If you are a typical American you live on a diet of processed foods and inactivity. Unfortunately, this lifestyle is 100% antithetical to the optimal functioning of our bodies. The genes we carry in our DNA are the result of millions of years of adaptation and procreation. As our needs change we experience micro-evolution and alter our genes slightly from one generation to the next. The result has been a genetic structure that is highly evolved, extremely resilient, and has the potential for extraordinary health and fitness. However, between 5,000 to 10,000 years ago (an evolutionary drop in the bucket) we discovered farming and with that came twinkies. Currently, we collectively possess an arrogance that despite the millions of years of adaptation and micro-evolution, we believe that we can produce a healthier human fuel in a factory using the cheapest inputs, than what the earth provides. We get our health advice from certified and licensed USDA advocates who promote upside down pyramids and antiquated Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA). We have allowed the dairy industry to convince us that as adults we should drink another mammal's milk, meant for a calf, as our premier and, ostensibly, only source of calcium. We may even have been convinced that a processed wheat product is the breakfast of champions or that consuming a highly inflammatory combination of wheat and corn will reduce cholesterol because it is "Heart Healthy". Can someone please tell me what a nut cluster is?
"Well, all this nutritional technology must have been good for something?". I beg to differ. As the poster child for nutritional technology the United States is an embarrassing case study. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer incidences are rising. Whereas many developing countries are suffering from diseases of inadequate nutrition, we are suffering from diseases excess improper nutrition. We eat a lot of junk, and some of it even says "Healthy" right on the box. When native or traditional cultures adapt a Western food culture, they begin to see a rise in Western diseases as well.
"So smarty pants, how do we fix the problem?" A quick study of human anthropology shows us that hunter-gatherers were healthier than their farming ancestors. This can be studied through bones recovered from each of the 2 groups. When we ate food provided by the earth, that our DNA had millions of years to adapt to, we were healthiest. Would you advocate a processed cereal for Koala bears called, "Eucalyptus Bites" or should we just allow them to continue eating the leaves they have been eating since the beginning of their existence.
In conclusion, we live in a modern world with ice cream, and cup cakes, and granola bars. We can't eat 100% like hunter-gatherers; I understand that. We can, however, base the majority of our diet on the foods that the earth has created specifically for us that are lock and key with our nutritional requirements and therefore, produce optimal health. They are: Vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts, seeds, and plants, not to mention other complex celled organisms like seaweed and mushrooms. Some people call it the Paleo diet, I call it Real Food. Start small, do what you have to do, just get there. Let's keep it simple.
