On Wed, 8 Sep 1999, Wally Day wrote:

> Wierd. I would say we have very, very similar
> digestive systems. With one exception: I can't
> tolerate any beans at all.

What happens when you eat them?

> Have you read Chet Day's interview with Ward
> Nicholsen? In it he quotes some estimates for the
> amount of time it should take humans to adapt to a
> "new" food. Something along the lines of 40,000 years
> if I recall.

I've read it, but I think it's impossible to generate in this
way because adaptation to different new foods would require
different things.  For example, for a protein to be "recognized"
by the immune system and no longer considered "foreign," what
exactly has to happen in the body?  For that matter, what
specifically does it mean for a protein to be "foreign"?
Presumably it means that it causes the activation of the immune
system, but where does this occur?  In the blood?  In the gut?
And that's just considering adaptation to foreign proteins, which
in any case are supposed to be digested down to amino acids.  The
protein content of human feces is very low, indicating that most
proteins, foreign or otherwise, do indeed get broken down.  Do
some enter the blood?  D'Adamo says so, and has some research to
support his assertion.

Anyway, unless we know specifically what immunological and
metabolic changes are required to adapt to a food, we cannot
guess how long adaptation might take.

> He also states that some racial and
> ethnic groups *may* be at least partially adapted.
> Like Northern Europeans tolerating milk products
> better and Southern Europeans/ Asians tolerating
> grains, and so on. Which brings me to my point - I am
> descended, for the most part, from northern Europeans.
> As should be expected from racial typing, I seem to
> have fewer problems with cheeses and yogurts than with
> grains, and fewer problems with grains than with
> beans.

On the Moody side, I come from anglo-saxon stock; on the other
(Corbin) side, probably a mixture of anglo-saxon and celtic.
There is also some Mediterranean blood, however, from Portugal
and Albania.  I have no idea which side dominates genetically,
however, or even whether I should pay attention to such things.
I do know, however, that if were guided solely by how foods make
me feel, and how they overtly affect my health (skin, gums, etc.)
my diet would probably be only semi-paleo.

I don't do extremely well in ketosis either.

> I wonder how many others on this list can find this
> same link with themselves.

Good question.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]