It is my understanding from reading on the subject on McDougall's
website that humans have more genes for amylase production than that
of our closest primate relatives.  There are about three isolated
tribes, one in the far north and two in africa that McDougall mentions
that do not have these genes (or very few).  I believe he also says
that if you don't eat carbs then the amylase production decreases.
Possibly this sets up a cycle--eat less carbs, amylase decreases, lack
of amylase makes it difficult to eat carbs and not have a blood sugar
spike.  Perhaps this is why Atkins told his dieters to go off their
high fat low carb diets a week before they had a glucose tolerance
test, otherwise they would test diabetic.

I have read elsewhere that fruitarians are subject to dangerously high
uric acid levels.  It is also doubtful that the fruit our evolutionary
ancestors ate was as sweet or as large as the scientifically bred
modern fruit in the grocery store.  While our ancestors were probably
scavengers until they developed lethal hunting weapons and techniques,
they probably dined on small rodents, insects and other sources of
animal protein before we as a species developed a taste for prime
rib.  The "Paleolithic Diet" describes present day primitive diets as
ranging anywhere from twenty per cent carbs to eighty per cent carbs.
When you are hungry you will eat whatever you can get from your
environment.  Nature designed us to sustain ourselves with what is
available so that we can reach reproductive age, reproduce and nurture
young.  It seems our interest now is in healthy longevity.  Almost an
anti evolutionary project.  My own regular diet now is fruit,
vegetables, beans, grains, fish, a few nuts and seeds and a very
little olive oil on salads.  Meat is a treat sometimes if I eat out.

It isn't clear to me if Chris is suggesting a fruitarian diet or
simply adding fruit to one's regular diet.

Dolores

The adrenal gland which is found in the fat around the top of
the kidneys is loaded with vitamin C. I'd assume
the raw meat and fat they ate contained at least
a little vitamin C. And yes the Inuit did go
to some lengths for plant foods such as
robbbing the stashes of squirrels. I
no doubt blueberries would have be
prized. I'd assume the ate some greens.

The Eskimo/Inuit survived while the white explorers
(English 19th explorers and earlier) and white settlers (Norse in
Greenland) perished from scurvy and rickets.

I agree.

And less in fruit.

I missed your thread about Kwasniewski. I took a look through some of
your past posts and didn't find it so I googled Kwasniewski (http://
high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2008/03/kwasniewski-praise-lard.html)
and found anecdotal reports of low carb/high meat/no processed food
diets being compared with "regular food like McDonald's." "Sometimes
called the Polish Atkins" "The diet was hatched in Poland some 40
years ago by Dr. Jan Kwasniewski, who started developing it while
working as a dietician for a military sanitarium" The high meat diet
(like the Atkins type diets) were developed for losing weight. While
the Kwasniewski diet accounts are surprising to me and interesting,
I'm not trying to lose weight/energy. I'm looking for the best long
term/life promoting diet with no reason to compromise or treat past
neglect. I'm particularly interested in any type of food that is a
superior substitute for a variety of available fruit (this is not easy
to find). So far my opinion is that people compromise fruit based
diets with meat for reasons of convenience/politics/fad diets to lose
weight/addiction/custom. By losing weight it is no surprise that heart
disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer incidence decrease with low carb
diet or high fruit diet. But as Dolores points out in reference to the
Kwasniewski diet, "There are also side effects and consequences such
as increased bone fractures, rising cholesterol, kidney stones, gall
stones and some others which I can't remember. This diet is no one's
first choice for epileptic kids."

And some of the other diseases correlated with meat are
diverticulitis, acidosis, gout, alcohol addiction, hemerrhoids, etc.
Fruit reverses all this and more. I'm also including nuts, leafy
greens in my diet. Coconuts are considered fruit and the fleshy fruit
of the coconut and the water within are included as a staple in my
diet. Coconut seems to be one of the most complete types of food, yet
de-emphasized in the Kwasniewski optimal diet.

The Kwasniewski diet also recommends cream and butter (which seems to
be the worst part). I stopped earning acne, constipation, sinusitis,
colds and the yearly flu among other things when I ditched dairy and
apparantly I'm not the only one. Kwasniewski advises "small quantities
of grains, berries and fruits." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_diet.
This seems absurd to me. The most consistently good feeling of
digestion and start to a good night of sleep is when I have a bowl of
fresh berries as the last meal. And blueberries are a classic
reference for antioxidants.

But the best diet to prevent cancer is still by far (tropical) fruit
based. You'll find more types of synthetic and natural carcinogens
associated with meat than without.

I noticed this too. He went on to say the best part was the fish they
had (even in small amounts..) How or if he considers his diet of pork
to be better than fish for any reason, remains a mystery.. I did
notice the religious emphasis of his diet and mention of decreased
anxiety but I have seen slight evidence that meat increases (not
decreases) anxiety..

There are no peer reviewed journals or long term studies providing
support for the Kwasniewski diet. But then again there are no cultures
to even attempt peer reviewed studies on frugivorous diets either.. So
this is one reason I looked for theoretical adaptation to justify my
personal experimenting. I'm eating roughly half of my diet as organic
fruit and have been adding a higher proportion of fruit gradually as
I'm growing more.

I assume the Kwasniewski diet is better than high carb/processed food
or moderate sugar/starch based diets. I still see no adaptive
advantage to substitute fruit for meat and I have an open mind as I
experiment and my credit card here for an evolution diet using any
amount of meat as a substitute for available fruit if I can find a
reason..

Organically,
Chris

  Anybody who's seen Ondeko-Za, the long-distance-running taiko
drummers (as I have) ought to have a lot of respect for white rice!  I
can't explain it, but a high-calorie diet consisting of little more than
rice keeps them incredibly fit and healthy, and it shows.

  If I recall correctly, they were running more than half a marathon
every day, and putting on amazingly energetic drum performances in
between, and showed no sign of fatigue.  Since the men wore only small
loincloths on stage, and the women not much more, it was pretty obvious
what condition they were in.  Their complexions were flawless, and their
bodies made me wish I were a sculptor!

The liquid has an excess of CO2 and
it bubbles as one drinks it. It is carbonated if one
actually looks at the product  (at the right stage) and
not the dictionary.

Making it for 30 years, I am impressed.

Anyway much of the "wine" I've made is
what is called 'country wine' which purists
tell me isn't properly wine. So again I and
the purists disagree. Anyway a good plum
wine can stand toe to toe with a grape wine
in my personal experience.

Raking and siphoning may explain some of my posting
thru the years :-) That reminds me, I haven't looked at
the winemaking forum in years. I'll have to do that soon.

   Three days into the Bordeaux wine harvest, we started drinking new

-

"In vino veritas".

Cormac