Troy:
>Don't forget that Ames' study of carcinogens lists corn as the number
>one carcinogen in the Standard American diet. This is because of the
>incredibly carcinogenic effect of aflatoxin, a mold which grows on corn
>and cannot be eliminated. Aflatoxin is approximately 200 times more
>carcinogenic than PCBs. Ames shows that the carcinogenic effect of a can
>of cola is much greater than smoking a cigarette. If you have to choose
>a forbidden fruit of which to partake, corn and anything made from it is
>probably the worst.

What is the official paleo-diet stance on sweet corn? New variaties are
quite delicious raw, but become oversweet/unattractive after a time to me.
And it doesn't seem to digest as well as other foods. Just curious as to
whether it would be considered the dreaded foreign protien...?

>It is worth repeating that the chaotic nature of the human body means
>that small inputs can have large effects.

While this is true in theory, I wonder if it isn't a tidy excuse for what
Ward is calling absolutism. The "small inputs" which result from pollution
(and especially hormone mimics ala _Our_Stolen_Future_) are probably enough
to screw us up but good. If sea mammals are now getting tumors eating their
wild and "natural" (albeit polluted and toxin-concentrated) diet, I gotta
wonder how problematic modern pollution is for even "clever" folks like us.

After all, the rise of many "modern diseases" seems to correlate with
pollution as much as the consumption of vegetable oils and gluten, no?

None of which means a soda can be useful, of course, but I agree with Dean
that this whole thread is over the top and reminds me of so very many
similar conversations on the raw lists. Ward mentioned the lack of
fananticism on this list, but I haven't been seeing it that way at all. It
seems like more of the same in idealistic dieting. I hope that when Part 3
of Ward's H&B interview is finally available on the web that he will post
the url so listers here can take a look at his musings on the pratfalls
practitioners of idealist diets fall victim too. What usually happens is
that the extremists fight his conclusions tooth and nail or dismiss it on a
triviality. Though Ward was dealing with raw diets (especially Natural
Hygiene) many of the points are valid about the extreme found in some
paleo-dieters, me thinks.

Cheers,
Kirt

Kirt Nieft / Melisa Secola
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