Some feel the cause of (and the solution to)  the rising rates of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and possibly other chronic medical conditions is based on the current Western diet.  The idea of being more healthy by eating foods similar to what our ancestors ate is known as the Paleolithic Diet.

Jack Challem wrote an article in his publication, The Nutrition Reporter (September 1998, Vol 9, No 9) and explained of the basic principles of the Paleolithic diet.

Click here to read the entire review.

The main point is that the foods we eat today are very different from what our ancestors ate.  Why does this matter?  Maybe it doesn’t.  But current research and a growing number of nutritional theorists support the notion that there is valuable information to be gained from study pre-historic diets. 

The basic composition of food can be divided into three groups: proteins, fats and carbohydrates.  This has not changed throughout history.  Each has its own unique set of biochemical pathways that is used to convert food into energy and basic building blocks that we can use.

S. Boyd Eaton, M.D. has researched these ideas and believes that 99.99% of our genetic make-up is identical to that of humans living 10,000 years ago.  So there has been very little change in the most basic make up of our bodily structure.  Also, there is been minimal change in the way our bodies use food.  This research would indicate that biochemical pathways of nutrition are the same today as they were 10,000 or more years ago.

As Johnny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S. eloquently notes:

            In other words, farming and technology have
            evolved a lot faster than our bodies.

Click below to read more about how our bodies use the food we eat.

Foods and the Body

Og the Neanderthal by Richard Wilson
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