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I've always appreciated Michael Pollan's essay (and books) on this subject. His advice can be summed up as "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." [1] In his b

I've always appreciated Michael Pollan's essay (and books) on this subject. His advice can be summed up as "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." [1] In his books he argues strongly against the nutritionist strategy of trying to separate out the healthy components of foods from the foods themselves. For example, I know many nutritionists who take vitamins, but Pollan points out when you take the Vitamin C without the orange we normally get it from, you loose all that dietary fiber. This is what he means by "eat food." Along these lines, while I have many quibbles with the paleo diet's recommendations, my biggest complain is calling it "paleo." The paleolithic era of human history lasted from 2.5 million years ago to 10,0000 years ago [2], when agriculture took over and we adapted to an entirely new diet. Almost nothing we eat today existed 3,000-10,000 years ago: corn was just grass, tomatoes were berries, lettuce was weeds, and all animal-food sources were free-range, tough to chew, and gamey in flavor. One of the starkest examples of this for me is the peach, which was mostly just a pit with no meat until generations of farmers spent 6,000 years turning it into the meaty succulent fruit we know today [3]. Our paleolithic ancestors spent all day nibbling on seeds, berries, various leaves, and insects trying to just stay alive; our agrarian ancestors transformed the Earth into the relative paradise of bountiful fruits, vegetables, and livestock that theologians would later attribute to gods. This said, I appreciate that this author is speaking out against the high-carb, high-sugar foodstuffs corporations are pouring into us by adding sugar and salt to EVERYTHING. The key quote in this essay is, "Recent data on these issues make me more comfortable today saying what not to eat." I think we all need to start pushing back as consumers against the sugar, salt, and simple carbohydrates the food manufacturers engineer into everything we eat to addict our brains and keep us coming back for more. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic [3] https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/artificial-vs-natural-peach/ https://jameskennedymonash.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/artifici...

legulere 11y ago
Sadly I can't cite a source, but I once read that farming didn't increase the lifespan or health, but actually greatly reduced it (note that we today have a totally different diet from the first days of farming). However it made an extremely higher population density possible. A real paleo diet would be so land consuming that it wouldn't be possible for more than a negligible fraction of today's population.
- dota_fanatic 11y ago
  Perhaps you're thinking of Jared Diamond's (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel) The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race? Which can be read here: http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html
_greim_ 11y ago
I've heard mixed things about salt. For example, look at the results in this Google search[1]. "Salt is obviously bad." "It's a myth, salt is probably fine." Etc. My takeaway has been that, as long as you don't have high blood pressure or some specific condition, the typical amount of salt in modern diets is fine. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=salt+in+diet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=salt+in+diet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf...
- noondip 11y ago
  > My takeaway has been that, as long as you don't have high blood pressure or some specific condition, the typical amount of salt in modern diets is fine. But, salt is exactly what raises blood pressure in the first place. Take a look at this - http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-evidence-that-salt-raises-blood-pressure/ http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-evidence-that-salt-raise...
DrScump 11y ago
<corn (maize) was just grass, tomatoes were berries> Actually, both were completely unknown to the Old World until brought from the new world, as were potatoes. ("Corn" was previously a generic term for edible grains.)

legulere 11y ago

Sadly I can't cite a source, but I once read that farming didn't increase the lifespan or health, but actually greatly reduced it (note that we today have a totally different diet from the first days of farming). However it made an extremely higher population density possible. A real paleo diet would be so land consuming that it wouldn't be possible for more than a negligible fraction of today's population.

dota_fanatic 11y ago
Perhaps you're thinking of Jared Diamond's (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel) The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race? Which can be read here: http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html

_greim_ 11y ago

I've heard mixed things about salt. For example, look at the results in this Google search[1]. "Salt is obviously bad." "It's a myth, salt is probably fine." Etc. My takeaway has been that, as long as you don't have high blood pressure or some specific condition, the typical amount of salt in modern diets is fine. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=salt+in+diet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=salt+in+diet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf...

noondip 11y ago
> My takeaway has been that, as long as you don't have high blood pressure or some specific condition, the typical amount of salt in modern diets is fine. But, salt is exactly what raises blood pressure in the first place. Take a look at this - http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-evidence-that-salt-raises-blood-pressure/ http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-evidence-that-salt-raise...

DrScump 11y ago

<corn (maize) was just grass, tomatoes were berries> Actually, both were completely unknown to the Old World until brought from the new world, as were potatoes. ("Corn" was previously a generic term for edible grains.)