Humans, Diets, & Evolution… Oh My!

Written By Elise Doppel

Imagine early human populations: no cars, no grocery stores, no refrigerators. No air conditioning, no shingled roofs, no down comforters. They hunted and foraged for food on a daily basis, each individual having a specific role to play within the tribe, which was typically nomadic in nature. They looked out for one another’s safety and ate what was available nearby -- the organs, fat, and skin of hunted animals and foraged vegetables, tubers, fruits, nuts, and seeds. The body’s natural signals told them when it was satiated, and foods were consumed in as natural a state as possible (give or take the use of tools and light cooking for better digestion and assimilation).

Today, we can pick and choose what and how much of each food we want from a backlit screen and have it delivered to our front door without ever speaking to another person -- quite the transition, wouldn’t you say? And not that there’s anything inherently wrong about that method -- busy parents might need this crutch to stay afloat week to week, and the homebound or disabled might need it to survive overall. Modern living has changed the game for those who previously struggled otherwise.

The point here is that our bodies no longer dictate when we’ve had enough. We’ve been so far removed from the source and nature of our food, that we overstuff ourselves and give in to sweet cravings, simply because we can, it’s available, and we’ve been conditioned to do so. Why is that? How did we get here?

There are six major nutritional milestones that transpired alongside the evolution of man that aided in the development of this modern disconnect. Allow me to elaborate:

1. The Agricultural Revolution

Many people, when reading this first title of “Agricultural Revolution,” think of the farming industry booming from the early 1900s through today -- and we will definitely get to that, but the true Agricultural Revolution took place roughly 10,000-12,000 years ago, simultaneously in different regions of the world. It seems crazy, but that was when humankind, as a whole, began to use their surroundings to their advantage. Instead of roaming as nomads, they began to settle down in specific areas, typically where resources were plentiful. Tools and other innovations, like utilizing domestic animals for farmwork, led to the planting of crops and, you guessed it, the Agricultural Revolution. It also led to the division of labor and the creation of societal hierarchies in general.

These methods certainly helped feed the increasing population, but there were some consequences. Humans began relying more on carbohydrate-rich foods (and therefore less on fat and, more importantly, protein), and continuous crop cycles diminished their nutrient quality. As a result, over time humanity saw a decrease in bone density and height, a shift in the natural soil composition, and the flourishing of communicable diseases. The vibrancy and resilience of our species began to diminish.

2. The Introduction of Refined Sugar

Believe it or not, but processed sugar first made its debut in the 1600s (and also keep in mind that 400 years is not a super long time ago, relative to how long animals and early humans have inhabited the planet). It originally was only available to the upper class, but as production increased, prices fell, and it became ubiquitous to all.

Today’s yearly consumption of processed sugar is over 174,000 metric tons worldwide. When refined sugar was first introduced, most individuals were only consuming a couple pounds per person, per year. Americans today consume roughly 160 pounds per person, per year. Even for the subset of the population that consumes “heart-healthy,” “fortified,” and low-fat,” foods, sugar is sneaking in to most of these processed items, right under your nose, without your knowledge.

3. The Industrial Revolution

We covered previously how the nomads settled and created agriculture, taking a couple steps away from the sourcing of natural foods, right? Well, during the Industrial Revolution, humankind took large leaps away from the sourcing of natural foods. Cities developed and the people followed. Many people didn’t live close to the farming community anymore, thereby relying on grocers to supply foods in these populated urban areas, and never once had to harvest a meal for themselves. As you can imagine, food sitting on the shelves at the grocery store needed to be, literally, “shelf-stable,” because it wasn’t being eaten immediately after harvest like it used to in the nomadic days. Enter the food processing industry, circa late 1800s.

If nutrients were depleted over time during the Agricultural Revolution, you can best bet they were even further depleted when processing began. Transforming food from its natural forms to shelf-stable imitations of nature requires the removal of many constituents that made it “natural” in the first place.

Humans realized machines could do the work of domestic animals more quickly and efficiently, so automated farming practices ensued. Monocrops (one segment of land devoted to one type of crop) developed over time, and wheat, corn, and soy began to dominate the market. Unfortunately, the use of fossil fuels in the newly-efficient machinistic farming industry introduced environmental toxicants that would only further deprive us of nutrients as they leached into the soil and our food supply. Alas, with all this efficiency, food production skyrocketed and fed exponentially more mouths. Simultaneously and predictably, the number of mouths requiring food increased, too.

Think about the summation of these changes: people did less harvesting, lived in urban areas, and began to work more jobs. Physical activity and time spent in nature declined, while diseases of modern society began to rise. There is absolutely no coincidence here. The government began stepping in to recommend what and how to eat to the population. Instead of being able to rely on our innate animal wisdom, we had to look to our societal leaders in order to properly nourish ourselves (which they failed to do, by the way).

4. The Rise of Big Food

I think this is the milestone that boils my blood the most.

As food processing became “the thing,” some large companies began taking a foothold on American grocery store shelves -- and a few of the major ones still around today started up in the late 1800s!

Those wheat, corn, and soy monocrops I mentioned before truly got their 15 minutes (more like 100 years) of fame in this nutritional milestone. The new food processing companies, henceforth referred to collectively as Big Food, found ways to incorporate these plentiful, cheap monocrops into “food products” that would be further developed for increased hyperpalatability and addiction.

What is hyperpalatability? This simply means that a certain combination of ingredients and additives can severely increase a food product’s taste or flavor, and when that taste or flavor hits the reward centers in your brain, it overstimulates the “feel good” chemicals, which can lead to addiction over time and desensitization to natural-tasting foods. That’s how Big Food operates in a nutshell.

Have I found any evidence myself that they set out with malicious intent to globally poison humans? No, and nor do I believe that to be the truth. With an exploding population comes a responsibility to feed it. The long-term health impacts of tampering with our food supply were not something anybody worried about. Hell, they likely didn’t even contemplate that our health would take such a drastic dive after consuming these food products over the course of a lifetime. Nutritional science is not easy to define, and almost impossible to control or predict. We’ve learned with experience, just like the many generations that came before us.

What takes precedence now is finding a way out of the health crisis we now know we’ve created through Big Food. We’re in this together.

5. The Chemical Revolution

This occurred right around the time of WWII, where Big Food was able to take the spotlight. There were soldiers all over the globe needing to be fed, while their families back home suffered from reduced income and food rations. People were encouraged to consume the longer-lasting, manmade foods that utilized cheap oils and monocrops -- it saved families money and kept everyone fed, while being advertised as a healthier alternative. This began a lifelong habit of processed food consumption that truly stuck.

Big Food found a profitable way to sell the copious amounts of wheat, corn, and soy now farmed in America: transform it into Frankenfoods and sell it cheap to those in need.

What I find most surprising (and disturbing) about this era is that the leftover chemicals intended for the production of warfare weaponry were diverted for use in American cropland fertilization and pesticide production. So, on top of nutrient depletion and the use of food additives, we now had a food supply tainted with chemicals originally designed to destroy other human populations. Lovely.

6. The Digital Revolution

It can be difficult, in 2020, to imagine a world without digitized automation, but farming and food processing machines still required a decent amount of manual labor prior to this development. Unfortunately, with increasing technology use has come an ever-decreasing amount of physical activity and time spent outdoors, as well as ever-increasing problems with body mechanics, disease prevention, and stress management.

The booming realm of technology has removed us even further from nature by stimulating our eyes and minds well past sunset, forcing us to feel the need to be “productive” at all hours of the day and night, and allowing us to exist sedentary and isolated in our big ball of stress and FOMO.

I will say, on a positive note, this revolution has allowed information to reach even the most remote of populations. Society seems to be ever more aware of what foods and preparation methods are likely harmful to overall health, and we can even compare our own health symptoms to published data on common medical conditions. While it can be destructive to health, in many ways the Digital Revolution can be empowering and enlightening for those who would be lost without it.

So there you have it -- how the human diet evolved into what we know today. It’s a fascinating tale, at the very least, and something I truly appreciated covering through the Nutritional Therapy Association. For more from me, stay tuned to the next post, where I’ll give you the laymen’s version of what “nutrition” is. If you’re interested in learning more about the Nutritional Therapy Association, check out their website and sign up for their free course!

What milestone seems the craziest to you? Would you add anything to this list? Let me know by commenting or reaching out via email or any social media platform.

#PaleoGirlModernWorld #PGMW #NutritionalTherapy #NTP #NTA #Evolution #ModernDiet #BigFood #Technology #Revolution

Elise Doppel
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