Doctors just love to come up with new disease names for behaviors or
patterns of symptoms. Once you give it a label, it seems, it's suddenly
a "real" affliction (like Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, which
was really just normal childhood behavior until they gave it the ADHD
name and started doping kids with Ritalin). The latest? If you eat
nothing but low-carb foods, this doctor claims you're suffering from --
get this -- Low Carb Tunnel Syndrome, or LCTS for short.
It's yet
another round in the ongoing battle to undermine the success of the
Atkins diet. In particular, the doctor who came up with this name (Dr.
Howard Peiper), says that eating undigestible sweeteners like sorbitol,
sucralose and maltitol will cause nutritional deficiencies in your body.
In principle, I agree with the doctor. Many low-carb diets are
shockingly unhealthy (read my free online book Low-Carb Diet Warning for
full details), but it isn't just the artificial chemical sweeteners;
it's the sodium nitrite, hydrogenated oils and monosodium glutamate,
too.
Even if I agree with Dr. Peiper on the potential health risks
of consuming low-carb processed foods with chemical ingredients, that
doesn't mean I think we need another silly disease label slapped on it.
Eating low-carb foods isn't a "syndrome," it's a behavior, just like
obesity isn't a "disease" either. Obesity is the result of poor
nutritional choices and a lack of physical exercise. It's simple cause
and effect. There are probably fewer than fifty people on the planet who
have a true-to-life genetic mutation that makes it impossible for them
to stop eating. For everyone else, it's just poor choice in regards to
foods and fitness.
Let's face it: eating nothing but processed
low-carb foods isn't a disease, it's just an attempted shortcut by many
people who want a new excuse to eat all the food they want. If it says
"low carb" on the package, they think they can consume unlimited
quantities. It's exactly like the low-fat craze in the 1980's where
people consumed loads of fat-free cookies (loaded with refined white
sugar, of course) and told themselves they were following a healthy
diet.
In reality, processed foods are never healthy foods,
regardless of their labels. If you want to eat healthy, you've got to
consume fresh, wholesome ingredients: vegetables, fruits, whole grains
and "super" foods like quinoa, chlorella, spirulina and chia seeds.
Failure to do so doesn't mean you have a "syndrome," it just means you
need to find a way to make better choices. I'm tired of doctors taking
power away from people by slapping disease labels on free will actions.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and pursues hobbies such as martial arts, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic gardening. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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