Grant are you serious about your comments concerning Ray's book?  Is this the
same "Stone and Spear" person who said in a post on March 29 that, "my
typical Diabetes Diet raised my carbohydrate intake and lowered my fat intake
even further.  [As a result] I gained 35 lbs. over the next year as one
medication after another was tried to control my blood glucose, neuropathy,
and retinopathy."

You futher stated that since switching to a low carb diet that you had "lots
of energy", no longer needed insulin, had improved vision, and normal blood
lipid profiles.  I keep this 3/29 post tucked in the back of Ray's book
because I admired  your guts for trying such a program and for having the
disipline to make it work.

What has happened to make you think about implementing a McDougall program?

Eventhough I have respect for McDougall in his efforts to take on medical
orthodoxy, I see his diet program being harmful to your health given your
diabetic condition and weight problems (Syndrome X).  The McDougall diet is ve
ry similar to the diet described by Eades that was so harmful to the ancient
Egyptians.

If that wasn't enough, consider all the scientific evidence that Loren
Cordain has presented on the Paleodiet Symposium that implicate grains and
other complex carbohydrates in many disease processes.  These are the exact
same types of food that form the basis of McDougall's starch diet.

I know that McDougall believes that diabetes and other diseases are caused by
fat in the diet and that dietary fat makes you fat.  He believes that excess
body fat causes insulin resistance not the other way around.  Newer evidence,
however, just doesn't seem to support this theory.

This is not the time to make an argument for either side except to state that
recent surveys indicate that obesity and diabetes is a growing problem
despite lower fat comsumption by Americans.  Additionally, many top
bodybuilders will follow a high carbohydrate diet when they are attempting to
build mass.  While the increased insulin from all the carbohydrates is
anabolic for muscle growth, the athletes find they also put on a considerable
amount of body fat as well.  These same bodybuilders will usually cut their
carb intake considerably in the six to eight weeks before a contest in order
to loose body fat.

Do you still want to increase your carb consumption in a effort to loose
lbs.?

First of all, what are your goals?  Do you want to loose Fat but maintain
Lean Body Mass?  Or, are just concerned about about losing some weight?  If
you want to loose body fat while preserving Lean Body Mass (LBM), you need to
put your body into a fat burning mode ... Ketosis!  While in ketosis, you
will burn dietary fat and body fat for energy, and, as long as your protein
intake is adequate, you will preserve LBM.  By preserving the LBM, you keep
your metabolism elevated.  Ray states on p.79, "weight loss can be resumed by
producing ketones".  And, you can establish ketosis by eating meats, fish,
poultry, and small amounts of vegetables ... all NeanderThin foods.

With the number of carbohydrate foods you described in your recent post or
the amount of carbs consumed with a McDougall diet, ketosis will not be
possible.  The only way to loose weight on this type of diet is to
drastically reduce calories or greatly increase exercise, which may be
difficult for you with your disability.  By restricting calories in this
manner, you inevitably loose LBM along with fat.  This can result in fatique,
lower metabolism, maybe illness not to mention the insulin and blood glucose
problems you may have as a diabetic.

If the thought of giving up fruit and berries while losing weight is
unbearable, there is a solution... follow a cyclic ketogenic diet (CKD).
 This style of dieting is popular amoung bodybuilders and other athletes.
 You simply stay in ketosis for 5-6 days of the week.  For 24-48 hrs., you
can eat carbohydrates without limitations.  In your case, you may have to
monitor your carb consumption so as not to upset your blood glucose.  By
cycling the diet this way, you control insulin levels and put your body into
a fat burning mode.  Then during the carb up, you get the anabolic effects of
insulin in preserving and building muscle without the fat storage effects of
insulin.  You also get to enjoy your favorite carb foods without feeling
eternally deprived.  You can pick all NeaderThin foods to do this diet, or,
if you want some "forbidden fruits", you could consume them when they would
actually benefit your body in maintaining LBM.

I would be glad to discuss more details about this diet approach.  The reason
for your weight gain and ill health could be complicated.  No matter what
dietary approach you take, I feel supplements are needed particularly with
your diabetic condition.  I would be glad to discuss this with you.

I hope this gives you some food (no pun) for thought.

Sincerely,
Ed Campbell, DC,CSCS