Post
by CaveMan » Wed Sep 26, 2012 3:55 pm
Read through the blog, started out ok with some info, then just became a tirade of "My way or the Highway" he would have done much better sticking to the facts as much as they can be called facts.
He has not done any serious investigation into the Paleo diet concept and has made the assumption that it is just a high meat consumption diet.
Basically the primary driver of Paleo is an attempt to simulate the food environment we evolved on and there's no denying that 10mya (million years ago) we were most likely fruit eaters primarily, the 6mya we hit the ground running and included tubers and some meat, 3mya stone tools were being used to butcher meat, 2mya our brains got bigger and we became better runners, active hunters and probably ate more meat, 1mya controlled fire was being used for protection and most likely the first BBQ, cooking had began, 400kya (thousand years ago) first homo sapien types were seen, leaner, bigger brained, composite tool making using sticks & stones to make spears, 100kya we were fully Human and our lives were quite complex with a variety of specialised tools, weapons, spear throwers and even adornment like beads & colouring, we had developed complex social practices & probably simple clothing, we probably looked, sounded and acted like the San Bushmen or Hadzi in Africa today, the migration out of Africa occured around 70kya.
Agriculture & Animal domestication (Neolithic period) in stages betwee 12-8kya this progressed gradually with an acceleration of food modification in the last 300 years and particularly the last 100years.
There is some evidence of adaptation to the Neolithic foods grains, legumes & dairy as evidenced by gradients of Gluten and dairy intolerence from the middle east to northern Europe & east Asia respectively.
The fundamental argument is we took 10,000 generations to evolve to the traditional "Hunter Gatherer" diet & lifestyle, is 300generations enough for us to fully adapt to the neolithic environment, particularly taking into consideration that the original wheat etc. looks nothing like the modern wheat of today, the wild wheat first grown was tall, small grained, low gluten & only had 14 chromosomes, modern wheat is dwarf, large grained, high gluten and has 42 chromosomes and all other modern foods have had similar selective breeding changes including the good ones like the Fruit & Veg.
The primary thrust from the Ancestral diet community is about maximum nutrition, yes get adequate Macro's but it is the Micronutrients where the crux of the problem is, Vitamins, minerals & cofactors and the biggest argument against grains are is that for the same volume of Macro (starch) there is virtually no micronutrients. There is a general leaning towards using fat as the primary dietary fuel rather than carbohydrate and there is good scientific basis for this, starchy tubers are considered far superior to grains as a source of carbohydrate, primary because of their cellular structure & lower GI rating.
Lectins and other Anti Nutrients - The argument about these being beneficial in fighting disease is almost ludicrous as to how many disease conditions they have been implicated in, they are a necessary evil as they come in the food we eat, like most toxins our body manages quite fine if intake is low-moderate, but if intake goes too high and the body is already under significant stress from environment or disease then they only add to the burden. Soaking before cooking was traditional for both grains and legumes, this does two things it triggers the growth process and the antinutrients begin conversion to more benign molecules used to fuel the growth of the seed until roots develop and others are released into the water naturally, 24hr soak with multiple rinsing can reduce antinutrients by more than 50% and then cooking will reduce this a little bit more, but there will always be some present. They are acid and enzyme resistant and have the ability to bind a variety of Human receptors , there is a question of how they enter the blood stream, this could be via the receptors or leaky gut or possibly both, either way once in the blood stream they wreak havoc if not controlled.
Gut health is essential and should be the first treatment protocol in any healing process once overt symptoms are adequately controlled.
I don't think the Paleo diet is the answer to everything, but I think after thorough evaluation most people would see that it offers many clues to a generally healthier direction, I still eat a small amount of legumes, grains & dairy, but selectively and with proper preparation, I would not restrict nightshades(tomatoes, peppers) unless you have a specific allergenic response, the main thrust should be to increase variety, nothing should become a staple, you should range far and wide for foods to maximise variety and micronutrient access.
Having said all that I would be keen to see any study that shows benefits of lectins in disease treatment, not in a petri dish where even kerosene will kill cancer cells, but at leased randomized, controlled, pacebo studies that only change one factor and improve a disease condition.
I am just an interested individual trying to crack the autoimmune nut.
Partner has Graves Disease, 5 years, showing good test results, looking forward to potential remission in the near future.
3 friends have MS, 1 just recently diagnosed, severity 7/10.
. I read that cashew nuts also have lectin, and potatoes?!? I might be wrong for the last two, I didn't have much time to investigate before opening the topic. So, bye, bye ketchup and tomato salad, roasted peanuts 
