[Rad Warrier]

The diet of early Man is an interesting subject to most people, especially to the diabetic who is likely to have been exposed to online articles and posts blaming the "vile" grains and other plant based food for the incidence of diabetes in Man. Here is a paper on the diet of Neanderthals. Neanderthals are closely related to **** sapiens sapiens (modern humans), might have co-existed with our ancestors for at least a brief period in the history of Man and some recent (2010) genetic evidence points to some interbreeding between the two sub-species (humans and Neanderthals.) The Neanderthals became extinct about 30,000 years ago. It was thought that Neanderthals ate an overwhelmingly meat (or animal based) diet. This paper points to the evidence of the Neanderthal's diet including grass seeds (=grains) and other plant based food, especially in the cooked form.

The nature and causes of the disappearance of Neanderthals and their apparent replacement by modern humans are subjects of
considerable debate. Many researchers have proposed biologically or technologically mediated dietary differences between the two groups as one of the fundamental causes of Neanderthal disappearance. Some scenarios have focused on the apparent lack of plant foods in Neanderthal diets. Here we report direct evidence for Neanderthal consumption of a variety of plant foods, in the form of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from dental calculus of Neanderthal skeletons from Shanidar Cave, Iraq, and Spy Cave, Belgium. Some of the plants are typical of recent modern human diets, including date palms (Phoenix spp.), legumes, and grass seeds (Triticeae), whereas others are known to be edible but are not heavily used today. Many of the grass seed starches showed damage that is a distinctive marker of cooking. Our results indicate that in both warm eastern Mediterranean and cold northwestern European climates, and across their latitudinal range, Neanderthals made use of the diverse plant foods available in their local environment and transformed them into more easily digestible foodstuffs in part through cooking them, suggesting an overall sophistication in Neanderthal dietary regimes.

The timing of two major hominin dietary adaptations, cooking of plant foods and an expansion in dietary breadth or “broad
spectrum revolution,” which led to the incorporation of a diversity of plant foods such as grass and other seeds that are nutritionally rich but relatively costly to exploit, has been of central interest in anthropology (1, 2, 46, 47). Our evidence indicates that both adaptations had already taken place by the Late Middle Paleolithic, and thus the exploitation of this range of plant species was not a new strategy developed by early modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic or by later modern human groups that subsequently became the first farmers

Regards,
Rad

The link provided in the post is to the online PDF version of the paper "Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium)" by Amanda G. Henry, Alison S. Brooks, and Dolores R. Piperno that appeared in PNAS (PNAS Early Edition), www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1016868108 . The first quoted matter is the abstract of the article. The second quoted matter is a brief excerpt from the paper.

 

[Guest]

Grains is certainly an important part of our diet as along with carbs, they hold other nutrients such as magnesium that our bodies need to survive. If you think about our cultures across the world and look at their food history... most cultures standard foods are carb based really. Eg. China & their rice, Ireland & their potatoes, USA & their corn.... etc. The way I figure you just need to make your dinner plate as colourful as possible and as low fat as possible generally to have a healthy diet. I think sometimes we put way too much thought into something that should be simple... and we have too much commercialism these days that inteferes with our choices we make, etc. I'm not into scientist theories on evolution... but isn't it amazing that they think they can prove grains have always been part of mankinds diet. I'm a believer that God put food here for us to eat and gave us the ability to explore and use our intelligence to make sensible eating choices.

 

[foxl]

Grains is certainly an important part of our diet as along with carbs, they hold other nutrients such as magnesium that our bodies need to survive.QUOTE]

I used to believe that. But if you look at nutrient charts (just google, magnesium content of common foods, even! Don't just trust me!), you learn that nuts and vegetables actually have MORE of those minerals than grains. We have been hornswoggled into thinking grains are vital!

However ... grains would help during times of famine ... the ability to store calories ***outside one's body*** was certainly an important development to humankind.

 

[Guest]

yeah I agree with you Foxl... magnesium is found in other food sources too. Although I'm a big believer in not eliminating any food group from your diet unless you are allergic to it. Being diabetic just means you need to eat sensibly, it doesn't mean you have to eliminate foods from your diet... everything is good in moderation... just focus on less fat & sugars in your diet to help with BGLs. People forget that food is not the only thing that impacts your BGLs... there's so many other contributing factors. I've learnt that myself over the years. My BGLs can soar without any food at all no problem and they can equally drop too low even if I have eaten. I still haven't found the magic formula as yet... I have a general idea what works & doesn't work for me, although I still get surprises with BGLs despite what I know. The main thing is to not stress ourselves out and just keep getting back up & enjoy life.

 

[jwags]

I think it is the type of grain and how much processing it goes through. Most breads even low carb ones I tend to spike. But I can handle sprouted grain breads like the Eziekel bread if I eat with fat like coconut oil and some protein. I think our ancestors ate grains in their natural states. I also think as diabetics we have a malfunction of our endocrine system that just doesn't process certain carbs. They may be differnt for everyone. I can eat quinoa because it is a comple protein but I cannot eat brown rice or pasta.

 

[foxl]

I do not worry about the fats, anymore. In fact, I have been supplementing them! Mostly coconut oil. It helps in (Atkins) induction to ketosis by starting you burning fat, so you can handle lower carbs, right away.

As far as using food combinations ... they do not work for me. I think I am some kind of super-starch-splitter, for one thing. These people have a high number of the genes for producing Amylase. I read an article on that and saw myself. Totally!