--- Tom <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Amadeus
Schmidt wrote:
>
> > And particularly in higher areas spelt was a bw
> mainstay.
> >
> Oats and rye were the big grain crops of the early
> north,
> above the area where wheat grows well. Scandinavia,
> Scotland, etc.  That's why I don't think my
> ancestors ate
> much wheat until modern times, a few hundred years
> ago maybe.

I remember reading once about reports of people living
in Scotland for centuries being incredibly healthy on
a diet of only oats, cream/milk, herrings and laver
(nori seaweed)- they apparently were tall, strong,
well-built, and extremely fit, and could handle
freezing temperatures without even noticing! Sorry
this is so vague, I have no idea where I read it, I
just remmeber the details because I was so impressed
by it!

Also, further to all the discussion about what
Aborigines ate, there was a "lost tribe" (actually,
they weren't lost, they knew exactly where they were
all the time, as they knew the desert back-to-front!)
found in the Western Desert some years ago - a small
group of men, women and children who had never had
contact with modern society and survive perfectly
healthily in the desert - you can guarantee they
weren't eating too many fruits and vegetables! It
would be interesting to see what they ate, as there is
a perfect modern case study! Also, in reference to
water-drinking in Oz and elsewhere, I remember reading
about a father and son - not Aboriginal - who were
making a living by catching feral rabbits (there's a
bounty on them) in the outback/desert scrub where it
is very hot and dry. The father was quite old and the
son not too young either, both very fit and
healthy-looking and could keep doing this demanding
physical work out in these severe conditions for weeks
on end - they had been advised by Aborigines NOT to
drink much water at all, and they were convinced from
their own experience that was right, and that anyone
who tried to work with them and drank a lot of water,
simply couldn't hack the conditions at all, and would quit!

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