He died in 1969 after suffering seven heart attacks.
Seven over roughly thirteen years.
At the time of his first heart attack, he was not overweight and his blood cholesterol was normal.
By the time he died however, both his weight and cholesterol had escalated to dangerous levels despite having closely monitored and custom tailored medical care.
Dwight Eisenhower had his first heart attack in 1955 while serving as President of the United States. Because of his position, he was placed under high level of scrutiny and was immediately placed on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet.
The dietary mantra of the era was saturated fats, or for that matter just about any fat, were bad. There was no scientific evidence for the position that fats caused heart attacks. It was deduced. Animal fat contains cholesterol. Arterial plaques that caused heart disease and heart attacks also contained cholesterol. The link seemed obvious.
But President Eisenhower gained weight and had a series of heart attacks while on this diet.
Maybe it was just his unique biochemistry or metabolism.
Or maybe there’s more going on with the low carb idea than we’ve been lead to believe.
A lot of people are still nervous about leaving the warm cozy arms of a low fat diet. A friend was over the other night and when it came to choosing a salad dressing, I offered olive oil. I said, “Lots of fat. Gotta’ love that.” And she replied, “Well, I don’t need any more fat.” The idea of eating fat is still a taboo to many people. It’s become part of our culture to embrace low fat foods.
The Biggest Loser is Fatphobic
More proof. Recently, I happened to catch an episode of “The Biggest Loser” (week 13) where the contestants had twenty minutes to prepare a meal, snack, whatever they could think of and present it to a panel of judges who would critique the submission for nutritional content and taste.
One of the contestants included less than one teaspoon of mayonnaise in his recipe.
One of the judges said. “So, did you say mayonnaise? Regular mayo?” And the contestant said, “Regular ol’ mayo.”
Regular mayonnaise is almost all saturated fat. Considered by many as the Darth Vader of foods.
Gasp. Holy fatman, Batman!
Another judge said, in a stammering voice, “Regular….full fat….mayonnaise? Oh, My Goodness!!”
Seriously.
Our Obsession With Low Fat Diets Is Misguided
A study done by Johns Hopkins University revealed that a low carb diet had no ill effects on the cardiovascular system as compared to a low fat diet. It appears that if you want to lose fat, you can eat a low carb diet and not only lose fat but preserve your heart health as well.
“Our study should help allay the concerns that many people who need to lose weight have about choosing a low-carb diet instead of a low-fat one, and provide re-assurance that both types of diet are effective at weight loss and that a low-carb approach does not seem to pose any immediate risk to vascular health,” says says the studies’ lead investigator exercise physiologist Kerry Stewart, Ed.D.Stewart. “More people should be considering a low-carb diet as a good option,” he adds.
If President Eisenhower had been on a low carb diet, would he have been spared the misery of seven heart attacks? Well, maybe. But, if you want to drastically lower your risk of coronary heart disease, you can stack the deck in your favor. Stop eating sugar, refined carbohydrates (pastas, breads, crackers, chips, tortillas,pretzels, etc), stop smoking too while you’re at it, and increase your intake of good fats, protein, and water. Oh, and of course, train on purpose.
