Unfortunately, blood work is only an indicator of if your body is functioning well enough to maintain homeostasis. It does not indicate health. For example, a good calcium level only proves your body is getting the enough calcium from somewhere, which could be your food or could be your bones. I know many people who follow a low fat raw vegan diet (read: 3000 calories of fruit a day) have used their blood work to show they are healthy. The reality is the consequences come later in life after their bodies can no longer steal from their reserves to provide what they need. I would venture to guess the same would be true from people on ZC diets but aside from The Bear I have seen no long lasting practitioners and the health status of The Bear is the subject of many rumors (I personally like believe he is healthy and still around).
Hi,
You really can't tell if someone is "healthy" unless you draw blood and run several series of tests to determine the composition of the blood and the levels of important elements/hormones in the body.
In America, someone who appears to be "healthy" is usually a visually based observation which is based upon physical thinness. Not an accurate reading at all.
And yes, there are "healthy" vegans. And there are "healthy" people who live on a diet of Jack Daniels and Twinkies. That still does not mean that the rest of us can thrive under those conditions.
There isn't any ancedotal or scientific evidence that vegan/vegetarianism is the optimal diet for humans. Zero.
Even if you take a look at the list of Earths super-centurians, the oldest living people who are healthy-they all eat animal products (meat, milk, eggs, honey) and drink. Not one vegan or vegetarian in the bunch.
Vegan/Vegetarianism is a political philosophy based on emotion ( I am more humane, I am more ethical, I am more moral) not evidence.
Think about it.
AMA
--- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, "flippetskater" <flippetskater@...> wrote:
>
> "I agree that there's much more to it than calories in/calories out. In fact, lately I've been putting it to the test by eating nothing but foods with zero carbs, I mean THOUSANDS of calories worth every day for nearly three months! My weight has stayed right at 170 on a diet of pork rinds, beef, chicken, sausage, bacon, and eggs. This diet agrees with me and it keeps my blood sugar and insulin levels right where they belong. People ask what I do to stay thin and I tell them to just cut out the starchy carbs."
>
>
> Here's what's so curious to me. What you're doing is obviously working, and I wouldn't dream of telling you otherwise.
>
> But why is it that some people can do exactly the opposite, and still stay thin *and* healthy?
>
> I grew up in a community of mostly vegetarians. These folks avoided meat and meat products, some also avoided dairy and eggs. They did not avoid carbs or grains, although it was more likely to be whole grains rather than not - yet many weren't overly strict about that. Legumes, soy, featured prominently for many, for protein.
>
> Many of these people were, and are, some of the healthiest people I know. And they weren't 'dieting' in the 'consciously restricting calories' sense.
>
> This is why, when someone rants saying that all of that stuff is bad for you, and only meats and fats are good for you - I call horse puckey, because I've seen exactly the opposite, over many generations.
>
>
> I would love to know what it is, exactly, that causes one person to gain weight, and one to lose weight, on what appears to be exactly the same diet. If one can state the science that causes insulin to do X, and glycogen to do Y, and alcohol to do Z - why is this all so bloody hard to figure out?
>
>
>
> --- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, "RickS" <rstewart@> wrote:
> >
> > Aeryelle-
> >
> > I agree that there's much more to it than calories in/calories out. In fact, lately I've been putting it to the test by eating nothing but foods with zero carbs, I mean THOUSANDS of calories worth every day for nearly three months! My weight has stayed right at 170 on a diet of pork rinds, beef, chicken, sausage, bacon, and eggs. This diet agrees with me and it keeps my blood sugar and insulin levels right where they belong. People ask what I do to stay thin and I tell them to just cut out the starchy carbs. But they insist that it's got to be exercise that does it as I commute by bike 30 miles a day. It's really not. I rode the subway for two weeks this winter during the snow we had and I actually LOST a couple of pounds on the same diet.
> >
> > Case in point, alcohol has 7 calories per gram. Alcohol is not metabolized by the standard insulin response mechanism. It's processed by the liver directly and turned into acetate which is burned by the body as fuel. All standard metabolism of fats and carbs comes to a halt in the presence of alcohol until the alcohol has been processed and burned or stored. Once the alcohol has been converted and burned or stored, your body goes back to burning carbs or fat. Now when you drink, your body fills muscle glycogen supplies and liver glucose reserves with the stuff it's converted the alcohol into. Once fat/carb metabolism starts back up, your liver and muscles could be topped up from the alcohol and guess where all of the triglycerides/sugars remaining in your blood stream go? Right, storage on your butt.
> >
> > I'm rambling...
> >
> > My point is that the body is so complex, it's just not realistic to imagine that it's as simple as calories in/calories out. There's a huge endocrine response to different foods that determines what your body does with the calories. How you react to stress plays a big part in how you process food as well. I just finished Gary Taubes' "Why we Get Fat". It explains all of this in detail.
> >
> > Anyway, welcome to the group!
> >
> > -Rick
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, "aeryelle" <aeryelle@> wrote:
> > >
> >
> > > I know via experience that it simply can't be as cut and dry as "calories in vs. calories out", but you know so many insist that's it's as simple as that (oh, and you should eat 6x per day).
> > > It's so frustrating to hear or read: "just need to burn more than you consume", and if you're not losing weight you must be cheating or not exercising as much as you claim. I've literally had people tell me, "If I ate the way you do & exercised, I'd be a stick." Hmph!
> > >
> > > Thanks again for the responses. I'm really enjoying the daily fasting!
> > >
> >
>
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