Nutritional Study: Paleolithic and Contemporary Diets.

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A Comparison of the Paleolithic and Contemporary Diets. Dorothy E. St. Louis Sci/241 The beginning of the industrial revolution, agriculture, and domestication of animals began the changes in the human diet. Prior to this change, Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers with food sources from hunting wild game, and digging tuberous roots and nuts with very little grains and no dairy products at all. While some individuals claim that since we are more knowledgeable today, we are more conscious of our health, other's claim we are unhealthier today than ever before. There are individuals who claim in the media that we need to return to the way our ancestors consumed food, the Stone Age Diet or Paleo-diet is one such claim. Comparisons between the diets of human ancestors and today's individual is vastly different, as is the life style. This reasoning is the controversy over the Paleolithic diet and today's grain and dairy-based diets in the scientific and medical fields of study. Modern man does not lead the same lifestyle as the Paleolithic humans did; there are differences that have an effect on food consumption and nutrition. Through anthropology, we know what our ancestor ate and how they lived. The Paleolithic diet or the Stone Age diet is one based on the way our ancestors ate. "The premise of eating “Paleo” or the “caveman” or “hunter-gatherer” diet, is to mimic the diet of our ancestors ate from the Paleolithic era until the agricultural revolution began about 10,000 years ago. As hunter-gatherers, it was thought that we subsisted on grass-fed meats, game, free-range birds, fish, fruit, veggies, and nuts. That means no dairy products, no processed foods, no sugars, no grains, no alcohol." (Julie, 2012) This statement does not mean that they did not eat grains; it just means that their grains were seasonal and not as readily available year round,

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