How the Government Made You Fat | 5 Minute Video
Ever since the introduction of the Food Pyramid in the early ’90s, the average American has gotten fatter and sicker. Has this government-approved nutritional guideline — the basis of the modern “healthy diet” — led us astray? If so, how did this happen, and what can we learn from it? Cardiologist Dr. Bret Scher offers some food for thought on this very weighty issue.
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Script:
Here’s a riddle:
How is it that ever since the government began telling us what to eat, we have gotten fatter and sicker?
In 1977, when the government first set dietary guidelines, the average American male weighed 170 pounds. He now weighs 197. It’s not any better for women —145 to 170. And you don’t need an academic study to know the same thing is happening to kids. Just look around.
The weight gain has real-life consequences: the percentage of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes—a condition that can lead to severe medical issues—has risen from 2% in 1977 to over 9% in 2015. In hard numbers, that’s five million people to over 30 million people.
How did this happen?
It all started innocently enough in the 1950s, when President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack while in office. Suddenly, the issue of heart health became a national obsession.
Keep in mind this was an era when scientists had harnessed the power of the atom, unlocked the secrets of DNA, and cured once incurable diseases like polio. Surely, there had to be a scientific solution to heart disease.
There was. And a charismatic medical researcher from the University of Minnesota named Ancel Keyes had it.
Cholesterol, Keyes claimed, was the villain of the heart disease story.
His now famous “seven countries study” determined conclusively—in his mind, at least—that people who consumed high amounts of fat—specifically, saturated fat—had higher cholesterol levels and thus, higher rates of heart attacks.
Lower your fat intake, and you would lower heart disease risk.
The ever-confident Keyes spread the gospel. As an influential member of the American Heart Association, he was in a very strong position to do so. There was only one problem: Keyes’s study was bad science. The sample size was so small, the data collection integrity so shoddy, and the life-style variables between the countries he studied so great, that his research had no scientific validity. In other words, he asserted a conclusion he couldn’t prove.
When other scientists questioned Keyes’s conclusions, they were invariably met with stern responses like: “people are dying while you’re quibbling over data points.” And, “there are great benefits and no risks” to adopting this new way of eating.
In 1973, the American Heart Association set the dietary limit on saturated fat at 10%, and in 1977, the US government followed suit. Where did the 10% value come from? It didn’t come from any scientific data. It was merely a government committee’s best guess.
This was despite contrary evidence like the 1957 Western Electric Company employee study showing no difference in heart attacks in those who ate more or less saturated fat. A longer-term study of the same Western Electric subjects in 1981 reached the same conclusion. But again, no one wanted to hear it.
To make this all easier to understand and to spread the message to schools, “the food pyramid” was created. That’s the chart you first saw in third or fourth grade with all the supposedly good foods at the bottom—meaning, “eat a lot of those,” and the bad foods at the top—”eat those ones sparingly.”
What our kids are fed in school, what our military troops are fed on bases, what sick people are fed in hospitals; what crops we plant and how we raise our cattle, are all predicated on this deceptive nutritional concept.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/how-the-government-made-you-fat
source
The government did not make you fat. YOU made yourself fat. Take ownership.
When i started lowering my bread intake..
I lost 30 pounds over christmas season. And that was accompanied with sugar. From christmas sweets.
That we made. Just lowering that down increasing meat.
And droping proportion.
Staying away from more than a handful of chips.
Cut the bread out
This method sounds very much like every other government propaganda issue that has come up in recent years.
I went on a plant-based diet, but couldn't lose weight. I changed to while30, kept the same number of calories, and have lost the weight.
The kind of food we eat matters.
@2:22
hm….now why does that remind me of 2020? 🤔
A balanced diet is best, but dont let Uncle dictate your eating habits.
My solution is animal based
The food pyramid is outdated is also corporate propaganda.
The CDC still says agent orange is harmless to humans. Yeah, we're supposed to trust the institutions who have greasy palms.
Interesting…And here's another good question, how is it that the longer Pedo Joe is president the larger child trafficking continues to grow (& not just his personal pedophile ring but the world's as well)????
Dude is talking about low fat high sugar foods while the lady is eating potato chips. Since when are potato chips low fat? Have you ever put a potato chip on a paper plate and seen the oil stain left behind? But whatever.
We watched this video in health class and one person thought the narrator was a girl. 😂
We are a society of people who medicate our souls because we can't endure hardship and discontent. Food is available, relatively inexpensive, and makes us feel good…for a moment.
It’s all about making money, money and more money….take care of your own health, anything the government tells me, I do the opposite!
And the prevalence of Statin medications corresponds with a rise in dementia rates. Hmmmm…
How capatalists made us fat! By marketing fats and sugars to us as staple foods. No one has given this food pyramid a chance but I plan to. Btw we have been eating grains for ten thousand years and they haven’t hurt us. You can’t maintain a civilization on Keto or vegetables. I’m sure there were fat people in ancient civilizations but it was not the norm. I’m overweight but it’s not because I ate a grain based diet. It’s because I’ve eaten junk for the past few years. A two thousand calorie grain based diet is what we should be eating.
Hey, quick question: who made the food pyramid? It starts with P and ends with rivate companies
lol what a bs where are these low fat products ?? every processed item on the market hs enormous number of fat. Chips, popcorn 40 g of fat, cakes – 30 g of fat etc everything is full of fat. Where do you live where are they low fat items? Asia eat a lot of carbohydrates (rice, veggies) and people there are slim so… and you know steamed rice has like 0,1 g of fat and vegetables and fruits also very low fat, athletes eat carbs and sugar regularly their diet is like 60% of carbs, stop this keto, carnivore, fear of carbs, anti-sugar nonsense.
I always learned obesity and diabetes are more of sleep problems that diet problems
Our government has been lying to us for a long time… what we should be eating, visitors from outer space, why we need to go to war, etc… nothing but liars throughout.
With a thick pyramid nose curl facing the right that also can make you go down.
Regards Caldwell
Can I sue them?
You forgot to mention seed oils; things like canola, soybean oil, and safflower/sunflower are aiding in making people obese.
Stop blaming others, right?
"Should we accept responsibility for eating unhealthy and living a sedentary lifestyle?"
"No! It's the government's fault that we are fat!"
– PragueU
Fun Fact: The food pyramid we were taught in schools was the result of private companies pressuring the government to teach students something that better served their profit margins.
When a lady came to our elementary school class to give a lecture on health. She held up to cards 1 had ingredients in a cookie 🍪 and the 2nd half the ingredients of 🍞 bread. I raised my hand and questioned by if both are made of almost identical ingredients was one good & one bad. She said sugar, but I was suspicious 🤔. By the way the hydrogenated oil or trans fat in both products is worse than the sugar.
It is not just a matter of eating too many carbs. Having a culture that favors instant-gratification and is taught hedonism = happiness also makes people overindulge.
i eat 10 servings a day of grains like pasta, wonder bread, bagels, pretzels, rice, and noodles. i also have eliminated all red meat and cheese. i cook with olive oil and canola oil. since 'rona i've had 5 booster shots of pfizer and wear three masks when i step outside the door of my apartment. my life is great. i weigh 200 pounds and have only caught 'rona 5 times! i also stopped going to the gym because i realized that working out is a toxic trait only promoted by extreme right wing supremacists.
The lesson YOU learned is to take personal responsibility. But the lesson LIBERALS learned is that the government can control our lives any way they want.
I am overweight but I wouldn't blame the government… I just like food.
The government has never told people what to eat. It's through marketing and corporate lobbying done by big corporations that things are the way they are.
How have the heart attack numbers been effected? Are heart attacks stable, up, or down?
I blame a lot of the snacks. You’re now battling food science for snacks that are very addictive.
Sounds like the reaction when people had questions and concerns about new drugs labeled vaccines after the definition was changed. The response was "we need to protect everyone, are you a scientist?". I never had to be a scientist to have bodily autonomy before..
Try eating a potato chip with no fat. Bet ya CAN eat just one.
It's crazy to see how many lies we've been told all our life's. We never got taught our roots from our ancestors but instead we got taught standardized things that don't apply to everyone
Nice theory but most people didn’t follow the dietary guidelines.
I love PragerU and agree with their overall messages. But the govt didn't make America fat. Mass marketing which encouraged several generations in a row to be lazy about cooking did. Just look at the bread you guys eat. In Ireland it would be labelled dessert because of its high sugar content (which begs the question, why is ANY sugar being added to bread, even a little?).
There are things I'm willing to blame the Left on. A lot of things, in fact, but this ain't one of them. Backtrack to the 70s and 80s and it was the more stereotypical Republican who was the fatso. That's only changed in very recent times.
Sugar is basically legalized cocaine. The harmful effects take so long and the profits are so high, all is well with the industry. People think you have to eat celery sticks when you go on a diet, just cut the sugar and carbs that will turn into sugar, that's it.