I'm bringing this over from my journal, because I'm pretty sure others on this forum will have noticed the Netflix documentary. What follows is my knee-jerk reaction.

For pete's sake! Nobody can eat ANYTHING anymore without being in danger of cancer. At least that's the conclusion a thoughtful reader and social critic must reach.

As I reported earlier (in my journal), I watched the beginning of a new documentary on Netflix called What the Health. Today I read an opinion column by dire pessimist Chris Hedges concerning this documentary and a companion book written by his wife. (No prejudice there!) The premise seems to be that "processed meat"--and dairy, eggs, and saturated fat, by the way--are the primary cause of cancer. And moreover that "getting fat" is the cause of diabetes. Pardon this abrupt summary of a movie I did not watch, and a book I have not read.

Hedges refers to the famous (to us) 1976 McGovern panel, after which the meat-and-egg producers pulled the wool over our eyes to promote unhealthy and feces-ridden industrial meat products that are killing us all. The indictment in the Hedges discussion expands "processed meat" to include all animal products. Wong cites studies: "Eating one egg a day can triple the risk of death among diabetes sufferers." Hedges also quotes an expert from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (yeah--those guys!) who indicts cow's milk as "the single most significant chemical carcinogen to which humans are exposed."

On one thing Hedges and I do agree: massive amounts of money are spent in political lobbying by every single agricultural entity on the planet. Whether it's bacon and eggs, or "healthy whole grains," someone is going to want you to buy it and eat it. Or not.

We have to be careful about what we eat.

Personally, I prefer the clean-cut, healthy-looking advice and advisors on Diet Doctor, and the research they cite--much more recent than 1977. I also like the amazing before/after stories about real people who have improved their weight and their health through various forms of low-carbohydrate eating. Real food.

Perhaps the key word after all is "processed." Whether it's meat or eggs or dairy or fruit or even grain, the further we can get from antibiotics, pesticides, filthy processing practices, chemical preservatives, and certain kinds of genetic engineering, the better.

Pay attention, Kiddos! But don't be frightened to death.