Sensible Diets

The low-carb or paleo-diet just struck me as even more sensible than I thought earlier. I was digging through old posts at Hyperlipid and came across a post that about PCOS sufferers and how a low-carb diet may have helped some get pregnant. I thought this sounded coincidental, and a bit like a 'magic pill' or 'snake oil.' Dieting can become like a religion with it's adherents claiming all sorts of good effects.

I was thinking about it in a slightly different context, later, when I was considering how a high-carb meal can really slow me down. Suddenly, it made perfect sense; if you are a hunter-gatherer and you come across a lot of fruit or something, it just makes sense for you to stay where the carbohydrates are. Now, in pre-historic times, the carbohydrates would quickly run out, our bodies would shift back to burning fat, and we'd be back to hunting animals. Hunting requires movement, and burning fat encourages sustained movement.

Unfortunately, we are awash in carbohydrates in modern times, and most of us end up moving less and less, and eating more and more. Thanks primarily to Seth Roberts my diet has changed to mimic the hunter-gatherer diet. I do eat carbohydrates from time to time, but I don't have insulin spikes every day. And, as my weight has dropped, my activity level has increased.

So, perhaps the test shouldn't be whether or not it sounds to good to be true. Perhaps the first test is whether or not it will do any harm.