That anti-grain stance is based on the belief that since Paleolithic man didn't eat grains, we shouldn't either.
Archeology is now proving that Paleolithic man, in fact, ate grains as a regular part of the original "Paleolithic diet."
That's right: The entire premise of the Paleo diet's anti-grain stance is false.
How did this misunderstanding happen? Archeological evidence is skewed toward materials that survive the centuries, such as stone, bone and other hard objects. Soft materials (such as grains) don't survive unless hard objects were used to process them. Even then, actual food residues are unlikely to be detectable millennia later.
When the Paleo concept was first popularized in 1975 by Walter L. Voegtlin, and even when Loren Cordain published his influential book The Paleo Diet in 2002, there was little material evidence for Paleolithic grain consumption. That lack of evidence, combined with an absence of grain in the diets of today's remaining hunter-gatherer groups, lead to the belief that grain consumption was not part of the Paleolithic diet.
Thanks to improved methods and technology, however, the evidence for Paleolithic grain consumption is starting to pile up.
The oldest evidence we have for the domestication of grains is about 10,500 years ago. But the direct evidence for the processing of wild grains for food goes back much earlier than domestication.
Mortars and pestles with actual grains embedded in the pores were found in Israel dating back 23,000 years, according to a 2004 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper. Note that the grains processed were wild barley and possibly wild wheat. This is direct, unambiguous evidence that humans were eating grains deep into the Upper Paleolithic era, and 13,000 years before the end of the Paleolithic era and the beginning of domesticated grains, agriculture and civilization.
This week, a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences details the new discoveries of Paleolithic-era flour residues on 30,000-year-old grinding stones found in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. The grain residues are from a wild species of cattail and the grains of a grass called Brachypodium, which both offer a nutritional package comparable to wheat and barley.
Archeologists published a paper in the December, 2009, issue of Science unveiling their discovery in Mozambique of stone tools with thousands of wild grain residues on them dated to 105,000 years ago -- during the Middle Paleolithic. The grain was sorghum, and an ancestor of modern sorghum used even today in breads and beer.
Some Paleo diet advocates claim that while there is evidence of sorghum processing, there is no evidence that the practice was widespread or that the grain was sprouted and cooked in a way that made it nutritionally usable -- in fact, the dating shows usage of the grain well before the development of pottery.
This is true: There is no evidence of widespread use or cooking. It's also true that there is no evidence against it. We simply don't know.
It's easy to imagine how Paleolithic man might have processed grains for food. Essene bread, for example, is made by sprouting grains, mashing, forming into flat patties and cooking them on rocks in the sun, or on hot rocks from a fire. It's easy to sprout grains -- in fact, it's hard to keep them from sprouting without airtight containers or water-proof roofs.
Palelithic peoples used gourds extensively. Before the development of pottery, gourds were used for cooking. By filling a gourd with water and dropping rocks into it from a fire, the water boils. Into that boiling water, the addition of meat, vegetation and grains would make the most nutritious meal and the most efficient use of available foods. It would enable the removal nutrition from the marrow and creases of bones, soften root vegetables, improve the digestibility of foods like leaves. In other words, such cooking methods would not only be necessary to benefit from grains, but from a wide variety of other foods as well.
None of these technologies -- sun-cooking, hot-rock frying and gourd-based boiling -- would leave a trace for archeologists after 100,000 years.
The Paleo Diet belief that grain was consumed only as a cultivated crop, rather than wild, also fails the history test.
The grain we now call wild rice was a central part of the diets and cultures of Ojibwa peoples in Canada and North America, and an important food of the Algonquin, Dakota, Winnebago, Sioux, Fox and many other tribes through trade. There was even a tribe called the Menominee, or "Wild Rice People."
Native American and First Nation gatherers of this grain did so by canoe in a method prescribed by tribal law for at least 600 years when they were hunter-gatherers. The cereal crop was instrumental in enabling the Ojibwa people to surve incredibly harsh Northeastern winters, the annual success of which shocked early French explorers.
Today, most wild rice you can buy in the store is grown in paddies in California. However, the Ojibwa still harvest wild rice in canoes, and you can buy it from them on the Internet.
Some Paleo diet advocates claim that while there is evidence of sorghum processing, there is no evidence that the practice was widespread or that the grain was sprouted and cooked in a way that made it nutritionally usable -- in fact, the dating shows usage of the grain well before the development of pottery.
This is true: There is no evidence of widespread use or cooking. It's also true that there is no evidence against it. We simply don't know.
It's easy to imagine how Paleolithic man might have processed grains for food. Essene bread, for example, is made by sprouting grains, mashing, forming into flat patties and cooking them on rocks in the sun, or on hot rocks from a fire. It's easy to sprout grains -- in fact, it's hard to keep them from sprouting without airtight containers or water-proof roofs.
Palelithic peoples used gourds extensively. Before the development of pottery, gourds were used for cooking. By filling a gourd with water and dropping rocks into it from a fire, the water boils. Into that boiling water, the addition of meat, vegetation and grains would make the most nutritious meal and the most efficient use of available foods. It would enable the removal nutrition from the marrow and creases of bones, soften root vegetables, improve the digestibility of foods like leaves. In other words, such cooking methods would not only be necessary to benefit from grains, but from a wide variety of other foods as well.
None of these technologies -- sun-cooking, hot-rock frying and gourd-based boiling -- would leave a trace for archeologists after 100,000 years.
The Paleo Diet belief that grain was consumed only as a cultivated crop, rather than wild, also fails the history test.
The grain we now call wild rice was a central part of the diets and cultures of Ojibwa peoples in Canada and North America, and an important food of the Algonquin, Dakota, Winnebago, Sioux, Fox and many other tribes through trade. There was even a tribe called the Menominee, or "Wild Rice People."
Native American and First Nation gatherers of this grain did so by canoe in a method prescribed by tribal law for at least 600 years when they were hunter-gatherers. The cereal crop was instrumental in enabling the Ojibwa people to surve incredibly harsh Northeastern winters, the annual success of which shocked early French explorers.
Today, most wild rice you can buy in the store is grown in paddies in California. However, the Ojibwa still harvest wild rice in canoes, and you can buy it from them on the Internet.
So now we can say it: Archeology has proved that grains were part of the Paleolithic diet. The anti-grain stance of modern Paleo dieters is based on incomplete archeology.
And it's time for Paleo diet fans cave-man up, admit the error and to start eating healthy whole grains.
Interesting but Dr Cordain makes a case for the human body biologically not being made to eat grains. This is why grains must be "processed" to be eaten today. We can't just pull out a stalk of wheat and start munching on it. Everything included in the Paleo diet can be eaten raw. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, even meats and fish. So wouldn't it suggest that just because there is evidence that our ancestors eating grains it doesn't necessarily make it right?
ReplyDeleteNo, not at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's fire that makes us human. Fire, and therefore cooking with fire, has been around for hundreds of thousands of years. Everything about our physiology, from our teeth to our digestive systems is wholly adapted to eating cooked food.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cooking-up-bigger-brains
Grains are an ideal food source for Paleolithic humans because they don't spoil after picking them. Unlike meat, berries and all the rest, which were seasonally available, grains could be gathered and carried without spoilage for a year or more.
Dr Cordain is simply mistaken.
Mike
Point taken about fire and cooking but we still can't pick a grain, any grain, and eat it wouldn't you agree? We're just not created biologically with the digestive system to accomplish that. Now that doesn't necessarily mean grains aren't good for us but it certainly suggests we shouldn't be eating them.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I'm not trying to prove you wrong here, just trying to have a healthy debate about something many people can come opt fists over. I'm very open minded and welcome your view point.
Everything is healthy here on the Spartan Diet blog, even the debate! : )
ReplyDeleteThe use of fire and cooking made humans human. No cooking, no human race.
Our digestive systems are designed to depend on cooking. So are our teeth and even our brains.
Humans have depended on cooking for more than 700,000 years.
What that means is that the ability to eat something without cooking it is NOT a test of whether something is a proper part of the human diet. In fact, the opposite is true. Humans are the only creatures who cook their food with fire. Biologically we specialize in eating foods that should, can or must be cooked. That is our ecological niche.
certainly an interesting viewpoint and quite frankly, not one that I have heard. It's hard to argue we shouldn't be eating grains when Lance Armstrong won 7 TDF titles eating a lot of pasta! Sounds like it worked out for him just fine. The one thing I am certain of is that what foods are best for us biologically needs quite a bit more research. I look forward to seeing future posts on your blog, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteThere's no proof that the grains were fed to people. They could be used in various other industries. perhaps.
ReplyDeleteFinding that humans ate some wild grains as early as 30,000 years ago does nothing to change the premise of the paleo diet. Surely, grain consumption didn't start all at once, when grains were domesticated. The introduction of grains had to have started gradually over time and and increased as the technology for processing and making them edible improved.
ReplyDeleteCordain does not say humans ate no grain until grains were domesticated. They were NOT a major part of the diet because the relatively huge expenditures of time, (comparable to other foods, which could be eaten raw), needed to gather, process and cook them were only reasonable if adequate amounts of traditional foods were not available. Yes, grains could and did supplement the diet in times of need but for the tiny amount of calories they added were not as useful as other foods.
Compared to the ratio of man's current diet with mostly grain with some meat and very few vegetables and fruits, our bodies are not yet genetically equipped.