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The Media is Getting it All Wrong

Are reporters like this missing the point?
Are reporters like this missing the point?

Over the past couple of days, I've been replaying some of the videos I've seen recently where members of the media have been reviewing the various Ancestral Diets and lifestyles, and by and large they're missing the point entirely.

Let's start with the Nightline piece on Paleo with Art De Vany and Robb Wolf. Sure, they talked about the weight loss, and the exercise factor, and the fact that Art looks great at 73 and is still lifting weights and lugging his Land Rover around.  But they then turned around and basically "okayed" it with a couple of conventional wisdom-based nutritionists, who gave it their blessing as long as proponents kept the fat low, etc.  Of course, the advice of such people is exactly what we're trying to avoid.

And there was no mention of the main tenet of Ancestral Diets: GRAINS ARE BAD FOR YOU.

We've heard no mention whatsoever of that scientifically proven fact, and that's really the entire point of the whole movement - our grain-based processed food standard American diet is what's degrading our health, making us obese and diabetic, clouding our minds and our children's minds, and generally making our society a mockery of what it could truly be.

Instead, we're presented with the latest "fad diet" that great celebrities like Megan Fox are reported to use.  Big whoopy skip.

The point is that the Ancestral Diet is the way our bodies evolved to eat.  Does that mean that every single person is going to respond the same way to it? No, of course not.  Everyone is different.  But is everyone who gives it a go going to improve their health at least a bit?  Pretty much, yeah.

The media is missing the big story that could be the absolute story of the century.  Millennium, even.  GRAINS ARE NOT GOOD FOR US.  Can you imagine that splashed across the front page of the New York Times or Newsweek?  There'd be a huge uproar.  And then a list of all the conditions and diseases that have been traced back to diet and an overabundance of high-carb food:  heart disease. Cancer.  Diabetes.  Autism.  Thyroid disorders.  Acne.  ADHD.  Multiple Sclerosis.  The list goes on, and they all could be avoided with proper diet.

Once a media outlet decides to run with this story, they're going to sell a million papers and magazines.  They're going to be shut down with all the hits on their websites.  And they're going to need it as Big Ag goes after them for slander, but they'll have science to back them up.  It's going to be huge.

But until then... we have to put up with Megan Fox and Dr. Oz having a conniption as he tries to mock the truth and build up Paleo as something it's not.  And in the meantime, we'll all get healthier and healthier and watch as the rest of America gets fatter and more stressed out.
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  1. Facebook Petition: Get Robb Wolf on Oprah! | PaleoMentalApril 13, 2011 at 4:05 AM

    [...] idea how well this will work or if Oprah will pay any attention to it, but let’s face it:  Paleo isn’t going to fare well if it’s just lumped in with the latest fad diets.  It needs a forum where the whole story can be told: how grains are the reason behind so much of [...]

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