Swiss Re - a convert - great news

[CherryAA]

http://www.theactuary.com/features/2017/08/changing-world-health/

This is great news, Swiss Re are one of the most powerful companies in the world . Basically companies need insurance, insurers need reinsurance - Swiss Re is the most powerful global player in that market and a significant portion of the world economy is driven off the ability to find reinsurance for the underlying products.

This statement may well come to be seen as a turning point in the fight to get food guidelines changed because now it is big business against each other and not just the little man being told byt the pharmaceutical and food industries

 

[bulkbiker]

Wow that could be quite groundbreaking as well as influential.... thanks for sharing..fingers crossed he gets a larger audience.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Wow. That is great news, although what he can do to change global opinion remains to be seen.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Interesting article, thanks for posting.

 

[hh1]

What makes me mad about this is that there's a mountain of evidence on this site that low carbing makes sense, but that's ignored by the majority of health professionals (fortunately not mine). So it's likely that money will be the thing that makes people in power take a serious second look at the benefits of changing dietary advice. So much for people with a condition being expert on how to manage it! Here's hoping this'll make a difference; thanks for posting, Cherry AA.

 

[CherryAA]

As an insurance person myself - we classify things as 1 in 100 year ,1 in 10 year events etc . I have posted elsewhere in insurance terms that the current dietary guidelines are actually an " extinction level" event for the human race and that anyone insuring these products is already on notice that they are damaging to human health. The crisis it is creating is not supportable by either the insurance industry or nation's health services.

The tide is changing because it will HAVE to change - just like asbestos and tobacco.

Brazil has already introduced good guidelines in 2014

http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-dietary-guidelines/regions/brazil/en/

the attached recent paper to the Canadian health authorities is totally on point and supported by 700 Canadian doctors

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8jdVsC8-uKER0JnUjlIY2dyUEU/edit

In the end it WILL happen, the speed will be a function of just how long food manufacturers can hold out in the face of mounting class action law suits.

When companies like Swiss Re and the banks wade into the fray, then the information posted on here and in other such sites will prove vital to the story, every individual success story will count in the reckoning to come and when it does it is going to be a big one..

What is not generally well known is that in practice many of the companies most responsible for this crisis are the very same tobacco companies

"RJR Nabisco, for instance, once simultaneously contained the companies that made Camel cigarettes and Chips Ahoy! cookies. Until the mid-2000s, the companies that manufacture Marlboro and Virginia Slims cigarettes were part of the same conglomerate, Philip Morris (now Altria), which manufactured Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Kool Aid."

https://cspinet.org/image/bigfoodposter3jpeg-0

 

[ringi]

I think it is he that did it.....

 

[Rustytypin]

Thanks for the post, Cherry, it will be interesting to see how the junk food companies react to the eventual reduction in their share prices when the class actions start affecting their bottom line. Insurance companies can have a profound effect on products, witness the change in car safety provisions when some manufacturers made some really bad models in the sixties and seventies. Product Liability insurance costs!

 

[Bluetit1802]

Interesting, but I'm not sure the Brazilian guidelines are any better than ours. It recommends low fats and is mainly concerned with avoiding processed foods, but it rather high in carbs:

Variety means foods of all types – cereals, legumes, roots, tubers, vegetables, fruits, nuts, milk, eggs, meat – and diversity within each type – such as beans and lentils, rice and corn, potato and cassava, tomatoes and squash, orange and banana, chicken and fish.

 

[CherryAA]

Interesting, but I'm not sure the Brazilian guidelines are any better than ours. It recommends low fats and is mainly concerned with avoiding processed foods, but it rather high in carbs:

Variety means foods of all types – cereals, legumes, roots, tubers, vegetables, fruits, nuts, milk, eggs, meat – and diversity within each type – such as beans and lentils, rice and corn, potato and cassava, tomatoes and squash, orange and banana, chicken and fish.

Whilst I recognise that having got diabetes, one has to think vary carefully about carbs, my own take on this is that the above is probably not far wrong - i.e. a wide variety of REAL foods is probably a healthy diet . This if one plans very carefully its probably possible to eat healthy diet as a vegetarian, vegan, a carnivore or something in-between, what no -one can deal with is the processing.

I don't think natural carbs are intrinsically evil , just that they are far more open to industrial treatment that either veg or protein and as such the natural carbs have to go once your system has been poisoned by the man made ones.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Whilst I recognise that having got diabetes, one has to think vary carefully about carbs, my own take on this is that the above is probably not far wrong - i.e. a wide variety of REAL foods is probably a healthy diet . This if one plans very carefully its probably possible to eat healthy diet as a vegetarian, vegan, a carnivore or something in-between, what no -one can deal with is the processing.

I don't think natural carbs are intrinsically evil , just that they are far more open to industrial treatment that either veg or protein and as such the natural carbs have to go once your system has been poisoned by the man made ones.

I still can't see much difference between this and the Eatwell Plate.

 

[CherryAA]

Not sure I understand what you mean .

The whole basis of the Brazilian guidelines is 1) natural foods of huge variety 2) use condiments ,oils and sugar for flavour, 3) limit processed foods including bread and cereals and have them only as side dishes to the main event not as the main event, 4) avoid all junk and convenience food. 5) enjoy your food and eat it in company, 6) shop for the highest quality produce preferably organic, local and seasonal from farmers markets 7) learn to cook , 8) make food important, 9) don't go to fast food restaurants and 10) don't believe in any of the food advertising.

There is no mention anywhere of - avoid saturated fats, eat skimmed milk, avoid red meat, replace butter with seed oils, calories in = calories out and no chiding as to the kinds of natural stuff we should choose.

That seems to me to be pretty much a perfect set of rules to live by. it is what we are all trying to do here, with shades of emphasis on different foods depending where we sit on the vegan - omnivore scale .

As diabetics we have to take things one stage further and be careful about some of the more starchy natural foods and the sweetest fruits. The only thing one might possibly take exception to as a committed carnivore - would be " of mainly plant origin" but on most plates of LCHF food for many diabetics the veg is still the largest by volume even if not by calories.

If our supermarkets were stocked in accordance with these guidelines then most aisles would be fresh produce, there would be a wide ranging selection of condiments including oils , fats and sugar as seasoning - ( my only use of sugar in years has been one teaspoon in a pot of curry to create the sweet and sour offset of vinegar and chilli - and I still do that now.)

The processed food section would contain cheese and whole meal cereals, breads and the shelves would be empty of the vast majority of what a supermarket currently contains.

The range of food on offer would suit any palate from omnivore to vegan.
I doubt very much that a Brazilian supermarket does look like this - I have not been privileged to visit one, but the Brazilian authorities seem to me to be on a much better fist of it than the UK or the US

 

[CherryAA]

http://foodmed.net/2016/12/23/swiss-re-dietary-guidelines-failed-human-experiment/

Interesting summary of Swiss Re's medical stance with relevant links

 

[DCUKMod]

@CherryAAA - If we are to compare the Eat Well Guide and the current stocking in our supermarkets from Co-Op, ASDA, Sainsbury's, through M&S, to Waitrose, Booth's and beyond, none of them particularly reflect current guidelines. Wholemeals carbs? Surely the proportion of wholemeal carbs stocked by these establishment is the minority, not the majority as guided by the guidelines.

When it comes to a commercial concern, they will be driven by demand and sales. I think were raw tuna and wild rice found to be the panacea of all ills, I doubt our supermarkets would be having fire sales to be rid of their white rice and pot noodle products.

The sad fact is many people eat to their palate and convenience, rather than what is necessarily good for them. I don't think it serves us well, to consider that everyone makes the considered dietary choices that we do. When last were you troubled at work by your colleagues having in depth debates on their "perfect" nutritional macros? I can't say it's something I have found pressing in my day to day life.

We really are a sliver of the population who have been inspired/forced* (*Choose your option) to examine our nutritional inputs and implications. About the deepest conversation most have is whether their waistbands are tightening, or loosening.

Undoubtedly change is coming, but it will be pretty slow into the general population, partly due to disinterest, monetary constraints and frankly dietary preferences.

Personally? I am very happy with my current way of living as it seems to be "looking after me" quite nicely, but on diagnosis was my reaction, "Oh goodie! That gives me the perfect opportunity to give up Paella, Kettle Chips and the odd glass of lager on a hot day!".

Erm,...... I'm afraid it wasn't. Like most people there was a period of adjustment, driven largely by my meter readings simply because that helped me understand which elements of my "pretty good diet" weren't great for me.

For now, I think we are advocates of our way of living, and I see it as my duty to myself and those following in our footsteps, to retain my decent stats to play my own little part in breaking down the retort that there's no long term data on low carbers. OK, I am a piece of n1 data, but it's better than n0 data.

 

[CherryAA]

@CherryAAA - If we are to compare the Eat Well Guide and the current stocking in our supermarkets from Co-Op, ASDA, Sainsbury's, through M&S, to Waitrose, Booth's and beyond, none of them particularly reflect current guidelines. Wholemeals carbs? Surely the proportion of wholemeal carbs stocked by these establishment is the minority, not the majority as guided by the guidelines.

When it comes to a commercial concern, they will be driven by demand and sales. I think were raw tuna and wild rice found to be the panacea of all ills, I doubt our supermarkets would be having fire sales to be rid of their white rice and pot noodle products.

The sad fact is many people eat to their palate and convenience, rather than what is necessarily good for them. I don't think it serves us well, to consider that everyone makes the considered dietary choices that we do. When last were you troubled at work by your colleagues having in depth debates on their "perfect" nutritional macros? I can't say it's something I have found pressing in my day to day life.

We really are a sliver of the population who have been inspired/forced* (*Choose your option) to examine our nutritional inputs and implications. About the deepest conversation most have is whether their waistbands are tightening, or loosening.

Undoubtedly change is coming, but it will be pretty slow into the general population, partly due to disinterest, monetary constraints and frankly dietary preferences.

Personally? I am very happy with my current way of living as it seems to be "looking after me" quite nicely, but on diagnosis was my reaction, "Oh goodie! That gives me the perfect opportunity to give up Paella, Kettle Chips and the odd glass of lager on a hot day!".

Erm,...... I'm afraid it wasn't. Like most people there was a period of adjustment, driven largely by my meter readings simply because that helped me understand which elements of my "pretty good diet" weren't great for me.

For now, I think we are advocates of our way of living, and I see it as my duty to myself and those following in our footsteps, to retain my decent stats to play my own little part in breaking down the retort that there's no long term data on low carbers. OK, I am a piece of n1 data, but it's better than n0 data.

That is precisely why the dietary guidelines are so important. My IF above wasn't a suggestion they would or did but every small thing done to get rid of sugar out of our diets has to be a good thing for all.

Encouragingly the rates of obesity in youngsters under 5 in the US is now dropping - in line with the overall reduction in sugar consumption in the US population in the last few years. That has nothing to do with exercise and everything to do with what people feed their children guided by the messages they get.

If sugar consumption is falling and butter consumption is rising, the message is getting through ... even if slowly!

 

[donnellysdogs]

I just get annoyed when takeaways ie pizzas, fast food, subway etc -they make it that upsizing is normal!
Why do costa etc offer 2 or 3 cup sizes for drinka? Why do companies try to offer 3 for price of 2 or mega size subway rolls?

I havent been to these places but i regularly get junk mail from pizza places.

Honestly, 1st thing I think that ought to be done is to outlaw upsizing....

The populations do not stand a chance whilst upsizing is allowed...