The conspiracy of Neolithic foods.

A few days ago I found this website about the "Paleolithic diet." It was interesting, so I read a bit here and there,particularly the basic intro page, though I didn't go through the whole site, it started to get boring pretty fast. (I can only read so much about food, I find, before it either makes me bored or hungry. In this case it was bored.) Here's a link to the page if anybody's interested.

Anyhow, the basic idea makes sense. Humans evolved as hunter-gatherers, so humans evolved to eat a hunter-gatherer diet, and this is what's best for us. Paleolithic humanity ate fruits, and vegetables, and meat when they could get it, but had little if any grain, because grain is really a result of agriculture. So to be really healthy, you should cut down on grains and other such starchy foods, and eat fruits and veggies and meats. Sounds sensible, yes? Yes. So I was with this guy that far, but then it started to get a little weird, because he keeps talking about how "toxic" grains, potatoes, legumes and other starchy foods are in their uncooked state. And also because the whole thing is presented with a rather evangelical/conspiracy theory sort of air. You must re-think all you know, because everything you know is wrong, and we are right, and this new amazing discovery will change how you think forever! That sort of thing always makes me a little wary. Particularly when the author says he will "share the secret" with you, and references a "small group of specialized scientists" that know all about this but are not telling the rest of the world, for some reason whic he never makes clear.

But anyhow. Toxicity. I'll give you a quote from the site: "Grains, beans and potatoes are full of energy but all are inedible in the raw state as they contain many toxins. There is no doubt about that- please don’t try to eat them raw, they can make you very sick." It then goes on to say "...cooking these foods made them edible- the heat destroyed enough toxins to render them edible."

Now I call BS right there, honestly. I have eaten raw wheat. I've eaten a fair bit of it. It is awesomely yummy. It is not toxic. Raw corn is also weird, but good. Raw potatoes are kind of gross, but I've never heard of anybody getting sick from them. Although that may just be because they're too gross to eat much of. And this site includes peas in the list if things that are "toxic" when raw. Peas? The only thing listed that I have ever heard of somebody getting sick from eating is beans, which can make you very ill if you eat them dry, but in their fresh, raw state are just fine and dandy! The site also frowns on raw pasta, and even on al dente pasta, because the incomplete cooking leaves toxins in place. I'm rather fond of oriental pasta salad, which involves raw ramen, and I used to eat spaghetti noodles raw a lot when I was a kid, and I always eat my pasta al dente when possible. If, honestly, these so-called toxins were so bad that even eating cooked foods is still bad for you (which is the central claim of this site) then wouldn't eating these things raw regularly make you seriously ill? The bit about "don’t try to eat them raw, they can make you very sick." sure seems to say so! But they don't make you very sick. They don't even make you a little bit ill.

I know that fruits and vegetables are wonderfully good for you, but I'm pretty sure the problem with a mostly-starch diet has to do with lack of vitamins, minerals, and complete proteins, not with "toxins." He names some specific things as toxins, "enzyme blockers, lecithins and other types." I had a missionary companion who was a weird health nut and had a HUGE jar of lecithin (labeled "Lecithin from Lewis Labs" which made me thing of a B-grade horror movie. "It Came From Lewis Labs, The Lecithin That Ate Ireland") which she added to all sorts of foods. If lecithin was that toxic, I somehow doubt they'd be allowed to sell it in pure state as an additive. Seriously. (Wikipedia says of it "Lecithin is an integral part of cell membranes, and can be totally metabolized, so it is virtually non-toxic to humans.") I have no idea if it has any actual health benefit, but I don't think that the presence of lecithins in my potatoes is going to make me sick. Enzyme blockers basically make your body produce more enzymes in order to digest something. Oh. No. Your pancreas has a tiny bit of extra work before you can completely digest your food. He says "They are effective poisons- rats cannot gain weight if they have substantial amounts of enzyme blockers in the diet." If you eat it, but don't digest it, and the only thing it does is just pass through your system, this is not called a toxin, this is called a "diet aid." Also, looking at Wikipedia again reveals that they same sort of enzyme blockers that are so bad in legumes are also found in eggs, which are on the "okay" list here. Oh and "other types" is apparently endorphins! Yup, endorphins in our starchy foods make us addictive and crazy.

Yeah.

Uhm.

Right.

This seriously seems to be written by somebody who started off sane, but then just went off the deep end into bizarre paranoia. I mean, of the "virtually non-toxic to humans" lecithin, he says that lecithin can "break down the surface of the small intestine, stripping it of mucus and causing the cells to become irregular and leaky. Some lecithins make cells act as if they have been stimulated by insulin. Others cause the pancreas to release insulin. Others cause immune cells to divide in the wrong way, causing growth of some white blood cells and breaking down the control of the immune system. Others cause cells to present the wrong codes (HLA's) on their surface, tricking the immune system into thinking that intruders have been found and activating the immune system inappropriately- thus leading to "autoimmune disease" where the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system." And this is just the start. He also thinks that lecithin causes cancer, though he admits that science hasn't proved this.