98% of Americans don't have the discipline to give up the goodies of
civilization, so whether the government or media supported the paleo way of
eating is irrelevant.

Arthur

----- Original Message -----
From: "Raymond, Charles E. x1280" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 1999 10:10 AM
Subject: [P-F] My two cents


> If the U.S. went Paleo, IMO, I don't think it would be without a fight
from
> the big dairy companies, the agricultural companies, etc. I believe you
> would begin to see the political action groups in D.C. threatening to pull
> donations and lobbyists scurrying around trying to fix the "problem". I
> think you would also see lots of news reports about the dangers of such a
> diet, whether real dangers existed or not, people who half followed such a
> diet and then became severely ill, etc. Unfortunately it seems that he who
> has the most money, sets the governments' policies here in the states.
> Since discovering the Paleo diet, I now laugh when I watch the news
reports
> that lament the declining physical state of the U.S. population. The
> reporters will make statements like, "Despite following low-fat diets and
an
> increase in exercise, Americans are still getting fatter." All we need to
do
> is get away from the low-fat diets, kick processed foods to the curb, and
we
> would be well on our way to improved health. Again, IMO, the government
> don't want you to know that, they would loose too much money if they
> offended the big business men. I do see a positive light in all of this.
> With the availability of the Internet, and the rate at which information
is
> becoming available via the net, people will begin to question all of these
> things. In the past, we kind of had to take their (government) word for
it,
> those days are gone thanks to technology.
> As far as mainstream media is concerned, I doubt you will see many of the
> popular magazines, touting the benefits of a paleo diet any time soon. The
> fad is still low-fat, high carb diets, almost every bodybuilding
publication
> emphasizes the need for carbs (the bad kind) for muscular growth, and
> maximum training performance. They fail to mention the need for steroids
in
> order to gain the freaky size the muscle magazines display. The media will
> continue to be the lap-dogs for the government, the Internet is currently
> the only source I'm aware of, at least in the States, where you can find
> both sides of a story. Having been a weightlifter for over half of my
life,
> I've read the gamut of diet and health books available. They all tend to
> repeat one another and most often the advice or routines are completely
> absurd for normal, non-drug using athletes. That's a different topic for a
> different list, however I do own a copy of Lyle McDonald's book - The
> Ketogenic Diet - an excellent book, one of the best I've read. Lyle and I
> communicate every now and then, he even signed my copy of his book. The
next
> book that I am going to purchase is the NeanderThin book, is it available
in
> bookstores or over the net only? It's actually Lyle's book that started to
> make me think about current diet trends, I had really never thought much
> about diet until then. I lifted and I ate, as long as I didn't get fat, I
> wasn't concerned about my diet too much. Then Lyle's book made me think,
> then a Dr. Dave Lewandowski, has pointed me in the Paleo-diet direction.
> I've read some of the information at the paleo-diet website and look
forward
> to receiving the future Paleofood  Digests. This diet, along with proper
> exercise makes perfectly logical sense. Sorry for the long-windedness, I
> tend to ramble at times.
>
> Chuck
>