The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications

Chet Day ^ | Unknown | An Interview with Loren Cordain

[TASMANIANRED]

Eat raw meat.

[Pharmboy]

Raw meat (from a trusted source) is probably a good idea. But remember, control of fire goes back quite a while, so grilling is practically genetic..

[SunkenCiv]

There was also a book on prehistoric diets by Lionel Tiger (circa 1987).

[SunkenCiv]

here's one originally printed in the WSJ, reproduced at this living URL:

The Caveman Diet
by Lionel Tiger
July 9, 2002

Step back for a moment. We evolved as hunters and gatherers. Agraduate student in my Rutgers department, Matt Sponheimer, published an article in Nature in l999 showing from the micro-analysis of wear on fossil teeth that our ancestors were eating meat over 2.5 million years ago. We mainly ate meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. We have to assume our physiology evolved in association with this diet. The balanced diet for our species was what we could acquire then, not what the government and doctors tell us to eat now... Within medicine and anthropology there has been a controversy brewing for years about the possible unhealthiness of the diet made possible -- and even necessary given our crowded planet -- by agriculture. The most popular expression of sharp wariness about particular agricultural products was the 1972 book, "Diet Revolution," in which Robert Akins argued that eating carbohydrates, especially grains -- which are cheap -- made people hungry so they ate more and burgeoned.

[gleeaikin]

Actually eating like a caveman did not mean eating only meat/fish/foul. It also included eating all kinds of vegetable matter, nuts, roots, and fruits.

Many modern ills are caused be eating a high carb diet that encourages the growth of candida albicans or thrush. This yeast infection can cause many kinds of symptoms. In fact if you have a health problem, especially one that is vague or hard to diagnose, try the "caveman diet". Basically, when you select food to eat, ask yourself, was someone, somewhere able to eat this 10,000 years ago. If the answer is yes then it is part of a "caveperson diet".

If you are infected with yeast, and try this diet, your yeast will "demand" that you eat sweets and carbohydrate, saying "feed me, feed me". You have to be strong for a few days and say "no $^(_*&& yeast is going to dictate my life." As the yeast starts to die of starvation it will poison your body and you may feel ill for a few days. The more yeast in your system, the worse you may feel. Be patient, give the "Caveman/Atkins Diet" a week, and you should start to feel a lot better and your symptoms improve.

I was once called to the home of a fellow in the last stages of AIDS, suffering from severe yeast infection. I looked in his refrigerator to find something to cook for him. Of 23 foods, only one was not a yeast treat. The only not yeast feeder he had was chicken.

If you want to try the Atkins Diet, easy to find on Google, be sure you start with the rigorous "Induction Phase". Your body will burn Fats, Carbohydrates/Sugars, or Protein for energy. By eliminating almost all Carb/Sugar, and eating adequate protein, and some fat, the body will burn the surplus fat in your body first. You can eat lots of green salad, celery, cucumbers, etc. Some cheese, sour cream, ricotta. 1 or 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, and modest quantities of related foods. This diet really works, and you don't feel all that hungry on it. Also take good vitamin/mineral supplements while dieting.

Asians do eat a lot of rice, but also a lot of low carb vegetables, and seaweed, which is high in trace minerals. The caveman was not killed by his diet, but by severe living conditions like winter, drought, etc.

[Pharmboy]

And who said the caveman's diet was all meat and fish? Loren Cordain's book, based on anthropological data is the best on the subject. The yeast stuff is hooey, IMO.

[gleeaikin]

Why do you say the yeast stuff is hooey? I'm leaving town until this weekend, but have some other stories that might interest you related to yeast/fungus problems which I will relate on my return.

[Pharmboy]

Need scientific data and not anecdotal stories. Without the application of scientific methodology to test the claims, it becomes faith-based or emotional in origin. No good.

[technochick99]

Honestly, this misconception about life expectancy is so widespread it is hard for me to believe so many people don't understand the mathematics of averages.

Always been a pet peeve of mine...