The Paleolithic Diet and Its Modern Implications

Chet Day ^ | Unknown | An Interview with Loren Cordain

[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.

[grammymoon]

Thank you for supporting FR.

[Snuffington]

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.

I first heard this explanation for the transition to farming when I was in college. It made a lot of sense to me then, and I have yet to see anything to make me change my mind. All the other explanations lack this simple appeal to observable human nature.

I never heard those Genesis verses cast in that light however. Interesting perspective.

[T'wit]

On your usage point: "breast" can mean either "the fore or ventral part of the body between the neck and the abdomen" (as you used it) or "either of the pair of mammary glands..." In a current dictionary (Webster's Collegiate, Tenth Edition -- a very good dic), the latter is preferred. Breast in the meaning of the chest is only a secondary usage now. To shed more light on this, I checked an unabridged Web from the 1930-1960 period. They give the "fore part" def as first, the mammary def as second. So, there has been a shift in usage over the past half century or so, away from the definition you prefer. But neither then nor now is there any basis for saying one is correct and the other is not.

Interestingly, "bosom" also both has singular and plural usage.

[Aurelius]

I think the idea about brewing has been around for some time, Recently there was a report claiming some supporting evidence. Fossil evidence of early cultivated grains which seemed more suited to brewing than to making bread. I would think I would have saved that, I'll see if I can find it. The interpretation of the story in Genesis as an allegory for the transition is not new with me either, although I think it is less commonly found than the brewing hypothesis. Once one hears of that allegory, the verses cited lend themselves naturally to that interpretation. There is also Genesis 3:23,

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

I find these hypotheses amusing and posted more in a spitit of fun than anything else, so I hope you read my authoritative declaration that the explanation of the author of the posted article is wrong in that light.

[cracker]

Human origins and development bump!

[jennyp]

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.

When I started my lo-carb diet, I lost 15 lbs in around 4 months. But then I slowly gained 10 lbs back. It's been 1 1/2 years now, & I still wouldn't go back to my hi carb past. I was getting constant heartburn before, and the Zantac commercials were calling me. A month into the diet I realized it had stopped. Just for that reason alone I'll never go back.

[Aurelius]

Uncorking the past, "The Economist, Dec. 22, 2001

"In addition to being at the heart of Mesopotamian culture, beer may even have been the foundation for the whole of western civilization. In the 1950s Jonathan Sauer, an American botanist, suggested that the original motivation for domesticating cereal crops (and thus switching from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle) might have been to make beer, rather than bread. The question of whether beer or bread came first has been debated ever since."

"Supporters of Sauer's idea have pointed out that many of the first cereals to be farmed were unsuitable for baking without tiresome preparation, but were suitable for brewing. Beer, they suggest, may have emerged in an attempt to make wild barley edible by mixing it with water and fruit. The thick beer produced in this way would be just as nutritious as bread, in addition to being slightly alcoholic."

[Aurelius]

The link that I gave may not work; it works for me because I am registered at the site as a subscriber to the print edition, but some articles are restricted. What I provided is all that is relevent to this particular topic.

[Pharmboy]

jennyp--just because of your evolutionary knowledge and sophistication--you shouldn't go back to carbs.

[Pharmboy]

The link worked for me--and thanks. Great article.

Cheers!