Hi, Kathleen!

I'm wondering if percentages are a sound idea for developing a dietary
guideline.  It seems to me that you would need to first compute the number
of calories you need in a day.  Then choose the amount of carbs you do well
with, translate into calories, and subtract.  Then determine how much
protein is adequate for you, translate into calories, and subtract.  What
is left over would be fats.

I'm speaking strictly on theory here; I have not yet tried out these
guidelines.  I did the computations for my own desired weight and activity
level, and came out with these percents:

         total calories  -  1750                         as grams
         carbs           -    225                13%                   50
         proteins                -    525                30%
  117
         fats            -  1000         57%                 111

I don't remember where I got the formula for total calories.  Low carb is
30-70 grams/day, and I just chose 50--I haven't fine-tuned that yet.  The
formula I used for protein came from this web site:

         http://www.krispin.com/protein.html

He has some good info on toxic lectins in neolithic foods also:

         http://www.krispin.com/lectin.html

You can see that those are not nice, neat percentages.  If I were to round
up carbs to 15%, it might be too much for my metabolism.  I tend to get all
my numbers together, and then just wing it, once I get a picture of what I
am aiming for.

Jane
Tucson, AZ  USA

At 12:06 PM 2/8/04 -0500, you wrote:
>Just a quick question:
>
>what dietary guidelines are accurate or useful for you?
>
>
>The USDA guidelines say:
>carb 60%, protein 10%, fat 30%
>
>Low Carb says:
>Carb 10%, Protein 45%, Fat 45%
>
>
>Thoughts?
>
>Kathleen