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MyFitnessPal Community

Ancestral Diet... eating right for your origins

stang02

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!

Replies

juggernaut1974

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

auddii

stang02 wrote: »

And hilarity

Just consider all the laughing as bonus calories burned.

Veryana

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

Nope, no such thing.

HutchA12

stang02 wrote: »

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

Still amounts to about zero on whether this diet is more than bunk. That's why we are all having a good time with it.

stang02

Veryana wrote: »

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

Nope, no such thing.

Actually there is, in parts of Asia, Africa, far north America, and South America. Homogeneous when it comes to genetics means common/similar, not exact (which I am assuming is what you are thinking).

stang02

HutchA12 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Still amounts to about zero on whether this diet is more than bunk. That's why we are all having a good time with it.

I enjoy the discussion!

I LOVE that I can come here and inquire, so folks can debunk the junk! (I did like the info and research puffbrat added to the conversation.) There's too much info overload nowadays.

sunnybeaches105

stang02 wrote: »

Veryana wrote: »

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

Nope, no such thing.

Actually there is, in parts of Asia, Africa, far north America, and South America. Homogeneous when it comes to genetics means common/similar, not exact (which I am assuming is what you are thinking).

Twins are . . .

auddii

sunnybeaches105 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

Veryana wrote: »

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

Nope, no such thing.

Actually there is, in parts of Asia, Africa, far north America, and South America. Homogeneous when it comes to genetics means common/similar, not exact (which I am assuming is what you are thinking).

Twins are . . .

Except that they've found more genetic commonalities between people of different "races" than those of the same "race". Which makes the term race kind of pointless.

trjjoy

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.

melonaulait

singingflutelady wrote: »

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

Of course that's different. A co-worker of my friend's has Crohn's and I've heard a lot about it, and another friend of mine has bad allergic reactions from almost everything except meat. That kind of conditions require specific diets, don't they..

aeviescas

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

The severely inbred?

stevencloser

trjjoy 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.

+1

Long periods of not getting enough food and the food they did get not being terribly nutritious and diverse sure didn't help.

Verdenal

stang02 wrote: »

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!

There may be some truth to the value of one's ancestry being considered in eating decisions, but habits also are important. Even though you're American, maybe your parents passed on the habit of eating rice in moderation: all the portions in America are two and three times what they should be. I wonder if restaurants in Asia that serve Asian cuisine pile on as much rice as in the average American Asian restaurant. Rice is cheap and fills people up, which is why restaurants like it. The average Asian person in Asia may also be more active than the average American of whatever origins. The more active, the more easily you can burn off those carbs.

Don't forget that many immigrants who come from cultures with relatively healthy and trim people like the Asian countries sometimes become overweight or develop disorders associated with Western diets. There have been studies of what happens when people go from eating mainly fish and meat as a side dish go to eating huge slabs of red meat several times of week.

Finally, increasing numbers of people, especially in America, have mixed ancestry. Therefore, trial-and-error seems to be what's called for.

juggernaut1974

trjjoy 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.

+1

Well...since the first two people didn't answer, I might as well go for the trifecta. I'll repeat:

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

Just so I'm clear...are you suggesting that diet has nothing to do with longer life spans?

Verdenal

auddii wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

I am a polish jew-does that mean I get to eat tons of bagels and cream cheese? (In all seriousness, I hope I don't have to eat like my grandma, I really don't like whitefish salad or pickled herring).

Gefilte fish?

Apparently there's artisanal, gourmet gefilte fish now which is much tastier. I like picked herring, at least the kind we buy at the store, which is preserved with white wine. I draw the line at chicken liver. When I was a kid my (non-Jewish) grandmother made it often and I liked it, but now I don't know what I was thinking.

I have some relatives who live in Minnesota and I like to joke about lutefisk, which apparently is disgusting no matter what you do it. Maybe one day I'll have some, with a side of haggis.

blues4miles

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

So you should eat people's souls...

puffbrat wrote: »

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).

Descended from a bunch of northern European farmers. Still ended up with lactose intolerance. Not gonna eat lactose just because my European ancestors did, or because my grandparents had nor problem tolerating it.

If I ate as much as my Grandma, I'd probably weigh 200 lbs more. Actually she died morbidly obese, maybe because she couldn't cope with the shift from working on a farm as a child to a sedentary adulthood in a much more suburban environment. My farmer relatives worked their a--'s off for long days, day after day. My great-grandfather lost two sisters who were in their 20s to the 1918 flu. There are a lot of bad flus rolling around still and you don't hear about too many people in their 20s dying to it who don't have severe immune system issues. I'll take my modern medicine, preserved food, uncontaminated water so I don't have to drink alcohol all day, refrigeration so not ALL my meat HAS to be covered in salt, and access to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that otherwise wouldn't make it to me most of the year.

Also please don't make me eat lutefisk.

sunnybeaches105

auddii wrote: »

sunnybeaches105 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

Veryana wrote: »

juggernaut1974 wrote: »

stang02 wrote: »

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

Is that even a thing?? Even little ol' me is part slytherin.

Nope, no such thing.

Actually there is, in parts of Asia, Africa, far north America, and South America. Homogeneous when it comes to genetics means common/similar, not exact (which I am assuming is what you are thinking).

Twins are . . .

Except that they've found more genetic commonalities between people of different "races" than those of the same "race". Which makes the term race kind of pointless.

The real question is whether it's cultural appropriation to eat food that doesn't come from your ancestral background . . .

unknown

This content has been removed.

senecarr

stang02 wrote: »

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!

Being Asian means you have a lower chance of having lactase persistance, and in increased chance of extra copies of amylase for breaking down certain starches. Your body doesn't reject cow's milk, your microvilli just don't produce as much lactase as some and the slack is picked up by intestinal bacteria. You can just take lactaid if you really like milk. It amounts to the same effect. Some Asians - about 10% - do have lactase persistence. Anyone of any ancestry will increase lactase as their diet increases lactose.
Plenty of caucasian have extra amalyse genes. They're fine with rice. Really, as the milling removes proteins, it is brown rice that would be more likely to cause intolerance.

Maxematics

So what are you supposed to eat when you're a hybrid of races? :'(

senecarr

synacious wrote: »

So what are you supposed to eat when you're a hybrid of races? :'(

Heinz 57.

TheBeachgod

This makes about as much sense as the blood type diet.

Which would be, none. None sense at all.

senecarr

TheBeachgod wrote: »

This makes about as much sense as the blood type diet.

Which would be, none. None sense at all.

Diet? I'd settle for having my attitude match my blood type (B+).

Maxematics

senecarr wrote: »

synacious wrote: »

So what are you supposed to eat when you're a hybrid of races? :'(

Heinz 57.

Makes sense! I feel like the ketchup diet is probably already a thing for someone somewhere out there.

senecarr

synacious wrote: »

senecarr wrote: »

synacious wrote: »

So what are you supposed to eat when you're a hybrid of races? :'(

Heinz 57.

Makes sense! I feel like the ketchup diet is probably already a thing for someone somewhere out there.

The 57 in Heinz is for 57 varieties of products. My father referred to our mixed European ancestry as being a Heinz 57, or mutt if being a little less polite. So maybe eat mutts with ketchup? I think that's banned in most states.

zoeysasha37

TheBeachgod wrote: »

This makes about as much sense as the blood type diet.

Which would be, none. None sense at all.

Qft

People love to take small bits of fact and twist them into ridiculousness!

VintageFeline

WhatMeRunning wrote: »

I'm Scotch-Irish. So potatoes, haggis, whiskey, beer and I am good to go apparently.

I'm suspicious of this, no Scot would refer to themselves as a drink...........

As an aside, I'm Scottish/English/Irish and possible Welsh. Let's just call it British and probably some Viking and other Europeans if we go far enough back. My see through pale skin suggests mostly British though. So beer, whisky, pastry, meat, deep fried everything, potatoes and clooty dumpling. Seems legit.

auddii

Mister_Ladyfingers wrote: »

This makes me feel bad for people born into cannibal tribes.

Well I mean...I guess if it's got like....a missionary's foot in or something, then hey

Prion diseases could always take care of that.

VintageFeline

Verdenal wrote: »

auddii wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

I am a polish jew-does that mean I get to eat tons of bagels and cream cheese? (In all seriousness, I hope I don't have to eat like my grandma, I really don't like whitefish salad or pickled herring).

Gefilte fish?

Apparently there's artisanal, gourmet gefilte fish now which is much tastier. I like picked herring, at least the kind we buy at the store, which is preserved with white wine. I draw the line at chicken liver. When I was a kid my (non-Jewish) grandmother made it often and I liked it, but now I don't know what I was thinking.

I have some relatives who live in Minnesota and I like to joke about lutefisk, which apparently is disgusting no matter what you do it. Maybe one day I'll have some, with a side of haggis.

I'll have you know haggis is delicious!

Another thought. On the fried foods thing. I like it but man does my tummy not enjoy it very much. I still eat it now and then because fish and chips and fried chicken but I suffer for it. No adaptation there.

auddii

VintageFeline wrote: »

Verdenal wrote: »

auddii wrote: »

questionfear wrote: »

I am a polish jew-does that mean I get to eat tons of bagels and cream cheese? (In all seriousness, I hope I don't have to eat like my grandma, I really don't like whitefish salad or pickled herring).

Gefilte fish?

Apparently there's artisanal, gourmet gefilte fish now which is much tastier. I like picked herring, at least the kind we buy at the store, which is preserved with white wine. I draw the line at chicken liver. When I was a kid my (non-Jewish) grandmother made it often and I liked it, but now I don't know what I was thinking.

I have some relatives who live in Minnesota and I like to joke about lutefisk, which apparently is disgusting no matter what you do it. Maybe one day I'll have some, with a side of haggis.

I'll have you know haggis is delicious!

Another thought. On the fried foods thing. I like it but man does my tummy not enjoy it very much. I still eat it now and then because fish and chips and fried chicken but I suffer for it. No adaptation there.

It really is.