Postby Kathryn-in-Canada » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:33 am
I think the statement "Our ancestors ate meat every chance they got" is correct BUT the year the hog got away by breaking through the fence and my MIL's siblings captured it and put it in the shed, that was their only pork for the whole winter. For a family of 9. I don't care how big that hog was, there is no way they could have had pork even just 3 nights a week for 7 months if they were served even 3 oz of meat each. In this case, the tragedy was that there was rat killer in the shed, the hog ate it and died and they had no pork that year. And pork was the only red meat they could afford to raise so they had no red meat that whole year.
Yes, they ate meat whenever they had it but they didn't have much unless they hunted/fished/farmed it themselves. And as a result of all that effort, their portion sizes were way smaller than ours are.
Dh and I had beef tenderloins on Sunday. Believe it or not, that's a diet food in our house. The steaks are 3 oz each (and look pathetically small on the plate) so are actually quite low in calories when grilled. But the quality of the meat is so high, the small quantity is very satisfying. The 8 - 12 oz chili I had at lunch on Sunday had way more calories because there was no portion control and it was obvious from looking at it that it wasn't a pound of beef stretched with beans, carrots and other veggies but some beans and onions tossed into a large amount of ground beef. And I could have eaten way more because despite having a salad and roll with it, I was still not satiated.
And this guys argument completely falls apart when he starts to diss starchy root vegetables. It is their starch that made our ancestors feel full. In Asia, the role of starch is performed by rice.
I agree, get rid of all processed foods (not that I have.) But I'm not keen on eating unlimited amounts of meat unless I go back to caveman lifestyle without car, instant heat and a solid roof over my head. If I had to live constantly on the move (following the food source as it migrated), scrounging fuel for cooking and heat, I bet I could eat a lot more than I do now and still lose weight. But I don't.
So I'll stick with the old WW points program (the starchy vegetables no longer are considered vegetables on the new program). Portion control (self imposed because there are no limits to available food in my life), lots of movement (to approach the movement my ancestors had), and as much unprocessed food as possible.
I need to get back to thinking of restaurant/take-out food as a once a week or two exception and not a twice weekly entry on my meal plan (Chinese for dh and pizza on Friday night) plus eating out at least one or two other times per week.