Deadly Harvest: The Intimate Relationship Between Our Heath and Our Food (29 page)

We have now done enough to clear away all the overwritten layers of our Owner’s Manual. In this chapter, we show how the original scripture is revealed.

THE IDEAL HUMAN FEEDING PATTERN

There is no way that we can go back to eating the identical foods of our ancient ancestors or even those of today’s San bushmen. We are totally dependent on the modern supply chain that brings us foods from near and far, most of it farmed. The species of plant food and animal matter are quite different too: we are not going to find caterpillars, mongongo nuts, or grewia berries in the supermarket any time soon! The way forward is to define the essential, fundamental characteristics of the Savanna Model eating pattern and then apply them in the modern world. When we put together all that we know—from foragers and foraging theory; from what goes wrong when we don’t fuel our bodies correctly; from what we know about our biochemistry; from information gleaned from population studies and clinical studies—we can identify basic characteristics of the ideal human feeding pattern, for eating the way nature intended.

Blood Sugar Control

We saw that the San have a diet that is rich in plant food, yet there are no starches and very little sugar. Their digging sticks produced plenty of tubers but very few of them are starchy. Consequently, the San insulin response is slow. Our closest cousins in the animal kingdom, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, have similar diets. Starches and sugars badly disturb our blood sugar control. This in turn disrupts our biochemistry, leading to numerous diseases and eventually death. We come to the inescapable conclusion that nature designed the human frame for what we call a low-glycemic diet: that is, one that does not produce abnormal blood sugar spikes. The Western diet is the opposite—it produces high blood sugar surges. Abnormally high (and harmful) levels of insulin are the major consequence of high blood sugar levels. However, other factors too can aggravate high insulin levels, notably foods that are “high insulinemic” (see chapter 4).

Owner’s Manual:
Focus on low glycemic, low insulinemic foods.

Acid-Alkali Balance

The San ate a diet that was roughly 75% plant food, which is alkali-forming, and 25% animal matter, which is acid-forming. They ate no grains or dairy products, which are both acid-forming. The net result is a diet that creates a neutral state in the blood between acidity and alkalinity. This is the ideal state for human biochemistry to function properly. Unfortunately, the average Western diet is strongly acidic.

Owner’s Manual:
Keep protein consumption modest (25% by weight) and keep non-starchy plant food and fruit consumption high (75% by weight).

High Volume, High-Fiber, Low-Density Foods

Our evolutionary past designed our digestive systems to have high volumes of plant food passing through them. These non-starchy plant foods were, by nature, low density: that is, they had few calories for their volume. A lettuce leaf, for example, is 95% water (the remaining 5% is a wonderful cornucopia of vital nutrients). In addition, plant food is rich in soluble plant fiber, the sort that our colons are designed to work with. The typical Western diet is the opposite: energy dense and low in fiber.

Owner’s Manual:
Consume high volumes of non-starchy plant foods and fruits.

Low Sodium to High Potassium Ratio

We saw that salt, until very recent times, was a scarce commodity. In our ancestral homeland, it was unknown. Humans and other creatures only absorbed sodium from what was innate to the food they were eating. For example, uncooked broccoli contains, quite naturally, 27 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams. Similarly, it contains 325 milligrams of potassium per 100 grams. This ratio (about 1 to 12) of sodium to potassium is of fundamental importance for our body cells to function properly. Today, we have reversed this ratio to about 6 sodium to 1 potassium.

Owner’s Manual:
Avoid added salt in cooking, in processed foods, and at the table.

Healthy Fatty Acid Profile

All the evidence we have seen indicates that the human organism should not be eating much fat on a regular basis. A rough guideline suggests that maximum intake should not exceed 10% of calories from all sources. However, the little fat that we do eat should be of specific kinds. We looked into the vital role that the various fatty acids play in manipulating our biochemistry. There are 25 different fatty acids and most play no significant part in human nutrition. However, a handful that should not be there create havoc with the body’s workings, and some that we desperately need are absent. We can summarize the position quite simply: the only fatty acids that we need to be consuming are omega-3 oils and omega-6 oils. Furthermore, ideally, they should be in the ratio of 1 to 1.

Nevertheless, we need to note one further phenomenon. Depending on what creature or plant they come from, some particular fatty acids are readily absorbed by the body, and they are said to be “bioavailable.” There are other foods that contain unsafe fatty acids, but these are not bioavailable. We will make use of this knowledge when deciding what foods are safe and which are harmful. This can produce surprising results, sometimes contrary to what a simplistic analysis of their fatty acid composition might indicate.

Owner’s Manual:
Eat no more than 10% of calories as fat/oil. Focus on consumption of bioavailable omega-3 fatty acids, reduce consumption of bioavailable omega-6 fatty acids, and avoid foods with bioavailable “bad” fatty acids.

High Micronutrient Content

When we talk about micronutrients, we include not only all the familiar vitamins and minerals but also the thousands of “background” micronutrients. These are found predominantly in non-starchy plant food. We realize that many diseases, vague ills, and premature aging are symptoms of micronutrient deficiency. Today, micronutrient-poor starchy plant foods such as grains, rice, and potatoes have crowded out micronutrient-rich non-starchy plant foods. We saw how, in the Savanna Model, our ancient food supply contained both high concentrations and high volumes of micronutrients. This is the situation we need to return to today.

Owner’s Manual:
Consume non-starchy plant food and conforming fruits.

Low Plant Poison (Antinutrient) Levels

Earlier, we revealed that many of our commonly consumed foods contain sub-lethal doses of plant poisons or antinutrients. Our ancestral diet did not contain such foods and our bodies do not know how to deal with them. We will all find better vitality and health when we eliminate such foods from our diets.

Owner’s Manual:
Avoid grains, legumes, and potatoes, which contain antinutrients.

Low Antigen Content

Many of our commonly consumed foods contain harmful doses of immune system saboteurs or antigens. Our ancestral diet did not contain such foods—and our bodies do not know how to deal with them. We need to eliminate these foods from our diet.

Owner’s Manual:
Avoid dairy and grains, which contain antigens.

Feel Hungry Regularly

The San, Japanese, Okinawans, and Cretans were all skinny people. They ate sparingly and they often felt hungry, yet these peoples were all remarkable for their good health and longevity. The slimmer you are (without being emaciated), the longer you are likely to live and the less disease you will suffer. All the evidence points to this factor as being an essential characteristic of a healthy, naturally adapted lifestyle.

However, even if we cannot be skinny, there is a halfway house we should try to achieve to make sure that the blood sugar control machinery functions smoothly. Insulin is the sugar “locking up” hormone and its counterpart, glucagon, is the sugar “unlocking” hormone. Glucagon instructs fat cells to convert fat into sugar and release it into the bloodstream. Lack of use often atrophies this vital function of our biochemistry. Blood sugar levels have to be low and maintained low for the glucagon mechanism to swing into action. That means feeling hungry for about 30 minutes on a regular basis. Older people will remember that this happened several times a day before a main meal. Today, if people feel slightly hungry, there is always a sugar-boosting snack within easy reach.

Owner’s Manual:
Feel hungry for 30 minutes two or three times a day.

OWNER’S MANUAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

Here, we pull together all the arguments, evidence, and reasonings to draw up the broad outlines of the feeding pattern that is ideal for the human species. These, then, are the contents of the Owner’s Manual.

Basic Specifications

Nature designed the human feeding pattern to:

1. Be low glycemic

2. Be low insulinemic

3. Have acid/alkali ratio in balance

4. Have a high volume of high-fiber, low-density foods

5. Sustain a low sodium (salt) to high potassium ratio

6. Sustain a healthy fatty acid profile

7. Provide high micronutrient content

8. Provide a low plant poison (antinutrient) level

9. Have a low antigen content

10. Produce hunger some of the time

Overview of Implementation

When we put together these criteria with what we know about certain groups of foods, these are the broad outlines for implementation of the Savanna Model.

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Consume a weight of conforming colored plant food that is about three times the weight of conforming protein-rich food. This means consume an abundance of non-starchy, colored plant foods and low-glycemic fruits, while consuming protein-rich foods modestly.

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Eliminate salt added at the table and in processing or cooking.

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Consume fats and oils generally sparingly. In addition, eliminate saturated fats in non-conforming foods, drastically curtail omega-6 oils, and boost consumption of omega-3 oils.

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Eliminate grains in all their forms.

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Eliminate potato in all its forms.

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Eliminate dairy products in all their forms.

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Eliminate processed foods.

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Feel hungry for at least 30 minutes two or three times a day.

Next, we will discover which are the “conforming” plant foods and “conforming” protein-rich foods that are readily available to us today. We will answer the challenge of how to adapt the Savanna Model to the food supply in the modern world. The choices are not always as obvious as we might think.

THE SAVANNA MODEL TODAY

For this information to be useful, we need to relate it to our everyday lives. Our Pleistocene ancestors had incredible jungle survival skills and we have to develop the same level of skill for survival in the supermarket jungle. There is not a single food that we eat today that our forager forebears would have recognized in the African savanna. So, for example, even when we talk in broad terms about eating fruits, our ancestors’ fruits were different species, with somewhat different nutrient profiles, from our apples, oranges, and pears today. That is why we have to be well-informed about everything we eat and why we go into some detail to explain how to make wise food choices.

We will categorize foods according to how closely they conform to the Savanna Model. The classification is based on a traffic light system: Green means “Go,” Amber (yellow) means “Caution,” and Red means “Stop.” We introduce finer gradations, such as “Green-Amber,” which means “Go, but proceed with caution.” Green-Green means “Go-Go!”—these are superfoods which are particularly healthful.

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Green-Green:
Perfect—in perfect conformity with the Savanna Model.

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Green:
Conforming—in close conformity with the Savanna Model.

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Green-Amber:
Comfort Zone—within the margin of tolerance for everyday consumption by a healthy person.

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Amber:
Slight Lapse—acceptable for a healthy person to consume on a regular basis, provided the rest of the diet is conforming.

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Amber-Red:
Modest Lapse—acceptable for a healthy person to consume on an occasional basis, provided the rest of the eating pattern is conforming.

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Red:
Bad Lapse—not acceptable; avoid.

Grains

This is the great shock to conventional nutritional ideas: grains are not the best thing since sliced bread! Grains are not a natural human food and they do nasty things to our bodies. They cause the human organism a number of problems, from unhealthy blood-sugar spikes to plant toxins (antinutrients) and immune system depressors (antigens). They are poor in nutrients and crowd out more nutritious foods.

Grains include wheat, rice, rye, barley, and oats, as well as the “ethnic” grains such as amaranth and quinoa, and “authentic” grains such as einkorn and emmer wheat. We also include the products made from grains: bread, spaghetti, pizza, croissants, cookies, and so on.