Today a friend asked me this, and so I thought a blog post was in order.
To me, living primally means living in a way that is congruent with what our bodies have evolved to expect. This can be applied to many areas of life (for example, I think I am a pretty primal/paleo parent), but the area in which I have recently made changes is in relation to food.
I'm not going to extensively reference this blog post (or otherwise I would never get the damn thing written), but if you want me to look up references to the science behind my ideas (or just more info relating to them) then just let me know.
Obviously the environment in which humans evolved was very different to the one in which we live today, and don't get me wrong, I totally dig technology, and the ways in which it can enhance my life (I am *so* not a hairy, barefoot commune living hippy - not that there is anything wrong with that if that is what you are into), but I think that if we can mimic relatively closely the foods, movement patterns, and social fabric that our bodies have evolved to expect then we are likely to live a much happier and healthier life.
In terms of food this theory manifests (loosely) like this:
-avoid grains, dairy, sugar, legumes and obviously everything processed
-eat like a hunter gatherer
Why not grains?
Well, in a pre-agricultural society, due to the difficulties of gathering any meaningful quantity of grain, and the difficulties in processing them to make the calories usable, grains made up either a very small part of the diet, or were not a part of the diet at all. Certainly no one was having weetbix for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and pasta for dinner. Also, grains (with wheat being the worst offender in my opinon) contain a number of different substances that have, to varying degrees, deleterious effects on our digestion and general health. Most grains contain high quantities of chemicals known as Lectins, a toxic class of compounds which can be described as an 'anti nutrient', in that they irritate the gut, and prevent absorption of other nutrients. The gluten contained in wheat and other grains is also extremely irritating to the gut in many people (even those who do not have an obvious reaction), and grains also contain very high amounts of carbohydrate.
What's wrong with Carbs???
Short answer: Nothing. Slightly longer answer: The high quantities of carbohydrates suggested by, for example, the USDA (300g/day) are not required by most of us, who sit around on our butts all day at a desk, and also requires a large insulin response to process, even if you do burn them during exercise/general life. The effects of these recommendations is the current epidemic of Hyperinsulinemia, obesity and eventual type 2 diabetes. Even if weight is not an issue for you (as it isn't for me), I think that avoiding grains in general, and gluten containing grains particularly, is likely to help you avoid autoimmune diseases (due to the gut and systemic inflammation they can cause), energy highs and lows from blood sugar deviations (which I have had a big problem with) and generally make you feel good.
Similarly, legumes also have high levels of lectins (as evidenced by the song - much beloved by my kids - "Beans Beans"), and carbohydrates, and therefore they can also be irritating to the gut. As far as I am concerned, legumes are a far lesser evil than grains, but I mostly avoid them anyway, as I don't particularly feel a need to eat them. Bina adores peas though, and I am not going to stop her eating them any time soon (to be honest, my kids eat all sorts of stuff I am not that happy about - peas are pretty far down the list)!
What about Dairy?
Well, you're not a baby cow. You're also not a ruminant, therefore even if it weren't weird for an adult animal to drink the milk intended for that animal's young, then cow's milk is probably not the ideal food (waaaay to high in casein, for example, relative to human milk). It is, however, a pretty good source of high-quality fats and protein, so if you tolerate it (and that's a big if - I would remove it completely for a month and see how you feel, then add back in if you notice no difference), I think it's an OK food (not exactly paleolithic, but who wants to give up butter if they don't have to? Not me!) I eat butter and drink cream in my coffee, but avoid large amounts of milk protein, as I don't think it agrees with me digestively or skin-wise.
So what the heck should I eat?
Well, meat, vegetables, fish, fruit, nuts and seeds, eggs, good fats and oils (liberally - avoid highly processed oils like soy and corn, go for natural fats like animal fats - yes really - coconut oil, olive oil etc.)
This post could turn into a book if I go into too much detail, but basically most of your meals should be based around around stuff that grew in the earth, or that you could hunt. Keep it as natural as possible - wild-caught, pastured (meat and eggs) and organic are awesome, but do what you can.
My day generally looks something like this:
-eggs scrambled with a bunch of veges and possibly meat (bacon or leftover something) for breakfast
-apple/nuts if I have a mid morning snack
-some sort of meat and veges lunch (usually leftovers)
-often a blueberry and coconut cream smoothie for afternoon tea, or more leftovers of some sort (I keep the fridge full)
-Another meat/fish/chicken and vege based meal for dinner
-often a bit of 70-85% dark chocolate in the evening
-1-2 espresso coffees with raw cream during the day
I eat a lot, as I exercise and have a fast metabolism (don't hate me!) so your menu may vary.
That sounds awesome! I am off to pig out on nuts and fruit and finish off with a big slab steak!
Wait, wait! A couple of traps for young players - fruit is awesome, but don't go overboard. Fruit contains relatively high amounts of carbohydrate and fructose. In reasonable quantities both of these are fine, but don't go overboard, especially on dried fruit. Fructose is pretty hard to digest for many people (and according to Dr. Robert Lustig - and many in the ancestral health community - can be pretty toxic to the liver in high quantities). Also watch your omega 6:3 ratio with the nuts!
Omega what?
OK, well, omega 3 and 6 fats are both essential, but due to the fact that we have (erroneously in my opinion) been told that saturated fat is going to kill us (it won't - but that is another blog post) we use gross flavorless, solvent-extracted, bleached, deoderized oils to cook with (for example canola, soy, sunflower etc.). Most of these are really high in omega 6. Because of this, we have strayed far from the optimum ratio of omega 3:6, which has variously been estimated at between 1-4:1 in the traditional paleolithic or modern hunter gatherer diet. The modern NZ diet generally yields a ratio of omega 6:3 of about 16:1 - far too high in omega 6. Basically, excessive omega 6 promotes systemic inflammation (how are you joints? Your skin? Do you get eczema?), whereas omega 3 has an anti inflammatory effect. If you use seed oils to cook, stop. Eat nuts, but not too many, eat oily fish, and an omega 3 supplement is probably a good idea for most of us.
This is turning into a novel, so I will leave it there, but if you have actually read this far then feel free to comment, and let me know what needs clarification! Now off to bed, sleep is another important aspect of optimal health (and one I often neglect).
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