DailyDirt: No Meatless Mondays For Cavemen…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Modern humans have all sorts of wacky diets that are probably slowly killing us in ways we don’t fully recognize, but that doesn’t mean we should all start eating the way people did thousands or millions of years ago, either. Drinking a “soylent green” all liquid or all processed diet doesn’t sound like an optimal solution, but if grown adults want to eat fancy baby food, let them try that experiment (and I’ll volunteer to be in the control group). If you want to know more about pre-historic meals, though, check out a few of these links.
- Early human ancestors ate meat which likely improved brain development, and there’s evidence of million-year-old butchery on bone fragments with cuts marks. Eating meat, even today, appears to have cognitive benefits for children — based on a controlled study of hundreds of school-aged kids in Kenya. A healthy diet doesn’t necessarily mean more meat is better, but there is evidence that no meat at all correlates with certain problems. [url]
- Using tools to cut raw meat probably allowed our early ancestors to spend less time chewing — and more time doing other things. Before anyone cooked anything, we needed larger jaw muscles and bigger teeth to eat a real paleo diet. [url]
- If you ever wondered why prehistoric people didn’t need to brush their teeth, the answer is that they ate different foods. Early humans ate more meat and not much in the way of grains and sugars, and the bacteria in our ancestors’ mouths were more friendly and less harmful than the mouth microbiomes of today. [url]
After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
Filed Under: ancestors, butchery, diet, early humans, food, health, meals, meat, microbiome, paleo diet, teeth
Comments on “DailyDirt: No Meatless Mondays For Cavemen…”
We Humans Were Born To Use Tools And Fire
We evolved to use tools and eat our food cooked. Without tools, we are weak and ineffectual. Raw meat is mostly indigestible, and raw vegetable matter cannot give us the nutrients we need.
So it is clear that it is ancestral species that learned the basics of tool use and how to exploit fire. The changes this brought about created our species.
“Using tools to cut raw meat probably allowed our early ancestors to spend less time chewing — and more time doing other things. “
Less time chewing, more time screwing. No wonder there are so many of us!
Re: Less time chewing, more time screwing.
Could that be why human sperm is of such low quality compared to that of other species?
I have heard it said that, if a man were a bull, he’d be shot.
Works for me!
22 years ago I changed careers from construction to engineering. I then proceeded to gain 60 lbs in about 7 years.
When I got fed up with the heartburn, sleep apnea, & feeling like crap all the time turned it around. At first all I did was walk at lunch & stay away from snacks & I lost 20 lbs in about a year. Then I stepped it up by getting a gym membership & going 3-4 times a week. No more white foods at that point, except cauliflower & I lost another 20.
That was it, I was stuck at that point. Varied +/-10 lbs but could not lose any more weight. Then I started the Paleo diet/lifestyle. Following it very loosely, cheating regularly, I was able to lose another 30 lbs. Plus I feel fantastic!
The Paleo Diet is the one that all the experts love to hate. NO GRAINS!?!?! It could be that the diet is rated so low is because most find it very hard to maintain. Some can’t stop the bread & pasta. But it works for me. Maybe because I was close to it before I started. Just meat, lots of vegetables, & fruit for me. I eat all I need, delicious meals, & I’m never hungry. The result of working out daily & eating well has made me in the best shape I’ve been since my early 20s.
Re: Works for me!
I was honestly expecting Techdirt page to quickly switch to those diet programs adverts with slim abs and smiling faces where you buy something and get something other because reasons and weight loss.
Ahem.
Re: Works for me!
Paleo is a great way of eating that’s hamstrung by bad marketing.
Best thing for naysayers to remember: It’s an eating framework, not a historical reenactment.
Paleo allows no processing of foods beyond cutting and cooking; there’s really no downside.
Chewing?
Because chewing is what keeps us from doing “other things”?
Folk science.