The Carbohydrate Brain Fuel Myth

The Eskimo's have a saying.  "The dumb one's all died a long time ago."

As a caucasion person living for seven years on mostly meat and fish, I can say yes, it is possible and healthy. That is as late as 1975. While fish head soup almost daily got very old (to me) it was really realished by my husband. I also spent a further 7 years living a more in town life but still consuming lots of wild game and fish.  The result is that at age 69 after 30 years in Southern Calif. I seem and act like a person 15 years younger. Did 14 years of high protine cause that? I have had diabetes about 19 years.  When my blood glucose is high, I have some confusion or er hum?? effects. My blood glucose goes up when I eat carbs.  I take insulin to knock it down or I eat a scant amount of meat only when I am out of diabetic supplies.

I think I should re-read the above daily and quit eating like a city person.  My body seems stuck in the olden days - the real olden days.

Carole

Terrific, as usual.  Thanks for giving me a link to give in response to the "we must have at least x carbs to live" pundits.

I'm so glad you wrote this, and I'll tell you why.

On Monday I start nursing school. I bought my textbooks yesterday. I was bored and decided to crack open the only book that wasn't shrink-wrapped, a book called "Nutrition Essentials for Nursing Practice". Near the front of the book is the section on carbohydrates, and sure enough, it included this same information about the braining needing 130 grams of carbohydrates daily.

Now, I've known for a while now that that was wrong, but I could never figure out why or how. If I would just pay attention I would know that glucose and carbohydrate are NOT necessarily the same thing.

Anyways, thanks for pointing this out for all of us.

Merly Streep starred in a wonderful movie.  Many of the cast members were people who no longer had epilepsy after a low carb diet, some have been seizure free for over 20 years at the time (1997).  There's a synopsis of the movie here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118526/

Thanks you for a great article, as usual.

Dee Sperling

Central Square, NY

My son has been on the ketogenic diet for epilepsy, for 2 years now.  He gets <15g of carb per day.  It has had no detrimental effect on his cognitive skills.  He is at or above grade level.  In fact, the anti-seizure meds clouded his thinking more than the diet.  He is now seizure and medication free.

Thank you for the article.

Alison

Boulder, CO