Caveman Cuisine

If we're really good and eat well, exercise, take life easy... how long can we expect to live for? Life expectancy has increased rapidly over the generations and societies such as the Abkhasians in Georgia and the Hunzas in northern Pakistan hold the best records for the longest life span. The age of 100 is not unusual (and certainly no cause for Royal acknowledgement) and the only clues we have to this great life span is that they live in hilly high altitudes, walk a lot and have a diet high in vegetables, grains and low in meat.

However, it was a French lady, Jeanne Louise Calment, who holds the record for making it to 122. And although she was born in the late 1800s and lived through the two biggest conflicts mankind has ever known, it is likely that this lady's lifestyle was quite different from the above-mentioned mountain societies. So what is the link?

Looking at mankind's diet over the centuries is fascinating. Consider the caveman's diet during the Paleolithic era - an epoch that began 2.6 million years ago and accounts for 99% of human history so far. The breakdown is thought to have been: Carbohydrates: 45% Protein: 34% Fat: 21%.

Interestingly this combination is quite a popular and successful balance amongst bodybuilders trying to lean up. It works by increasing anabolic (muscle building) hormones in the body and naturally maximizes the body's production of testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). The diet lasts about seven days, is quite manipulative and probably mimics quite realistically the timing of supplies and meat hunted and gathered by the caveman... before the flies beat them to it.

The diet starts with a few days of eating high levels of fat and protein and low levels of carbs. The understanding is that this balance sparks an increase in blood serum levels of the above-mentioned hormones and the body undergoes a metabolic shift and will primarily be burning fat for fuel. Sounds good doesn't it? The latter two days are spent loading up on carbohydrates to fill out the muscle, giving good volume and sheen to the condition: an aesthetic bonus that was possibly overlooked by the hunter gatherer himself.

Some believe that the diet of cavemen is the optimum one, covering all the dietary components and is coded for our genes.

The Early Medieval Period (400-1300AD) brought a different balance of nutritional intake. Due to an increase in farming, grains were more available and the percentages are believed to have been: Carbohydrates: 75% Protein: 12% Fat: 13%.

Today's suggested ideal dietary balance (according to the Institute for Optimum Nutrition after a 24-year research program) is pretty close to the medieval farmer's choices (despite our larger fat allowance). The recommendations are: Carbohydrates: 60% Protein: 15% Fat: 25%.

No mention of sugar then? Sugar has a big role in our eating today and is blamed for weight gain, diabetes and heart disease not to mention spoiling our appetite for more nutritious substances. It has no place in our biological make-up of 64%water, 22% protein and the rest as fat, minerals and vitamins - yet we still find a way of welcoming it into our daily intake. Take a look at modern man's dietary balance. It makes no excuses for a high dose of sugar and three times as much fat as medieval man: these figures may well be taking in the eating habits of a few large Americans but nonetheless they average at: Carbohydrates: 28% Protein: 12% Fat: 40% Sugar: 20%.

Can it really be the case that mankind 2.6 million years ago right the way through to the end of the Middle Ages (1500 AD) had worked out a better system of food consumption than we have today? It certainly appears that way.

The more you examine dietary changes and life expectancy over the centuries, the more baffling it becomes. The introduction of grains in Medieval times provided more available carbohydrates but is this a good thing? Its vulnerability in being close to the ground means nature wants to ward off its predators with toxic proteins. I believe in eating raw foods packed with live enzymes but it isn't as clear cut as that: according to nutritionists many grains, especially if uncooked, are full of enzyme blockers and lectins.

Lectins are thought to be able to crack our biological code and be fundamental in disease and changing DNA. This means that flour, rice, potatoes, lentils and beans aren't as innocuous as we thought. Although the Medieval times were closer than our current society to what is now considered the ideal diet, disease was rampant, medical knowledge poor and treatment hit-and-miss. As a result average life expectancy was only 20 years.

Protein is derived from the word protos, which means first and protein is considered the base to all living cells. No one ate more protein than the caveman (or the bodybuilder) and his life expectancy was an immature 16 years (though fending off 400 kg Smilodons with sticks and stones might have had something to do with that).

The conclusion trips up a little. We may well ponder the benefits of indigenous and ancient cuisines but despite all our dietary pitfalls we are living much longer. In 400AD life expectancy was 35 years. By 1900 it had risen to 47 years. The biggest leap started in 1930 when it was 59 years. By 1975 it had advanced to about 71 years, and in 1989 it had increased to 74 years for men and 78 years for women. Speculatively, by the year 2020 it might be 100 years. Jeanne Louise Calment managed it and hinted at a maximum potential age to be 120. Let's hope so as 78 seems a little too short.

So still no definite answers. It just illustrates that what we believe to be essential for a long healthy life may not hold the key. Sanitation, medical attention and improved living conditions are hugely responsible, as are our genetics. Yet even if weakness or disease is encoded in our genes, it still need never be the death of you unless it is triggered by poor self-care.... if you know what that is. Ask Mother Nature, she'll know.