I am proud to share another compelling story, this time from Kate Rogers, an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and a member of the DAA, for you to read and see if what she says makes sense to you. I have hundreds of these stories and they are coming in thick and fast from holistic health professionals that support what we stand for. As always if you feel like it, please tag your friends, comment, and share as far and wide as you feel. Hi again Pete, thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell my story, and here it is. My name is Kate Rogers and I am an Accredited Practising Dietitian and a member of the DAA. I graduated 25 years ago and I have seen and experienced incredible changes in the world of nutrition and dietetics over those 25 years. I grew up on a cattle property in outback Australia where our diet consisted mainly of fresh beef and mutton, fresh eggs, fresh cows milk, cream and butter and fresh home grown vegetables. There was almost no processed food. Our family was robust and healthy and there was absolutely no allergies, food intolerances, tummy troubles or strange ailments that afflict so many modern families today. Breakfast was usually steak, eggs, and vegetables. Occasionally crumbed brains or liver for a treat (sounds horrid but we loved it!). We kids would fight each other to eat the skin (fat) off the roast. Meat fat, butter and cream were eaten daily and considered part of life. Later in my life I spent time with the original Bush Tucker Man, Les Hiddens, who was researching Australian bush food for the army, and I learnt from him and from indigenous Australians about the nutritional value of native bush tucker and bush medicine. I became a Dietitian because I loved learning about food and the science of food, and how food can help prevent or cure disease. I have worked in many hospitals, health centres, TAFE colleges and in various private practices all around the country, and I have always practiced evidence-based nutrition. Consequently I followed the NHMRC Dietary Guidelines for Australians and taught people about the model of healthy eating which recommended high intakes of grains and carbohydrate-rich foods and to have very little saturated fat, salt and sugar. The evidence in the 1980s suggested that eggs and butter and meat fat were conducive to heart disease whereas a high carb low fat helped to reduce chronic disease. How wrong we were! The research clearly shows now that the opposite is true. When I had kids of my own, I fed my family what I believed to be the healthiest diet possible with low fat dairy foods, wholemeal breads, commercial high-fibre breakfast cereal, fruits and vegetables and the leanest meat possible. However my kids always had strange unexplained ailments from birth, including severe reflux, chronic gut pains, arthritis, hayfever/sinus issues, asthma, and fairly frequent chest/ear infections requiring antibiotics. Diet was never considered as being a possible factor, as it was assumed that as a Dietitian I was feeding my family properly. Fast forward a few years, and I have realised through my own experiences, the experiences of my patients, and through my own research, that the healthy diet we experts have recommended for so many years is full of flaws. The main problems as I see them are: 1. FATS. When I went to school and learnt about the 5 food groups, Fats and Oils was considered one of those essential groups. These days, fats and oils are no longer considered to be a food group, and they have been banished to the bottom corner of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating model, with the message Use small amounts. The photo depicting suitable fats and oils includes canola spray and margarine, which I believe are 2 of the most harmful fats possible. There is so much evidence of the health benefits of butter, cream and coconut oil in particular. It is just sad that the science takes so long to filter through to mainstream. 2. CARBOHYDRATES. The proportion of carbohydrates currently recommended by the NHMRC is extremely high, and the types of grains and cereal foods recommended include white pasta, white rice and even crumpets. Carbohydrates are simply long chains of sugars, and the evidence is clear that too many carbohydrates (and sugars) in the diet leads to obesity, inflammation and chronic disease. Even high-fibre carbohydrate foods like wholemeal breads are not the health food we once thought. 3. WHOLE FOODS. Making food from scratch seems to have becoming a dying art. For many years being a working mother with young children, I certainly resorted to buying some processed foods which I considered to be relatively healthy, such as bottled pasta sauces, packet soups and sauces, muesli bars, icecreams and yoghurts to feed my family, but these days I consider all those foods to be nutrient-poor and potentially unsafe to eat, so I avoid them at all costs. Since purchasing a Thermomix 3 years ago, my life has changed for the better since I successfully make almost everything from scratch these days, and it is so quick and easy. I also know through research that pasture-fed animals produce healthier meat, milk and eggs than grain-fed and likewise its important to choose organic pesticide-free produce whenever possible as well. 4. BONES. Gone are the days when our mothers and grandmothers would boil up the chicken or beef bones for hours on end to makes broths and stews. This is a lamentable outcome of our modern meat processing techniques, and our fast-paced lifestyles. Meat stocks are highly nutritious, containing minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, a form that is easy to assimilate. There is also plenty of good evidence showing the health benefits of gelatin in the diet. 5. FERMENTED FOODS. The power of fermented foods cannot be under-estimated. Unfortunately the knowledge and skills of making probiotic-rich foods like kimchi and sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha has largely been lost over the centuries, but these ancient techniques of food preservation and fermentation are essential to help keep our gut microbiota healthy. The research is clearly showing that gut health is critical for a strong immune system, but the mainstream has not yet embraced fermented foods as a powerful tool for healing the gut. I have had great success with patients suffering with gut issues and food intolerances, using fermented foods. ----------------------- Pete, I support what you are doing. I believe it is time that our national dietary recommendations were thoroughly revised. I believe that for a healthier Australia, we need to encourage people to eat real food and that a vast proportion of supermarket food is not real food at all. Many Dietitians run supermarket tours to teach people how to read food labels and which foods to choose. I stopped running these tours years ago, when I realised that if a food comes in a packet with a label, its more often than not, not worth eating, so my supermarket message is - avoid the aisles and choose whole foods from the perimeter, meaning fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, meats and whole dairy foods. I support Low Carb High Fat eating because, as Caryn Zinn (Dietitian from NZ in your last post) said whole foods tend to be naturally low carb high fat. Rather than the word paleo, I prefer to call it a clean whole foods approach to eating. And for better health, it works! My FB blog is https://facebook/countrydietitian and my website is countrydietitian.au/ I run a busy private practice on the Atherton Tablelands. Thank you for listening to my story. Kate Rogers Kate Rogers Accredited Practising Dietitian B.Sc. Grad.Dip.Nutr.Diet. Fig Tree Health The ideas and suggestions written by Chef Pete Evans, on this page are provided as general educational information only and should not be construed as medical advice or care. Information herein is meant to complement, not replace, any advice or information from your personal health professional. These of course are observations, they dont equal causation, but are pretty difficult to ignore. Im sure the experts will agree. All matters regarding your health require supervision by a personal physician or other appropriate health professional familiar with your current health status. Always consult your personal physician before making any dietary or exercise changes. Pete Evans Chef disclaim any liability or warranties of any kind arising directly or indirectly from use of this page. If any medical problems develop, always consult your personal physician. Only your physician can provide you medical advice. Throughout this page are links to external sites. These external sites contain information created and maintained by other individuals and organizations and are provided for the user’s convenience. Chef Pete Evans does not control nor can they guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this information. Neither is it intended to endorse any view expressed nor reflect its importance by inclusion in this site.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 04:35:45 +0000
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