Kaley Todd wrote for the Nutrition Environmental Newsletter about the evolution of eating, and the current craze for the so-called "caveman" or "paleo" diet among some people who reject the menu of the Industrial Era. Below is an excerpt:
"'Evolutionarily, our bodies were designed to eat a variety of foods. Our hunter and gatherer ancestors ate a wide selection of whole foods often, to escape food boredom. Today, although it appears our food system offers a wide variety of ingredients, in reality, our diets are primarily composed of foods high in corn products and refined sugar,'" says anthropologist and Emory University professor, George Armelagos.
"He believes that evolutionarily our bodies are not designed to process the poor quality foods--sugary foods and beverages, refined flours, processed snack foods--we currently consume in such high proportions, resulting in the nationwide dramatic rise in obesity and diabetes.
"Today, our food supply offers large amounts of calories that require very little energy to 'hunt and gather.' You can spot a food vendor just about everywhere--bookstores, gas stations, and workplaces--offering high-calorie, low-nutrient food for your convenience.
"There are even signs that moving away from hunter-gatherer diets to eating patterns based on cultivated crops, such as grains, caused nutritional problems among our ancestors, according to Armelagos' article in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health."
Read the whole article by Todd in the Chicago Tribune.
Related:
Dawn of agriculture took toll on health
Brain vs. gut: Our inborn food fight
For thousands of years, meat was always the first choice for humans. Then in the late 1980's the FDA came out saying fat was bad for us. And the food industry complied and took the fat out of our food and replaced it with sugar. Now, we've come full circle and everyone is saying wait a minute. Fat is good and sugar is bad. Thank goodness we are finally waking up and going back to our roots.
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