329 Comments

Great Article! And I love the Samurai Cat!

On a serious note, I bumped into the sugar / carbs problem a few years ago. Changing my diet really improved my health. As I researched the subject, I was shocked at how much of the food ‘science’ was just unsubstantiated BS. I discovered that most of the studies were generated by the marketing department of some food conglomerate or a paid-off academic. Until the pandemic I had respect for medical researchers. Now I see them the same way I see the food industry.

Expand full comment

food science and nutritional studies published by public agencies are a horror.

the USDA food reccomendations are just horrendous, made up nonsense.

what's fascinating in all this is it's not like the facts are unknown. they're out there and pretty conclusive.

they just get ignored or pitched over to serve some end.

lots of lots of trainers and coaches know them.

but the gov't agencies teach the opposite.

it's really wild how captured this all is.

Expand full comment

I’d like to thank my dear Mom for the umpteenth time for preaching “shop the outside aisles!”... except the grocery store industry caught on to that floor plan and now has processed multi syllabic crap evenly distributed through out the aisles.

Expand full comment

that is literally the best nutrition advice there is.

shop the edges. buy fresh, whole foods. and don't eat like a troll.

the rest is all mumbo jumbo.

Expand full comment

My method: eat what makes you feel good and makes you happy. Avoid as much as possible people who are actively trying to kill you. So far it's working.

Once read a paper by an "expert" who claimed if you gave up all the good things we eat (beef, fries, pie), abstained from strenuous exercise and anything that got your heart rate over 120 (including sex), and a bunch of other not fun stuff, you'd live much longer. Basically give up everything that for me makes life worth living. The first thought of my 20-something self was you probably die at the same age but it will seem like over 100 years. My second thought was even if it worked, why bother.

My favorite sensi used to say "life is balance". That's how I live: enjoy the moments we get. Life is not about quantity, it is for me about quality. I don't plan to arrive at my grave peaceful and quite. I intend to slide in sideways, tires smoking, smiling wide and shouting "well it was one hell of a ride!".

To each their own of course.

Expand full comment

We retired folk go grocery shopping together.... I know, I was never going to be one of those people... anyway, my husband recently reported from the Cookie Aisle that there are 13 different kinds of Oreos.... now that is nuts!!

Expand full comment

That is what we call progress!

Expand full comment

And then there's the cereal aisle!

Expand full comment

LOL! Which also includes a cereal with mini Oreos in it!! Let’s get the blood sugar rocking!

Expand full comment

️🎯

Expand full comment

It took me a few years but I have come to see that everything that is done by gov is bad, very bad.

I think a smart cat needs to study why that is so.

I mean, I know people who work in civil service. They're not bad people. I've heard various politicians speak (I don't know any very well) and even the ones I'd never vote for are not bad people. So how does everything they touch, from finance to education to healthcare turn out very badly?

Expand full comment

In a cocoshell, perverse incentives. Any bureaucracy eventually & inevitably becomes its own primary constituency. Consult Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law and Robert Conquest's 3rd Law for illuminating details 🙂

Expand full comment

You can find the same basic idea in Parkinson’s Law (1947), which may be summarized as, “bureaucracies grow without limit and without correlation to the work that they were created to do”. Or you could just reference the old military observation that bureaucracies eventually turn into self-licking ice cream cones, furiously busy but accomplishing nothing.

Expand full comment

"“bureaucracies grow without limit and without correlation to the work that they were created to do”

"The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies."

- Conquest's 3rd Law

https://www.isegoria.net/2008/07/robert-conquests-three-laws-of-politics/

Expand full comment

Nice reference…

Expand full comment

Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ. Oops, strike out the second part 🤭

Expand full comment

"perverse incentives"

Ding, Ding, Dingety Ding

Expand full comment

When I opened up the email for your comment, I didn't immediately directly notice the banner over the head(?) of your avatar icon but out of the corner of my eye caught something moving. I thought it was a but on my screen! Ya got me!

Expand full comment

I might disagree with the ‘they aren’t bad people’. Their masks slipped recently. They are, for the most part, bad people.

Expand full comment

You cannot determine if someone is evil by listening to them speak. It is their actions that reveal their character. Those attracted to bureaucracy and political office desire power over others, it is the lust for power that corrupts.

Expand full comment

Come on, not everything. For example there is ... uhm ... standby....

Ok, we need to come together for a few things at a national level. The common defense comes to mind. While maybe you wouldn't mind having your own standing army, it's a burden best shared. I'm think of the other thing our constitution identifies as necessary - regulating interstate commerce - but that problem exists because of state governments. The model is sound, though: governments are needed for a few things, but are inherently unstable things bound to become corrupt. So limiting the power of any one government will limit the harm done by corruption. Multiple points of corruption and failure is more likely to be sustainable. Of course national political parties completely undermine that model (as our first president warned).

Expand full comment

we do need a good gov for national defense and global trade BUT have you seen the state of Canada's army? Not a fault of the enlisted people, but it's useless as a defensive force. While the USA has a much stronger military, it is being 'woked' to death.

Take one look at the collapsing global financial system and you see it is a gov failure as well.

Expand full comment

My experience with Canadian military was in the 1980s. So no I've not seen it. I suppose that the Canadians don't need much of an army as politeness ensures no one gets mad at Canada, eh?

Sorry, couldn't resist....that was not really me but the devil on my shoulder forcing me to type it.

Expand full comment

That nasty devil...he's been guilty of forcing people to do all kinds of things over the years. At least that's what the people always say. Thing is, the tricky dude never forces, he just invites.

Expand full comment

As Deep Throat said, “Follow the money!”

Expand full comment

Political Ponerology, Lobacewski, Red Pill Press, 2022

Expand full comment

Meanwhile for more than decent warm-up, the editor's of this volume 'stack can't be recommended enough 😊 --> ponerology.substack.com/about

Expand full comment

The nutrition arm of "science" has been taken over by the Seventh-Day Adventists cult. They believe that eating flesh causes masturbation and violence and dooms one to Hell. They are also owners of large cereal companies. Kelogg was a member of this cult.

Expand full comment

Hmmmm...I do eat a lot of cheeseburgers....and I do like to.....hmmm.

Expand full comment

Yikes!

Expand full comment

And plenty of the folks who knew this about food .. and pesticides .. and GMOs,... etc ... fell for such bullshit about vaccines ... : (

Expand full comment

That is a very interesting observation. I am guessing that a lot of “Whole Foods” shoppers were probably true believers in the Branch Covidian faith. Living their lives in fear of getting covid. But at the same time, there were plenty of people in the natural health community who advocated eating real food, unadulterated by food processing with all the hormones and additives, who would also be shopping for organically grown and natural foods. And shopping at stores like Whole Foods. The question is, what is the difference between the two groups? I could be totally wrong, but it seems to me that there are a lot of people who believe in eating natural foods, unadulterated by our FDA approved food industries who believe they are morally good because of their diet. They virtue signal with every bite. Then there are people who believe in eating the natural, unadulterated foods because they are healthier and beneficial for our bodies and our immune systems. They believe in the wisdom of, “Let food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food”. The first group readily got sucked into the vaccine lies because they already believed they were morally superior to others because of their diet. Thus every jab was an opportunity to proclaim their moral status. Their moral rightness and purity. But the other group which believed in the human immune system

and not eating pesticide laden foods and GMOs could see through the lies. They were able to think moral critically because their belief about food was not connected to their personal morals. They didn’t need to virtue signal. They didn’t need to get the jabs to show how right they were as compared to the unclean unvaccinated.

Expand full comment

I've always said bodybuilders, aka human guinea pigs, are 20+ years ahead of the science in nutrition. For example, in the 70s, Arnold was asked about sugar and he called it "white death."

Expand full comment

Arnie probably got it from Jack Lalanne who said 'if it tastes good, spit it out'. He was the original Mr. Fitness.

Expand full comment

For most of our history we had diets restricted by what was in season, how well the crops grew, did the arrow hit or miss the deer, were the fish biting. We did not have the luxury of fad diets or worrying if a vegetarian or keto diet was better.

As an aside, I think I can answer the samurai cats koan "What is the sound of one cat napping?" purrrrr.

Expand full comment

We were also much more physically active and our food, animal, fruit and vegetable grew naturally in better soil.

Expand full comment

We are more physically active now than in the previous century. Nobody jogged in the 30s, etc

Expand full comment

Purr indeed!

Expand full comment

My bet is on pnap pnap 😇

Expand full comment

I didn't really get taken in by the pandemic because I had learned about all the food/pharma (SSRIs anyone?) bullshit 10 years prior.

Expand full comment

*the Food Pyramid has entered the chat*

Expand full comment

Has the death toll from the covid hoax caught up to the death toll from the cholesterol hoax?

Expand full comment

Yeah I've always wondered how many cardiac patients of my parents' generation are now getting dementia because they *severely* restricted fat intake for years, at the behest of their doctors...and now their brains are paying for it.

Expand full comment

Which is one reason they're the most heavily vaccinated demographic for experimental mRNA vaccines that had killed all the test animals. Bad diets and statin drugs destroyed their reasoning and cognition.

Expand full comment

And lot of them took their daily doses aspartame-laced diet sodas.

Expand full comment

When I was in college decades ago, all the overweight girls drank Diet Coke.

They remained overweight.

Expand full comment

Still happening. Dollars to donuts 3/4 of all orders at fast food places include a diet drink. What those people don't understand is that the sweet taste of the drink signals to their brain that calories are coming. When the calories don't arrive, the brain signals the stomach it's empty and needs to take in more food. Hence, the person must eat biggie orders of hamburgers and fries in order to satiate the brain.

Expand full comment

When I was in college decades ago, diet coke had not yet been invented. Thankfully. But beer had been. Which was a good thing.

Expand full comment

Many of your parents generation are getting a double whammy from restricted fat intake but also from statin use.

Expand full comment

And statins,which reduce vital cholesterol. the stuff our brains are made of.

Expand full comment

I just made a post and then read your comment. I think we are on the same track!

Expand full comment

And OD on statins!! 🤯

Expand full comment

Ding, Ding, Ding!! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!!! 😎😎

Expand full comment

That is a most excellent question.

Expand full comment

Nope but the jab hoax will.

Expand full comment

Remember the one that said people who drink a glass of wine per day are healthier and live longer? Then some “not a scientist” pointed out that “yeah, people who drink a glass of wine per day are rich, they eat better and have better healthcare” 😂

Expand full comment

And are probably enjoying a happy social life as they drink that glass of wine.

Expand full comment

exactly.

it's human contact, exposure, and friendship.

the wine is a marker, not a cause.

Expand full comment

The best medicines are clean water, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, relaxation, good food, and love and laughter with friends and family. Everything else is correlation, not causation.

Expand full comment

Maybe you’re right, cat; but I think it’s just about money. Rich Cat/Poor Cat…the rich fat cat lives longer. But then again, cats are not as social as we humans.

Expand full comment

i'm less sure it's so much "rich/poor" as a marker of other issues. many of these studies were done in europe where wine is not a class marker the way it is in the US.

it's also hard to measure wealth effects because for the first time in history, we now inhabit societies where the poor are fatter than the rich.

the question of why remains interesting and open, but there's quite a lot of associational data that it's a second order outcome from other habits like discipline and ability to pass marshmallow test etc driving both weight and wealth rather than a direct causal link

Expand full comment

“we now inhabit societies where the poor are fatter than the rich.”

True, but that too can be attributed to diet and exercise. Rich guy eats fresh fruit, vegetables, meats, wine, goes to gym and has the means to take care of himself; poor guy eats cheap junk food, doesn’t work out, drinks shitty beer instead of water or wine...

I am just thinking out loud here, but it is an interesting topic that’s for sure!

Expand full comment

i think that dichotomy exists for sure, i just question what causes it.

my sense is that it's less about "rich people eat like X and poor like Y" but rather:

people with lots of self discipline and ability to withhold immediate gratification tend to both be richer and eat better as both are manifestations of the same basic trait.

people are always trying to discredit/deny it but the marshmallow test is highly predictive of economic and fitness outcomes.

Expand full comment

I would argue that the healthiest humans eat no fruit or vegetables. We are genetically apex predators. Our bodies are designed to flourish on fatty meat, butter, eggs and other animal products. This diet creates no obesity, chronic inflammation, diabetes, IBS, Alzheimer's cancer. or auto -immune disease.

Expand full comment

It’s a pretty good bet that Duchess outlived Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat! 😂

Expand full comment

A short tale:

Why do we clink wine glasses when enjoying the drink in a social setting?

Wine has something beautiful for every sense except the ears: a lovely colour for the eyes, tantalizing aroma for the nose, delicious taste for the taste buds, even the nice cool feel of the wine glass to the touch! So when you clink it also gives a pleasing sound to the ear!

Your sixth sense just knows it wants some.

Expand full comment

Wine . . . it's not just for breakfast anymore.

Expand full comment

Actually, a nice shot of plum brandy (Croatian Šlivovica pronounced shlivovitza) goes better with breakfast if one is so inclined...on occasion!

Expand full comment

Slivo... is nasty! But it brings back fond memories

Expand full comment

Thank you!

Expand full comment

This. 🎯

Expand full comment

Sorry I just posted a redundant comment. Wanna meet for a glass of wine? : )

Expand full comment

I would love to, if I live long enough. 😁

Expand full comment

Maybe... or maybe it gives them a ritual to look forward to. My grandmother drank bourbon & soda every day at about 5 o'clock. It gave her something to look forward to and perhaps mellowed her out a bit. She lived to almost 95 and was happy, healthy and had no dementia. I plan to do the same!

Expand full comment

Never doubt your grandma's wisdom!

Expand full comment

Jefferson's Old Fashioneds FTW!

Expand full comment

The logical thing to think is those who live moderately....ie ONE glass of wine, not more, live longer than extremists on wither side.

Expand full comment

Had a pastor one time who decided to try that - small glass every day. He couldn't stomach any of the ones he tried and saw no appreciable difference so just stopped with that. He was in reasonably good health otherwise. There does seem to be some logic about that lifestyle of those who do drink a glass a day, though.

(And hey - if you do it and it works for you, more power to you. :) )

Expand full comment

The beauty of wine is there are so many varieties.

Expand full comment

Like us humans.

Expand full comment

Wine has a lot of Sugar which Invariably gets stored as fat. It also constructs your arteries which causes heart disease. Moreover, as a health care practitioner in 3 countries I've seen dozens of patients with alcohol-induced brain disorders. This resulted in them destroying their families, careers and savings.

I'd stay away from Wine at all costs.

Expand full comment

"This resulted in them destroying their families, careers and savings."

But, for the other 97% of us, L'Chayim!

Expand full comment

Everything in moderation, including moderation.-Wilde

Expand full comment

If you drink one glass only you likely are a moderate living person.

Expand full comment

A lot of diet and lifestyle advice comes not from results or study, but from prejudices. Prejudices are installed in us through our communities and are not considered since they are "the borders of what is acceptable behavior" and is a definition in itself of what being socialized means.

Eating beef, cow, or horsemeat all have their sections of society that say this is wrong, as does drinking and coffee and probably Twinkies (Mom would not let us eat Twinkies she thought they were too expensive for what they were)

Unfortunately the way humans think is: Have an opinion, then find the facts to support it. Some people go the further step to figure out if the facts are correct and if there are facts that disprove it. It is really hard to do that for everything, so we have to depend on other experts for most analysis. Not everyone is able to judge MPG, an ideal use of excise taxes and tariffs, or the benefits of CoQ10 or Nattokinase.

My niece's husband's Mom was an RN and in the 80's she accepted the information that fats were bad for kids, so she had her two kids on a strictly reduced fat diet, until she found them eating a stick of margarine one day.

Liquor will destroy a family, all addictions can, including the ones that come from an MD's Rx pad. Telling people that alcohol is bad is not the complete story.

Expand full comment

Hard alcohol has much more sugar than wine. People have consumed wine for many many centuries. In moderation, it’s actually beneficial. Like everything, the pros or cons can be supported by opposing studies. Cheers!

Expand full comment

They probably have wider social circles as well.

Expand full comment

Not only that, but do you remember all the hoopla surrounding resveratrol? Presumably, drinking a glass of wine would give you the benefit of it, help your heart health, etc. Then I heard Rush Limbaugh read a report out of Australia saying that drinking wine for the benefits of resveratrol didn’t make a damn bit of difference.

Expand full comment

I wonder how many parasites invested in soon-to-be-legalized drug manufacturing facilities based on these rat studies… Canada is fast becoming a complete shithole, where you can legally shoot heroin in a park but can’t feed squirrels 🤦🏼‍♂️

Expand full comment

BC legalized all drugs in small

Amounts a little over a month ago. Last month we broke all records for OD deaths.

Expand full comment

It’s tragic. And I’m sure our treasonous government sees this as a feature, not a flaw.

Expand full comment

I remember when we were told margarine was good for us. I still find that hilarious.

Expand full comment

I love the experiment someone did by putting bowls of margarine and butter in his garage, then observing it over a week or so. Ants immediately converged on the bowl with the butter. The bowl of margarine remained untouched. Even insects know to stay away from fake substances masquerading as real food.

Expand full comment

And “I can’t Belive it’s not Butter”...I can, it’s carcinogenic poison!,

Expand full comment

I'm a collector of cookbooks. Was curious about the use of margarine vs butter through the decades. Look to publish findings at some point.

Expand full comment

And lard and bacon grease. My mom and aunts used to keep jars of bacon grease and cook with it. Crisco is no substitute for either, but yet another marketing ploy similar to margarine.

Expand full comment

I bought my first tub of lard a few weeks ago. I remembered my grandmother cooked with it so I looked it up and found it’s much healthier than the seed oils. We really have been sold a pack of lies from the food industry. We’ve also started eating more bacon instead of just a few times a year.

Expand full comment

Last year I purchased some pork belly in a good butcher shop, had it smoked and that's where my bacon comes from. It's good but tastes different to packaged store bought bacon.

If you buy it, try to get it custom sliced, avoid the packaged stuff. My grocery store offers custom sliced at the meat counter, it's better than the packaged bacon.

Expand full comment

I did the same....got it from our local butcher who raises low volume pasture based, non-chemical grass feed beef!

Expand full comment

Have been on butter and lard and duck fat for some years now, and olive oil forever. Clogged up vein in spite of 17 yrs of statins cured me fast. Dr. Malcolm kendrick has excellent blogs on the subject. When you think about it..why would you forego the beautiful and tasty foodstuff that nature provides in all its simplicity and beauty. I love bacon, and pork fat and buy my food directly from a butcher who slaughters locally. Of course there is a bit of moderation in that you cannot just gobble up unlimitedly, but indeed our parents and grandparents were hardworking people, no in between snacks and processed foods, just basic good food, lots of melted pork fat on rye bread, meals 3 times a day and no extras. Just the other day i made rillettes, the slow cooked pork in melted pork fat, to be spread on your sandwich. Absolutely delicious. We love basic non-processed foods and i find that all i ever look for are fruits, vegs and fish and meat. And we eat all, like everything!

Expand full comment

I don't remember where I saw the video but it seems that the real culprit in clogged arteries is not cholesterol but inflammation:

my search engine gave this summary and found this article I site below:

'The atherosclerosis inflammation theory states that cholesterol-containing low-density lipoproteins accumulate in the intima and activate the endothelium, initiating the atherosclerotic process that leads to myocardial infarction, stroke and ischemic gangrene'

'Role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and therapeutic interventions' found at this link:

https://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(18)31210-3/fulltext

Expand full comment

It is inflammation/damage of lining indeed. Following the removal of my fatty plaque (which i wanted to see and have kept! Still in the freezer 😉) i felt pretty cheated by all the medical claims and so I started with the statin sceptics and ended up at dr. Kendrick’s blog. He has written extensively on what causes cvd. And it was quite eye opening. Statins are the biggest moneymaker i found. Kendrick made great sense! Cured me completely off the thought that lowering cholesterol would somehow leave us with clear veins. Thanks for the link Vanda.

Expand full comment

My two grandmothers, lard in food, lard in homemade soap, it was in everything. One 90 one 95! Healthy hardworking strong women, 12 children each.

Expand full comment

We use our saved bacon grease for everything.

Suggestion: Grilled Chz

Expand full comment

Couldn't make decent roux for gumbo without it!

Expand full comment

I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Not only that but Non Nom Nomity Nom.p

Expand full comment

🥳 - this and this article just killed my fast. scurries for nom noms.

Expand full comment

My mother (born in 1921) always had a special tin of bacon grease that had quite a few uses. Unfortunately, her generation used Crisco for baking (mainly for pie crusts and biscuits) and margarine instead of butter. I do have to say that Crisco made a fabulous, flaky pie crust. I think in the 1950s butter may have been a lot more expensive than butter, or perhaps she had been taken in by all the propaganda about margarine being good. She was a farm girl, so she grew up with butter. I don't know why she would abandon it.

Expand full comment

Tallow and ghee are what I use to sauté up a nice ribeye or scramble my eggs.

Expand full comment

We certainly got sold a lot of silly stories over the years.

Expand full comment

There are countries (I was born in one) where people use margarine almost exclusively because they can't afford butter, that's the only reason. Some people didn't even have access to much lard.

Animal fat was good back then but now I'm not so sure. I think a lot of bad stuff gets stored in fat so if you use it, you have to make sure the animals were well raised and well fed.

PS: where i was born, all the parts of the animal were consumed after a slaughter. According to my mom, my grandmother used to make delicious croissants using the visceral fat from a pig - butter was too scarce. I tried it once - long story. Those were very filling croissants.

PS: the visceral fat would be the equal of suet with lard being the fat 'under the skin'. My aunt emphasized that lard was not to be used.

Expand full comment

When you render that you are left with what we call in dutch “kaantjes”.. the best of memories! We ate everything too. So blessed to be raised with that,

Expand full comment

Cracklings I think.

Expand full comment

Cracklings is right! Also greaves the dictionary says. I remember the taste so well!

Expand full comment

Interesting. I call the visceral fat “leaf lard”, and there I agree there is a distinction from subcutaneous fat.

If organically, non-commercial diet fed porcine leaf lard makes a great skin moisturizer and wound healing salve.

My Grandmas knew!! 100+ years old.

Expand full comment

It’s gross.

Expand full comment

Trust the cows not the chemists!

Expand full comment

At least margarine is not called vegetable butter and has its own name. Not like nowadays with soy milk and vegan meat.

Expand full comment

I think a lot of people just accepted "scientific studies" because they figured they were done by "scientists" with pure intentions. This thinking was blown out of the water over the past 3 years due to the diligent work of certain naughty kitties and others (eugyppius, malone, cole, etc). It's now OK to question the science. Which brings us to global warming, heh.

Expand full comment

Once you see it, you can't unsee it, and you see it everywhere!

Expand full comment

I am an archaeologist (archaeology is the only "science" based on opinion) and am constantly encountering interpretations of data that are based on unwarranted assumptions. It makes healthy critical thinking a necessity and a healthy skepticism useful, too. Applying this to politics, culture, life, love, and cat food, leads to the conclusion that the sound of one cat napping is...wonderful!

Expand full comment

In cat knapping, do you think it is important to work up to a bifacial edge?

Expand full comment

I've had the same impression about a number of sites and archaeological cultures. Do you have any opinions on Catal Huyuk?

Expand full comment

Something definitely different here and at Gobekli Tepe. I would have to have a lot more information before I started to definitively interpret them.

Expand full comment

Discernment is a rare quality. Wisdom? Even more so. And the more outrageous the claim, the longer it "sticks". Just my observation over 71 years.

Expand full comment

Someone said that it's easier to con someone than convince them they've been conned. So I guess the bigger the con you fall for, the harder it is to admit it.

Expand full comment

Quote is attributed to Twain or Switzer and is very much the hard truth for today

Expand full comment

“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." Mark Twain

Expand full comment

I think the rat study is playing out in the transgender movement. I think these confused kids feel isolated, and then they find a group online that they feel a part of… Leads them down a bad path!

Expand full comment