Professor Food on Garland's Radio Show on WWL

[globe9]

I was listening to Garland Robinette's radio show on WWL yesterday afternoon and in the 12'oclock hour he had some M.I.T. graduate in quantum nutrition on and they were discussing food myths in America. Their discussion was VERY shocking and eye opening.

Professor Food(can't remember the guy's name) stated that vegetables were bad for us. He said there is a reason little kids hate vegetables and it's b/c human beings should not be eating them. He said the nutrients contained in vegetables are locked up in the fiber and that we don't benefit from them.

He then went on to say that fiber is HORRIBLE for us. He said we eat way too much fiber and that we shouldn't be eating any of it. He said women especially should NOT eat fiber as it is the leading cause of colon cancer in women.

He also said that fruit is not good for us and that no matter what most dieticians tell us, we should not eat fruit.

He also stated that an artery has never been clogged b/c of saturated fat and that we should be eating real butter, bacon, red meat, etc. and that the fats contained in these foods is not bad for us and in fact, the oil acts a lubricant in our colons.

He said olive oil is ok, but that canola oil, vegetable oil, etc. should never been eaten. He said we should stay away from anything at all made with soy. He said soy is terrible for us!

He also said that anything that says low fat or fat free is something we should stay away from as they make up for the fat by adding carbs.

Needless to say, I was astounded. When I got home I tried to do a little google research on this and checked out the guy's website that was given on the show...www.professorfood.com. Well the website is basically an advertisement for his "system" which costs like $150.00. This website which has the appearance of a "scam" site, has me wondering now if maybe this guy is a quack. I usually trust Garland and figure he does reasearch himself before having a guest on his show, but I wonder about this info.

The guy seems to be advocating an Atkins like diet and says carbs are bad. Now, I knew this already, but are veggies really horrible for us? Fruit is a no no? Avoid low fat/fat free products? What do you guys think?

The protein stuff made sense as he studies the human body at a molecular level and we are basically made up of proteins. DNA is nothing but protein.
He also said we could eat a 1lb steak, and by the time the body works to digest the steak, it's like we've only ate a 4oz steak in terms of caloric intake.

Sounds good to me, but I'm wondering if this guy is a quack!

[BTG]

Sounds like the guy is a bit of a quack and/or is trying to sell his plan.
I just can't imagine that all fruits and veggies are really bad for you.

*"He also stated that an artery has never been clogged b/c of saturated fat and that we should be eating real butter, bacon, red meat, etc. and that the fats contained in these foods is not bad for us and in fact, the oil acts a lubricant in our colons."
This I an believe, as long as you eat like that in moderation and stay active.

[edible complex]

I use:
http://www.quackwatch.com/
when in doubt, check it out.

[nolagirl]

I also heard this show and was really shocked by a lot of what was said. I know a fair amount about nutrition myself and it just sounded ridiculous. I asked a friend who is a registered dietician about it, and am waiting to hear back from her. And I agree that the website the guy kept mentioning is absolutely totally quackish and doesn't give any more info as he said it would -- it exists just to sell his product, which I guess is a set of CDs?? Anyway, I was really surprised that Garland would have this guy on his show -- the whole thing seems really shady and weird and tacky and unsubstantiated. I definitely HOPE that WWL did its research before booking this guy, but I have to say it sure doesn't seem like it.

[edible complex]

And I agree that the website the guy kept mentioning is absolutely totally quackish and doesn't give any more info as he said it would -- it exists just to sell his product, which I guess is a set of CDs??

are the CD's edible???

[Suzy Wong]

HHAHAHAHHAA There is a "clock" on the web site giving the viewer ONLY EIGHT MINUTES FOR THIS FABULUS DEAL............AHAHHAHAA


SHAM WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If anyone is interested in real nutrition, read ANYTHING by Dr Neal Barnard, he's excellent.....

[globe9]

I also heard this show and was really shocked by a lot of what was said. I know a fair amount about nutrition myself and it just sounded ridiculous. I asked a friend who is a registered dietician about it, and am waiting to hear back from her. And I agree that the website the guy kept mentioning is absolutely totally quackish and doesn't give any more info as he said it would -- it exists just to sell his product, which I guess is a set of CDs?? Anyway, I was really surprised that Garland would have this guy on his show -- the whole thing seems really shady and weird and tacky and unsubstantiated. I definitely HOPE that WWL did its research before booking this guy, but I have to say it sure doesn't seem like it.

I was thinking the same thing. Usually I find Garland to be a source of reliable information, but this guy seemed off. I assumed Garland had done some research before allowing this info to be spouted on air, but maybe not, or maybe he assumed that b/c the guy has a ph.d from M.I.T. he figured he was legit, but just b/c the guy is smart doesn't mean he's not a quack.
He did cite several medical journals as sources for some of his info...so maybe I'll have to go back and listen to the show again(wwl.com under the Garland radio show link, links to a podcast of the show) and then search for the med. journal articles.

He did say that most nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, etc. probably wouldn't agree with him as most in the U.S. believe in the veggies/fruits/low fat diets.

I just don't know what to think. I do need to lose some weight and am going to go on a lower carb diet. I'm not cutting carbs 100% but where I can, I will. I just don't think eating bacon and sausage everyday is the answer either.

The whole reason Garland was on this tangent yesterday is b/c he just came back from a 3 week vacation in Europe where he said he and his wife could not find any fat people. He wondered why there were no fat people in Europe, but thousands in the U.S. I think some of it may be diet, but I believe Europeans don't live as sedantary a lifestyle as most Americans. They walk a lot more, not for exercise per say, but to get places. They ride bikes a lot, again not for exercise, but as a mode of transportation. They also do eat much smaller portions. I think this is the reason for such a low obesity rate over there, not b/c they don't eat veggies or fiber or carbs.

[cstoehr]

I am on the portion size band wagon. "We" all got fatter with the biggie this and upgrade that food system. One of the reasons that using a smaller plate to put your food on works for a lot of people. It looks like a lot and you don't feel deprived. I think that is also the appeal of some of the new housing developments that are popping up now, that have mini towns in them. You can bike and walk to everything like you used to be able to do in the "old days".

[Pas Bon]

They also do eat much smaller portions.

I don't know....that wasn't my experience. I just returned from France and I saw many a fashionably thin Parisian pack away some serious groceries. Portion sizes were quite large at most bistros and brasseries I visited, and I couldn't keep up with the locals.

[LiveOak]

Where would Garland get a guest like this? He needs to fire his producer or whoever books his guests.

[LauraMc]

Where did he go in Europe that had no fat people? A co-worker of mine went to Germany, Croatia, Serbia, and surrounding area and there were fat people in her pics (and no, they weren't tourists).

[bdavid]

I just got back from the south of France where I saw many overweight people - and lots of them were on the clothing-optional beaches. Ewww!
But I did find that portion sizes were much more reasonable and that walking/biking is much more the norm.

[LiveOak]

Where did he go in Europe that had no fat people? A co-worker of mine went to Germany, Croatia, Serbia, and surrounding area and there were fat people in her pics (and no, they weren't tourists).

I have been to Italy once and the rarity of obese people was very noticeable. I attribute it to a couple of things. One, I did not see hide nor hair of anything like the junk food we have here in America. No candy bars, no donuts, no sickly sweet pastries. Two, people ordered bowls of fruit for dessert. Three, when bread was served the first thing the Italians did was to rip out the soft middle of the bread and eat the crust. Four, salad was always a last course (which seems logical in that the fiber and roughage would help speed all the previous courses through the digestive system). Five, very little of what they eat is processed. They shop every day for what they need that day and the meals are very simple. The vegetables in the outdoor markets are gorgeous. Six, everybody walks everywhere.

I know this is basically what is termed the Mediterranean diet (or lifestyle), and it seems very common sense. I doubt this would be the case in a place like France or other European countries. I imagine Greece would be similar.

[globe9]

Garland stated that he and his wife went to England and France and did not see any fat people. I'm sure he saw a few, but not anything like we have here. I don't know where exactly they went, nor can *I* comment on the preponderence of fat people in Europe, I'm just commenting on what he stated.

He said when they came home they went to the movies and he commented on how a number of people barely fit in their seats.

This observation made him wonder why obesity seemed to be much less of a problem in Europe than it is in the U.S. and eventually led to him having that quack on his show.

[Suzy Wong]

Where did he go in Europe that had no fat people? A co-worker of mine went to Germany, Croatia, Serbia, and surrounding area and there were fat people in her pics (and no, they weren't tourists).

I would think in those countries that would be the case, with the harsh winters and (carbohydrate) heavy foods.

He probably was talking about France, Italy and
or Spain....

[nolagirl]

Garland just announced that he is going to issue an apology for this show on today's (Wed July 29) show at 12 noon.

By the way, I did ask my registered dietician friend about this, and she said, "yeah, total quack - i've not heard of ANY of that .... it's almost so outrageous it would seem like it's a complete joke. Like a nutritional version of that Orson Welles hoax or something....!"

[Oyster]

How could Garland allow his producer to set this up without consent of THE DEAN? All programs related to food should be signed off on by TF. WWL/WWWL should institute this policy immediately!

[BTG]

I think Garland or his producers took ad money to allow this guy on.
Did anyone hear the appology and explanation today? I heard him around 11:30 talking about how he was going to discuss it in detail in the 12:00 segment.

[globe9]

I heard most of the explanation and apology yesterday. Garland said a friend of his emailed him about the guy and told Garland he had to get him on the show. Garland said he'd been doing weeks of shows on healthcare and wanted to lighten it up a bit so he wikipedia'd the guy and saw M.I.T. and basically that was the extent of his research. He apologized for this.

He said after Mon.'s show, he received hundreds of emails from people saying how excited and interested they were in this guy's info, but that his website had no info. just trying to sell stuff. Garland, apparently hadn't been to the website yet, so went to it and saw that it was just a shill site trying to sell this guy's tapes.

Garland then said he called M.I.T. and they had no record of this guy(I cannot for the life of me remember his name other than i think it was Brian something). So Garland then called up the websites administrator who said that Brian whatever was not his real name, but his stage name. They said that this guy used to have a website where he gave out all of his info for free, but he wasn't making any money, so he hired them. Apparently the website has now changed to something different. This guy DID go to M.I.T. under his real name and has a degree in electrical engineering. The guy did write a book as well. Basically he's touting a "Zone" type diet.

I didn't get to hear anymore as i had to get out of the car.

[UptownKevin]

I am on the portion size band wagon. "We" all got fatter with the biggie this and upgrade that food system. One of the reasons that using a smaller plate to put your food on works for a lot of people. It looks like a lot and you don't feel deprived. I think that is also the appeal of some of the new housing developments that are popping up now, that have mini towns in them. You can bike and walk to everything like you used to be able to do in the "old days".

I am with you on the portion size. I can eat whatever I want, but do it in moderation. "Eat less and exercise more" really does work. For anyone.

Sure do wish we could go back to the days of living in simpler times and walking everywhere. Unfortunately opinions have changed and we're all relegated to living in "suburbia hell," as I call it. I guess people were not happy having bars, pharmacies and grocery stores in their neighborhoods, so now they're so far away we have to drive. We now have what we've asked for...

-Kevin

[cstoehr]

I agree with you Kevin.

[NoNoNanette]

I think Garland or his producers took ad money to allow this guy on.


Naw... I think that Garland has too much integrity to take money ..... and has too much to lose.... reputation included. I think that he was duped by this guy.

I can see "The Dean" pulling something like that, but not Garland. ;)