Ancestral Diet... eating right for your origins

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  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I know what my grandparents ate. I wouldn't touch 70% of it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    auddii wrote: »
    stang02 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    stang02 wrote: »
    Well I know that 85% of Asians are lactose intolerant. I know my body feels different (digestive wise) when I eat indigenous foods as opposed to an American diet.

    Lactose intolerance is a real thing and we understand the genetic adaptations behind why some populations are better able to tolerate lactose than others. It doesn't follow that this applies to foods like rice. I regularly eat tropical fruits without a problem, foods my Irish ancestors probably never ate.

    There are other foods that I cannot tolerate, cows milk was only one example.

    So wouldn't a better suggestion be to identify foods that don't agree with you if you are having digestive issues? I guess I really don't understand jumping straight on the bandwagon of the guy that claims his mother died of cancer because she didn't eat like her grandparents.

    Also, this is weird because how your grandparents ate and how your ancestors ate over generations years before likely don't have much to do with each other.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I think the larger point is that many traditional foodways/indigenous diets DO tend to be healthier, overall, than the SAD

    I'll take exception to the occasional famine, which I'm happy to give up in these modern times. Also, I am fond of modern refrigeration, food safety, preservation, and hygiene. Until modern times, it was safer to drink the beer than the water.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Pandawdy wrote: »
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    It never ceases to amaze me how people can fall for the idea that an ideal diet comes from a time when the average life span was 30-ish years old.

    We now know that short life spans of the past had more to do with how numbers were figured. Infant mortality rates heavily influenced average life expectancy.

    Same question
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    Whitezombiegirl wrote: »
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    It never ceases to amaze me how people can fall for the idea that an ideal diet comes from a time when the average life span was 30-ish years old.

    Thats got very little to do with diet and more to do with lack of modern medicine e.g antibiotics. Also higher infant mortality alters the stats.

    Just so I'm clear...are you suggesting that diet has nothing to do with longer life spans?
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
    edited February 2016
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    puffbrat wrote: »
    The only true suggestion I have seen of ancestry affecting how we metabolize certain foods was the recent study regarding Inuits and omega-3 fatty acids (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/inuit-study-adds-twist-to-omega-3-fatty-acids-health-story.html). However, this study is talking about a relatively small group of people who have adapted to living in a very extreme environment. It also makes no sweeping statements about this type of evolution occurring in large populations and people living in more moderate climates with much greater access to a variety of foods.


    I was going to point to this article, too. More specifically:
    "Food is a powerful force in evolution. The more nutrients an animal can get, the more likely it is to survive and reproduce. Humans are no exception. When we encounter a new kind of food, natural selection may well favor those of us with genetic mutations that help us thrive on it.

    Some people, for example, are able to digest milk throughout their lives. This genetic adaptation arose in societies that domesticated cattle thousands of years ago, in such places as Northern Europe and East Africa. People who trace their ancestry to other regions, by contrast, tend to more often be lactose-intolerant."

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    I think the larger point is that many traditional foodways/indigenous diets DO tend to be healthier, overall, than the SAD

    I'll take exception to the occasional famine, which I'm happy to give up in these modern times. Also, I am fond of modern refrigeration, food safety, preservation, and hygiene. Until modern times, it was safer to drink the beer than the water.

    I was referring more to the foods/combinations of foods, but I agree. I wouldn't say that we are worse off for all the things that you mentioned -- they are real benefits.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,834 Member
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    I'm Irish so...please pass the whiskey B)
  • melonaulait
    melonaulait Posts: 769 Member
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    I think it's less to do with ancestry and more to do with the fact that... Carbs, veggies and fruit can be really good for you (+ easy on the body), and the more included in your diet might benefit you.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    puffbrat wrote: »
    My inner anthropologist REALLY hates these kinds of diets!

    There are a few isolated occurrences in which regional populations show a propensity for metabolizing certain specific foods differently. For instance a higher proportion of norther Europeans are lactose tolerant, but a study suggested this was related to factors other than historic consumption of dairy (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22643754).

    The only true suggestion I have seen of ancestry affecting how we metabolize certain foods was the recent study regarding Inuits and omega-3 fatty acids (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/inuit-study-adds-twist-to-omega-3-fatty-acids-health-story.html). However, this study is talking about a relatively small group of people who have adapted to living in a very extreme environment. It also makes no sweeping statements about this type of evolution occurring in large populations and people living in more moderate climates with much greater access to a variety of foods.

    I would like to conclude by agreeing with juggernaut that diet absolutely played a role in the lifespans of earlier humans and hominids. Their shorter lifespans compared to modern people resulted from a number of factors including different diet, not just access to modern medicine.

    It says the lactose tolerant genes migrated in because cattle farming wasn't big up there. Probably from places where it was common, like central Europe.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I keep envisioning the Syrian leaf soup.

    CX5tybXWwAIkLHS.jpg
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    melonaulait wrote: »
    I think it's less to do with ancestry and more to do with the fact that... Carbs, veggies and fruit can be really good for you (+ easy on the body), and the more included in your diet might benefit you.

    Veggies and fruits are not easy on my body. They cause major GI distress
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
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    As an Irish-Scottish-French-Scandinavian-Portuguese-American with some other mix in there, I am confused as to what alcohol I should be drinking. I must be intolerant to most of them because when I drink too much my body rejects it.

    Eh I'll stick with rum.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,671 Member
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    I don't know most of my background....what the heck am I supposed to eat? I feel so left out.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    People who are adopted are also SOL.
  • Veryana
    Veryana Posts: 122 Member
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    Salt, herring, salted herring, meat, salted meat, beer, blood in sausages, patties and flour dumplings, guts, rutabaga, peas...
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    My maternal grandmother: High in fat foods, sweet tea, typical fixin's of the Southern US.
    - Yeah, okay. I could do this. But she ended up with severe osteoporosis and curvature of the spine that nearly crippled her. Also, she died of heart disease, so maybe not.

    My maternal grandfather: Lots of liquor, steaks, and potatoes.
    - Died from liver failure, surprise, surprise. Um, no thanks.

    My paternal grandmother: Crazy. Only ate raw carrots and nibbled bologna in her final decade.
    - Nope.

    My paternal grandfather: Skinniest in the family. Ate only McDonald's and drank Ovaltine and Diet Coke.
    - Woohoo! This, I could do! Aaaand probably gain a 1/2 ton of weight.

    "Extended" family ancestors: Came from a mix of five or six different countries. Experienced war, famine, and drought and had to eat whatever they could find that would keep them living.
    - What would this even look like in a modern diet? I'm an American mutt.



    No, I'd rather eat a diet that makes me feel healthy, can aid me in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and gives me room for an occasional treat.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »
    I don't know most of my background....what the heck am I supposed to eat? I feel so left out.

    This thread should really come with an ad for those ancestry.com DNA tests. It seems like a perfect pairing.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »
    I don't know most of my background....what the heck am I supposed to eat? I feel so left out.

    Water only for you...
  • stang02
    stang02 Posts: 75 Member
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    I should have clarified in my OP by stating folks who are genetically homogeneous. :) And since I didn't, it invited a whole slew of other comments and confusion. lol
  • stang02
    stang02 Posts: 75 Member
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    And hilarity

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