Obesity 67
Robert C. Atkins’s New Diet Revolution, is the high-protein, high-fat, low-
carbohydrate diet. Its popularity is understandable because it takes weight
off relatively easily, and eating lots of meats seems to lessen the hunger
pangs that drive many people to binge eating—at least in the beginning.
But if the objective in losing weight is to improve health, that should
be the driving force behind the choice of diet. The high-protein, low-
carbohydrate diet does not fulfi ll that objective, because it is unbal-
anced. Eating so little starch deprives the body of glucose, its primary
source of fuel, while eating too much meat threatens the body’s mineral
reserves. Excessive phosphate levels in meat can remove calcium and
magnesium from the teeth and bones. Another danger to the body’s
supply of alkaline minerals is blood nitrogen urea from the breakdown
of meat. Too much meat in the diet produces excessively high urea
levels that the kidneys excrete along with magnesium and calcium.
Shifting viewpoints of the medical establishment as to what consti-
tutes a healthy meal, as well as trendiness in diets, has made us lose
sight of what used to be the axiom of nutritionists and doctors: the bal-
anced meal made up of meat, potatoes, vegetables, and a lettuce and
tomato salad. Indigenous cultures were not so quick to forget the
knowledge of good nutrition passed on to them by their ancestors.
In most tribal societies in Africa, including both meat and starches
in every meal was a time-honored tradition because it refl ected the
social structure of the clan. For example, among the Kaguru of central
Tanzania a meal was said to be made up of both ugali (starches such as
maize, millet, rice, plantain, and cassava) and nyama (stew meat). Only
when nyama was not available did mboga (vegetables) take its place.
Ugali represented the feminine gender because it was cultivated by
women, while nyama was masculine because it was obtained by men’s
work as herdsmen and hunters. The well-balanced diets of these prein-
dustrial cultures prevented obesity because they did not produce exces-
sive levels of fatty acid wastes that build up layers of fat in the body.
Fighting Obesity with Acid-Alkaline Balance
The morbidly obese have unbalanced biochemistry. For many in this
category hunger is not satisfi ed even when the stomach is fi lled. There
are people who fall into the morbidly obese category even though they
are moderate eaters.
