4 ms·

Keto diets have most definitely not been around long enough for anyone's bodies to evolve to follow them. That takes many thousands of years.

narag 6y ago
The diet of primitive humans was more similar to keto than to current developed country diets and it was in place for hundreds of thousands of years. The first big change was from agricultural civilizations in neolithic, less than ten thousands year ago. Current diet is at most a hundred years old. And specifically the diet that is causing so many problems is only fifty years old.
- rantwasp 6y ago
  primitive humans also lived 20-30 years tops. today at 20 you can eat whatever you want and you’ll mostly be fine short term. i’m tired of people justifying their life choices by what primitive humans were doing. we’re not primitive humans.
  - phonypc 6y ago
    Life expectancy may have been that low, but overwhelmingly due to infant mortality. It's not like primitive humans were dying of old age in their 20s.
    - rantwasp 6y ago
      not in their 20s but definitely not in their 80s like today. if you reached 50s you were a boss. a lot of things that we consider routine to fix today would have ended your life (broken leg/hand, infections, severe diarrhea, etc). We really under-appreciate how many things we have as tools to expand our lifespan today.
      - Aaronstotle 6y ago
        Considering that soldiers in Ancient Greece could only retire after 30 years of service, I think it's fair to say there were plenty of 80 year old "primitive" humans.
        phonypc 6y ago
        I think we're talking prehistory, pre-agriculture here.
        rantwasp 6y ago
        that what i also though. at least 10000 years ago if not more
      - phonypc 6y ago
        From what I remember, it was more like if you made it past adolescence, making it to 50 was about normal. All kind of beside the point; you seemingly rejected the relevance of the primitive human diet based on their life expectancy. I don't think that follows.
- firethief 6y ago
  Typical diets these days are pretty bad. But few, if any, societies of anatomically modern humans have lived under conditions where they would almost always be in ketosis, so evolutionary history doesn't provide a reason to think that we are best adapted to that being our normal state.
eebynight 6y ago
Why would our bodies need to evolve to follow them when the mechanisms are already built-in? Our body already contains the necessary pathways, enzymes and processes to switchover to utilizing fat as fuel. We quite literally evolved to do this... That being said, I think this adaption was more of an energy conservation mode for when food was scarce rather than our ancestors intentionally eating in a ketogenic compatible manner.
- firethief 6y ago
  > That being said, I think this adaption was more of an energy conservation mode for when food was scarce rather than our ancestors intentionally eating in a ketogenic compatible manner. Yeah, that's the point I was trying to make. I am aware that humans have the capability of surviving on a ketogenic diet, but that doesn't support the argument I was replying to that following such a diet is what we evolved to do.

narag 6y ago

The diet of primitive humans was more similar to keto than to current developed country diets and it was in place for hundreds of thousands of years. The first big change was from agricultural civilizations in neolithic, less than ten thousands year ago. Current diet is at most a hundred years old. And specifically the diet that is causing so many problems is only fifty years old.

rantwasp 6y ago
primitive humans also lived 20-30 years tops. today at 20 you can eat whatever you want and you’ll mostly be fine short term. i’m tired of people justifying their life choices by what primitive humans were doing. we’re not primitive humans.
- phonypc 6y ago
  Life expectancy may have been that low, but overwhelmingly due to infant mortality. It's not like primitive humans were dying of old age in their 20s.
  - rantwasp 6y ago
    not in their 20s but definitely not in their 80s like today. if you reached 50s you were a boss. a lot of things that we consider routine to fix today would have ended your life (broken leg/hand, infections, severe diarrhea, etc). We really under-appreciate how many things we have as tools to expand our lifespan today.
    - Aaronstotle 6y ago
      Considering that soldiers in Ancient Greece could only retire after 30 years of service, I think it's fair to say there were plenty of 80 year old "primitive" humans.
      - phonypc 6y ago
        I think we're talking prehistory, pre-agriculture here.
        rantwasp 6y ago
        that what i also though. at least 10000 years ago if not more
    - phonypc 6y ago
      From what I remember, it was more like if you made it past adolescence, making it to 50 was about normal. All kind of beside the point; you seemingly rejected the relevance of the primitive human diet based on their life expectancy. I don't think that follows.
firethief 6y ago
Typical diets these days are pretty bad. But few, if any, societies of anatomically modern humans have lived under conditions where they would almost always be in ketosis, so evolutionary history doesn't provide a reason to think that we are best adapted to that being our normal state.

eebynight 6y ago

Why would our bodies need to evolve to follow them when the mechanisms are already built-in? Our body already contains the necessary pathways, enzymes and processes to switchover to utilizing fat as fuel. We quite literally evolved to do this... That being said, I think this adaption was more of an energy conservation mode for when food was scarce rather than our ancestors intentionally eating in a ketogenic compatible manner.

firethief 6y ago
> That being said, I think this adaption was more of an energy conservation mode for when food was scarce rather than our ancestors intentionally eating in a ketogenic compatible manner. Yeah, that's the point I was trying to make. I am aware that humans have the capability of surviving on a ketogenic diet, but that doesn't support the argument I was replying to that following such a diet is what we evolved to do.