recipe photos by Stephen Blancett
consciouseating
Ancestral Diets A Lighter Shade of Paleo by Sayer Ji and Tania Melkonian
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egetarian Awarefoods, sugar and salt. ness Month Today’s updated verprovides a timely sion might comprise Paleo Specials opportunity to realize foods naturally availthat a plant-focused diet able and/or abundant du Jour does not derive exclubefore the cultivation Curried carrot soup with sively from plants. Just of food in gardens, buckwheat crackers and as a carnivore does not crops and livestock. goat cheese subsist on meat alone, Loren CorKale wraps with julienne the same applies to a dain, Ph.D., author of grass-fed strip loin, vegetarian. of The Paleo Diet bell peppers and avocado What can we learn and Nutritionist Nora Butter-grilled pineapple from our Paleolithic, or Gedgaudas, author of rounds served with Stone Age, ancestors? Primal Body, Primal dollop of vanilla-scented The recent trend toward Mind, each contest heavy cream recreating a Paleo-era the premise perpetudiet emphasizes the ated by many in the importance of vegetable weight-loss industry nutrition to prehistoric that fat, especially naturally communities, correcting the mispersaturated fat, is unhealthy. Those same ception that they were primarily meatproponents that maintain low-fat/ eaters. non-fat food is a panacea for modern The original Paleo diet, before illnesses also purport that cholesterol the advent of agriculture, reflected the is the chief cause of heart ailments. hunting and gathering of lean meats, Gedgaudas writes that the diets of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and hunter-gatherers inhabiting varied landwas absent of grains, dairy, starchy scapes, from the Inuit of the north to
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tropical forest hominids, included large amounts of fat and cholesterol, which is essential to maintaining cell membranes and regulating hormones. She points out that obtaining cholesterol from food is necessary to augment the liver’s function of creating cholesterol internally. Cordain agrees that even saturated fats in meats can be beneficial, providing the animals are grass-fed, lean and live in clean surroundings. He emphasizes, however, that when our prehistoric ancestors ate fat, they did not also eat grain carbohydrates, sugar and salt, and contends that it is these components, not meat, that can be detrimental to the body. Doctor of naturopathy Maureen Horne-Paul adds that organic, lean and game meats are exempt from the acidity inherent in corn-based animal feed. Plus, “When an animal is insensitively confined and killed, stress hormones are released that result in acidity. So, we are changing our pH from a healthy alkaline state to a more acidic condition when we consume meat from conventionally raised animals.” Scientific studies published in the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity, Medical Hypotheses and by the Mercola group attest to key problems related to human consumption of grains. Anti-nutrients such as phytic acid in grains lead to the poor absorption of minerals and related deficiencies. Improper absorption of dietary protein caused in part by enzyme inhibitors in grains also tends to damage the pancreas. Individual sensitivities to proteins in specific grains can further interfere with functioning of the neuroendocrine system and subsequent emotional difficulties like addiction and depression may arise. All of these difficulties have been exacerbated by irresponsible prenatal diets that have made younger generations extra-sensitive to the challenges posed by grains to the human system. While Cordain doesn’t recommend dairy, Gedgaudas suggests organic or raw milk products, provided they retain their full fat content and come from grass-fed cows. She reasons that the presence of the anti-carcinogenic fatty acid conjugated linolenic acid and the