I don't know much about human evolution and genotypes.  If you can explain
that to me without putting everyone to sleep (seems like it has that
potential <g>), I'd be much obliged.

When you refer to "ill effects" are you talking specifically about elevated
blood cholesterol levels?  Are you of the school that high blood
cholesterol is a cause or an effect of heart disease?  (Personally, I am
more and more convinced that it's a response to damage done by free
radicals.  It's a subject I really want to read more about but never get
around to.)  Did you try switching to naturally-fed meats (i.e.,
free-range, etc.)?  How long of a time period did you wait before testing
your cholesterol before getting the high numbers?  Did you do multiple
tests to rule out a botched or unrepresentative test?

I know that my overall cholesterol number went up after switching diets.  I
got tested after six months, 4-1/2 of which I was doing Atkins and making
no effort to avoid trans-fats (wasn't aware of them yet).  I haven't gone
for another screening yet.  To get a breakdown (rather than an overall
number), I'd have to go to a doctor and have it ordered.  Gotta love HMOs.

Anyway, here's my beef with using fiber to remove cholesterol from the
body:  unless I grossly misunderstand the mechanism, it's treating the
symptom rather than the problem.  In other words, if cholesterol is a
reaction to cell damage in vessel walls by free radicals, then removing the
cholesterol doesn't necessarily do anything about the factor causing the
damage.  Theoretically, if the cause of the damage is removed, the
cholesterol level should adjust accordingly.  Now, maybe I really don't
understand what I'm talking about here, so correct me if you know I'm
wrong.  But this is why I don't think it necessarily makes sense to worry
about cholesterol levels as anything other than an indicator of other
trouble.  The cholesterol only becomes a problem because the other problem
is wildly out of control.

John Pavao

----------
But there are also examples of people eating a meat diet *with*
ill effects, such as my own case and that of Karsten Andersen.
What we don't know is whether those ill effects could be avoided
by the use of fiber.  And don't forget that according to the
Paleolithic Prescription, another set of opinions about
paleolithic eating, the paleolithic level of dietary fiber was
extremely high by today's standards.  For us, it would be almost
impossible to get to that level without supplementation.

<snip my babble>

Or, alternatively, you have inherited a recent genotype that
simply didn't exist in paleolithic times, so that all bets are
off.  Possibly the same is true for me with my cholesterol
problem.

Todd Moody
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