Date:  Fri, 7 Feb 2003 12:58:41 -0500
From:         Matt Metzgar <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      NHE carb-loading

> A question: In Faigan's NHE, carb-loading takes place
> every 3 or 4 days.  I am interested in trying this,
> but I would like a better theoretical base.
> Would this type of situation have happened
> in the Paleo world?  In other words,
> would HGs have somehow naturally carb-loaded
> every few days?

Rob Faigin's whole idea is pretty much lacking a theoretical basis.  It
has been arrived at through a process of induction (gathering information
and THEN building a theory) rather than a process of deduction (having a
theory  - like Evolutionary Fitness - and
 deducing from it).

However, there are some signs that it is based on two theories: Chapter 5
of the NHE book is about the importance of human evolution for
understanding our present.  My own take on this is that Rob Faiging spent
a few years trying to explain to his satisfaction his own mix of success
and failures and then hit on the idea that hormone levels seemed to be a
common thread in in is literature searches and swung his focus in that
direction.

I have been using NHE for 18 months, the first 6m as a vegetarian (Paleo
eating in all other respects) and then as a thoroughly Paleo omnivore for
the past 13m.  It certainly works for me.

What do I mean by 'works'?  Well, it complements my exercises by
delivering muscle growth quickly.  I didn't need to lose fat, but I'm
below 10% body fat and I find this a comfortable place to be, especially
as NHE with organic / Paleo foods has
 eliminated - yes, eliminated hunger
cravings, so sticking to the diet is dead easy.  It is probably the relief
at being freed from hunger cravings that I see as the biggest advantage of
NHE and is enough to keep me from being too adventurous in my diet.

The carb-load days satisfy my intellectually-driven desire to recreate the
irregularity of Paleo food intake and also to eat the fruit and vegetables
in season which would be an inevitable feature of Paleo eating.  I have
branched out to eat durian, jackfruit, dragon fruit (no bananas) and other
exotic tropical fruit that I would never have tried without a Paleo / NHE
basis to my food intake.

>I am interested in trying this because
>I feel it's difficult to get enough
>carbohydrates by eating Paleo.  I tend
>to lose energy without sufficient
>carbohydrate in my diet.

Never had this.  But reading the experiences of others and what R
ob Faigin
says, it seems that the low energy levels are a feature of the transition
from being a carb burner to being a fat burner.  Give it two or three
weeks and measure your carb intake on low carb days (and low carb meals on
carb load days) to see that you have them as low as you think you have; I
found that a single large apple threw me way off track!  If you send me
your food intake for a few days (at the level of ingredients, not 'dishes'
or 'meals') I'd be happy to give you a protein: fat : carb ratio estimate
based on USDA data.

Low energy levels may also occur in people who approach the diet with a
pre-NHE attitude to fat. It took me a while to actually put into practice
the notion of using fat as my primary energy source.

A few days of my NHE eating can be found on my website at
http://www.evfit.com/intake.htm

Art DeVany would scorn the regularity and lack of spont
eneity of my food
intake, so I may one day experiment.  In the meantime, I'm delighted with
it.  It will be an intellectual argument, not 'falling off the wagon' that
leads to any change I make.

One final point, keep in mind the NHE message that diet and exercise are
integraly linked.  If you do one without the other, you are not doing
either.  hey! that's Evolutionary Fitness, too!

Keith

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