bloke wrote:I don't hear a lot of M.D.'s making these sorts of statements (though they, admittedly, probably aren't the world's top biochemists either). I know nothing about this, but I would assume that if the consumption of large quantities of carbohydrates was needed for the brain to function, millions of Americans would be dropping dead - not in ten or twenty years, but in ten or twenty weeks.
Just like all extreme diets, Atkins goes too far. If higher protein is good, then nothing but protein would be better, right? If our diets are too high in carbohydrate, then we should go right to the other extreme, etc., especially if we want to sell a lot of books.
By the way, all we eat, just about are carbohydrates, except for the fat, of course. Most of our protein sources are more fat than protein. And we eat bread and fries by the ton, and that is all carbohydrate. Thus, I don't think the average American has tested the theory that brains can't function without carbohydrate.
I like the Neanderthal diet, because I think it's the one most likely to match up with the design of the Maker. Back in our hunter-gatherer days, which was hundreds of thousands of years (depending on whose schedule you read), and which ended variously (depending on location) over the last 2-4 thousand years, we ate 1.) what we could catch, and 2.) what happened to grow out of the ground that didn't require much in the way of cooking. Thus, we ate lots of nuts, fruits and vegetables, because they can be eaten right after picking, and we ate lots of meat (I'm including fish). The former is mostly carbohydrate with a bit of fat, and the latter is mostly protein with relatively more fat.
In the grand scheme of things, we have been agrarian for a pretty short time. And we have been cooks for a pretty short time. It's possible that many of us are not biologically suited to being agrarian cooks, especially exclusively. The diet that has always been most effective for me is the balanced diet--a balance of the sorts of foods that don't require processing (or even cooking) to eat (though I cook food, of course, for taste). That diet would include fruits, nuts, vegetables, and meat. But it would not include nearly as much in the way of processed dairy products (milk, cheese, and butter) or grains. Perhaps those with a tradition over thousands of years of eating dairy, such as northern Europeans, are better adapted to dairy products it than others.
We are so dependant on grain products that we fail to see that some people's biochemistry doesn't take all that high-density carbohydrate that well. It messes up their blood sugar and they gain weight unnecessarily.
Thus, a diet with lots of low-density carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and nuts), and reasonably amounts of protein (meat), and the fat that comes with it, is probably what we are most suited to, especially if we keep the activitiy level up. It's the diet that I think is most consistent with the principle of eating to be healthy, exercising to be fit, and throwing the scales in the trash.
Consequently, take the food pyramid and remove the bottom (bread) layer. Add to the other layers as necessary to provide the right amount of calories. It's still a diet with more carbohydrate than anything else, but it has a balance of meat and naturally occurring fat. It has enough carbohydrate to avoid protein ketosis (which, as has been stated, is bad for the kidneys).
Most of the low-fat diets have been developed by people who naturally digest high-density carbohydrate well, which is why they are skinny enough to think they know how to be skinny. They recommend small amounts of meat (and their, um, beef with meat is the high fat content of most of it), large amounts of carbohydrate, mostly of the high-density starch and grain kind (pasta, low-fat bread, cereals, potatos, and other stuff that really can't be eaten raw). Those who don't digest carbohydrate well will not succeed with that diet in the long run--it just leaves you too hungry all the time.
So, the best meals are those that include a portion of meat, and lots of fruits and vegetables, just like our grandmothers told us.
Of course, no diet but starvation works without exercise. And starvation is not eating to be healthy.
Rick "who avoids potatos but who is still a sucker for bread" Denney
). The eating plan that's worked for me reverses the bottom two layers of the food pyramid, emphasizing fruits & vegetables and de-emphasizing breads & cereals. It's enough breads & cereals to keep me happy, but my blood sugar doesn't jump around like a hyperactive chihuahua.
I'd never realized that canned french fries were available. I've heard of Pringles, but I wouldn't dignify that stuff with the appellation "potato chip".