Stop Using Cavemen as an Excuse for Your Fad Diet

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Stop Using Cavemen as an Excuse for Your Fad Diet

Anthropologists have uncovered "unambiguous evidence" in South Africa that our Homo erectus grandpas were cooking their food as far back as one million years ago. Previous to this discovery, the earliest conclusive evidence of deliberate, human-controlled fires dated back only about 400,000 years. Now, I know what you're thinking: How do I know it wasn't just spontaneously-combusted bat guano?

Don't worry, they covered that. Take it away, science:

Studying thin sections of the sediment blocks under a microscope, the scientists observed lots of ashed plant remains and tiny fragments of burned bone. Further analysis of the thin sections using Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy, which reveals molecular structure, showed that some of the bones had been heated to temperatures of around 500 degrees Celsius. Preliminary data suggest that leaves and grasses, rather than wood, fueled these ancient fires.

the rest here - http://jezebel.com/5899319/stop-using-cavemen-as-an-excuse-for-your-fad-diet

[get the red out]

1. Everybody loves a good barbeque

Always have.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. that rant is about as 'science-based' as the targets of the rant.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. well, here's the paper it's refering to

Last edited Thu Apr 5, 2012, 04:11 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/27/1117620109.full.pdf+html

I haven't had time to read it in full yet..

the op was a result of my own issues - trying to explain to paleo eating friends why it's not as good for them as they think. yes, it's far better than what they were eating before, but it's also detrimental to long term health imo

[Warpy]

4. Yes, it's great fun explaining to these earnest faddists

that the true paleo diet relied not only on grubs and insects, but also on a lot of plants that didn't taste good or provide much nutrition but were non poisonous and used to keep stomachs full when higher nutrition plants weren't yet in season and hunting hadn't been productive.

The starry eyed person lifting the uncooked greenery on a fork would freak out if s/he found a nasty old grub lurking within, but our ancestors would have welcomed it as high quality protein.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. really? less meat, more fruits and veggies, less reliance on processed food is bad for long term

health? Based on what?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. The paleo version they are following

allows all meats, but no grains or dairy (except eggs), no legumes, no potatoes or tubers. It's certainly not balanced.

[saras]

7. "All meats" has to include human to be authentically paleo

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. good one

I might use that

[Posteritatis]

9. "God, you people and your multi-cellular privilege." Hee. (nt)

[drokhole]

10. Speaking of science...