In a message dated 2/4/2002 7:46:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> If I do not have some real complex starchy veggies, I get very strong
> cravings and feel tired and shagged out. Then I end up cheating. So I make
> sure to have plenty of those veggies with dinner. I can eat a lot of fruit
> and still have those cravings, so I end up not eating much fruit.

Complex carbs are broken down into simple sugars by enzymes in the small
bowel (assuming a functional small bowel), so it all ends up as the same
thing in the blood stream.  I don't think there's a nutritionally-based need
for complex carbs. On the contrary, complex carbs can cause serious digestive
problems because they often are not completely broken down in the small
bowel.

Complex carbs (di- and polysaccarides, but especially the polysaccarides)
have been found to be the chief culprit in both inflammatory bowel disease
(IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by quite a few independent
researchers and sufferers.  I happen to have both these problems, and can
confirm this through direct experience.  In fact, my initial exposure to
paleo eating was through the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, a treatment for IBD
which is very similar to the paleo diet.  There are many IBD and IBS
sufferers who eat no complex carbs and do just fine.  Also, polysaccarides
are generally not paleo.  Cordain says in his paleo diet book to avoid
starchy tubers and eat only honey as a sweetener.  That leaves monosaccarides
almost exclusively (but not entirely because, for example, beets contain
sucrose, a disaccaride).

Here are three references for the relationship between polysaccarides and
bowel problems:

"Life Without Bread" by Christian Allan PhD & Wolfgang Lutz MD
also see this article by Lutz:
http://www.scdiet.org/7archives/lutz/default.html

"Breaking the Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottschall
www.scdiet.org

"The IBS Starch-Free Diet" by Carol Sinclair