My
friend, Barbo, went to heaven in March of this year. She did several
reviews for my cookbooks and she had a collection of most of my
cookbooks. She was a lovely person, who loved God and her husband and
family so much. Anyone who met Barbo in person or online, loved
her! We all miss you, Barbo.
Happy Birthday for the 16th Feb., dear Barbo!
Image via WikipediaI made this dish as well and my husband could not stop raving about Barbo's recipe even a day or two later! I bought two more chayote squash yesterday and Ian inquired, "Oh, great can you make that scalloped chayote casserole again. I really liked that!" I was actually planning on making Barbo's latkes next. (smile) Barbo has been a friend to me ever since I first started low-carbing in 1999. We have never actually met in person, but the internet sure makes this a smaller world.
Image via WikipediaPotatoes Scalloped LCChayote
Note: A
few people on Facebook pointed
out that chayotes in America are also called Mirlitons (pronounced
mill-y-tons). Go figure! One is never too old to learn something
new, I always say! Other people call them Chokos.
Early Human Diets
Long
before Twinkies, Frosted Flakes, and Coca-Cola were such a regular part of the
human diet, think about what our early ancestors ate to survive. This is many
years before the advent of agriculture and the only food that was available to
consume back then was what you could hunt and gather. During Paleolithic times,
it was not uncommon for men to use primitive weaponry to hunt down wild game
that could feed their family for weeks at a time. Meat and a few edible plants
were just about all these early humans were able to consume which means their
diet was naturally low in carbohydrates and higher in fat and protein. Some
would argue that humans are genetically adapted to eating a high-fat, moderate
protein, low-carb diet and that hearkening back to Paleo times with our
nutrition is what will help solve the obesity and chronic disease crisis of
modern man. There's a very strong subset of low-carb in today's society who
follow the concept of a Paleo diet that tends to be lower in carbohydrates and
higher in natural fats from real, whole foods. We'll meet some of today's
leaders in the Paleo movement in a few more pages. But first, let's take a look
at who helped put low-carb on the map!
The Low-Carb Diet Era Begins
Fast
forward from the days of Paleo into the late 18th Century when we begin to see
therapeutic uses for low-carbohydrate diets beginning to come to prominence.
We'll examine the work of these brave men over the past 200+ years who have
trumpeted low-carb and helped pave the way for the popularity this way of
eating enjoys today. You may know some of these people and others you may not
know so much about. But if you want to learn about how low-carb has evolved
chronologically leading up to the present day, then it's critically important
that you familiarize yourself with each of these men and their invaluable
contributions in examining and using carbohydrate-restriction as a therapeutic
means for getting healthier:
In 1797, we first learn about the work of Dr. John Rollo, a surgeon in the British Royal Artillery, who released a book, entitled An Account of Two Cases of the Diabetes Mellitus. The book examines Dr. Rollo's treatment of two soldiers with diabetes using a high-fat, low-carb diet. He saw quick reductions in the amount of sugar in his patients' urine and blood; diabetic complications eliminated and weight loss. This is long before the advent of prescription medications and insulin therapies and was an important educational tool for physicians and people suffering from the effects of primarily Type 2 diabetes. As a result of the popularity of Dr. Rollo's book, the low-carb diet became the most common way of treating diabetes in the 19th Century.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
In 1825, an attorney and politician in
In 1863, an English undertaker, named William Banting,
wrote what many consider the first bestselling low-carb diet book in the world
entitled Letter on Corpulence, Addressed
to the Public. In this booklet, Banting describes the changes he made to
his diet on the suggestion of his physician friend, Dr. William Harvey, who
knew about low-carb diets from their use in treating diabetic patients.
Banting's book was a firsthand account of the past failures of other diets he
had tried and why his brand of low-carb living was the one thing that finally
worked for him after years of frustration. He noted that he ate four meals a
day consisting of mostly meat, green vegetables, fruit and dry wine while
avoiding sugar, sweets, starch, beer, milk and butter. Although he only printed
a limited number of copies, the book became such an instant hit that it got
picked up by a
