On Sat, 10 Oct 1998, Wade Reeser wrote:

> As an example, some research may show that animal saturated
> fat may contribute in a small way to insulin resistance.  In our case for
> a comparitly low carb diet, this is of no consequence.  It may be a
> different matter for one with the typical SAD.

Some have argued that insulin resistance is in fact an
*adaptation* whereby fat is readily stored during the short
seasons of carb abundance typical of an ice age.  This would
allow people to gorge during this season and quickly gain fat
that would help to get them through the longer winter.  IR would
become a disadvantage when lots of carbs become available
year-round.

> It may not be the fact that being obese is bad in itself but rather it
> indicates a common causitive agent which will cause both obesity and
> the particular disease e.g. heart disease.  Remember, these are only
> risk factors and some do not correlate very well at all.  Remember, about
> 2/3 of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterols.  There are
> also many  (I don't know the number) who have very high cholesterols who
> never experience a heart attack and live to be 100.  I think you're missing
> the idea that this is all a convoluted mess and not quite as cut and dried
> as you'd like.

Well said.

> I would say the
> evidence points to a more lean cro-magnon based upon more modern hunter
> gatherers.

Here's an interesting comment from Jared Diamond, concerning
possible reasons for the extinction of the Neanderthals, who were
bigger and much more muscular than the Cro-Magnons who quickly
supplanted them:

        People with huge muscles require lots of food, and they
        thereby gain no advantae if slimmer, smarter people can
        use tools to the same work. [52]

> It seems difficult to gain fat on a typical hg diet that is
> low in carbohydrate.  There was some good info posed in another group
> showing that about an additional 5000 calories of fat could be eaten while
> maintaining ketosis without gaining weight for a total of around 6-7000
> calories!

It's not so difficult to gain weight on a non-ketogenic diet,
even a low-carb one.  I don't think there is a strong case for a
ketogenic diet being "typical" of HGs.  Returning to the matter
of weight *loss*, rather than inhibition of weight gain (since
that was where this thread started), the fact that ketosis can
raise the caloric weight-gain threshold is not especially
helpful.  Ketosis in itself is neither a necessary nor a
sufficient condition for weight loss.

Todd Moody
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