“Huh? A healthy diet will, inevitably, result in all of the maladies you’ve listed?”
What you describe as a healthy diet, if you mean a standard USDA Guidelines diet or an ADA (American Diabetes Association) diet, is an actuality not a healthy diet at all. It is a diet that will make most people metabolically ill over time.
“I don’t know where you read that, but it’s bizarro.
Tell that to the physicians and surgeons whose patients brought the problems to their attention, who researched the root causes, and who treated their patients and themselves successfully to reverse diabetes and metabolic syndrome the rest of the medical community is still reluctant to even acknowledge exists. Yet, one physician at a time is becoming aware of the problem is adopting what is an ancient and well proven nutrition.
“Whether the pyramid is based on sound science or not, does anyone really pay any attention to it?”
Whether or not a person pays attention to the food pyramid they are surrounded by supermarkets, food services, and food products which implement the food pyramid in the foods the person consumes. It takes a special effort to avoid the consumption of a diet which is not strongly affected by the food pyramid.
“The Japanese have consumed a high carbohydrate/ low fat diet for hundreds (thousands) of years and they, until recently, have enjoyed the longest life expectancy and lowest rates of obesity of any people on earth. Go figure.”
Your assumption of a universal high carbohydrate diet for all Japanese is grossly in error and is responsible for you reaching a false conclusion. The Okinawans who are renowned for their longevity actually enjoy a low carbohydrate diet for the most part concentrating on cruciferous vegetables that are ideal for maintain a form of nutritional ketosis. See for example one of the scientific studies which noted the exception to the low incidence of diabetes is among Japanese men who consume substantial amounts of the white rice which provided and substantial source of high carbohydrate nutrition and a corresponding increase in the incidence of diabetes among the Japanese population. It is the par tof the Japanese population which does not rely upon rice as a substantial portion of their nutrition whose low incidence of diabetes brings the Japanese average to relatively low levels of the disease.
Low-Carbohydrate Diet and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in Japanese Men and Women: The Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118377
The Japanese Diet Has Been Shown to Prevent Disease
http://www.naturalnews.com/024715_Japan_Japanese_diet_disease.html
You're not being consistent. You originally said that any diet, where everything is consumed in moderation, will result in metabolic syndrome, obesity, pre-diabetes, and/or Type II diabetes. That's hyperbolic nonsense.
Tell that to the physicians and surgeons whose patients brought the problems to their attention, who researched the root causes, and who treated their patients and themselves successfully to reverse diabetes and metabolic syndrome..
Yeah, obesity and genetics can cause all kinds of physical problems. Just look at the Japanese; they rarely experienced all these afflictions you speak of until the sedentary lifestyle caused them to get fatter, just like here.
It takes a special effort to avoid the consumption of a diet which is not strongly affected by the food pyramid.
People eat what they want. The average American doesn't know anything about the food pyramid. It exists simply to give some folks something to blame.....kind of like the people who blame macronutrients for all sorts of of health problems when the real cause is they eat too much and exercise too little. But accepting more a reasoned response, rather than demonizing something other than a lack of personal responsibility, doesn't sell diet books, or make people like Gary Taubes rich from speaking fees.
Your assumption of a universal high carbohydrate diet for all Japanese is grossly in error and is responsible for you reaching a false conclusion.
Seriously? The Japanese diet has been high in carbohydrates for thousands of years. They were smaller than westerners because of the lack of protein. They have, until fairly recently, also abstained from consuming much fat. And that's really the problem for people preaching the benefits of a low carb diet. The history of the Asian diet, particularly Japan, doesn't support your fad du jour. But hey, a journalist like Taubes, who has absolutely no education or training in any life science, should be allowed to get rich from pseudo science like all the other charlatans.
Physics 101 and basic human nutrition would prevent all this nonsense, but the we don't teach them any longer.