Eat Fat and Grow Slim - Published 1958 - Anyone Read It? page

[Omni]

I just stumbled across this,
Looks pretty much Primal, but over 50 years old and the diet idea was used 100 years before that, this was published just before the whole Saturated fat fear came into play.
I just looked at the quick guide and Chapter 1 pretty much the same as Mark & other Paleo people advocate now, I wonder how different the world would be if this took off in 1958?

Eat Fat And Grow Slim by Richard Mackarness (1958)

[NinjaNina]

Very interesting. This is the first time I come across it, admittedly I've not researched much into the subject.
Thank you for posting.

[Lewis]

I just stumbled across this,
Looks pretty much Primal, but over 50 years old and the diet idea was used 100 years before that, this was published just before the whole Saturated fat fear came into play.

Yes, I have read it.

I just looked at the quick guide and Chapter 1 pretty much the same as Mark & other Paleo people advocate now, I wonder how different the world would be if this took off in 1958?

Yes and no and depends.

When paleo first got going the assumption seemed to be:

1. that we must be adapted to the ancestral diet;

2. that the ancestral diet would therefore be healthy for us;

3. that we know what's healthy -- it's what health-education people tell us is healthy;

4. healthy (see 3) means low in fat, and especially low in saturated fat, and low in sodium (because that's what health education people say);

5. the ancestral diet was low in fat, especially low in saturated fat, and low in sodium.

In order, this is likely true, true, false, false, false.

A lot of ink has been spilled over this.

Over time people's conception of paleo has changed. It certainly can be fairly low carb, high fat (which the ancestral diet in truth would have to have been, for at any rate much of the year) ... but is not always. Some paleo people are absolute carbmonsters and actively hostile to low-carb living.

So, yeah, Mackarness (1958) is not hugely dissimilar to (some) current paleo views, but it's a long and developing story. And in some quarters you'd get tarred and feathered for daring to make the comparison.

[gopintos]

I just looked at the quick guide and Chapter 1 pretty much the same as Mark & other Paleo people advocate now, I wonder how different the world would be if this took off in 1958?

Eat Fat And Grow Slim by Richard Mackarness (1958)

I only looked at the quick guide. Loved it!

[Goldie]

I remember my mother following this back in the '60s!

[Tercio]

I remember my mother following this back in the '60s!

Same here. My mother, who was a Registered Physical Therapist, taught me to lose weight, cut starches (carbs). This was common knowledge in the '60s before the big fat scare.

[healthy11]

Love it... thanks for the link!

[gopintos]

My mom died when I was 13, late 70's but I had seen many pictures of her through the years, and she was long and lean, even after 4 children. I always figured I got my dad's genes.

[Neckhammer]

Here is another one if you like "The Drinking Mans Diet" The Drinking Man's Diet - Forbes.com

With every Manhattan
Your stomach will flatten
If pounds you would burn off
Then turn on your Smirnoff

[tfarny]

This is what got Atkins started - he was just following some standard but out-of-fashion guidelines when he made his original plan and was shocked at the reception it got.