Low carbohydrate diets are now the craze in the U.S.A. Fastfood stores even offer hamburgers in lettuce rather than inbuns (still with the fats of meat and sauces). Breads andpastries modified for lower carbohydrates are now makingfortunes for suppliers. “Low carb salads”, still drenchedwith high fat dressings, are offered for “dieting.”

So what?

This is a costly, stupid, perhaps health threatening fad.

When I was growing up, I did not understand that biblicalquotation of “Man does not live by bread alone”, attributedto Moses (old testament, torah) and Jesus (new testament).Well, I understood that the message was meant to be “Peoplehave spiritual as well as physical needs.” But I had noidea how people could live very long on bread. At that time,I was used to spongy white bread with no character.

Somewhere along the way, I learned about whole grain breads,and how peasants through the centuries had lived mostly ondark breads that Marie Antoinnette would have rejected, withoccasional fortifications of cheese, eggs, sometimes meat.Peasants tended to eat vegetables, but knights and noblesoften dismissed such as “farmers’ fare”, preferring lots ofmeat, alcoholic beverages, pastries. Few people lived longin those days, so statistical studies of life span versusdiet were not performed. (Statistics were not well known.)

So I read up on bread recipes, found a few health gurus whoargued for blends of whole grain wheat, cornmeal, rye, andsoy flour. A fairly recent development is triticale, a longsought hybrid of wheat and rye. Why these blends? It turnsout that grains and legumes can provide all the balancedprotein that we need, without meat. Verrrry interesting!Also, such blends contain valuable dietary fiber.

The prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”, is nowexplained. Properly made, bread really can be “the staff oflife.”

I have learned to love Asian foods that make heavy use ofsoy beans, such as tempeh and tofu with noodles and stir fryvegetables. I usually am turned off by soy based foods thatpretend to be something else, such as soy burgers, soycutlets, soy cheeses. In fact, the fake foods not only cantaste far from real, but those which contain HydrolyzedPlant Protein (HP) inflame my tongue and cause me anxiety,just as foods with a lot of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG).

Side observation: a chunk of land producing balanced proteinfrom grains and legumes can support about 20 times as manypeople as the same land producing four legged meats. Oh, andthe people getting most of their proteins and calories fromplant sources are far less likely to have heart attacks,strokes, cancers, et cetera, than the big meat eaters.

I have written elsewhere that selecting sensible foods meansone never has to count calories. I’ll go further and saythat most carbohydrate restrictions are dumb.

Here are the only carbohydrate restrictions I recommend.• all refined sugars (cane, beet, high fructose corn syrup, sorghum molasses, maple syrup, etc.)• beer in large quantities• anything made from white flour, even if “enriched”

If you have a craving for sweets that you just can’t break(which I don’t belive), learn how fruits and nuts togethercan taste very sweet. Also, the unsaturated fat in the nuts(or edible seeds, such as sunflower) will satisfy hungerwith no risk to the arteries. My favorite is raisins andalmonds, perhaps with some fresh red delicious apple slices.

Pasta, preferably made from whole grains, is healthful, ifnot served with lots of cheese, oil, sauces which containoil, sugar, cheese. Noodles with little meat is a main menuitem in the Orient.

Oh, about carbohydrates in potatoes: they are harmless ifyou don’t add butter, margarine, fat from frying, sourcream for topping, and other insults to a great food.People in parts of Central and South America eat littlemore than potatoes of traditional breeds.

** Diet with FACTS, not MYTHS. **

Dr. Donald A. Miller is author of “Easy Health Diet” http://easyhealthdiet.com/diet.htm, “Easy Exercise All Ages” http://easyhealthdiet.com/eeaa.htm, and numerous free articles on health http://easyhealthdiet.com/articles/.Seven of ten deaths are caused by preventable diseases.

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