Exactly my thinking as well Paula.  
   
  I hope people don't take my postings to mean that I am critical of the paleolithic diet concept or not convinced of the importance of diet as an environmental factor in what are ostensibly genetic diseases.  
   
  Quite the opposite.  I have chosen to follow the paleolithic diet because my reason tells me that this is the starting point for a healthy diet.  But my reason also gives me allowance to question things.  And I do not approach diet (or anything else for that matter) from the perspective of belief.  
   
  I am not a scientist but I have the great pleasure of working with scientists and I am able to learn new things every day because of that.  The more I learn the more I am given to understand the absolutely vital role of genes in everything.
   
  I am not just struggling against my genes when it comes to metabolic syndrome (thankfully, unlike many of you, I am not having to be concerned with cancer).  I am also struggling against my genetic propensity for certain behavioral issues as well.  I have come to believe that a lot of my personality is genetically determined. But that does not disempower me - in fact, it gives me a basis for understanding that many of those things which I dislike about myself (speed to anger for one) can be overcome if I have self-awareness.  Just like being self-aware about diet gives me the possibility of overcoming my genetic susceptibility for things like Type II Diabetes.
   
  Taubes has given me much of this hope.  By understanding the environmental factors involved, we have the option of trying to control these factors.  My previous point regarding genetic destiny is really about tempering our very human tendency to make incredibly broad assumptions merely because we want them to be so.  
   
  Diet may have an incredible statistical relevance to metabolic syndrome, for example, while potentially not having the same relevance to a different genetic susceptibility - pcos for example.  I don't know what the stastical relevancy will turn out to be - nobody does.  But it seems to me that assuming that for everything the relevance is high is simply wishful thinking.
   
  gale
  

Paula <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  Gale,
CONGRATULATIONS on the huge weight loss! I lost 88 pounds on paleo/low
carb, fluctuating within a five pound range. I changed my way of eating
11/01/1996.

Perhaps your mother would have fared much better had she eaten the way you
eat now. I was impressed with data Taubes had in his book about people
eating traditional non-western civilization diets and the lack of many
diseases we assume are common scourges of humans like heart disease,
diabetes and cancer to name a few.

Paula H.

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Gale


Referencing William's comment about genetics not being written in stone:
Right. But they are written in our DNA. And they don't change in our
lifetime. You are the DNA you were born with. 


I am eating a far better diet today than I have ever eaten. I have lost
50 pounds over the past 13 1/2 months and I am trying to lose another 30
pounds. I can do all these things and still develop hypertension and Type
II Diabetes as my mother did. And I may still die of a heart attack at age
70 as my mother did. 

But I'm not going down without a fight!

gale <== waging a war against my genes and grateful for the paleo weaponry
at my disposal.



       
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.