Page 61 - Fall2013

All Thumbs Book Reviews

notes, new research has shown it to be vital to (in the form of chocolate bars) but not chicken fat, lard or tallow. Butter
forming new memories and accessing long-held is on the "occasional" list, although not in any of the recipes. The richest
memories. "A paleo diet supplies an adequate source of palmitic acid, of course, is palm oil, coming in at 45 percent of
amount of palmitic acid for optimum cognitive the total―palm oil is the olive oil of Africa and Southeast Asia, consumed
function while limiting the intake to levels that by millions of people remarkably free of heart disease.
are not harmful to the cardiovascular system." Other inconsistencies abound: Wolf says grains and legumes are bad
Reference, please? because they contain phytic acid, lectins and enzyme inhibitors. Nuts also
Saturated fat accounted for 10-15 percent of contain phytic acid, lectins and enzyme inhibitors, but they are allowed.
total fat intake in most paleolithic populations, He ignores all the evidence for grain consumption in primitive groups, and
insists Wolf, with very low amounts of palmitic the widespread consumption of high-carb foods like yams, cassava, tubers
acid. As he is familiar with the work of Stefans- and bananas. Dairy foods are dismissed in one short sidebar as a source
son, he should know that primitive peoples of gut-irritating proteins (true, when they are pasteurized), antinutrients
hunted animals selectively, preferring the older (none that we know of in dairy, at least not in raw dairy) and protease
animals, which had a buildup of hard fat along inhibitors (none in dairy foods), with no discussion of milk consumption
the spine. This fat buildup could weigh up to among populations of healthy Laplanders, Mongolians, Southeast Asians,
eighty pounds; along with the highly saturated Africans and traditional European societies.
kidney fat, it was rendered and saved. Lean According to his website, alcohol is not allowed in the paleo diet
muscle meats were often thrown away; fat and . . . but if you do have a drinking problem, his solution is to drink "one or
organ meats were preferred. two" margaritas (made with tequila, lime juice and soda only) early in the
Eighteen-carbon stearic acid is safe, says evening on an empty stomach! Wolf notes that coffee, like carbs, raises
Wolf, but then goes on to warn, "A high intake of insulin levels, but often mentions drinking coffee and tells you where to
saturated fats, in conjunction with a high intake buy it―on one of the inner aisles of the supermarket.
of dietary carbohydrate, is a hell of a combo for Wolf discusses probiotics almost as an afterthought, but dismisses
an early grave. Wolf claims that the combina- fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut as a source of too much salt
tion causes elevated insulin levels leading "to a and not worth the hassle. Instead he recommends a probiotic pill. Fermented
shift in the LDL particles to a type that is small, dairy products cause elevated insulin levels and potential gut irritation,
dense and easily oxidized." Actually, while he declares. (Actually, a 2001 study in the American Journal of Clinical
saturated fats do not reduce our insulin response Nutrition found that fermented dairy did not raise insulin levels.)
to carbohydrates, they do mitigate blood sugar Speaking of salt, unlike Cordain, Wolf does not forbid it―he just never
swings. We couldn't find a reference for the claim mentions it, not even in his lengthy section on digestion. Small amounts
that eating carbs with fat (like putting butter on of salt appear in some of the recipes, but not enough to make all that lean
your brown rice) causes the formation of small, meat palatable.
dense LDL particles, which does not translate In fact, the diet (as described on page 218) borders on the inedible.
directly to atherogenicity anyway. Carbs are It starts with a piece of cantaloupe and over 300 grams (picture three
also bad, says Wolf, because we turn them first packs of cards) of salmon for breakfast―with no butter or other fat on the
into simple sugars, and then into palmitic acid, salmon; lunch is a small piece of lean pork (less than 100 grams) with a
which he claims results in the formation of those salad dressed in lemon juice and a couple of walnuts (for those omega-3s);
small, dense, reactive LDLs. Palmitic acid makes dinner is the same kind of lemon-dressed salad with avocado, three cups
up about one-quarter of the fatty acids in butter, (!) of steamed broccoli (but no butter or other fat to moisten it) and over
chicken fat, cocoa butter, coconut oil, lard, and two hundred grams of lean beef―again with no fat, not even marinated.
both conventional and grass-fed beef tallow and How can anyone eat tough lean meat like that? Dessert is some strawber-
lamb tallow. (The difference in palmitic acid con- ries (no whipped cream allowed) and snacks to get you from one monkish
tent between grass-fed and grain-fed is small.) meal to the next, including an orange, carrot sticks and celery sticks. This
Wolf's diet allows coconut oil and cocoa butter dry diet plan is bound to cause cravings―it's actually hard to eat even a
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