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> In 1800, the average person consumed approximately 22.4 grams of sugar each day (10.2 kg per year). In 1900, the average person consumed approximately 112 gra

> In 1800, the average person consumed approximately 22.4 grams of sugar each day (10.2 kg per year). In 1900, the average person consumed approximately 112 grams of sugar each day (40.8 kg per year). In 2009, 50 per cent of Americans consumed approximately 227 grams of sugar each day - equating to 81.6 kg per year. The seminal event for increasing per-capita sugar intake was the introduction of Coca Cola/soda. http://www.divineeatingout.com/food-1/sugar-consumption-now-vs-100-years-ago http://www.divineeatingout.com/food-1/sugar-consumption-now-... If you aren't familiar with the tragedy of sugar on traditional Native Americans, introduction of processed American foods has created an epidemic on reservation. "Type II Diabetes, the Modern Epidemic of American Indians" https://anthropology.ua.edu/bindon/ant570/Papers/King/king.htm https://anthropology.ua.edu/bindon/ant570/Papers/King/king.h... Christopher McDougall's book "Natural Born Heroes" is about the heroes of Crete during WW2 who were able to fight off the Germans by putting up extraordinary resistance by doing, among other things, hiking for miles and miles over treacherous territory for 20 hours straight. It makes an argument that a paleo-based diet is the reason why they were able to do it. With this diet, they were able to run and evade for long distances without fatigue. Meats and other proteins provide a sustainable, longer-lasting source of energy in contrast to the spike of sugar. https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Born-Heroes-Mastering-Endurance/dp/0307742229 https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Born-Heroes-Mastering-Enduran...

byproxy 8y ago
81.6kg ...wow, that's a bit over what I weigh. In sugar. I weighed ~113kg at the end of high-school (c. 2005) and the first step I took towards losing weight was switching out regular soda for diet variants. People say 'diet' is still bad[0], but switching definitely cut down on my caloric intake. Slowly, but surely, I started paying more attention to caloric intake...which brings me to where I am, now. [0]: https://examine.com/nutrition/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/ https://examine.com/nutrition/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/
will_brown 8y ago
Meats don’t exactly provide energy, they provide calories which is converted into energy through the Krebs Cycle. Protein/carbs/sugar all ultimately will be converted and used by cells as glucose/glucagon. Generally you are correct and protein shouldn’t spike insulin like sugar, but certainly some protein will spike insulin. For example I’ve been experimenting with various proteins in ketosis and even whey isolate spikes my insulin and knocks me out of ketosis. Maybe they weren’t doing paleo diets so much as high fat diets and entering ketosis where the body stops using glucose/glucogon as primary source of energy and begins using ketones for cellular energy.
appleiigs 8y ago
I dunno man... the reason why I could hike 20 hours straight today is because I run 6 days a week and now have the fitness level to do it. It's not because I ate bacon instead of toast.
trollopTheJope 8y ago
If you need an origin story to make you eat healthily, your life is probably better if you do tell yourself your heritage is mostly caveman, cavemen had peak fitness, cavemen had peak fitness through their diet, therefore following the same diet will give you peak fitness; and you can prop that up by scanning history for instances of human endurance, where access to carbs may have been restricted. Aha! Paleo diet explains it! Amazing! If you avoid eating shit, whether you're more healthful with or without a side of steam cooked rice is totally moot.

byproxy 8y ago

81.6kg ...wow, that's a bit over what I weigh. In sugar. I weighed ~113kg at the end of high-school (c. 2005) and the first step I took towards losing weight was switching out regular soda for diet variants. People say 'diet' is still bad[0], but switching definitely cut down on my caloric intake. Slowly, but surely, I started paying more attention to caloric intake...which brings me to where I am, now. [0]: https://examine.com/nutrition/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/ https://examine.com/nutrition/is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/

will_brown 8y ago

Meats don’t exactly provide energy, they provide calories which is converted into energy through the Krebs Cycle. Protein/carbs/sugar all ultimately will be converted and used by cells as glucose/glucagon. Generally you are correct and protein shouldn’t spike insulin like sugar, but certainly some protein will spike insulin. For example I’ve been experimenting with various proteins in ketosis and even whey isolate spikes my insulin and knocks me out of ketosis. Maybe they weren’t doing paleo diets so much as high fat diets and entering ketosis where the body stops using glucose/glucogon as primary source of energy and begins using ketones for cellular energy.

appleiigs 8y ago

I dunno man... the reason why I could hike 20 hours straight today is because I run 6 days a week and now have the fitness level to do it. It's not because I ate bacon instead of toast.

trollopTheJope 8y ago

If you need an origin story to make you eat healthily, your life is probably better if you do tell yourself your heritage is mostly caveman, cavemen had peak fitness, cavemen had peak fitness through their diet, therefore following the same diet will give you peak fitness; and you can prop that up by scanning history for instances of human endurance, where access to carbs may have been restricted. Aha! Paleo diet explains it! Amazing! If you avoid eating shit, whether you're more healthful with or without a side of steam cooked rice is totally moot.