Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 03, 2024

It’s about moderation and the type, Rat.

Excessive red meat is bad, the occasional burger or steak is just fine.

Whole grain carbs are better than excessively processed and sugar especially isn’t good.

Fish as a whole is the best meat you can have especially grilled.

I really hate the mindset that because new evidence comes out for something that means we can never know or because the news constantly reports “A new study-” when the studies are often either terrible, misrepresented or so obviously biased it’s crazy.

I might enjoy this more if I hadn’t been told that I’m diabetic. I’m doing well, but I keep worrying that one day I’ll have to have my feet amputated.

Sorry for the downer, but I had to let that out.

“The problem with modern nutritional science is that today’s health food is tomorrow’s carcinogen and today’s carcinogen is tomorrow’s health food.” – me

This is such perfect satire on how the FDA keeps flip-flopping on their dietary recommendations. . . .

“Eat dairy, it’s good for you! It’s full of calcium that will make your teeth and bones stronger!”

“No, don’t eat dairy, it’s bad for you! It wrecks your digestive system and makes you fat!”

“Eat meat, it’s good for you! It’s full of protein that will strengthen your muscle mass!”

“No, don’t eat meat, it’s bad for you! It’s full of cholesterol and makes you fat!”

“Eat grain, it’s good for you! It’s full of fiber that helps promote a healthy metabolism and digestive system!”

“No, don’t eat grain, it’s bad for you! It’s full of evil carbs that will make you fat!”

“Eat fruit, it’s good for you! It’s full of vitamins and minerals that are essential to everyone’s overall health and wellbeing!”

“No, don’t eat fruit, it’s bad for you! It’s full of sugar that’ll make you fat!”

“Eat veggies, they’re good for you! They’re really the only thing humans should be eating anyway; we’re not animals, we’re not designed to eat the rest of that stuff.”

FWIW, I used to treat myself to Dunkin’ Donuts after seeing my doctor every three months.

It may be possible that red meat and carbs are good for you, but it isn’t PROBABLE—and the more you consume, the less probable it is!

It’s not the food items themselves that are good or bad, it’s what it contains. Most food items have both good and bad contents. Even fruits have excessive amounts of sugar.

As pointed out, it’s more a matter of taking these contents in the best proportion.

This comic strip shows my ultimate fantasy: an HONEST doctor!!!! Dan aka…ps YAY!!!!

Please keep eating the best food you can, preferably organic, and take naturally sourced supplements. Do your own research and don’t believe everything that you are told without checking facts!

I think most readers understand that it’s just a comic.. and that a good diet really is important.

If one has a chocolate bar in each hand, does that count as a balanced diet?

This Doc is a keeper.

Skip the donuts and eat a Southerner’s diet of fried chicken without sugar in the corn bread and you got it made in the shade of a hot day in Dixie.

Is it possible that a balanced diet, that includes red meat, carbs, fats, and proteins, but not too much or too little of anything, is good for you?

Yes.

Is it possible that doctors and other experts really know what they’re talking about, but that what they say is often misrepresented in the media?

Yes.

Well, as the Greeks said ages ago, “Μηδὲν ἄγαν.” (Nothing in excess) Rather a leap from “a little X won’t hurt you,” to “pay no attention to nothing, ever.” And if Pastis should whine I’m engaged in reductio ad absurdum I’ll retort he started it.

Moderation in everything. Including moderation.

Like one day you hear coffee is bad for you, next day you hear it’s good for you!

Wish that’s how it worked. But eating badly isn’t simply a matter of dropping dead earlier. I know too many people who ate unhealthy diets all their lives — and they DON’T enjoy their lives anymore. Some can barely walk, others have breathing problems, one got body parts amputated. For me, it’s not the length of my life that matters as much as what I can do with it while I’m here.

The latest thing is apparently that we should only eat soups and wet stews, because the chemicals in browned food are bad, m’kay?

Rats will eat what ever they can get. Sometimes it is another rat.

I didn’t believe in diet stuff till I read a book about the movie Airplane. One of the guy’s kids had epileptic seizures and they couldn’t find any good help till they tried the Ketegenic(sic) diet. They were so impressed they started a foundation to inform everyone including doctors about it. Now there are 250 medical centers that provide support for this diet so I guess it is effective.

I wonder why Rat didn’t ask about beer.

People should check out ‘super normal’ food and how it affects your dietary choices (it’s a bad thing).

Our state fair (where everyone goes to improve their diet) introduced a donut burger a couple of years ago; twin patties between 2 donuts. I think you could opt for cheese but I don’t know if you could get jelly filled or if you had to settle for glazed.

Rats can pretty much eat anything they want.

Pretty typical ant-doctor (or anti-science) drivel. Observation: all doctors do not agree on all things, and some or most change their minds with new evidence. Conclusion: all doctors are wrong, and you should trust your feelings, or better still, some random TikTok creator.

A week ago at a Street Fair, I decided to eat a bunch of zeppole like I was still a teenager. Stomach hurt for three days. Yes, what you eat makes a difference.

Yes, I’m diabetic as well. Mostly drink iced tea with stevia rather than using much sugar. Keep the sugar to minimum.

I noticed that “the cause of and solution to all of our problems” is not mentioned. The evidence is pretty clear there.

Well, yeah… but that might be going a bit too far… oh, what the heck, doesn’t hurt to celebrate now and then.

I want the phone number of that doctor.

He took Garfield out for Lasagna and Donuts. Yum.

It’s possible… but I sure as heck hope not!

I am a diabetic, and I take excellent care of my feet. I don’t want to end up in a wheelchair.

It’s true that medical science does not know everything. It can be quite demoralizing. The great problem is that too many people fill those knowledge gaps with whatever hogwash most appeals to them.

If Doctors weren’t out to make money, they’d be broke.

I figure I will live to 100, you know the good die young.

What many people fail to realise is that every individual body handles food differently than what some other person would. I’ve seen people that can eat whatever they want, as much as they want, and not only not gain an ounce of weight, but seems to not have any harmful affects on their body at all. And then you have others that will gain weight and become extremely obese just from smelling say a donut or some other sweet treat. Everyone is different, and to diet or not to diet, or what can be tolerated by their body depends on each individuals metabolism. There is no one size fits all remedy.

Just do your best to stay away from processed foods. I eat red meat 3-4 days a week and just had my physical which showed that my cholesterol was excellent.

“There are no universal rules of health. We’re all… Snowflakes.”-Lewis Black

What this comic says, and the concerns expressed by many in their comments to it; is a topic dealt with in depth in a good titled “Good Energy”, by Dr. Casey Means. It was a life changer for me. If today’s strip hit home with you, I recommend you get that book and read it.

Everything in moderation is good advice. Even then, sometimes genetics just comes up and bites you. In my early 40’s I was 147 pounds, a competitive runner who could still do a low 16 minute 5K and I still had a heart attack.

Rat wears no clothes yet he’s in a Seymore Hiney – what’s he trying to hide from the doc?

How did they cure bladder cancer?

Please neither of you take a job in a public health agency. Ever.

Well, I say kale is awful … going in and going out.

I highly recommend Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal.

" Adults and young adults in the U.S. consume on average about 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day, more than 2 to 3 times the recommended daily allowance for men and women respectively. This adds up to around 60 pounds of added sugar consumed annually — that’s six,10-pound bowling balls. " The daily max for women is 6.

Moderation in all things (food wise) is the key. And, could you please send me the name and location of that doctor? I’d much rather have donuts and fried chicken after a check-up than a “lollipop” or a “sticker.”

moderation is the key. don’t go overboard on anything & do some sort of exercise every day.

Hey Stephan! Would you happen to have this doctor’s contact information? :-D

I want Rat’s doctor!

When you were in high school, you thought you knew everything. When you were in college, you knew you didn’t know much. If you went for an advanced degree, masters or doctorate, (answer in panel 8) you knew that nobody knows anything.

carbs… good…

Except we know that a high sugar, high fat diet is bad for you. I still like the the quote, though, from Redd Foxx, “Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals, dying of nuthin’.”

I don’t forget the Egg Yo-Yo – Good, then Bad, then Good, etc.