Paleolithic Diet II

As a continuing consideration, what our distant ancestors consumed some 10,000 to 1.8 million years ago is assumed (by proponents of this diet) to be a genetically superior approach to food consumption as our gastrointestinal systems evolved over many thousands of years exposed to these foods. The assumption can take on some rather technical biochemical arguments but in general assumes that by switching our current diets to those diets of the ancient ones, our health will improve. Needless to say, and anyone reading this blog for any period of time knows, I just love to poke holes in perfectly good theories.

First off, determining what the various hominids consumed on a regular basis is no easy feat. And by "various hominids" I mean during that "paleolithic" time frame it's not fair to pick a hominid like Homo Rhodesiensis and ignore Neaderthal. or to focus just on Homo Sapiens and ignore Homo erectus.

Assuming we do just that and ignore all hominids other than Homo Sapiens, the precise dietary intake is generally refered to as the omnivore diet which in reality is a garbage can term used to describe someone who eats anything and everything. Anthropological and current biochemical requirements describe a mammal eating sources of vitamin C to survive (fruits and vegetables) and requiring meats as a source of B12. That much can be extrapolated from current human biology. In addition to that, folate or vitamin B9 can be acquired from greens or liver. The real observation that deserves noting isn't the particular foods they ate at any given time, but rather thier lifestyles.

Early Homo Sapiens were thought to have evolved some 200,000 years ago in Africa. The nature of the evolving species was one of nomadic movement. A family or band following foods and in search of better hunter/gatherer regions. The particular foods and sources of protein encountered by those moving bands as they migrated to different geograpic regions, changed over time. Indeed fishing became a means of finding food some 50,000 years ago in some regions. Most antropologists do find that early man focused on the geography around bodies of static or running water.

More after we eat some mammoth liver

WG

Paleolithic Diet

The Paleolithic Diet is an approach to diet and health that takes a few (large) steps back in time. To give it perspective, in geologic time the cenozoic era ranges from 65 million years to the present. Within the cenaozoic era a number of periods are distinct, namely and of relevance to this topic, the pleistocene. The pleistocene ranges from 1.8 million years to 10,000 years ago. A number of glaciations occured during that time; however the real planetary change came about as humans began to expand their numbers and range. The pleistocene saw an explosion of life in the interglacial periods with plants, insects, mollusks, mammals and birds flourishing. That explosion of life gave rise to the growing hominid population.

The Paleolithic Diet refers to the method of survival typifying homo sapiens which in essence was a hunter gatherer diet until agricultural methods were developed in the fertile crescent near the end of the pleistocene and the beginning of the holocene. The Paleolithic Diet then assumes that having evolved in the environment of a bounty of wild foods, our gastrointestinal systems are genetically adapted to consuming those hunter gatherer foods. The hypothesis extending from that observation is that optimal health might be achieved by eating those foods we evolved with. From there, how might that hypothesis really gain traction?

The first aspect of this diet that requires deeper consideration is a review of the foods commonly eaten by the hominid inhabitants of the globe in the pleistocene. To begin that investigation understand that the following time line is fairly well accepted in terms of evolution:

1. 2.8 million years ago: The appearance of stone tools

2. 1.5 million years ago: Controlled fire appeared

3. 200-300, 000 years ago: Cooking hearths

4. 100,000 years ago: Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal appeared

What difference does any of that time line make in the inferences regarding what a paleolithic diet consisted of. The big question is not WHAT was eaten, but rather HOW it was eaten. That is, was everything cooked or eaten raw? And considering the huge time span of what we consider "paleolithic" the early hominids may have eaten mostly raw foods, then later ancestors (having discovered the fire) began to cook foods.

More after you clean your room,

WG