RE: evolution and diet (was: FITNESS: Diet and Exercise)

From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Apr 21 2003 - 13:24:41 MDT

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    Ramez Naam wrote:

    gts wrote:
    >> With respect to this thread, my point is simply that
    >> according to me and other people who embrace paleodiet
    >> theory, paleodiet theory really ought to be the null
    >> (working) hypothesis for optimal diet.
    >
    > That's fine for you, gts, but it doesn't convince me.
    >
    > If you want to convince someone else, you always have to
    > present enough data to overcome their own existing belief.

    Exactly. The burden of proof is always on those who challenge the prevailing
    belief-system. In a previous post I was merely *asking* you to consider that
    the paleodiet should be the default diet in need of rebuttal as opposed to
    the modern diet, given that you had just *agreed* with me that the primary
    tenet of paleodiet theory is true: that there was a significant decline in
    health at the onset of agriculture and dairy. You never answered that post
    of mine, by the way.

    In another relevant post I was *agreeing* with Eliezer, who typed some words
    that agreed with me, something to effect of "I tend to think the ancestral
    diet should be the assumption that must be disproved."

    Harvey then jumped in and muddied the waters a bit with the false charge I
    was trying to impose the burden of proof on everyone here to prove me wrong.
    (Harvey and I have since cleared up that misunderstanding, I think).

    > My belief, founded on the latest and largest studies of the
    > correlation between diet and health, is that a diet of
    > infrequent lean meat, low saturated fat, lots of fruits and
    > vegetables, and a reasonable amount of high-fiber whole
    > grains is the best we know of in terms of longevity.

    I would ask you to please define "infrequent" in terms % of calories from
    lean meat, and the same for "low" and "lots" and "reasonable" for saturated
    fat, fruits and vegetables, and fiber respectively. Also please explain why
    plant fiber from whole grains is necessary when you're already getting
    plenty of it from what is presumably a lot of fruits and vegetables. We'll
    know then exactly how your belief differs from the typical belief of
    paleodiet theorists.

    Also see my last message to Harvey, in which I (for a second or third time
    in this thread in messages to third parties) agree with your excellent
    observation about natural selection having been blind in paleo times to many
    of the diseases of aging.

    -gts



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