This is an an answer to an inadvertent reader question I received. The full question is “What if I eat cholesterol-full paleo foods and still eat sugar and grains and gluten?” In other words, “What if I eat tofu as a vegan, but also eat chicken and veal and babies?” As funny as it sounds, I plan to take a serious approach to this question.
The law of unintended consequences
If a person were to specifically supplement their diet with cholesterol-containing foods such as steak, eggs, or shrimp, they would likely see some radical health changes due to unintended consequences. Most people consume the same amount of calories every day, whether they realize it or not, and when a person makes a conscious effort to consume these foods that are high in cholesterol and also high in protein and fat, they will unintentionally lower their carbohydrate intake. It is also true that, unlike carbohydrates, protein and fat both trigger powerful satiating hormones to be released from the stomach and this puts a stop to hunger quite quickly, further reducing food intake. This is a double-whammy that makes the Paleo diet so effective at lowering the risk of nearly all diseases, including cardiovascular disease, which are predominately caused by the intake of excess refined carbohydrates. The bottom line is every little bit helps, and helps a lot. More tofu = less babies.
This is also what fuels the success of most diets, and why it is so confusing to pick the best one. Pitted against the standard american diet, almost any dietary change is a good one. What gives the Paleo diet an edge is the evolutionary template that seems to work for everyone by default. That’s very stable hypothesis to build on.
Sugar and carbohydrates — its all the same
Since a carbohydrate is essentially sugar in different forms, broken down piece by piece into simple sugars that enter the bloodstream, all carbohydrates have a similar effect. When sugar (glucose) hits the bloodstream the body, in a manner of speaking, views this as a threat because the glucose levels cannot get too high or it will create a toxic environment for the brain. The body’s response to this is to release insulin to quell the blood sugar spikes. When a person chronically consumes carbohydrates in evolutionarily novel proportions (high levels we’ve never encountered before as humans), the death spiral begins. More insulin is needed to lower blood sugar levels, which causes cells to become desensitized to the presence of insulin, which requires more insulin, and so on. And insulin, when present, plays a role in hundreds of applications in the human body.
Obviously since insulin is made by our bodies, the right amount can be thought to be totally natural, healthy, and sustaining; This is true. But much like the earth with it’s day and night cycles, it would be a disaster to have too much day. Chronically eating excess carbohydrates is like slowing the rotation of the earth so that it is always day outside. Temperatures slowly begin to rise until you nearly reach a point of no return. Although the sun is viewed as life giving, it becomes a danger when it isn’t regulated or oscillated properly in the normal day and night cycle. The same could be said of insulin. This condition of excess insulin, known as hyperinsulinemia, is the cause of many of the biomarkers we associate with poor health, such as high blood pressure.
Lastly, although there isn’t very much evidence yet outside of rat studies, the current belief is that high-carbohydrate intake may cause saturated fat to be less healthy for you when it is otherwise healthy or benign. This topic has been eluded to at least a few times by Dr. Loren Cordain.
Why reenactments don’t always work
There are some cultures (e.g. the Kitavans) who consume a very high-carbohydrate Paleo diet, yet they seem to be thriving. This is why the Paleo diet is referred to as “macronutrient agnostic”, because there are examples of extreme macronutrient ratios in different cultures that ultimately don’t seem to be an issue for these respective cultures. As cut and dry as that sounds, I don’t think it is possible for those who are metabolically broken to take on high-carbohydrate intake, even in a Paleo-approved food list, once you’ve passed a breaking point. Presumably, eating like a Kitavan works if you’ve already been eating like a Kitavan. I believe after exposure to excess gluten, or to excess carbohydrates that are too refined (enter the bloodstream too quickly), combined with the general lack of activity of an American lifestyle, results in a person becoming metabolically deranged in a way that makes it difficult to deal with carbohydrates. Therefor, for most people, the Paleo diet is and should be predominantly considered a low-carb Paleo diet, at least until carbohydrate tolerance is restored and the athletic activity level goes up enough to merit the intake.
There are some other factors here to consider such as fermentable fibers, safe starches, and gut bacteria, which can have a positive effect on insulin sensitivity, even though they are carbohydrates. But this only serves to re-iterate my point: When Americans go for carbohydrates, they aren’t eating just yam, sweet potato, taro, and tapioca. Perhaps the absence of these starches is a major contributor to the failed American way of eating.
Gluten roulette
I’ve heard it said many times that whether or not you have diagnosed celiac disease, you are reacting to gluten on some level you may not be able to observe until later in life. You are, like everyone else, producing antibodies in your blood because of the presence of gluten. Depending on your genetic susceptibility to different autoimmune conditions, it may be only a matter of time until certain problems show up, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Nearly every disease you can name can be heavily associated with gluten sensitivity. More exposure = more risk.
Anecdotally, did you know that the awareness of celiac disease and gluten-free eating requirements is vastly more prominent in Italy than in the United States?
Cholesterol so good
I should at least address something about cholesterol as a single nutrient. Studies have shown that dietary cholesterol has about a 1% effect on cholesterol in the blood. The idea that eating cholesterol automatically means your blood fills up with cholesterol and it sloshes around and “clogs up your arteries” is naive at best. Your own body makes 800 to 1,200 mg of cholesterol every day, whether you eat it or not. This is because cholesterol is used to make cell membranes within your body, and is used in vitamin synthesis and hormones, etc. Your body keeps a constant narrowly regulated amount that keeps being re-absorbed (recycled) via the gut. Having low cholesterol levels is something that should alarm you.
Regarding grains
Read a Paleo book if you want all of the science. Additionally, independent of the Paleo community, David Perlmutter recently released Grain Brain, a book on the subject of grain-avoidance that is astonishing by all accounts.
Links
Purchase Grain Brain by David Perlmutter on Amazon.com
Purchase The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf on Amazon.com