There are too many problems with Taubes' claims. First of all, I recently came across a point made by a swedish RVAFer that he could easily find lingonberries in december as well as juniper berries. He also pointed out that hazelnuts store well and that berries can be dried or frozen (in ice) for long-term consumption over winter.He also mentioned that the Sami make a brew of spruce needles during that time. So, the usual zero-carb claim that carbs are unobtainable in witner just isn't true.
And I can think of the Kitavans as an example of a healthy, high-carb-eating tribal group(ie 69% carbs).
re fat-percentage:- well, I can only go by the experience of RVAFers like myself, and the general viewpoint is that too much fat in the diet(c.80%) is none too healthy.Given my own experimentation with diet,I don't think rabbit-starvation can be an issue unless fat-percentages are very low, like way below 30% by calorie.
Re exercise:- Again, the evidence from the Palaeolithic re bones suggests that Palaeolithic humans were incredibly strong types with athletic physiques as good as or better than any modern athlete. Interestingly, there was that 1 study which focused on the reports by the Ancient Greeks of the incredible feats of trireme-rowers in ancient times, and the scientists found via experimentation that modern Olympic athletes had no chance of success against those Ancient Greek rowers. Given that these Greek rowers were from the Neolithic , fed on a very unhealthy diet of grains etc., one can reasonably assume that Palaeolithic tribesmen were capable of even greater feats of exercise. And given the less sedentary nature of a non-agricultural society, Palaeo tribesmen would have had a far higher level of daily activity than any neolithic-era settled peoples like the Ancient Greeks.
Geoff
> Date: Sat, 30 May 2009 07:09:52 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Paleo Writing Exercise
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> I wrote what follows as a brain dump in preparation for a piece on
> paleo diet and exercise. It's rough, but I'd really appreciate your
> thoughts.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jim Swayze
> www.fireholecanyon.com
>
>
> Taubes is halfway right in his tour de force critique of modern diet
> and health assumptions. Carbohydrate consumption of the sort
> recommended by nutritional “scientists” of the last fifty years,
> recommendations almost universally reflected in well-meaning public
> policy, clearly cause obesity and its associated host of human
> disease. And Taubes also rightly calls out recently invented manmade
> fats as unnatural and unhealthy.
>
> But of equal importance to human well being is a problem of much
> older origin: the post-Neolithic adoption of grass seeds as food.
> The archeological record is clear that before the “Agricultural
> Revolution” cereal grains almost never were a human food source – and
> at best would have been considered as such only in times of rampant
> starvation if they were considered at all. The evidence shows that
> humans evolved for millions of years on diets composed almost solely
> of fresh water, wild game, fish, insects, and low glycemic fruits and
> vegetables in season.
>
> So while excess carbohydrate consumption of the kind derided by Gary
> Taubes is clearly unnatural and therefore unhealthy, it’s also clear
> that that much if not most disease develops as a direct result of the
> novel adoption of cereal grains as food, their high carbohydrate
> content notwithstanding.
>
> Let’s talk for a minute about human caloric needs. Even though we
> may have come across the odd early summer honey cache or binged on
> seasonal blackberries, for most of the year carbohydrates as a
> primary source of energy would have been nonexistent. So where were
> we getting most of our energy from? Many paleolithic nutrition
> experts, including paleo nutrition pioneer Dr. Loren Cordain, have
> wrongly suggested the second of the three macronutrients: protein.
> The problem with this is reflected in the phenomenon of “rabbit
> starvation,” a malady very well known by our ancestors. Humans
> simply cannot obtain sufficient calories from protein as a primary
> caloric source. [See side effects of too much protein; and
> gluconeogenesis.]
>
> No carbs, moderate protein. What does that leave us with? Fat.
> Healthy, natural fats comprised from 70-80% of daily calories.
> [Explain here how that diet might work on a practical, day-to-day
> basis].
>
> Ok, so what about exercise? Surely we’ve got it right that one needs
> at least twenty minutes a day of aerobic exercise several times a
> week? Wrong. Ancient man exercised briefly and intensely one to
> three times a week. [Develop].
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