An apology and a clarification

"jamie" commented on my ranting post about Reader's Digest's article on pet secrets. She made some very valid points.  What she failed to realize that my post was a share of an email I wrote - which was written to make a point that people should question the source of their information, and it was NOT a condemnation of RDs, but of Big Food's attempt to influence them.

Reader's Digest did not just pull those two 'secrets' out of thin air.  SOMEONE told them that grains are good and raw food is bad.  I can only assume that they didn't get it from 'Big Pet Food' but from a vet. And that vet probably absolutely believes they aren't in bed with BPF... I've never met or heard of a vet who says "Oh yes, I let BPF dictate what I do as a vet"

When I mentioned that Big Food is doing it's best to dictate what nutritional information gets out there, I do have more than one source of information.  But I did not say this to imply that all RDs are corrupt, or even that most are.  I was making a point that 'Big Food' is trying to influence them. Just as BPF is trying to influence the vets.

You are free to rag on Mercola all you want, but the fact that he has or hasn't studied nutrition is not the point.  The point is that "Big Food" is doing its best to convince the government that their highly processed foods are part of a healthy diet. That we should completely disregard the fact that GMO foods are not long term tested for safety, and the the tests they do have are do say they are safe are bought and paid for by Big Food. There are studies that prove they are harmful, but Big Food does their best to discount them at every turn.  They throw money at government officials to support legislation that prevents GMO labeling, etc.. It does not take someone with an RD or a PHD or even a college degree to see what Big Food is doing - which is what the reference I made said.

Jamie, I do not know your philosophy, or what you promote.  Unfortunately I have not had the best of luck with receiving proper nutritional information for my body. I have gone to several dietitians and RDs for my own health when I started becoming extremely fatigued and cold after losing 70lbs.  I also started gaining weight despite the conventional approach of 'eating healthy', 'eating less', and 'exercising more'.  I had a 500+ calorie deficit every day and yet I gained weight.  I went to my doctor.  I went to an endocrinologist, I went to an RD, I read many blogs and articles by RDs, I went to another doctor, and another RD who told me not to eat pork because it is toxic because pigs do not sweat.  I had one who told me that soy was a good source of protein - even though it is very high in estrogenic compounds and most of it is GMO. And that skim milk is good for me, despite the fact that it has MSG and damaged cholesterol from the skimming process. I had one tell me to drink water till my urine ran clear to make sure I was well hydrated, even though doing so flushed most of the electrolytes out of my body and caused my heart to have PVCs.  I had another tell me to 'drink less' when she learned that I drank the recommended amount of water, but she could not give me a reason for it. I was eating 1500 calories a day and was told if I wanted to lose weight I should consider going lower.  I've seen people being told to go under the 1200 threshold, despite that doing so puts you into starvation mode.  I went gluten free, I removed all of the common allergens from my diet, I did everything 'right' and the only thing that started to help my health was a rejection of almost all current health advice.

Just as I fully believe there are competent vets out there, I fully believe there are competent RDs out there - ones that have not been influenced by Big Food - but since Big Food is working directly with the government to influence what is appropriate nutritional information it can be confusing, I assume for everyone.



Jamie I have no doubt you know a boat load more than I do about how the body deals with food, and I bet you are wealth of knowledge and would be really interesting to have a conversation with. I am sorry you were insulted by my referencing Mercola and his pointing out that Big Food does its best to fund nutritional information that is put out there.

I have a feeling you are probably going to be even more bothered by this post clarifying why I believe what I believe, and why I believe it, and for that I am sorry too.  I have been put in a position where I have had to question everything I had ever been told about nutrition in order to function.   I've touched upon this subject on this blog before citing my own health journey to make a point about my cats... My health is still not fully recovered from my two years of 'being healthy' and the nearly two years of trying to figure out why my 'being healthy' was ruining my health.  The simple fact that 90-95% of the people who lose weight regain it should be fact enough that we do not know enough about human health to make many hard and fast claims.

It has been hard hitting my head upon the wall of being told the convention approach is the right way only to find out that it is woefully lacking... be it for my cats or myself. And as such I believe we all need to think for ourselves..

and as always, I am completely open to being wrong.  I still read everything new on nutrition be it for my cats or myself.


and I seriously hope I'm done ranting for a while, because that isn't what this blog is supposed to be about.  Paws crossed kittens show up soon..