On Optimal Human Diet

     What we can do is implement some principles that get us close to the optimal human diet. We can begin with the key observation that humans in the wild would have eaten small amounts of as many different foods as they could harvest, collect, pluck, dig out, net, scavenge, hunt, steal and sometimes store. Further, despite the Tarzan fantasies of some - particularly the paleo diet enthusiasts and the meat industry - most of the energy among both present-day gatherer-hunters and our ancestors is and was derived from plant foods, not animal foods.
     How does that translate into action in the present day? Well, like this:

• walk the aisles of your farmers' market, grocery store or supermarket and choose a wide variety of fresh plant foods - vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts, legumes and seeds;
• don't think of a meal as 'meat and three vegetables', at least not every day;
• rather think of our ancestors having a little of this and a little of that - and sometimes going without altogether;
• think of the rich variety of a stir-fry or an adventurous vegetable stew;
• don't overcook;
• don't use lots of added fat;
• use herbs and spices for flavour and because they add important micronutrients and phytochemicals;
• eat slowly with awareness, don't wolf down food, learn or relearn the feeling of being full;
• at least once a week, try new foods - a bean or another legume you have not previously eaten, a grain you have not tried;
• consult cookbooks, friends, experts and the internet (our substitute for the shaman and the wise woman who had all the tribe's knowledge of plants and foods) about how to prepare these new dishes or foods or new variants on old recipes by using, say, chickpeas, quinoa or spelt.

     Super Foods and Magic Foods: there aren't any.

Thought for Food. Why What We Eat Matters / John D. Potter