The NRA as in the National Rifle Association?!?

I do agree with you that inertia has become a major factor in this
situation.

And maybe I'm one of the nuts, thinking that there's at least some kind of
effort to keep people thinking that carbohydrate-based processed foods are
good for them going on.  So be it.  I look at it this way.  Americans go
berserk for every stupid fad diet that appears.  Some last for years, even
ones that seem rather humorous, like the cabbage soup diet, or the
grapefruit diet.  Yet, although Atkins' diet has been out since the
mid-seventies, I and no one I know had ever heard of it before I started it
in January.  And it's a tremendously successful diet, by anyone's standard.
 Not only does it help one lose weight, but it usually improves the
dieter's health, as opposed to the low-fat, low-calorie diets.  So why has
nearly on one heard of it?  Why do all of the low-carb diets remain
obscured while every new low-fat diet makes such a splash?  Some of these
low-fat diets are far nuttier sounding than low-carb, which at least has
some scientific basis.  Yet, say "low-carb", and immediately someone's
telling you you're nuts.

Perhaps most humans aren't smart enough to be devious.  Although, I'd have
to say that one might consider that those who have made their way into
positions of power probably are.  Whether they be corporate CEOs,
government officials, etc.  And while most people are not devious by
nature, the hunger for power and general greed always seem to go hand in
hand.  So while I don't believe the average doctor, pharmaceutical
salesman, or grocer is in any way involved, I would not be in the least
surprised to find that those who make their policy, those in power, were.
 I live in Rhode Island, where a corrupt government official is outed on a
weekly basis.  Where corporations are constantly getting fined for paying
off people or ignoring laws.  I know this stuff is less common in other
areas of the country because I have travelled some.  But I have no question
in my mind as to the ability of people in power to be devious or greedy.
 And I continue to find it very difficult to ascribe the entirety of the
"low-fat is healthy" situation to ingorance, pride and prejudice.  Maybe
it's just me, but results speak loudest.  So why aren't they being heard?

Take care,
John Pavao

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>That, in itself, I find rather disgusting.
>Maybe we need to get the National Cattlemen's Association to fund a study
>on low-carb :D

Both the NRA and the National Beef Council are currently funding studies on
a number of these issues, actually.

This will undoubtedly cause vegetarians and low-fat advocates to attack the
studies, claiming that their funding source will have corrupted the data.

Talk of conspiracies and cabals gets a little tiresome.  Most humans aren't
smart enough to be that devious, and those who are smart enough most of the
time have more important things to do with their time.  Inertia, entropy,
pride and prejudice, and Occam's Razor are more than sufficient to explain
most problems of establishment mentality.  This is why grass-roots
organizations and people who question the status quo are always valuable,
even when they're crazy or flat-out wrong.