On Sat, 19 Dec 1998, JoAnn Betten wrote:

> here's my take on this:
> OK, your body gained this excess weight as a response to foreign proteins.
> when you go on NeanderThin, you correct this by removing those things, and
> your body will gradually stabilize at a natural weight that's good for your
> own body.
> if you then go off NeanderThin, you are again eating those foreign proteins,
> and your body still is not equipped to deal with them, so the weight comes
> back on.  in fact, you may find you are more sensitive to these foods than
> you were before NeaderThin.  by giving your body a respite from them, you
> might make the response worse when you reintroduce them.

As resident skeptic, I want to add to this that my experience
has been somewhat different, sufficiently so that I seriously
doubt that the foreign protein theory is the whole story about
weight gain and weight loss.

I lost 33 pounds on the Zone, which is a moderately carb-limited
low-calorie diet.  When I switched to Neanderthin, I didn't lose
any more weight for a while, then slowly lost about 7 more
pounds.  In order to lose those 7 pounds I had to cut calories a
bit.  I did not achieve a weight that is good for my body, in my
opinion, although I certainly am closer than I was before.

I have experimented with the diet, and learned that I can gain or
lose weight on Neanderthin by increasing or decreasing calories,
just as on any other diet.  When I wanted to bring my cholesterol
down, I added soy protein and subtracted some meat from my diet.
I lost weight.  I stopped eating soy and started making extensive
use of nuts.  Initially I gained weight.  Then I controlled my
nut intake more carefully and lost weight again.  It's easy to
measure nut consumption, so I was able to track my calories very
accurately during the period when I was eating mostly meat and
nuts.  My weight varied according to my caloric intake, and it
didn't matter whether I ate peanuts or true nuts.

This is not to say that I dismiss the foreign protein aspect of
Neanderthin.  I don't.  I regard it as potentially important to a
number of health issues, including weight.  I am just reporting
that my own experience has not supported the idea that foreign
proteins are more important than calories for weight loss, or
that paleo foods can be eaten in unlimited quantities without
interfering with weight loss.

Todd Moody
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