At 01:29 PM 6/17/97 -0500, you wrote:
>> Are most people on the Neanderthin diet on it for health reasons or for
>>losing weight? I switched from Atkins three weeks ago.  First week I lost
>>3 >lbs., second week I stayed the same, and this last week I slowly gained
>>back 2 >1/2 lbs.  My diet consisted of   eggs, meat, nuts and pemican and
>>lots ( 1 >gallon) of water. I was hoping for a better weight loss. I still
>>have 75 pounds >to lose. Can somebody please give me some helpful hints.
>
>I am on a Paleolithic-style diet for health reasons and performance
>reasons. If anything, I had the opposite problem--I am a skinny
>distance-running type (5'8.5" and 130-135 lbs.) and found it a bit
>difficult *maintaining* weight on a my former mostly-raw near-vegan regime
>without gorging on avocadoes and nuts. Also I was hungry all the time and
>wolfed down mounds of carbohydrates (per current gospel in the running
>community) like sweet essene breads which did nothing to quench my appetite.
>
>Once I switched to a more Paleolithic-style diet including fish and meat,
>it was extremely easy to maintain or even put on weight if I wanted (in
>fact, now, if I am interesting in staying at my competitive running weight,
>I actually have to purposely manage it just a bit, and never had to do that
>before), and I stopped being hungry all the time.


Ward, your note was very interesting, especially the fact that you were able
to add and maintain the weight you wanted.  It does seem strange that people
can gain or lose on the same diet. I will have to give this so more thought.

Sandra


>Now that I think about it, the fact it helps some people like me gain or
>maintain, while it may help others lose makes me wonder what the reasons
>are that could be responsible for two different effects from the same
>regime, etc., and what a phrase like "normalizing" one's metabolism (so
>that some lose, some gain) may actually signify at the biological level.
>
>--Ward Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
>
>