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wgensel•

However, one of his most recent posts says the most food he consumes volumewise now is starches, primarily brown rice.

My current diet includes, ranked from highest to lowest volume:

  1. Starches: brown rice, oatmeal, sorghum, whole corn tortillas, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yucca root, kabocha squash, occasional white rice
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aceexOP•

Thanks, I'm glad I had a chance to read that too. Somebody else here pointed out his article where he stated why he was leaving the paleolithic diet behind.

The big problem I see with his decisions is that he wasn't just avoiding neolithic foods, he was eating a high fat, low carb diet. Under natural circumstances (high activity, routine periods of hunger), we can thrive on that, but it doesn't seem to be the norm. Carbs and starch form a good proportion of our natural diet.

This man had problems with a diet that seems higher in fat than our natural norm, so he swore off of paleolithic eating altogether and started introducing grains.

Personally, I would have added healthy carbs to my diet and made sure I was physically active enough.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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aceexOP•

Thanks. That's a pretty interesting read.

He mentions several times that he wasn't just avoiding neolithic foods (grains), he was eating a high fat and protein diet. Based on what I've read and seen in current tribal societies, I don't consider our natural diet to be necessarily low carb.

The Inuit people in northern Canada are cited as an edge case for their low-carb high fat diet. They were probably also more active than this guy back in their hunting days. Almost everywhere else, I'm seeing a much higher proportion of carbs and starches in the diet. The Kombai tribe in New Guinea strain bundles of starch out of soft Sago trees (see BBC's "Tribe").

Somebody else here linked to a recent post by him where he shows that his new diet is not only more carbohydrate and starch rich, but it includes a few grains too, one of them being brown rice.

I'm not surprised that you can feel healthy while regularly eating brown rice. The page I linked to in the original post basically says it's a sub-optimal food, not downright harmful like processed sugar. I certainly wouldn't choose it over healthier carbs and starches though.

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aceexOP•

I was getting tired of leaving white rice on the table at restaurants without knowing for certain why I should avoid it.

Now I know that common white rice isn't that bad. It's not going to cause noticeable harm, but I would be better off staying a bit hungry and getting some healthy carbs later on at home. Having a bit of white rice isn't a big deal though.

Brown rice, on the other hand, should be used only as an alternative to starvation.

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refrigeratorbob•

I never cared for brown rice much.

Good to know that I can indulge in sushi occasionally without much problem, although I usually prefer sashimi anyways.

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jeeebus•

I've swapped out my brown rice for Quinoa

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aceexOP•

Thanks. I've heard of Quinoa, but I hadn't read anything about it before. So basically, it's the seed of a plant that's a lot like spinach and you can even eat the sprouted leaves of the plant.

I worry about anything that requires cooking methods our tribal ancestors didn't have (ie. pottery), but it seems like you could eat these seeds raw if you wanted. I think I'll try it.

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jeeebus•

I worry about anything that requires cooking methods our tribal ancestors didn't have (ie. pottery)

Don't be so quick to assume pottery is needed for boiling things. You can boil water wrapped in a cone shaped leaf very easily. The water has to completely evaporate before the leaf will catch fire. Try it out for yourself next time you head to the water cooler; just fill up one of those paper cups and try to burn it with a lighter.

Ancient tribes used this method all of the time for preparing food.

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[deleted]•

I remember being disappointed when I compared the nutritional contents of brown and white rice. There wasn't a huge difference between the two. I can't stand the flavor of brown rice but love white. Unlike bread which for me is reversed. Not that I eat any of those things anymore....

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Frankocean2•

In my town there's a restaurant call "Sakura"

I always order the same, chicken tepanyaki.

It comes with chicken and vegetables soup, rice fried with meat, egg and veggies and grilled chicken made with the oil or butter of your choice (I always pick up butter garlic) , the chicken comes with equally grilled veggies, mushroooms, broccolli, peppers, onions and "calabacitas" or little pumpkins (do not know the exact name in english).

I always felt bad for eating the rice....I wont anymore :D.

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CharlieNash•

Nothing in that article takes in account the glycemic characteristics between the carbs. It also does not say what type of diet one source is better for than the other.

Potatoes are obviously more wholesome than brown rice. Brown rice is better for weight loss diets.

Most diets people do would make you starve in a survival situation.

It's all about how you live your life. If you're fat and don't get alot of exercise, stick to Brown rice and highfiber (filler) foods. If you're skinny and want to put on mass, eat more potatoes.

No one diet serves all purposes. Except maybe paleo :)

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