A Conversation That Led to a Bowel Movement

Hello, big fan of your blog. It taught me a lot about the Paleo diet and how grains are bad.  However I need to know one thing, I don't usually eat a lot of meat, only one serving a day, mainly because I'm trying not to go over my protein intake limit. Therefore I eat plenty of legumes as well, such as Kidney Beans, and Garbanzo Beans. Are they also bad? I heard great things about Garbanzo Beans, but like the market hype about grains, info on Garbanzos may also be false.  Regards N

Well, you wouldn't have survived with that approach to eating for the first four million years man was on the planet.    ;-)    Although you might of had a chance, albeit and unhealthy one, after he invented agricultural pursuits.  That’s because when man invented agricultural pursuits he made common many foods that were scarce.  For all of time meats and grasses were rarely scarce and legume seeds were nearly always scarce!  That’s why bodies fail when fed the modern foods made abundant by agriculture that were at one time scarce.

What’s this about a protein limit?  I never knew there was a law of nature regarding a “protein limit.”  You can eat meat exclusive of all other foods and end up with perfect health.  That doesn’t sound like a limit to me.  Try that with legume seeds and it won't be long before you are toast.  That's a fact, not a theory.  Garbanzo beans are particularly destructive to animal bodies.

When it comes to figuring out which foods to eat, the minute you start thinking about calories, fat, protein, and such you're making a mistake.  Worrying about that stuff is only for folks who indulge in the modern foods we've created in abundance with the invention of grain farming and such.  They do that to rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.  The results are always the same.  They continue to live but rely on the medical profession to keep themselves alive and capable of living with their afflictions.

Thank you very much for your reply. When I first started trying to lose weight I included a lot of Potatoes, Corn, and Wholemeal bread into my diet. Then I moved on to Whole Grains for a couple of weeks, and I actually ended up with a fever for the first time in years. Coincidentally I was reading about how grains contain inflammatory agents and such, I guess that saved my life.
   
However I also know about the body's need for Fibre, and how grains result in very smooth bowel movement. Which is the opposite to what I have now, since I stopped eating bread. Would Vegetables alone suffice in providing fibre? I eat a lot of Green Peas, (which are bad from what I can see from your chart) and sometimes Green Beans. Usually the frozen varieties. I also eat a lot of Broccoli, Spinach and Cauliflower. Yet my bowel movements are still not as good as they were during my grain munching days. Is that normal?

One other question, how would you rate Olives? They contain too much Sodium when they're stored, yet you can never find fresh ripe ones unless you plant an olive tree or something.  Regards  N.

For an idea of judging good and bad foods look at this list:  Food Analysis:  GI, GL, Fat Ratio, and Inflammation.

As you'll see from the list, anything to do with olives is not good.  Yes, one olive a week doesn't mean anything, but consuming olive oil and olives in salads, etc., means you are going down hill.