paleolithic nutrition part II

[Guest guest]

Sorry, posted the last message before I'd

finished.<br>The reason it's called "paleolithic" nutrition (aka

the caveman diet) is because of the theory that

humans lived for thousands/millions of years before we

started cooking with fire, farming grains, etc. So

allegedly our systems are designed to assimilite

"pre-fired" foods better than cooked foods.<br>Okay, I'm

done.

[Guest guest]

and the average life span of pre-historic

man/woman was? something like 30-40 yrs, if that. i'm don't

think civilization developed because humans did so well

with raw foods. it might be reasonably argued that

civilization correlated with the development of agriculture

and domestication of animals. both those occurred

either as a function of, or in conjunction with cooking.

you might do okay a diet that included raw grain, try

it with some uncooked rice, oats or wheat, but i

don't think you'll do too well with it. just because

something was once done differently does not mean it is a

better, safer or more effective approach than current

ones. not that that has too much to do with

yoga.<br><br>along yogi diet lines, i talked with guruji's daughter

at the reception. she comes on his trips to prepare

his food. apparently, the diet for yogis is a very

strict one that is proscribed somewhere--specific foods

prepared in specific fashion and in specific amounts. my

wife's family is from india and she is a very good cook

of indian food, albiet with a northern india bend.

she did not recognize many of the things that were

being put together at the cooking demo guruji's

daughter gave--she was told that the food was "yogi" food.

both guruji and sharath commented that one thing that

is NOT included in that diet is garlic. they noted

that it leaves a pervasive odor on the skin that they

find bothersome when adjusting students. just a hint

for those in hawaii and australia

[Guest guest]

I urge you to check out this website:

www.beyondveg.com A lot of interesting stuff on this topic, plus

stuff about raw/fruitarian diets as well. One thing I

found out from here is that the average lifespan of

humans was, as you said, 35-40 years at this time.

Interestingly, this didn't improve along with the agricultural

revolution, though. We didn't start living longer until

recently (20th century) - maybe because of the development

of medicine and so on. I'm definitely not an expert

on this but's it's fascinating to me.<br><br>Back to

yoga - I think that our history as meat-eaters for 99%

of our evolutionary existence raises a lot of

difficult issues for yogis and vegetarians/vegans (it does

for me, anyway). I know most of you will be quick to

dismiss this, for ahimsa reasons of course. I've been

vegetarian for several years for this reason, too, so it is

difficult for me to even think that meat in my diet would

be appropriate. But should I deny what's been a part

of my ancestors' heritage for millions of years

based on religious dogma? From what I've been reading,

trying to "switch" the physiology of our bodies over to

being able to thrive on grains and legumes isn't the

best way to go (for the greater majority of us). Tough

questions...but please don't think that I'm trying to convert

anyone, nor that I am anti-veg., nor that I'm

pro-violence. Just looking for some open-minded discussion :-)

<br><br>drew<br><br>P.S. Sorry to bring up the food thing again, as I

realize that this topic has been pretty much exhausted in

this group. <br>Garlic: I agree with where they're

coming from here - sometimes it can make me kind of

hyperactive, mentally. (I think the yogi term is "rajastic")

[Guest guest]

namaste-<br>There are many valid diet paths, just as there are yoga paths. The

challenge is in finding the right one for your body. Hopefully your yoga

practice will help guide you.