Paleolithic diet and bushcraft

StrongArm

Need to contact Admin...
Feb 5, 2012
1
0
UK
Surly this is a win win situation in regard to being close to nature and eating all the stuff and it's health benefits that is good for us on a palaeolithic diet.
I'm by no means a health freak but its interesting reading.
If only it was possible full time out in the environment and to bring enough back for when we are home, or maybe just supplement a few things in from the supermarket, obviously winter is gonna be a bugger lol
Oh and lo all seems this is my first post. ;)
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The problem with the "diet" is what nutritionalist have sorted of pointed out: I eat quite a of bit wild food, the nutritional quality of wild food does not compare with its agricultural relatives. Grouse is nowt like farmed chicken even free range, sea beet is nothing like spinach, farmed blueberries arent bilberries. The vitamin and mineral quanities are no comparison. Wild mushrooms have a high level of a type of vitamin D, farmed have none.

I am really interested in what people ate in the past and I honestly believe the pre-agricultural diet is healthier. I would just settle for general diet with less messed with foods. Crickey modern humans process the good stuff out of sugar cane and feed to it cattle as molasses cake, leaving us to eat the empty calories.
 

mrcairney

Settler
Jun 4, 2011
839
1
West Pennine Moors
I've been paleo for 2 years. I tend not to get involved with discussions about it though, things can get fraught. Best way to sum it up without getting into a 'grain war' is if my great grandmother wouldn't eat it, neither do I.
 

forestwalker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
In the specific sense there never was *a* paleodiet. If one looks at it anthropologically/archaelogically humans have subsisted on just about every diet imaginable, from an almost pure meat and fat diet, by way of fruits, veg and all the seafood you can imagine to predominantly vegetarian. I can't recall seeing purely vegetarian pre-agricultuee, but please add to my knowledge if you can.

What everyone (almost) is in agreement with is that we eat too much procesed food, probably in many cases too much carbohydrates (in general), sugars (in particular) and fats for our current lifestyle. Ecologically and from a climate perspective reducing red meat consumption might be a good idea (of course this depends a lot on what species and how it was processed, culled roe deer and factory farmed beef are not equivalent...). Fish? Generally seen as good for you, but look out for the levels of dioxin, mercury, PCBs, etc in many populations*. Talking about populations, we really should stop all commercial fishing for a decade or so, then our children have a better chance of ever eating fish from the oceans when they grow up.

So my suggestion is: eat a sensible diet (i.e. not the fish and chips diet, not the "half my calories come from soft-drinks" diet, not crazy fad of the week), and you should be fine. More real fibre (i.e. not the articificial "technically a fibre" stuff) is probably a good idea, mixed veg and not too much grains, keep an eye on the fats and sugars, and you will be in good shape.

* Sweden got an exemption from the safety levels specified by the EU, since else very little of the Baltic herring would be considered edible. I love my government, and it only wants what is best for me. They keep telling me that, so it must be true, because they say they would never lie to me or decieve me.
 

spiritwalker

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,244
3
wirral
in one of the bushcraft mags there was an article regarding iron age people by annette stickler, in one of the paragraphs it said they average lifespan was 45 yrs mainly due to poor diet? if this is the case then surely we are eating better now than then? i was quite surprised by this as i thought in terms of diet it would be the other way around surely. i guess medicine has a big influence in this figure but thats not the way it was portrayed...
 

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