Palaeontologists agree that our early ancestors ate much healthier food than we do today. Despite so-called advances in modern medicine, health problems escalate out of control: diabetes, heart disease, obesity, arthritis, cancer, constipation, diverticulitis, Crohn’s disease, hypertension. Many researchers attribute these diseases of modern life to the drastic changes in our diet.

Our genetic makeup is essentially unchanged over the last 50 thousand years, but the modern diet bears little resemblance to that of the early hunter gatherer.

The Hunter-gatherer diet

The Hunter-gatherer Diet is often called the Paleolithic Diet, Stone Age Diet or Caveman Diet.

Hunter-gatherers ate a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, roots, beans, nuts, tubers, pollen and flowers rich in antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. Researchers believe that the early humans ate up to 100 different varieties of plants. The meat of the hunter-gatherer diet was low in fat and cholesterol.

Furthermore, their diet had a much lower sugar content than ours, foods were consumed soon after gathering, and uncooked food was common.

Let’s explore some major shifts from the hunter-gatherer diet to the modern western diet.

Cultivated crops

As ancient populations began to grow in size they discovered how to cultivate crops; this permitted them to live in one place instead of wandering the earth in search of food. The variety in food diminished and as the population increased the soil became depleted of vital trace elements.

Contrast the rich variety of the hunter-gatherer diet with the low variety of fruits and vegetables in our modern diet. Modern cultivated crops grown in depleted soil and loaded with chemicals cannot compare to the nutrient rich wild plants of Palaeolithic times.

Another disadvantage of crop-growing was that humans now expended less energy on obtaining food. The agricultural revolution saw the start of our sedentary lifestyles that we as modern humans have perfected.

The shift to cooked food

The grains we consume today such as wheat are not a healthly choice. Many grains, beans and potatoes contain toxins in their raw state, have a high glycemic index and are low in vitamin content. When man discovered cooking about 10,000 years ago these foods could be suddenly be eaten. This revolutionised our diet, but is ruining our health.

Cooking also destroys vital micro-nutrients in food. One study found that stove-cooked spinach lost 77% of its folate; another study found that broccoli lost up to 97% of its antioxidants when nuked in the microwave.

Excess sugar

The caveman loved honey, but this was not a major part of his diet. Apart from honey, the hunter-gatherer had a diet free of sugar. In any case, wild harvested honey is rich in nutrients.

High cholesterol

The meat of the hunter-gatherer was low in fat and cholesterol - the opposite of most meats consumed today. We need fat in our diet - a zero fat diet will kill you. It is all about consuming modest amounts of the healthy fats. The modern obsession with beef is killing us and destroying our environment in the process.

High Sodium

The potassium levels in the hunter-gatherer diet was 5 to 10 times higher than sodium. The modern diet has more sodium than potassium. We sprinkle sodium chloride on our food and call it salt. Sodium chloride is a poison, salt is the term used for naturally occurring rock salt which is rich in many minerals and trace elements.

Acidity

The high fruit and vegetable intake of stone age man drove systemic pH toward alkalinity. Today, our high consumption of red meat, grains and diary foods is acid producing. Our bodies will try and balance the acidic condition by drawing on calcium reserves from our bones. Thus, we have an increase in osteoporosis. Don’t believe the hype of the diary industry; we should be getting our calcium from vegetable sources. There is evidence that over consumption of diary food causes osteoporosis.

High Blood pressure

The blood pressure among the remnants of forager populations is consistently lower than that considered healthy today. In addition, their blood pressure remains low in old age. Hypertension is non-existent in hunter-gatherers.

Can we do the Hunter-gatherer diet?

Modern diets are high in energy, low in micronutrients, high in fat and sugar, have a high GI and a low fibre content. Considering our genetic makeup hasn’t changed much in 50,000 years, it’s no wonder so many of us are sick! How do we break this pattern?

We can get much closer to our natural human diet - the Hunter-gatherer diet. It is simple, but you will need an iron will to get started. After some months you will feel great on the proper human diet and you will only go to the supermarket for toilet paper and other non-food items.

Let us know your story if you succeed in making the shift.

References:

Aird, William C. MD. Endothelial Biomedicine. Cambridge University Press. 2007.

Cordain, L. Implications of Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Diets for Modern Humans. In: Early Hominin Diets: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable. Ungar, P (Ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.

Crawford, M and Marsh, D. Nutrition and Evolution: Food in Evolution and the Future. 1995.

Ungar, Peter S. Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable Kindle Books 2006.

Used in Japan for years, spirulina is a microalgae grown in alkaline, warm-water lakes. Spirulina’s green colour is due to its chlorophyll content. Chlorophyll acts as an antioxidant and may have medicinal benefits against cancer. Spirulina is also rich in phycocyanin, a pigment with anti-cancer properties.

Studies show the anti-cancer properties of spirulina.

Beta carotene is one of the most effective substances for deactivating free radicals, which damage cells, leading to cancer. Spirulina is the richest beta carotene food known, having over ten times more beta carotene than any other food, including carrots. Studies show that vitamin A and beta carotene inhibit the development of various cancers and tumors. Beta carotene (and not the preformed Vitamin A from animal sources) correlated with lower cancer rates.

A 1987 Israeli study demonstrated natural beta carotene is more effective than synthetic beta carotene. Natural beta carotene is better assimilated by the body because it contains the 9-cis carotenoid isomer which is lacking in synthetic carotene molecules. This means that beta carotene in algae and vegetables has a greater antioxidant power than synthetic beta carotene.

An Indian study found that spirulina inhibits the growth of oral tumors: “We evaluated the chemopreventive activity of Spirulina fusiformis (SF) (1 g/day for 12 mos) in reversing oral leukoplakia in pan tobacco chewers in Kerala, India. Complete regression of lesions was observed in 20 of 44 (45%) of subjects supplemented with SF, as opposed to 3 of 43 (7%) in the placebo arm.”

The Harvard University School of Dental Medicine reduced oral cancer cells with spirulina extracts. A beta carotene solution applied to cancerous tumours in mouths of hamsters reduced the number and size of tumours or caused them to disappear. When a beta carotene extract was fed to 20 hamsters pre-treated to develop mouth cancer, none developed the disease. Tissue samples contained an immune stimulating substance believed to have destroyed cancer cells before they could multiply.

Spirulina as a supplement

A traditional food source in parts of Africa and Mexico, spirulina is a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, GLA (essential fatty acid) and one of the few vegetable sources of vitamin B12. AS well as its potential anti-cancer properties, spirulina is a good supplement with many benefits.

References:

Amotz, B.A. Presentation to Polysaccharides from microalgae workshop. Duke University, 1987.

Balch, P.A. and Balch, J.F. Prescription For Nutritional Healing.

Mathew B, Sankaranarayanan R, Nair PP, Varghese C, Somanathan T, Amma BP, Amma NS, Nair MK. Evaluation of chemoprevention of oral cancer with spirulina fusiformis. Nutrition and Cancer 1995; 24(2):197-202.

Menkes, et al. Serum beta carotene, vitamins A and E, selenium, and the risk of lung cancer. N.E. Journal of Medicine, Nov. 1986, p. 1250.

Pitchford P. Healing with Whole Foods.

Schwartz, J., Scklar, G., Suda, D. Inhibition of experimental oral carcinogenesis by topical beta carotene. Harvard School of Dental Med. Carcinogenesis, May 1986, 7(5) 711-715.

Shekelle,R.B.etal. DietaryVitaminA and risk of cancer in Western Electric study. Lancet,1981,8257:1185-1189.

Molasses is made from sugar cane. Juice is extracted from crushed sugar cane and boiled. This causes sugar to crystallise so it can be extracted. The left over syrup is molasses, which is high in minerals and vitamins. This process is performed three times; the syrup from the third boiling is called blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses has the lowest sugar content and the highest nutrient content. Sulphur is sometimes added to molasses as a preservative; look for un-sulphured blackstrap molasses.

Blackstrap molasses contains vitamins and minerals

Blackstrap molasses contains large amounts of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese and potassium. Blackstrap molasses still contains some sugar, but is much healthier than pure sugar. Two teaspoons will give you 10-20 percent of your daily requirement of these minerals as well as 5 percent of your daily vitamin B6 needs.

Using blackstrap molasses

Blackstrap molasses has a sweet, but strong flavour. Some people use blackstrap molasses in place of sugar in tea or other hot beverages. Blackstrap molasses may be used in baking in place of sugar with varying degrees of success. This probably works best in simple baked food such as cookies.

If you want to take blackstrap molasses as a supplement, but don’t like the taste, simply take a teaspoon twice a day and wash it down with water.

Note that molasses is often fed to livestock as a mineral supplement.

Blackstrap molasses cures

Blackstrap molasses has been said to cure or help with many conditions such as constipation, diabetes, amenia, anxiety, acne, fibroid tumours, insomnia, arthritic pain, high blood pressure, heart palpitations and symptoms of menopause. Some people have reported grey hair returning to the original colour.

Some of these folk remedies are unproven, so do your own research and consult your medical practitioner. As a sweetener that is much healthier than sugar, consider adding blackstrap molasses to your diet in moderation.

References:

Scott, C. Crude Black Molasses: a natural “Health -food”. 1948

Wikipedia

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats in human nutrition and cannot be manufactured by the body, and must be consumed in the diet. The two main biologically active omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are found in fish oil. There is also alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) which is found in vegetable oils.

Omega-3 fatty acids reduce mortality

Swiss researchers published results of clinical trials in the April 2005 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine showing decreased risk of mortality using omega-3 fish oil. The trials also included statin drugs. The results combine 10,000 clinical trials from 1965 to 2003 which included 275,000 subjects.

In the trials statin drugs reduced overall mortality by 13 percent. Statin drugs advocated by conventional medicine to reduce cholesterol have side effects such as muscle pain, muscle loss, memory loss, liver failure, and fatigue. Omega-3 fatty acids reduced overall mortality by 23 percent.

Cholesterol

There are two types of cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is bad cholesterol that can lead to heart disease. HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol. Low HDL cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease.

Not only do omega-3 fatty acids reduce the bad LDL cholesterol, they also increase the good HDL cholesterol.

Sources of omega-3 fatty acids

Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseed, walnuts, and soybean oil. Cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and sardines have high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids. To maintain the heart-healthy benefits of fish, bake or grill it. If dietary intake is insufficient, take fish oil capsules.

Other factors

Many other contribute to cholesterol levels and overall health. Maintain a normal body weight, avoid smoking and eat healthy food.

References:

Studer M, Briel M, Leimenstoll B, Glass T, Bucher H. Effect of Different Antilipidemic Agents and Diets on Mortality: A Systemic Review. Archives of Internal Medicine 2005 April 11; 165(7):725-30.