Nutrition, Evolution, and Having a Healthy Diet
Judith Schwader

Nutrition has everything to do with health. This isnt news, exactly, but looking around at the crazy information on the market, one wonders if anyone actually makes the connection: what you eat affects how you feel. Its that simple. Your health depends on the food choices you make in both the short and long term.

Take a pill, and all youve done is treat a symptom. Change your eating habits, and create a lasting change in your well-being. There are so many approaches to eating, however, and so much conflicting information that its come down to this simple question: does whatever youre eating right now make sense?

Well, sense isnt common, and it does depend on some good information. So here is something to consider: what kind of foods are humans evolved to eat? Cheetos? Dont think so. Thats a no-brainer, but what about some others that we counted as healthy staples until recently, like bread and pasta. Go way back in your imagination, to hunter gatherer days before agriculture and the obesity which followed for the first time among humans and consider what would be part of our ancestors normal diet. If youre about to pop something into your mouth that wasnt around before agriculture, (a relatively recent development in human history), then eat it knowing its not considered a normal food by your body. Foods your body considers normal contribute to your health, other foods are either neutral or harmful. How simple is that?

A well-known exploration of this concept that certain foods help our bodies thrive is Dr. Peter DAdamos book, Eat Right 4 Your Type, in which he bases his lists of what to eat and avoid on blood type. DAdamo asserts that type O is the oldest type, and the newer A type didnt show up on the scene until agriculture. So, Os should eat lots of meat and veg because that blood type doesnt know how to handle too much grain. Type As can eat grain, but not dairy. Dairy is a category reserved as a normal food only for the yet more recent human blood type, AB. (Maybe well evolve a new type that can handle Cheetos and red licorice, my personal favorite abnormal foods).

DAdamo supports his blood-type theory with all kinds of careful research, and so what? Does it make sense that humans should rely primarily on foods that occur naturally? Absolutely. If youre going to eat a grain like wheat then, eat it whole, or dont eat it at all, and dont eat much of it anyway because humans pretty much made wheat up! Im not going to take the, Does it occur naturally? debate too far, because its time to look at another researchers take on the food and evolution connection.

Dr. Phillip Lipetz wrote The Good Calorie Diet, a book for the weight loss market, but he also has supported his theories with all kinds of careful research. His describes how the human response to starvation that was developed during the ice age carries on today. Ironic, isnt it, that the food available to us today – rich and sweet and abundant – causes our bodies to behave as though starvation is at hand.

The short story for how this works is that up until the ice age, humans ate whatever was readily available, like roots, plants, fruit, and a little tasty carrion now and then. Along came the ice ages, and those foods became scarce. Now humans were forced to hunt, but it was dicey and the weapons were primitive, so spans of time occured between kills. The result: our ancestors evolved ways to make the most of the conversion of excess blood sugar into stored nutrition in the form of body fat. When they starved, they lived off stored fat.

Todays diet mimics the ice age diet: high fat and high protein, and our genetic programming says, Uh oh, were facing starvation again. Better store up some fat. Lipetz goes into convincing detail about food combinations in his book. He describes some that cause the creation of excess fat, such as butter on bread. More useful are his combinations that actually inhibit fat formation, like lean meat with most vegetables. In a society where obesity and its attendant health issues are rampant, these food combinations are helpful places to focus our attention. Yet the single most useful bit to remember from his research is that foods which cause our bodies to create excess fat all have one thing in common: they werent part of our ancestors normal diet.

Armed with this overview, next time youre about to pop something in your mouth – whether your focus is health or weight you dont need to have a bunch of rules and whacky information in mind. Just use common sense. Ask whether its a food that was around before the advent of agriculture. If it was, go for it. If it wasnt, then consider that your body wont consider the food normal, and in both the long and short run, thats got health consequences.

© 2004 Judith Schwader

Judith Schwader holds a Master’s degree in Education, and has written extensively on health. She has a background in social science and addressing chronic health conditions through nutrition and life style. Judith’s articles appear in: http://QandAHealth.com, and http://masteringyourtime.com.

This article may be reprinted in its entirety so long as this paragraph and the authors credits remain intact.

Tags: Ancestors, Better store, Blood Type, chronic health conditions, Dadamo, Diet Nutrition, Dr Peter, Eating Habits, Evolution, food choices;, food combinations;, food normal, food;, Grain Type, Healthy Diet, Human History, hunter, Hunter Gatherer, Imagination, Judith Schwader, Meat And Veg, No Brainer, normal food, Nutrition Diet, obesity;, Pasta, Phillip Lipetz, Staples, starvation;, Type O —

Do you ever think about how far we’ve diverted from the path of our pre-historic ancestors and they’re eating patterns? Consider how the earliest humans evolved, and what they ate. They were hunter-gatherers and did not evolve with the characteristics of carnivores. Humans aren’t made to tear animals apart and eat their flesh. When you look at carnivorous animals, such as wild cats, you can see their teeth are designed to rip and tear, not chew.

Humans evolved from vegetarian creatures. Even our digestive systems are not particularly suited to eating meat. Eating meat is a relatively recent development in human history, most likely born of opportunity and necessity. Perhaps earliest man observed carnivores eating meat, and if they couldn’t find any of the natural foods they were used to eating, such as vegetables, berries, nuts and grains, then they might have assumed that eating meat would at least sustain life.

But initially we emulated the creatures we evolved from, herbivores like apes. Even to a prehistoric mind, apes would have looked similar to man, walking primarily upright, with arms and hands. We naturally would have foraged for our food, eating roots and berries, fruits and nuts. We would have watched the apes peeling bananas, or crushing nuts on stones to get at the meat of the nut.

We would have been living more moment-to-moment, constantly foraging for food. Hunting, after all, requires thought and planning. Eating meat requires preparation and most importantly, fire. Until man discovered fire, he was primarily vegetarian, living in what was the natural order of things. Vegetarian eating is a more natural way of eating, in addition to being healthier. It’s a way that’s in balance with the planet, and doesn’t seek to dominate it and conquer it.

Tags: Ancestors, Apes, Bananas, Berries, Carnivores, Carnivorous Animals, Creatures, Digestive Systems, Eating Habits, Eating Meat, Flesh, Foraging For Food, Fruits And Vegetables, Grains, Human History, Hunter Gatherers, Moment To Moment, Nuts, Peeling, Roots, Vegetables, Wild Cats —

The word spirit and science are two words that are contrary with each other, as the amount of divisiveness the advocates of each can attest throughout the decades in human history. Spirit is an allusion about the soul, while science is something that one can make a hypothesis and conclusions out of after applying the different methodologies of human observation. But if we are going to make an attempt to make an integrated approach to these two fields of study, then one can draw out the term “Spiritual Science”.

Spiritual Science can be viewed as both a science and religion, or as an act of mediation – a philosophy. It is based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner (27 February 1861 30 March 1925), a philosopher, social genius, and architect. He founded the movement of Anthroposopy, and postulated a belief system that integrates the material world to the spiritual world. This integration is focused on spiritual sustenance that an individual can achieve in interacting with the physical plane through the gaining of wisdom and knowledge, with the conscious effort of being an advocate of love, humanism and the general well being of mankind. In this approach, one can reach the state of being divine, and be in harmony with the entity of God. In Rudolf’s early work on Anthroposophy, he penned the terms “Philosophy of Freedom”, which relates to man’s freedom to create his own view about mankind and the universe in light of his own unique belief systems that resulted from independent thought and interactions with the outside world.

It’s inevitable that we encounter the word ‘God’ in this discourse, and that is contradicting since it’s impossible to find a connection between Science and the idea of an all-encompassing Creator. Creationism is in direct conflict with Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory (I’ll leave you to decide for yourself whether it’s still a theory), making the debate far from coming into a conclusion. In contrast, Spiritual Science is not adamant in regards to the teachings of different religions.

Rather than contradict religion, it utilizes the universal wisdom and knowledge that one can attain in its study. Spiritual Science couldn’t care less about the pervading conflict between the two, because even though it places emphasis on the importance of observation and critical thinking, it still accepts the notion of mystery and phenomena that current scientific processes are unable to explain.

One of the compelling facts of Spiritual Science is that it utilizes many schools of thought that have a foothold on both spiritual and scientific discourse, and the combination thereof, such as metaphysics, chemistry, the social sciences, arts, literature and many others. Its practicality in the ever-changing world and emphasis on progress to a multitude of human endeavors, make it all the more beneficial to humankind. It prevents divisiveness between several demographics because of its universal stance on every facet of all human concerns.

Even if the original organizations that advocate Anthroposophy have dissipated or sunk beneath social awareness, the teachings of Spiritual Science still permeate human consciousness, and are very much applied as a consequence of the changing times and mankind’s natural instinct to rise above himself and make the world a better place for everyone.

Tags: 1861, Allusion, Anthroposophy, architect, Belief System, Belief Systems, Charles Darwin, Conscious Effort, Creationism, Divisiveness, Human History, Human Observation, Humanism, Material World, Physical Plane, Rudolf Steiner, Science And Religion, Spiritual Science, Spiritual Sustenance, Spiritual World, Word God —

Everyone is invited to the Master’s table. The voice is calling, unrelenting. Sadly though, not everyone hears, not everyone could get in and have a moment with the One who truly cared for us most. Nonetheless, everyone is an eternal spark in the universe. Once conceived, we are staying for eternity.

In all creation, man alone was created in the image of his Creator, man alone has been bestowed all the graces and the opportunities that would have made the least among us grateful. We are so very special even angels envy us. The same God who created you and I loves with a love that is beyond comprehension, so unselfish that we were bestowed with the freedom to choose to refuse the goodwill of the One who created us. All over the earth, we alone enjoy that privilege. We alone could say no to God.

We are not totally left alone. Throughout centuries of human history we were provided with guides, prophets they call them. These are the men and women who were able to harness and tap energies that prepared them and made them respond to the voice calling from within. Their messages are the foundations from which societies based their civility, morality and laws that have guided us, without which would have made it impossible for humanity to survive.

Often, their lives are the epitome of sacrifices and the world responded many times with ridicule. They plodded on nonetheless and we are what we are now, enjoying what we have now, because they dared to show us the path to a better life and better relationships and to led us to acknowledge powers that are far greater than any of us could imagine. Magnificent powers that could be tapped anytime that never change whether we choose to believe it or not.

Prophets as we know them are not so commonplace now. Modern prophets are for the most part tinged with the stain of commercialism and the taking advantage of the gullible. But man could see through pretenses if not immediately, man ultimately will. The proof of this is that there have been thousands of churches that were established and were defunct over the last three hundred years alone. Modern-day prophets succeeded in throwing people away from churches and better spiritual guidance. Instead of confirmation they sowed confusion.

Yet not everything is lost. Angels guide us. Spiritual beings pray for us. Theirs are the wordless voices that tell us, even compel us to do what is good for us. Theirs is the power that comforts us and which manifests from time to time including moments when we expect it the least. Their voices get louder to those who follow them and hear them. But since we have the choice to reject them, their voices grow fainter every time we say no to them. Then we get lost. Sometimes for the time being, if only to prove to us that the path we insist in choosing leads to suffering.

When we are better prepared, the voices could return. When denied enough, the voices stop. Then we miss the opportunity to sit at the Master’s table.

Tags: Angels, Better Life, Better Relationships, Centuries, Civility, Commercialism, Comprehension, Epitome, Eternity, Foundations, Goodwill, Graces, Human History, Men And Women, Morality, Pretenses, Privilege, Prophets, Ridicule, Sacrifices —