[Johnnyzen]

With all due respect, Nancy,I don't think Bruce is totally out of line.This is not a pro-Atkins forum. That person has twisted many facts. She fails to mention, for example, that the Okanowan diet is very close to macrobiotics, and they are considered healthy and have long life spans. My macro counsellor was from Africa, and he said the diet there was, for the most part,macrobiotic. That is what brought him to the diet.He claimed that African peasants basically ate a diet that is very close to Macro recommendations. Meat consumption was under 4 ounces a day, and fat was low.Dr. McDoughall came to similar conclusions. He did many studies of various cultures, and found that most had a very low fat, high starch diet, extremely low in amimal foods and fat. Alex Jack quotes many studies showing macro children to be above average in mental and physical development compared to children on the standard American diet (SAD).

Her remarks about macrobiotics are inaccurate. Unfortunately, more stdies need to be done on low fat vegetarian diets. the studies on Atkins were all sponsored by Atkins, by the way! I know a guy who saw Atkins before he fell and died. He said he looked miserable, and thinks he may have had a second heart attack before he died. I am not saying that his diet killed him, and I don't think we can say that Aveline Kushi's diet killed her either. there are many factors besides diet that affect our health.

Bruce should not be vindicated here. He is merely defending his position against somebody who obviously opposes Macrobiotics totally. Why is she in here? Has she had any experience with Macrobiotics? I agree taht Bruce should not accuse her of being somebody else, but other than that, I find his remarks appropriate.

Ecological considerations of a heavy meat diet are not being discussed here, as wll as the inhumane conditions of factory farming. We need to consider what Atkins and others are doing to our planet by advocating sucn an unbalanced diet.Just when people like John Robbins and others convinced Americans to cut down on beef and other products, Atkins boosts it up to its old levels.

Also, the Eskimos are not as healthy as she lets on. they have the highest levels of osteoporosis according to studies, not the macros, and a rather short life span. And she mentions Puerto Ricans. What is their average life span? In fact, Asians have lower levels then Americans, and consume much less dairy products. I trus the studies of the Physicians for Responsible Medicine over meat and diary studies, or Atkins studies!

Bottom line; Atkins contains little fiber, may cause constipation, and definitely causes very bad breath. I met a guy who lost a lot of weight on Atkins, but when he was talking to me, I had to stand 10 feet away from him. He looked pretty good, but is it worth it? Quick weight loss is not as important as health. Quick fixeds are not the answer. Macrobiotics is about developing sensible eating habits, limiting addictiong foods like meat, dairy and sugar. I highly recommend Dr. Neal Barnard's new book on food addictions. It verifies many points that I have made.