Monday morning weigh in...

Last week 90.8 kg

This week 91.4

Gain = 600 grams

Unfortunately i've been eating a lot to compensate for not drinking this week.
Today I will attempt to get back to my low calorie diet plan without any feel good snacks. I will also be building up the length of my walks and hopefully get back to 7 km a day without injuring my knee again. If I have done enough strengthening exercises I should be ok. Did about 4 km last night and was really tired.

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Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

I'm doing ok considering I havent been exercise walking like I was when I had the consistent weight loss. I'm trying a new stratagy of steppping down. Lose a few kilos then maintain that for a while then lose a few more and maintain that. It seems that losing a cou[le of kilos is relatively easy and then we hit a wall and our bodies freak out and go more food ,more food. I'm going to try and exploit this phenomena and trick my body into letting me lose more weight but over a longer time period. What do you think?

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Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

I'm doing ok considering I havent been exercise walking like I was when I had the consistent weight loss. I'm trying a new stratagy of steppping down. Lose a few kilos then maintain that for a while then lose a few more and maintain that. It seems that losing a cou[le of kilos is relatively easy and then we hit a wall and our bodies freak out and go more food ,more food. I'm going to try and exploit this phenomena and trick my body into letting me lose more weight but over a longer time period. What do you think?

Sounds like a logical strategy to me. :~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I think you are doing brilliantly!

Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

I'm doing ok considering I havent been exercise walking like I was when I had the consistent weight loss. I'm trying a new stratagy of steppping down. Lose a few kilos then maintain that for a while then lose a few more and maintain that. It seems that losing a cou[le of kilos is relatively easy and then we hit a wall and our bodies freak out and go more food ,more food. I'm going to try and exploit this phenomena and trick my body into letting me lose more weight but over a longer time period. What do you think?

Sounds like a logical strategy to me. :~)

I hope so.

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Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

I'm doing ok considering I havent been exercise walking like I was when I had the consistent weight loss. I'm trying a new stratagy of steppping down. Lose a few kilos then maintain that for a while then lose a few more and maintain that. It seems that losing a cou[le of kilos is relatively easy and then we hit a wall and our bodies freak out and go more food ,more food. I'm going to try and exploit this phenomena and trick my body into letting me lose more weight but over a longer time period. What do you think?

Sounds like a logical strategy to me. :~)

+1, good luck Monday! You don't want to get the yoyo effect, not good.

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

Ups and downs are par for the course. You are doing great!!!

Go Monday Go!!!

I'm doing ok considering I havent been exercise walking like I was when I had the consistent weight loss. I'm trying a new stratagy of steppping down. Lose a few kilos then maintain that for a while then lose a few more and maintain that. It seems that losing a cou[le of kilos is relatively easy and then we hit a wall and our bodies freak out and go more food ,more food. I'm going to try and exploit this phenomena and trick my body into letting me lose more weight but over a longer time period. What do you think?

Sounds like a logical strategy to me. :~)

+1, good luck Monday! You don't want to get the yoyo effect, not good.

Thanks Julie. I'm hoping for a step down effect.

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Pudgy Little Raccoon Weigh-In for 09/22/14: 165.4 pounds

Back on track... the slow track admittedly, but still better than last week's salt fest.

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Looks interesting.......

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http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Looks interesting.......

Going gluten free is so trendy these days.

I like wheat. Pasta should not be made without it. Pizza should not be made without it. Most people can digest wheat just fine, but the whack-a-doos are out there in full force trying to convince people otherwise.

Would I lose wheat if I ate one of these paleo-diets where you have roasted meat and berries for every meal... yes. Would I be miserable on a paleo-diet? Yes!!!

It was just that there had to be a reason people
got so small after farming was adopted......

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It was just that there had to be a reason people
got so small after farming was adopted......

I was unaware that our species has gotten smaller, but if that is true then I would assume that improved nutrition from the steady food supply that comes from adopting agriculture would make it possible for people of all sizes to survive to reproduce themselves. Perhaps hunter-gatherers do better if they are bigger, more powerful and have greater bodily food reserves (fat!!!) to get them through the lean times when game and berries are scarce?

It was just that there had to be a reason people
got so small after farming was adopted......

I was unaware that our species has gotten smaller, but if that is true then I would assume that improved nutrition from the steady food supply that comes from adopting agriculture would make it possible for people of all sizes to survive to reproduce themselves. Perhaps hunter-gatherers do better if they are bigger, more powerful and have greater bodily food reserves (fat!!!) to get them through the lean times when game and berries are scarce?

I thought that people had gotten taller, I think what one eats plays a role here...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

In Europe humans have gotten smaller compared
to their hunter gather Cro Magnon ancestors.....

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In Europe humans have gotten smaller compared
to their hunter gather Cro Magnon ancestors.....

"Cro Magnon" is sort of a basket term that doesn't tell us much, scientifically. Several hominin species shared the planet in our "recent" past, with possibly as many as four species existing during the time that modern humans made their debut. This makes it more and more difficult to identify direct ancestors of our species!!! We used to think we had it all figured out, but then scientists kept on discovering more fossil evidence of different species.

If you are thinking of Homo Neanderthalensis when you mean "Cro Magnons", then yes, they were big and strong, but they were probably our evolutionary cousins, aunts or uncles rather than our direct ancestors. There is evidence of some small, possible, interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans, but clearly we remained separate species. Our other cousins may have been Homo Heidelbergensis and Homo Floresiensis. There is even some evidence that Homo Erectus may have stayed around on the planet much longer than previously though. At this point there is considerable debate as to who our really-really-great grandparents were.

If you are interested in the subject of Human Evolution, pick up a copy of the September 2014 issue of Scientific American. It is one of their "special topic" issues and it is a really good read.

Anyway, long story short, I don't know of any evidence that agriculture made us smaller. Certainly optimal nutrition, attainable through agricultural practices, can help an individual in a species attain his (or her) maximum genetic potential for growth, just as poor nutrition can stunt the growth of an individual in a species. Change in our overall average species size, to make us larger or smaller, would probably require a bigger evolutionary "pressure" (or combinations of pressures) than something as straightforward and simple as good nutrition.

In a world with seven billion people on it
I am not saying to stop eating starch. I
am saying that all through history, size
differences have been noted between farmers
who eat grains and starches as their main
food staple and neighbours who were mainly
hunter gathers. Even Caesar noted during the
civil strife around Thapsus about how much
finer, taller, bigger and fairer the German
auxiliaries were compared to Romans.
("CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES"
The African Wars
•Translators: W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn)

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Agriculture is about 12,000 years old and, full disclosure here, I am rather a fan of it.

I can certainly think of several reasons why members of hunter-gatherer societies, historically, might be bigger and stronger, on average, than historically matched members of farming cultures. These reasons cast doubt on a direct causal link between grain consumption and cultural-size.

1. If you are not big and strong as an early hunter-gatherer, you might have a lower status in your culture, and this might impact your ability to find a mate and reproduce yourself. This could lead to a selection bias towards taller, stronger individuals in a hunter-gatherer society.

2. Early farming communities would involve people living in more densely populated areas. This could lead to greater incidence of stature stunting illnesses and diseases amongst early farmers.

3. The vagaries of weather might lead to years of famine in early farming communities, which would impact the stature/strength of the people who had come to rely on farmed foods.

4. Reliance on a smaller set of foods in early farming communities might lead to deficiencies in vitamins, minerals or micro-nutrients, which could stunt the growth of early farmers, compared to historical peers. Early farming communities did not have the knowledge basis in this area that we have today.

Ian, if I am understanding you correctly, you seem to be implying that consumption of grains and starches as a main food staple CAUSES people in a culture to be shorter and weaker. Conversely, you seem to be implying that consumption of a paleo-diet more typical of hunter-gatherer cultures CAUSES people in a culture to be taller and stronger.

I think you are confusing causation with correlation. There may be a correlation showing that early farmers were shorter and weaker than hunter-gatherers of the same time, but it was not necessarily consumption of grains that caused this. There may be a correlation showing that early hunter-gatherers were taller and stronger than farmers of the same time, but again it was not necessarily lack of grains in the diet that caused this. A review of the four reasons listed above should be enough to cast reasonable doubt on there being a direct causal link between grain consumption and stature/strength.

The reason I am being such a pain in the posterior on this topic is that the "whack-a-doos" out there mix up correlation and causality all the gosh-diggily-dog-gone-darn time. They site correlation as "evidence" that their beliefs are scientifically sound when, in fact, the first thing young scientists learn is that correlation does not, necessarily, imply causality.

The reason that I am standing on a soap-box here in The Cafe, rather than in "Science - not seti" or over in the wilds of "Politics", is that this thread has become a place where lots of people interested in diet gather... the perfect audience for this discussion.

I know it is very unpopular to be "pro-gluten" these days, but hey... I just gotta take a stand for logic... (and delicious food!!!)

Pasta, anyone?

Well perhaps we can close this off some what.
First I agree with you about correlation and causality.
I know that common sense is not truth, even if common
sense can help find the truth on many subjects. I just
have a hard time accepting that a diet that humans
evolved with for 90% of our time here on earth or so is
no longer is considered as healthy as one we have had
only recently. I think it is wonderful that you are
willing to take the effort provide me with a sober
considered explanation of how you understand this issue.

Now where was I? Oh yes, I am now
back to having lost one half pound.

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Congrats Angela and Celt on your losses. Well done, keep up the great effort.

I rely on qualified dietitians, licensed diabetes educators and my doctor for sound nutrition and diet advice. I agree with Angela about the whackadoodles.

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