Original Thin: the Paleo Diet in the Bible and Ancient Literature

The Paleo Diet has helped thousands lose weight and keep it off. It's the way our earliest ancestors ate, and so it's the best way to stay lean and strong. But now, Dr. Keith Massey has uncovered evidence that the Bible and other Ancient Literature preserved a distant memory of this diet. From the Garden of Eden all the way to the Greek Olympics and beyond, ancient people knew that Man should not live on Bread alone.

Excerpts from Original Thin: the Paleo Diet in the Bible and Ancient Literature:

The Agricultural Revolution and the Fall of Man And this brings us back to the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In this story, humans rebel against God by eating the one thing they were told not to. The story of the Garden of Eden is telling us that humans departed from some idyllic past when they centered their lives around what tastes good. And our bodies were already geared to experience deep pleasure in foods laden with carbohydrates.

The Agricultural Revolution didn't happen overnight. But it happened fast enough that people at the time were aware that their ancestors hadn't taken part in extensive farming under the orders of growing city states. And they were also aware that nomads in the area were still living a more pristine lifestyle. And so, a story in which eating effects a fall from a state of grace resonates with that experience.

At some point in the Neolithic period, people were seduced by the taste of grain products and began to order their lives around them. They began planting grains and harvesting them later. They began storing the grains and thus ate even more of them. And these societies organized themselves around planting and storing even more grain until finally they no longer hunted and ate meat as they used to. And once they headed down this path, it was impossible to turn back. Soon organized city states pressed the growing populations into servitude in support of the vicious cycle of growing and storing the agricultural harvest. And the Story of the Garden of Eden preserves cultural memories of that time.

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The Paleo Olympians

The eating habits of ancient Olympians have been described to us in interesting detail. A famous athlete, Milo of Croton, reportedly consumed in one sitting an unbelievable twenty pounds of meat, just as much bread, and nine quarts of wine. Now, this is certainly not a Paleo Diet. While he's eating a lot of meat, he's eating way too much bread. But Milo is also described as eating an entire bull in one sitting, which implies that he had a reputation for heavy intake of meat protein, more so than the typical diet of the time.

Milo once challenged a cowherd named Titormus to a test of strength. Titormus lifted a massive rock, carried it eight paces, and then threw it down. Milo couldn't even move it, at which the great athlete proclaimed Titormus to be another Hercules. This same Titormus is reported to have challenged Milo to an eating contest to see who could eat an entire ox the quickest. Again, while these stories are unbelievable, they are hinting at a memory that these super athletes ate diets based on meat.