Picture this... you are living in a dark cave, your partner is out hunting for your next meal, you have managed to find a few handfuls of berries but hope that they come home with something more substantial to eat. You hear something outside and go and check, its your partner with a nice juicy saber-tooth cat for dinner! The choice is yours... berries or meat? In that situation you would go for meat, and its not just because its more plentiful, but your brain is actually programmed to prefer the look, taste, sound, smell of the higher in fat and more energy filled food - the meat. Who knows when you will get your next meal, and the high calories and fat in this meat will keep you going for much longer than the berries. That's just for cavemen though right??
Fast forward to present day and the world has changed dramatically. Houses, tools, weapons, televisions, heating, bathrooms, fancy kitchen equipment... but look inside a modern-day human and they are 'wired' exactly the same as the people mentioned in the situation above. High fat, high energy (high calorie) foods are still much more appealing to us, the smell, taste, texture, how it looks, make us want to eat it, the same as it did 2.6 million years ago. Back then, we needed the high energy food to keep us going, keep us alive until our next meal so of course that's how their brain was wired to choose those high fat foods. Because our brains have not changed we still prefer to eat high fat, high calorie foods. But these days, food is everywhere, supermarkets stocked to the brim, television adverts making you 'crave' the Mcdonalds or KFC, there is no need to wait for your next meal, food is just there. So we crave those high energy foods, and eat more and more of them, not realising why we want those foods and why we cant just easily stop eating them.
The advertisers of fatty foods play on this desire, this inbuilt craving for those types of food that make us fat. Just turn on your tv and you are bombarded with images of burgers, crisps, chocolate, fried breakfasts, even sugary drinks. Surely this is adding to the 'obesity crisis' in so many countries across the world? How many times have you seen an advert for fresh fruit, healthy salad, lean meat? I can't think of any, maybe you can think of one or two... I can think of adverts for 'low fat' yoghurts, 'low sugar' drinks, but are they really healthy foods, are they fresh, clean foods? I can see why the new craze for the 'Caveman diet' or the 'Paleo Plan' is becoming so huge.
The Paleo Diet is eating as they did in the Paleolithic era, ie. Caveman times, the old stone age. Whatever you call it, its eating healthy, fresh, clean foods with no additives, no chemicals, no E numbers. Although they have found evidence of dairy consumption, there is no dairy to be eaten on the paleo diet, something I couldnt live without I know that, I love my cheese and milk too much. But, in the context I have been writing about today, I can see why this would work. Eat as you are programmed to eat, how the human body was made to be treated. The only problem is the world is such a different place now, and the temptations to eat processed, fatty foods are so much higher now.
So, If you can lose weight by eating less fat and sugar, then you are strong and have such strong will power to change the way your brain has thought for millions of years. Well done, you are stronger than you believed you were, you are changing your future and extending your life.
I'm off to cook lunch, one saber-tooth cat burger coming right up!
