Paleo diet: What should govern our approach to food?

INTRODUCTION

First of all I would like to define myself in a philosophy of life, a dietary style, a worldview. I’m going to label myself, before you do! So I will tell you a very well known story that happened about 2.5 million years ago. It is about the lifestyle that our ancestors followed, I will tell you about their habits, their physiological changes, their diet (Paleo diet)…

I think it is important to understand how the human organism works today, especially on a metabolic level but also on a morbid level.

Well, without further ado, let’s get started:

A long time ago, specifically in the Stone Age, a group of hominids appeared that we currently name Homo habilis, precisely their ability to create stone tools allowed them to increase the intake of animal products and curiously led to the development of the human brain. These hominids eventually evolved to form our current species, Homo sapiens, which appeared about 200,000 years ago near Ethiopia. [1]

This story about our origin also tells us that our ancestors were gatherers and hunters. Their diet was based on vegetables, tubers, portions of animal protein and occasionally the consumption of fruits.

These facts as told by the scientific literature raise some questions for me: Should our lifestyle be similar to that of our ancestors? Has our body managed to evolve genetically to adapt to the changes and manipulations of the edible products we have at our disposal today?

Many specialists in recent years have begun to ask these questions. But isn’t it more important what you think? What are your current beliefs? Are you prepared to question them?

In this post I’m going to give you some information, and if something really doesn’t fit you and you think it’s important, you can always go deeper.

The thing is:

• We have been carrying 99.6% of our evolution as a human species with a vegetarian diet.
  
  
• For our ancestors physical activity was vital to get food.
  
  
• The vital rhythms were adapted to the natural rhythms of light and seasons (important for hormonal health).
  
  
• They were adapted to periods of fasting (perhaps that is why fasting is therapeutic for us).
  
  
• Anthropologists argue that our ancestors’ diet had a significant influence on brain expansion, increased brain size, and reduced intestinal tract. [2]
  
  
• The last 200 years have seen the revolution of the industrial age, providing us with processed and ultra-processed food. With the consequent increase in chronic diseases. [2]

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I believe that we should pay attention to what our own common sense dictates, although we still do not have quality scientific systematic reviews on this subject, many times we do not need this type of confirmation to apply changes in our daily life. So why wait if we can experiment, we are already test tubes of the current industrial system, why don’t we choose what our lifestyle should be? I have already decided… What is your choice?

I don’t intend to go much further, I will probably publish related content later.

In case you want more information I have attached links about the promoter of the paleo diet concept and where I have obtained the content.

Example of the diet of our ancestors

Links of interest:

https://thepalodiet.com/palo-diet-faq/ [1]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482457/ [2]

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/81/2/341/4607411

https://felixmora.com/en/bone-broth-recipe-very-easy/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1559480/