4 ms·

More paleo-carnivore rubbish?

npsimons 5y ago
> More paleo-carnivore rubbish? Probably. It always amuses me that people automatically associate "paleo" with "eating mammoths every day", when a simple glance to other primates shows a heavily plant-based diet, on top of which, how many mammoths do they think our ancient ancestors were killing? Even well into the 20th century, meat was not an everyday food, and it's completely unnecessary (some argue harmful) to the human diet. Books like "How Not to Die" opened my eyes.
- zamalek 5y ago
  > Even well into the 20th century, meat was not an everyday food Centuries always sound so long, just to make your point very clear: there are living humans who ate meat as a treat during childhood. That's basically the approach my wife and I are taking: 95% plant-based. We have meat maybe twice a month (as a treat). Not only do we feel healthier, it's also so cheap.
  - npsimons 5y ago
    > Not only do we feel healthier, it's also so cheap. Better for the environment too.
- alphanumeric0 5y ago
  If you read the article the man went several days without meat in the tundra. I'd imagine there are very few plants to gather in the winter.
kubb 5y ago
Looks like it, but it's dressed up in so much filler that it's hard to tell. Probably targeting the insecure modern man.
helpfulmandrill 5y ago
Its not that I think an ancestral perspective is a bad one. Its just that: - existing hunter-gatherers have a bewildering array of different diets, many of them high in carbs and vegetation. - wild meat is very different from farmed meat (yes, even grass-fed beef) - it has way less saturated fat, to begin with. - When do you stop the clock on evolution? My ancestors were almost certainly peasants. Probably so were yours. So while they weren't eating modern ultra-processed food, they were probably eating closer to a whole-foods based vegan/vegetarian diet on a daily basis, with meat on special occasions - for thousands of years. My pet theory is that, to the extent that Paleo, Low Carb, but also Whole Foods Vegan diets work, its because they all cut out ultra-processed foods. However, to the extent that sellers of ultra-processed foods can catch up and start selling you processed keto foods etc., these diets will stop working.
- alphanumeric0 5y ago
  Evolution works on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years. The fact that our ancestors were peasants a 1000 years ago doesn't change most of our evolutionary makeup (maybe lactose tolerance).
  - helpfulmandrill 5y ago
    Tell that to the tuskless elephants that appear to be evolving now...
5cott0 5y ago
the diet of the future is disordered eating
dkarl 5y ago
This excerpt doesn't even get to the solutions. It's just a hook: if you enjoy reading about extreme bushcrafting, this might be the diet book for you. More charitably, it sounds like one person's journey to solving his problems with food, written up in the belief that other people's problems are similar enough that they might benefit from what he learned. It sounds like his solutions are pretty specific to his issues, but with 9 billion people on the planet, who knows. I think one good message that can be taken is that many people have extremely narrow ideas about normal, healthy eating, and the possible healthy solutions for them might be far outside what they think is normal. Anything they trust that gives them the courage to experiment (whether it's new-agey woo, moral purity, cultural tradition, masculine primitivism, or whatever) can help them get out of their rut and maybe find something that works for them.
boatsie 5y ago
I don’t know what the optimal diet is, but the status quo ain’t it. Obesity and diabetes are growing uncontrollably. Would love to see a modern well done study that provides all food (cost/compliance is the main issue with most studies) and multiple diets, the government should pay for this as it’s really an epidemic.

> More paleo-carnivore rubbish? Probably. It always amuses me that people automatically associate "paleo" with "eating mammoths every day", when a simple glance to other primates shows a heavily plant-based diet, on top of which, how many mammoths do they think our ancient ancestors were killing? Even well into the 20th century, meat was not an everyday food, and it's completely unnecessary (some argue harmful) to the human diet. Books like "How Not to Die" opened my eyes.

zamalek 5y ago
> Even well into the 20th century, meat was not an everyday food Centuries always sound so long, just to make your point very clear: there are living humans who ate meat as a treat during childhood. That's basically the approach my wife and I are taking: 95% plant-based. We have meat maybe twice a month (as a treat). Not only do we feel healthier, it's also so cheap.
- npsimons 5y ago
  > Not only do we feel healthier, it's also so cheap. Better for the environment too.
alphanumeric0 5y ago
If you read the article the man went several days without meat in the tundra. I'd imagine there are very few plants to gather in the winter.

kubb 5y ago

Looks like it, but it's dressed up in so much filler that it's hard to tell. Probably targeting the insecure modern man.

helpfulmandrill 5y ago

Its not that I think an ancestral perspective is a bad one. Its just that: - existing hunter-gatherers have a bewildering array of different diets, many of them high in carbs and vegetation. - wild meat is very different from farmed meat (yes, even grass-fed beef) - it has way less saturated fat, to begin with. - When do you stop the clock on evolution? My ancestors were almost certainly peasants. Probably so were yours. So while they weren't eating modern ultra-processed food, they were probably eating closer to a whole-foods based vegan/vegetarian diet on a daily basis, with meat on special occasions - for thousands of years. My pet theory is that, to the extent that Paleo, Low Carb, but also Whole Foods Vegan diets work, its because they all cut out ultra-processed foods. However, to the extent that sellers of ultra-processed foods can catch up and start selling you processed keto foods etc., these diets will stop working.

alphanumeric0 5y ago
Evolution works on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years. The fact that our ancestors were peasants a 1000 years ago doesn't change most of our evolutionary makeup (maybe lactose tolerance).
- helpfulmandrill 5y ago
  Tell that to the tuskless elephants that appear to be evolving now...

5cott0 5y ago

the diet of the future is disordered eating

dkarl 5y ago

This excerpt doesn't even get to the solutions. It's just a hook: if you enjoy reading about extreme bushcrafting, this might be the diet book for you. More charitably, it sounds like one person's journey to solving his problems with food, written up in the belief that other people's problems are similar enough that they might benefit from what he learned. It sounds like his solutions are pretty specific to his issues, but with 9 billion people on the planet, who knows. I think one good message that can be taken is that many people have extremely narrow ideas about normal, healthy eating, and the possible healthy solutions for them might be far outside what they think is normal. Anything they trust that gives them the courage to experiment (whether it's new-agey woo, moral purity, cultural tradition, masculine primitivism, or whatever) can help them get out of their rut and maybe find something that works for them.

boatsie 5y ago

I don’t know what the optimal diet is, but the status quo ain’t it. Obesity and diabetes are growing uncontrollably. Would love to see a modern well done study that provides all food (cost/compliance is the main issue with most studies) and multiple diets, the government should pay for this as it’s really an epidemic.