It’s often said that grandma knows best, and it seems that could definitely be true when it comes to our diet. Biological anthropologist Stephen Le was left devastated when his mother died of cancer age 66, and wanted to work out how he could emulate the longevity of his grandmother, who died at the ripe old age of 92.
Now, Le claims it’s all to do with following the diets of our ancestors — the simpler, the better. He believes his Vietnamese grandmother’s simple, rice-heavy diet had a lot to do with her long life.
He traces the history of eating from 100 million years ago, and stresses the importance of understanding nutrition alongside evolution — instead of treating them as two separate things
He argues: “Trying to understand human nutrition and health without understanding evolution is like trying to eavesdrop on a snippet of conversation without knowing the context. It can be very misleading.”
He’s also quick to dismiss superfoods such as kale and quinoa, too.
Writing in the new book, 100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today, Le described the perfect simplicity of his grandmother’s lifestyle.
Just a rocking chair, a few shelves of incomprehensible books, a bottle of fish sauce, a rice cooker, some crumpled old linen towels, and the soft light of day streaming through the window. Sounds good to us.
Source: www.i100.independent.co.uk
