william wrote:
> Keith Thomas wrote:
>> Here's a question for William and other Stefansson fans. The question
>> arises as an aquaintance of mine is shifting to palaeo eating but is
>> worried about becoming constipated.
>> .
>>
>> Do you know what Stefansson experienced by way of frequency and
>> ease of bowel movements? What the Inuit experience is in winter
>> and spring when there's virtually no roughage to be had?
>>
> I think that you have advised your friend well. Might add that animal
> fat is a lubricant, as well as nutrient and solvent.
> Roughage is not needed - it's the friendly bacteria that make us move.
>
> I don't remember Stefansson writing anything about bowel movements -
> in his time people were even more prudish than now about such things.
> The only knowledge I have of the Inuit in this regard is from 1960,
> when the snow melted around their tents the winter's turds were
> revealed. They were proper turds, well formed, but maybe not as
> splendid as mine have been recently. :D
>
> William
>
A while ago when we were discussing roots and tubers, I posted some
portion of a very detailed study on paleo eating habits of Australian
aborigines before their diet become more "westernized". I highly
recommend reading the paper, but below you'll note that the estimated
fiber content was 40-80 grams/day along with total carbs of 101-202
grams - high fiber content carbs. I expect this diet is more
representative of a paleo diet than that of the Inuit.
Steve
---------
If you pull up the following PDF file and scan to the section on "Roots
and tubers", there is an interesting discussion that applies to recent
posts on roots and tubers that has been ongoing. Farther down there is a
discussion under "Seeds" of cereal seeds and farther on some legumes.
All these were available without agriculture but some "technology" was
used.
Australian Aboriginal plant foods: a consideration of their nutritional
composition and health implications
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.cambridge.org%2Fproduction%2Faction%2FcjoGetFulltext%3Ffulltextid%3D593416&ei=658tSIOqH4WIpATJ99XFAQ&usg=AFQjCNFIYLNv15KQxNPyLuV4l_dij3whFw&sig2=lQPaqsz0Ls41vyPhtuc4NA
http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FNRR%2FNRR11_01%2FS0954422498000043a.pdf&code=aa215b593ea11deda467b20ce538f628
Abstract
For at least 40-50000 years, plants played an important but
supplementary role in the animal-dominated diet of Australian Aboriginal
(AA) hunter-gatherers. New knowledge of the nutrient composition and the
special physiological effects of their foods provides another
perspective in the current debate on the composition of the prudent’
diet and the diet on which humans evolved. In the present paper we have
calculated the average nutrient composition of over *800 Aboriginal
plant foods* (in total and by food group) and highlighted the
differences between these and modem cultivated foods. The data enable us
to calculate the absolute contribution of plant foods to total food and
nutrient intake of traditional living AA. If plants provided 20-40% of
the energy in the diet (the most likely range), then plants would have
contributed 22-44 g protein, 18-36 g fat, 101-202 g carbohydrate, 40-80
g fibre and 90-180mg vitamin C in a 12500kJ (3000kcal) diet. Since all
the carbohydrate came from plant foods, the traditional AA diet would
have been relatively low in carbohydrate (especially starch) but high in
dietary fibre in comparison with current recommendations. Over half the
carbohydrate could have been in the form of sugars derived from fruit
and honey. The low glycaemic index of their carbohydrate foods, however,
would generate a relatively low demand for insulin secretion and this
characteristic may have protected AA from a genetic predisposition to
insulin resistance and its consequences (non-insulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus, coronary heart disease, obesity). The dietary pattern and
active lifestyle of recent hunter-gatherers such as AA may be a
reference standard for modem human nutrition and a model for defence
against diseases of affluence.
<BIG SNIP>
Roots and tubers
Aboriginal people ate many kinds of roots, tubers and bulbs. The ones
that stand out are the Dioscorea species (yams), and Ipornoea costata
(wild potato), Cyperus species (native onion) the yam daisy, Microseris
scapigeris. Many of the roots contained a poison which was removed by
extensive leaching in running water. Some have a composition which is
similar to a potato with about 15-20% carbohydrate, but others are more
like a carrot with much less carbohydrate and less energy, but lots of
fibre. Many roots and tubers (for example Microseris scapigeris)
contained an unabsorbable carbohydrate called inulin which is thought to
promote a healthy intestinal flora (Incoll et al. 1989). In the Tables
we are unable to distinguish between
the roots that were high in inulin and those high in starch.
In the Central Desert the tubers of Ipomoea costata and Vigna lanceolata
and the bulbs of Cyperus bulbosus were important staples available
during any season with suitable rainfall and thereafter they are
preserved underground indefinitely (O’Connell et al. 1983). Sweeney
(1947) writes of the desert yam as “the most remarkable of the native
foods that nature has developed in the desert providing a nutritious
food under hard conditions which can be harvested at any time of the
year”. Sweeney’s desert yam was probably Ipomoeu costata, not Dioscorea
sp. as was originally thought (Meggitt, 1957). The tubers found 50 to
lOOcm underground and are harvested by digging with yam sticks and using
wooden food vessels as shovels. Tubers of I. costata up to the size of a
human head were once obtained. They can be eaten raw or cooked and have
a slightly sweet taste.
The average nutrient composition of all the AA roots (n = 65 ), tubers
(n = 86) and bulbs (n=30) is shown in Tables 1 and 2. Compared with 11
cultivated rootstocks, AA roots and tubers are slightly lower in water
(76 v. 70 %) but fairly similar in protein (1.6 v. 2 %) and fat (0 v.
0.5 %). The AA rootstocks are apparently similar in carbohydrate (17-22
%) to cultivated varieties (19 %), but the figure for AA is a likely
overestimate. The fibre content of AA roots and tubers is at least 8%
(an underestimate) compared with only 2% in the cultivated bulbs such as
onions and leeks. AA bulbs (n = 30) are more desiccated (average
moisture 56 % v. 90 % in cultivated bulbs) and significantly higher in
carbohydrate compared with cultivated foods (3 v. 5 %). The vitamin C
content of AA roots and bulbs averages only 8-11 mg/lOOg, while the
tubers are a much better source with 46 mg/100 g, although the variation
is very high. The thiamin and riboflavin content of the wild and
cultivated varieties is similar.
<CONTINUES>
Writers often comment on the wide range of vegetable foods available to
hunter-gatherers which contrasts with the relatively narrow variety of
crops produced by agriculture. AA across Australia ate some 300
different fruit species and 150 varieties of roots and tubers. However,
we do not know to what extent AA exploited all the species available or
limited themselves to an optimal foraging strategy based on relatively
few species. In the animal-dominated diets of AA, plants were
subsidiaries, not dietary mainstays that we recommend today.
<CONTINUES>
--
Steve
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