began producing thousands of reduced-fat food products to meet the new
recommendations. Fat was removed from foods like milk, crackers, and cookies,
and replaced with something just as pleasurable to the palate. This meant added
sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. These deadly foods were labeled and
marketed as low-fat or fatfree. To make matters worse, much of this processed
junk food received the approval of the American Heart Association (for a fee)
since it met their criteria for a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. This
disturbing new low-fat movement led to the rise of a new breed of doctors who
took low-fat diets to low-fat extremes, such as Dr. Dean Ornish, who advocated
no fish, nuts, or even olive oil in his original diet.
As people began to fear all fats—including healthy fats—they began to
Figure 2.5: The Original USDA Food Pyramid
USDA websitegain weight at an alarming pace. In the 1970s, the percentage of fat in the
American diet was about 42 percent, and carbohydrates made up another 40
percent. By the 1990s, the percentage of fat in the average American diet had
decreased to about 30 percent, and consumption of carbohydrates had increased
to about 50 percent. Because of this shift, people are experiencing epidemics of
diet-related illnesses, such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Many health
experts now acknowledge that the low-fat message is radically oversimplified,
and that it totally ignores the fact that some fats, such as olive oil and avocados,
are good for us. Even saturated fats—also known as “bad” fats—are not
deleterious at all. They are neutral to your cholesterol.