Optimal Food
Now we get to the most controversial aspect of health, optimal food. I say optimal because there are plenty examples of people who have eaten a diet many would agree is unhealthy yet lived to an old age. Yet those examples are happening less and less with each passing year as the average American becomes more and more unhealthy. We know we can live on an unhealthy diet but can we thrive? I want to thrive, not merely survive.
So what is the optimal food for man? The western diet is full of processed meats, dairy, processed grains, and sugary drinks. Because of this, westerners are riddled with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancers, gastrointestinal diseases, and a host of other ailments. When we look at traditional diets of Asia and Africa, diets low in meat and dairy, therefore high in dietary fibre, these same diseases are extremely rare.
The medical science on a whole food plant based diet has shown that western diseases can be reversed through diet alone. Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have shown through coronary angiograms that a low fat plant based diet can open clogged arteries. Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. Joel Fuhrman have shown that type 2 diabetes is reversible through a whole food plant based diet. Dr. T. Colin Campbell's epidemiological research gave us insight into diet and health. Dr. John McDougall noticed, as a doctor in Hawai'i, that first generation Asians who ate their traditional plant based diet stayed lean and healthy while their children and grandchildren adopted the standard American diet and became overweight and sick like the rest of Americans. Dr. Micheal Greger on nutritionfacts.org informs the public of current studies of health and nutrition that support a plant based diet.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta aired a show titled The Last Heart Attack, pointing to meat and dairy as the culprit in our number one killer. As the mountain of evidence grows larger, it is becoming harder to deny that a whole food plant based diet is healthier than a diet rich in meat, dairy, oils, and salt. A whole food plant based diet limits meat, dairy, and oils and features fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, greens, nuts, and seeds. I encourage you to read the books these doctors have written to get a more detailed understanding of the science behind the diet.
It is interesting to note that in the scientific field of comparative anatomy, humans are classified as an anthropoid ape. This group includes chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, all of which are frugivores. A frugivore is an animal that eats a diet in which the vast majority of calories comes from fruit with the addition of a large volume of greens. Their diet includes very minimal animal foods and the animal foods they do eat comes mainly in the form of small insects.
A close inspection of comparative anatomy charts reveals that humans do not have any physiological similarities to true omnnivores and we don't have the instincts of an omnivore either. Omnivores do not have full color vision like frugivores, which comes in handy to locate the vibrant colors of ripe fruit. The omnivore brain is fueled by fats and protein whereas our brains are fueled by glycogen, the stored form of the sugar glucose. Our sleep cycles differ from omnivores, aligning with the frugivorous anthropoid apes. Our mouth opening vs head size, jaw type and jaw motion differ as does mastication. Omnivores do not chew food. They rip off pieces of meat and swallow them whole as fast as possible whereas we need to thoroughly chew our food for optimal digestion. Our canines, incisors, molars, tongue, salivary glands and salivary chemistry, stomach capacity and stomach acidity, peristalsis, length of small intestine, colon length and shape and chemistry also differ from omnivores. Our urinary concentration and chemistry, placenta, limbs, locomotion, mammary glands, skin hair and nails, and our cooling system also differ from omnivores. All of these aspects are in line with the frugivorous anthropoid apes.
There is little science on frugivorous diets but there are a few. One such study took place in 2001 titled Effect of a Very High Fibre Vegetable, Fruit, and Nut Diet on Serum Lipids and Colonic Function. (1) The participants in this study consumed 20 servings of fruit a day. The study found no adverse side effects from such a large amount of fruit. On the contrary, they saw a reduction of cholesterol and an increase of stools. The researchers concluded that this high fruit diet reduces the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon cancer and that the high fruit diet needs to be studied more. There is a small but ardent population of frugivores, some call themselves fruitarians, that swear by the diet and there are several yearly gatherings across that globe that celebrate the lifestyle. The most popular of these is the Woodstock Fruit Festival held every August at Camp Walden in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York where hundreds of people from across come together for a week of lectures, daily physical activities, and hanging out on the hill looking out on Trout Lake.
1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11288049/
So what is the optimal food for man? The western diet is full of processed meats, dairy, processed grains, and sugary drinks. Because of this, westerners are riddled with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancers, gastrointestinal diseases, and a host of other ailments. When we look at traditional diets of Asia and Africa, diets low in meat and dairy, therefore high in dietary fibre, these same diseases are extremely rare.
The medical science on a whole food plant based diet has shown that western diseases can be reversed through diet alone. Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have shown through coronary angiograms that a low fat plant based diet can open clogged arteries. Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. Joel Fuhrman have shown that type 2 diabetes is reversible through a whole food plant based diet. Dr. T. Colin Campbell's epidemiological research gave us insight into diet and health. Dr. John McDougall noticed, as a doctor in Hawai'i, that first generation Asians who ate their traditional plant based diet stayed lean and healthy while their children and grandchildren adopted the standard American diet and became overweight and sick like the rest of Americans. Dr. Micheal Greger on nutritionfacts.org informs the public of current studies of health and nutrition that support a plant based diet.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta aired a show titled The Last Heart Attack, pointing to meat and dairy as the culprit in our number one killer. As the mountain of evidence grows larger, it is becoming harder to deny that a whole food plant based diet is healthier than a diet rich in meat, dairy, oils, and salt. A whole food plant based diet limits meat, dairy, and oils and features fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, greens, nuts, and seeds. I encourage you to read the books these doctors have written to get a more detailed understanding of the science behind the diet.
It is interesting to note that in the scientific field of comparative anatomy, humans are classified as an anthropoid ape. This group includes chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, all of which are frugivores. A frugivore is an animal that eats a diet in which the vast majority of calories comes from fruit with the addition of a large volume of greens. Their diet includes very minimal animal foods and the animal foods they do eat comes mainly in the form of small insects.
A close inspection of comparative anatomy charts reveals that humans do not have any physiological similarities to true omnnivores and we don't have the instincts of an omnivore either. Omnivores do not have full color vision like frugivores, which comes in handy to locate the vibrant colors of ripe fruit. The omnivore brain is fueled by fats and protein whereas our brains are fueled by glycogen, the stored form of the sugar glucose. Our sleep cycles differ from omnivores, aligning with the frugivorous anthropoid apes. Our mouth opening vs head size, jaw type and jaw motion differ as does mastication. Omnivores do not chew food. They rip off pieces of meat and swallow them whole as fast as possible whereas we need to thoroughly chew our food for optimal digestion. Our canines, incisors, molars, tongue, salivary glands and salivary chemistry, stomach capacity and stomach acidity, peristalsis, length of small intestine, colon length and shape and chemistry also differ from omnivores. Our urinary concentration and chemistry, placenta, limbs, locomotion, mammary glands, skin hair and nails, and our cooling system also differ from omnivores. All of these aspects are in line with the frugivorous anthropoid apes.
There is little science on frugivorous diets but there are a few. One such study took place in 2001 titled Effect of a Very High Fibre Vegetable, Fruit, and Nut Diet on Serum Lipids and Colonic Function. (1) The participants in this study consumed 20 servings of fruit a day. The study found no adverse side effects from such a large amount of fruit. On the contrary, they saw a reduction of cholesterol and an increase of stools. The researchers concluded that this high fruit diet reduces the risk factors for cardiovascular disease and possibly colon cancer and that the high fruit diet needs to be studied more. There is a small but ardent population of frugivores, some call themselves fruitarians, that swear by the diet and there are several yearly gatherings across that globe that celebrate the lifestyle. The most popular of these is the Woodstock Fruit Festival held every August at Camp Walden in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York where hundreds of people from across come together for a week of lectures, daily physical activities, and hanging out on the hill looking out on Trout Lake.
1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11288049/
