[ExI] Carbohydrates and energy

[Dave Sill]

On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Harvey Newstrom
<mail at harveynewstrom.com> wrote:
> "J. Stanton" <js_exi at gnolls.org> wrote,
>
>> My approach is to eat an amount of glucose more proportional to my
>> body's actual use for it: ~20% of calories, more if I'm doing hard
>> aerobic work.
>
> I thought you were arguing *against* eating carbs for your energy needs.

You were apparently wrong. I can't speak for J., but I think he's
arguing for a low carb, high saturated fat diet that doesn't include
grains/seeds or seed oils.

>  But now it looks like you prefer to get your primary energy needs from
> carbs, as long as you don't overdo it by eating more carbs than needed
> for energy.

20% of calories from carbs isn't satisfying his "primary energy
needs", it's only satisfying one fifth of them. And he's not getting
them from sucrose, fructose, HFCS, etc., he's getting them from fruits
and vegetables, which have lower glycemic indices than refined
sweeteners.

> That's the same as I do in my diet.  Only instead of eating ~20% of my
> calories from glucose, I could eat ~80% of my calories from fructose.
> Since fructose has 25% of the glycemic index as glucose, you and I would
> be experiencing the same glycemic load, even though you would call your
> diet "low-carb" and call my diet "high-carb".

Methinks you're putting to much faith in glycemic index. Have you read
Gary Taubes' "Is Sugar Toxic?" from the NYT Magazine last week? If
not, you should:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

> (Especially given my other posting showing that Neanderthals had a
> history of eating cooked grains.)

Sorry, but that's very thin evidence for grain consumption. I have no
doubt whatsoever that some grains were eaten, but I have real doubts
that it was widespread and/or represented a significant fraction of
the seasonal or annual diet. And in one of those finds, the "grains"
referred to are particles of cassava or some other starchy tuber, not
grass seeds.

-Dave