Caveman or Palaeolithic Diet

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Caveman or Palaeolithic Diet

The Palaeolithic period and its food

The Palaeolithic period existed nearly 2.5 million years ago. This was the age when humans first started to use stone tools. The period ended with the advent of agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago.

The foods that are thought to have been available during this period included wild-animal source foods and uncultivated-plant source foods. These included

  • lean meat
  • fish
  • eggs
  • vegetables
  • fruits
  • roots and tubers
  • nuts

There was no use of agriculture produce like:-

  • grains
  • legumes and pulses
  • dairy products like milk, butter, cheese etc.
  • salt
  • sugar
  • processed oils

These agents were included in foods after humans began to cultivate and grow crops and started domesticating animals.

Evolution and food changes

Studies have shown that as humans evolved ทางเข้า ufabet https://ufabet999.app the metabolic rates remained the same for larger body sizes compared to earlier apes. To compensate for this change in body size the gut in humans shrank as the brains became larger.

Unlike plant foods consumed by the great apes, the energy dense flesh foods consumed by the cavemen did not need long guts anymore. Thus with evolution the human gut shortened. Larger brains meant more hunting and foraging.

Palaeolithic diet and obesity

The caveman diet has been studied in its efficacy to prevent obesity and metabolic syndrome. There are several advocates of this diet who believe that humans are adapted to a Palaeolithic diet and not to the current civilized diet.