Modern Stone Age Food - Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Eat like a cavemen...
What's the best diet? (These are Eaton's idea's intermixed with my own imput.)
The one our early ancestors ate, as shown by studying Stone Age (Paleolithic) humans who lived 40,000 years
ago, says S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., an Emory University "evolutionary nutrition" expert.
We could more efficiently get rid of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases
by changing our diet to fit our genes than by using sophisticated gene therapy, says James V. Neel, a prominent
geneticist at the University of Michigan.
We have departed so far from Stone Age eating that 55 percent of the American diet is "new food" not eaten by
our ancestors.
EAT MORE "ORIGINAL" FOOD
Fruits and vegetables... Stone Age humans ate three times more of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables than
we do. Fruits and vegetables (along with legumes and nuts) provided a startling 65 percent of daily calories and
100 grams of fiber a day - five times today's level. Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants were supplied in amounts
people now get only through supplements, Eaton says. Modern research clearly shows that heavy consumers of
fruits and vegetables have less cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic ills.
Lean meat... Stone Age ancestors ate 35 percent of their calories in protein - two to three times what's
recommended today. The difference: Their protein came from lean wild game and fish, as well as from plants. But
modern meat, especially red meat, is low in Omega 3 Fatty Acids and way too high in Omega 6's. White meat
poultry, without skin, is a good Stone Age meat equivalent, low in fat and a good source of protein, says Eaton.
Fish, notably fatty salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring, are critical in mimicking a Stone Age diet. Fish contain
high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, tragically lacking in modern diets.
Legumes and nuts... Nuts have a bad rap because of their fat, but they are an "original" food, with fats attuned
to our genes. Nuts and legumes supply high-grade vegetable protein, plentiful in Stone Age diets. A modern
drawback: Canned dried beans and salted nuts are high in sodium, incompatible with Stone Age genes. Cook your
own beans without salt, thoroughly rinse canned beans, and buy unsalted nuts.
EAT LESS "NEW" FOOD
Grains, cereals, pasta, bread... These arrived only 10,000 years ago. Grains may not be harmful in
themselves, says Eaton, but they fill us up so we don't seek out far-more- nourishing Stone Age foods. Some
research has linked grains, notably wheat, to arthritis, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and depression,
perhaps indicating subtle allergic food reactions.
Dairy products... Cavemen didn't drink milk because animals were not yet domesticated. We use butter freely
and pre-digested milk products like cottage cheese and plain yogurt can also be tolerated if you are not allergic.
Refined sugar... Rather than honey and fruits, today's main sweet is 120 pounds of refined sugar a year per
person. Evidence shows sugar drives up blood levels of insulin, glucose and triglycerides, known factors in
diabetes and heart disease.
Processed oils... A dramatic change is our high consumption of processed vegetable oil and shortening. An
overload of polyunsaturated fats - omega 6 fatty acids, including hydrogenated and trans fats, promotes cancer,
inflammation, high cholesterol and heart disease. Eat lots of extra virgin olive oil, avocados along with raw nuts for
fats in your diet. Don’t eat Margarine. Use butter instead or like those in Europe, lots of extra virgin olive oil.
Please read Caveman Cuisine, for more information.
Stone Age Diet:
65% fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes
35% lean meat, eggs, wild fowl, fish, and shellfish.
American Diet:
55% "new" foods: cereal grains, milk, milk products, sugar, sweeteners, processed fats, alcohol.
28% fatty meat, poultry, eggs, fish, shellfish .
17% fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts.
Note: True, the average American lives longer than the average caveman did. Early humans died young from
infections, injuries and complications of childbirth that modern medicine easily handles, says evolutionary nutrition
expert S. Boyd Eaton. "Nowadays, foods are killing us."
NUTRITION TIPS:
Take supplements. At least a High Potency Multi - Vitamin Mineral - Phytonutrient Supplement.
As insurance, I recommend taking a multivitamin-mineral supplement, high in anti oxidants and 2 - 4 fish oil
capsules a day, high in omega 3's.
Pile on potassium... Our Stone Age ancestors got 7,000mg potassium and 600mg sodium daily, compared with
our 2,500mg potassium and 4,000mg sodium. They ate a diet high in magnesium & potassium , low in calcium
and sodium. We are the only free-living mammals that eat more sodium than potassium. Studies link high-
sodium, low-potassium diets to high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease.
Use Morton Lite Salt for a seasoning, and 2 to 3 Potassium tablets with each meal.
Eat like a cavemen...
What's the best diet? (These are Eaton's idea's intermixed with my own imput.)
The one our early ancestors ate, as shown by studying Stone Age (Paleolithic) humans who lived 40,000 years
ago, says S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., an Emory University "evolutionary nutrition" expert.
We could more efficiently get rid of heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases
by changing our diet to fit our genes than by using sophisticated gene therapy, says James V. Neel, a prominent
geneticist at the University of Michigan.
We have departed so far from Stone Age eating that 55 percent of the American diet is "new food" not eaten by
our ancestors.
EAT MORE "ORIGINAL" FOOD
Fruits and vegetables... Stone Age humans ate three times more of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables than
we do. Fruits and vegetables (along with legumes and nuts) provided a startling 65 percent of daily calories and
100 grams of fiber a day - five times today's level. Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants were supplied in amounts
people now get only through supplements, Eaton says. Modern research clearly shows that heavy consumers of
fruits and vegetables have less cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic ills.
Lean meat... Stone Age ancestors ate 35 percent of their calories in protein - two to three times what's
recommended today. The difference: Their protein came from lean wild game and fish, as well as from plants. But
modern meat, especially red meat, is low in Omega 3 Fatty Acids and way too high in Omega 6's. White meat
poultry, without skin, is a good Stone Age meat equivalent, low in fat and a good source of protein, says Eaton.
Fish, notably fatty salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring, are critical in mimicking a Stone Age diet. Fish contain
high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, tragically lacking in modern diets.
Legumes and nuts... Nuts have a bad rap because of their fat, but they are an "original" food, with fats attuned
to our genes. Nuts and legumes supply high-grade vegetable protein, plentiful in Stone Age diets. A modern
drawback: Canned dried beans and salted nuts are high in sodium, incompatible with Stone Age genes. Cook your
own beans without salt, thoroughly rinse canned beans, and buy unsalted nuts.
EAT LESS "NEW" FOOD
Grains, cereals, pasta, bread... These arrived only 10,000 years ago. Grains may not be harmful in
themselves, says Eaton, but they fill us up so we don't seek out far-more- nourishing Stone Age foods. Some
research has linked grains, notably wheat, to arthritis, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and depression,
perhaps indicating subtle allergic food reactions.
Dairy products... Cavemen didn't drink milk because animals were not yet domesticated. We use butter freely
and pre-digested milk products like cottage cheese and plain yogurt can also be tolerated if you are not allergic.
Refined sugar... Rather than honey and fruits, today's main sweet is 120 pounds of refined sugar a year per
person. Evidence shows sugar drives up blood levels of insulin, glucose and triglycerides, known factors in
diabetes and heart disease.
Processed oils... A dramatic change is our high consumption of processed vegetable oil and shortening. An
overload of polyunsaturated fats - omega 6 fatty acids, including hydrogenated and trans fats, promotes cancer,
inflammation, high cholesterol and heart disease. Eat lots of extra virgin olive oil, avocados along with raw nuts for
fats in your diet. Don’t eat Margarine. Use butter instead or like those in Europe, lots of extra virgin olive oil.
Please read Caveman Cuisine, for more information.
Stone Age Diet:
65% fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes
35% lean meat, eggs, wild fowl, fish, and shellfish.
American Diet:
55% "new" foods: cereal grains, milk, milk products, sugar, sweeteners, processed fats, alcohol.
28% fatty meat, poultry, eggs, fish, shellfish .
17% fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts.
Note: True, the average American lives longer than the average caveman did. Early humans died young from
infections, injuries and complications of childbirth that modern medicine easily handles, says evolutionary nutrition
expert S. Boyd Eaton. "Nowadays, foods are killing us."
NUTRITION TIPS:
Take supplements. At least a High Potency Multi - Vitamin Mineral - Phytonutrient Supplement.
As insurance, I recommend taking a multivitamin-mineral supplement, high in anti oxidants and 2 - 4 fish oil
capsules a day, high in omega 3's.
Pile on potassium... Our Stone Age ancestors got 7,000mg potassium and 600mg sodium daily, compared with
our 2,500mg potassium and 4,000mg sodium. They ate a diet high in magnesium & potassium , low in calcium
and sodium. We are the only free-living mammals that eat more sodium than potassium. Studies link high-
sodium, low-potassium diets to high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease.
Use Morton Lite Salt for a seasoning, and 2 to 3 Potassium tablets with each meal.
High Insulin & Glucose Levels - The Cause of Many Diseases
High levels of insulin and glucose, the result of eating a high refined carbohydrate diet, can result in heart
disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cancer. Insulin is produced by the body in response to rising levels
of glucose in the blood after a carbohydrate rich meal. The insulin takes the glucose out of the blood and
deposits it into glycogen or adipose tissue - usually the latter.
Sounds harmless, right? Wrong. The problem is that there are no concentrated sources of glucose in nature.
Fruits and vegetables, especially wild ones tend to be low in carbohydrates. All of the concentrated sources of
glucose, the so called "complex carbohydrates," are found in foods that have to be cooked and/or processed to
become edible. Thus, they are not really natural foods, and our bodies weren't designed to cope with large
amounts of glucose contained in them. We only have one hormone, insulin, to lower blood sugar levels but four
different hormones that raise it.
Hence, today we are paying with the above mentioned diseases. How? Well, since insulin is an anabolic hormone,
in large amounts it may encourage tumor cell growth. High levels of insulin directly result in increased blood
pressure through various mechanisms such as proliferation of arterial smooth muscle cells, which makes the
arteries more rigid. It also activates cholesterol synthesis through its stimulating effect on HMG-CoA reductase,
the key enzyme in the cholesterol synthesis pathway. The body produces about 5 times or so more cholesterol
than ingested by diet. Thus, if you want your cholesterol levels lowered, avoiding that egg won’t do anything,
instead avoid refined carbohydrates. (It’s interesting to note that the most effective cholesterol medications in use
today, the statins, work by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase.) Furthermore, insulin directly shuts off the fat burning
pathways in the body, and turns on those pathways responsible for the production of fat and triglycerides. High
levels of insulin and glucose also damage arteries, which can initiate plaque formation, and glucose directly binds
to LDL molecules, rendering them unrecognizable to the liver and causing them to be attacked by macrophage
cells of the immune system, which also initiates a process leading to plaque formation. Finally, chronic high levels
of insulin can lead to the desensitization of the insulin receptor - leading to type II diabetes. (As an aside, the
reason that diabetics have such a high incidence of secondary coronary and vascular disease is because of the
chronic high levels of glucose in their blood and the relatively high levels of insulin some of them receive through
injections to control their blood sugar level.)
Centenarian studies
There are three major centenarian studies going on around the world. They are trying to find the variable
that would confer longevity among this group of people who live to be 100 years old. Why do centenarians
become centenarians? Why are they so lucky? Is it because they have low cholesterol, exercise a lot and
live a healthy, clean life?
Well, the oldest person ever recorded was Jean Calumet of France who died last year at 122 years of age.
She smoked all of her life and drank.
What researchers are finding from these major centenarian studies is that there is hardly anything in
common among these people. They have high cholesterol and low cholesterol, some exercise and some
don't, some smoke, some don't. Some are nasty as can be, some nice and calm and some are ornery.
But, they all have relatively low sugar for their age, and they all have low triglycerides for their age.
And, they all have relatively low insulin.
There are three major centenarian studies going on around the world. They are trying to find the variable
that would confer longevity among this group of people who live to be 100 years old. Why do centenarians
become centenarians? Why are they so lucky? Is it because they have low cholesterol, exercise a lot and
live a healthy, clean life?
Well, the oldest person ever recorded was Jean Calumet of France who died last year at 122 years of age.
She smoked all of her life and drank.
What researchers are finding from these major centenarian studies is that there is hardly anything in
common among these people. They have high cholesterol and low cholesterol, some exercise and some
don't, some smoke, some don't. Some are nasty as can be, some nice and calm and some are ornery.
But, they all have relatively low sugar for their age, and they all have low triglycerides for their age.
And, they all have relatively low insulin.
This food pyramid by Atkins is more accurate to how our
ancestors ate and how we should eat today.
ancestors ate and how we should eat today.
