8 Dietary Truths We Wish We Could Tell Non-Primal Types

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/surprising-nutrition-facts/

Some basic dietary truths that everyone needs to understand, according to Mark Sisson:


Don’t Cook With (or Eat) Vegetable Oil

Your Brain Can Burn Fat, Not Just Carbs

You Don’t Need To Eat 6 Small Meals a Day

Real Soda Is Worse For You Than Diet Soda

Most People Should NOT Avoid Salt

There’s No Need To Drink So Much Water That You Pee Clear

The Human Digestive Tract Does NOT Resemble an Herbivore’s Digestive Tract

Steak Is Better For You Than Chicken Breast

Thanks for posting this. Some good advice there. I've gone back to reading the MDA blog pretty regularly again. I had walked away from it for a while back when we started this forum. I was feeling a little miffed about how his long time supporters were treated with regard to to whole forum thing. Some time has passed and I'm less bothered by it now. He does, and always has, had some very good, valid information on MDA.

Agree. I've always at least checked out the current blog post for areas of interest. And the weekly link love post is a must. My only observation is that recently the success stories seem to be too many people in his health coach program.

Ditto to both. I just refrain from responding to anything on the MDA blog these days... which isn't always easy. lol

Am I the only one that thinks that an occasional original coke with real sugar is less evil than a diet one?

Don’t Cook With (or Eat) Vegetable Oil - Agree.

Your Brain Can Burn Fat, Not Just Carbs - Agree, but why does the average person need to know? The average person isn't going to do keto.

You Don’t Need To Eat 6 Small Meals a Day - Agree, but irrelevant for most people.

Real Soda Is Worse For You Than Diet Soda - Agree, based on calories.

Most People Should NOT Avoid Salt - Disagree. Most people eat a lot of processed foods, which have a lot of sodium. Paleos who minimize processed foods might be OK with salting food, but they aren't the mainstream.

There’s No Need To Drink So Much Water That You Pee Clear - Agree, but what percent do this? Most people would do well to replace soda and alcohol with water.

The Human Digestive Tract Does NOT Resemble an Herbivore’s Digestive Tract - Agree, but most people don't think about this. Vegetarians are a small percentage.

Steak Is Better For You Than Chicken Breast - I'd say the jury is still out. I like Chris Masterjohn's principle of diversifying exposures across many kinds of foods, including many protein sources, to get benefits without stacking the same kind of risk.

For the average person who isn't going to dive into the topic, I think that Michael Pollan's Food Rules provides some useful and easily understood guidelines. (See here for a list.) I modify some of them a little. Eat food (not food-like substances). Eat things that are close to what they were when they were harvested or slaughtered. Avoid products with more than five ingredients. Avoid products with ingredients you don't recognize or can't pronounce. Prepare your own food, or eat what someone you know has prepared.

Lovebird wrote:Ditto to both. I just refrain from responding to anything on the MDA blog these days... which isn't always easy. lol

Am I the only one that thinks that an occasional original coke with real sugar is less evil than a diet one?

You're not alone - I would rather ingest sugar than aspartame. I refuse to eat that stuff. Nasty!

A couple of follow-ups on salt....

First, salt/sodium is an issue of contention in paleo circles. Loren Cordain is strongly against it. See this post as just one recent example; many more articles on his website make the case for low sodium intake. The Paleo Mom takes a moderate position (which seems the most reasonable to me): Is Salt Paleo?

Second, salt is one of the ingredients that can make foods hyperpalatable and thus bypass normal satiety limits. Add salt to something, and people eat more of it.

That was a very long article on salt.  

I have found that I do need to salt my food, as I really do not use many processed items at all (bacon being the main exception, so I don't need to salt my eggs when I have bacon as well).

The safe range seems like actually quite a bit of salt.  If I am cooking a pot of veges for 3 people and add a teaspoon of salt, that is not actually much per person, and I wonder if we then consume it all anyway.  Surely half of it gets poured down the sink?

I do eat plenty of broccoli, bananas and silverbeet (swiss chard) as well. And cheese.  So that  probably covers the potassium and calcium balance.

Anyway, I found the article comforting, not that I needed comfort.  When eating well you can feel it in the body and no need to overthink the details.


As for your pretty picture - those crisps are lethal, that's why I have to steer clear or I will scoff the whole bag and then feel yuk.  The donuts hold no appeal whatsoever. I would only eat them if I were starving, I certainly wouldn't feel addicted to them.

Annieh, I'm with you on the picture...today. But not that many years ago the doughnut was a huge problem for me, if I ate one of 'em, I'd eat every one in the box. I don't ever eat potato chips, but still have a big weakness for blue corn tortilla chips. I don't worry about salt usage, I salt my food to taste. But I also don't use very much

Great article! I hope I can get my DH to read it. He's down with my dietary requirements but he doesn't quite understand why I eat the way I do.

#1 Animals are most adapted to the foods they have been eating the longest.

Done.

Lovebird wrote:Real Soda Is Worse For You Than Diet Soda

Is that a really a true statement? What is the logic behind that? Not that I think any soda is healthy for you, but I always thought real sugar vs. chemical sugar would be better. What is the logic or thought behind diet being better?

ShelleyM wrote:Is that a really a true statement? What is the logic behind that? Not that I think any soda is healthy for you, but I always thought real sugar vs. chemical sugar would be better. What is the logic or thought behind diet being better?

Real soda has a lot of calories that make people overweight/obese, along with all the downstream problems like increased rates of diabetes, several kinds of cancer, and cardiovascular disease. People tend to drink soda in addition to their regular calories; there doesn't seem to be any satiety that you get with solid foods. If you drink only the occasional soda, and you have no weight issues, then real soda is OK.

Artificial sweeteners are suspected by many, but the research evidence just isn't there (yet?). I think it's reasonable to minimize food-like products that were recently invented, but sugar-sweetened beverages in the quantities consumed today are definitely bad news.

I don't drink soda. I was just surprised the primal point of view was diet is better.