On Thu, 31 Jan 2002 14:41:32 -0500, Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>During the time after eating, the bloodstream may be flooded with
>carbohydrates that must be handled immediately, or else the
>elevated blood glucose would be deadly.  If there is room in
>glycogen storage, that will be used first.

A good reason to consider low-GI foods. I mean in particular such items
which are more *slowly* releasing their carb into the blood.
As we have seen this are carb food items which come together with
protein, fiber, fat.
As I've seen real gathered food is so. Wild plants - may it be
ordinary plant matter (vegetables) or seeds (particularly nuts)
or tubers. The Australian Aboriginal plant food data shows that
in particular the fiber load is much higher than in farmed items.
Also the protein : carb ratio is higher.

>I think the hunter-gatherer way of life entails less continuous
>eating than in the foraging way of life common to other primates.
>...global cooling did present some fairly severe selection
>pressure, and fat does insulate.

Of course this is accurate for cold areas, and for humans after 40ky ago.
However, I'm thinking of the time, when the main steps were made in the
transition of australopithecines towards hominids.
The great leap with brain enlargement and gut/teeth size reduction
was towards and inside homo erectus, arond 2my ago.
It looks like *this* happened in Africa, where the global cooling
displayed not as cooling, but in a more dry environment.

>If glycogen
>stores are usually less than full, this is less of a concern.
>But for them to be usually less than full, one must be eating
>less than about 180g/day of carbs.

I think if glycogen stores are full, a feeling of satiety should arise.
Except when other essential nutrients are missing (minerals, protein,
vitamins).

>> It's a quest to open up the fuel channels into the cells instead of the
>> storage.
>
>Yes, and we know that insulin is at least one of the important
>controls of this process.

Yes, insulin. But insulin we use to consider to be "bad", though
it should *open* the cells for glucose burning.
If this happened all the good effects would occur.
Burning more than only 180g carb/day, quicker drop of blood sugar,
less stored glycogen and fat, earlier emptying of glycogen stores.

In this way insulin resistance is a main threat.
One hope to achieve that could be proper permeable cell walls
(the SFA challenge). Or anything else fighting I.R..
Coenzymes like thiamin, CoQ10, alpha lipic, B-complex seem to
help too.
Of course in a paleolithic view there must be proper food items
instead of pills.

Amadeus
(planning some long term low impact montain walking instead of
short bursts this weekend :-)