In Search of the Perfect Human Diet

A new documentary, “In Search of the Perfect Human Diet”,  will be available in the next few days on DVD, click here to go to the website

Asking the question of how we can respond to the rapidly escalating epidemic of obesity and chronic ill health in developed countries the documentary speaks to leading scientists and discusses what we can learn about how we should eat from the evolutionary record. Interviewees include Professor Loren Cordain, Gary Taubes, Michael Eades M.D., Robb Wolf, Barry Sears, Andrew Weil, Boyd Eaten and many more.

I haven’t seen it yet but am looking forward to doing so.  The promo video above certainly looks good.  I haven’t been able to get certain friends and family to sit down and read a paleo-diet book but I’m pretty sure I can get them to sit and watch T.V. – how hard can that be?

The original human diet is that which was eaten during the paleolithic era, when humans were evolving into the strange critters we are today.  Eating a hunter-gatherer style diet our ancestors had amazing health, as evidenced by the fossil record and by studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies such as the Inuit, Hunza, and others.  Whilst these human diets varied by geographical location and time period, they all had certain similarities.  The diet consisted of freshly caught and gathered foods.  No processed foods were available or were eaten.  The diet was primarily animals and vegetables.  Animals were free-range and organic with a good level of omega-3 fatty acids.  All parts of the animal were eaten.  People weren’t fat phobic.  Studies show that hunter-gatherers often ate a very wide range of plant foods – much greater than that consumed in modern societies.  This was prior to the agricultural period so the diet was low in cereals such as wheat, oats, barley and rye.  Few legumes, such as kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils were available.  Dairy foods were only eaten at a later period and are arguably sub-optimal foods for long-term health.