuance in their discussions on food we must consider the truth that no dietitian is perfect, no one dietary eating pattern is perfect for all, science can change, science can be corrupt, and opinions can change.
My perspective is that we each must inspire ourselves to take each news headline with a shrugging shoulder and listen to each message with a handful of kosher grain salt. Use your intuition. Use your common sense. Seek wisdom, not flashy diet dogmas. I had to learn the hard way just how ridiculous parts of my profession could be. So as a dietitian, knowing that dietitians comment that they are “the experts in nutrition,” please do understand that different ideas do exist within nutrition as a whole and I personally do not like to see us as the “experts.”
Ideas can change. Nutrition needs nuance and HAS a ton of nuance.
Just look at Eggs.
Just look at Butter and Margarine.
Just look at Dietary Cholesterol.
Just look at “Anti-Nutrients” in vegetables.
Just look at Saturated Fats.
Just look at “Diet Soda.”
Just look at “Move More, Eat Less.”
Just look at Trans Fats and Hydrogenated Oils.
Just look at NutraSweet and Splenda.
All of these subtopics in the world of nutrition have adapted over time from flashy headlines around the next best thing to the scariest thing you could eat, “and must stop eating today!!”
What drives me nuts is that my profession has the audacity to still announce that “we are the experts” when our education is shaped and sculpted by ultra-processed food company research and large governing bodies skewing and manipulating science narratives to fit their latest desires.
Seriously, like why the hell are we suggesting people need to consume ultra-processed soy products and “meat” grown in a lab to save the planet. You’ve got to be kidding me ladies and gentlemen. Things have got out of hand over the last handful of years and I’m kind of sick and tired of the trash we are throwing out there at consumers.
Now, I will say that most dietitians are aware of the perplexing array of wild chemicals and ultra-processing that is completed in the products. Many of the dietitians I speak with on a regular basis - aka my kind fo people - are those that lean into their common sense approach and like to lead with simplicity.
“Why can’t we just get back to eating real food?”
And that’s precisely the kind of approach I have with nearly all of my work. I address nuances on the highly personalized basis with each individual depending on their needs with respect to several potential food sensitivities, autoimmune conditions, GI disorders (I’m looking at you Celiac Disease, Crohn’s & Colitis), and food culture and food access.
Not every family has access to organic produce. Not everyone has a garden in their own backyard. If you have the capacity for either of those two things I applaud you and celebrate you for the chance you have to place good, clean, food sovereignty at your fingertips. Many people on the other hand are not as fortunate as us.
Many people are driving through Burger King ordering an Impossible Burger while snacking on Twizzlers and thinking about asking their doctor if that new weight loss drug they keep hearing about might be a good option for them (or their teenager for that matter). Many people are not ready for the truth that I am spitting in this newsletter and many people simply are not at the same stage of personal health, identifying with the chance to be their own best director of health and wellbeing like us.
And frankly, that’s okay. I’m not speaking to them right now. I’m speaking to you - health seekers and wellness strivers.
You are my kind of people. The people that are fascinated by the fancy things and yet capable of brushing off the frivolous. You are my kind of people.
So, when you saw this recent headline about how the FDA No Longer Considers Hydrogenated Oils as GRAS (generally recognized as safe), you weren’t at all disturbed because you’ve cut out hydrogenated oils from your diet over the last decade as you started to learn more about the problems with partially hydrogenated oils in peanut butter and other common convenience foods.
Perhaps you were wiser than me when I was under the impression in college that “all meat was bad” and accidentally began a journey into vegetarianism.
Maybe you already understood how different ways of raising animals could actually impact the science in the soil and the quality of nutrients found in the animals if considered as a source of nutrients to humans.
And I’m not just talking about how we raise chicken breasts (hens with little legs and mountainous chests) more than we do raise and nurture sentient birds that can provide us with daily provisions for “nature’s most perfect nutrient source,” known as eggs. I’m not just talking about raising pasture-raised, free range, organic feed fed hens.
Today I’m sharing the story more than a decade in the making. I’m sharing the story of the profoundly important nuance that has come out of Bionutrient Food Association showing that the potential Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio in grass-fed cattle vs grain fed cattle is much closer to the ideal 1:1 ratio that we believe was the historical norm for humans in our history.
The fatty acid profiles in native bison or cattle raised in a nourishing way show healthier profiles than those animals raised on non-natural food stuff diets or raised in inhumane ways. In other words, healthier animals = healthier meat = healthier food = healthier humans.
If you’re not privy to the science on Omega3s, let me do you the favor of catching you up to speed as shared succinctly in this recent LinkedIn post I’ve been following.
"Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects.” - Pubmed
How we steward land directly impacts the nutritional profiles of the foods we eat, our health and thus the health of the communities we live in.
- Cate Havstad-Casad
Omega 3 balance is widely known to support good health.
That’s why back in 2020 I joined forces with ZinZino who focuses on Omega 3 balance testing and supportive nutrient supplements.
Ask me about ZinZino if you want to learn more about how I incorporate their supplements into my life and my practice with patients. Greater balance in Omega 3s to Omega 6s improve inflammatory markers, reduce symptoms of many inflammatory disorders, pain, arthritis, improve gut health, skin integrity, brain health, ADHD symptoms and so much more.
So, when it comes to meat… is all meat “bad?”
I’ve certainly changed my opinion on this topic over the years. It’s a nuanced discussion needless to say, but at this point I’m of course going to say no and there’s many reasons for that.
Meat has its place on our plates and within the human diet as it has for pretty much our entire anthropological history.
Can you be vegan? yes.
Is it easy? Not as much as what people think it is.
Can people thrive as Vegans? yes.
Can people thrive as Omnivores? yes.
The old phrase that excellence lies in the details reigns true because each person must take a personalized approach in my opinion.
Working with a qualified professional makes the most sense to me - WHILE listening to your body, WHILE being open to change, WHILE taking care of your wholistic self. And that’s what we care about here.
Thank you for being here.
And since I’ve run out of room to chat with you about AI Chatbots, I’ll just link to that story here instead. If you’re wondering…. YES, I’m a huge fan of leveraging AI and technology to support the highest level care and greatest patient outcomes.
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