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The Starch Solution

Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good!
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of King County Library System.
Dec 02, 2013NanPappas rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
In the beginning of the book, McDougall creates a straw man using paleo diet. He defines the paleolithic period as including 13,000 years ago; however Cordain (The Paleo Diet) defines it as more than 30,000 years ago, pre-agriculture. Then, McDougall cites mummies with conditions such as arthritis and osteoporosis and claims that this is evidence that Paleolithic people ate grains and had these diseases. He actually just proves Cordain's point that grains have a degenerative effect on the body. Later in the book, he includes a chart of protein requirements as suggested by prior research but fails to include the recommendation of the Paleo diet. Further, McDougall uses a chart in the book with no definition of what the numbers mean. He also uses foods in 3000 calorie units for comparison to try to prove that we can get enough protein from vegetables; but no one eats 3000 calories of one food in a single day. Prior to reading this book, I respected McDougall prior to reading this book, but the science is inaccurate and the math is very misleading. He should study archaeology and get his dates correct before presenting data that falls into the wrong period to support his argument.