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When I first experimented with low-carb back in 2002, my doctor insisted I would develop a vitamin C deficiency. When I found Fitday a year or two later, I laughed my (_|_) off when I saw that I was consuming 250% of the RDA just by eating cabbage and peppers.

Here’s a question - I wonder if anyone can answer this. My B-vitamin profile looks almost exactly like yours - barely squeaking by on thiamin, somewhere between 100 and 200% on folate, substantially more than the requirements of all the others. And we’re both getting this naturally through diet. The B vitamins supposedly work as a complex. I remember a couple of things from high school health classes: a) the RDAs were set by figuring out how much you needed to prevent deficiencies; and b) getting megadoses of one B vitamin could cause deficiencies of the others, since B vitamins are used to metabolize each other. If you get too much of one, it uses up all of your supply of the others. So why don’t Mark and I have beriberi (thiamin deficiency), since we get a lot more of the other Bs than of thiamin? Is it that the RDAs are wrong because they don’t take into account the interactions of multiple vitamins? Or is it that vitamins that occur naturally in food are harder to overdose on somehow?

You are correct. Grok didn’t drink milk or eat cheese (or drink wine or a protein shake). Here at MDA we espouse a Primal Blueprint “style” of eating. Ideally, you’d get up with the sun, go to bed when the sun goes down, hunt for animals and forage for veggies in your neighbor’s garden. Unfortunately, modern life interferes with that idealistic style. So we make compromises. We call them “sensible vices” http://www.marksdailyapple.com/index.php?s=sensible+vices or “minor indulgences” that let us enjoy trappings of modern life without too much sacrifice. Generally, these also have research to back the fact that they have either health benefits or at the very least don’t have a heavy downside. I don’t drink milk or eat ice cream (even though I consumed a half gallon a day for ten years in my youth). I do eat a little cheese now and then, arguing that it contains some protein and fats that I can easily digest (and it tastes good). I also have a little red wine a couple of times a week as a compromise from all the beer (liquid grains) I used to drink. I drink a protein shake when I’m in a hurry and need a decent compromise.

While all these are slight compromises in the types of food, I still adhere pretty strictly to my overall desire not to raise insulin much and, therefore, limiting carbs is my main mantra. And that is the defining characteristic of Primal eating.