I think I'm better off without carbs or plants.It's a question I've often wondered about.
I'm no expert but from an evolutionary point of view, it's only been very recently that we've had carbs in our diets. I don't think our bodies actually need them - could it just be that some people's bodies can deal with them and some can't ?
Could do with some clarity on this from someone who has studied it in some detail.......just to put it out of my head
For sure we hunted mammoths:I think you're getting your information from The Flintstones as well! Bringing down a mammoth with a pointed stick even with a bit of flint attached would be pretty tricky.The OP said that it is only recently we have had carbs in our diet. My point was that it is the type of carbs not the fact that we have them at all.
There are places where mammoths were driven over the edges of cliffs or steep slopes on their migration routes - when Humans started to use fire it caused a large change in the size of animal they could tackle.
The change from hunter gatherer to farmer seems to have involved grains - the very first tiny clues start about 7 thousand years ago, with deposits in stone vats which look very like the silica covering of grains which are left at the bottom of mashing tubs - the locals had discovered beer. Gradually the cultivation of the grain took over more and more time and energy, ancient people liked to party.
Being able to change grains to have higher yields and fruits to be more sugary and so produce more alcohol, to keep yeasts which could work for longer obviously exercised our clever brains - but I should point out that the producers were most likely women and the consumers men. The organizers - probably men too, were able to gather up gangs and go and take over other peoples fields and granaries, and women too, and get more beer.
With their fires Humans could dry out grain and fruit and keep it through to the next year - the women must have known the number of pots full of each foodstuff so as to ration it through the winter time. Modern fruits are larger and sweeter, modern grains are totally artificial, with more concentration on the production than the product's suitability as a food.
An interesting chart. As others have said, there is the question as to whether the increasing old age is a good old age for some. I am of the belief that people of my mother's generation (she's 87 and pretty fit) will be one of the last who will live to a goodly age with not too many things wrong - she has friends in their 90s who are still going strong - but the diseases and conditions mentioned, the easily-obtained processed foods and generally our lifestyle, which is exacerbated by the way we have to live, e.g. sitting staring at a screen all day for work, will start to bring those lines in the downward direction, sadly. There is a name for this hypothesis: the Golden Paradox (I think that's what it's called).Just to introduce a little perspective, despite the 'unhealthy' diets we have in the last few decades particularly, and the fact that record numbers of people are 'overweight - as defined by ourselves', lifespans continue to lengthen. Perhaps we are more healthy as a population than is generally thought.
Your question: "How did the ancient Americans (indigenous if you want) get to the Americas?"I am living proof that we don't need carbs to be healthy.
It is now going on five years that I found out that my body is literally carb intolerant.
I have a few problems with any type carb above a certain amount of them.
Of course even those foods which are very low carb do have a limited amount of carbs within them. So you cannot go carb free.
My threshold all depends on how much fat and portion size.
So after painstaking research, I can eat about ten (brand name) baked beans with the sauce drained and heated, left to stand and reheated. That is it! I can only eat that many because of the fibre in the bean.
I know most of you don't have to be so careful with carbs, but I do! Hence the example.
It is not only carbs but how your body reacts to insulin triggers such as there is a glucose index, there is an insulin index.
Because high circulating insulin can be the cause of prediabetes and T2, because the insulin resistance causes the remaining insulin to go into your organs as fat.
That is why very low carb works for some T2s.
Can we live without carbs, well, yes!
Do we have to. I do, but the majority don't.
I also believe that our ancestors ate what was there to eat, wether it was meat, vegetables, fruit, and all sorts of concoctions which we would turn our noses up at.
There is evidence of trade around the Mediterranean areas over a million years ago.
And most of it was cooked in olive oil!
How did the ancient Americans (indigenous if you want) get to the Americas?
I could say more but it is a personal lifestyle choice, and most believe that eating any type of food to excess is really bad for your health and even some poisons in moderation can be good for you.
For me, the food that is the British staple diet, is not healthy. (Except the meat!)
I had to find that balance that was healthy for me!
Final point, a lot of what the population eat in this country is what we can afford, not by choice, if you look at what most food banks receive and what they give to those that need the food, it is mostly refined, factory produced foods, or tinned vegetables in a liquid which has sugar in it!
A lot of convenience foods and take a ways are cheap and full of ingredients that are not recommended for certain conditions, but can they afford the pricey fresh food, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, non processed foods. A working class family, with both parents working would rather go the fast food outlets rather than cook from fresh.
No wonder the lower classes struggle with dietary options.
Would you have thought that in your twenties or thirties, you would get diabetes?
No, nor did I!
It was easier to have fish and chips!
Who would have thought that spuds are poisonous?
Well, they are to me!
Who would have thought that vegetable oils make me ill?
I know it does because I have done the experiment.
Even a tin of cream of tomato soup can be so bad for some of us!
The amount of preservatives and E numbers present in processed foods is unbelievable.
Only someone who can tolerate such things, most people would not notice the sugar rush these days.
Children affected by glucose drinks, going hyper in class and crashing in the classroom in the afternoon, ring any bells?
Most people would not know how starchy carbs affect diabetics, they have been brainwashed by the so called medical science of the last fifty years!
Sorry for the long post but it is not easy to sum up, wether carbs are the evil they can be painted on some posts.
Carbs are ingrained in our diet, unfortunately!
Only in moderation can they be as healthy as the person is intolerant to them at that time!
My food diary reckons that I should be able to up my bean portion after Christmas.
So I will check! (By experimenting)
Best wishes
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