All the research began to rapidly unravel the veil of misdirection and blatant lies that I had chosen to ignore. One question lead to another, and another... until I began to see countless additional layers of problems with what I had so long considered to be "regular food".
The "Standard American Diet" is absolutely terrible. Once I started really looking, paying attention and letting the truth hit me, it became so obvious and so terrifying that it actually made me angry!
Our food is killing us! It's causing a huge number of the medical problems that plague us, and it's doing it every day. We're forcing our bodies to survive on very little nutrition and then we wonder why we get sick. We pack garbage, chemicals and toxins into our mouths and wonder why we have so much trouble losing weight.
We're sabotaging ourselves for our entire lives, then relying on advancements in medicine to "cure" us, when the root cause is that we've handicapped our own ability to be healthy. Nutrition isn't a cure, it's prevention. The body wants to be healthy, and it will be if it has the right tools for the job.
The meat, milk, eggs and veggies that I had left after I threw out all the processed crap was a step up, but I quickly realized that there wasn't much nutritional value even there.
The meat came from animals that were fed the cheapest possible diets, designed to get the most meat out of each animal, not the most nutrition. The milk was pasteurized (heated) which killed any good bacteria along with the bad. The eggs were laid by unhealthy chickens fed nutritionally empty diets, and the vegetables were grown in nutrient-depleted soil and covered with pesticides and who knows what other chemicals.
How the heck can I find healthy food?! Here's what I did to get started:
I got into grass-fed beef. It's out there you just have to find it. Bryan got me in touch with a guy who raises grass-fed cattle in our area and we got a lot of meat from him.
I buy locally-grown vegetables when I can, and I try to diversify the veggies I eat in order to get more out of them. Diversifying made me realized that I was living with a very narrow focus on what was available in the vegetable isle.
I wash the veggies well, and eat as many of them raw as possible to maximize on their nutritional value further.
I buy my milk and eggs from a local farmer who raises certified organic cows and chickens.
There are some great cookbooks out there that are all based on this line of thought. I'm familiar with a couple of them, "Everyday Paleo" by Sarah Fragoso (linked on this page for her blog, it's really good), also "The Primal Blueprint Cookbook" by Mark Sisson and Jennifer Meier is very good.
It's a start! It feels good having more information, especially with a baby to worry about. I don't want her eating garbage, I want her to be healthy and to have every advantage I can offer her. Good food is key!
That's all for now, but we've barely scratched the surface here. Stay tuned! Lots more to follow.
TSN
Great read, friend. I have gone through many of the same changes.
ReplyDeleteIf you keep heading down this path, your daughter will surely benefit/be better off than the average child.
However, I want to point out that breast milk is only 5-6% (by caloric value), or 0.8-1.0% (by weight), protein. Infants/toddlers do a great deal of growth, however, this is all that their rapidly growing bodies need. All of the fruits and vegetables that I have ever eaten are 2-33% (by caloric value) protein. So I challenge the notion children NEED to eat flesh to be healthy and grow well; when meat comes with excessive cholesterol, excessive saturated fat, excessive protein, is acid forming, and does not come with carbohydrates/fiber, vitamin C and vitamin A. A plant-based diet has none of those problems. In a world of good, better, best, why not choose best as often as possible?
The only issue with a plant-based diet is minimal to zero vitamin B12. However, that does not mean people eating other diets do not have this problem, as well. It is estimated that over 30% of americans are borderline B12 deficient or worse. And americans eat more meat than any other population. Complications with optimal B12 is a modern society issue due to soil cobalt depletions, pollution, chlorinated water, modern medicine, smoking, alcohol, the list goes on ("Could it Be B12?" is a good book)...
I was still eating cheese and fish multiple times per week when I finally got wise to check my B12 level. My serum level was 219 pg/ml ("normal" range: 200-1100; the normal range is >550 in Japan due to different standards). Even worse my methylmalonic acid was sky high at 1429 nmol/L (normal range: 87-318). So if eating meat does not even guarantee optimal B12, then I see no reason to eat it, absent trying to stay alive during a famine.
Besides, where do the animals get it from? Bacteria. However, most, if not all, cattle are injected with cyanocobalamin (yes, they likely use the cheap version utilizing CYANide). Thus, my only supplement is methylcobalamin, liquid sublingual B12. My serum B12 methylmalonic acid and homocysteine (I did not get this initially checked) levels have improved, but they are still a work in progress.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteStacey,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post!
While I love fruits and vegetables, I also love animal products like meat, dairy, and eggs (I've tried and tried to eat organ meats, but I can't stomach the taste or texture). I investigated the vegetarian diet and found it less than optimal. Specifically, I couldn’t ignore two facts:
- Vegetarians (the ones who refrain from eating animal products) can’t stay healthy without supplementation…
- Primitive non-Western vegetarians do not exist (Dr. Weston Price traveled the world looking for vegetarians living off the land during the 1920’s, but he couldn’t find any).
Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get around the fact that if the vegetarian diet is superior to even the standard American diet, then why does it need supplements? Supplementing means that you are making up for something that you need that is naturally missing from your diet. And then there are the observations of “primitive” people who don’t eat Western foods (and don't supplement): They are all healthy, lean, and almost completely free of chronic disease. How is it possible that these individuals can be very healthy without the benefit of modern science to tell them what nutrients to eat? From one generation to the next, they accumulated the nutritional wisdom necessary to make the healthiest babies. What’s their secret? All they do is eat natural whole foods with varying degrees of animal products. They also don’t eat processed foods, white flour, or soy, and consume very small amounts of polyunsaturated fats and sugar (mostly from fruit and not from refined sweeteners like sugar and HFCS). It’s a simple recipe for health that is generally reflected in the Paleo/Primal diet/lifestyle.
Hopefully, you won’t take my opinion as a personal insult. I usually don’t talk too much about this stuff with vegetarians because the few I’ve talked to in the past were so argumentative; almost as if I was rejecting them personally if I didn’t agree with their point-of-view. I’m an intense empiricist, which means that if my beliefs are contradicted by new data, then my beliefs have to be abandoned. And so far, the evidence and arguments that I’ve come across have soured me on vegetarianism. After all of my research, I believe strongly that the Paleo/Primal lifestyle offers the best way to achieve superior health and longevity. So far, my experience (and those of my friends who have adopted the Paleo/Primal lifestyle) have only re-enforced that belief.
Some animals live exclusively on veggies, some exclusively on meat, others on fruit, some on bugs, blood... you name it. Doesn't it make more sense to eat as much variety as possible so as to get the fullest possible range of nutrition?
ReplyDeleteI know I've been paring down the portion sizes of my meat dishes and stepping up the veggies significantly, even as much as to say that the meat was a side dish rather than the main course, but I'm having trouble with cutting it out altogether. Especially if it's organic and grew up eating food that was healthy for it.
If we are what we eat, and meat is what it ate, then it follows that meat from a naturally fed animal would just be its diet in a different format, no?
Doesn't it make sense that if I want to build muscle (or maintain it) I should eat muscle? That way I'm making "muscle ingredients" (if you will) available for my body to use in constructing its own muscles?
I'm no nutrition expert, obviously. I'm just a guy who doesn't want to end up like those awefully sickly looking people, slowly and painfully shuffling through grocery stores shoveling boxes and bags of processed foods into carts. Know what I mean?
Howdy Bryan. I am Donald. I was evidently logged in as my wife, Stacey, when I posted.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I also made a comment on Zach's "The Purge" post. Also, feel free to view my cronometer screenshots that I posted on Facebook (Zach is tagged) to go along my comment on Zach's other blog.
You say vegetarians/vegans must supplement to be healthy. True, hence my post above concerning vitamin B12. By that I assume you are stating that eating a paleo diet does not require any supplementation, no? If so, I guess you ignore the fact that you are supplementing vitamin B12 indirectly in-part by eating beef that is injected by the ranchers. In addition, if you read my post above you would know that over 30% of the US population has a B12 deficiency. Have you ever had your serum B12, methylmalonic acid and/or homocysteine levels before? If not, then I would say you have some data collecting to do on yourself. I recommend that you read "Could it Be B12?".
My understanding of tribes like the Hunza people is that only about 1-5% of their total Calories, throughout a year, come from animal sources. This is likely do to ritual/celebrations or perhaps they just did not have enough plant-based foods to go all around at a particular time. Besides, the early 20th century is hardly paleolithic. Come to think of it, neither is routinely drinking the milk from another species or drinking any milk post-maturation. I recommend that you read "The China Study."
I recommend those books because you stated that you are "an intense empiricist." Speaking of objectiveness, what do you have to say about my objective description of mother's milk? What do you have to say about meat; the excessive amounts of cholesterol, saturated fat, protein, all that it lacks and the fact that it does not sufficiently* provide any nutrient to a person whom is already eating enough sweet fruits (>1000 Calories per meal) and vegetables (>1 lb per day)? [*note what I have stated concerning B12]
Let's go back to supplements. Why does Joe Friel (and other pro-paleo gurus) recommend products/supplements like Ultrafit Recovery, Carbo Pro, etc. (oh protein powder, also... HAHA)? I know the answer(s)... ;p
By the way, how many Calories per day do you consume on average or recommend a paleo diet eater?
Here is a great trash talking video about the paleo diet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoAjqu_gZkA). Enjoy the different perspective. [note: the first 12 minutes are the most important]
ReplyDeletePoints touched upon: the truth is there if you know what to look for, hypocrisy of the diet's gurus (Friel, Sean Croxton, Mark Sisson, Loren Cordain; i.e., buy my processed products and supplements), Mark Sisson's diet, Loren Cordain's diet, Joe Friel's diet.
Howdy Random Dude.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you were just being slightly humorous when you stated, "Doesn't it make sense that if I want to build muscle (or maintain it) I should eat muscle?" That is like saying if you want to swim better, eat fish, or if you want to breath better, eat lung, or if you want more courage, eat heart, ect... [note: you did read what I posted above about mother's milk being only 5-6% protein (by caloric value), no?]
Ponder this, how did that bull, horse, elephant, buck, etc. build such large muscles? What do you think our primate counter parts primarily eat?
If you eat enough (do not Calorie restrict), then you will not need to worry about looking like "those awefully sickly looking people, slowly and painfully shuffling through grocery stores shoveling boxes and bags of processed foods into carts."
Calorie restriction is NOT healthy. If you ate nothing but sweet fruits and vegetables there would be ZERO reason to Calorie restrict. [note: focus on copious amounts of sweet fruits because they are more calorie dense than vegetables] Calorie restriction is popular in our unhealthy world because we (Americans) consume WAY to much fat (average ~33% of total Calories) and protein (average ~17% of total Calories) in our mainstream diets.
Of course, if you cut down fat and protein consumption you will lose weight. However, in the process of calorie restricting you are restricting carbohydrates to fuel your lifestyle, and vitamin & mineral intake, as well. ALL of our ~100 trillion cells, PLUS the trillions of bacteria in us that we greatly rely on, function off of GLUCOSE. Minimize glucose, minimize cell functioning. Here is a neat webpage I just found (http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html). [If you are eating low carb, then I will be patient with you since I know you are starving your brain ;p]
Of course, we can get by eating predominately meat. Look at the Inuit people. However, while looking at them take note of their disease issues (like osteoporosis, etc.) and the fact that they do not live that long of life (~44 years)... We were clearly meant to be primarily plant eaters to individually thrive (do not confuse with population boom) and when times got tough eat whatever animal flesh or product you can to stay alive until plant foods become plentiful again...
I invite you to read my comment on Zach's "The Purge" blog and all of my future comments.
Good night:)
Donald,
ReplyDeleteYou make quite a few points. To try and keep these posts brief, I’ll try to address the major ones:
1. Vegetarians have to supplement with more than Vitamin B12. They also need:
- Vitamin A. The plant sources of vitamin A (beta-carotene and other carotenoids) have to be converted in the body to retinol (which is the animal form). 2.4-24 units of beta-carotene [and other carotenoids] are equal to just one unit of retinol (the numbers vary widely based on how the beta-carotene or carotenoids are delivered).
- Vitamin D. If you don’t like the sun or mushrooms, then you’ll need to supplement Vitamin D (vegetarians aren’t alone in this deficiency).
- Vitamin K2. K1 is found in plants, but it doesn’t do everything that the animal form (K2) does.
- Vitamin B6. There are three forms of B6 found in foods: pyridoxine, pyridoxamine and pyridoxal. The human body uses pyridoxamine and pyridoxal (which are the animal forms), and can convert pyridoxine (the plant form) into pyridoxamine and pyridoxal, but it uses up extra vitamin B2.
- Zinc. Although found in plant foods, animal foods provide a better source of zinc.
http://www.westonaprice.org/vegetarianism-and-plant-foods/vegetarianism-and-nutrient-deficiencies
http://www.westonaprice.org/vegetarianism-and-plant-foods/myths-of-vegetarianism
http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/01/06/vegetarians-and-heart-disease/
2. Our Food Supply Sucks!
- You’ll never hear me say that you can eat even a high-quality paleo/primal diet and be perfectly healthy (although many paleo gurus will make that claim). Our food supply sucks (extensive use of petro-fertilizers, low-quality animal feed, overly-processed foods), which is why I spend so much time locating high-quality meat, diary, and eggs, as well as the most nutritious vegetables and fruit. Even still, I have such low confidence in our food supply that I still supplement to hit the RDA numbers found in some “primitive” cultures (usually 2-5 times the RDA).
http://www.grist.org/food/2011-08-02-not-your-grandmas-strawberries
3. The China Study has been Thoroughly Debunked!
Campbell’s book, “The China Study” has been the center of intense re-analysis over the last year. Based on this re-analysis, it was discovered that his conclusions weren’t supported by his own data. (Actually, his data condemns wheat and plant proteins and vindicates saturated fat and animal protein.)
http://rawfoodsos.com/category/china-study/
http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/search/label/China%20Study
4. And Saturated Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You!
- There is absolutely no proof that saturated fat causes heart disease (it’s actually the healthiest fat you can eat because it is so resistant to becoming rancid; polyunsaturated fat is the worst because it is so prone to going rancid) or that the cholesterol you eat raises your blood cholesterol (your body will actually adjust its own production of cholesterols if it detects cholesterol in the diet). The hottest debate on the paleo/primal blogs right now is the likely causes of heart disease. The current belief is that rancid fat (in the form of vegetable and soy oils) gets placed into LDL, which creates arterial damage when that LDL is used to repair arterial damage. (But this isn’t the only theory; there are several good causes of metabolic syndrome [which includes heart disease] that include malnutrition, dietary toxins, infections, refined fructose, and oxidized fat.)
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/12/dirty-little-secret-of-diet-heart.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/07/diet-heart-hypothesis-stuck-at-starting.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14998608
5. Book Everyone Should Read
ReplyDelete- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (Weston Price)
- The Perfect Health Diet (Paul Jaminet)
- Fat and Cholesterol are Good for You (Uffe Ravnskov)
- Dangerous Grains (James Braly)
- Deep Nutrition (Catherine Shanahan)
- Real Food (Nina Plank)
- The Paleo Solution (Rob Wolf)
I think that this is a long enough post. (And I’m sure that this won’t be the last post).
You say that I made quite a few points yet you do not say you agree or disagree and then explain. You just carry on with talking points. So I will do my part and address those and perhaps you will get around to addressing my points, in the near future.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, let me LOL at you telling someone not to eat a vegetarian/vegan diet because they will have to supplement. However, you are the one supplementing! You likely drink coffee, alcohol, chocolate, etc. in order to make up for depriving yourself of enough whole sweet fruit carbohydrates...
I only supplement with a liquid B complex sublingual (to keep things simple in my first post I only mentioned methylcobalamin to make distinction from cyanocobalamin). That is the ONLY supplement I need. And I take the supplement for the B12 (the isolated B12 supplement cost more that the B complex) not because a vegan diet is deficient. I take the B12 because I had B12 issues before going vegan and due to the FACT that B12 is an issue for AT LEAST of 1/3 of the population (reason and book recommendation stated above).
I have mention some of my lab work data (more below), however, you cannot even answer my question asking you if you have had your B12, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid levels checked. I have also mention some nutrition data, however, you cannot answer my question about your caloric intake. Come on empiricist...
Now to give my take on the nutrients you mentioned above:
Vitamin A - Taking what I ate yesterday (http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/recipe/2276939/2) I consumed 68249 IU, or 1365% RDA, vitamin A. Retinol Activity Equivalent was 3404 mcg. From wiki: "A sample vegan diet for one day that provides sufficient vitamin A has been published by the Food and Nutrition Board (page 120[4]). On the other hand, reference values for retinol or its equivalents, provided by the National Academy of Sciences, have decreased. The RDA (for men) of 1968 was 5000 IU (1500 μg retinol). In 1974, the RDA was set to 1000 RE (1000 μg retinol), whereas now the Dietary Reference Intake is 900 RAE (900 μg or 3000 IU retinol). This is equivalent to 1800 μg of β-carotene supplement (3000 IU) or 10800 μg of β-carotene in food (18000 IU)." Oh, by the way, on 15 August 2011 I had my serum vitamin A level checked for the first time in my life and it was 65 ug/dl (normal range: 38-106). CHECK!
Vitamin D - As a typical low carb eating american (not enough fuel to convince me to get off my ass and go play in the sun; I was still eating cheese and fish) had my serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D level checked for the first time in December 2010, with a score of 15 ng/mL (normal range: >30). True it was December (no UV B rays penetrating the atmosphere), but I was eating fish and cheese... So what.
Like a fool (still not thinking correctly) I supplemented with D3 (~2666-5800 IU per day; I also took it with magnesium, as dimagnesium malate, and omega 3 fish oil, among other nutrients in the packets) and continued to eat mucho sushi (I cut out the cheese) for two months. I had my serum D checked again in March 2011, with the score of 23 ng/ml. I improved! However, it became clear to me that it was silly to eat fish (from who nows where with who knows what pathogens, yummy flukes, and toxins, BPAs, methylmercury, etc.) and for what gain (and I was wasting money on supplements)? So I got my ass into the sun (and I changed my diet to what I currently eat; good thing I focus on hydration and my diet is jam-packed full of antioxidants). It was now spring (April), after all. I retested my serum D 15 August and was pleased that it was now 40 ng/ml. Moral of the story, get your ass in the sun (WITHOUT sunblock and when the UV index is 3+). CHECK!
Vitamin K - Taking what I ate yesterday (link above) I consumed 207 mcg , or 259% RDA, vitamin K. Yup, got that tested for the first time in my life 15 August, with a score of 184 pg/ml (normal range: 80-1160). CHECK!
Zinc - Taking what I ate yesterday (link above) I consumed 7.6mg, or 51% RDA, zinc. I cannot currently recall why I lowered my personal zinc daily consumption goal to 4.3 mg. I will answer to that when I get a chance to do some research. I believe it has something to do with Phytic acid in nuts, seeds, legumes and grains, but I cannot remember why I set the daily goal at 4.3, at the moment. Nevertheless, I too got my serum zinc level checked 15 August and the score was 71 mcg/dl (normal range: 60-130). As a side note, I also tested my serum selenium, which was 97 ug/L (normal range: 63-160). Yesterday, I consumed ~22.4 mcg, or ~32% RDA, of selenium. Again, I need to revisit why I lowered my daily goals on some of these minerals.
ReplyDeleteIt is also important to note that the body absorbs all macro and micro nutrients (they are more bio-available) when food is not damaged by heat, or cooked. I love the following example: did you know that about 50-75% of iron found in breast milk is absorbed by an infants digestive system, while only 5-10% of iron is absorbed from infant formula? [Thankfully, my daughter still continues to consume breast milk 3 times per day at a few days shy of 20 months. :)]
Vitamin B6 - Unfortunately, I have never checked my serum B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 levels (only B9, or folic acid, and B12), yet. Vitamin B6 is related to my high homocysteine issue. However, I take all of these vitamins when I take my B12 daily. We shall see what future blood data shows...
Surely, one can find imperfections in any study/report. However, the facts still stand that excess dietary fat and protein for prolong durations of time are unhealthy for you and lead to our modern diseases.
You state, "you’ll never hear me say that you can eat even a high-quality paleo/primal diet and be perfectly healthy." With that attitude, you loss before you even began... How can you be taken seriously stating, "saturated fat and cholesterol are good for you," when you have that attitude? Tell that to the fools whom get the most common outpatient surgery in the US - Cholecystectomy (>1 million per year). Gallstones are predominately made of cholesterol!
[side note: I have gallstones. While I was still eating fish (sushi) and taking supplements for my vitamin D (which included 3000 mg omega-3 fish oil) I had, now looking back, my first gallbladder attack the early morning of 26 February 2011. I had my second attack 3 weeks later 14-15 March. After going through the second attack I had enough information to research what was going on with me. After concluding that they were highly likely gallbladder attacks I made an appointment for a sonogram and began eating my current low fat (<10% by overall caloric value) low cholesterol (plants to contain cholesterol in very small amounts) diet.
I confirmed the existence of a decent amount of gallstones and sludge on 14 April via sonogram. As a result of my greatly improved diet, I have been gallbladder attack-free for over 6 months. Better yet, I am not like all those other fools whom allow doctors to remove whatever organ because they are too ignorant and lazy to just change their bad habits... I do admit that I am a fool for letting things get to that point. However, I use my gallbladder attacks as incentive to change my lifestyle and stop being a victim of my by habits (my lab work, wife getting pregnant and goal of being commissioned as an army medical entomologist are other big incentives). We are our own worse enemy.]
Donald,
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the response! I guess I didn’t do a really good job of addressing your points directly. So here we go:
1. Mother’s Milk: It’s important for children and possibly relevant as a food reference, but not very relevant for adults. Of course, you can’t drink mother’s milk all of your life, and all people around the world eat foods that will not be nutritionally identical to mother’s milk, yet are still very healthy. Here’s what the Weston A. Price Foundation has to say about fat in breast milk:
“Fat and cholesterol are very important components in human milk. In fact, the milk from a healthy mother has about 50 to 60 percent of its energy (kilocalories) as fat.(1) The cholesterol in human milk supplies an infant with close to six times the amount most adults consume from their food.(1)”
“Studies of milk from 224 Danish mothers showed that they produced milk with a very wide range of fat content.1 The average amount of fat was 39 grams per liter of milk and the range was from 18 grams to 89 grams per liter of milk. That is the equivalent of an average milk fat content of 3.9 percent with the range between 1.8 percent and 8.9 percent. This would mean that some babies would be getting the equivalent of 2 percent milk and some would be getting the equivalent of table cream, with the average infant getting the equivalent of whole Guernsey or Jersey milk. Studies have shown that the average levels of fat in the milk of Canadian women to be 3.2 percent, and the fat levels in two different areas in China to be either the same at 3.2 percent or somewhat higher at 3.8 percent.(2)”
“Although the level of total fat in human milk varies nearly fivefold, the amounts of the different major fatty acid categories are somewhat less variable and the values show overlap. For example, typical milk from French mothers has an average of 44 percent saturated fatty acids, with a range from 39-47 percent. Studies of milk from Dutch mothers showed averages of 38-52 percent saturated fatty acids. Typical milk from Sudanese mothers has an average of 46 percent saturated fatty acids with a range of 36-55 percent. From Spanish mothers the average reported is 41 percent saturated fatty acids and the range is 32-51 percent.(1)”
REFERENCES
1. Jensen RG. Lipids in Human Milk. Lipids 1999;34:1243-1271.
2. Chen ZY, Kwan KY, Tong KK, Ratnayake WMN, Li HQ, Leung SSF. Breast Milk Fatty Acid Composition: A Comparative Study Between Hong Kong and Chongqing Chinese. Lipids 1997;32:1061-1067.
2. Calorie Restriction: I agree that FORCED calorie restriction is bad (where you refrain from eating even though you are hungry), but VOLUNTARY calorie restriction means that your body is burning stored fat, which means that these calories do not have to be eaten (so you aren’t as hungry). Often, when someone changes their diet to paleo/primal, the reduced intake of nutrient-void and toxic processed foods, refined sweeteners, wheat (and other gluten-grains), and soy is replaced with nutrient-dense whole foods like high-quality meats, eggs, dairy (for some), vegetables, and fruit. This transition removes Neolithic Agents of Disease (e.g., wheat, gluten-grains, soy, refined carbohydrates), which (among many other things) allows the brain to more accurately assess how much body fat it has. Based on this more accurate feedback (via leptin signaling), the brain will reduce a person’s appetite and hunger as it burns this extra fat. Once a person gets to their genetically-established body-weight set point, their appetite and hunger will return to normal and they can maintain this new weight as long as their diet and lifestyle doesn’t revert. This is actually a very involved theory, which can’t be accurately summarized in a blog reply. If you are curious, then you should read the following:
ReplyDeleteLeptin Resistance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptin#Obesity_and_leptin_resistance; http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/leptin
Body-Weight Set-Point Theory: http://medweb.mit.edu/pdf/set_point_theory.pdf
Western Diet and Lifestyle and Disease of Civilization: http://www.dovepress.com/the-western-diet-and-lifestyle-and-diseases-of-civilization-peer-reviewed-article-RRCC-MVP
3. Supplementing: Since all of our food sources are degraded by how we (Americans) produce food (e.g., excessive yield, poor crop rotation techniques, growing produce in nutrient-depleted soil, feeding livestock unnatural feed, raising livestock in unnatural environments), our food is of low-quality. So, EVERYONE in who eats Western foods needs to supplement to get optimal levels of nutrients (and the RDA is not an optimal level, it’s the minimum level needed to avoid malnutrition). Of course, some people will need to supplement more than others. (It should be noted that “primitive” cultures don’t need to supplement because they can produce higher-quality food.)
The biggest reason I supplement is based on the analysis of the Kitavan diet. The Kitavan’s are a “primitive” culture who does not eat Western foods. Like most cultures that do not eat Western foods, they do not suffer from Diseases of Civilization (e.g., cancer, infertility, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.). Analysis of their lifestyle (and the lifestyle of other similar cultures) shows that they eat very nutrient-dense, whole foods, which includes varying degrees of vegetable, fruit, and animal products (these diets range from eating a lot of vegetables and small amounts of animal products and eating nothing but animal products). Interestingly, the Kitavans eat foods that are similar to ours (e.g., sweet potatoes, bananas, watermelon, flounder, oysters, coconut milk), in similar portion sizes, but they have no problem getting 2-3 times the RDA of vitamins and minerals. To me, this is just more proof that the modern way of producing food trades quality for quantity.
Kitavans: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/Kitava; http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2010/03/paleo-diet-analysis-kitavan-analogue.html
Other “Primitive” Cultures: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html (this is the eBook version of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration)
Well, I’m at my two-page limit, so I’ll stop here.
Oh, one last thing:
ReplyDelete- If “primitive” humans can simply eat wholesome foods (both plant and animal) and be perfectly healthy without the benefit of modern blood work, why can’t we? Why are we different?
- Personally, I love to collect data, so I’m not opposed to collection data on my health (and I do), but how have humans managed to be healthy enough to survive natural selection for tens of thousands of years (millions of years, depending on how far back into our evolution you want to go) without counting calories or macro- and micro-nutrient levels, or getting extensive blood work done?
- Why is it that we need dentists to fix our teeth, but “primitive” humans, who don’t eat Western foods, have perfect teeth that form perfect dental arches? What are we doing differently?
- And while Western cultures generally live longer lives, why do we need modern medicine to do so, while “primitives” can live just as long, but don’t need meds or supplements to keep them “healthy”? (Note: While “primitive” cultures do suffer from high infant mortality rates, which drops their average lifespan number, once they make it past age 50, they are just as likely to live to 70-80 as we are.)
These are just a few of the questions that I’ve come up with over the past 2 years. And the Paleo/primal community has been asking the same questions. I truly believe that as the Paleo/primal diet evolves past the low-carb nonsense, that it will represent the ideal diet and lifestyle for Western cultures.
100-Year-Old Kitavan: http://www.staffanlindeberg.com/OurResearch.html
Thanks for the comments, book references and links, Bryan.
ReplyDelete***** Maybe asterisks will help me remind you that I have two comments on Zach's "The Purge" blog found here: http://tpt-thispaleothing.blogspot.com/2011/09/purge.html. My second comment covers the breast milk topic some more. *****
Let me know if there is something that I did not address that you want me to. I will address the data collecting topic. Unfortunately, we are starting in a lost state of mind. So, we must take notes and collect data to make sure we are going in the best direction to achieve our goals. Besides, in todays world we have modern science and technology, so why not use it?
Once we have got it repeatedly "correct," then there is little to no reason to continue with the data collecting because, by then, we have several years to verify that we have been to doing things "correctly" anyhow. You, Zach and I are new at our respective lifestyle changes. Therefore, it is wise to be objective during that process to learn from our mistakes and make adjustments when and where necessary.
I believe that my diet provides enough of every nutrient for me except vitamin B12 (reasons mentioned in previous comments). My blood work has verified this, so far (only 4.5-5 months in, lol). I will continue to get my blood tested for past issues and possible candidate issues in the future to make sure I am not being foolish by eating a certain way. [note: I eat a high carb (>80% of overall Calories) low fat (<10%) low protein (<10%) raw vegan diet comprised of mostly whole sweet fruits (>1000 Calories per meal) and some leafy greens (>1 lb per day).]
You stated, "I truly believe that as the Paleo/primal diet evolves past the low-carb nonsense, that it will represent the ideal diet and lifestyle for Western cultures." What do you mean? Are you saying that people should maximize their fruit and vegetable consumption? That is the only way to go higher carb... Guess what? I already do that! As you will see on Zach's "The Purge" blog my first post demonstrates that I eat more of a paleolithic diet that you likely do. Why even call your diet such? Why not just call it eating less processed foods diet? Although you still eat processed foods such as cheese, agave sweetener, coconut milk, butter, etc...
There is good and bad in everything and everything is relative. Of course, there is more than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. However, there are clearly better ways (philosophies) than others...