Diet of Your Ancients (a custom diet to your bodies needs)

While serving in the military I caught dysentery on the Iraq/Iran border in 2007 that left me with uncontrollable irritable bowel disease among other digestion issues.  Ever since, I have been experimenting with diets, habits, and research to alleviate this painful part of my life.  I'd also received medical care through the US VA hospital system.  Despite lots of work and several colonoscopies there was nothing that could be done.  Medications didn't work, FODMAP diets made digestion issues less painful (only marginally), not less frequent.  Worse, FODMAP left me feeling sluggish and weak.  I got lazy.  Paleo, Keto, Mediterranean, Vegetarian, and a bunch I'm sure I've forgotten all helped in some ways and hurt in others.

Around this time, I began reading books concerning our human evolution and what archaeology says about our past.  What I came to realize is that the Paleo diet is not based on what humans ate in the paleolithic period.  Archaeology actually shows that our diet was much higher in plant forage instead of a meat centric diet (I know this can work in a Paleo diet, few people I know of on the Paleo diet recognize this point, however).  Only a few populations we know of actually relied on a diet greater than 50% meat, the plains native American before the decimation of the buffalo population is one example.  This revelation got me wondering; if the Paleo diet gets this part wrong, what were we eating?  Or a better question, "What diet has my body evolved to make the most of?"

Our digestive system is a generalized machine.  It can break up most anything into proteins, fats, carbohydrates, nutrients, and so much more for the body to use when needed.  But over the generations that came before me, the DNA I carry had gone through many generations and the "best" DNA for those environments would have been selected.  I have evolved from Viking, Irish, Highland Scot, Eastern European, and European Mediterranean stocks.   The archaeological record for most of these populations put meat at 10-40% of the diet.  This was most surprising to me of the Vikings who raised livestock and ate a lot of fish, but forage and agriculture were hugely important to their way of life.  The other thing this research highlighted is that I was woefully lacking in the fiber my ancestors were consuming.

Even by today's "FDA Nutritional Guidelines" (don't get me started on the "new" ones being developed) most of us do not get anywhere near the recommended daily value of fiber.  This recommended value, I believe is still far lower than my ancestors consumed, however.  With this revelation, I started adding any and all fiber to my diet.  Whole fruits, legumes, vegetables, even chicory root and Metamucil.  At first, I had some medical issues as I did this.  I had lived on a westernized diet and cultural foods of our day largely before, and adding that much fiber meant my digestive system needed time to adapt.  I ended up with pain in my stomach, having ramped up fiber too fast.  This meant I was ignoring Doctor advice and leaving behind the Fodmap diet for good.  The pain made me think I had made a mistake, but just slowing my approach made all the difference.  Eventually, my digestion system started to work itself out.  I used several fermented foods to help with developing the microbiota necessary to digest this new food, also.  Vikings, Irish, and Eastern Europeans all fermented foods and drink heavily.

Now today, with this diet and several other improvements I've made to my life, I feel 25 again, despite my 30's being filled with pain and misery and poor health.  I'm in my mid forties now, and don't know that I've been this healthy ever before in my life, and I've run marathons, been an avid Crossfit athlete, worked with the military special operations community, and always lived a health-conscious life.  Now, I have energy to spare, I wake refreshed, and suffer less from my injuries from military service thanks to lower inflammation and generally better health.

And the diet continues.  I've now begun working rolled oats and hulled barley in an oatmeal/porridge cooked in dairy (Goat dairy for Vikings, Cow dairy for the Irish) that my ancestral line has adapted with nuts, honey, berries or whatever's fresh on the homestead.  This was a staple of both of these populations and it has further improved my gut health.  My health is routinely monitored by the VA and the statistical turnaround in my numbers is unprecedented.  At one time I was taking 13 different pills for different injuries/illnesses everyday including statins.  I'm now down to just 2 (PTSD and migraines) and feeling better than ever.

Not all of this is due to the diet.  I've made several choices to prolong and support my health, but this diet is a large factor.  I still have issues with my irritable bowel syndrome; this has not gone away completely.  Man is it better, though!  I no longer have to plan trips around restroom breaks (and I spend less time in there, too).  The people that I've helped find a diet that aligns with their historic past have also seen positive results.  I think a varied diet is still important to health, but your own body is key to what works best.  I haven't eliminated things like corn from my diet, though my relationship with it is different.  It's no longer the staple it was while I was growing up in a small agricultural community in the upper Midwest.  Corn, comes from the Americas and few of my ancestors would have eaten it.  I do include it as part of my diet "variety", though.  I even still make popcorn and have a Benton Dark Chocolate Butter Cookie every day.  Your diet shouldn't depress you.  Your life lived should inspire you.

The science of the last couple decades has allowed me to make these choices.  Before testing dental plaques, this information could only be gleaned from stomach contents in situations where it was still viable or archaeological rubbish piles (bones are found in these piles, but plants would have dissolved back into the soils to return to the nutrient cycle).  I think we've been slow to use this information for our health.  What genetic story does your DNA tell about you?

That's very interesting. Oddly, while I don't know of any Native American ancestors for me, but all my best food plants that go best with my digestion are New World plants: potatoes, sunflower seeds, nettles, Phaseolus beans, acorns, etc. Some exceptions are present, especially, chickory, also parsnip, watercress... what I find most nourishing though are those new world native plants however, and especially when they come from the forests (I grew up eating lots of wild mushrooms and vegetables from the deep woods, and to this day still do!) I also have a preference for dairy which might have something to do with my (likely cattle raising) ancestors. I love cow pastures too, so maybe my ancestors were essentially nomadic cowherds? I can't eat grains for the most part (it's not the carbs) for reasons I haven't figured out. But small amounts seem okay, especially corn.

Anyway I think that epigenetics probably had a major role in why I eat what I eat--maybe there are epigenetic switches that might allow us to adapt to certain food plants that we wouldn't have been able to do well with otherwise, and not others.

I'd agree with epigenetics playing a large part.  I also don't think limiting myself to the foods my ancestors ate will have the greatest effect.  Variety and novel chemical structures can be important aspects of your diet and how the body works.  Any natural environment is going to have similar nutrient cycles with different organisms taking advantage causing the variety we see today.  Who's to say the nettles and potatoes aren't largely similar in makeup to the greens and tubers your ancestors ate.  My homestead features a lot of plants that are native to the environment and not to Scandinavia or Ireland.  Maybe this is just a complicated rephrasing of "Eat Whole Foods", or "Eat the Rainbow".  I'm hoping it can find more grounding in science, since that is how I developed it in the first place.  At the very least, the "Carnivore Diet" that has been popular lately is likely to help a very small amount of people.  You'll get tons of protein, but like me, you may also end up with gout.

two handfuls of greens, chopped up with 2 eggs ... that's how I start my day, and that is usually enough to alleviate my IBS symptoms.   staying away from nightshades, beef, and dairy also helps.   Beans n greens fer da win!    Kudos on your efforts to systematically figure out what your body needs!   I don't think the architects of civilization want a bunch of Samson like folks running around with jawbones ...at least that's why I think western diet is so bad, its by design.   The foods that support the human body properly have been known for thousands of years, yet BS diets abound.

Great discussion, and great to hear Mac's recuperation.
Our diet interacts with our genome, our epigenetic state, and especially our gut microflora.
An episode of dysentery would have caused major disruption to gut flora.
And the gut/vagus nerve/brain axis is becoming recognized as a major two way interaction between gut health and brain neurochemistry.

For me, it usually comes down to eating the widest possible variety of non-processed foods.  My heritage is extremely mixed... predominately, Irish, English and French, with a little Scottish, Spanish, German, Polish, Jewish and Native American.  The French side is a mix of mountain and coastal from the continent, Creole and a little Acadian.  My great grandparents most all lived to be around 100, all strong and healthy, not going to doctors, working hard until the last years of their life in the American southeast.  They had very diverse gardens with a huge variety of veggies from Europe and native.  Corn (fresh, cornbread and grits), rice and wheat flour (biscuits) were daily staples.  They kept chickens, raised cattle and pigs.  Dairy was daily.  Lard was the main fat. Foraging was learned from childhood.  They hunted and fished for at least 50% of their protein and seafood was very common, along with fish, frogs and turtles.  Shad roe was as common as bacon and eggs at breakfast.  They cured hams with salt and smoke, made tons of sausage, enjoyed butter and cheese, had honey from their hives.  They grew a ton of tree and bush fruit, strawberries and grapes.  Anything not eaten fresh was turned into wine, cider, preserves and jam.  They liked sugar, but that was mainly just dessert after supper.  They pickled a ton and made kraut. I don't do well on the standard grocery store or take-out diet.  I thrive on eating the way they did.... and they ate a TON of food, because they farmed, cut timber, ran saw mills and built houses, etc...... BIG farm families, huge meals!

Mac Johnson wrote:

I used several fermented foods to help with developing the microbiota necessary to digest this new food, also.  Vikings, Irish, and Eastern Europeans all fermented foods and drink heavily.

I agree that fixing ones gut biome is important, as also mentioned by Douglas Campbell.

The thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned is that "wheat" today, and likely also "oats" are *not* the wheat and oats our ancestors would have grown or eaten. I suspect even the "potatoes" have been "improved" based on what benefits mega farms and large food processors, rather than benefitting human consumers.

This is more true in some places than others. My friend who has had to go wheat free was travelling in Northern Italy and found she could eat their bread just fine. Both how the wheat is grown, and how it is ground and baked may influence how digestible it is.

You stumbled upon one of the other things I'd adopted as part of this process. This is the flour I use for most baking. Einkhorn is an ancient strain of wheat and appears to be much kinder to my gut. I also use some of the Emmer strain for wheat berries.

Mac Johnson wrote:I'd agree with epigenetics playing a large part.  I also don't think limiting myself to the foods my ancestors ate will have the greatest effect.  Variety and novel chemical structures can be important aspects of your diet and how the body works.  Any natural environment is going to have similar nutrient cycles with different organisms taking advantage causing the variety we see today.  Who's to say the nettles and potatoes aren't largely similar in makeup to the greens and tubers your ancestors ate.  My homestead features a lot of plants that are native to the environment and not to Scandinavia or Ireland.  Maybe this is just a complicated rephrasing of "Eat Whole Foods", or "Eat the Rainbow".  I'm hoping it can find more grounding in science, since that is how I developed it in the first place.  At the very least, the "Carnivore Diet" that has been popular lately is likely to help a very small amount of people.  You'll get tons of protein, but like me, you may also end up with gout.

That makes sense--so it's more "my ancestors ate like this" rather than these specific plants?

Anyway my ancient ancestors almost certainly ate plenty of mushrooms!

Mac - another ancient grain to add to your list of possibles - Spelt - high protein & fibre, and lower gluten content than modern grains.
Also, perhaps buckwheat, a pseudograin;  all I know about it is its use in pancakes  - Russian blini - although some recipes suggest regular flour, I think the originals used buckwheat, or a mix of the latter and wheat flour.

Jill Dyer wrote:Mac - another ancient grain to add to your list of possibles - Spelt - high protein & fibre, and lower gluten content than modern grains.
Also, perhaps buckwheat, a pseudograin;  all I know about it is its use in pancakes  - Russian blini - although some recipes suggest regular flour, I think the originals used buckwheat, or a mix of the latter and wheat flour.

Love it! I keep kasha (toasted buckwheat) but need more recipes to use it in. I'm a fan, but still experimenting. I came across it in my research on the staples of eastern Europe. It's delicious, but so far removed from my traditional diet, it's been tough incorporating it. Amaranth and quinoa also fit into this category. I make a lot of African foods where this works, but honestly beyond buckwheat pancakes I've struggled making meals my kids (5 & would also eat. Spelt, too. It works for me, but I'm notoriously not picky. If it keeps me standing and is good for me, I'll eat it.

Were your ancestors the hunter or gatherers?  I am sure mine were hunters so my ancient diet is meat and more meat ...

Mac Johnson wrote:-

I've struggled making meals my kids (5 & would also eat.

I'm a fan of freekeh which is wheat grains, but picked while still green, rather than fully ripe.  Recipes look to me like they might transfer well to kasha.
My favourite came on the packet. . . chopped onion, chopped mushrooms, seasonings, and cooked like a risotto (also a possibility for recipes).