Is the low fat diet wrong? By Ben (aged 10)

I am thrilled to share with you all this guest blog post by a patient of mine named Ben. Ben is an awesome young dude (only 10 years old), who loves reading and researching health information. I first met Ben not too long ago when his mother Libby came in to see me, he politely entered my room, took a seat on my chair and proceeded to read a book quietly whilst I consulted with Libby. Half way through the consult we were talking about diet at which point young Ben chimed in and started rattling off all this information about the Paleo diet and telling me how he and his mother were just starting the 10 week Paleo Way Program. He was telling me all the health books he has read including one of his favourites Sweet Poison by David Gillespie, and how he recently watched That Sugar Film. He informed me of all his favourite recipes from Pete Evans cookbooks, and how he quite likes liver when it is in sausages (glutenfree of course). I was in awe! This is a 10 year old who is so in-tune with food, where it comes from, the implications it has on his body (he told me how he doesn’t like to eat sugary foods because he found out that eveytime he would eat sugary or processed foods he would get very severe headaches like migraines). To top it all off he mentioned that he wrote an essay at school- which I will share here with you all- the homework they were given was to pick a topic and write a persuasive text about it. So with that here below is 10 year old Bens Essay for you all to enjoy :)Note this is unedited, straight from Ben with no adult influence at all, this was all his own research.

"Is the low fat diet wrong?” By Ben (aged 10)

Ever since the 1970s fat has been framed! Saturated fat and cholesterol has been framed for 45 years, and the low fat diet, once called universally the cure for heart disease, is the culprit. Unsaturated fats cause heart disease along with sugar and trans fats. The man responsible for the fake findings against saturated fat was Mr Ancel Keys. When he proved his fake theory, another man, John Yudkin thought the problem was sugar. He was right. Firstly, an epidemic of heart disease was occurring in the 1920s in America. The American Government paid scientist Ancel Keys $200,000 to find the cause and cure for heart disease, and so he conducted the seven countries study. He took the data from 14 countries originally, but he erased the data that would disagree with his search. After 50 years, he concluded with his seven countries study that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease and that polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat are good for a healthy heart. The truth is, cholesterol is harmless and saturated fat is good for the heart, and unsaturated fats, as well as trans fats and sugar cause heart disease. The reason the Heart Foundation disagrees with this is that they are funded by the worlds biggest processing plant, Nestle. And anything with the Heart Foundation tick of approval, steer clear!Secondly, trans fats were the silent killers causing heart disease in the 1920s. Trans fats started taking over the world. They were added in foods like margarine, fried foods, baked goods and some frozen foods. They had just been introduced but millions of people started living on the dangerous substance, made from toxic hydrogenated vegetable oils. Trans fats have been linked to causing cancer, heart disease and almost every other disease you can think of. Both sides, pro-fat and anti-fats, agree that trans fat is lethal! It is a completely unnatural substance. Its chemical reaction in the body destroys cells and damages the brain. Trans fats arent the only thing that causes heart disease. Sugar does. People who eat more sugar are more susceptible to heart disease, says Dr Teresa Fung, Professor at Harvard Medical School. Even if you were 8 or 88, you would be knocking on heart diseases door if you eat sugar.Thirdly, proof of this came in a 2010 review of 21 studies and 350,000 people, saturated fat was not associated with heart disease. Numerous other studies had the same conclusion. Of course, this doesnt come without controversy. Many people deny that the study was not done properly. However, how can various other studys be wrong? Another study involved two groups of people, one having high saturated fat, the other high protein. The high fat group lost most weight.In conclusion, I strongly believe that fat is not the evil substance we were all led to believe and scientific research proves that. Instead of quivering in fear of fat, we should be avoiding sugar and trans fats. Mr Ancel Keys set the world up, just to see low fat taking over. Sugar is the problem. John Yudkin was right."