Last week General Motors announced that they are ending the Holden brand. For those outside Australia, and even Australians born after the mid 90’s this won’t mean much. But for those of us of a certain age it is the end of an era. And this includes people with a passing interest in cars.
As a child in the late 60’s and 70’ my parents drove Holden’s. It was “the” Australian car. Notwithstanding it had always been fully American owned (after the purchase by GM of Holden motor body builders in the 1930’s) the Holden was always seen as an Australian car. In the 50’s it was the only car built locally and commanded a large slice of the market.
The Holden HQ Kingswood released in 1971 was regarded as the best of breed. In 1998 its successor the Holden Commodore sold over 200,000 units. In 2019 there were under 10,000 sales. The proverbial writing was on the wall.
Necessarily many are sad about the demise of the brand, me included. However, it is a reminder that nothing lasts forever, and we need to be able to change as circumstances change.
The halcyon days for Holden were when life was arguably simpler. There were less cars to choose from. There were no mobile phones or computers. The low-fat dietary guidelines had not been introduced.
Pictures of people up to the early 1980s are far different to today. Look at images from then and you will see that most people are not overweight. Of course, big public health blames the public for not following its edicts. The reality is different. The public has followed the low-fat dietary guidelines to their detriment.
Cutting fats from the diet and replacing them with carbohydrates has been the worst fad diet in human history. The health consequences of this including rising rates of type two diabetes are a direct consequence. When we did not know better perhaps this advice was acceptable.
But now we do know better.
But has big public health changed its tune let alone apologised? No! It continues to promote the discredited low-fat dietary guidelines. It now conflates them with “saving the planet” or other supposedly feel good environmental causes. Plant based is supposed to equate to health for us and healthy for the planet. The reality is the exact opposite.
As usual, with fake meat and other plant-based foods is best to follow the money. The conflicts of interest in this space are considerable. For those interested, all the information is hiding in full view on the internet.
The world changes. How we live our lives changes. Some basics do not. Human beings have always eaten food they could gather and catch. We did not eat fake processed food. We did not eat foods which could be stored (unfrozen) for years. When we moved away from this basic fact of life, we created the problems we see today.
Whilst academics and other rent seekers wring their hands about the need for government action, and of course funding for themselves, the solution remains very simple. We need to eat like our ancestors up to the 1980’s ate. We need to eat real food that till recently had been moving around or growing somewhere.
We need to eat like we did when Holden’s ruled the road.
Medical Doctor, author, speaker, media presenter and health industry consultant, Dr Joe Kosterich wants you to be healthy and get the most out of life.
Joe writes for numerous medical and mainstream publications, is clinical editor at Medical Forum Magazine, and is also a regular on radio and television.
Joe is Medical Advisor to Medicinal Cannabis Company Little Green Pharma, Chairman of Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and sits on the board of Arthritis and Osteoporosis WA. He is often called to give opinions in medico legal cases.
He has self-published two books: Dr Joe’s DIY Health and 60 Minutes To Better Health.
In 2024 due to public demand he commenced a podcast, Dr Joe Unplugged, which can be accessed via Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
Through all this he continues to see patients as a GP each week.
