by: Dr. Donald A. Miller

Low carbohydrate diets are now the craze in the U.S.A. Fast food
stores even offer hamburgers in lettuce rather than in
buns (still with the fats of meat and sauces). Breads and pastries
modified for lower carbohydrates are now making
fortunes for suppliers. "Low carb salads", still drenched with high
fat dressings, are offered for "dieting."

So what?

This is a costly, stupid, perhaps health threatening fad.

When I was growing up, I did not understand that biblical quotation
of "Man does not live by bread alone", attributed to Moses (old
testament, torah) and Jesus (new testament). Well, I understood that
the message was meant to be "People have spiritual as well as
physical needs." But I had no idea how people could live very long
on bread. At that time, I was used to spongy white bread with no
character.

Somewhere along the way, I learned about whole grain breads, and how
peasants through the centuries had lived mostly on
dark breads that Marie Antoinnette would have rejected, with
occasional fortifications of cheese, eggs, sometimes meat. Peasants
tended to eat vegetables, but knights and nobles often dismissed
such as "farmers' fare", preferring lots of
meat, alcoholic beverages, pastries. Few people lived long in those
days, so statistical studies of life span versus
diet were not performed. (Statistics were not well known.)

So I read up on bread recipes, found a few health gurus who argued
for blends of whole grain wheat, cornmeal, rye, and soy flour. A
fairly recent development is triticale, a long sought hybrid of
wheat and rye. Why these blends? It turns out that grains and
legumes can provide all the balanced
protein that we need, without meat. Verrrry interesting! Also, such
blends contain valuable dietary fiber.

The prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread", is now explained.
Properly made, bread really can be "the staff of life."

I have learned to love Asian foods that make heavy use of soy beans,
such as tempeh and tofu with noodles and stir fry
vegetables. I usually am turned off by soy based foods that pretend
to be something else, such as soy burgers, soy cutlets, soy cheeses.
In fact, the fake foods not only can taste far from real, but those
which contain Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HP) inflame my tongue and
cause me anxiety,
just as foods with a lot of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).

Side observation: a chunk of land producing balanced protein from
grains and legumes can support about 20 times as many people as the
same land producing four legged meats. Oh, and the people getting
most of their proteins and calories from plant sources are far less
likely to have heart attacks, strokes, cancers, et cetera, than the
big meat eaters.

I have written elsewhere that selecting sensible foods means one
never has to count calories. I'll go further and say that most
carbohydrate restrictions are dumb.

Here are the only carbohydrate restrictions I recommend.
• all refined sugars
(cane, beet, high fructose corn syrup,
sorghum molasses, maple syrup, etc.)
• beer in large quantities
• anything made from white flour, even if "enriched"

If you have a craving for sweets that you just can't break (which I
don't belive), learn how fruits and nuts together can taste very
sweet. Also, the unsaturated fat in the nuts (or edible seeds, such
as sunflower) will satisfy hunger with no risk to the arteries. My
favorite is raisins and
almonds, perhaps with some fresh red delicious apple slices.

Pasta, preferably made from whole grains, is healthful, if not
served with lots of cheese, oil, sauces which contain oil, sugar,
cheese. Noodles with little meat is a main menu item in the Orient.

Oh, about carbohydrates in potatoes: they are harmless if you don't
add butter, margarine, fat from frying, sour cream for topping, and
other insults to a great food.
People in parts of Central and South America eat little more than
potatoes of traditional breeds.

** Diet with FACTS, not MYTHS. **

About the author:
Dr. Miller is author of ""Easy Health Diet""
http://easyhealthdiet.com/diet.htm""Exercise for
Juniors to Seniors"" http://easyhealthdiet.com/JrSr.htmand numerous
free articles on health http://articles.easyhealthdiet.com/
Seven of ten deaths are caused by preventable diseases.