What should we eat? That was the loaded question Megyn Kelly asked recently on the TODAY show. Kelly interviewed Dr. Mark Hyman, author of, “What the Heck Should I Eat,” who talked about how the Dietary Guidelines for Americans don’t necessarily match up with current science.
Hyman said foods that come from nature, or made by God, are best. He also stressed that quality is more important than quantity, which goes against the calories-in calories-out advice we have been bombarded with over the last 30 years.
So what is quality food? Hyman busted some common myths about food, including:
Myth #1: Chicken is healthier than beef.
While I don’t agree with his biased and uninformed comments about grass-fed vs. conventionally-raised beef and chicken, I do contend that beef is a nutrient-packed product that can compete with chicken any day of the week.
Yet, following his myth-busting, Kelly concluded, “We need to worry about what the cow is eating before we eat it. Got it.”
Yikes. What do we do with that kind of inflammatory statement? Instead of encouraging people to eat healthier by choosing animal fats and proteins, Hyman, through his comments, only fans the flames of fear, confusion and guilt consumers feel when they go to a restaurant or to the meat case at the grocery store.
However, he does redeem himself by reminding the viewers that we have been eating red meat since the beginning of time. From an evolutionary standpoint, the cave man ate it, and so should we!
Myth #2: Low-fat or skim milk is healthier than whole milk.
Hyman says skim milk leads to more issues than not. While whole milk leaves us fuller longer, skim milk has consumers craving more and results in more weight gain.
Hyman says, “It’s the saturated fat myth. We have neglected a lot of the research that says saturated fat isn’t so bad. In fact, 17 meta-analysis have looked at saturated fats and have found no link to heart disease.”
Myth #3: We should skip egg yolks and eat egg whites only.
Hyman reassured the audience that cholesterol, despite what we’ve been previously been told, is actually good for you.
“We’ve been suffering needlessly for years eating egg white only omelets,” he said.
Myth #4: Ditch the butter for shortening and margarine.
“A study came out recently that showed no relationship to butter and heart disease and actually has an inverse relationship to diabetes,” said Hyman.
I wish he had gone a little more in-depth behind why animal fats and proteins are such good additions to a healthy diet; however, this shift in the usual rhetoric is certainly welcome on mainstream media outlets.
The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.