I might lose a close friend over this...

Banana lovers, I need your help!

My friend is in a tissy because she thinks I’m truly ignorant to the FACT that kids in the poorest places in Africa "the ones with the big bellies" got that way because their parents are NOT feeding them enough “protein” AND she thinks the real reason is from eating TOO MANY CARBS!!! Her examples of this are eating too much rice, plantains and tubers and not enough protein. My friend got extremely upset, started crying, and called me stupid for thinking that eating 811 is NOT a death sentence. I didn’t want the cops called so I had to quickly kick her out of my apartment tonight because she was being soo hysterical.

I know my friend means well, and needs to Carb the f-up asap. I want to set her straight. I looked it up on wiki and surprisingly it said, “To prevent kwashiorkor, make sure the diet has enough carbohydrates, fat (at least 10 percent of total calories), and protein (12 percent of total calories).” Is kwashiorkor the correct term for what my friend and I were talking about? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Durianrider said kwashiorkor is a CALORIC deficiency and there isn’t a word for protein deficiency bc there’s no such thing without being caloric deficient. Are there any websites that can shine light on this matter that my friend might take seriously?

She’s constantly complaining about being overweight, having acne, low energy, constantly sick, gets hives all over her body, the list goes on and on…

Another night, I found out that she strongly believes that in order to absorb nutrients from greens you need to eat them with oil/fat. I want to help her but she thinks I’m in some crazy food cult and didn't go to a university I'm uneducated. Go figure. Our friendship is vastly deteriorating since I woke up to proper nutrition. This is all extremely frustrating because she believes she’s right about everything we disagree on because that’s what she’s learned in college:( I gave her The China Study in Dec. and the book has yet to be opened☹

Any information that you all could share would be super helpful to us. I’m sure many of you can relate to this crazy s*** storm I'm going through right now. I'm moving at the end of the month and would prefer that we no longer be friends do to her negativity. I want her see where I'm coming from.

Thanks for reading this fruit munchers!

Tags: CALORIC deficiency, carbohydrates, friends, protein

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Permalink Reply by Kevin George on February 23, 2013 at 3:17pm

Well if you measure protein intake with percentages, Durian Riders claim is true, unless all your calories were from table sugar and syrup, as all living cells have protein.

Protein deficiency although does strike if undereating low protein foods.

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Permalink Reply by Mecca on February 23, 2013 at 3:29pm

But thats not why the kids have engorged bellies, it's because they're being eaten from the inside out, right? Caused by long term starvation.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin George on February 23, 2013 at 4:46pm

The name of the disease means "the sickness the baby gets when the new baby comes", So it was observed first in children weaned from breast milk.

The belies being eaten inside out is a symptom of protein deficiency but yes it may be other factors that are only attributable because of third world living conditions. However with higher protein intakes these children would be fine showing there is benefit to whatever the sufficient amount of protein. The ideal is around 50g for an adult which is satisfied by 80/10/10.

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Permalink Reply by Mera/Feather Story on February 23, 2013 at 3:32pm

It sounds like your friend doesn't want to hear what you have to say unless you agree with her. I would just let it go. We all lose good friends many times in our lives. It's just the way things go. No problem showing her the wiki link, if she wants more information she can look it up herself. Don't waste your energy and your emotions trying to convince someone of something they are completely close-minded about. Especially if you gave her a book she hasn't even read it. Her college education is being wasted on her ego...sorry to say. It happens a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Zesty lime on February 23, 2013 at 8:44pm

I totally agree. And all the answers are in The china study. Until she reads that it will go nowhere. And if she finally reads it and still doesn't go anywhere then it not worth it. Seems to me that although she must really love you for getting in such a state, she not ready to see beyond mainstream. And you have more important things to focus on right now than trying to get her to see the light. Either she can accept to disagree or else then you really need to move on. And who knows maybe one day she will come around. But right now your health and life should matter the most for yourself. If she is jeopardising that then you d better be on your way. Right now i am decluttering my house, brought on by the raw food lifestyle, but sometimes we also need to declutter our environment and unfortunately it also means at times our friends. :)

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Permalink Reply by BeachVegan on February 23, 2013 at 4:11pm

"she beleives she's right about everything"

Usually I tell people not to be anti-social and to help others but...

The best thing you can do is not talk to her about it, I know it sounds contradictory because you want to help her, but trying to help her at this point is going to make her over-think and go bananas (hehe) and that'll just cause stress on her, which is the same as physically hurting her with how it reacts in ones body, so distance yourself a bit let her cool down, refuse to talk about it, don't eat with or around her, and just be an example of health and happiness and then she'll see she for herself she was wrong.

You know quite well you're not starving and malnourished.

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Permalink Reply by Mecca on February 23, 2013 at 4:23pm

;) And my inflated ego doesn't want to let this go. I desperately want to show her everything I've learned recently but I have such a hard time expressing myself through words alone. We disagree on so much. She's pro vaccinations too and has been saying a lot of nasty things to our friend on FB for not vaccinating her child. When ever we get together it seems like we make each others blood boil. It's hard to let one of your closest friends go, when they've been in your life, for better or worse, for ten years. Tonight's really been painful and I think it's probably best if we went our separate ways.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Vo on February 23, 2013 at 4:23pm

There's a lot of brainwashed, close-minded people in this world. I hope your friend doesn't throw away your friendship due only to her intense disagreement with your way of living. You just have to lead by example. She'll learn from you, as you become healthier and healthier. She'll start to notice, and hopefully will reconsider her stance (if she's reasonable).

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Permalink Reply by Mecca on February 23, 2013 at 4:38pm

"just be an example of health and happiness"

I'm moving at the end of the month from minneapolis to grow a garden with my lover, be in nature, and finally breathe fresh air. I can love her and she can love me from a distance. She also battles with alcohol so I was trying to let her know if she eat more fruity carbs alcohol wouldn't be so appealing...

I can only hope she'll read The China Study someday and will come to me if she needs any help.

Thank you everybody! I feel a whole lot better about this.

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Permalink Reply by Mera/Feather Story on February 23, 2013 at 4:45pm

Some relationships are so much better with a healthy distance! There's no doubt it's tough, especially to not be so enthusiastic as something so life-changing, but you just have to be patient and present. Good for you for moving and glad you're feeling better about it!

(Also if you never talk to her again, not much of a loss in my opinion, someone who insults people over not vaccinating; I would want to stay away from a person like that, regardless of our past relationship.)