by Lorette C. Luzajic

Old news is news again- Canadians are getting fatter. Our ever-expanding girth headlined again this past week. Fully HALF of the people in my home city, Toronto, are overweight or obese, according to The Hamilton Spectator. The Spec also reported worse news for its own community, not far from Toronto. In Hamilton, more than 75% of residents are fat. I hang my head in shame to confess that I am a statistic in Toronto, and not the good half.

A few years ago, reports flashed everywhere that we had gotten fatter. A few years before that, same thing. In the early ‘80s, it was announced that we were tipping the scales like never before, especially as compared to the first half of last century.

What gives? It didn’t make sense, when more and more people were following the new health guidelines: wisely choosing chemically constructed, boxed fake eggs instead of the cholesterol goo of the real thing. We cut down on red meat and upped our intake of whole grains. In some instances, we upped that intake to eleven servings or more a day, just like the food guide recommended. We threw away our butter and bought heart-healthy melted plastic made from soy: margarine. We bought low fat everything, and began drinking fruit juice instead of soda. We ate the driest, most disgusting meat possible- boneless, skinless chicken breast- if we ate meat at all. We stopped making bone broth and bought cubes of flavouring- low fat, after all. We learned how organ meat was way too high in cholesterol, not to mention filled with toxins- after all, kidneys and livers are the toxic centre of the animal, right?

And here we are, taking up two seats at a time on the public transit.

It never seemed incongruous to us that our slender ancestors ate lard, lard and lard. They drank their milk homogenized, not skimmed. They ate whole chickens, complete with skin, and boiled the bones to make broth. They baked with lard and sour cream. They ate bacon and eggs for breakfast. They used butter, and liberally, and would never dream of using artificial/vegetable oils. But now Grandma is fat, too, because she has lived the second half of her life in this ludicrous era of industrial food, which has been, literally, packaged and sold to us as low fat and natural. Yeah.

And what are the papers blaming it on this time? Well, we’re sedentary. Well, sure, some of us are. But people work out in droves; yoga is a way of life; outdoor sports and team sports are defining characteristics of Canadian culture; and millions of us go dancing several times a week. The stories say that  culprits “fast food” “white flour” “high fat” and “red meat” are guilty again. But more and more people are nixing “empty whites” for “nutrient packed, low fat” whole grain options.

There are more and more  “meatless Monday” families. Most people are in a continual state of “cutting back on red meat” though few can make it to vegetarian, the loftiest goal. More and more people drink skim milk, eschew animal fats, “saturated” fats, and butter. Many dieters replace dining with “low fat” “whole grain” “soy protein” bars filled with nothing but the finest in artificial, empty calories. Viva health!

When I was still a guilty deserter of the vegetarian way, having succumbed to my weakness and reprehensible lust for blood and gore, I read a Sally Fallon piece about the enigma above. If we are eating ‘better’ than ever before, why do we keep getting fatter- not just fatter, but sicker? And I rolled my eyes, because I knew the answer was “fast food.” Clearly, millions of us are chomping down on the burgers. More fast food chains should have veggie burgers, I reasoned. Indeed, I thought a great solution would be to SAY the sandwich was a burger, but to use “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat” for the patty. No one would be the wiser, and we’d all be so much healthier, I thought.

Clearly, I was still very ill from my unnatural diet.

Because now it’s obvious- “meat” is a very, very small part of the “fast food” menu. One tiny patty of beef or chicken, made mostly from soy, breadcrumbs, and garbage, makes up the “meat” options. Some stores have milk. The rest of fast food is soda pop, fruit juice, sugar juice, vegetable oil pastries, doughnuts, French fries fried in vegetable oil not lard, bread, buns, fake ice cream, coffee with “edible” oil whitener instead of milk, and so on.

Dr. Barnard ridiculously claims we are bloodthirsty because we are addicted to meat. The scientific truth is, however, that we are addicted to sugar. We like it straight up, and we like it starchy in potatoes and chowders, we like it in granolas and cereals and bagels and bars and juices. We like it in chocolate éclairs, and we like it in whole grains.

On Good Friday, I was at my sister’s and awoke to the delicious aroma of pancakes. I wasn’t even going to try to resist the gluten-riddled griddle cakes- it was a holiday, after all. I had two pancakes. Then I had twomore. Half an hour later, I was opening the fridge. I was dying for a leftover piece of chicken or a boiled egg. But instead I hauled out the skim milk and poured it over a heaping bowl of Alphabits. I was starving again within fifteen minutes, despite the lack of room left in my intestines for more food. I had some Honeycombs. Feeling sick, I drank more coffee, and though it was only ten thirty in the morning, I had a very disturbing longing for an alcoholic beverage. Thankfully, there was no wine in the house!

This is science. Sugar in, insulin spike, sugar low. Replace sugar. Meanwhile, the body is still starving for actual nutrients, so you’re still hungry. Carb binges suck. This never happens when you have eggs for breakfast.

Feeling guilty about my lifelong struggle with addictions, I hopped online to seek out the stories about Canadian fat people and see what suggestions they had. A maze of internet links led me to the completely unfounded but constantly propagated idea that protein, in addition to causing cancer and heart disease, causes osteoporosis. Then I read that they cause cancer tumours. How are people still allowed to print this crap? On many sites, the agenda was so clear- buy our industrial chemical products: we’ll call them “vegetarian” wink, wink. Save the fuzzy animals and prevent cancer!

Why is diabetes STILL linked to animal foods, when  even kindergarteners know it’s caused by sugar? Why do diabetics still drink soda and alcohol, but cut down on red meat? Why is heat disease blamed on animal fat, when clearly, its link to diabetes must link it to the mechanisms of diabetes- sugar regulation? Why did this month’s Canadian Living Magazine yammer again about “choosing skim milk” and “whole grains”- making me vow to stop reading an otherwise useful publication? And why do I see “support groups” in my newspaper for cancer victims to “learn to cook” meatless, whole grain based meals? It is no secret that cancer uses sugar to grow. Want to starve a tumour? Avoid all forms of sugar.

Here is a list of diseases caused by a “plant based diet,” specifically wheat, as outlined by Doctors James Braly and Ron Hoggan. Anemia, autism, anorexia, arthritis, cerebral atrophy, chronic fatigue, chronic liver disease, colitis, constipation, dental problems, gallstones, diabetes, kidney stones, pica, osteoporosis, lupus, obesity, schizophrenia, rickets, fractures, infertility, cancer, and chronic pain (that’s for starters.) Why are we still being told that most of these diseases come from meat?

Other diseases and illnesses caused by plant foods- including whole grains- include: hair loss, nail deformities, yeast infections, hypoglycemia, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, gum disease, tooth decay, poor eyesight, inflammation, impaired immunity, cancer, bad breath, depression and anxiety, exhaustion, gas and bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, brain fog, concentration problems, obesity, osteoporosis, migraines, malnutrition, tumor growth, addiction and alcoholism and relapse, fatty liver, mineral loss, leaky gut syndrome, arthritis, thyroid disorders, poor wound healing, libido problems, vitiligo, lupus, gallbladder disorders, accelerated aging/collagen loss, nervous degeneration, metabolic syndrome, perpetual hunger/overeating, clogged arteries, heart disease, and more.

What diseases are caused by carbohydrate deficiency?

None.

Why is the phrase “healthy, plant based diet” entrenched in our mythology when it’s actually an oxymoron? Think about the phrase. You might modify it to specify that you mean unrefined plants, not white flour, wheat or sugar. But why have we come to perceive a “plant based” diet as healthy? Once we actually think about it, away from the agenda of the monocrop monolith, the reality comes through. It’s one of the first things we learned as children: never, ever, put flowers or weeds or berries into our mouths. Most plants are poisonous.  

Lorette C. Luzajic
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