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 >