I was a biologist, and I suspect that humans do best with the oldest foods- since our bodies have had the most time to adapt to those foods. If you think about apes, and early hominids, the easiest things for them to get would have been fruits and vegetables, nuts and carrion ( basically fermented protein- at least the carrion that wasn't toxic) eggs, and bugs. It would have taken humans a while to learn how to hunt, and then longer still to cook what was hunted, and eating grain came much later.
It only makes sense that the human body and its commensal organisms (for we are colonial creatures, even though we do not think of ourselves that way) would function best with a diet we are best adapated to, and had the longest time to get used to.
My daughter and I were just talking about this today. And I said that it helps to think of yourself as a colony- not unlike the cnidarians. We think of all our specialized parts as just being "us" but really, we seem more colonial to me- and that's especially true when you take in to account all the beneficial bacteria that lives with us. We are more of a we than an I.
Cats get sick if you don't feed them cat food, it's no wonder people get sick when they don't feed themselves people food. It's really so obvious- it's a wonder more people don't tumble on it, and want to feel better. But they don't. Go figure.
I look around at Costco at the things people buy, and so often the cart with the chips and the muffins and the crackers and the processed foods is pushed by an obese person who is going to go eat a hot dog and a soft drink on the way out of the store. Truly, you'd think people would be able to figure this out, but I guess for those people who don't believe in evolution the whole thing wouldn't make much sense. |
