A recent re-examination of Neanderthal bones has revealed butcher marks on all of them.  Put this in the context of the Neanderthal as having the physique of our top athletes and thus needing about 4000 calories a day.  This would have been a creature that was always hungry.  The friend who told me of these recent findings has theorized that Neanderthals have left their mark in European folk memory as the trolls of our fairy stories: human-shaped, immensely strong, not too bright, ate people.

 

 ~ Joan


-----Original Message-----
From: Ken O'Neill <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2009 11:39 pm
Subject: Re: Latest On Dietary Acid/Base Balance Being Crucial


for an alternative perspective on paleo, written by a younger pair of
scientists, please read:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_science/built_like_a_neanderthal_1%3bjsessionid=0CB34468C70E368151A92B39B439D258.hydra

and
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_science/built_like_a_neanderthal_ii&cr=

On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 8:44 PM, Neil Timms <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> As I follow this discussion it seems that much of the point of
> approximating a Paleolithic eating is lost on some
>
> Real Paleo eating has little to do with close examination of this or
> that effect of certain foods on the body. Our starting point is eating
> those foods that approximate the the foods that we might eat in a
> pre-agriculture setting. More detailed study might tell us more about
> why Paleo is a better way to eat. But we have a problem. When it comes
> to nutrition the 'science' is so sketchy that most people in the world
> will either suffer from diet induced health problems or they have them
> already. The studies look good, grab headlines, but in the end kill us
> slowly.
>
> Cordain's the 'Paleo Diet' seems to me to be a much better 'diet' than
> most but it is presented as a 'diet' - and 'diets' as part of a
> 'Western' culture are not necessarily the final word on nutrition, or
> something that endures; 'diets' are a fashion. They come and they go -
> the next supposedly better than all those that came before, and often
> associated with a personality or 'scientist' and 'research'.
>
> The world does not need in depth research into what foods do to us
> except that this is to understand the processes of our lives - and
> these processes need to be placed in the human context. Animals
> evolved in an environment. Without that context nutritional research
> tells us nothing of any use. It is like trying to work out how a
> bicycle works by looking at it through a microscope.
>
> To me at least it is clear that meat and fat consumption were a
> significant part of a pre-agricultural diet; and woven in with our
> evolution as a relatively large brained species. No meat and fat, no
> big brain. The fruits and vegetables that nutritional 'science'
> examines are not the same as those that we might have eating before
> agriculture: ours are bred for sweetness and color and shape, or an
> emphasized nutritional factor. The same is sadly true about much of
> our meat. It is just not possible to do real nutritional science
> starting with modern analogs of meats, fruits, and vegetables. So I
> think we should approach all nutritional studies with a pinch of salt
> as it were.
>
> I think that Cordain is obviously wrong to present his idea of acid
> balance in a Paleo diet as definitive because the raw material for his
> research is not the same as a real Paleolithic diet. It also does not
> fit the 'big picture'.
>
> But what is a real Paleolithic diet? Subject to discussion I expect!
>
> I could go on and frequently do but I'll go back to my cave now.
>
> Cheers
>
> Neil
>
> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Robert Kesterson <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> > On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:20:20 -0600, Kenneth Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >>>
> >>> The body will maintain its own pH balance, for the most part regardless
> >>> of (or in spite of) diet.
> >>>
> >>>  Robert Kesterson
> >>>  [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >> Not according to Dr Cordain.  Repeat: There are a number of adverse
> >> health effects either partially or wholly caused by a net acid
> >> yielding diet (cereal grains, meats, cheeses, fish and salt. The only
> >> base yielding foods are fruits and vegetables.
> >
> > By that reasoning, we should all be vegetarians.  All the people who eat
> > low-carb or zero-carb (as do some on this list) should be keeling over by
> > now, or at least toppling from bone disintegration.
> >
> > --
> >  Robert Kesterson
> >  [log in to unmask]
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Neil C Timms
>