shows that high-protein intake reduces the body’ s calcium stores. 29) A high-protein regimen will also require large amounts of fluids, and the regular consumption of refined carbohydrates. This is why when you give up meat, you should also give up both sugar and white flour— something that many people do not realize, except for feeling that their meatless diet is somehow awry. You may also have noticed that meat doesn’ t go well with brown rice, and the two are rarely served together: The reason is that a disproportioned food( meat) and a well-proportioned one( brown rice) don’ t complement each other according to this model. Theoretically, a meal with 30 grams of protein would also demand about 230 to 250 grams of carbohydrate( seven or eight times as much). If the carbohydrates are not supplied by bread, beans, grain, or starchy vegetables, a craving for a sugared dessert is almost inevitable. This concept may explain why people who eat a carefully measured, dietetically correct“ nutritious” meal low in calories( that is, low in fat and starches) so often indulge in a rich dessert. The usual rationale is psychological:“ I’ ve been so good that I can afford a treat.” The true reason may be physical; if enough complex carbohydrates have been supplied by the main meal, dessert often becomes less attractive.
• Refined carbohydrates( white sugar and white flour), if not accompanied by enough protein and minerals in the diet, will draw on the body’ s own protein and mineral reserves and thereby weaken it; dental caries and impaired nervous functioning( both often a result of calcium imbalance or deficiency) are two of its most immediate effects. This may be the reason why sugar and milk are automatically paired: The excess protein and calcium in the cow’ s milk( its nutritional composition is very different from that of mother’ s milk; see this page) balances the naked carbohydrate. 30 In the case of deficiency symptoms in an apparently well-nourished individual, it may be helpful to look not only at what his or her diet may be lacking, but also at what it may have in excess, in the form of disproportioned foods or singleelement substances. Deficiencies need not be absolute; they can be relative in terms of excesses elsewhere, as when an intake of too much of one B vitamin raises the need for all the other B vitamins, or, as mentioned above, when a high sugar intake creates a calcium deficiency. In such a case it may be simpler to reduce the food or substance in excess rather than increasing the deficient elements. Whenever I’ ve presented these concepts to my classes, incidentally, there have always been several positive responses. Not everyone reacts in the same way, but in a group of thirty or forty people there are always three or four who get hungry from too much salt, three or four who have put on weight while taking vitamins, or who couldn’ t stay on a high-protein diet without going carbohydrate-crazy. And of course everybody knows that milk and cookies go together … * The construction of mental models is a technique well known and much used in the social sciences as well. Max Weber, for example, formulated his“ ideal type” as a“ construct of accentuated characteristics abstracted from the subject to be studied.” 4 † Another high correlation of SIDS is seen with routine childhood immunizations, especially the DPT vaccine. 13 ‡
Beatrice Trum Hunter points out that“ fermentation may produce desirable enzymes, synthesize desirable constituents such as vitamins, and may also result in a more favorable amino acid balance in the food.” 17 § For a thorough discussion of chemical additives, see the updated edition of Eater’ s Digest— The Consumer’ s Fact Book of Food Additives by Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. ‖ Source: USDA Handbook No. 8