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Originally Posted by CU Tiger
Things is rght now I am on the pure other end of the spectrum...a paleo/keto diet. I question the link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. ANd from a pure evolutionary stand point, it is undeiable that we as homo sapiens killed, fished and ate meat long before we ever grew crops or processed grains.
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My personal guess (and I am far from expert, but many share this view) is that the reduction in totally empty foods that one gets with a paleo/keto style diet makes it effective as a weight loss tool. I made the same switch myself, moving essentially from low-carb to plant-based in my own pursuits. I have lost more weight with the plant based, but I honestly would attribute that to my ability to stay more disciplined with this than I had been in the later phases of carb avoidance.
Where the paleo/keto approach has its potential failings appears to be with other health elements, more than weight loss. A low carb diet filled with animal fat and protein but relatively low sugar-spiking ingredients probably helps us cut total calories and/or bad blood sugar effects, but it's harder to assess the effects on cardio and arterial health, cancer, and other diseases that appear to be linked to animal proteins.
The evolutionary argument is superficially appealing, but what is it really telling us? Back when our species or its ancestor had no ability to eat our modern complicated, processed, and dreadful diet, they settled for hunting flesh and gathering plants. Okay, got it. Modern ailments were not part of their worlds, it seems. Okay, I'm with you. They all died at age 35, though... so the afflictions of the longer-lived modern population simply were not a major factor from any perspective -- from practical to evolutionary. If you're a caveman and your expected lifespan is 30-40 years, the advantages of a more cardio-friendly diet that might stave off that heart attack at age 50 is a lot more remote a consideration than it is for, say, me.
As for your comment about the uncritical eye, I am personally really making an effort to take these comments to heart. I am an analytical and skeptical person by nature, and I am aware that I may be losing my edge on these matters after becoming essentially convinced that it's right for me and my family. Recently, I have spent some time reading through some criticisms of the China Study, and while it's technically a little thick, I'm doing my best to follow it with an open mind.
I'm not absolutely sure what my diet is going to look like in a year or ten, and I'm trying not to claim that I know I have found the one true path here. However, along the way so far I am very comforted to have virtually no doubt that what I am doing is far, far more healthy and sensible for me than the way I have eaten in my earlier life. So, even if this isn't a magic bullet, and it's *only* a major step in the right direction, I'm still finding the inconveniences and sacrifices to be well worth it, so far -- and I hope I can stick with it, for my own sake and that of my family.