Introduction

From Gillian Fritzsche's blog
http://clubfritch.wordpress.com/?s=pyramid

I have a confession. I have been trying to follow the “Paleo” diet. It totally sounds and feels like a fad and it took me about a year to decide to do it after a good university friend took the plunge.  The basic premise is that our bodies were evolved to process hunter-gatherer food, to be outside as much as possible, to move long distances slowly and to run fast and lift heavy things every once in a while. Not so much a diet as a lifestyle.

My objections:

While all this is true, biology is also pretty damn good at adaptation. So I have a little bit of a hard time with the anti-agriculture slant. Plus, agriculture is the reason we settled into communities and developed our society. Our society has many faults, but I think it is preferable to the ancient “beat ‘em over the head” tribal mentalities. However, modern agriculture is actually agri-business. I have seen enough of the agri-business exposé documentaries to not trust anything that wasn’t grown or raised by myself or by a local producer. I don’t believe wheat is the sole culprit of all of today’s maladies, but I do believe that mass produced foods have been altered in ways that are not necessarily good for our health. The problem is that that statement sounds an awful lot like conspiracy theory. It feels a lot like the whole vaccination causes autism argument. Sounds convincing and there are plenty of anecdotal stories that seem to support it. Vaccination and autism are complete correlation with zero causation; it is black and white wrong. Wheat belly sounds convincing and there are plenty of anecdotal stories to support it, but there is not a lot of science behind it. There are a few studies, but all published by one or two research groups.  For me, the big difference is that eliminating grains is a pain in the ass for me, but won’t hurt me or anyone else. Not vaccinating my kids is potentially life threatening for my kids and for my community.

My take on nutrition:

Here is the part I can get behind: food metabolism. Thanks to massive lobbying by the wheat and corn boards, and food conglomerates, the base of the North American food plate is grain. When grains are consumed, they are broken down to sugar by amylase in your saliva and small intestine. Refined carbs are quickly broken down and absorbed, complex carbohydrates take a little more time and reach the ileum before absorption. The liver then absorbs the single sugars. The liver manages distribution through the blood. Sugar levels in blood are normally quite low. Any increase in sugar levels cause insulin to be secreted that will remove the excess sugar. It is taken up into cells for use as energy, or stored.

Fat digestion also begins in the mouth with lipases breaking down short chain lipids into diglycerides.  In the small intestine, lipids are coated with bile to break them up into little droplets (emulsified) to aid in digestion. Emulsified lipids are further broken down with lipases into fatty acids and glycerol. These products are then absorbed into the cells lining the intestine. The cells then take 3 fatty acids and put them together to make a triglyceride. Next a mix of triglycerides, fat-soluble vitamins, and cholesterol are packaged together, this is called a chylomicron. Chylomicrons are then actively (meaning it requires energy to do this) taken out of the cell and moved into the lymphatic vessels. From the lymphatic system, chylomicrons make it into the blood and are circulated. At the destination cells, triglycerides must be broken down again by lipases into the fatty acids, which can then be absorbed by the cell. Fatty acids can be used for energy, structural roles, and for storage.

My conclusions:

Here is the cool part. Insulin makes cells take up sugar and burn carbohydrates for energy. Insulin inhibits using fat as energy. So, if you minimize your insulin levels, your body automatically draws energy from those fat stores. Not just the fat from your lipid intake, but also the fat stored up from excess carbohydrate consumption. The idea that I find the most appealing is switching your metabolism from sugar burning to fat burning.  Looking at the steps of burning sugar versus the convoluted pathway necessary to get energy from lipids, it is easy to see why the body would prefer the former. Alas, it is almost always the case that easier is not better.

Is this a fad? It sure feels like one. But I know that all nutritionists agree to eat the least processed foods possible, and frankly the paleo philosophy fits with this requirement more than any other lifestyle choice I’ve seen. I’m not totally buying in yet, we will still consume full fat milk and full fat milk products. This makes us “primal” rather than “paleo”.  I will still indulge in the occasional chip at a party, or a slice of cake. However, after 1 month on the new regime, my husband has lost more than 10lbs. After two weeks on the regime, our kids are behaving better (lack of gluten anyone?).  We shall see how long I can keep this up.