RE: FITNESS: Diet and Exercise

From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Apr 14 2003 - 09:47:07 MDT

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    Damien Sullivan wrote:

    > So, what do researchers *besides* Cordain think? Are you
    > citing a consensus, or allying yourself with one side of a polarized
    > academic debate?

    I've taken a side in the debate, for sure. However in my mind the debate is
    over, except with respect to debating fringe-thinkers who still believe our
    natural diet is nearly or completely vegetarian.

    Those who would argue that we are genetically adapted to a *grain* based
    diet are in my mind beyond the fringe and hardly worth the trouble of
    debating. Some people will believe anything. :-)

    I've never seen any credible evidence that prehistoric cultures subsisted on
    less than ~30% animal based food sources. My own estimate as an amateur
    researcher is perhaps a bit lower than Cordain's. In some of Cordain's
    papers, such as the one I quoted here, he estimates as much 75% of calories
    from animal sources. I would guess about 45% to 50% based on the
    preponderance of the evidence I've seen from all authors and researchers.
    But then Cordain is far more qualified than me and most other authors to
    make such estimations. Dr. Cordain has made it is his life project to
    understand paleolithic diets.

    The other primary authority is Eaton, who in fact first wrote about the
    health benefits of animal-based paleolithic diets in a major medical
    journal. He was the pioneer researcher in the field. I don't recall his
    estimate of the percentage of calories from animal sources in paleolithic
    times but it is in line with Cordain's. In fact they've published some
    articles together on the subject.

    -gts



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