> Subject: Re: Jan Kwasniewski - Optimal diet
> From: Adrienne Smith <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:54:26 EDT
>
> In a message dated 8/20/2010 4:58:11 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> [log in to unmask] writes:
> 
> > The summary you refer to indicates that Kwasniewski's diet focuses on the 
> > causes of obesity and in eliminating obesity
>
> This is inaccurate. I can see how you may have gotten that impression 
> because it's the overweight/formerly overweight who usually post on low-carb 
> forums.   Kwasniewski classifies various illness -- some related to obestity 
> (too much everything -- carb, sugar, fat etc --what he calls "trough" 
> diseases); others related to slender yet sickly  types who live on too much 
> vegetation (what he deems "pasture" diseases).   Kwasniewski also has a whole 
> philosophy about what it means to be human and have one's brain function optimally 
> as a human.  He believes that his very high fat diet is ideal for humans and 
> that improper nutrition makes one less than human -- not able to reach the 
> full capacity-- intellectually, spiritually etc  as a human. His philosphy 
> and diet are much more than a focus on obesity.  His interpretation of the 
> Bible is rather unique as well and he is a religous man.  I doubt Kwasniewski 
> would consider Paleolithic man someone to emulate in terms of diet or any 
> other manner. Kwasniewski writes of how proper nutrition enables man to 
> maximize his intellectual and spiritual capabilites -- Paleolithic man wasn't 
> writing great works of literature or creating great art or religous -- he was 
> primarily concerned with survival.  

Thanks, Adrienne. It's looking better again - and I was going to read the book anyway. People in the Palaeolithic were focused on survival but, if present-day hunter-gatherers and palaeo artefacts are any guide, they were also intensely spiritual people who filled in the gaps in their scientific understanding with supernatural beliefs that were an important and integral part of their worldview. So I am prepared to take Kwasniewski's idiosyncratic Polish/Catholic worldview in my stride, just as I would any religious belief. Religious belief is a very real phenomenon, despite the forms it takes having infinite and largely arbitrary shape. As you will have seen from my web page on the Evolutionary Health Principle, I see no reason to doubt that the working of the brain are just as affected by our post-Palaeolithic lifestyle and environment as is the working of the rest of our body.

Thanks again for the enticing trailer!

Keith