[quote]durden wrote:
Whisper 9999
Wiley and Formby.
I’m not talking about Cro-magium man, although he fits the bill. I’m talking about as little as two or three generations back, let alone 10-20 generations. I live in NC, a fairly middle climate. Its January 200 years ago, what am i eating??? Blueberries, and broccoli??? My current machinary was designed to survive and flourish under the conditions of my forefathers. I am designed to eat fruit in late summer when it would have been available.(and pig out on it as well. To store it as fat so i could survive the winter). Now in its January i am eating meat, fish, a few greens and roots. My heart was designed to run on fat and protein for at least 4-6 months, not carbohydrates. There are no “essential carbohydrates” but there are “essential” fats and proteins.
Essential meaning your body needs it to survive and can’t make it from anything else. There are no “esential carbohydrates”. Period. In the extreme you can live on nothing but fat and protein (see Eskimo’s, see no heart disease). Try surviving on just carbohydrates and your story will be short. O.K. so now you say well what about folks living in the tropics? I call bullshit. It the same thing. Their supply of fruits and vegatables go through seasons as well.
See the work by Harvard antropologist Cheryl Knott who studies orangutans in Borneo (i.e. about dead on the equator)extensively. In studing their reproductive habits she found that they mate primarily when their insulin levels are high (i.e. meaning when fruit was abundant. She collected and measured their urine)they did not mate when their insulin levels were low. This was when their food supply was low, plants flowering but not yet bearing fruit. During this time their urine was actually full of ketones, meaning they were surviving on fat and protein. Eating fruits and veggies in excess 12 months a year is not normal. Your taking more than your share. Nature hates that.
Last suggestion,
go get yourself a .243 or .270 or 30.06 and shoot yourself a bambi or two (depending on your state’s law)
Think about it, would you rather eat the meat from an animal that exercises every day, eats a wide variety of wild greens and has well developed senses.
Or
would you rather eat an animal that gets less exercise in its lifetime than a resthome resident gets in a weekend. And is forcefeed food it was not designed to eat and survive on by nature. And lets not even start on synthetic hormones.
Tyler
also try “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price. This litle gem was written in the 40’s when Adkins was still i diapers. Fasinating look at how as little a one generation on processed carbs can f$%* you up. This guy was selling nothing just making observations. Should be in your local library, PC or not.
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I can’t argue with anything you said. I had never really thought about it in depth, but of course most of human history was probably very similar to what you described. Certainly man had to be able to live on protein and fat for extended periods of time w/o significantly adverse effects.
But here’s where my mind keeps going: what is optimum diet? In other words, maybe my uncle’s uncle’s uncle’s uncle’s uncle went through long periods every year with few veges or fruit. And no doubt he survived just fine. But did he age well? Did he, for example, have acute diverticulitis by his mid 30’s?
What we’re missing - and you can correct me if I’m wrong - are actual living examples of people who have lived on a protein/fat diet for extended periods. Yes, they may have done it for millennium but that doesn’t help us because we don’t know their medical history, life span, etc.
I agree that processed carbs are about as harmless as living on a farm a mile from Chernobyl. But if Atkins-esque diets are the answer, then where are the examples of people flourishing under it.
In other words, you have the semi-vegetarians who can point to the Mediterranean and Okinawan peoples as their examples. And some of the people such as Jack La Lanne (and even individucals on this site) have in my mind shown the effectiveness of immersing oneself in antioxidants, superfoods and exercise. But I just don’t see the examples on the Atkins side.
For example, in the case of the Eskimos, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they live into ripe old age. Yes, they’re free of heart disease, but w/o their systems being bathed in antioxidants and phytochemicals, do they really live into vigorous old age?
Keep in mind that I’m just discussing what I don’t understand. Let me know what you think…