Why "primal" and not 19th century? page 2

[eKatherine]

I completely disagree. As someone who is Celiac, I don't find food stressful at all. It's an absolute. I can have this, not that, period. A lot of people who are Paleo for the health benefits have the same attitude. It's what you make it.

I agree. There are plenty of foods on my "these are the foods I eat" list. Foods I no longer eat aren't on my mind.

Think of how stressful it must be for people stuck on the SAD to go someplace strange not knowing whether there'll be a McDonalds or Pizza Hut to eat at.

[RitaRose]

I have problems with people telling me what to do.

To the point where you ignore intelligent, well researched advice? That seems counterproductive, like you're a slave to making sure you don't do what people say, as opposed to those who do everything people say. I don't see much difference. I just do what I think seems reasonable and intelligent.

If you find yourself combing over ingredients, avoiding social activities at restaurants, etc; odds are you're not as stress-free as you think.

Agree. But I honestly don't think that's the norm here. There will always be people that take things to an extreme, but it's just the outliers.

[Zach]

19th century diet an lifestyle is a great way to model your life. One of my heros, Arthur Saxon had a great impact on my current way of living. One of the strongest men to ever life, well before the steroid age.

Basically daily calistenics and weight training, lots of walking and outdoors life, tons of great food and keeping stress to a bare minimum. Trying to kick the electronics habit too but coming here and arguing over carbs is just so much fun.

[Derpamix]

To the point where you ignore intelligent, well researched advice? That seems counterproductive, like you're a slave to making sure you don't do what people say, as opposed to those who do everything people say. I don't see much difference. I just do what I think seems reasonable and intelligent.

I don't ignore it, the exact opposite in fact. I just actively oppose all things that I think are wrong. Nothing I've read scrutinizing carbohydrates is anything of what you said, it's actually just like the experiment done to show the essentiality of unsaturated fats, whole grains being heart healthy, the entire depression chemical imbalance myth, and even tobacco being bad for you.

Most of my free time is spent trying to further my knowledge of all things, but there is rarely any of what you said.

And if you don't think that's the normal behavior here, please go and search for anything using the keyword "carb" and see how many hits you come up with. Or, worse, sugar.

[j3nn]

The biggest problem with online communities like this is when factoids replace facts. It's wise to ignore the pseudoscience and fear-mongering in favor of reason and stress-free choices. I think most diet protocols involve too much overanalyzation, especially when its creator has a marketing agenda and needs to keep followers on the hook.

[Derpamix]

Agree. I question all advice given to me by anyone selling a product, and analyze their way of writing to dissect if they have a particular agenda. Beyond that, I'll look for ways they cherry-pick studies in order to bolster their theory. Such as Gary Taubes is famous for, Lustig too. Everything a person does can reveal their intentions, even without seeing their face.

[Cryptocode]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this is a silly question but everything I read states that the obesity epedemic in the US is a product of the late 20th century. If so, then why do we have to go all the way back to cave man days? Why not model a diet on what our great grandparents would have eaten? I assume that data would be more available? I'm really curious about why there is so little discussion about recreating a 19th century or turn of the century diet?

Thanks all. This is a great site!

-Jodie

Because, as the Primal Blueprint explains, hunter-gatherers (if they didn't die of accidents) had a longer life span and were healthier than your grandparents. Your grandparents were part of an agricultural lifestyle (certainly much healthier than ours). When humans became agriculturalists their brains and bodies shrank. This can clearly be seen in the Massai of the 20th century who were not agriculturalists, were tall, lean, healthier and stronger than we are, and lived longer.

[j3nn]

Indeed. Individual biases and prejudices are also detrimental to acknowledging and relaying truth.

[0Angel0]

Hi everyone,
I'm sorry if this is a silly question but everything I read states that the obesity epedemic in the US is a product of the late 20th century. If so, then why do we have to go all the way back to cave man days? Why not model a diet on what our great grandparents would have eaten? I assume that data would be more available? I'm really curious about why there is so little discussion about recreating a 19th century or turn of the century diet?

I think a turn of the century diet is a good place to start but you also have to take into consideration that diseases of civilization were present long before then. There is also compelling evidence by comparing the dental health and skeletal structures of hunter gatherers vs farmers to indicate that a grain based diet isn't optimal. I mean if an archaeologist can look at bones and tell which one ate which diet I'm going to eat the diet that resulted in healthier bones.

If you're not Celiac then eating some grains here or there isn't going to kill you. You just have to ask yourself if this is the healthiest thing for me and if this food is taking up a spot on your plate for foods that are healthier. Depending on the person grains are at best empty carb calories while at worst they are little disease causing bombs of harmful proteins and anti-nutrients. You pick which type of person you are.

[j3nn]

Because, as the Primal Blueprint explains, hunter-gatherers (if they didn't die of accidents) had a longer life span and were healthier than your grandparents. Your grandparents were part of an agricultural lifestyle (certainly much healthier than ours). When humans became agriculturalists their brains and bodies shrank. This can clearly be seen in the Massai of the 20th century who were not agriculturalists, were tall, lean, healthier and stronger than we are, and lived longer.

My recent ancestors lived into their 90s in great numbers, prehistoric man lived longer than that??