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  • From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Paleo diet
  • Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 10:45:33 -0800

On Dec 3, 2012, at 9:09 AM, venaurafarm wrote:

>
> http://www.drfuhrman.com and his book "Eat to Live"
> http://www.drmcdougall.com
> True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA
> http://www.healthpromoting.com
>
> I am a believer in nutrient dense food

We live near Santa Rosa where Fuhrman and McDougall have a large influence. I
shifted to their diet about 3 months ago: foods with high nutrient to calorie
ratios (tons of veggies, legumes, not too many grains, avoid all processed
foods, very modest amounts of pastured-only meat (8 oz/week or so), and no
dairy). They scrupulously avoid all oils, calling it "the ultimate junk food"
meaning they are processed, have no nutrition, and have all their calories
from fat. So you get your oils from nuts and seeds--tied to nutrients (like
organic fertilizer).

On a per calorie basis--not per weight, which is not what matters with
food--meat has 10% of the protein and 5% of the nutrients as green veggies. I
was always a meat-eater, but those data are pretty compelling.

My blood pressure and cholesterol had been creeping up over the years. In 2
months, blood pressure had dropped 30 points on both sides, and cholesterol
had fallen in half. That's typical for this diet: everyone reports that. I
had thought I had been eating a healthy diet: nearly all organic for 25
years, but I now see that I had a lot of fat, a fair amount of processed food
(breads, pasta, cereals) and far too much dairy, which is full of natural but
very potent growth hormones designed to make calves put on huge amounts of
weight fast, which just doesn't sound like something adult humans should be
consuming. True North folks call it "baby calf growth fluid." Think about it.

On what I thought was a healthy diet, I was diagnosed with serious cancer 6
years ago, so something clearly was amiss, and I went macrobiotic for 2
years. (I'm cancer-free now) Organic alone won't save you. Judging from blood
pressure, cholesterol, and my increased energy level, I think this diet is
onto something. Kinda paleo but much lower in meat and avoiding dairy and
oils (cavemen didn't milk cattle or process olives.)

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com





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