I've been corresponding with Nicola off the forum and she has asked that I post some of the information that we exchanged. Our discussion started off with Nicola sending me a posting related to insulin and fatty acids before and after exercise from Charles's Zero Carb forum. In this posting Charles went into great detail on cellular metabolism, fatty acid mobilization, and a host of related minutia. Here's my reply to Nicola regarding all the scientific mumbo jumbo in Charles' post:
It is human nature to want to complicate things. It is very difficult to simplify - it goes against our core nature. We want to know all the "technical" details of whatever subject captures our attention at the moment. If there is a problem we always seem to look for the most complex and convoluted solution. I suppose this makes us feel smart or intelligent. When I was younger I worked as an Electronic Technician supporting a research and development team. I took great pride in my complicated solutions to the problems we faced - after all, I was brilliant, and my solutions proved it! Even some of the Engineers were impressed. I would spend hours working to solve complex problems related to things that, in truth, we didn't need to do at all! - what a waste of time.
In the beginning I approached my diet with the same scientific zeal. I monitored cholesterol, kept my fat intake low, ate a very high carb vegan diet, spent hours with a calculator balancing amino acids using combinations of grains (rice, wheat, millet, buckwheat, etc) to assure that I was getting "complete" proteins. I sprouted grains, legumes, sunflower & alfalfa seeds. I made Essene Bread. The book "Diet For A Small Planet" was my bible. I avoided saturated fat like the plague, and consumed nut, grain, and flax seed oils. My whole life and being revolved around eating. I was always hungry. I was always cold. I had migraine after migraine headache. I had terrible acne. My teeth started loosing their enamel, and my general health was slowly but steadily declining yet I continued on this path for almost 20 years because all the published "scientific" research into human metabolism and gurus like Pritikin said this was the Holy Grail. It could be proven scientifically that carbohydrates were "clean" burning in our systems and fats and protein from meat left large amounts of "toxic" waste that caused every disease known to man including heart disease and cancer.
Well, after I almost died from malnutrition I figured that I needed another approach. I started questioning why I needed a calculator and a complex food combining formula to get proper nutrition - which seemed not to be so proper after all. Then I did a bit of looking at what I was eating and discovered that none of the grains, legumes, or other foods that were the foundation of my diet even existed as recently as 10,000 years ago. I went into wilderness areas to try to live "naturally" and found that there were very few sources of edible carbohydrates, and what was available was very seasonal and only available for a couple of months out of the year.
Over time I ran across the Paleo Diet theory and this seemed to make sense in context with what I had discovered about the "real" world. Meat was universally available all over the world all the time - unless it had been wiped out by over population or foolish government policies. I discovered that many of the "studies" supporting all that "scientific" mumbo jumbo about cholesterol and fats being bad, and carbs being our best food was untrue - the actual data in the studies didn't support that at all. In fact quite the opposite. It was government and special interests that produced totally fictitious and biased reports supposedly based on the studies that turned meat into a villain.
I was still brain washed into believing that I needed to eat lots of fruits and vegetables for the "fiber". There was also a belief that Paleo Man ate a diet high in fiber and this is what made him so healthy. It never occurred to me that my own experience trying to live off the land didn't support this at all. I found few edible green plants that could be consumed in any significant quantities, and what I did find were bitter, fibrous, and almost impossible to chew. Wild fruits were small, sour, and only available for a short time during the year. No way this could have been 40% - 60% of a Hunter-Gatherer's diet - 5% to 10% seems more realistic based on my experience. Anyway, I ate about 2 gallons (8 liters) of green salad every day and then added about 8 oz (250 g) of lean meat - (remember saturated fat is bad so I was careful to trim as much fat off as possible). In short, I was still trying to apply all that "scientific" thinking to a Paleo diet. Doing complex routines of juicing, trimming fat, and making sure I got lots of fiber (at least 30 g per day). Yup, I had that calculator busy all the time making sure all the complex ratios and fiber were correct. My health improved but was still not great.
It finally hit me that Paleo man would not need a calculator, would not have eaten all those fruits and vegetables (maybe a few when in season), and diet would have simply been mostly meat. I threw away the calculator and changed my diet to 3 meals per day of 8 oz cooked meat at each meal, a small salad (maybe 2 cups) at lunch and a piece of fruit after my dinner meal. This simplified things considerably and my health started improving rapidly. I stuck with this way of eating for about 2 years and over that period of time my headaches went away, my weight dropped, and I started feeling great.
I then found Geoff's RAF forum on Yahoo. It was here that I ran across Steffanson's work and decided to try a meat-only diet just to see if what Steffanson said was actually true. It was at this time that I reasoned that no other animal eats its food cooked so why should I. I started cooking my meat less and less until finally it was raw. I also figured that since I was trying to eat a simple and "natural" diet, then I should do my best to make sure that the meat I ate came from animals that had eaten their natural diet - hence grass fed. I also determined that red meat would have been the most abundant and easily available to our ancestors who's only tools were sticks and stones. Large animals could be wounded and then followed until they fell. Birds and fish, on the other hand were much more difficult to capture without modern technology and the amount of meat they provided for the effort involved in capturing them makes me believe that they didn't make up a significant portion of a Paleo diet. Therefore I based my diet around red meat.
It was a little hard at first because I was still convinced that all the vitamins and minerals I needed were in fruits and vegetables, but I embarked on the adventrue with stern warnings from my doctor that I would surely suffer from scurvy, pellagra, or some other dreaded deficiency disease. I'm glad to say that my fears were unfounded, and it worked out better than I had ever hoped. My health improved even futher. I did start monitoring blood glucose and ketones based on Mary Massung's work in the Yahoo Saturated Fat Forum, but finally abandoned that as being rather a waste of time. Our ancestors didn't monitor any of this stuff and the fact that you and I are here today says they were successful without all the scientific stuff. I still worried over proper fat/protein ratios and did my "high fat vs low fat" experiment only to find that this too was a waste of time. Why force myself to eat more fat than I wanted? Why force myself to eat more lean than I wanted? It made more sense to let my hunger tell me how much fat or lean to eat. Yes, I could monitor Blood Glucose and urine ketones during the experiment but so what? Even my doctor has no clue as to what is "normal" for someone eating an all meat diet.
Other than through what I eat I have no way to control what the mitochondria in my cells are doing and I have no way of testing this anyway. I can't monitor or control how fatty acids move in my body. I have no way to know what's happening to all those calories I'm eating when I don't gain weight. I can't directly measure insulin levels. So what's the point? Speculation on any of this takes time away from working on clocks, making furniture for my daughter, hiking, and a host of other activities I love to do. I've simplified my diet and life style by following the wisdom of my body:
I eat meat and fat in a ratio that satisfies my hunger.
I eat whenever I'm hungry (usually once per day, but more often when working hard)
I eat until I'm satisfied
I drink only water
I drink whenever I'm thirsty
I drink until I'm satisfied.
That's it. I feel wonderful. I have energy to do the things I want to do. I spend zero time with a calculator, BG meter, or worrying over cellular metabolism. As long as I continue to feel good I will continue with this simple approach. Going Zero Carb started out as an experiment and it seems to be working well for me, however, I would have no problem adding a small salad or piece of fruit to my diet now and then as a treat or as permanent additions if my body tells me it's necessary.
Lex
This email was followed by a response from Charles telling me to read Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes and then I'd understand the importance of cellular metabolism. Here's my response:
Charles,
I've read Gary Taubes book, Wolfgang Lutz's book, Raymond Aduette's book, Steffannson's books, Lyle McDonald's books, Barry Sears' books, Pritikin's books, Atkin's books, Edae's books, Tobe's books and too many others to count. All were labeled revolutionary when they were released and all represent a relatively narrow and biased view of the available information at a specific point in history. Over time some have been proven wholly and blatantly inaccurate, others partially accurate, and still others full of omissions and half truths. Time will award Taubes' contribution its rightful place among the greats, near greats, also rans, and scallywags.
I don't feel that theories related to cellular level metabolism add much practical value to everyday life. Such research provides volumes of data but no wisdom. Much of the data is of little value as we have no Rosetta Stone that allows us to accurately interpret its meaning. My approach is to copy, to the best of my ability, what those who have been successful before me have done. In every discipline there is a common thread woven throughout the lives of all who have had a measure of success in that discipline. Isolating this golden thread from the fleece often reveals a simple and universal truth, that if followed, will achieve the desired results. In the case of diet, no amount of biochemistry can alter that truth - it can only confirm it, bit by bit. Unfortunately, none of the minutia of scientific data contain the wisdom necessary for the successful implementation of a comprehensive and practical dietary approach. Wisdom comes from our body's innate intelligence and centuries of trial and error - not an electron microscope.
My time on this earth is limited, so I prefer to follow the wisdom of my body and those who've gone before. I expect science to catch up and confirm its innate truth (assuming the political climate allows) long after I'm dead and gone. The way things are going scientists and politicians may still be arguing about this for millennia to come.
Lex
Hope some of you find this useful in understanding my approach to diet and life in general.
Lex
