No carb diet

[KennyS]

mentioned this a while ago. He is not very optimistic, and when you see the NHS diet and how entrenched it is, I don't blame him. It's so sad that a diet that works for so many of us is ignored simply because it goes against the party line. I wonder if that will ever change? Then of course the NHS will continue the line that diabetes is progressive, when really it doesn't have to be.

The party line will not change as long as we MUST have grains to feed the 7billion people on this planet. Agra is big business and the diseases and ailments that come from having it as the primary focus of our diet will continue to keep Agra-business, pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession happily employed until people turn away from grains and sugars as a source of food..... that only happens when you are told that if you don't, you might loose your foot or go blind...

The only real chance we have, at least in the UK, is to continue to take our results to our DN's and doctors and educate them from personal results. While the establishment may not change... pharma companies will move on to something new if they can't get doctors to prescribe what they are peddling because doctors will finally understand that the patient doesn't always need it.

Kenny

 

[lucylocket61]

The thing is - there is already widespread hunger in this world.

If we all left off grains, or severely reduced them, what would most people be able to eat? The planet can only produce a finite amount of food. We can all see how hunger is spreading, just as population growth is continuing.

When we see feeding stations in the third world, what are they being fed to keep alive? Carbs.

I have the luxury of a choice between foods, but many people have a choice between anything or nothing. So its either die slowly from Diabetes and other illnesses, or die fast from malnutition. So its not all about Agri-business. It is also about providing something to fill stomachs and keep people alive.

Just as bad, cheap supermarket foods keep people full, even though they are not being nourished. These people cant afford real proper food, but something is better than nothing.

I think if only good quality nourishing food were available in the world, there would be mass death from starvation, and even the West would be suffering far more than it is now.

 

[borofergie]

The thing is - there is already widespread hunger in this world.

If we all left off grains, or severely reduced them, what would most people be able to eat? The planet can only produce a finite amount of food. We can all see how hunger is spreading, just as population growth is continuing.

When we see feeding stations in the third world, what are they being fed to keep alive? Carbs.

I have the luxury of a choice between foods, but many people have a choice between anything or nothing. So its either die slowly from Diabetes and other illnesses, or die fast from malnutition. So its not all about Agri-business. It is also about providing something to fill stomachs and keep people alive.

I don't get this.

Q: Why are there 7 billion people in the world.
A: Because we feed them with genetically modified grain crops.

It's a vicious circle that is quickly exhausting the planet's resources. At some point, the demand of overpopulation is going to overwhelm our ability to produce more and more resilient strains of grain.

When I was studying for A-Level Geography, I can remember the teacher dismissing "the Malthus Principle", but it kind of looks like Thomas Malthus was right all along:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rob ... Population

Grain is a large part of the problem. Even more grain is not the solution.

 

[KennyS]

So its not all about Agri-business. It is also about providing something to fill stomachs and keep people alive.

But Lucy..... which came first the population or the food to sustain that population? Grain is the most unsustainable crop growing. It depletes top soil at an astounding rate and those nutrients, other that the 3 main ones that make the crop grow, are never replaced. Well meaning aid to many countries has set up a cycle of food, expanded population and starvation. When the grain goes to these places agra makes its money.... when the people get diseased the pharma makes its money. Yes, if their were no grain billions of people would no longer live but every ecosystem has its limits and until we understand that 1) we can not continually expand our population infinitely and 2) that expansion, predicated on a nutritionally poor food, will come crashing down one day, but not before billions of people are diseased by a diet that was never any good in the first place.

Kenny

 

[ladybird64]

So if they don't eat grain, what is the solution to tthe starvation problem as it stands now? What can we do?

Genuine question Kenny and Stephen

 

[lucylocket61]

I do understand your points KennyS and Borofergieand I agree with both the cause and effect. But we have to deal with the "Here and Now" of where these policies have led us. it is too late to change what we have today.

And I agree that it is only pushing the problem of overpopulation and starvation into the future.

 

[KennyS]

So if they don't eat grain, what is the solution to tthe starvation problem as it stands now? What can we do?

Genuine question Kenny and Stephen

You pose a complicated question. The same problem that effects our world population nutritionally is the same problem that effects us as diabetics. Its is integrating in discussions like this, one answer that I here all of the time is that, regardless of the fact that we may have created this problem, people not only have the right to live (Which I agree with) but they also have the right to raise a family of the size that will make them happy. The industrialized nations populations are shrinking (except for immigration) and third world/developing countries are expanding beyond all proportion to actually, sustainably, produce food for themselves. When someone agrees and says that we should fed these people because after all, we are benevolent, but that we should stop population growth..... someone always says that it is unfair for a food producing nation to force people from another country into population control. Something has to give.... something eventually will give whether we want it to or not.

Kenny

 

[lucylocket61]

they also have the right to raise a family of the size that will make them happy

That is my problem - right there. We must (in my opinion) change this idea that having as many children as a person wants is OK. There must be personal responsibility for the effect our choices have on the world. We must get more of an Global Village mentality and deal with the hard questions of limiting populations.

Or many more people will die of malnutrition, which is cruel.

OK, off my soapbox now and off to bed.

 

[borofergie]

they also have the right to raise a family of the size that will make them happy

That is my problem - right there. We must (in my opinion) change this idea that having as many children as a person wants is OK. There must be personal responsibility for the effect our choices have on the world. We must get more of an Global Village mentality and deal with the hard questions of limiting populations.

Or many more people will die of malnutrition, which is cruel.

OK, off my soapbox now and off to bed.

Agree completely. Although I think that the answer is compulsory sterilization rather than personal choice.

 

[borofergie]

So if they don't eat grain, what is the solution to tthe starvation problem as it stands now? What can we do?

Genuine question Kenny and Stephen

Well we need grain to even maintain the current world population (although I wonder how much we could reduce that dependence if everyone tried to maximise their own food production through growing vegetables).

The population growth problem needs to be addressed with birth control (and more probably sterilization), otherwise, as Kenny suggests, the birth rate will eventually correct itself through widespread famine.

(I fully accept that my Paleo diet is an unsustainable rich western conceit. We can't feed 7 billion people like this. However, my first priority is to my own health).

 

[xyzzy]

something eventually will give whether we want it to or not.

Now that I agree with entirely. I think we as humans tend to believe we can operate outside of for want of a better phrase are the laws of nature and somehow can both control and be immune from them. It's a remarkably stupid attitude to have when you look back over the 4 billion year history of our planet. We have been here for a blink of an eye and can disappear just as quickly. In many ways if I were one of the other organisms on the planet then I'd be thinking the sooner we get made extinct the better.

Completely off topic so to the OP . Get a blood meter if you haven't got one then cut out the vast majority of sugar and just as importantly as much carbs (starchy food so rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, cereals and other flour based products) as it takes to get your levels back to safety. Replace with extra meat, fish, cheese, eggs and green veg. Safety according to the guidelines is under 8 on your meter 2 hours after eating and between 4 & 7 at all other times.

 

[KennyS]

(I fully accept that my Paleo diet is an unsustainable rich western conceit. We can't feed 7 billion people like this. However, my first priority is to my own health).

The paleo diet was never meant to support 7 billion people, but it was meant to support a healthy life. While I think that forced sterilization is a bit harsh given that we (the west) created the problem in the first place, I don't believe that we in countries that can produce a variety of foods that make up a good paleo or near paleo diet shouldn't beat ourselves up because, for instance, sub- Saharan Africa cannot.

Kenny

 

[Geri1]

Today is a week since I started my no carb diet and I am getting used to it. Really can't face a heavy breakfast in the morning and not a bit meat eater so I am managing on yoghurt and berries with the occasional egg. I did look on the diet doctor website and am going to follow his suggestion of yoghurt, nuts and blueberries for breakfast. I am also going to try and make his "Oopsies made with eggs, cream cheese and baking powder as something else to eat to fill me up. Having said that I spent a fortune today in Holland & Barrett buying some of ingredients!! Expensive business! The guy on the counter asked me what I was doing and I told him I was diabetic and needed to bring my blood sugar levels down to which he said I should be eating carbs!! I referred him to Dr. Briffa Have also stocked up on loads of salad stuff and vegetables. In just a week I have lost some weight although it goes from my face straight away which then makes me look gaunt and ill! Can't win really!!

I am really so pleased that I joined in the forum and can't thank you all enough for your helpful suggestions.

Geri