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STONE AGE DIET - TODAY!
A Healthy Body Craves the Nutrients Cavemen Ate - Fruits, Vegetables,
Lean Meat, Legumesę.
What is the best diet? "The one our early ancestor ate as shown by studying
stone age humans who lived 40,000 years ago", says evolutionary expert
S Boyd Eaton MD, James Neill a prominent geneticist at the University
of Michigan suggests that "we would be better changing our diet to fit
our genes than using sophisticated gene therapy to avoid the disease
of civilisation".
We have departed so far from these diets of our ancestors that 55% of
the diets most of us British people contain "new food", "invented" since
the Industrial Revolution. Today's panopoly of diets - from fast food
burgers to various concepts of balance diets, are very different both
superficially and in actual nutritional content to the diets of our
forefathers. For example, vitamin and mineral in intake is lower today
and the dietary fatty acid profile is substantially different from our
evolutionary diet.
Diet of the Past and the Present
Carbohydrates. Early humans obtained about half of their calories
from carbohydrates mostly from vegetables and fruit, rarely from grains.
Carbohydrate intake today often takes the form of sugars and sweetenersę..
together with items from highly refined grain flours which are devoid
of accompanying essential amino and fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
Fruit and vegetables. Stone Age humans ate 3 times more of a
wide variety of fruits and vegetables than we do, along with legumes
and nuts and this provided a startling 65% of daily calories and 100gms
of fibre a day - approximately 5 times today's level. Vitamins, minerals
and anti-oxidants were supplied in amounts now only received through
supplements, say Eaton(1). Modern research clearly shows that people
who consume high quantities of fruit and vegetables have a lower risk
of many diseases.
Protein and Fat. Early man ate 35% of their calories in protein,
2-3 times more than is recommended today. The difference - their protein
came from lean wild game and fish as well as from plants. Early man
also consumed large amounts of cholesterol (480mg daily) yet their blood
cholesterol levels were much lower than those of the average person
in Britain today. There are two reasons for this:-
Domestication of animals increases their saturated fat levels and alters
the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (fatty acids). Most of us consume and
11:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (fatty acids), but a more idea ratio
based on evolutionary data would be in the range of 1:1 or 4:1. Our
ancestors consumed more omega-3 and we should do too.
Hunting required considerable effort which means that early humans exercised
a lot, which would have burned fat and lowered cholesterol levels.
Sodium and Potassium
The difference in consumption of sodium and potassium is especially
dramatic. On average, each of us consumes about 4000 mg of sodium a
day, but less than 10% of this amount occurs naturally in food. The
rest is added during processing, cooking and seasoning at the table.
Potassium consumption is lower, about 3000 mg per day maximum. In contrast,
early humans consumed only an estimated 600 mg of sodium, but 7000mg
of potassium daily. Herein lies evidence that our bodies are still tuned
to the past. Sodium previously was in short supply so our bodies adapted
to retain sodium and to excrete potassium, which is abundant. The reverse
is now true - sodium abounds and potassium is less freely available,
but our bodies still hold on to sodium and rid themselves of potassium.
Summary of Stone Age Diet -vs- Modern Day Diet
Stone Age Diet:
-
65% fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, honey.
- 35% lean meat (mainly game, eggs, wild fowl, shellfish.)
Modern Day Diet:
- 55% new foods, processed cereals, grains, milk and milk products,
sugar, sweeteners, processed fats, alcohol.
- 28% fatty meat, poultry, eggs, fish, shellfish.
- 17% fruits, vegetables, legumes, nut.
NOTE
It's true, the average human lives longer than the average caveman did.
Early humans died young from infections, injuries and complications
of childbirth. Better hygiene and sanitation have largely accounted
for the dramatic improvement in life expectancy. Oh, would that we could
have the hygiene and comfort of today with the pure unadulterated quality
of food of yesteryear!
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