 |
|
|
|
Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources | HOME PAGE Health Club 101 DIRECT Natural Supplements | HGH Energizer | Eazol Natural Pain Relief | Revitol Cellulite Solution IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Menopause Symptoms Relief | Insomnia Sleeping Aid Articles & Information Medicine | Nutrition | Exercise | Fitness Equipment | Pregnancy Bodybuilding Supplements | Weight Loss | Breast Cancer | Diabetes Category Site Map |
 |
Nutrition, Evolution, and Having a Healthy Diet
Nutrition has everything to do with health. This isn't news, exactly, but looking around at the crazy information on the market, one wonders if anyone actually makes the connection: what you eat affects how you feel. It's that simple. Your health depends on the food choices you make in both the short and long term. Take a pill, and all you've done is treat a symptom. Change your eating habits, and create a lasting change in your well-being. There are so many approaches to eating, however, and so much conflicting information that it's come down to this simple question: does whatever you're eating right now make sense? Well, sense isn't common, and it does depend on some good information. So here is something to consider: what kind of foods are humans evolved to eat? Cheetos? Don't think so. That's a no-brainer, but what about some others that we counted as healthy staples until recently, like bread and pasta. Go way back in your imagination, to hunter gatherer days - before agriculture and the obesity which followed for the first time among humans - and consider what would be part of our ancestors' normal diet. If you're about to pop something into your mouth that wasn't around before agriculture, (a relatively recent development in human history), then eat it knowing it's not considered a 'normal' food by your body. Foods your body considers 'normal' contribute to your health, other foods are either neutral or harmful. How simple is that? A well-known exploration of this concept that certain foods help our bodies thrive is Dr. Peter D'Adamo's book, "Eat Right 4 Your Type," in which he bases his lists of what to eat and avoid on blood type. D'Adamo asserts that type O is the oldest type, and the newer A type didn't show up on the scene until agriculture. So, Os should eat lots of meat and veg because that blood type doesn't know how to handle too much grain. Type As can eat grain, but not dairy. Dairy is a category reserved as a 'normal' food only for the yet more recent human blood type, AB. (Maybe we'll evolve a new type that can handle Cheetos and red licorice, my personal favorite abnormal foods). D'Adamo supports his blood-type theory with all kinds of careful research, and so what? Does it make sense that humans should rely primarily on foods that occur naturally? Absolutely. If you're going to eat a grain like wheat then, eat it whole, or don't eat it at all, and don't eat much of it anyway because humans pretty much made wheat up! I'm not going to take the, "Does it occur naturally?" debate too far, because it's time to look at another researcher's take on the food and evolution connection. Dr. Phillip Lipetz wrote "The Good Calorie Diet," a book for the weight loss market, but he also has supported his theories with all kinds of careful research. His describes how the human response to starvation that was developed during the ice age carries on today. Ironic, isn't it, that the food available to us today - rich and sweet and abundant - causes our bodies to behave as though starvation is at hand. The short story for how this works is that up until the ice age, humans ate whatever was readily available, like roots, plants, fruit, and a little tasty carrion now and then. Along came the ice ages, and those foods became scarce. Now humans were forced to hunt, but it was dicey and the weapons were primitive, so spans of time occured between kills. The result: our ancestors evolved ways to make the most of the conversion of excess blood sugar into stored nutrition in the form of body fat. When they starved, they lived off stored fat. Today's diet mimics the ice age diet: high fat and high protein, and our genetic programming says, "Uh oh, we're facing starvation again. Better store up some fat." Lipetz goes into convincing detail about food combinations in his book. He describes some that cause the creation of excess fat, such as butter on bread. More useful are his combinations that actually inhibit fat formation, like lean meat with most vegetables. In a society where obesity and its attendant health issues are rampant, these food combinations are helpful places to focus our attention. Yet the single most useful bit to remember from his research is that foods which cause our bodies to create excess fat all have one thing in common: they weren't part of our ancestors' normal diet. Armed with this overview, next time you're about to pop something in your mouth - whether your focus is health or weight - you don't need to have a bunch of rules and whacky information in mind. Just use common sense. Ask whether it's a food that was around before the advent of agriculture. If it was, go for it. If it wasn't, then consider that your body won't consider the food 'normal,' and in both the long and short run, that's got health consequences.
Judith Schwader earned a Master's degree in Education, and has written extensively on health and nutrition. She has a background in social science and addressing chronic health conditions through nutrition. Judith invites you to visit http://QandAHealth.com, an excellent resource for health.
MORE RESOURCES:
Men's Health
|
Women's
Health |
Children's
Health |
Elder
Health
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Simple Easy Health and Home Fixes From The Days Gone By How did we cure ourselves of many aches pains and illnesses in the past?Most of the remedies worked very well, were cheap and could usually be found in most homes.Did you know that? Drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately, without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional "pain relievers. Post Nasal Drip Post nasal drip is a sensation of mucous build up in the throat. Sometimes you may even feel a dripping sensation from the back of your nose. Understanding Vegetarianism Like the Sun, Moon, and Earth, there are three kinds of vegetarians in existence: ovo-lacto, a vegetarian that eats vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds and nuts, as well as eggs and dairy products. Lacto, a vegetarian that eats everything the "ovo-lacto" does, except eggs. Food Labels: Fact or Fiction? How often do you pick up items at the grocery and scan the labels? Do you understand them? Ever wonder if they are really accurate? Many consumers probably glance at them, but based on the current obesity rate today it seems as if people should pay more attention.Selling food is a big business. Lesser of Two Evils: Splenda or Equal? While packages of the artificial sweetener Splenda claim, "made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar," one competitor argues that this statement is nothing short of false advertising.In fact, this rival, Equal manufacturer Merisant Co. Rediscovering Protein - Corrective Action in the American Diet Protein must be a part of a healthy diet for a simple reason: it is essential for life. Every single cell in the human body -- including bones, blood, skin, chemicals, and enzymes -- depend on protein for effective operation. Taste the Good Health Fruit Called Apple "To eat an apple before going to bed will make the doctor beg his bread"Apple is a cholesterol and fat free fruit packed with loads of vitamins and nutrients. Apple juice is delicious. Alcohol Addiction and Obesity People who consume too much alcohol have good chance of making it to the Obesity chart. Pure alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. Do You Need Omega 3 Fatty Acids? Do you need omega 3 fatty acid in your diet? This question on the importance of omega 3 fatty acid can be clarified by examining the medical evidence regarding the omega 3 benefit.Omega 3 fatty acid are important building blocks for the cell membranes. The History of Ambrotose® Complex Ambrotose® - the Nutritional Alphabet of the "Sweet Language of Life"The story begins with Aloe Vera. The discovery of Ambrotose® really dates back to the 1980's. Antioxidants - Add a Lean, Muscular Body to the List of Benefits! I'm sure by now you've heard all about the amazing health benefits of antioxidant rich foods in your diet. Not only do these free-radical fighting antioxidants help you look and feel younger by slowing down the aging process, but they also help to prevent cancer, heart disease, and loads of other degenerative diseases. The Joys of Being Healthy It is amazing to be able to say I am a whole, happy, healthy, loving woman. I was sick for the first 40 years of my life. Chocolate Splendor: Food For The Gods; Bodybuilding Nutrition A fictional overheard conversation at a Thelma's Fine Dining.Hi, I'm your waitress, Flo. Learn the Basics of a Successful Low Cholesterol Diet Understanding What a Low Cholesterol Diet isBasically, in order to lower your cholesterol, you will have to follow a diet that is? low in saturated fat and ? low in cholesterolThis is absolutely essential in helping you to lower your cholesterol. You must understand that although cholesterol lowering medications can be prescribed by your doctor, you will still need to follow a controlled diet specifically to help reduce your high blood cholesterol levels. Trade In Your Diet For A Lifestyle! Dieting is a pain. I think basically everyone would agree that having to adhere to a rigid restriction of your free-flow eating preferences puts a bit of a damper on the whole food experience. What Colors Are on Your Plate? Can the colors on your plate tell you what health benefits you are getting?As researchers are learning more and more about the foods we eat there is one hot topic that keeps coming up?.phytochemicals. What Would You Do For a Klondike Bar? Unfortunately, the words "diet" and "cheating" go hand in hand. When you say, "I'm on a DIET", it usually means you are depriving yourself of something. Healthy Food Tastes Better! How is it that we can't seem to think that something nutritious and healthy could in fact be tasty and enjoyable? Ever since I started to eat healthy food I have discovered new tastes, new flavours and new favourites. I do it almost daily. Stay Healty, Eat more Fish and Seafood There are a lot of very good reasons to eat fish and seafood. Fish is a source of high quality protein, and is low in fat and cholesterol. Exposing the Best Source of Protein Myth An American culture that is marked by a chronic lack of time and the need to achieve is often in pursuit of the "best" something or other. These "best" lists tend to improve time efficiency they help people make quick decisions without a lot of research or "trial and error".
|
|
home | site map Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources |
|
|
