What food is “natural” for humans?
Discussion
There’s a lot of talk about diets related to the environment at the moment but often the discussion touches on ideas about what’s our “natural” diet.
You often hear arguments for vegetarianism about being dropped into our natural environment presumably some kind of savannah or whatever and the food we would be able to eat (without tools and fire) is fruit and vegetables and berries and nuts etc.
Other arguments about our teeth and intestinal tracts seem to favour plant based diets also.
Another, perhaps more philosophical argument, I heard was someone saying that if we look at an orange or a strawberry etc we want to eat it but if we look at a cow or sheep then our natural instinct probably isn’t to think of it as food. I kind of agreed with this but maybe others think it’s b
ks.
Do people think it’s natural to eat meat? Other animals don’t cook meat before eating it, do we actually need to cook meat first or have we just evolved into preferring cooked meat?
I eat a mixed diet so I’m not pushing any particular diet, just curious what others thought about which is the more natural diet for humans?
You often hear arguments for vegetarianism about being dropped into our natural environment presumably some kind of savannah or whatever and the food we would be able to eat (without tools and fire) is fruit and vegetables and berries and nuts etc.
Other arguments about our teeth and intestinal tracts seem to favour plant based diets also.
Another, perhaps more philosophical argument, I heard was someone saying that if we look at an orange or a strawberry etc we want to eat it but if we look at a cow or sheep then our natural instinct probably isn’t to think of it as food. I kind of agreed with this but maybe others think it’s b
ks.Do people think it’s natural to eat meat? Other animals don’t cook meat before eating it, do we actually need to cook meat first or have we just evolved into preferring cooked meat?
I eat a mixed diet so I’m not pushing any particular diet, just curious what others thought about which is the more natural diet for humans?
Evoluzione said:
Meat, veg and fruit. Not anything made from grain and more above ground veg than root veg.
We can't eat raw meat because we haven't got the stomach for it, it'll make us ill. Or at least it will if it's kept a while and then eaten.
It begs the question, could we eat raw chicken as long as its fresh?
So if we can’t eat raw meat, It’s not really “natural” for us to eat it is it? We can't eat raw meat because we haven't got the stomach for it, it'll make us ill. Or at least it will if it's kept a while and then eaten.
It begs the question, could we eat raw chicken as long as its fresh?
Evoluzione said:
El stovey said:
Evoluzione said:
Meat, veg and fruit. Not anything made from grain and more above ground veg than root veg.
We can't eat raw meat because we haven't got the stomach for it, it'll make us ill. Or at least it will if it's kept a while and then eaten.
It begs the question, could we eat raw chicken as long as its fresh?
So if we can’t eat raw meat, It’s not really “natural” for us to eat it is it? We can't eat raw meat because we haven't got the stomach for it, it'll make us ill. Or at least it will if it's kept a while and then eaten.
It begs the question, could we eat raw chicken as long as its fresh?
Sorry for sounding thick but I don’t actually know much about eating raw meat. I assumed we cooked it because eating it raw was more likely to make us ill.
If eating raw meat is ok but slightly old meat is really bad for us you think we’d be more adept at killing the bacteria with stronger stomach acid or whatever like other animals do?
Zarco said:
El Stovey - why do you think everyone loves the smell of a bbq?
It's because we all still have a bit of cave man in us.
I agree I love bbq but a bbq isn’t 100% natural It's because we all still have a bit of cave man in us.
If a look at a cow or pig I empathise with it a bit, I don’t really think about eating it. An apple or orange looks tasty though in its natural form.
Perhaps it’s just me though.
cml24 said:
I went to a farm yesterday and whilst I didn't start salivating whilst I watched the pigs, my mind certainly drifted into curing meat!
I just tried a quick google, but this article seemed believable. Very varied plant based diet with occasional meat as and when it was there. They key thing seems to be the variety.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115127-ancie...
I eat a mixed diet myself. I suppose I’m saying if you lived in a savannah and there was plentiful fruit and berries or nuts etc why would you start chasing after animals that are harder to catch prepare and digest?I just tried a quick google, but this article seemed believable. Very varied plant based diet with occasional meat as and when it was there. They key thing seems to be the variety.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115127-ancie...
That’s obviously what people did though. Maybe it’s to do with seasons or as we migrated to different areas and different foods were available?
grumbledoak said:
So, our historic (Paleolithic) diet was mostly meat.
grumbledoak said:
"fruits,nuts,veg,insects" are *all* regional and seasonal.
As a hypothesis, "humans died out every winter and re-evolved from hominids" has probably been considered and discarded. You may have more luck with "humans outside of subtropical regions died out every winter and were re-populated from warmer climes", but I don't think the evidence is there. Personally I'm keeping my money on the "hunted animals" hypothesis.
Or that humans originated in areas where plant based diets were available all year and only started eating meat when the migrated to colder climates much later. As a hypothesis, "humans died out every winter and re-evolved from hominids" has probably been considered and discarded. You may have more luck with "humans outside of subtropical regions died out every winter and were re-populated from warmer climes", but I don't think the evidence is there. Personally I'm keeping my money on the "hunted animals" hypothesis.
the problem is that when Archaeological sites find bones etc are left over. Veg matter would be long gone. Most finds that have found veg matters, show a very varied diet with as much as 55 different plants consumed. This was a site dug from 780k years ago. It shows they in this area the diet was broad and most likely veg diet based.
The problem is there is too much pseudo science and fad diets based on minimal information.
The problem is there is too much pseudo science and fad diets based on minimal information.
Edited by Thesprucegoose on Sunday 8th December 22:51
I love how people look on the past with Rose tinted glasses. Natural food covered in bacteria and parasites that didn't make people. It wasn't Eden it was brutal and we have reaped the rewards in the last few hundred years.
Bread has been eaten for at least 30k years . It is ridiculous to look at a diet a million years ago and champion as the best, we have adapted to whatever is in plenty.
Bread has been eaten for at least 30k years . It is ridiculous to look at a diet a million years ago and champion as the best, we have adapted to whatever is in plenty.
People diets were restricted by what was around. It is nonsenical to think there was a universal diet, it varied massively by location.
The human body can adapt pretty well to most foods. You just end up with people thinking their latest fad diet is the best, so shove it down peoples throat , in any thread to do with diets.
The human body can adapt pretty well to most foods. You just end up with people thinking their latest fad diet is the best, so shove it down peoples throat , in any thread to do with diets.
ATG said:
You've completely missed the point of what we were saying. We were not saying you can eat anything and be healthy. We were talking about the way people THINK about diet and history.
Quite.I started the thread and was wondering what was originally and what is now the most “natural food” for humans to eat considering whether we need tools or to prepare it first (by cooking) and looking at our physiology and teeth intestines etc.
Obviously as humans evolved and moved to new areas of the planet, what is most natural will change.
It’s been interesting for me anyway discussing whether humans started by eating raw meat as part of a mixed diet and then started cooking it to aid digestion and kill bacteria etc or did we only start eating meat once we had fire.
Could or did we prosper without eating meat and started doing it later or has meat always been a natural part of our (humans) diet.
soupdragon1 said:
kurokawa said:
El stovey said:
Another, perhaps more philosophical argument, I heard was someone saying that if we look at an orange or a strawberry etc we want to eat it but if we look at a cow or sheep then our natural instinct probably isn’t to think of it as food. I kind of agreed with this but maybe others think it’s bo
This I could never agree with. I believe it is how people consider “life”, seeing animal have life while disregard plant also have life or just seeing plant as a lower life form.I don’t really have any empathy for a coconut or think it looks tasty in its natural form but if I see a cow, I definitely don’t think it looks tasty alive or dead and cut up and wouldn’t like to kill it or see it get killed.
Evoluzione said:
They lived short lives for different reasons, they weren't being killed by the food they were eating. Unless it killed them before they got their hands on it 
They needed strong immune systems. A good diet would have provided this, and they were more active than us so you think that would have a impact. But for 100s of thousands of years the average age was 25-30, yet the paleo diet, which is absurd in it's context, for various reasons is touted as the saviour of mankind..Something doesn't add up..Kenny Powers said:
Sucrose, bread, pasta etc. All foods that, on an evolutionary timescale, we invented yesterday.
Sucrose is a natural product, found in fruits and nectars.Bread has been around for 14.5k years
They are not demon products the issue is we can just over eat them easily.
Kenny Powers said:
Glucose and fructose are naturally occurring in fruit. But fruit also contains water and fibre. Pure, refined table sugar is not a natural product.
sucrose is found in fruit and others things, all naturally occurring. As i said it is a natural product. Refined table sugar is not what you said though, you said sucrose.Table sugar is made from processing plants, usually sugar cane. This has been grown for over 6k years.
Sucrose is found in nectar, which is what bees use to make honey.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff