>One solution to this particular problem is to eat a very low carbohydrate
diet such
>as described in books by atkins and other books like "The Zone..." But the
Atkins
>diet has problems of it's own (see below) Another, possbily better solution
is to
>eat a moderate amount of carbohydrates, but make sure you eat only "low
glycemic
>index" carbohydrates. Glycemic index (GI) is a scale that measures how much
insulin
>is released by your body as a result of eating certain foods; it was first
devised for
>diabetics, but is useful to anyone seeking health. Y
Low GI is good for diabetics (and probably for the rest of us) but low-carb
isn't.
They used to recommend low-carb diets for diabetics, for precisely the reason
you
describe. However, in the 50's studies showed that diabetics on high-carb
diets
outlived those on low-carb diets, with better health. Ever since, the
standard
recommendation has been high-carb, low-GI.
>You don't even *have to* eat meat to do a ketogenic diet
>because you can get protein from
>supplements like whey, soy or egg protein,
>and you can eat "healthy" fats like those
>found in walnuts, almonds, flax oil, primrose oil,
>peanuts, olive oil etc. instead of
>saturated animal fat which *is* unhealthy. So it *is*
>possible to be both a veg-head and on a ketogenic diet,
>although I have no idea who would want to do this.
It is possible to get your fats and protein from vegetable sources
(which wouldn't include whey or egg). However, you cannot
eat anything that's not processed down to components. Even
avocados and peanuts have too much carbohydrate for a ketogenic
diet.
Thanks for your first-hand information on ketogenic diets. I wasn't
aware that anybody had done any research on long-term ketosis and
would greatly appreciate those references. Short-term OK, long-term
bad is certainly a reasonable result.