This is an excellent point. However, back in those days most babies died early (makes sense since they didnt have medicine to help with complications at birth) but there were many people who lived well into their 60s and 70s. the people who died mostly died because of infection and accidents (this also makes sense. if they didnt have soap or penicillin there was no way of cleaning out a wound caused by hunting an animal if you step on a rock and it gets infected, you pretty much had no options to heal it and so many people died in this way). So the "average" life expectancy is lower though artificially so. See what i mean?
Paleo or Caveman Diet
- Thread starter NeverAmI
- Start date
This is an excellent point. However, back in those days most babies died early (makes sense since they didnt have medicine to help with complications at birth) but there were many people who lived well into their 60s and 70s. the people who died mostly died because of infection and accidents (this also makes sense. if they didnt have soap or penicillin there was no way of cleaning out a wound caused by hunting an animal if you step on a rock and it gets infected, you pretty much had no options to heal it and so many people died in this way). So the "average" life expectancy is lower though artificially so. See what i mean?
Keep in mind that while we don't have a perfect idea of what early man ate, we are pretty sure that fruit and nuts were a much bigger part of their diet than meat was. Hunter gatherer societies are always more gatherers than hunters.
Being a vegetarian and relying on a lot of whole grains and legumes for protein, there is no way this diet would work for me. Also, potatoes are my favorite food. 
Since I'm healthy, don't have any health problems, and can maintain an ideal weight, I don't currently at least have an impetus to change my eating habits. But just the fact that adhering to this diet 1) cuts out processed foods and 2) increases intake of fruits and vegetables makes it seem worthwhile. Very few people who are "dieting" actually incorporate those two things into their plan, which is so counterproductive.
Anyways, it's an interesting idea. If I weren't a vegetarian I might give it a try.
Since I'm healthy, don't have any health problems, and can maintain an ideal weight, I don't currently at least have an impetus to change my eating habits. But just the fact that adhering to this diet 1) cuts out processed foods and 2) increases intake of fruits and vegetables makes it seem worthwhile. Very few people who are "dieting" actually incorporate those two things into their plan, which is so counterproductive.Anyways, it's an interesting idea. If I weren't a vegetarian I might give it a try.
According to whom? Man didn't start fashioning stone weapons to kill vegetables. Anyway how do you explain what Eskimos ate? If you consider that the frozen tundra doesn't offer any vegetables, they had to hunt. Their diet was comprised of almost 100% meat. Anthropologists have studied these things and theyve found eskimos had incredibly low rates of almost every disease. Diabetes and heart disease were so rare. And thats because they were eating meat and no carbs.
To accurately emulate the caveman diet, you'd have to include long periods of starvation interspersed with days of serious gorging (like the time it takes from killing a mammoth until the meat rots).
Actually, our genes evolved to accommodate scarcity interrupted by short periods of abundance, albeit of limited variety. We are genetically programmed to gorge when food is available. That's why, with the current and continual abundance of cheap calories, so many people are overweight or obese. Without scarcity imposed by the environment, we pig out and balloon up.
Actually, our genes evolved to accommodate scarcity interrupted by short periods of abundance, albeit of limited variety. We are genetically programmed to gorge when food is available. That's why, with the current and continual abundance of cheap calories, so many people are overweight or obese. Without scarcity imposed by the environment, we pig out and balloon up.