Tue, Mar-22-11, 21:11
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Senior Member
Posts: 6,498
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Plan: VLC, mostly meat
Stats: 202/200/165
BF:
Progress: 5%
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by colejames
Hey guys, I'm generally a lurker, but decided to give a post.
I've been following a low carb diet for quiet some time, though I will occasionally fit in a cheat day every now and then since I'm not following this diet to lose weight or anything.
Let me first say I wholeheartedly support this way of life and truly believe in the health benefits a low carb diet and the removal of sugars and refined grains can have on my body. Still, there are times I read things people post on this forum and cringe at how wrong I think they are. Here is an example of one I commonly see:
1. "Oh man, after accidentally eating that piece of bread/roll/donut/pizza/[insert carby food here] I had bloating, stomach cramps, bathroom problems, and fatigue like no other!! Carbs are terrible for humans, we weren't meant to eat them, and this just goes to prove it!!"
Ummm, no. We were born with the ability to digest starches and carbs just as we were born with the ability to digest protein and fats. In fact, carbs are broken down before ANY OTHER macronutrient. (Saliva in the mouth)
The REASON you are getting these digestion problems is NOT because you're finally teaching your body how to live the way it should have, but because your body is simply ADJUSTED to not eating them, and therefore makes fewer enzymes that aid in carb digestion.
Take for example a vegetarian. They can have the opposite problem. They accidentally eat a piece of meat and have constipation, cramps, and bloating afterwards. According to your logic, they can also say "ohh man! that meat was soo bad for my digestive system!! Clearly, humans were not meant to eat meat and this proves it!" Obviously, you would think that vegetarian was wrong. Why does the vegetarian get the cramps from meat? The same reason you get cramps from eating carbs: the adjustment of your body.
Thoughts?
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I agree that we can be very wrong in our analysis, but I have to disagree with your conclusion. If the scope of your analysis is only digestion, then maybe your conclusion is right. But digestion is just one part of the problem. Not because we can digest it, and absorb it, that it's good for us. Consider that we can absorb arsenic. Is that good for us?
Can we digest fiber? No. So are we adapted to a high carb diet? No. Can we adapt to a high carb diet? No. What if we remove the fiber and eat just the digestible starch and sugars. Can we adapt to that kind of diet? No. Digestion is just one side of the problem. The other side is what this substance does once it's inside our body. Once carbs are absorbed, they make us fatter, sicker, weaker, and probably stupider. What does any of that have to do with digestion?
We can only adapt so much. Our entire physiology, not merely digestive enzymes, dictates what we must eat. As for cramps being the barometer for what we should eat, that's just shortsighted. Cramps can be due to pretty much anything. Infected food, indigestible substances (fiber?), poisons, starvation, etc.
As for vegans eating meat, the most probable scenario is that they'll return to good health quickly and wonder where they've been all this time. Wonderland?
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