On Tue, 19 Oct 1999, Ben Balzer wrote:

> > *** Group calls low-carb diet unhealthy
>
> I really get a bit put out by people labelling diets high carb and low carb
> on the Paleofood list. You can have a Paleodiet with AS MUCH CARBOHYDRATE as
> you like- you get it from fruits, root vegetables, dried fruits
> etc..Neanderthin makes it clear that Neolithic "carbs" ie grains, beans and
> cereals are chock full of toxins.

How does Neanderthin make that clear?  What specific toxins, in
what quantities, are present in white rice, for example?  It
would be interesting to have a "toxin index" for foods somehow,
but as far as I know we don't.

If by "paleodiet" above you mean "Neanderthin-compliant diet"
then I agree that such a diet can have as much carbohydrate as
you like, but I am not acquainted with any body of evidence that
any such diet will fail to cause the problems caused by Neolithic
high-carb diets.

> The point is that Paleo is a LOW TOXIN, HIGH MICRONUTRIENT (vitamin, mineral
> antioxidant phytosterol) diet simply because grains etc are high toxin. low
> micronutrient foods.

Actually, many grains are very high in micronutrients.  For
example, when I was searching for sources of folic acid, crude
wheat germ was the richest source that I found.  The real
question is whether the disadvantages of the toxins outweigh the
advantages of the micronutrients.

> IMHO The reason SUPERHEAVYWEIGHTS lose weight on these diets is because
> superheavyweights are particularly sensitive to Neolithic toxins (this is a
> hypothesis only, not proven). Their diets are part way to Paleo. This is the
> reason why SOME people achieve good results on any diet- is usually obvious
> when you consider their previous diet, their new diet and compare the two to
> Paleo diet. The new diet has some element that is more paleo than their
> previous diet.

It doesn't, however, explain why some people *don't* get the
desired weight loss, etc., on paleo.

Todd Moody
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