GibsonGirl
ONE love, blood, life
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2002
- Messages
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Sloane Peterson said:Haha yes, humans were once strictly meat eating, but then came the wonderful Agricultural Revolution which meant longer life spans for humans (because their source of food was not only based on the day's catch. It became a balance of the catch plus the careful planning of crops. Humans became just a tad bit more evolved than raw meat eating cavemen.
Not quite... I suggest you take a look into the research of physical anthropologists like George Armelagos. For humans in antiquity, the Agricultural Revolution caused an overall negative impact on the quality of health. Those "raw meat eating cavemen" you mention (oh dear, my archaeology professor would be spinning in his grave, if he had one) were actually healthier than those who adopted agriculture. Hunter-gatherers had diets that featured much greater variety. They did not eat meat exclusively. Rather, they foraged for nuts and edible plants IN ADDITION to their meat. Conversely, agriculturalists tended to rely on only a few primary crops, such as maize, that were lacking in many essential nutrients. This caused significant health problems (bacterial infection being one of the most serious) and stunted growth. All the evidence is right there in the bones.
If you are interested, a link: http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/icaes/conferences/wburg/posters/cslarsen/larsen.html
Yes, thank goodness for the "wonderful" Agricultural Revolution! On a side note, that article brings up a point that always makes me smile: the reduction of facial bone size in response to a diet consisting largely of soft grains. Whenever I hear vegetarians complaining about the pain of wisdom tooth extraction I have to suppress the urge to giggle.
So when it comes to deciding what kind of food I want to eat, I think I'll follow the example of the "raw meat eating cavemen."
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