“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.”
It describes the sense of disillusionment I have when it comes to health, diet and weightloss issues. It is the illusion of knowledge that's ruled our eating habits, not ignorance. I am a reader and I love pursuing knowledge, but in the world of nutrition and health there is never one clear answer for anything. Tim Noakes' arguments have made me think, maybe all is not what it seems, and maybe we need to just make our own choices and forget what the experts say. I have been eating according to the stupid low fat, balanced food pyramid for so long I have forgotten what an egg and avocado tastes like. And it did me no good at all; actually a fat lot of good that did me. I have lived with the constant feeling of failure and guilt because I couldn't get it "right". I couldn't be thin, my self discipline wasn't strong enough! Obviously, if you are overweight, it's all your own fault. The recent press attention (good and bad) that Tim Noakes' outspoken views received, did make me think, maybe it is time to re-evaluate what I think I know. The illusion of knowledge.
By reading all I can about LCHF or Banting eating, I have also stumbled across a fascinating article about thyroid issues and insulin resistance. For many, many years I have been struggling with unpredictable hypoglycaemia. Despite planning my days to the tee with respect to keeping snacks ready for if the big dip should happen, I have never been able to control my blood sugar.
Anecdotally, I have found that when I don't eat breakfast, my blood sugar actually behaves better. However, I was brainwashed into thinking that I have to eat breakfast and I should avoid eggs, bacon and such and fell into the cycle of eating a small bowl of cereal every morning (and I tried them all, low GI, high fibre etc.). So my routine unfolded, based on the pyramid, and I've been eating All Bran religiously every morning and then needed to eat a snack within 2 hours or, the dreaded sweaty palms and shaky insides would find me. My snacks of choices? Fat free yoghurt and fruit (apples, bananas etc). So from carbs for breakfast (with fat free milk) no sugar, to snack time with a sugary fruit. All downhill to lunchtime, by which time I am starving. Rice cakes with fat free cottage cheese and two slices of low fat ham. All so "healthy". Dinner, a balanced meal of carbs, protein and salad or veggies. Lots of veggies. And fruit for snacks.
Then we started "carbo-loading" for long runs, seeing as we are running at least 60km a week and in the past 3 months I picked up weight! My mind just boggled. Then I started reading about the Banting thing. And I read, and read and discovered a wonderfully interesting article in a Journal of Thyroid Research. Basically where researchers publish their papers about their theories relating to thyroid issues. The following paper totally blew my mind. "Why can insulin resistance be a natural consequence of thyroid dysfunction?" Things just started making more sense to me.
I don't have a thyroid. I have been struggling most of my adult life with issues related to weightloss and diets and my thyroid. Because I am replacing my thyroid hormones, I am probably more at risk to develop mini events of hypo- and hyperthyroidism. This is my hypothesis, based on my own personal experience. Yes based on perhaps intuitive evaluations of my own situation. Some might even say "anecdotal" and "biased", but hell I've lived with this for a long time, maybe my anecdotes count for something. I know and understand for example that a conclusion can sometimes be the correct despite a poor the argument. And, that a good argument can sometimes result in a false conclusion. My conclusion for the moment remains however that even if you believe that Prof Tim Noakes' methods and arguments are biased, bad science and promotion of a conclusion rather than good scientific research, I cannot wait for others any more. I am not willing to operate under the illusion that I have knowledge. It is scary as hell and makes me feel insecure at times, but yet...for the first time in as long as I can remember, I am not hungry. I can skip a meal without dire consequences and I hope, apart from this major quality of life improvement, weightloss will follow. So far so good.
I also agree with Jacques Rousseau "The fact that they (we, the masses, us, people) are persuaded is not, however, further evidence for your conclusion." I believe in research. I also believe in keeping an open mind if something is not working for you. I hate fads. I never watched the Titanic because too many people liked it. I never read any of the popular books on Oprah's list.
Yes, so for 30 years we all followed the pyramid, and most of us stayed or became overweight. Look I am not obese, but I exercise like crazy and would be very heavy if I stopped exercising - from personal experience. I was however stuck. Healthy, but not. If all the "quiet" without fan-fare and so-called real science is all we needed, then why did it take a "revolutionary" approach to getting information to the masses before I became aware there was an alternative? So even if you find the hype a bit disconcerting (like I had), it is worth reading about this to try and figure out for yourself what the real story is.
As Prof Noakes' put it: "The reality is that for many of us the only way to bring our appetites under control is completely to avoid carbohydrates and to return to our former evolutionary state as predatory carnivores." Me: I am not able to control my appetite when I am constantly hungry! I have been trying out the Banting way of life and truly have, for the first time in my life realised what it feels like to wait for the hunger to come, and not live for the next mealtime.
Some of my reading references:
1. Gabriela
Brenta, “Why Can Insulin Resistance Be a Natural Consequence of Thyroid
Dysfunction?,” Journal of Thyroid Research, vol. 2011, Article ID 152850,
9 pages, 2011.
3. Professor Tim Noakes, David Grier, Sally-Ann Creed, Jonno Proudfoot
"The Real Meal Revolution", Quivertree Publications, ISBN 978-0-9922062-7-7
"The Real Meal Revolution", Quivertree Publications, ISBN 978-0-9922062-7-7
Note 3: Although Prof Noakes summarises the ideas very well and his writings are easy to read, the resources on the internet are basically overwhelming and plentiful. There are, for someone with a curious mind, heaps of good information that reports both sides of the story. Google: LCHF, Paleo diets, Banting and you will be busy for a long time.
You have to make up your own mind on this subject. An emotive subject, yes, and understand therefore that it will be shot down by many "traditionalists". Don't ignore these, I found some of the most compelling arguments hidden within many anti-Noakes raves.
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