The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications

Chet Day ^ | Unknown | An Interview with Loren Cordain

[Pharmboy]

Just 'cause I love all you Freepers so much I want you to live a long time. Eat like cave men and women.

[Miss Marple]

Where can I buy mastodon steaks?

[Jen]

Do you think my cheering squad looks like cave men and women?

Gimme a 'D'
Gimmie an 'O'
Gimmie an 'H'
What's it spell?

DOH!

Have you contributed any yet?

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[Pharmboy]

I gave extra today (since you asked).

Best,
PB

[Pharmboy]

Aaaahhhh. You must SPEAR the mastodon.

[Jen]

Thanks for your financial support of FR! We are in the final stretch of the FReepathon. Then the cheering squad will pack up their pom poms.

[dighton]

Eat like cave men and women.

Especially you FReeperettes.

[Pharmboy]

Gjorgk say: "Bring me Neandertal female in middle."

[petuniasevan]

Absolutely true. An archaeological study was done at a site in Turkey which was an early Neolithic village. Down deep in the strata, human remains are found which show a fairly healthy population. But in the shallower strata, the skeletons show typical signs associated with agriculture:

heavy muscle-attachment marks (from heavy labor), degraded joints (same), bone deformation (malnutrition), shorter stature than the older skeletons (poor diet), "starvation rings" - periods of no bone growth (famine or lack of adequate food).

We paid a price for the Neolithic Revolution:
we got high population and civilizations as we know them, but also a near-famine existence for so many for most of recorded history.

[Pharmboy]

Exactly. Our bodies are set to defend against energy LOSS. All of our enzymes, hormones, etc. are tuned for "feast or famine" rather than the constant abundance that agriculture has brought.

[Jen]

You are sick and twisted! ;-)

[Pharmboy]

Be careful, though. It can get dangerous out there.

[T'wit]

> Both the fossil record and ethnological studies of hunter-gatherers... indicate that humans rarely if ever ate cereal grains nor did they eat diets high in carbohydrates.

Uh, oh. It does not look good for Fruit Loops.

[petuniasevan]

True, but you might mean to say, "modern agriculture". That's a product of the Industrial Revolution, artificial fertilizers, and pesticides/herbicides.
And don't forget hybrid crops and crop rotation techniques.

If I could kick my sugar habit, I would lose 25 lbs in no time, as I work hard.

[1234]

article very much like "eat right for your type"-MANY TX FOR POSTING

[Pharmboy]

Hey...c'mon...to a Neandertal she's a centerfold!

[dighton]

See #12.

[T'wit]

I trust you realize that a "paleolithic" diet means eating old stones.

[Pharmboy]

You're most welcome. From your moniker I would guess that you are a basic, no-nonsense type of human. That would go well with a hunter-gatherer diet.

[Don Myers]

bttt

[Pharmboy]

Old stones at that.

[Pharmboy]

Ping*

[T'wit]

How do "old stones" differ from "old stones?" Did they eat italicized stones? But you only find those in Italy, don't you?

[Pharmboy]

When I re-read your original post all I could say was "D'oh!"

Game, set and match to you, my friend. No Twit you; certainly a wit.

[mykdsmom]

When I was big into low carb eating I belonged to a low carb listserv and Ray Audette the author of Neanderthin was a member. Have you read his book?

I was very interested in his posts and even made some of the beef jerky recipies in a dehydrator. He was big into making pemmican too if I remember right.

I wasn't able to lost weight on the Atkins diet but I did feel the best I've even felt in recent memory. I know that carbs are pure poison for my body but want the reward of weight loss that goes with the diet. That I could never achieve.

So now I feel like crap and I'm fat : ( WWAAAA...think I'll have another beer.

MKM

[T'wit]

I am going to stick to a tender neolithic diet. Old stones are too tough and they've lost most of their flavor.

[T'wit]

You'll do just anything to get a photo of breasts into Free Republic, won't you?

:-)

[Snuffington]

I hope people will take into context the fact that paleolithic humans rarely lived into their 30's. A diet suited for paleolithic hunter-gatherers isn't necessarily going to be ideal for us today, because, with very few exceptions, we don't live like cavemen.

[1234]

YUP; O positive blood type.
hope folks are familiar w/"eat right for your type"-fregards

[T'wit]

> but want the reward of weight loss that goes with the diet.

High protein, very little fat of any kind, and enough carbs to keep your tummy from making disgusting noises. Keep calorie intake under daily energy use. You will lose weight.

[arielb]

Want to live until 30? Fine eat like a caveman. The Chinese and Japanese eat a high carb diet (they eat mostly rice-not General Tso's Chicken) and they have the highest life expectancies

[jocon307]

THE KEY, the ABSOLUTE KEY is to eat a well balanced diet, eat what you crave, what your people (your ethnic group, not some cave ancestors) eat in moderation, don't be a pig, and STAY AWAY FROM CRAP. Also, you got to move, you got to move, as the Rolling Stones sang.

In point of dietary fact, no amount beer is too much, look at the Germans, they drink enough beer to float a boat, and they still excell at sports!

[Doctor Stochastic]

Evolutionary theory suggests that the diet of Paleolithic Man was designed to maximize health during breeding years rather than long life per se. I guess the author wasn't trying to say: "Suck rocks!" (Or even "Rock sucks!")

Perhaps an Oxygen movie title here: "Andrea Yates, the Breeding Years"

[Age of Reason]

The fossil record indicates that early farmers, compared to their hunter-gatherer predecessors had a characteristic reduction in stature, an increase in infant mortality, a reduction in life span, an increased incidence of infectious diseases, an increase in iron deficiency anemia, an increased incidence of osteomalacia, porotic hyperostosis and other bone mineral disorders and an increase in the number of dental caries and enamel defects. Early agriculture did not bring about increases in health, but rather the opposite. It has only been in the past 100 years or so with the advent of high tech, mechanized farming and animal husbandry that the trend has changed.

Just what I've been saying around here, over and over.

Agriculture was not developed because it was easier than hunter gathering, except when attempting to hunt and gather in an overpopulated world.

Technology has always been the art of making more from less--and usually the more is of an poorer quality than the original.

[LarryLied]

the diet of pre-agricultural humans was derived primarily from animal based foods.

So why do we have teeth designed for a mixed diet, one which is not primarily meat? Our intestines would be shorter too if meat was our predominate food.

[rightofrush]

You'll do just anything to get a photo of breasts into Free Republic, won't you?

Chickens have one breast. Men have one breast. Woemen have one breast and two tits.

[cpdiii]

The diet of the Paleolithics was one designed for a short life i.e. 30 to 40 years. A high protein and fat diet would be advantageous because of the high caloric content. This would allow them to live and reproduce and then die at a relatively young age. The reason we are now a agricultural society as opposed to a hunter society is the agricultural society is superior to the hunter in reference to longivity. The reason the agricultural society suffers so many diseases is they live a hell of a lot longer and get old. The hunters died young.

PS
I am hoplessly addicted to a high protein diet.

[Aurelius]

BUMP

[T'wit]

> Woemen have one breast and two tits.

Maybe we haven't dated the same woemen.

[T'wit]

Y'know, I was thinking earlier that Demosthenes used to walk around with a mouthful of rocks. The old explanation was that he was working on his pronunciation and oratory skills. I think we just found the truth: he was on a paleolithic diet.

[Aurelius]

Excellant and interesting article generally. Of cours they have got it wrong on the the reason for the transition from the paleolithic (hunter gatherer) way of life to the neolithic (agriculture based) way of life.

"If we examine the fossil record, it suggests that a number of environmental pressures may have forced humans to adopt agriculture, including increases in human population densities and the depletion of easily hunted game."

Certainly increases in population were a consequence of this transition, and not the cause of it. The reason that humans gave up the care-free and easy life of the hunter-gather for the boredom and drudgery of agriculture is that they had discovered brewing and wanted a stesdy source of grains for making beer. The transition is allegorically represented in the Bible by the story of the fall.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3

[rightofrush]

Maybe we haven't dated the same woemen.

Mine always seemed happy, not a bit of woe in the bunch.

[Pharmboy]

Not true--old, bad data. They lived longer than we thought and when agriculture came, the diseases came with it.

[Pharmboy]

The key--if you eat high carbs--is to eat a very low fat diet. High carbs combined with high fat is the killer. The carbs bring the high insulin levels and that, in turn, causes more fat to be stored.

Much more natural to eat lower carbs and eliminate cereals.

[Pharmboy]

Predominate is the key word here--between about 50 and 60% of total calories. Our small intestines are in between the lengths of the pure carnivores and the herbivores. We are obligate omnivores.

[Pharmboy]

Wow. Great insight with the brewing and cereals for the start of agriculture. Never thought of that...you just might be right!

[grammymoon]

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[johnny7]

Andrea Yates future book... “I Loved Them to Death”.

[Pharmboy]

Hey grammy--check the thread and the record. There is an appeal already posted above and I gave on Wednesday!!

Freegards,
PB

[Snuffington]

Not true--old, bad data.

I'm unaware of any data that shows their average lifespan was beyond 30 years. Care to share?

Besides, my point is not that they lived better or worse than Neolithic farmers. My point is they lived nothing like we do today. A diet suited for their lifestyle may not be well suited for ours.