Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya
This is why the paleo diet makes me sad, as a former anthropology major. We have no fucking clue what our ancestors relied on, and different groups around the world had different diets. We don't have much info to go on, but someone did find pre-agriculture evidence that our ancestors were making breads out of grains.
Plus, we did evolve. People evolved to tolerate lactose as we started consuming dairy, and most people around the world are gluten tolerant.
If we were going to have our "original" primate diet, we'd be exclusively frugivores and take a chance with carrion now and then. Or eat brains to get DHA since fishing is relatively pretty new.
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Not quite. We can tell what humans ate by studying their remains. It's fairly easy, and it's been replicated in more recent history as hunter/gatherer tribes begin incorporating grains into their diet. They get shorter. They get sicker. Their bone density decreases, as does their muscle mass. We have found evidence of grains being milled prior to the dawn of agriculture, but that a) doesn't automatically mean they were eaten and b) doesn't change the fact that they're a survival food. You can live on grains. You can't thrive on grains. Use your own bloodwork, if you'd like to test it. Cutting out grains and sugar will lower your cholesterol, triglycerides, and your fasting blood sugar. It reverses most autoimmune disorders (not sure where the "most" estimate comes from re: gluten tolerance, but many experts now estimate as many as 1 in 3 humans are gluten intolerant to some extent - most autoimmune disorders are tied to the effects of gluten and similar indigestible proteins found in grains).
To simplify, two questions:
If your body was meant to use carbohydrates as the primary source of fuel, why does it store fat so easily? Your body keeps enough glycogen in your muscles to get you through about 20-40 minutes of intense, all-out exercise. You store enough fat to survive for years. Why would we store secondary fuel first? From an evolutionary standpoint, it doesn't make sense.
If grains and legumes are more healthy, why are we getting progressively sicker as our consumption increases? We consume more wheat and corn than any society in history. We're not just getting fat, we're getting cancer, diabetes, dementia, and a host of other illnesses previously completely unheard of.
I don't think everyone has to eat the way I do...but you can't argue from a health standpoint.