CocoaNut here, ready for a change. page

[CocoaNut]

So I've been fat most of my life. I tried some things, some within reason and some not within reason (these actually worked at making me lose weight... and becoming very unhealthy in the process).

I guess it helps to understand that I'm autistic, so I've gone through a series of obsessions in my life. About a year and a half ago, a topic popped up on WrongPlanet (a forum I used to frequent) asking, "Why aren't you vegetarian?"

I didn't really know all that much about nutrition at the time, but I participated as best I could. Then someone provided a video that sparked my obsession with nutrition (a special interest, as we call them, that has been around ever since). It wasn't anything particularly noteworthy and, to be honest, I found out later that some of the things the woman in the video was saying were flat out wrong, but it was enough to cause me to delve into the issue. Since then, my knowledge and my interest in nutrition, as well as proper scientific study of the subject, has been building.

I've also managed to accumulate a number of sources that I have determined to be trustworthy (or, at the very least, mostly trustworthy), and this site is among them. I do hope to one day be living primally, but right now... it's not exactly an option.

That said, I will be starting... semi-primal living, I suppose would be the best term, in the next week or two (hopefully, it keeps getting put off by circumstances beyond my control).

But even as my friends benefit from my advice and my assistance, another friend in particular has been extremely skeptical (no matter what evidence i provide). As such, I decided that we should try some n=2. She would continue with her standard diet and standard exercise, while I would go my own way, on a semi-primal diet. Circumstances have changed since this agreement, so I'm not sure what she'll be doing on her end, but I decided that, even if she would not be interested in my progress, others might be. It might help people to see how this diet affects me (even though I'm only one person (Edit: Technically two, since I am putting my currently diabetic mother through this same semi-primal diet)). To that end, I have made Cocoa's Corner, a blog to track my progress (if you're interested, the link can be found in my signature), and I thought I'd share some of the recipes I'll be posting there here, and... well, we'll see.

I imagine that it would probably be beneficial to see other recipes, advice, and studies posted here. I don't know how much I'll actually be able to post, but I will try to stop by every once in a while.

So... hi!

[Lewis]

I didn't really know all that much about nutrition at the time, but I participated as best I could. Then someone provided a video that sparked my obsession with nutrition (a special interest, as we call them, that has been around ever since). It wasn't anything particularly noteworthy and, to be honest, I found out later that some of the things the woman in the video was saying were flat out wrong, but it was enough to cause me to delve into the issue. Since then, my knowledge and my interest in nutrition, as well as proper scientific study of the subject, has been building.

From the way that story built, this may interest you. We wouldn't be who we are if our hominid ancestors had stayed merely eating fruit and nuts. You can't fuel a human brain on that, and this is why we should be sceptical of vegetarian propaganda. However, the usual explanation is that hominids began to eat more meat (perhaps scavenged from carnivore kills). That might answer the question from the point of view of the energetic situation, but actually this is not going to be just about calories. To have developed a brain the size of ours would have required abundant DHA, AA, I, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Se and the best source of these is seafood. Jack Kruse is a big proponent of this rather elegant explanation of how we came to be who we are in evolutionary terms. Here's one of the researchers in the field. Professor Michael Crawford of Imperial College, London, speaking on the topic:

Seafood Human Evolution & Health with Professor MA Crawford - YouTube

If you're interested this is the book to pick up, unfortunately not cheap, but a must for anyone interested in evolutionary biology:

Amazon.com: Survival of the Fattest: The Key to Human Brain Evolution (9789812561916): Stephen C. Cunnane: Books

BTW, you're the person who mentioned Tai Chi on a thread somewhere, aren't you? I think I remember the avatar. Have you done it long, and do you do much? I've dabbled, but nothing currently.

[CocoaNut]

BTW, you're the person who mentioned Tai Chi on a thread somewhere, aren't you? I think I remember the avatar. Have you done it long, and do you do much? I've dabbled, but nothing currently.

Yes, I am, and same here. It's a wonderful thing, and it was even more wonderful as I turned to Taoism. The two of those combined were just... amazing.

I gave it up in large part because true Tai Chi Chuan requires a partner (there were other reasons, but they really were just excuses), and given my germophobia, sensory integration disorder, and the unwillingness of those that I would be willing to allow to touch me for the purposes of Tai Chi Chuan training to train with me, I really couldn't get that necessary part of Tai Chi Chuan training.

As to the rest of your post, I've heard that theory before. My issue with it is that it's largely guesswork and logical fallacy. It could be true that that's how we developed our intelligence, but the truth is that, well... maybe that's the case, and maybe it's possible to develop brains the size that ours are without that. We don't really know because we haven't encountered any other species with our level of intelligence and we aren't really long-lived enough (yet) to obtain that information through study.

Also, I think that, considering not only the fact that chimpanzees not only actively hunt, but also that the meat from the kills plays a role in mating, it's far more likely that humans developed larger brains to assist in hunting and this became part of our nutritional necessity. It's my understanding that predators generally have much larger brains than their prey.

But that's still just guesswork. It is, at best, a hypothesis, not a theory.

Of course, I'm not saying that the nutrients in meat aren't important to our mental abilities. I'd just prefer to rely on solid evidence. Like the clinical trials (that I won't bother trying to find them again right now) that show that putting people on a vegetarian diet reduces brain size or that EPA, but not ALA, significantly reduces depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, and a host of other mental ailments (especially in drug-resistant patients), not to mention...

Well, you get my point.

The fact of the matter is that we can talk about Grok until we turn blue, but what really matters, what's really important, is what the evidence says is good for us.

I'm a little tired (gonna be going to bed in about 20 minutes), so I apologize if my post doesn't make as much sense as I hoped, and I am very sorry if I come across as... short. I do appreciate the sharing of ideas, but I'm not as aware of my tone as most, especially when I'm tired.

Edit: As to the avatar... I wonder if I'm the only brony here. Would be kind of interesting to meet other bronies. Given my recent actions in regards to other bronies, though, I wouldn't be surprised if I see a few of them coming by here.

[Lewis]

As to the rest of your post, I've heard that theory before. My issue with it is that it's largely guesswork and logical fallacy.

Well, you haven't then. Read the book! Or don't (no one has to). But don't guess at the contents.