MOD Carb Living For Optimal Health, Fitness and

Longevity

Louis Moore, M.S.

Statistical Observations

1. The macronutrient ratio eaten by the typical American is 52% carbs, 33% fat, 15% protein.

2. This is almost identical to the 55% carbs, 30% fat, 15% protein diet that for many years was recommended by the U.S. government and the American Heart Association.

3. It is also identical to the composition of a McDonald’s supersized cheeseburger, French fries, and soda value meal.

“Everything You Do (or don’t do) Affects You Both Psychologically and Physiologically”

Theories of Disease, Health & Aging1. Nutrient deficiencies

2. Poisoning by toxins, mostly from food

3. Chronic infections by bacteria, viruses, fungi,and parasitic worms.

These infections are fed by excess nutrition and flourish when immune function is impaired by nutrient deficiencies or circadian rhythm.

Strategy For Better Heatlh

1. Eliminate every nutrient deficiency

2. Remove every dietary toxin

3. Eat nothing in excess

Best strategy for healthful weight loss, for athleticism and fitness, as well as for longevity.

Evolution Selects For Healthful Behaviors---Including Healthful Eating

Paleolithic man was the healthiest epoch of human history (2.6 million years), but ended with the invention of agriculture.

Healthy Paleolithic Man

1. Tall stature and strong bones

2. Slender with muscle tone

3. Cavities and signs of malnutrition stress in bones were rare

4. Absence of skeletal evidence of infections or malignancy

Neolithic Man

1. Stature lessened

2. Smaller tendon attachments show that muscles weakened

3. Bone and teeth pathologies, such as cavities and osteoporosis

4. Hypoplasias (incomplete development of tissue/organ) show that periods of malnutrition were common

5. Signs of infections & inflammation common

The Neolithic Decline

Modern Man

The Diet Of The Paleolithic

1. Carbohydrates made up 15 to 20 percent of calories, with excursions toward 50 percent depending on food availability. Most calories came from fatty foods.

2. Plant foods consisted mostly of starchy in-ground carbohydrate sources such as roots, rhizomes, tubers plus above-ground fat sources such as coconuts, palm fruit, and mongongo nuts.

3. Sweet fruits were rarely a major part of the diet.

Low carb, high-plant, starch-meat-and-fat based diet

What Breast Milk Tells Us About The Optimal Diet

1. Carbohydrates account for 39% of calories in infants and then a gradually decreasing fraction of energy as children grow into adults.

2. Breast milk give us an upper limit to the optimal adult PUFA intake. Infants obtain about 9.6% to support rapid growth of the infant brain. Adults, who have a stable brain size, need much less dietary PUFA.

3. Breast milk confirms that saturated and monosaturated fats should be the largest source of calories at all ages.

Macronutrient Paleolithic Diet Breast Milk     Carbohydrates 13 - 20% 39%Fats 63% 54%Protein 15 - 25% 7%

What Mammalian Diets Teach Us About Human Diets

1. Mammals do need different foods, but this is due to having different digestive tracts, not because their bodies have different nutrient needs.

2. All mammals have similar macronutrient needs: majority fat, minority carbs and protein.

1. 10% carbs, 20% protein, 65% saturated & monosaturated fat, & 5% polyunsaturated fat.

2. Adjusting for the larger human brain, optimal ratios for humans at around 20 – 30% carbs, 15 – 20% protein, 50 – 60% saturated & monosaturated fat, and 5% polyunsaturated fat.

Isn’t this strikingly close to the Paleolithic diet and the composition of breast milk adjusted for brain size?

Food Reward System

1. Unfortunately, our likes and wants don’t always lead us to healthy eating.

2. The “Food Reward System” in modern times still encourages us to acquire carbs, but our “lazy forager system” no longer discourages it.

3. Result: most people in the modern world overeat carbs, especially sweet sugars.

Our brain influences us to like and want foods that are good for us. Liking, or the pleasure in eating something healthful, rewards us for healthful eating. Wanting motivates us to do extra work to obtain more healthful food.

The Good News: if we eat natural foods, our reward system will be a reliable guide to what is good for us, just as it was for the Paleolithic.

1. Chronic overeating occurs only if the tasty foods are malnourishing and fail to satisfy bodily needs. Unfortunately, too many modern industrial foods are severely lacking in many of the nutrients contained in real food—plants and animals.

Onward:

1. To understand what foods we should be eating.

2. To understand in detail how food interacts with the body health and disease, so that we can use biological science to further refine our way of eating.

1. The macronutrient ratio eaten by the typical American is 52% carbs, 33% fat, 15% protein.

2. This is almost identical to the 55% carbs, 30% fat, 15% protein diet that for many years was recommended by the U.S. government and the American Heart Association.

3. It is also identical to the composition of a McDonald’s supersized cheeseburger, French fries, and soda value meal.

4. Zoo gorillas had to switch about 40% of calories from carbs to fat to match the ratio that evolutionary evidence says is best. Americans would have to shift about 30% of calories from carbs to fat to do the same.

5. Just like zoo gorillas, one-third of Americans die of heart disease.

Would Americans benefit, just as zoo gorillas did, from eating the way evolution equipped us to eat?

Macro Ratios

Carbohydrates: 20 – 30%

Protein: 10 – 20%

Fats: 50 – 70%

(Polyunsaturated Fats: 2 – 5%)

(Fiber: 1 – 3%)

THANK YOU!