Skinny pigs? Low-fat craze gone too far

Let’s face it. You and I both know most Americans are struggling with their weight. I see it in my practice every day.

There’s not one study that will tell you otherwise. What’s more, there’s been an explosion of not only obesity, but of related diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

But did you realize that the rates of obesity and disease in America began rising at the exact same time the health authorities told us to eat a low-fat diet?

It started in 1977 when George McGovern led a Senate Committee that released its “Dietary Goals for the United States.” According to this report, fat was the cause of illnesses sweeping the nation.

Then the National Institutes of Health jumped on the “low-fat” bandwagon and announced that Americans must cut their fat intake.

And we listened… Before long, low-fat packaged foods were flying off supermarket shelves.

But this low-fat craze has finally gone too far. The food industry’s latest scheme is to create skinny pigs!

Chinese scientists just created 12 genetically engineered pigs with 24% less body fat than normal pigs. They took a gene from a mouse and inserted it into pig cells to create more than 2,553 pig clones. Then they implanted the cloned pig embryos into real pigs.1

The food industry wants you to believe that these genetically engineered pigs are healthier for you. But it has nothing to do with your health.

This was all about padding their profits…

You see, these low-fat pigs burn off fat faster. They have higher body temperatures. The pig industry will save millions of dollars in heating and feeding costs. And they are going to try to convince you of the health benefits of low-fat bacon so you’ll buy these Franken-pigs.

Don’t fall for it…

First of all, I never recommend eating GMO Franken-foods. They’ve never been proven safe. I have serious concerns about how these artificial chains of genetic material may affect our bodies.

On top of that, the whole low-fat myth has been debunked by science…

Saturated fats found in pork and other meats do not clog your arteries. A study in the journal Lancet analyzed fat found in clogged arteries in people. Almost 75% of the fat turned out to be so-called “heart healthy” polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) found in margarine and canola oil.2

The famous Sydney Diet Heart Study confirms this. It found that patients eating more PUFAs and less saturated fat had HIGHER death rates overall. They also had higher death rates from cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. In fact, the death rate for the so-called “healthy” fats was about 70% higher.3

Human beings evolved over thousands of years eating saturated fats like red meat and pork. In fact, our ancestors ate diets of 30% to 80% fat. It’s what made their brains “human.” And heart disease was rare.

I advise my patients to aim for 60% to 70% fat in their diet. And if you’re following the Zero Diet to treat Syndrome Zero, you should be eating about 90% fat.

So don’t give up bacon or pork.

But do be careful when you choose your meat…

A whopping 90% of the pork in your supermarket comes from pigs raised in confined animal feeding lots (CAFOs). They are fed antibiotics, growth hormones and toxic foods that are not natural to pigs.

Instead look for pork from pasture-raised pigs. They should be allowed to roam free and forage for grasses, herbs, nuts, fruits and insects. It’s what pigs were made to eat.

This type of pork is prized for its juiciness, flavor and tenderness. The meat is pink and heavily marbled. Once you try it you’ll never go back to the dry, tough, tasteless CAFO pork.

Here’s one of my favorite fast and easy pasture-raised pork recipes.


Bacon Smothered Pork Chops

Ingredients:

  • 10 slices bacon, chopped
  • 2 large onion, chopped
  • 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
  • 1/4 pepper
  • 4 bone-in thick pork chops
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

  1. Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove from heat, preserving bacon fat.
  2. Add onions, mushrooms, salt and pepper to bacon fat. Cook 15 minutes. Remove and add to bacon.
  3. Raise temperature to medium-high. Add pork chops and brown 3 minutes. Turn over and reduce heat to medium. Cook another 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to serving platter.
  4. Add broth to hot pan and stir. Add cream and simmer 2 to 3 minutes. Add bacon-onion-mushroom mixture and stir.
  5. Spoon over pork chops and serve.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

Al Sears, MD, CNS

1. Zheng Q., Lin J., Huang J., et al. “Reconstitution of UCP1 using CRISPR/Cas9 in the white adipose tissue of pigs decreases fat deposition and improves thermogenic capacity.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 7.
2. Felton CV., et al. “Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and composition of human aortic plaques.” Lancet. 1994 Oct 29.
3. Ramsden CE., et al. “Use of dietary linoleic acid for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and death: evaluation of recovered data from the Sydney Diet Heart Study and updated meta-analysis.” BMJ. 2013 Feb 4.