Holy crap - that just said what I feel about nutrition! While I'm not a paleo dieter ( I don't believe it necessary to avoid foods that are 'modern'), I do avoid everything he mentions and eats everything he/she says we should eat and I've never been healthier - BP, Cholesterol, blood sugar - on my high fat, lower carb, middle-ish protein diet.
Most of my fats come from nuts and olive oil - not bacon, but I eat bacon too! And just ate the baked chicken skin tonight...
That is a great read - all stuff that we have been trying to do.
The article about the dieticians was also interesting. When my husband was first diagnosed with diabetes he saw the "diabetes educator/dietician" and she was really big on whole grains. We started using whole grain pasta and brown rice and we would make oatmeal or approved cereals and we were both gaining weight and his blood sugars sucked.
Since going to low carb his numbers are wonderful.
That is a great read - all stuff that we have been trying to do.
The article about the dieticians was also interesting. When my husband was first diagnosed with diabetes he saw the "diabetes educator/dietician" and she was really big on whole grains. We started using whole grain pasta and brown rice and we would make oatmeal or approved cereals and we were both gaining weight and his blood sugars sucked.
Since going to low carb his numbers are wonderful.
I guess I should be SUPER thankful to both my dietician while I got gestational Diabetes during my second pregnancy and with my recent primary physician. They both said to eat low carb.
During GD, I found I had ZERO tolerance for ANY grains - ANY. However, Potatoes were OK, and so were apples in the evening if paired with a protein (I chose peanut butter). My midwives were impressed how I kept my numbers down.
Then I was dealing with high blood sugars again, I went on the same diet - tested again and only potatoes and quinoa kept my sugars low enough (until I dropped more weight and my thyroid got to better levels and now I can relax my carb intake quite a bit as my blood sugar levels are perfect).
I CRINGE and want to SCREAM that the ADA STILL is a proponent of high complex carb diets and this 'frequent eating to keep the blood sugar levels constant" Yes, CONSTANTLY HIGH!!!! They are so unbelievably behind the times.
If you eat low carb, your blood sugars never spike, so they never come crashing down, so you don't need to worry as much about your timing of eating (different if you are insulin dependent).
And this belief that low fat is a good diet and fear of high fat... High fat, especially if you exercise, is GOOD! much easier on the kidneys too.
UGH.... So yes.... finally some sensible approach!
I'm not a paleo purist. I don't think modern foods are bad because they're modern (and most of the paleo scientists don't either - many advocate using Splenda or sugar alcohols like xylitol - definitely not paleo foods).
It's not so much about eating like a caveman, as it is about avoiding the foods that seem to be associated with health problems (and some foods like eggs and dairy, which some nutritional anthropologists say are relatively new foods to the human diet - as are most of the foods that are common allergens).
I've used a very unscientific (because it's not a double-blind study) but logical testing method - I try eliminating some food or type from my diet for several months, then I add the food back in and see what happens, and whether I think I notice a reaction or not, I repeat the experiment several times before I decide that I'm sure (and I use a symptom log to try to see if I really am experiencing symptoms, or might just be imagining that I feel better or worse without a certain food).
I've found that I don't tolerate fresh dairy, but can eat fermented dairy without problems. One of the first paleo books I ever read (either Neanderthin or The Paleolythic Prescription, I believe) did advocate dairy unless a person wanted to eat Paleo sources of minerals organ meats, skin, bugs, bones, and dirt - not that paleo folk ate dirt intentionally, but they ate a lot more incidental dirt, from the water supply and in not-necessarily washed fruits and veggies).
If a modern food doesn't seem to aggravate symptoms or trigger hunger or blood sugar problems, I keep it in my diet. For that matter, if an "ancient food" presents a problem, I limit it or eliminate it, as necessary.
Maybe one day there will be a genetic test or some other screening tool to predict the "best diet" for every individual (because I do think there are unique, individual differences), but trial and error is all we've got for now.
I do think high-sugar foods and high-glycemic foods probably aren't great for anyone (at least not in the quantities that Americans tend to eat them), but I don't think everyone has to be as strict about their diet as others.
Until there is a way to determine your own best diet though, I think we're all left with trial and error.
What is a shame though, is how little interest or respect we tend to give the field of nutrition. Doctors should be required to take nutrition coursework, and family dietitians should be as common and as utilized as the family doctor (don't see that happening any time soon though).
Kaplods - I feel pretty similarly. And I also can't eat fresh dairy. And that's something else nutritionists don't know about - how FEW people can actually tolerate fresh milk and some parts of the world, they can't that's a very Euro-centric trait and even that isn't universally true.
Holy crap - that just said what I feel about nutrition! While I'm not a paleo dieter ( I don't believe it necessary to avoid foods that are 'modern'), I do avoid everything he mentions and eats everything he/she says we should eat and I've never been healthier - BP, Cholesterol, blood sugar - on my high fat, lower carb, middle-ish protein diet.
Most of my fats come from nuts and olive oil - not bacon, but I eat bacon too! And just ate the baked chicken skin tonight...
Pretty much the same here. I don't believe it's necessary to completely avoid modern foods, but following some of the advice of this article has completely changed my life. I can't sit still anymore, I want to MOVE. I'm not even low carb, just lowER than most (100-150g)
Also I eat eggs all the freaking time. Love them.
I can't speak for any documented health benefits, but I'm almost certain I was pre-diabetic (or darn close to it) before on my high carb diet. Diabetes runs on both sides of my family. I had those dark spots on my neck, inner thighs and underarms, and I was started to get pins and needles in my feet and hands more often. I don't have any of that anymore.
And that's something else nutritionists don't know about - how FEW people can actually tolerate fresh milk and some parts of the world, they can't that's a very Euro-centric trait and even that isn't universally true.
How do you get all the way through nutritionist school without learning that? Something like 80-90% of African/Asian folks are born lactose intolerant or resistant.
The article is spot on. I wish more people knew...
I know there's something in my diet that has been irritating me because I noticed that I get really bloated after certain types of meals. This (and your discussion afterwards) was a good reminder that I need to try harder to eliminate whatever it is. It can't be doing me any favors.
If by "modern foods" you are referring to highly processed foods, then I do think they are to be avoided. I have googled a LOT of what those unpronouncable ingredients really are and am appalled.
But having said that, I most certainly agree with the article about eggs and natural sugar found in fruit. I eat a LOT of eggs and fruit. And definitely agree that the low fat craze is wrong since so much other junk is added to stuff to make it taste better.
I find a ton of modern nutritional dogma to just be wrong. I refuse to go near one. I realize they have to teach what they have to teach but until they change... I am not going to them for advice. I truly believe they have no concept of "first do no harm."
I agree with the article and eat somewhat primal. One comment that I would like to add is that modern dairy is not even like the dairy of the early part of the last century. I have heard, though I have no way of verifying this, that the protein in milk is changed by the pasteurization process. Thus, most modern milk, cream and butter, even if it is organic, unless it is raw, differs from the dairy of one hundred years ago. The pasteurized protein is supposed to be harder for many people to tolerate.
So, not to step on anyone's toes, but I do not like this article at all. As for the packaging: it's one of those filler tidbits top-10 bla lists that you see all over the internet on low quality websites. As for the content: I agree with some, not so much with other. I do think this whole eating "paleo" or "primal" is yet another craze, it'll fade. Personally, I eat mostly unprocessed whole foods, but low fat, high-carb, medium protein, or something like that and am doing just fine health wise. BUT, what works for ME is besides the point, as is that "paleo" is working for someone else. I think kaplods got the right gist: what works is different for every person. So, if that article wanted to complain about something it should have been that research associations and/or governments give out "one size fits all" advice for e.g. in the US some 350 million people. Yes, that's good marketing wise, but whatever their recommendations are, as long as it's the same for all those people - it's just so far away from the truth that it couldn't even count as an approximation anymore, but should be simply treated as misinformation and disregarded. Simply put, I think that working within your abilities and preferences (**** no, I'll never give up bread! I love it way too much.) and figuring out how to become/stay the healthiest you that's attainable is key. Don't try to learn something you can only learn from yourself by asking others.
the 9 biggest lies of modern nutrition
