User:Natural SynergyCure
My good friend [1] John Berardi has spoken extensively on how some people have a tendency to replace hard lifting, and even a healthy diet, with the acquisition of knowledge. These folks have mediocre or even poor physiques, yet all of their time is spent in pursuit of the holy grail of fitness and nutrition knowledge. How many carbs does that 5.8 oz serving of artichoke have, and how will this affect insulin levels? Who cares, just eat the darn thing and go lift some heavy weights! The fact remains that it takes hard work in the gym to get a good physique, in addition to knowledge about how to lift and what to eat.
Obviously, the road goes both ways, and there are still hordes of folks out there that don't know an artichoke from a Twinkie, but the key is to not get lost in the minutia and neglect what really matters: a balanced diet and hard training. You have a Ph.D. in archaeology, and you've researched evolution and nutrition, correct? What lessons have you learned from your studies? How have we evolved to eat? Does it differ geographically?
That's right, Craig. We archaeologists love to make fun of trendy "Paleo-diets" and books like Neanderthin. There was no single paleo-diet; people during the Paleolithic ate whatever they could get their hands on, and what they ate depended upon what region of the world they were living. I recently talked with Erik Trinkaus, a paleoanthropologist and the world's premier expert on Neanderthals, and he summarized his thoughts on the matter by saying "the Neanderthal world was in no way idyllic. These folks had hard lives and died young, and their version of a paleo-diet was to eat whatever didn't eat them first".
That being said, there are certain lessons we can learn about our past that can help us understand why we're having so many diet-related problems today.In a nutshell, we've been eating a diet rich in plants, fish, and animals for millions of years now. There have been many studies published in peer-reviewed journals demonstrating that getting your protein consumption over the 10-15% national average has positive benefits in terms of body composition and blood lipids.
