I received this message privately...

>I'm having difficulty in seeing what in this post that has to do with
>PaleoFOOD.

In response to...
>My question is when, if EVER, the medical establishment will treat the
> >root cause and quit sustaining lives filled with controlled problems.
>Here's an idea - find a cure!  End the problems!  Nip it in the bud!

What does that have to do with paleo FOOD?  In a word, everything.

The modern diet is far removed from what humans were designed to eat.  Even
without Twinkies, Pepsi and Sugar Pops, the modern definition of a healthy
diet isn't much closer.  According to current logic, we should eat a
grain-based diet with precious little meat.  In fact, we're told to eat
legumes, eggs, cheese and meat for protein.  The ideal human food (animal
flesh) is just a small portion of the protein-rich foods we're told to
consume, and protein, according to the US Food Pyramid, should comprise just
15% of calories consumed.  Many Paleolithic nutrition experts say if you
take out sugar and turn the US Food Pyramid upside down, that's about right.

Obesity, diabetes, heart disease are due primarily to excess insulin, an
everyday occurance in the wake of current US Dietary Recommendations.
During the same period in which Americans have cut their fat consumption to
an all-time low (from more than 40% to just 34%), diabetes and obesity have
both risen to new all-time highs with heart disease not far behind.  The
problem is that Americans replaced fat with carbohydrates.  Excess insulin
is the root cause of America's battle with obesity and weight-related
illnesses.

But the US medical industry continues to beat the low-fat drum.  All federal
government agencies are bound by law to promote and implement US Dietary
Guidelines (see Public Law 101-445).  The US government is the country's
largest food consumer, feeding 53 million people a day (WIC,  military,
school and prison lunches, etc.).

PL 101-445 also addresses nutrition education at US medical schools.  In
other words, doctors are told the Food Pyramid is healthy.  The average US
physician takes a grand total of one human nutrition course.  In it, they
learn how to promote the Food Pyramid.  This formula was basically the brain
child of two members of Sen. George McGovern's staff (see "The Soft Science
of Dietary Fat" in the March 30 edition of "Science").  There were no
studies to even suggest that reduced fat consumption would help Americans
keep heart disease at bay.  But it sounded like a good idea and was later
made the law of the land, despite protest from numerous individuals and
organizations, including the AMA.

So here we are in the present day.  Type II diabetes is all but an epidemic.
  Insulin is also key in high cholestrol and heart disease.  But what are
doctors doing about it?  Telling patients to eat less fat and protein and
more complex carbs, i.e. whole wheat bread.  They're also scribbling out
prescriptions for insulin-controlling/blood-thinning/cholesterol-lowering
medications.

On the other side, a growing number of physicians are turning to food, the
ultimate drug, as a treatment method for the current raging diseases
(obesity, diabetes and heart disease).  And it works.  But it takes more fat
and protein and less carbs to control insulin levels than recommended by
traditional practitioners and the USDA Food Pyramid.  Therefore, the US
government and traditional US physicians don't promote this treatment
method.  In fact, one US government website recommends gastric bypass
surgery as an option for women less than 50 pounds over their ideal weight!
This same organization (NIDDH) classifies a low-carb diet as something to be
avoided.  Talk about fuzzy math!

If American doctors were to properly address insulin resistance, the root
cause of many diseases, they would end the problem.  Obesity, type II
diabetes and heart disease are virtually unheard of among modern
hunter-gatherer tribes and evidence of these disease has yet to be found in
the remains of pre-agricultural era humans.  Why?  They ate what they were
designed to eat.  Modern humans by and large do not and are spending
millions fighting these diseases.  If this has nothing to do with paleo
food, then what DOES?

Dori Zook
Denver, CO


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