The issue with grains, some clarifications?

Juhana Harju · medicine forum Guru Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 1056

calypso47@voyager.net wrote:
:: "Then there's the Okinawans, with their greasy pork filled diet.
:: Almost no CVD, diabetes, and extraordinary longevity."
::
:: The pork is a luxury food eaten a few times a year, a sub fraction
:: of the 3 percent of meat in their diets. The diet is a good example
:: of the e. diet.
::
:: "Eat like an Okinawan"
::
:: http://www.berkeleywellness.com/html/wl/2001/wlFeatured0901.html
::
:: "The Okinawan diet might well amaze Americans. The average citizen
:: consumes at least seven servings of vegetables daily, and an equal
:: number of grains (in the form of noodles, bread, and rice--many of
:: them whole grains). Add to this two to four servings of fruit, plus
:: tofu and other forms of soy, green tea, seaweed, and fish rich in
:: omega-3s (three times weekly). Sweet potatoes, bean sprouts, onions,
:: and green peppers are prominent in the diet. Vegetables, grains, and
:: fruits make up 72% of the diet by weight. Soy and seaweed provide
:: another 14%. Meat, poultry, and eggs account for just 3% of the diet,
:: fish about 11%. The emphasis is on dark green vegetables rich in
:: calcium (Okinawans, like other Japanese, don't eat much dairy).
:: Okinawans do drink alcohol, but women usually stick to one drink a
:: day, while men average twice that. Moderation is the key.
::
:: short, the average Okinawan's diet is far richer in complex
:: carbohydrates and plant-based foods, and lower in fat, than the
:: average American's. (It's completely different from low-carbohydrate
:: plans like the Atkins and Zone diets.)"

You are right about the Okinawan diet. The Weston A. Price site gives
inaccurate information about the Okinawan diet. The red meat consumption is
*very* low among Okinawan elders.

--
Juhana

Susan · medicine forum Guru Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 932

x-no-archive: yes

calypso47@voyager.net wrote:

Susan · medicine forum Guru Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 932

x-no-archive: yes

calypso47@voyager.net wrote:
n article stressing glycemic control, yet."

Jefferson · medicine forum beginner Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 12

calypso47@voyager.net wrote:

Guest

"Whole grains may simply be a marker for the fact that the less actual
digestible grain one eats, the better off one is.

Since glycemic control was the emphasis, the conclusion would have to be
that replacing grains with, say, green leafies and oils, would be far
more advantageous."

"Whole grains may simply be a marker for the fact that the less actual
digestible grain one eats, the better off one is.

Since glycemic control was the emphasis, the conclusion would have to be
that replacing grains with, say, green leafies and oils, would be far"

Such speculation is intresting but not compelling for lack of evidence.
This research and others similar better support whole grains having a
protective effect against metabolic syndrom and possible diabetes. The
fiber and other nutritional substances in addition to the food values
grain has is thought to confer those protective effects, just as the
conclusion about nuts which are also a higher carbohydrate food source
with less saturated fats. Any way one slices and dices it, consuming
whole grains is one part of common sense approach to avoiding the higher
risk of diabetes.

As mentioned before, those diet tradition areas with better health and
lifespan records use grain in abundance, while not addressing your
speculation directly it does lend support in the oppisite direction.
Further, the glycemic index for whole and white breads is nearly the same
which tends also to mitigate against your thesis. The apparent underlying
assumption is that carbohydrates are the central cause somehow in the
developement of diabetes which has yet to be demonstrated, again pointing
to those diet areas where they are quite high in diet with low diabetes.

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