by Sean Croxton
While on break, I received the sad and unfortunate news from our good friend Zoe Harcombe that Barry Groves, PhD, a true health crusader, had passed away at the age of 77.
Dr. Groves — a founding member of The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (THINCS) as well as the Fluoride Action Network — worked tirelessly to expose dietary and medical misinformation because, as he would say, everything you think you know about diet and health is probably wrong.
Barry is survived by his wife Monica, and his legacy lives on through his websites, articles, and books. I encourage you to visit the links below to learn more about his work.
second-opinions.co.uk
cholesterol-and-health.org.uk
diabetes-diet.org.uk
I’m kicking myself for not having Barry on the UW podcast. However, he was gracious enough to be one our Real Food Summit presenters.
His Homo Carnivorus: What We are Designed to Eat presentation (posted below), in which he states a compelling case for a high-fat diet, was one of the event’s most popular talks.
The next time someone tells you that your diet should mimic that of our plant-based primate ancestors (if you believe in evolution, that is), you’ll want to direct them to this post!
Here’s the rundown…
1:27 Chaotic dietary recommendations and the rise in chronic disease.
3:00 What are we designed to eat?
4:30 Wild animals don’t read diet books or hire personal trainers!
5:25 Why body typing is nonsense.
6:38 Which mammals are designed to eat a high-fat diet?
7:43 How a gorilla’s low-fat diet is NOT a low-fat diet…
10:21 How a ruminants high-carb diet becomes a no-carb diet!
12:42 Why carnivorous animals prefer the fatty parts of their prey.
13:42 Primitive human cultures also ate and preferred high-fat diets.
14:55 Where should our dietary fats come from?
15:20 All primates are NOT vegetarians!
16:28 Primates have been reclassified as omnivores.
17:27 Cave paintings depict hunting, not fruit-picking…
18:08 What ancient poop can tell us about the human diet.
19:30 The impact of climate change on the human brain.
23:10 Why vegetable fats are suitable for brain development.
24:30 Kleiber’s Law.
26:30 Where does energy for the brain come from?
28:19 Small brain, big gut. And the other way around…
29:50 How the Lord dissed Cain’s fruit offering but accepted Abel’s fat.
32:48 Greek meat-thology. 🙂
34:43 The dietary wisdom of cannibals…
37:49 What Mediterraneans really eat!
40:10 Historical causes and modern evidence for a shrinking brain.
43:40 Ancel Keys and his fraudulent CHD data.
44:46 How does an old-fashioned food cause a brand new disease?
46:38 How can you have a fat-free cream when cream is fat?
47:10 The incredible shrinking vegan brain.
49:34 Civilized man is the planet’s only chronically sick animal!
51:59 The answer to our problems.
“Civilized man is the only animal clever enough to manufacture its own food, and the only animal stupid enough to eat it.”
Rest in peace, Barry.
Sean
Did they ever say what he died from? His presentations are very easy to follow and make a lot of sense but the mystery of his death puts a bit of a damper on things with skeptics trying to refute him.
Ahem. He was 77, a reasonable innings by anyone’s book, so who cares what he died from?
May he rest in peace. His info was the first I came across in our journey across the lowfat/highfat divide. He really helped convince us to try a different way.
Thank you for sharing this info! God bless.
As Beth says he was 77 and if he was capable of enjoying life to the full without any help from anyone or anything else then that’s a winner. When it’s your time, that’s it, but the quality of your life is what I think matters more. I’ll bet he wasn’t in a wheelchair and being spoon fed or helped to go to the toilet/bed/shopping etc.now there’s a life that’s lived IMHO and not eked out in misery. Best wishes to all and thanks for the news Sean. RIP Barry.
Jana, I think skeptics trying to refute Barry shows more about their state of mind than anything about his diet. This is the same type of negative thinking which surrounded Dr Atkins death, as though proving a negative in others will prove a positive in them and their lives.
A man who lived to 77, was lucid and mobile, took no chronic medication and died peacefully in his sleep, can be said to have lived a healthy and full life. This was Barry.
If the skeptics were indeed right Barry would have expired in his forties or been chronically ill. On this basis alone their argument is nothing but envy and Barrys legacy lives on.
Very sad news.
I found his book ‘Trick and treat’ a few years ago and it transformed my life.
Appears to have died from a heart problem that runs in the family
http://www.meetup.com/westonaprice-london/messages/boards/thread/34550532
Thank-you. That was the answer I was looking for. Some people had mentioned he was using his diet to prolong his life as he had some heredity problems. If that is the case, how fantastic is it he lived way longer than expected.