On Wednesday, November 19, 2003, at 10:18  PM, Neil Abrahams wrote:

>  and the traditional Japanese diet, at least, is
> considered healthful.
>
> Your thoughts will be appreciated.
>
>
Jump right in... The traditional Japanese diet was anything but
healthful. Before the war, Japan had by far the lowest average
longevity of any industrialized nation, 37 years, if memory serves. It
was low in a long list of vital nutrients, B vitamins, minerals,
protein etc. Japanese are only now achieving normal stature. The
longest lived Japanese are the Okinawans, who eat a diet quite
different from the mainland diet. They eat lots of meat, for example,
and the traditional Japanese diet included little meat. The US has
twice the number of centenarians as Japan per capita.

I don't happen to think that adding some rice to your diet is so
terrible. I eat a little myself, and some soy too. Just not often and
not as the basis of my diet. It has never given me any obvious
problems. Bread is another matter. I still occasionally eat a pizza as
a holiday treat, but otherwise I avoid bread as much as I can. It gives
me headaches and other ill effects.

I am not a diet fundamentalist. I eat this way because it generally
makes me feel a lot better, and I like the kinds of food it recommends.
I still eat whatever I want pretty much when I want it, including
dairy, soy, pizza etc. But I want those things a lot less than I used
to, knowing that if I overindulge I will start feeling bad after a few
days of it.

Some advice, if you are just starting out in paleo eating, stick to the
guidelines strictly for a few months. It will give you a baseline of
wellbeing to judge your later moderation. I am glad I did, it took a
while for some of the bad things to go away. My migraine headaches
gradually gradually gradually reduced until now I rarely have one, and
then it is mild by comparison to what I used to have. Took six months
before my bad knees healed up. They are better now than they have been
for twenty years. Give the diet some time to work.

Hopefully someone will have something to add on the serotonin question,
I don't know anything about that, how to improve it. Isn't exercise
supposed to be a big factor? Just as general advice, if your emotions
are bad, get plenty of sleep and lots of exercise. It works for me.