Disclaimer: I'm no evolutionary archaeologist, so just imagine for now that we're painting a picture that is relatively true, and not 100% fact.
100% scientifically accurate? Maybe not.
Funny to imagine you and your entire family following a herd of buffalo wearing loin cloths and digging for roots and eating berries and nuts...? Absolutely! And that is just it! Paint that picture in your minds, and you will begin to have an idea of the way our bodies are "meant" to take in food. I'm sure you've heard the trendy gym-goer's advice to "eat a small meal every 2 hours; 6 meals per day. I would agree. I'm sure you've also heard, and certainly from the Ultimate Transition, to eat complex carbs and plenty of fruits and veggies. Agreed. But why? Did you ever stop to ask why? Well I won't bore you with the physiological details on this one, but instead lets get back to the "painting" of ancestors.
As you roam the open plains, food is abundant, and you spend your days largely in search of food. Typically, women would gather edible plants and herbs, while men would hunt, preferably for large game, but any protein source was welcomed. Food is abundant, and you would probably eat something like 15-20 "meals" per day. Constant energy output (no computer nor TV to build a sedentary lifestyle), so constant energy intake is needed.
10,000 years BC Scenario: You lose the heard in the dead of winter. You have very little food. THIS IS WHY OUR BODIES STORE FAT!! You are low on food, your body is cued to store fat. THANK GOODNESS! It is a protective mechanism against those periods of time when we need a stored form of energy! YAHOOO!! How intelligent in design! How fantastic are those bodies to design a backup plan!
So the takeaway from our example is that while you are walking, searching for food, and using energy to stay warm, that your blood sugar levels drop!! When they drop you store body fat.
MODERN DAY: You eat simple carbohydrates. Doesn't matter what, just say M&Ms for now. Your blood sugar levels shoot up! BRRRAAAAHHHHHAAAAHH!!!! Feeling good! Burst of energy! Then what..........
Crash!! You could go for that all elusive power nap, right? Close the office door and set your cell phone alarm for 15 mins out in the hopes of getting your head straight. This means that your blood sugar levels have dropped!
So, just like our ancestors of the plains, your blood sugar levels have dropped.
Your body does not know how your blood sugar levels got so low. What it does know is that when your blood sugar levels drop, it is supposed to store fat.
Eat LOW GI carbohydrates. Choose natural foods when possible. Live well.
The End.
Agreed!!!!! The Evolution of the human race has been eclipsed by technology and food production in modern society. Our bodies are still on the food calender of our ansectors. In the future if we feed our bodies needs of 10,000 years ago then our childern and generations to come will never break that cycle. We no longer have winters or long drought in our society. In December i can still drive to the store and buy "M&M,s" or just down the hall in my office at a vending machine. My weakness...lol. We have a constant food supply and not to many generations ago we have had "The Great Depression" and other times of a need for food in our very recent family tree to keep this cycle going. We have it good as Americans and as a country we are a bit "Pooh Shaped" because in only recent history has this endless supply of food changed. Our brain is programed to store fat to survive. Your healthy way of eating breaks not only mental, physical, social, and generational habits of eating but gives us the fuel to change this vicious cycle of eating into the future for me and generations to come.
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Jason