A personal journey

I Have Not Always Been a Caveman

After difficulties at work and various illnesses (gout) I had a heart test called a catheterization. They use a thin flexible tube that is inserted into the femoral artery in the groin - and up into your heart. Ultimately I had 90% blockage in the main artery (the widow maker ¹). I was told heart surgery was my only option.

The Widow maker is a great movie. Get a CAC scan. It is the best, cheapest test you can get to diagnose heart disease

I’m a veteran - and the surgery was done at the VA. The care I received was way beyond expectations. But there were some complications. The surgery lasted 8 hours instead of 4. A quad bypass was scheduled but only a triple was completed. I learned years later that I defibbed (died) on the table. Afterwards I had a few issues, like kidney disfunction. All in all, I’m grateful.

I’m a software developer, not a writer.

Researching this book, I’ve run into multiple obstacles.

• not being a writer 😛
• white lies - things we were told that are just wrong
• propaganda - aka marketing
• government misrepresentations
• outright lies

The landscape for finding truth has changed. Things are upside down. Truth is a lie and a lie is the truth.

I will try to distill what I’ve learned - and what I think I’ve learned. It is a journey that I think anyone can benefit from.

The food pyramid

Turn it upside down. No, I’m not kidding. The food pyramid was created by marketing agencies for large food corporations - with perverse incentives. ²

The promotion of low-fat diets and the rise of processed foods are indeed interconnected trends that emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in Western countries. Here’s a brief overview:

1. Low-fat diet trend:

• Gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s
• Based on the hypothesis that dietary fat, especially saturated fat, was a major contributor to heart disease
• Led to widespread recommendations to reduce overall fat intake

2. Processed food industry response:

• Food manufacturers responded to the low-fat trend by creating numerous “low-fat” and “fat-free” products
• To maintain palatability, many of these products were often high in added sugars and refined carbohydrates
• This led to an increase in the availability and consumption of highly processed foods

3. Unintended consequences:

• While aiming to improve health, the low-fat trend may have inadvertently contributed to increased consumption of refined carbohydrates and added sugars
• Some researchers argue this shift may have played a role in the rise of obesity and type 2 diabetes rates

But the powers that be, who wrote the pyramid (and “The standard American Diet”) ³ are influenced (captured some may say) by big corps.

Money is in the carbs ⁴ - processed food - take flour, sugar and seed oils - ⁵ box it up and put a tiger on it - they’re great!

As a bonus, at the tail end, when you have diabetes from a lifetime of corn pops, you are in need of insulin. Win win for those with both stocks.

It is that simple. Perverse incentives. And a compliant (after many years of study, I’d say complicit) government.