Paleo diet: Dr. Loren Cordain's rebuttal to the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Loren Cordain is considered by many to be the founder of the Pal(a)eolithic diet.

From https://thepaleodiet.com/dr-loren-cordain/

He wrote this:- Rebuttal to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 2013 Papers

"In summary, recent comprehensive analyses (1-3) of δ13C values in the enamel of African hominins from 4.1 to 1.5 MYA support the conclusion that plants of C4 origin were ultimately responsible for this isotopic signature. Nevertheless, when the isotopic data is triangulated from archaeological, physiological and nutrition evidence, it is apparent that the C4 signature in ancestral African hominin enamel almost certainly is resultant from increased consumption of animals that consumed C4 plants."

EDIT: Hat-tip to Robb Wolf.

How to lose body-fat healthily, Part 2.

Cont'd from How to lose body-fat healthily.

Remember the spoof video below?


I think that I've made it pretty damned clear in this blog that conscious Eat Less, Move More (ELMM) often fails, if the food eaten doesn't suit the person. There's also a brouhaha brewing over what the Paleo Diet is, as there's no one Paleo Diet. So, here's my suggestion for a "Healthy Eating" pamphlet.

Side 1: Base your diet on minimally-refined animal & vegetable produce. Manufactured food products can be eaten as occasional treats.

Side 2: If eating "X" makes you feel unwell, stop eating "X". If eating "X" makes you feel drowsy followed by hunger, you probably have Insulin Resistance.

See Insulin Resistance: Solutions to problems. for ways to reverse Insulin Resistance.

Musings on the Paleo Diet.

Would you ask the man below for advice on how to give up alcohol?

I recently read Patients less likely to trust and listen to overweight doctors, which mentioned Mark Sisson. Sisson and Robb Wolf are good representatives for the Paleo Diet. Some are bad representatives for the Paleo Diet due to poor physical condition or abrasive personality.

The Paleo Diet gets flak from scientists like Marlene Zuk and Christina Warinner and it was criticised in The Paleo Diet (hat-tip to Melissa McEwen).

The thing is that people don't need to eat a Palaeolithic diet to be 90% free from degenerative diseases. A mere 150 years ago, Mid-Victorian Brits who didn't die in childhood managed to live to a ripe old age, as cheap sugar imports, junk food, labour-saving devices and horseless carriages hadn't yet been invented.

Just Eat Real Food.

Not exactly rocket science, is it?

If Paul (astrophysicist) Jaminet met Jack (neurosurgeon) Kruse ;-)

The paleo diet was recently ridiculed as a food fad in Natural’s Not In It. It also came last in a US News Best Diets survey.

Ways of eating such as very-low-carbohydrate, low-carbohydrate, low-reward, paleo, primal, ancestral, just eat real food etc discourage the consumption of manufactured food products and encourage the consumption of produce. If a large percentage of the population stop filling their shopping baskets with manufactured food products and start filling them with produce, who suffers? Not exactly...

This is why the food manufacturing industry tries to ensure that the population gets the best nutritional and dietetic advice that money can buy. See also New study: Big Food’s ties to Registered Dietitians.

While libertarians and anarchists moan about freedom from government interference, the food manufacturing industry has the freedom to crap all over the aforementioned diets and influence people to buy manufactured food products. Morbidity is also very profitable for healthcare and drug companies.

I think that I've now flogged this particular horse to death!

Estimated macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet

Thanks to Stephan Guyenet for bringing the study n-6 Fatty acid-specific and mixed polyunsaturate dietary interventions have different effects on CHD risk: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials to my attention in his post Diet-Heart Controlled Trials: a New Literature Review. This shows that diets high in omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturates but low in omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturates are heart-unhealthy.

In the West, we are advised to eat lots of "heart-healthy" sunflower oil & spreads. These contain about 70 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Safflower, Grapeseed, Corn & Groundnut Oils also have high omega-6:omega-3 ratios, according to Comparison of Dietary Fats Chart.

I then found the following study also on the British Journal of Nutrition:- Estimated macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet.

This shows that traditional hunter-gatherer diets have a short-chain omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 1·12–1·64 and a long-chain omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 0·84–1·92. In other words, there is a moderate balance between omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturates.

The diets are also relatively high in protein (25–29% energy) and fat (30–39% energy) but moderate in carbohydrate (39–40% energy).

I thought that followers of a Paleo-type diet would find this interesting.

EDIT: I've just noticed that O Primitivo has already posted about this study!