The Future of Food

Good afternoon dear readers! 

Just a quick little post for you this sunny Wednesday afternoon. I stumbled upon this National Geographic special series, the Future of of FOOD while taking a break from my pollen analysis (one month to go!). In their eight-month series, National Geographic is investigating the future of food in a world where the climate is changing at an unprecedented rate and global populations are rapidly increasing. You can check out the trailer below to get an idea of what the series is all about, and have a look here for a 15-minute talk summarising each part of the series by Dennis Dimick, executive environment director at National Geographic. I'll definitely be checking out the series on the evolution of diet in particular. I was instantly intrigued when Dennis mentioned "the idea that food is what really made us human" - I couldn't agree more! 

Until next time!

The Paleolithic Diet

A short aside from the origins of agriculture... have you ever heard of the palaeolithic diet, more commonly referred to as the paleo diet?

Photo taken from the BHAC website

The diet was founded by Dr. Loren Cordain of the Colorado State University, and is based on the notion that the most beneficial eating habits for human health are the ones that we are genetically adapted to (i.e. the diet of the hunter gatherer). The diet is supposedly associated with a wide range of health benefits from weight control to the reversal of autoimmune disease (Österdahl et al., 2007; Cordain et al., 2005; Frassetto et al., 2009)

So, what can you eat on the paleo diet? In short, modern foods that replicate what our hunter-gatherer ancestors used to eat. The diet is centred around these following food characteristics:

• Higher protein
• Low carbohydrate and glycemic index
• High fibre
• Moderate to high polyunsaturated fats with Omegas 3 and 6
• High potassium, low sodium
• Alkaline
• High vitamin, mineral, antioxidant, and phytochemical content

For example, the paleo diet allows you to eat food items such as grass-produced meats, fish and seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, and oils such as olive, flaxseed, and avocado. A "paleo-friendly" meal could be this lemongrass chicken curry.

If this post has piqued your interest and you'd like to learn more about the paleo diet, check out PaleoHacks' post on the top 25 paleo blogs. Although I do think that consuming more foods rich in vitamins, antioxidants, fibre, etc. is important for overall health, I think I'll be sticking to a more modern diet for the time being. The paleo diet also brings up some environmental questions - for example, if the globe's population increased their intake in protein from animal sources, what would be the consequences in terms of global emissions?  

What are your thoughts on the paleo diet?