September 9, 2002
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
"Nutrition news is important.  We help you understand it!"

Today's Topic: Eat Like a Caveman

A small number of people believe that we should be eating like our
ancestors did 50,000 years ago.  They believe that the agricultural
revolution that happened 10,000 years ago when we learned to grow
grains and herd animals is the main reason we are overweight.  The
Wall Street Journal ran an article on July 14, 2002 that advocated
eating and exercising like we still lived in the Paleolithic era.
< http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110001988 >

An antidote to this somewhat absurd position was published by Dr. Ruth
Kava, director of nutrition for the American Council on Science and
Health.  She points out that energy balance is neglected in the
arguments on which nutrient it is that makes us fat and, therefore,
ignores the most fundamental science in this debate. The form of
calories we take in is not as important as the number compared with
those we burn through activity.
< http://www.acsh.org/forum/features/choices.html >

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The cavemen argument
doesn't mean eating a lot of lean meat.  It really means tracking that
animal for a day before you kill it and butcher it.  Few of us are
willing to live that way, so we need to adapt our behaviors to the
modern world.  Want air conditioning, your own car, and electrical
appliances?  Then you need to find other ways to burn calories on a
regular basis.  This may be an ugly proposition to many, but it is the
only one that works.


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What do you think?
Jim