The Porcelain Doll Diet page 2

[Rasputina]

Ok... I read that article.
And I get what he's saying, and I imagine that works for most people.
People who are healthy and don't have any medical problems.

But this sticks in my craw:
"She can handle her food. She bakes everyday for businesses and special events (and gets paid under the table, like a gangsta), and she definitely indulges in her own delicious baking. Her cinnamon buns are a thing of glory, even the most militant celiacs cannot refuse them. Her body can take the “punishment” of gluten, sugar, vegetable oils, and whatever else is the newest food that’s killing you. My 80 year old grandma is more robust than that guy who always says he gains a bijillion pounds every time he looks at carbs. And she doesn’t even lift. Unfortunately, as awesome as my grandma is, this speaks more for how weak and fragile these hypochondriacs are."

Saying that celiacs and people who are gluten intolerant (Gluten intolerance causes serious autoimmune diseases BTW, I know because I have two of them, if only information on the connection had been available sooner I probbaly would have avoided the second one because I ate more "healthy whole grains" after being diagnosed with the first one.) are hypochondriacs is WAY off base.
He has a lucky very healthy grandmother.
Wonderful!
But for every resilient, eats everything she wants perfectly healthy 80 yr old grandmother out there, there was another who lived a very similar life who died sick and miserable in a hospital bed 10 or more years ago after long illness that very easily could have been caused by the same lifestyle.

My 2 c.

Exactly. I totally agree. My grandfather and great-grandmother lived through the "Dirty 30s" as well. You know what? Not only did they suffer poverty and malnutrition as youths, they also continued to eat homemade baked goods and country-style foods throughout their lives. This has resulted in numerous cancers and suffering. So, bully for your "tough Grandma," but it doesn't work like that for the rest of the children who suffered great malnutrition during the depression. yes, I agree that we could all be more relaxed about diet around here, but that doesn't mean we should go ape-shit on Granny's sugar-cookies either. Also, since when did a broken cell-phone EVER fix itself? You know what has never broken? My land-line. That's right, youngster, at 31 I have a freakin' landline. Hah!!

[magnolia1973]

Interesting.... I do think that a lot of foods today are addictive and it can take a lot of self control not to overeat crap. You can actually also gain 5 lbs from a cheat meal.... but it's water and drains off.

It has taken me a while to be able to "cheat" and not trigger a lot of cheats. I think a lot of people don't worry about say, slice of pizza, they are more worried about a slice of pizza leading to three, leading to an egg mc muffin for breakfast and on from there back to crappy eating.

[counterpuncher]

I guess cavemen didn't really worry about eating the right foods.
Simply eating was the goal.
If they found pepperoni pizza growing on trees, you can bet they wouldn't have been concerned with cheating on their diet.

[AshleyL]

I guess cavemen didn't really worry about eating the right foods.
Simply eating was the goal.
If they found pepperoni pizza growing on trees, you can bet they wouldn't have been concerned with cheating on their diet.

But.... They never did..

[jammies]

I guess cavemen didn't really worry about eating the right foods.
Simply eating was the goal.
If they found pepperoni pizza growing on trees, you can bet they wouldn't have been concerned with cheating on their diet.

yes, but the whole point is that they would not have had access to those foods ever. It's not about what he "would have" eaten, but rather it is about what foods/nutrients were predominantly available during the bulk of our evolutionary growth.

Thant said, I like to be able to eat non-primal foods without guilt or issues. I try to make sure the rest of my meals are 100% primal, very nutrient dense, and try to keep my gut healthy.

[sbhikes]

From the article, the opening premise:

So then, is it really so far fetched to think that the stress of eating sugar, or easily oxidized polyunsaturated fats, or processed garbage (“toxins”), or over-eating, might be good for you sometimes? So long as you supplement it with the dietary version of rest – healthful, nutrient-rich foods with the occasional abstinence from food? Why would these forms of stress and rest be any different?

I think that the dietary stresses we are supposed to indulge in that might be good for you sometimes include things like whiskey and wine, possibly sugar (or honey in large quantities or binges on sweet fruit even if that fruit has been cooked down to a sweet syrupy delight), vegetables that are toxic in large doses (very bitter things, for example), over-eating and under-eating for sure possibly a little smoking of one thing or another on an irregular basis and possibly also certain alkaloid, mind-altering substances on rare occasion.

The author says his grandmother is 80 now. My grandmother was 80 in 1985. So this means the author of that blog post is not very old right now. He should theorize about the value of regular crap processed food consumption when he's well into his 40s or 50s and let us know if it really was so beneficial after all.

[Terry H]

Ah, an apologetic for dietary relativism. There can't be a consequence for anyone's choices, right? It wd.n't be fair. Of course anyone who is scrupulous must be harboring self-hatred and beating themselves over a cookie while people are drinking oil and shoving Resistant Starch down their(uh-oh here it comes) pie-holes to lose that extra 5 lbs see no incongruity there.

[ddickson]

Good article for sure!

I think for people who are not eating for illness it is a good approach. However his lead up to being able to do that was by training his mind and body HOW to eat properly. Eating habits are not called 'habits' for no reason. It is because we have behaved in a certain way for a while it becomes our 'eating behaviour'. To follow something strictly helps enforce and learn new habits so that we can stick with in the healthy realm when making decisions. Instead of grabbing that bag of chips when we leave the house we have some fruit of a baggy of mixed veggies. As well as learning how to eat and cook without turning to simple carbs as a filler or as a side.

For me its about learning and enforcing proper habits. If i allow myself to"cheat" in the beginning stages of enforcement I(and probably others) will become too lax before things are properly enforced so that healthy choices become natural.

Just a thought...

[dyen]

Hi everyone, I'm the author of that article. I was really happy to see this spurred some discussion and I'd like to leave a few comments on a few comments that were made regarding my comments.

Like someone here implied, I am a young (26) healthy male, and I'm surrounded daily by even younger, probably even healthier people. The article was framed by my own circumstances in life. I did not write that article for people who are legitimate celiacs, or people with other serious health concerns. We've already got Chris Kresser for that, and he does a much better job than I do! Nor did I intend to rub my healthiness in your face. I'm a researcher who studies Type 2 Diabetes, so I deal with an unhealthy population face-to-face - I would never do that to them, or anyone who is inflicted by a disease. I apologize if it came off that way, I really did not mean it like that.

If people have any more direct questions I'd be glad to discuss them! I see some general concerns being voiced but I really don't want to go off rambling like a madman...

[Knifegill]

Anytime I want to be covered in boils and limp for three days from hip pain, I know junk food will do that for me. I am free to poison myself anytime. That article is crap. Screw those lucky buggers who can go to taco bell and have twinkies for dessert and still look healthy the next day. More heart disease for them, I say!