http://www.cbass.com/Dietandcholesterol.htm
First off, to be clear, I have a lot of respect for Clarence Bass. You can't help but notice his intellect, passion and drive if you read any of his work from cbass.com. I don't consider what follows to be a criticism of him, rather, I consider it a compliment to his integrity and character to note his disclosure and the questions it raises about his published work and beliefs. There's no certainty as regards diet, science and health, we're all betting our lives on our best efforts to understand an incomplete and confusing world of partial science and colossal political and food industry agendas. One would think that if a lesson could be learned from Mr. Bass' experience, he'd like that to happen.
BLUF of the article linked above: Clarence Bass, legendary for his physique as a 70 year old, and a long, successful career in the fitness business, discovers he's suffering from calcification in his arteries. He's been given a number of "all systems go" check ups over the years, and is struck with cognitive dissonance: "I did everything right and I'm sick." How could this be? Excerpts from his tale of the events:
Dr. Arnie Jensen wrote in my report: “I wish we knew why some people develop calcification in the arteries in spite of a wonderful lifestyle like you have, or why some people can completely ignore lifestyle and have a zero calcium score."
What was Bass' concept of "doing all I can to help myself"?
Essentially, following the conventional wisdom (really, the fad diet of the last 30-40 years) of eating a low fat, very low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet based around consumption of fruits, vegetables and all those servings of whole grains the USDA is telling us we need (http://www.cbass.com/WholeGrains.htm ).
For more than 20 years I've eaten a low fat, medium protein, high complex-carbohydrate diet. I've also exercised regularly, both weight training and aerobics.
http://www.cbass.com/TRIGLYCE.HTM
Interestingly, he describes the results of his fasting lipid profile, and they are in line with what one would expect from someone who's eating too much carbohydrate:
In the first visit, in 1988, my cholesterol was normal at 216 and my total cholesterol/HDL risk ratio was 3.7 (normal is 5.0 and below 4.0 is considered very good). My triglycerides, however, have always been slightly elevated. In 1988, they were 153, slightly above the normal range of 40-150. The pattern was the same in subsequent visits: my cholesterol ranged up to 228 (1992) and my triglycerides were 157 and 155 in 1989 and 1992, respectively.
He also describes how he thinks he fixed his high triglyceride problem:
...my research suggests that the addition of only a little over one tablespoon of oil (total) caused the small, but significant improvement in my cholesterol - and the profound reduction in my blood triglycerides. (he reports a reduction to 72)
This is, as he points out in the link above, a very significant reduction - 150s to 70s! However, many of us who use carb restriction get our triglycerides in the 70s with ease, while maintaining the high HDL that makes for a good ratio of either total cholesterol to HDL, or triglycerides to HDL (both are far better indicators of health than is measuring simple LDL numbers). All those years of running with a high fat level in the blood may have taken their toll - or perhaps the genetic cards were just stacked against Mr. Bass, there's no way to know.
Either way, Mr. Bass' results are a predictable outcome of the carbohydrate hypothesis - which is that excess carbohydrate consumption drives the majority if not all of the diseases of civilization, including coronary artery disease. Each of those doses of high carb, low fat meals likely spiked his blood sugar, resulting in the inflammation cascade which many think is causal for atherosclerotic disease.
Later in the article, Bass describes a study by Christopher D. Gardner, which shows that not all low fat diets are equal in their impact on blood lipids. It's clear he's wrestling with the cognitive disconnect, sorting out why he could be sick when he's followed the dietary 'wisdom' so carefully. Even more interesting though, is a more recent study by a Chris Gardner (don't know if it's the same one) which showed that a low carb diet improved fasting lipids even more than a competing low fat diet.
A Vegetarian Examines Evidence For/Against High Carb/Low Carb
Bass' article closes with a discussion of the facts of cholesterol lowering via low fat diets, including the fact that they don't really do the job well (not to mention they are hard to stay on), and thus many doctors will advise statins to "get the cholesterol under control." In other words, he describes a crazy train of low fat insanity going strait into prescription medication hell.
You start with one unproven conjecture - high fat, high cholesterol diets cause a problematic increase in cholesterol - and follow with another - high cholesterol causes atherosclerotic damage. Proposed solution: eat more carbs, less fat, and less meat. When that doesn't work, partly because so few patients can or will comply with such a diet, and the disease process accelerates. Even those who do comply often find their disease process is worsening (as Mr. Bass did). Thus, the 'medical establishment' emerged with a drug, statins, to treat a problem it invented and exacerbated. This starts the final steep descent into the inferno, because the medical field is so desperate to find a cure for rampant heart disease, they fall for a drug that's not been proven to benefit anyone but a small group, males under age 65 who have already had heart disease (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm), and start dealing statins to what can seem like anyone over 40 with less than perfect cholesterol profiles.
So what I suggest is that before you let them take on you on the low-fat-to-statin hell ride, get your carbohydrate intake under control and most likely, your doc will never have to have the statin discussion with you (and you'll know what to say anyway).
And you won't have to be as strikingly lean, muscular, and fit as Mr. Bass has been all these years to wind up healthier than he is. That said, there's no reason why you couldn't follow his example with regard to disciplined training and careful, thoughtful eating, but modified by what you can learn from the Paleolithic model. Walking in Mr. Bass' lean, fit, well aged footsteps would be like a dream for most of us.
Lastly, I wish Mr. Bass well in his battle with atherosclerosis and look forward to benefitting from the many positive examples he sets for all of us who aspire to aging gracefully, with an active enjoyable life.
(minor edits for content and grammar, 8.31 AM, January 26, 2011)
First off, to be clear, I have a lot of respect for Clarence Bass. You can't help but notice his intellect, passion and drive if you read any of his work from cbass.com. I don't consider what follows to be a criticism of him, rather, I consider it a compliment to his integrity and character to note his disclosure and the questions it raises about his published work and beliefs. There's no certainty as regards diet, science and health, we're all betting our lives on our best efforts to understand an incomplete and confusing world of partial science and colossal political and food industry agendas. One would think that if a lesson could be learned from Mr. Bass' experience, he'd like that to happen.
BLUF of the article linked above: Clarence Bass, legendary for his physique as a 70 year old, and a long, successful career in the fitness business, discovers he's suffering from calcification in his arteries. He's been given a number of "all systems go" check ups over the years, and is struck with cognitive dissonance: "I did everything right and I'm sick." How could this be? Excerpts from his tale of the events:
Dr. Arnie Jensen wrote in my report: “I wish we knew why some people develop calcification in the arteries in spite of a wonderful lifestyle like you have, or why some people can completely ignore lifestyle and have a zero calcium score."
That’s when Dr. McFarlin suggested that I add Zetia, to insure that we finally have the process under control. I’ve never let up on my diet and exercise program. If anything, finding the calcified plaque in my coronary arteries strengthen my resolve. It took a combination of lifestyle and drugs to (hopefully) get my situation under control. Arnie Jensen says we can do more for ourselves than any doctor can do for us. I believe that and I’m doing all I can to help myself. Still, sometimes it takes you and the doctor working together to get the job done.
Data points of one are meaningless, but I can't help but think of Jimmy Moore's example. Jimmy was a 400+ pounder, he was so sick he was on statins in his thirties, and apparently on the track to follow his brother who died in his forties from heart disease. Jimmy started losing weight via low carb, lost over a 140 pounds (livinlavidalowcarb.com), and reports his heart scan shows zero calcium.
Data points of one are meaningless, but I can't help but think of Jimmy Moore's example. Jimmy was a 400+ pounder, he was so sick he was on statins in his thirties, and apparently on the track to follow his brother who died in his forties from heart disease. Jimmy started losing weight via low carb, lost over a 140 pounds (livinlavidalowcarb.com), and reports his heart scan shows zero calcium.
Essentially, following the conventional wisdom (really, the fad diet of the last 30-40 years) of eating a low fat, very low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet based around consumption of fruits, vegetables and all those servings of whole grains the USDA is telling us we need (http://www.cbass.com/WholeGrains.htm ).
For more than 20 years I've eaten a low fat, medium protein, high complex-carbohydrate diet. I've also exercised regularly, both weight training and aerobics.
http://www.cbass.com/TRIGLYCE.HTM
Interestingly, he describes the results of his fasting lipid profile, and they are in line with what one would expect from someone who's eating too much carbohydrate:
In the first visit, in 1988, my cholesterol was normal at 216 and my total cholesterol/HDL risk ratio was 3.7 (normal is 5.0 and below 4.0 is considered very good). My triglycerides, however, have always been slightly elevated. In 1988, they were 153, slightly above the normal range of 40-150. The pattern was the same in subsequent visits: my cholesterol ranged up to 228 (1992) and my triglycerides were 157 and 155 in 1989 and 1992, respectively.
He also describes how he thinks he fixed his high triglyceride problem:
...my research suggests that the addition of only a little over one tablespoon of oil (total) caused the small, but significant improvement in my cholesterol - and the profound reduction in my blood triglycerides. (he reports a reduction to 72)
This is, as he points out in the link above, a very significant reduction - 150s to 70s! However, many of us who use carb restriction get our triglycerides in the 70s with ease, while maintaining the high HDL that makes for a good ratio of either total cholesterol to HDL, or triglycerides to HDL (both are far better indicators of health than is measuring simple LDL numbers). All those years of running with a high fat level in the blood may have taken their toll - or perhaps the genetic cards were just stacked against Mr. Bass, there's no way to know.
Either way, Mr. Bass' results are a predictable outcome of the carbohydrate hypothesis - which is that excess carbohydrate consumption drives the majority if not all of the diseases of civilization, including coronary artery disease. Each of those doses of high carb, low fat meals likely spiked his blood sugar, resulting in the inflammation cascade which many think is causal for atherosclerotic disease.
Later in the article, Bass describes a study by Christopher D. Gardner, which shows that not all low fat diets are equal in their impact on blood lipids. It's clear he's wrestling with the cognitive disconnect, sorting out why he could be sick when he's followed the dietary 'wisdom' so carefully. Even more interesting though, is a more recent study by a Chris Gardner (don't know if it's the same one) which showed that a low carb diet improved fasting lipids even more than a competing low fat diet.
A Vegetarian Examines Evidence For/Against High Carb/Low Carb
Bass' article closes with a discussion of the facts of cholesterol lowering via low fat diets, including the fact that they don't really do the job well (not to mention they are hard to stay on), and thus many doctors will advise statins to "get the cholesterol under control." In other words, he describes a crazy train of low fat insanity going strait into prescription medication hell.
You start with one unproven conjecture - high fat, high cholesterol diets cause a problematic increase in cholesterol - and follow with another - high cholesterol causes atherosclerotic damage. Proposed solution: eat more carbs, less fat, and less meat. When that doesn't work, partly because so few patients can or will comply with such a diet, and the disease process accelerates. Even those who do comply often find their disease process is worsening (as Mr. Bass did). Thus, the 'medical establishment' emerged with a drug, statins, to treat a problem it invented and exacerbated. This starts the final steep descent into the inferno, because the medical field is so desperate to find a cure for rampant heart disease, they fall for a drug that's not been proven to benefit anyone but a small group, males under age 65 who have already had heart disease (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm), and start dealing statins to what can seem like anyone over 40 with less than perfect cholesterol profiles.
So what I suggest is that before you let them take on you on the low-fat-to-statin hell ride, get your carbohydrate intake under control and most likely, your doc will never have to have the statin discussion with you (and you'll know what to say anyway).
And you won't have to be as strikingly lean, muscular, and fit as Mr. Bass has been all these years to wind up healthier than he is. That said, there's no reason why you couldn't follow his example with regard to disciplined training and careful, thoughtful eating, but modified by what you can learn from the Paleolithic model. Walking in Mr. Bass' lean, fit, well aged footsteps would be like a dream for most of us.
Lastly, I wish Mr. Bass well in his battle with atherosclerosis and look forward to benefitting from the many positive examples he sets for all of us who aspire to aging gracefully, with an active enjoyable life.
(minor edits for content and grammar, 8.31 AM, January 26, 2011)
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