Actually, they were physically healthier in many respects.
They died of diseases and they died of predation, they died of exposure, and starvation, and careless accidesnt -- they lived short, nasty, brutal lives by our standards, but they didn't rot their teeth with processesed sugars. They didn't /over/eat like we do. They were much stronger than we are - heck, look back at the pioneers for an example of that. Likely, they had constitutions that were much more impressive than ours. They didn't die of being unhealthy. They died of incredibly harsh conditions. And saying that "Because they lived in caves and got eaten by sabertoothed tigers, everything about their lifestyles was bad" is throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and sloppy thinking and logic.
However, cavemen don't apply to the Atkins diet at all. Don't make the mistake of thinking the cavemen didn't eat anything but meat. Oh no, they will have eaten wild grains and fruits and berries and roots. We are, after all, biologically omnivores.
And carbohydrates = complex sugars. The digestive system breaks them down into sugar. Sugar is to be avoided - that's part of the deal.
And indeed, the Atkins diet isn't healthy in the long term. The concept is approximately sound for weight loss -- the last calories your body will use for energy are those in protein, because it prefers to reserve protein for building and repairing the body. And it is true that we take in too many processed sugars. Dentists have been telling us this for years. But your kidneys can only handle so much protein, and there's lots of critical nutrition in things other than meat. Also, too much meat, too little fiber (which is often associated with starchy (IE, carbohydrate rich) foods... well, it'll give you constipation from hell. And of course, when you do manage to expunge your wastes, the odor will kill ya. Meat eater dung is really foul. It is leavened by the fruits and vegetables we eat.
Now, if you want a healthy diet that WORKS: Eat one round, large meal. You must have dairy, meat, starch, vegetable. Two starches is just fine - though do try to limit the fat. Don't add big pats of butter or plump scoops of mayo or oil based dressings. Replace mayo with mustard, and fatty salad dressings with vinegar based dressings. Try a little red wine vinegar and some grated parmesan cheese on a salad. I usually make my big meal dinner, because that's a family meal for us. Fill the rest of your cravings with popcorn -- no butter, salt if you want it (of course in moderation). Popcorn has minimal calories (about 20 per cup!), and is very high in fiber. It is, actually, healthfood, at least without butter. Do not eat junkfood. Do not eat candy. Do not eat icecream. Eat popcorn. Eat more popcorn. Eat most popcorn.
You can make that popcorn with an airpopper, or a reuseable microwave popper (which is what I use, because it gets crisper corn.) I generally spritz the corn with a light spray of canola oil, which adds a few calories, but makes the corn crunch even better.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-05-25 08:58 pm (UTC)They died of diseases and they died of predation, they died of exposure, and starvation, and careless accidesnt -- they lived short, nasty, brutal lives by our standards, but they didn't rot their teeth with processesed sugars. They didn't /over/eat like we do. They were much stronger than we are - heck, look back at the pioneers for an example of that. Likely, they had constitutions that were much more impressive than ours. They didn't die of being unhealthy. They died of incredibly harsh conditions. And saying that "Because they lived in caves and got eaten by sabertoothed tigers, everything about their lifestyles was bad" is throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and sloppy thinking and logic.
However, cavemen don't apply to the Atkins diet at all. Don't make the mistake of thinking the cavemen didn't eat anything but meat. Oh no, they will have eaten wild grains and fruits and berries and roots. We are, after all, biologically omnivores.
And carbohydrates = complex sugars. The digestive system breaks them down into sugar. Sugar is to be avoided - that's part of the deal.
And indeed, the Atkins diet isn't healthy in the long term. The concept is approximately sound for weight loss -- the last calories your body will use for energy are those in protein, because it prefers to reserve protein for building and repairing the body. And it is true that we take in too many processed sugars. Dentists have been telling us this for years. But your kidneys can only handle so much protein, and there's lots of critical nutrition in things other than meat. Also, too much meat, too little fiber (which is often associated with starchy (IE, carbohydrate rich) foods... well, it'll give you constipation from hell.
And of course, when you do manage to expunge your wastes, the odor will kill ya. Meat eater dung is really foul. It is leavened by the fruits and vegetables we eat.
Now, if you want a healthy diet that WORKS:
Eat one round, large meal. You must have dairy, meat, starch, vegetable. Two starches is just fine - though do try to limit the fat. Don't add big pats of butter or plump scoops of mayo or oil based dressings. Replace mayo with mustard, and fatty salad dressings with vinegar based dressings. Try a little red wine vinegar and some grated parmesan cheese on a salad. I usually make my big meal dinner, because that's a family meal for us. Fill the rest of your cravings with popcorn -- no butter, salt if you want it (of course in moderation). Popcorn has minimal calories (about 20 per cup!), and is very high in fiber. It is, actually, healthfood, at least without butter. Do not eat junkfood. Do not eat candy. Do not eat icecream. Eat popcorn. Eat more popcorn. Eat most popcorn.
You can make that popcorn with an airpopper, or a reuseable microwave popper (which is what I use, because it gets crisper corn.) I generally spritz the corn with a light spray of canola oil, which adds a few calories, but makes the corn crunch even better.