grams, or 100,000 milligrams( about 3.5 ounces or 9 tablespoons) of pure refined sugar, theoretically we need about 28 to 30 ounces— almost a quart— of water to counterbalance it. Did you ever notice that sweets make you thirsty? Here, by the way, lies the secret of the popularity of“ soft” drinks: When they’ re ice-cold, they numb the taste buds while the liquid fools them into thinking that thirst is being quenched, but the seven teaspoons of sugar in each can or bottle create a need for more water— and thus keep us reaching, endlessly and greedily, for more of these phony drinks. A few swallows of room-temperature soda pop show up their true taste and nature. Let’ s now take a look at meat:
Although meat contains water, it is only double the amount of protein. Compare that with cooked beans, for example, which contain about thirteen times as much water as protein. Now we can see why diets high in protein recommend drinking eight or more glasses of water a day to“ flush out the kidneys.” Vegetarians need much less additional water in their diets because plant foods already contain a very high proportion of it. From this viewpoint, we can also understand why a diet of meat and sugar strikes a balance of sorts, and why meat creates a craving for sugar— and vice versa: Sugar is pure carbohydrate and has no proteins, minerals, or fats, whereas meat is high in proteins and fats and contains no carbohydrates. They dovetail, complementing each other, which is why people can actually live on hamburgers and candybars. It is a precarious balance, to be sure, lacking the stability offered by whole foods, with their natural progression of nutrients; thus it is easily tipped over into physical and mental disorders, such as tension, depression, anxiety, colds, stomach ailments, heart disease, and other problems. We can draw a few preliminary conclusions from the preceding considerations. If we accept that the correct proportion of natural nutrients— except fat— roughly parallels that present in mother’ s milk and that our bodies are built to live on foodstuffs that supply that proportion, we can see first of all why different peoples can live well on natural diets vastly different in the quantity of basic nutrients. For example: Both the Hunzas of Asia, near Tibet, and the Vilcabambans of Ecuador are healthy peoples. Studies of their diets, however, have shown that the Hunzas consume on the average 50 grams of protein and 354 grams of carbohydrates daily, whereas the Vilcabambans consume 35 to 38 grams of protein and 200 to 260 grams of carbohydrates. The total quantity of food varies between the two groups, but the proportions of nutrients are the same: Roughly one part protein to seven parts carbohydrates.
MEAT AND SUGAR: COMPARISON OF NUTRIENTS BY WEIGHT( per 100 grams, edible portion) ‖
We can also safely assume that, following the tendency of all living systems to return to a base-line balance, our bodies will try to compensate when they are presented with any one nutrient out of proportion. For example:
• Excess minerals or even vitamins( in the form of supplements, salt, concentrated foods, or herbs) will cause a need for more fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and water— in short, more food. Everyone knows, that, among other things, salt creates thirst; but it can also create artificial hunger. Vitamin pills and mineral supplements may be necessary at times when there is a depletion in the body, usually as a result of the consumption of fragmented foods; but when taken without a specific need for them, they may, as does salt, provoke the“ munchies,” and could bring on an undesired and unexpected weight gain.
• High-protein foods will call for salt and other minerals, such as calcium. If not enough minerals are consumed or absorbed, the protein will actually deplete the body of minerals.( Research at the University of Wisconsin