I've been lurking on and off this thread since the very beginning, and can't even remember if I did write my own two lines in page 2 or 3 or 4...
What got me to write this entry is the content of the last few pages, which could be summarized as follows:
Gyrobob wrote on 11/21/11 at 04:03:35:arteacher wrote on 11/21/11 at 04:02:24:"improvements that can be due to nothing other than eating no wheat or other grains."
This is the Atkins diet, which will cause you to loose weight, which will make you feel better.
Why don't you go back to eating "other grains", but not wheat, and see what happens?
I could do that as an experiment, but it would be tough because it is hard to stay low-carb while eating grainy stuff. Maybe someday I'll try that, but things are going so well now.
There are so many ways to have muffins/cookies/pancakes/pies/this/that that have no grains, I just want to see how far this goes. Last night I made a batch of muffins and couple of trays of chocolate chip cookies. Yummy. All low carb. Not a grain anywhere.
What the Doc discovered is that while wheat is especially bad, other grains are bad as well. They are all crops that did not show up until about 10,000 years ago. It is no coincidence that shortly thereafter, human lifespan decreased for a while, diabetes/arthritis/heart disease/etc. became more and more prevalent.
A few thoughts here, from one who lives on the other side of the ocean, in another continent, with just as much, if not more, social and cultural diversity than one could expect to find in the USA.
Not to mention a good 5000 years of documented history.
1) Atkins diet is fundamentally protein, protein, protein, right? With some fruit and vegetables ...
This is nothing new, this is quite simply the "Germanic/Scandinavian hunter/gatherer diet that went on for hundreds of thousands of years, because it was far too cold to cultivate and crops would freeze in the winter... not to mention not enough farmland as Northern Europe (i.e. anywhere north of the Alps and west of the Rhein) was once covered by vast vast forests.
2) "Wheat is baaad for you...meat is better" This is the typical line from one who belongs to a society (civilization?) which has little experience=>culture into wheat crops, including barley, kamut, rice, and whatever other grain which can be ground to make flour. Just as fire was istrumental to improve cave man's quality of life, the discovery of pottery was instrumental into teaching him to cook - boil and bake. Nowhere have I read in this Forum that roast meat is far less healthy that boiled meat; yet boiled meat is cooked at a much lower temperature, no charring occurs, and you can easily separate the fat from the meat. Similarly, baking means you can prepare foods for future use - and milled flour is right where it's at.
The fundamental problem is that modern society - Western society - and US society much more than European society - have gained such levels of quality of life and "wellness" that often just climbing a few flights of stairs is seen as a nuinsance; where's the elevator? Walk a block to buy milk? for Pete's sake, hurry up and drive the car! and so on...
The ultimate "wisdom" (or fad?) in high-tech, industrialized society is a questionable "return to my origins" and consumption of "healthier" foods - regardless the fact that the original recipes which inspire the modern lookalikes would sometmies appear unacceptable to the modern urbanite.
Muffins and cupcakes without a single grain in them? For heaven's sake, Gyrobob, what did you make those cakes with, "alternative no-gluten instant mix"?
What could ever be in that satchet?
If I want to give my son an apple, it'll be an
apple, not a "imitation no-skin seedless bio-grown natural apple supplement replacement"
Similarly, any other food.
I do not believe in the finger fish or stick fish (which will give fish fingers or fish sticks) and milk does NOT come from a carton, it comes from a COW.
Cheese is not something "fancy", quite simply "processed milk" according to techniques and traditions which go as far back as the invention of the milk churn.
Let's simply admit that not all Peoples will process cheese in the same way.
Ask any Spaniard, Frenchman or Italian "what is cheese?" and it'll be like asking a Hawaiian "what is fish?", simply too many varieties to provide ONE answer.
On the other hand, the Far East does NOT even contemplate the very idea of cheese, they drink milk and that's it, period. Nobody ever made cheese.
I had a Korean colleague who was shocked to discover there are more varieties of cheese than just "cheeseburger slices", that's all he had ever seen in Korea...
Investigating the eating habits or culture of the author of "Wheat Belly", I wouldn't be surprised to discover an unusually scarce variety of recipes, which are then implanted into the book.
The author is certainly entitled to his/her opinion, but that doesn't mean that 10thousand+ years of agricultural culture in the Mediterranean were "wrong all along". Quite the opposite.
Wheat-eating Mediterraneans have given the world philosophy, engineering, medicine, and the fine arts. Agriculture requires PEACE.
Meat eating Germanics and Scandinavians birthed Barbarian hordes and Viking pillagers. To eat meat one must go hunting, regardless of who owns the land.
So eat whatever you like, but let's not get too excited about "my meat is healthier than your bread" before this becomes another War of the Worlds.