> > the drug companies spend a lot of money promoting their 
> product, while 
> > dietary therapies don't generate much revenue and hence, promoting 
> > them is not likely a good investment.
> 
> Hi Ron
> 
> This is always the root cause.  Something you can pay for 
> always pushes out something that is free.  We have a 
> mentality that illness is a lack of medication, not an excess 
> of poison.  As long as that lie is maintained to the public, 
> the pharmaceuticals are going to get richer and richer.  It's 
> just one of the things that sucks about the modern world...
> 
We also have a tendency to think that we have to pay for it if it is 
any good, and the more we pay the better it is. 

> > small amounts stale toast, cooked fruit, and considerable 
> alcohol. All 
> > of these foods will cause insulin production - which stops ketosis.
> 
> This is something I should read more about.  I know that 
> ketones are produced constantly anyway, even when carbs are 
> in (some) supply.  So it'd be interested to see what a effect 
> "normal" paleo diet has on epilepsy.

You might be interested in Gary Taubes' book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. 
It is, in my opinion, excellent!  

> > (Carbohydrates
> > can also eliminate the condition but then ketosis is lost.)
> 
> You may be right.  It still amazes me how few medical people 
> understand rabbit starvation.

> time. In 
> > both instances I have experienced a sense of being a social outcast.
> 
> Why was this?
Mostly because I was eating mostly meat and there were few social functions 
where I could eat so I had to either bring my own or forego eating. Either
Way I felt like I was on the outside looking in.  

> 
> > I also experienced improved breathing, improved exercise tolerance, 
> > loss of a few unwanted pounds, more energy, and a wonderful 
> sense of 
> > well-being. Early in the process, I did experience some 
> constipation, 
> > low energy, and hunger. I found that these symptoms soon 
> disappeared 
> > (after 3 or 4 days). I never experienced vomiting.
> 
> Sounds like something that would be worth following occasionally?   
> Maybe every April for example, when sweet and starchy foods 
> are hard to get (in northern Europe anyway).
That makes good sense to me. I'm thinking about another stint of ketosis
just
Because of how well I feel on it. 
> 
> 
> > I suspect that most members of this listserv would choose a dietary 
> > treatment if they developed epilepsy.
> 
> Or many other things. 

Yes. Alternatives to drugs.... Although I do take drugs for my lungs. 

 I've spoken to people who have eaten 
> paleo while suffering from cancer, I think maybe on here but 
> definitely on the paleolithicdiet Yahoo group I started (and 
> have since left).  But I haven't heard many details about the 
> effect it had on the disease.

Deep ketosis seems to halt reproduction of cancer cells in most types of
cancer. 

> 
> At a guess I'd say it would be far less likely that someone 
> would develop epilepsy if they were eating paleo, although it 
> puzzles me why a ketogenic diet wouldn't cure it completely. 

I don't understand epilepsy well enough to hazard a guess as to why it 
Works, so it may just stop feeding the problem with carbs.  
 
> (That said, "ketogenic"  
> does not necessarily mean there was no bad stuff in what they 
> were eating in this study.)
True.


> I am still 
> > surprised by the number of people who tell me how awful it 
> must be to 
> > follow a gluten-free diet. (I don't usually tell them that I avoid 
> > dairy products
> > too.) While I suspect that they might not find it all that awful if 
> > they tried it, they find the prospect of a gluten-free diet 
> horrific.
> 
> Addiction and dependency I think.  I've experienced the same 
> thing, despite the fact everyone likes the look of the food I 
> eat.  The idea of not eating bread is far worse for them than 
> the actual not eating bread.

I suspect you are right. 

Best Wishes, 
Ron