On Jul 25, 2005, at 1:04 am, Adam Sroka wrote:

> Agreed. But, the problem I have with Dr. Atkins and others is the "who
> can sell more candy bars" bit that I mentioned. He (God rest his soul)
> is probably the worst of the bunch, because his company sells all
> kinds
> of crap that should never  be put into a living thing
> http://atkins.com/atkins-products.html.

Adam,

Having checked the ingredients of their apple crisp breakfast bars, I
can see your point...  I wouldn't feed them to a pig.  This is what I
mean when I say people prefer to count a simple number than evaluate
what they are eating.  Ask someone to decided whether they should eat
isolated soy protein, calcium caseinate and hydrolyzed collagen and
you're likely to put them in a spontaneous coma... but tell them it's
got 2g carbs and WAHEY give me a dozen!


> Also, counting carbs can be good, but it depends on the needs of the
> individual. Thus, Atkins, like all the others, will work for some
> folks
> and not for others. And, there is no available explanation to those
> for
> whom it doesn't work (At least not from Atkins, who wants you to
> believe
> that his plan works for everyone.) For example, I am an athlete
> involved
> in a mostly anaerobic sport (Mixed Martial Arts.) Going on a ketogenic
> diet does not work for me, since it makes it almost impossible to keep
> up with my training routine. I need a certain amount of carbs,
> because I
> use them every day. This makes me different from the average person
> who
> doesn't use them every day but stores them instead. For that person,
> storing less carbs is good. For me, storing a few carbs is good,
> because
> I will use them within 48 hours at most (And not storing them means
> that
> I will have to find the energy elsewhere...)

Interesting what you say there- I do martial arts too, and I've
trained several days in a row eating little more than fatty cuts of
meat and lettuce.  I can't say I've felt any worse.


> The other thing is that no one represents the middle ground. There are
> plenty of folks saying, "More whole grains," and plenty others saying,
> "As few carbs as possible," but there is no one saying anything in the
> middle. That is a part of American culture, everything has to be to
> the
> extreme, but it means that the best advice for a lot of people has no
> voice.

Unfortunately, a paleolithic diet is by its nature very extreme in
some senses.  My problem with people's attitude is not that they are
extreme, but that if something challenges their extreme views it has
to be a *perfect* argument or it will be rejected.  Eg you tell them
that grains are bad, then they say that someone found a single grain
in the stomach of a single dead caveman so EVERYTHING you ever told
them from hydrogenated fats to pasteurisation is obviously rubbish.
This is what really does my head in!


Ashley