On Sat, 4 Mar 2000, Sharrhan Williamson wrote:

>    Govement conspiracy?  No, I don't think so.  I do think the powers that
> be are getting behind it because of the immense power of the AMA and the
> ADA, and the fact that everyone is "hypnotized" into thinking this way about
> nutrition. So right now the dietary pendulum has swung in favor of
> vegetarianism.  Why?  Because of all those young, idealistic, highly
> committed vegetarians in the '60s and '70s who are now baby boomers.  Not
> because of a government conspiracy.

I agree.  Most of the vegetarians that I know seem to see their
vegetarianism as a vaguely countercultural thing, just as
paleodieters do.  For many, I suppose it is the last vestige of
their countercultural ideals of the '60s and '70s.  So, even
though there is some support from the medical community for
vegetarianism, the fact is that in the U.S. vegetarians are still
a tiny minority.  So they can hang on to their underdog mentality
and quixotic struggle against SAD.

>    Most people do not think for themselves (IMO, again), so the party line
> of high carb, low fat, little or no meat, has become gospel.  But even that
> may be slowly-- ever so slowly-- changing, as more and more people wake up
> to the fact that people are dropping like flies  from insulin
> response-related diseases that they were told they wouldn't get if they just
> listened to Dean Ornish.

The Ornish phenomenon is not to be underestimated.  It is a fact
that his is the only program known to cause a measurable reversal of
atherosclerosis, and that fact is never far from the minds of
vegetarianism.  Of course his study is hopelessly confounded by
the fact that it does not isolate dietary variables.  The Ornish
program comprises the extreme low-fat vegetarian diet,
meditation, yoga exercises, etc.  In short, it involves major
non-dietary lifestyle changes.  But until somebody documents
comparable reversals of atherosclerosis on a different kind of
diet, Ornish will remain the only kid on the block who is
actually getting the result that is so desperately wished for.
This is how he can be so arrogant in his comments about
Neanderthin, or Atkins, or Sears, or whomever.

In short, it's time for the low-carb and paleo camps to put up or
shut up.  Ornish is the man to beat.

Todd Moody
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