And then there's fat. If you want your body to be low in fat, then you need foods that are low in fat, right? Hell, that's basic science! But then that turned out to be complete and utter horseshit, too. When the U.S. started clumsily coughing up its first dietary guidelines in 1977, heart attacks had recently taken the throne as the leading cause of death. There was nothing in the available data to support the claim that dietary fat increases the risk of heart attack, or any sort of death at all (except maybe those caused by slipping in a puddle of bacon fat). However, officials were eager to do something to at least appear to deal with the situation, so they grabbed a bunch of arbitrary evidence pointing toward fat and declared it the enemy.

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This is despite the fact that studies have found that a high-fat diet doesn't even play a major role in cholesterol buildup, and that our constant fat-avoidance makes us consume copious amounts of carbohydrates instead. Incidentally, carbs break into sugars and a different sort of fat called triglyceride, which may cause more harm to your cardiovascular system than any amount of animal products you could chow down.

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"I'm not sure; let's blame eggs and be done with it."

Okay, what about sugar and high-fructose corn syrup? Hasn't science declared them to be Public Enemy #1 these days? Sure, and you're wise to cut down on them ... unless you replace them with artificial sweeteners, which appear to cause as much weight gain, if not more, for a variety of reasons that mostly come down to "They make you hungrier afterward."

Confused? Good. That means you've gained an accurate view of what is a truly confusing situation. Any jackass who smugly proclaims, "It's about calories in versus calories out, people!" is the most ignorant of all. It's like saying that solving crime is simple because all we need is everyone to "stop doing crimes." If they're not stopping to consider the causes of this sudden worldwide caloric imbalance, they're being, well, as lazy as they accuse fat people of being.

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Did you know that even with diet and exercise, the odds are against you making a permanent dent in your fat? Read all about it in Fat Is Officially Incurable (According to Science). Or see why you're probably chubby in 5 Surprising Things That Are Secretly Making You Fat.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for help in not eating ever again in 6 Ways the Food Industry Tricks You Into Eating Garbage, and watch other videos you won't see on the site!

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