mardee57's Journal, 22 January 2014

Mardee can you suggest an easy place for me to start? Something easy to follow? 

Modern medicine and enough calories has increased our lifespan over our paleolithic ancestors, but the paleolithic lifespan may have been longer than people who lived in the Middle Ages or even during the Industrial revolution. I don't know any anthropologist who looks at the high protein diet and says it is matched with anything in our history. Fewer processed foods, yes, higher protein, no.  

JParlett, I agree with you no processed food and if you eat a nutrient rich diet with veggies, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds, you won't need other sources of protein. I just thought the idea was amusing about the Paleo Diet. 

Tulip, Please look at my Challenge. It is Eat to LIve http://fatsecret.com/challenges/eat-to-live-diet---dr-joel-fuhrman/Home.aspx Let me know what you think and we can talk how to tweak it for your needs... Deal?  

I love your journals, Mardee!! 

mardee, since the challenge started already, it doesn't let me join or see it! I will try to pick up the book!  

Hi Tulip, I sent the info to your fs email acct. Let me know what you think!  

Jassifras, Thank you!!! I love to write about health, it inspires me to keep my life on the straight and narrow!!.. 

The Paleo is just a repeat of the 'Caveman' diet that came out in the 70's or 80's. So many believe what they read and then go forth and preach..... If you watch any videos, Ted talks has a few, with actual anthropologists who study the cave people, they say the diet in the books is pure bunk, depending on where you are in the world, there were different diets. Basically they ate what they could find, forage and then kill. We have created processed foods that are killing us and then medicines to keep us alive. Sometimes i think the paleo had it right.....  

You're right in mummydee- they've studied extremes from Papua New Guinea, where they ate mostly cassava root that provides very little protein, to the Eskimos, who at mostly fat, to the Masai in Africa who lived largely on the milk, meat, and blood from their animals. All different, but all worked for them. The problems started when we had access to surplus calories, largely in the form of processed foods. 

I would not infer any direct correlation between the "hunter/gatherer"'s diet and their longevity either - as noted, they did not have the luxury of modern medicine, suffered the heavy risk of wild creatures and war. I think the take-away is to be aware of the dangers of processed food and our unhealthy life-styles and cultural values. Plus, if modern science informs us about macro-nutrients and balanced diets, it is up to us to take note...  

Although I don't use the Paleo/Primal type diet for my own reasons, scientific research does show that the hunter-gatherers lifespan age til death was around age 65-70 years old. Granted there were high infant mortality rates and young deaths, but 65-70 average age is pretty good given that they did not have access to modern medicines and lived 'on their own'. Here's just one of the studies I have come across - http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf 

The Paleo era had a distinct difference in the meat they could kill and eat. They ate wild animals that ate a clean diet. Unless you are willing to go to the Cattle Ranch and see how your meat has been not only ethically raised but free of a diet of hormones and corn, it's a crap shoot. I am unwilling to trust any store that slaps a label on a package telling me that it's free of the list of dreaded items after they have been busted for not telling the truth about where and who they are obtaining these products. Whole Foods just got busted for selling food as Organic and it was conventional. Food Lion was busted for washing their meat and adding food color to make it appear fresh. I may be a bit cynical but I don't feel that it is worth trusting Corporate America with my diet and health. The way I see meat, fish, and poultry is that they are processed foods just like a box/bag of cookies. Just sayin... (guessing this won't be a popular post, LOL) 

mummydee - Consider that hunter gathers also lived in smaller groups with a much chance to spread the disease and sickness that plagues our world. Not enough contact to spread malaria, flu, small pox, black death, etc which are all disease that require large populations and contact to spread among hosts. Like the Native Americans and small pox, isolation protected small groups until contact with larger groups like European contact in America.