Why the Paleo diet is too simplistic

[firecat]

This article talks about how humans vary in how many copies we have of a gene that codes for a carbohydrate-processing enzyme. Humans who live in societies where starch is a major part of the diet tend to have more copies.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/12/11/amylase-and-human-evolution/

When I say the Paleo diet is too simplistic, I mean that this is evidence human digestion has evolved since the introduction of agriculture. If you are on the Paleo diet and feel happy and healthy, that's cool.

Comments

[shehasathree]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Because it leaves out the 2% insects.

[andrewducker]

Thank you, that was fascinating.

[laughingrat]

*nods* Yeah it probably works really well for some people, although I'm puzzled by the idea that grain is bad mmkay since humans probably foraged for greens and grains alongside hunting for meat. I mean, we developed a lot of those wild grasses into the grains we know today, yeah, but first we had to know them as potential food, and that happened because we'd been eating them. *laughs* Oh god that sounds so circular but you know what I mean, hopefully.

[firecat]

I think it pretty much IS circular: most of us eat what we eat in large part because we saw other people eating it. At least after the age of three or so.

I think some of the high starch cultures listed in the article are hunting/foraging cultures.

[laughingrat]

In a similar vein, I was thinking last night about how I've enjoyed going outside of US/Western European foodways for vegetarian dishes, and was thinking about how we don't seem to have the well-developed vegetarian cuisine that South Asia and the Mediterranean have. I feel like the assumption in the traditions I've grown up with is that in order for a meal to be "good," it has to have meat or an animal product in it, and that lentils, beans, etc. are the food of poverty and misery, so why bother trying to make them wonderful? Whereas the Middle East and South Asia apparently have a very well-developed vegetarian cuisine tradition, judging from the recipes I've encountered.

[firecat]

Yes, very true. What's that about?

[laughingrat]

Well you know, I was just ruminating on it some more and I realized that the countries that adopted American foods (beans, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, etc.) are the ones with more delicious vegetarian foodways (Italy has good bean recipes for instance, and India and the Middle East as well), so it's maybe a matter of spotting these tasty things and adapting cuisine accordingly, too? Other European countries adopted the potato, but not as much the other veg, is the impression I get from my rather patchy history knowledge. Potatoes are wonderful, but not exactly inspirational when it comes to making a rich and varied culinary palette.

The bean question is interesting because favas, lentils, and chickpeas were (I'm 99% sure I read this in a book by Aliza Green, I swear) the only legumes native to the "Old World," so all those other beans were a new exciting thing...and...HA! Of course. The Mediterranean, the Middle East, India...spices. They had unparalleled access to spices that, the further west and north you went, got more and more rare.

I feel like all of these things together sort of gesture at why England and the US have a rather meh vegetarian cuisine, but don't fully explain it.

[firecat]

Spices, very good point.

I love essays that trace the history of a particular product:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-the-Potato-Changed-the-World.html

[supermouse]

I think it's a combination of the colder climate meaning fatty foods are preferred; the difficulty of growing many fatty plant foods in Northern Europe, meaning animal fats are easier to get hold of; the need to eat preserved food only for several months of the year; a wish to showcase some foods they produced very well (for example, English roast beef being served very simply to enjoy its rich flavour), and probably many other things I haven't even thought of.