From The Ross Report --

There is much in this current debate on sunlight that is reminiscent of
the longstanding feud over dietary fat. First, Dr. Robert Atkins was
excoriated by almost the entire medical profession as a fraud and a quack.

Then there was a grudging admission that his diet may work sometimes, but
for reasons other than those he postulated. Now, after the public in its
millions has deserted the orthodox position on weight loss, the medical
profession is running full tilt to catch up.

Recently I awoke to the following headline: "Longest scientific study yet
backs Atkins diet." Two clinical trials conducted at the Philadelphia VA
hospital and at Duke University, published in the prestigious Annals of
Internal Medicine, have found that subjects on the Atkins diet shed
significant amounts of weight without harmful effects on blood fats and
sugars (Coghlan 2004).

[What a coincidence that I get this post a few posts after I sent off
another post about Dr. Roy Walford...

I agree with BOTH of them, and I disagree with BOTH of them...

I agree with Dr. Walford that we should eat nutrient rich foods,

and I agree with Dr. Atkins that we should avoid carbohydrates...

And I agree with Dr. Walford that "Fewer calories are always
better than more calories, given the same amount of nutrients"

But I don't agree with Dr. Walford that protein and carbohydrates
are equally good as each other and that FAT is the villain...

However, I also don't agree with Dr. Atkins that we can just pour on
the butter and cream... butter (example) has almost NO nutrients at all...
It is pure fat, 9 calories per gram, so it fits Dr. Walford's definition of
"empty calories"...

I agree that butter doesn't raise glucose levels, but why eat something
if it can't help us because it has no nutrients, and it might harm us
(if you agree it might block up your veins and arteries) ?

I think we should choose nutrient dense foods, but it is better to avoid
as much fat as you can... and then let the rest come as it will... For
this reason, I eat two or three whole eggs everyday, because eggs are
very "nutrient dense" even if they do contain about 6 grams of fat,
which I cannot and do not avoid. But I avoid fried potatoes, which are
fat and carbohydrates, with very low nutrient value, and so they are
"empty calories" too.

Anyways... Yes, Julie, the medical profession often is mistaken, then
they backtrack when they are in danger of being left behind the wave.
This has happened throughout history. They thought Louis Pasteur was
crazy because he insisted doctors should wash their hands before they
operated patients... They thought Dr. Edward Jenner was crazy (in the
mid 18th Century) because he injected himself (and his son) with cowpox
to cause his body to make anti-bodies, to prevent smallpox... (This was
the smallpox vaccine, which eventually erradicated smallpox from the
planet...)

Dr. Bernstein knows this very well, too. He had to fight the medical
establishment just to allow diabetics to take their own blood glucose
at home, to the monetary loss of their doctors, and he still fights
with the American Diabetes Association because it STILL doesn't
recommend home glucose testing for diabetics type II... (they are
better sick than healthy... this way they have to visit their doctor
more often...)

I am not a doctor, but I have no doubt that I am right and they are
wrong concerning my use of insulin, and concerning my use of EPO...

I know much more about insulin and EPO than all the doctors who have
never used either one of them, and they have never prescribed either
one to their patients. They are constantly writing to me and telling
me that I should stop taking them, because they are so dangerous. I
know I am right and they are wrong, but they are doctors and I am not,
so they look down and laugh... The problem in this world is to know who
to believe, and they choose to believe their textbooks instead of me,
because I am not a doctor (and I can certainly understand this.)

However, I have learned what I know from doctors, and everything I
know and do is backed up by a few doctors. We are all in the minority,
but I know we're right, or at least... I am betting my life on it.

- Ellis