Ancestral Diet... eating right for your origins

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stang02
stang02 Posts: 75 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
http://www.macleans.ca/society/health/eat-like-your-grandma-why-you-should-skip-the-kale-salad/

I have found this to be pretty true (in my case). I am a 1st Gen Asian born in America. All the "diet experts" kept touting about how "bad" white rice is, however I can probably for a fact trace back the consumption of rice back many many many generations. My genes (and enzymes) are tailored for it. So despite these experts, I continue to eat with no problem. My body, however, rejects dairy (cows milk), since it was never part of my family ancestry. I do love ice cream though and am willing to suffer for it on occasion. :)

Anyway, thought this was an interesting read. I hope to purchase one of the two books mentioned to get more insight. CHEERS!
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Replies

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    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.
  • HutchA12
    HutchA12 Posts: 279 Member
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    Looked at it. Couldn't finish it. The idea of your body only works with food our families used to eat makes no sense. All the crops we grow and crossbreed are very different from what they used to be. I don't eat anything like my parents or grandparents and so on. The Calories still work as intended.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    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.

    What about her specific points about rice and dairy?
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
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    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.

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Just because some 'experts' say white rice (or white anything) is 'bad' does not make it so. And many people have some degree milk intolerance. Its not exactly natural for humans to drink milk meant for baby cows. We do it anyhow, and some of us suffer the consequences willingly!
    kshama2001 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.

    What about her specific points about rice and dairy?

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    kshama2001 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.

    What about her specific points about rice and dairy?

    I have no doubt some people find that they have intolerances to certain types of food.
  • HutchA12
    HutchA12 Posts: 279 Member
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    kshama2001 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.

    What about her specific points about rice and dairy?

    Like what? The ability to breakdown lactose is genetic and was bred into people. It's a mutation. I eat white rice a lot, not asian, not dead. EVEN if you can't process a food you will use the calories from the one she eats. I bet she can eat bananas, stawberries, corn just fine and they work just like they do for everyone.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    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?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Well, if that's true it's oatmeal all the way for me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    The rice one seems questionable. I have no reason to think that rice was commonly consumed by my ancestors, and yet I have no issues with it -- and any diet experts claiming that white rice is inherently bad for a diet are just wrong. What's more common is that people need to adjust to foods, but the changes needed to do that can be developed in a short person of time. Matt Fitzgerald talks about that in Diet Cults -- Lewis and Clark and those in their party being unable to eat some foods they ran into for the first time on their journey west and then having adjusted by the time they were returning. You also see this with people moving to countries with very different diets and being exposed to lots of foods for the first time.

    With lactose, of course it's true that some have the genetic mutation to be lactose tolerant into adulthood and some do not, and with people from cultures where dairy has been part of the diet for a long time (like northern and western Europe) it's extremely uncommon for people to be lactose intolerant (and I do suspect this is why dairy has never bothered me), whereas for people from areas where dairy was not common lactose intolerant is much more prevalent. You can plot this on a map, I believe there's a distinct difference between northern and southern India, for example.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    I hope this means that if I have German heritage, I can drink more beer!
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
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    Just enough truth for people to let their guards down and Believe the woo woo
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited February 2016
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    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.

    Fewer vegetables, more grubs.
  • stang02
    stang02 Posts: 75 Member
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    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.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    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.
  • stang02
    stang02 Posts: 75 Member
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    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.

    Well, this isn't just speaking about only the "average life span of 30-ish" ancestors, this is not about that Paleo stuff at all. Both my grandmothers lived to their late 90's. I'm speaking of the diets THEY eat, and how genetically things are passed down generationally (if that's a word). ;)
  • Veryana
    Veryana Posts: 122 Member
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    So my ancestors ate bread made from flours and ground phloem during long famines... Does this mean I should have a log for my breakfast? :D
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    stang02 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.

    Well, this isn't just speaking about only the "average life span of 30-ish" ancestors, this is not about that Paleo stuff at all. Both my grandmothers lived to their late 90's. I'm speaking of the diets THEY eat, and how genetically things are passed down generationally (if that's a word). ;)

    So what happens if your grandfather died at the age of 50? Are you SOL? COOKIES FOR ME!! Or something.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    I hope this means that if I have German heritage, I can drink more beer!

    Sounds like how it works. I get tequila, tacos, chocolate and french fries, yay!
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
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    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.

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