WHY PALEO

WHY PALEO ?


If this is what you think of when I say PALEO.... then keep reading....


  
The terms, "paleo" or "caveman" are a bit misleading, as what I will present is the way in which our bodies were originally designed to eat, so, perhaps it should be called the "original diet"....
  Agriculture was not a part of human existence before 10-12,000 years ago, by all available recorded history of our species. Our teeth and digestive system are that of an omnivore (an animal that eats plants and animals). Keep in mind that the many of the most primitive cultures on the planet were cannibals. Two of the healthiest native populations on the planet are(were) the Inuit of Alaska, and the Maasai of Eastern Africa. Quoting Patricia Cochran, of the Alaska Native Science commission, “Our meat was seal and walrus, marine mammals that live in cold water and have lots of fat. We used seal oil for our cooking and as a dipping sauce for food. We had moose, caribou, and reindeer. We hunted ducks, geese, and little land birds like quail, called ptarmigan. We caught crab and lots of fish—salmon, whitefish, tomcod, pike, and char. Our fish were cooked, dried, smoked, or frozen. We ate frozen raw whitefish, sliced thin. The elders liked stinkfish, fish buried in seal bags or cans in the tundra and left to ferment. And fermented seal flipper, they liked that too. 

Cochran’s family also received shipments of whale meat from kin living farther north, near Barrow. Beluga was one she liked; raw muktuk, which is whale skin with its underlying blubber, she definitely did not. “To me it has a chew-on-a-tire consistency,” she says, “but to many people it’s a mainstay.” In the short subarctic summers, the family searched for roots and greens and, best of all from a child’s point of view, wild blueberries, crowberries, or salmonberries, which her aunts would mix with whipped fat to make a special treat called akutuq—in colloquial English, Eskimo ice cream."

And the  Maasai,  "The traditional Maasai diet consists of six basic foods: meat, blood, raw milk, fat, honey, and tree bark. Wild game (except the eland), chicken, fish, and salt are forbidden. Allowable meats include roasted and boiled beef, goat, and mutton. Both fresh and curdled milk are drunk, and animal blood is usually drunk at special times—after giving birth, after circumcision and excision, or while recovering from an accident. It may be tapped warm from the throat of a cow, or drunk in coagulated form. It can also be mixed with fresh or soured milk, or drunk with therapeutic bark soups (motori). It is from blood that the Maasai obtain salt, a necessary ingredient in the human diet. People of delicate health and babies eat liquid sheep's fat to gain strength. Honey is obtained from the Torrobo tribe and is a prime ingredient in mead, a fermented beverage that only elders may drink.  Their preferred meal is a mixture of meat, blood, and fat(munono), which is thought to give great strength." 
So, to recap, two of the oldest, healthiest peoples on the planet eat Paleo.... and that is, a diet high in fat, adequate animal protein, and very limited carbohydrate. The burger in the picture would only qualify if you threw away the bun.... There are exceptions, of course. One which comes to mind are the Hunzas of the Himalayas. Their diet consists primarily of raw milk, cheese, yogurt, fruit, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, chicken, and the occasional beef or mutton.  "The energy and endurance of the Hunzakuts can probably be credited as much to what they don't eat as what they do eat. First of all, they don't eat a great deal of anything. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that the average daily food intake for Americans of all ages amounts to 3,300 calories, with 100 grams of protein, 157 grams of fat and 380 grams of carbohydrates. In contrast, studies by Pakistani doctors show that adult males of Hunza consume a little more than 1,900 calories daily, with only 50 grams of protein, 36 grams of fat, and 354 grams of carbohydrates. Both the protein and fat are largely of vegetable origin". (Dr. Alexander Leaf, National Geographic, January, 1973). It is unknown at this time if the Hunza longevity might be due to calorie-restriction, genetics, or other life & environmental factors....