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healthiest hearts in the world

CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,170
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39292389

A study suggests that the way to have a healthy heart is to eat 72% carbs.

I do find it interesting just how this evidence is used. I don’t think anyone is disputing any of the things said in the article that much.

We know that lots of exercise makes us feel a lot healthier.

If I took my LCHF diet which is full of natural foods and is calorie deficient because I need to lose weight and the way to do that is to be in ketosis which involves low carbs and I added back enough brown rice, plantains and apples to convert my current weight loss diet to a weight maintenance diet with more carbs then I too would show up the same kind of proportions of carbs to saturated fats as shown here.

What both diets would be categorized by is a complete absence of additional sugar and any refined foods. Even the fruit these people eat will be lower in sugar than the western variety – for example even canned tomatoes have added sugar.

Both diets would also be categorized by an absence of any refined oils - corn oil etc, - all the ones we have been told are healthy

Both diet include seriously fatty meats which happen to include some saturated fat. All the things we have been told are unhealthy

The actual amount of “saturated fat “ that I would be eating would also be “Low “ as a proportion of this diet - it is only high in relation to my weight reducing diet. It is not “more” gram for gram than these people will eat. I highly doubt that when they sit down to a diet of pig or rat, they limit themselves to 1 ounce of it. They will eat a proper portion size of it, probably much more than I do, then add a whole pile of unprocessed carbs on top.


As result of my western diet I have now developed insulin resistance which means that even unrefined carbs cannot be processed by my body . It is perfectly possible that if I do get rid of all excess fat and that results in a reduction of the insulin resistance then at that stage I may be able to add in unrefined carbs. I already know that I can tolerate more unrefined carbs with little effect on blood sugar then when I began .


Thus none of this is actually saying anything particularly inconsistent.

Where I have a fundamental problem with it is how it is then applied to the average westerner.

It tries to tell you is that if you are trying to diet then you also need to eat a very low proportion of that diet in saturated fat - this involves restricting your fat intake to levels which are superhumanly low whilst eating substantially all of your diet in non-satiating carbs, not being in ketosis and being voraciously hungry, and then we wonder why 99% of diets fail .

Just because from a healthy start point – these people can eat these things, it does not actually indicate how our unhealthy westerners should make the transition from one state to the other. If instead of measuring the level of saturated fats as a proportion they started doing it in grams – then the whole thing would make a lot more sense .

Prof Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, said: "This is a beautiful real life study which reaffirms all we understand about preventing heart disease.

"Simply put, eating a healthy diet very low in saturated fat and full of unprocessed products, not smoking and being active life long, is associated with the lowest risk of having furring up of blood vessels."
 
I also note that they talk about % rather than a finite amount. I've been to Peru and Bolivia, around Lake Titicaca and they all seem to eat quite small amounts, so their 72% compared to Americas 54% isn't a comparison of volume/weight/calories, not by a long shot.

Also the type of carb is different, I didn't see a lot of bread made from wheat but from the yucca, (manioc, Cassava, I think).

They also don't mention the amount of coca leaves chewed or made into tea, used to stave off effects of altitude. Even tourist drink and chew enough for it to be a problem if they faced having a urine test when returning home. I don't know what that says about it's strength, but it's good stuff.

I'll not be changing my carb intake to 72% of my calories anytime soon, but I might eat the same type and amount of carb in calories as the Tsimane people.
 
I read that article also on BBC and in the 'i' newspaper. The carbs that these people ingest aren't like our western carbs though but come from Plantain and Maize in its organic (original) form. No refined carbs whatsoever. They also walk for an average of 60,000 steps daily hunting and gathering their food according to my newspaper article. That would be very beneficial for the heart
 
I think the key is the amount of Exercise these people's have to undertake daily in order to survive.

Carbs provide the easiest source of energy that your body can use, and if you utilise almost or all of the carbs you consume daily for energy they will do you little or no harm.
 
I think the key is the amount of Exercise these people's have to undertake daily in order to survive.

Carbs provide the easiest source of energy that your body can use, and if you utilise almost or all of the carbs you consume daily for energy they will do you little or no harm.
Exactly!
 
Not according to my newspaper @NoCrbs4Me where did you source your information? My newspaper suggests that most 60 year old Tsimane are still hunting almost daily
 
Yes, some people in a population will live longer than the populations' average life expectancy.

"While there was little change in mortality for most of the life course over the period 1950-1989, overall life expectancy at birth improved by 10 years from 45 to 53 after 1990." (Note: 45 to 53 is not 10 years, so maybe this scientific paper is not so great?)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17421012
 
Yes, well I think that perhaps both your and my articles may be practicing selective journalism. I would think that infection, accidents etc would kill off quite a few tribespeople at a young age thus lowering their average longevity. My article also questioned if internal parasites changed the gut's ability to process food. Yeuch!
 
Yes, to be fair, this rather short average life span is typical of hunter-gatherers due to high rates of starvation, disease and violent death (accidental and on purpose). A traditional diet free from highly refined carbs and oils and factory processed food, regardless of the protein/fat/starch macro makeup or plant versus animal sources, is healthier than the modern western diet of mostly factory produced packaged food ( I think the statistic is that on average westerners get about 80% of their calories from factory processed food). These hunter-gatherer populations had very little of the now common western diseases. This is what the paleo diet "fad" is based on.
 
Seen this reported in the press yesterday and posted a link to the article in another thread this morning. It certainly makes interesting reading and (as the researchers have said) there are lessons to be learnt from the Tsimane people.
 
I also note that they talk about % rather than a finite amount. I've been to Peru and Bolivia, around Lake Titicaca and they all seem to eat quite small amounts, so their 72% compared to Americas 54% isn't a comparison of volume/weight/calories, not by a long shot.

Also the type of carb is different, I didn't see a lot of bread made from wheat but from the yucca, (manioc, Cassava, I think).

They also don't mention the amount of coca leaves chewed or made into tea, used to stave off effects of altitude. Even tourist drink and chew enough for it to be a problem if they faced having a urine test when returning home. I don't know what that says about it's strength, but it's good stuff.

I'll not be changing my carb intake to 72% of my calories anytime soon, but I might eat the same type and amount of carb in calories as the Tsimane people.

They are also genetically different and are therefore not as badly affected by the hight as People from other parts of the world, maybe their heart is healthier just because of that
 
This type of study may be interesting but it is very difficult to draw any conclusions from it. Their environment, lifestyle and diet are so different it could be anything that is benefiting their health, there is no way to carry out any control experiments. I see they brew vats of manioc beer, equally that could be the secret of their healthy arteries rather than the proportion of carbs.
 
I wonder how much of the 72% carbs is actually indigestible fibre, in other words stuff that carb counters wouldn't count. Also they are at a latitude where they will be getting a lot of vitamin D from sunlight, this supposedly is very good for heart health.
Sally
 
A fascinating article and fascinating people too :) I wonder if any have diabetes, type 1 or 2 ?
 
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