Via Ed Bruske, aka The Slow Cook, I learned of a recent L.A. Times story regarding the possible role of carbohydrates, not fat, in obesity and obesity-related illnesses. I’ll leave the fat vs. carb debate to others, but wanted to share one rather startling fact from the article:
One way to put our diet in perspective is to imagine the face of a clock with 24 hours on it. Each hour represents 100,000 years that humans have been on the Earth.
On this clock, the advent of agriculture and refined grains would have appeared at about 11:54 p.m. (23 hours and 54 minutes into the day). Before that, humans were hunters and gatherers, eating animals and plants off the land. Agriculture allowed for the mass production of crops such as wheat and corn, and refineries transformed whole grains into refined flour and created processed sugar.
Pretty amazing to think about, isn’t it?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I Like it!
Since tone of voice is impossible to tell in the written word, I want to say that I mean this in a positive way.
That’s interesting. But, what do we do? As an individual or family, eat locally, eat less processed foods, that I can see. It might not be hunting and gathering, but closer than processed items. Practical for most? Not sure.
But, the bigger picture?
Fair question, Maggie. I guess I wasn’t posting it as a call to action, more like, gee whiz. And I guess the answer is to look at one’s diet and see in what ways we can cut out some of the processed stuff. E.g. I know that I actually feel sluggish and lousy when I indulge too much in pasta or other white flour-y foods like my beloved Stacy’s.