>However, several people have also
>pointed out that a low carbohydrate diet is how our distant ancestors
>ate as well as many cultures in present day.
For most of "human" evolution, beginning with the bipedal Australopithecines
more than 4 million years ago, through Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo
sapiens neanderthalensis and up to Homo sapiens sapiens (you and me), until
about 6-7,000 years ago in some parts of the world, when domestication of
plants and animals began -- people were hunters and gatherers. Most of the
food, about 70%, came from the foods gathered by the women, about 30% from
food hunted by men (women sometimes hunted, men sometimes gathered). People
usually ate a wide variety of different foods every day, most of them plant
foods, such as roots, seeds, nuts, fruits, grasses, etc. They had small
amounts of animal protein, mostly in the form of birds' eggs, insects,
snakes, toads, lizards -- small things that the women gathered along with
the plant foods. Occasionally, the men would kill or scavenge a larger
animal. Complex carbohydrates formed the bulk of the diet. A good source
to read about this is Dr. Boyd Eaton's (MD) book "The Paleolithic
Prescription."
With the domestication of animals, animal meat and milk and blood became
more regular components of the diet. With the domestication of crops,
simple carbohydrates such as the cereal crops corn, wheat, and millet and
the root crops taro and manioc, became the staple in some parts of the
world. Only with the industrial revolution do you find populations
subsisting largely on highly refined cereal flours -- white bread.
There are some populations, such as the native Inuits of Alaska and Canada,
who subsisted traditionally on a largely meat diet.
Remember that the amount of physical work you do is equally important to
your diet in determining whether your intake meets your needs.
Off to Las Vegas -- wish me luck on the .25 slot machines.
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html
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