About 2.5 million years ago, the earth's crust in eastern Africa changed, and apes who lived entirely by collecting plants went to the fields to look for food, thus starting a diet structure dominated by meat and vegetables. As a result, the food chain widened, the brain became smarter and stronger, and began to evolve into human beings. About 800,000 years ago, kindling was introduced into caves. When people cook or bake animals, the protein and lipids they ingest are easier to digest and absorb, and their brains get more nutrition. This has made mankind take another big step forward.
Because getting meat is much more difficult than picking wild fruits and leaves, it is necessary to fight bravely in the process of chasing and killing wild animals. Human physique has become stronger and survival skills have become more and more sophisticated. At the same time, changes in the diet of meat and vegetables make the brain produce more essential nutrients. At this time, human beings have some very important characteristics in appearance: the brain capacity is obviously increased (because the brain gets more nutrients and promotes the rapid development of the brain), the chin gradually shrinks in, and the teeth become smaller (because food is easy to chew and digest after cooking).
10.5 million years ago, human beings and modern people were basically similar in appearance except for some primitive ones, and anthropologists called them homo sapiens. At that time, man could make fire and tools artificially. With the use of tools and the development of society, people began to choose a suitable place to build a fence on the Yuan Ye, so as to drive in the temporarily inedible wild horses, bison or deer and let them live there temporarily, forming the embryonic form of animal husbandry. From 9500 BC to 8500 BC, people left some seeds of wild vegetables and fruits, and cultivated a piece of land for planting, which was the germination of agriculture. People grow crops such as barley, wheat, beans, vegetables and fruits, and no longer migrate around for domestic animals such as pigs, cattle, sheep, horses and camels, and no longer have a fixed place to live. About 5000 years ago, the agricultural revolution swept across Europe, Asia and Africa, and human beings chose this comfortable lifestyle: sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn. People began to have time to think about other things, such as writing, art, manufacturing technology and so on. The era of human civilization has begun.
But in terms of nutrition acquisition, the beginning of the agricultural revolution is actually the beginning of the decline in food nutrition. Humans no longer need to fight with large animals, and the food they eat every day is actively planted plants or raised animals, so the diet is reduced; Due to the increase of plant food, grain, vegetables and fruits are easier to grow, harvest and store, and animal food begins to decrease; In addition, people no longer need to chase prey and actively collect all kinds of food in nature as they did 10 thousand years ago, but exchange or buy it nearby, and their physique gradually declines.
The development of agriculture has greatly changed the diet structure of human beings. The proportion of meat food has decreased, while the proportion of plant food has increased obviously. Settled life has brought an abrupt end to the expansion of human brain and physical strength.
More than 200 years ago, the industrial revolution in Europe once again brought about great changes in the diet structure: human beings are more likely to get food and have more leisure to enjoy delicious food; Automation replaces manual labor, and people can get food without leaving home; Refrigerator, food additives and special food processing methods have solved the difficulty of food storage, but fresh food has become scarce; Fertilizers and ripening agents shorten the ripening time of animal and plant foods, and people have more time to learn, create and enjoy. Mankind seems to have reached the peak of "Man can conquer nature" in history.
As a result of all this, almost all the nutrients in food are depreciating. According to a survey published in Japan in 2006, compared with 20 years ago, the nutritional content of spinach is less than 20%. At the same time, food safety has become an important issue, and some foods that have never appeared in our lives have appeared, such as:
Looking back, humans used to eat the most kinds of animals on the earth, and the most distinctive one was the diet structure based on meat and vegetables. Compared with other animals, the intake of nutrients is much richer, which makes human beings gradually evolve and become the overlord of the world. However, the agricultural revolution in the past 654.38+million years and the industrial revolution in the past 200 years have made some uninvited guests unknown to the cells become the daily routine of human beings, and people's pursuit of food has become waiting for its maturity and effortless purchase.
There is no doubt that in diet, the combination of meat and vegetables and the broadening of recipes are the catalysts of human evolution, and the change of diet structure and the subversion of food acquisition methods are the main reasons why people are trapped in various chronic diseases in diet. Our genetic structure and digestive system remained basically unchanged from the Paleolithic to tens of thousands of years ago, but our diet structure has undergone earth-shaking changes, especially in the recent 100 year. It is precisely because of the contradiction between the old genes and the new diet that the chronic diseases spread today.
Man has become the smartest animal in the world because he eats the most complicated food of all mammals. Our ancestors can ingest more than 7,000 kinds of food from nature, and non-toxic food that can satisfy hunger has become a human belly meal. However, with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry and the emergence of industrialized processed foods, the number of foods that people often eat has decreased to more than 500. Most of these more than 500 kinds of food are self-grown plants or captive animals. Treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, ripened and injected, the nutritional components of almost all foods are depreciating. And many people are picky eaters. Therefore, although we are no longer hungry like our ancestors, there is a lack of many healthy foods on the seemingly rich table.
Through the previous review, we can find that about 20000 ~ 1000 years ago was the transitional period from Paleolithic to Neolithic, and human evolution was the fastest. What was the diet structure at that time?
Plant food accounts for about 65%, mainly fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and honey.
Animal food accounts for about 35%, mainly meat, eggs, fish, shrimp and shellfish.
This perfect diet brings a lot of vitamins and minerals, low in sodium, high in potassium, high in cellulose, high in protein and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Sugar is mostly fructose provided by honey and fruit, which greatly promotes the evolution of human beings. The closer our recipes are to those of this period, the closer our brains and bodies are to the ideal state.
From this, we can get the following enlightenment:
First, we should realize that behind the rich food on the table, the nutrition we get is actually very scarce, and too few kinds of food coexist with too low nutritional content. If we are picky about food, or always feed ourselves with polished rice and refined flour, it is more prone to nutritional imbalance.
Second, try to eat natural foods, animals and plants every day, and pay attention to reducing the intake of processed foods.
Third, animal food (meat, eggs, milk, fish, etc. ) should account for 35% of daily food. Of course, it would be better if we could buy free-range livestock and poultry or eggs. Plant foods include vegetables, fruits and grains, accounting for 65% of the daily food. Variety of vegetables and fruits should be diversified as far as possible, and there should be many kinds of food, mainly coarse grains, such as whole grains, brown rice, corn, naked oats and potatoes. The worst is polished rice and refined flour, because polished rice and refined flour are the products of industrialization.
For human growth and development, cell metabolism needs both energy and structural substances, and seven nutrients provide four aspects of support for cell metabolism. Don't feel full. Only energy, without nutrients needed to produce cell structure, will lead to growth failure and damage organs such as brain, liver and heart. The main component of grain is carbohydrate, and it is not glucose that provides energy. Eating too much will only become fat, not the structure of cells. Structural substances mainly refer to phospholipids, protein and cholesterol. Without these structural nutrients, cells cannot proliferate and repair according to the instructions of DNA, and their physical development will be limited.
The transformation relationship among protein, fat and carbohydrate is as follows: carbohydrate can be transformed into fat, and fat can also be transformed into carbohydrate. Protein can be converted into carbohydrates. But not all protein can be directly converted from carbohydrates and fats. Protein is composed of amino acids, but carbohydrates and fats can only be converted into non-essential amino acids in the body, and essential amino acids must be taken in from outside.
Therefore, we should attach importance to protein in any case, because no matter how much staple food and oil we eat, we may not be able to become all the protein we need. This is why in our hospital, after heart surgery, although most patients have no appetite, doctors should emphasize eating more meat, eggs and milk every time they make rounds. Because: The main components of cells in skin, muscle and bone are phospholipids, protein and cholesterol. If you eat food without these nutrients, cells will not grow and wound skin will not heal. In this case, eat more meat, eggs, yogurt and pig liver, and the wound will heal quickly. Tip: Many people are afraid of cholesterol, but the author explains that the cholesterol eaten will become a part of human cell structure, and the cholesterol produced by the liver is related to atherosclerosis, not the same thing.
The absorption and release of nutrients in cells need to line up. If carbohydrate, protein and fat in food are ingested together, then carbohydrate must be used first. It rushes to the front, enters the mitochondria of cells and becomes energy directly. Protein and fat become the structure of cell membrane or some bioactive substances, such as enzymes. When people are hungry, carbohydrates are used up first, then subcutaneous fat and protein. Generally speaking, when people are hungry, they mainly decompose fat, accounting for about 80%, protein accounts for about 20%, and the ratio of fat to protein is about 4∶ 1.
However, we should not despise the intake of carbohydrates because they can't be converted into protein, reduce staple foods at will, and master the proportion of the three nutrients. Especially for people who want to gain muscle, insufficient carbohydrate intake will cause protein and fat decomposition in the body. If the energy is not enough, the ingested protein will not become a component of muscle cells, but become energy to burn.
Food intake is not balanced. Too much carbohydrate intake, the human body can not consume, will lead to obesity, diabetes and other diseases. However, the lack of nutrients that provide structure for cells and form regulatory substances will lead to Alzheimer's disease, dementia and so on. The consumption can not be consumed, forming a burden; The structure is not enough to form a structure; And the nutrients that form hormones and other regulatory substances are also insufficient, which eventually leads to the lack of human function. This is what we often say, "Illness comes from the mouth".
In addition, we should consider not only the density of energy, but also the density of nutrition. For modern people who don't exercise much, the best food choices are: low energy density and high nutrient density. If you are a manual worker, you need high energy density and high nutrient density.
The so-called energy density refers to how much energy and nutrients are provided to cells per unit volume. For example, compared with fried steamed bread, steamed bread definitely has higher energy density. The so-called nutrient density refers to the amount of nutrients contained in a unit volume. For example, both steamed bread and jiaozi contain carbohydrates, while jiaozi contains meat, oil and vegetables, which are higher in energy density and nutrient density than steamed bread. A bowl of rice basically contains only carbohydrates and a small amount of plant protein, and lacks most nutrients. We call this kind of food with only energy and no other nutrients as empty energy food, such as white rice porridge, sweet drinks, white flour steamed bread, rice and so on.
The diet structure that best meets the standard of low energy and high nutrition is the Mediterranean diet structure (rich in fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits). Years of clinical research has also proved that it is the most effective method to prevent modern chronic diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease. Some people suggest that specific geographical factors such as heredity, environment and lifestyle may affect the research results, but the comprehensive results show that the Mediterranean diet can also reduce the risk of diabetes in Europeans and Africans. In other words, excluding environmental factors, genetic factors and lifestyle factors, the Mediterranean diet only pays attention to diet and still effectively prevents diseases. According to a research report published in Archives of Neurology, the Mediterranean diet can protect the brain from vascular injury and reduce the risk of stroke and memory loss. In addition, many studies also show that the Mediterranean diet can prevent breast cancer and reduce the incidence of breast cancer by 30%.