[valkyrieanne]

However it's not a universal truth since some ethnic groups digestive systems have changed over the thousands of tears to live on more cooked grains and such.

That's true, and there are probably excellent genetic reasons - if you lived in Asia in the past & needed a lot of protein, you probably simply died. That's why the whole individual metabolism, genetic heritage, etc. has to be taken into account before someone radically modifies their diet. But in general if someone is really obese, there's something out of balance and in need of change.

[dennisw]

Just bear this in mind. Japan is on the opposite of the Atkins diet yet has more people over a hundred than just about any other place. They have tons of folks over 90 and until recently very few fat people. Even today there are far fewer fat people in Japan than in dietetically confused (challenged?) USA.

Also in the yahoo photos of Arab protesters I don't see many chunky people. And they eat a lot of pita bread, beans, chickpeas over there.

[dennisw]

You might like my posts #158 #156