From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Tue May 06 2003 - 12:44:39 MDT
BillK wrote:
>
> Problems:
>
> The first point to make is that there was no single 'Paleolithic Diet'.
> Just as desert Aborigines ate different foods to those who lived in
> temperate coastal areas or in tropical rain forests, so too Paleolithic
> diets varied considerably. The range of available foods varied not only
> geographically (ie, from one part of the world to another) but also
> seasonally. Unlike today, our early ancestors often had no choice but to
> eat the food that was available in season.
Not exactly true in many cases. For instance many primitive peoples
develop methods of storing their preferred foods for lengthy periods of
time. One example is the buffalo pemmican food developed by the plains
indians... often stayed good for years. Also of note is there have been
comparative studies done on the health and performance abilities of
various primitive peoples, in some cases who lived near each other. In
general, the ones who lived primarily on meats always were healthier and
outperformed athletically those who lived mostly on non-meat foods. So
perhaps there is an "ideal" paleo diet, or at least we can eventually
determine what is best by working out the details via traditional
nutritional science filling in the blanks.
>
> If primitives lived near water, they probably ate lots of fish instead
> of meat. It is more likely they ate meat only when they were lucky
> enough to catch it.
Well you can look at the eskimos.. they hunt before the winter and store
the food to live off of later. I don't think the diet varies much- at
least if they are living traditionally. Maybe they are too "modern"
though to use as an example?
>
> gts likes skinless lean chicken breasts. Nothing wrong with that, except
> that a caveman is more likely to have thrown it to the dogs. In hard
> times, primitive people would eat the whole animal. In good times they
> wanted the fattest animals in the herd.
I agree, and remain unconvinced regarding the focus on primarily lean
meats in some paleo diet formulations.
>
> Most nutritionists say that avoiding all grains, especially whole
> grains, as well as beans, is unwise. You shouldn't overeat refined
> grains, but there is no reason to totally avoid all grains and beans.
Perhaps it is an unnecessary risk? For instance, read up on the possible
connections between these types of foods and various autoimmune diseases:
http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/grains-leg/grains-legumes-1b.shtml
>
> Similarly, avoiding all milk and dairy products is also unwise. Low-fat
> and non-fat dairy products are healthy and nutritious. The paleo diet
> claims that you can get all the calcium you need from vegetables, nuts,
> and fish (eaten with bones). That is indeed possible, but most modern
> Americans simply will not get enough calcium from non-dairy sources
> (unless they also take a supplement).
Well your logic appears to be bit circuitous here... if Americans /were/
eating a paleo diet, they /would/ be getting enough calcium without
having to rely on dairy.
I will say here, like with the idea of eating mainly low-fat meats, I am
not convinced yet that this is the best dietary choice. Especially eggs
are an excellent nutritional source from what I can tell... I think most
paleo diets DO allow them though.
>
> Even paleo enthusiasts recognise that this diet is not well-suited to
> the needs of endurance athletes. Athletes need to fuel optimum
> performance and recovery, so workouts can be repeated after a relatively
> short time. Endurance athletes have a critical need to replenish
> glycogen stores immediately after exercise. For this reason, the diet is
> modified to permit sugar and starch, but only during and after exercise.
>
Recovery is one thing, but the actual endurance performance is another.
During a lengthy endurance event, the body clearly is going to quickly
exhaust its stores of glycogen, even if they are artificially pumped up
by "carb loading", and if it cannot operate well on the alternate fat
burning energy system then the athlete will "hit the wall". There have
been studies done on this, and also historical evidence, that show
training on a high fat diet can greatly extend the length of time
athletes can perform. And if you get good enough at using your fat for
energy in this way, to the point that your body naturally prefers to use
it, there is much less of a need to refuel your glycogen stores in the
first place I would guess.
> Very few hunter-gatherers, whatever they ate, suffered from "diseases of
> civilization" such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. They
> didn’t live long enough to develop them. Their diet never had to evolve
> to solve the problems of middle and old age. But almost certainly many
> tribes suffered from deficiency diseases and starvation.
>
It is possible to compare biomarkers and risks of developing various
diseases of civilization between groups at the kinds of ages typically
observed in primitive people. Evidence seems to say that at least at
these age levels, western diet is a complete disaster.
http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-8b.shtml#hg%20health
-- Brian Atkins Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence http://www.singinst.org/
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