On Wed, 13 Mar 2002, Jim Swayze wrote:

> I'll take your word for it, Todd.  Tone is hard to convey in email, and I
> do not intend to sound "holier than thou."  But my experience has been that
> when I eat at a moderate pace and stop eating when I'm full, then I don't
> gain weight, regardless of the caloric content or fat composition of the
> paleo foods I'm consuming.  On the other hand, if I really like a food and
> want to eat it just to eat it -- pork rinds on almond butter's the perfect
> example -- then I start to gain.  But it doesn't take too long until
> overindulgence in a certain food makes me feel ill.  That's just me; I do
> appreciate you sharing your experience.

It's not about holier-than-thou, Jim.  I recognize that there are
real metabolic differences between people, as well as
psychosocial factors that also affect eating.  My ire is directed
at authors of diet books who make sweeping claims based on little
or no evidence, or who mix speculation and evidence together.
Some of us are veterans of a lifetime of weight issues, and we
have learned the hard way to question especially what we want to
believe.  To those of us who can polish off a pound of grapes at
one sitting, "as much as you want" means that pound of grapes.
Personally, I am blessed or cursed with the proverbial "cast-iron
stomach," and I seem to be able to eat large quantities of just
about anything without feeling uncomfortable -- including pork
rinds and almond butter.

As you say, a food that you like and "want to eat just to eat it"
can lead to weight gain if you do so regularly.  But "all you
want, whenever you want" means you shouldn't have to be concerned
about such nuances.  The goal should be to find an approach to
diet that leads to eating the right amounts of food with a
minimum of deprivation, because such an approach has a chance of
long-term success.  I think at least some implementations of
paleo go a long way toward reaching this goal.  But it is
irresponsible even to imply that the amounts just don't matter.
They do.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]