The Hunter-Gatherer Within: Health and the Natural Human Diet

What is the healthiest diet to eat? Why do diets almost always fail? Why do we have a crisis of obesity, diabetes, and other health problems in the U.S. today? Why are even children becoming obese and unhealthy? The answers can be found when one understands what recent scientific research says, when one realizes that conventional dietary advice and the Standard American Diet are completely mismatched with our genetics. For the past two million years our ancestors existed as hunter-gatherers, living entirely on wild plants and animals. Only during the last one percent of that time have they eaten foods resulting from the agricultural and industrial revolutions. The modern diet is now based largely on processed foods made from flour, refined sugars, and processed vegetable oils -- products unknown to our ancestors. Exposing our hunter-gatherer genetic makeups to inappropriate modern diets has come with a price -- a dramatic increase in the Diseases of Civilization, including heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, autoimmune conditions, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and acne. This book examines the problem and looks at practical, science-based ways to improve health and address weight regulation using simple diet and lifestyle changes.