Read the rest of the article here: Low-Carb Paleo Diet: A Neolithic Fantasy

So in other words they were eating a lot of meat just like we always thought. What is this guy trying to prove?


What professional athletes need and what the ordinary man in the street needs are very often totally different. Professional athletes eat and train certain ways because they are professional athletes. Not because it's the healthiest way to live. How is the way a 20 year old linebacker trains and eats helpful to a 50 year old housewife? How many athletes are still professional in their thirties and beyond? Do they often reach 100 years old?
I really don't know why so many low carb and paleo discussions have to be about Eskimos and professional athletes. The are both fairly extreme lifestyles with only a little in common with how ordinary people live. I eat very low carb. I don't eat like an Eskimo and I'm not a pro athlete so neither lifestyle has anything to do with mine.
I have experienced nights in the past where I couldn't sleep but since going low carb it got a lot easier for me to sleep. I really have no problem sleeping now. It always took me ages to get to sleep as a kid and my mum has often said that she used to worry about me because I took so long to get to sleep.
I eat very few carbs. Most are just from a few leafy greens (oh but maybe I've been saved that horror of reactive hypoglycemia by all the glycogen in meat? ).
I have found what works for me. I gave up following what some guy says in a book or an article because so many things don't work for everybody. I have never claimed that what works for me will work for everybody. Maybe some people are better suited to a higher carb intake than me but I am certain that some people are suited to eating just the way I do. The author said he had helped people by getting them to eat more carbs. Well maybe those people just suited a higher carb intake? It doesn't mean everyone else does. Many people eat a very high carb diet and thrive on it but there are plenty of people on this forum alone that high carbs just don't help. That's why I never recommend books, even low carb books. Experiment and find what works for you personally. Don't just latch onto some authors ideas because you like the sound of it.

WTH???

Is this person on crack?

I've NEVER been kept awake by "reactive hypoglycemia due to excessively low "non essential" carb intake!" Again, I say "WTH???"

Just...what???

I've been paleo for two years now...only truly faithful in the last three months, admittedly....and I sleep better than EVER. I feel better than EVER. I LOOK better than EVER!

What a weirdo...

The glycogen from meat really has me bewildered? He argues against very low carb but then argues that meat basically has carbs.

I've had insomnia when first going low carb. But, I also had it when eating high carb. In fact on high carb I sometimes woke up at night gasping for breath because of acid reflex had gone so far up into my throat.

Many professional athletes and hard core amateurs die young. Brian Maxwell, the inventor of the Power Bar, died of a heart attack at age 51.

Maxwell had a congenital heart condition. And kept running marathons against medical advice.

But true, lots of endurance athletes have early health problems. Like Lance Armstrong for example. Fact is, the level of exercise those types do aren't "normal" for humans. I don't think any of our ancestors biked 120 miles a day for a month, ever.

I saw a talk by Kenneth Cooper, author of the antioxidant revolution, who said Armstrong was a victim of free radicals. Not sure Cooper ever treated LA however.

I'm not an old wise sage, but I am a middle aged smarty pants. I think what is best, in ALL things, is moderation. You can bet that our ancestors didn't tend to overdo anything unless it was warfare or hunting in lean times.

Modern hunter-gatherer society studies show that there is a high level of downtime and resting in their groups. No marathons or 40 hour work weeks.

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What meats have 15 to 20% carbs in them?

I've been low-carb for over 8 years and mostly paleo for three. The only thing that wakes me during the night is my dogs.

Meat, when digested, becomes glucose, don't know how much though.

Where does he get his data for glycogen in meat? Why does the USDA, which does bomb calorimeter analysis of meat, not show such high levels of carbohydrate in meat if this is truly the case?

I agree that SOME paleo diets probably did have a lot of starch, depending on where the population lived and what edible foods were available, but this guy sounds like a crackpot.

My skeptometer is in the red zone.

I didn't see the author's name anywhere either, and there are prominent displays for things he is trying to sell. It looks like an article meant to scare people into buying stuff.

Well, if meat isn't low-carb because because of glycogen, then very, very few modern people are doing a low carb diet either -- he might as well drop the "Paleo Diet" part from his title.

Looks to me like he's trying to generate controversy, get attention, and sell stuff.

Yep. That's all it is.