In the first lesson we will look at what is the optimal diet for people and why the term a raw diet can be misleading.
Often when people are first introduced to the term a raw diet, they assume that it means to just eat typically cooked food, without cooking it. Immediately they begin to ask:
How do I eat raw cereals / legumes / potatoes, etc?
To resolve this confusion, I am inviting you on an imaginary walk through nature.
Before our walk, let’s acknowledge a couple of things:
With this foundation of understanding, we may embark on our imaginary walk.
We come across:
The features of natural carnivores are:
See in the dark for the sake of efficient hunting,
Don’t see colors, unlike the fruit-eating species,
Have claws and canines for easy prey killing,
Drink blood before they eat their victim,
Have short bowels so that high-fat and high-protein fiberless foods could pass quickly,
Have the ability to synthesize vitamin C because they evolved on a diet that lacks this vitamin.
I hope that we have established significant differences between the biological nature of humans and carnivores, so we can check out our next potential food.
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However, birds would have a different experience because birds also have a different anatomical structure of the digestive system. Unlike humans, birds have an organ before the stomach, called gizzard that allows digestion of raw grains. Humans are not equipped with this organ and cannot digest grains without processing them. Just having to process something to make it edible, indicates that it is not our natural food.
The features of grains are:
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So if we have passed the grains as well, we go further in our walk and reach the next point.
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But it is very unlikely that you will get the urge to eat the grass, and your anatomy wouldn’t help you in that regard either.
Notice how horses, cows, sheep, and similar ruminants all have long necks that allow them to lower their mouths down to the grass. In addition, they have four stomachs that allow them to digest cellulose foods. You will agree, people have completely different anatomies, and it is natural that we do not see grass as food.
Granted, grass has been put down as an inedible option, so we go on and get to…
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Unlike you, a pig for an instance, would cherish this game of digging roots. But even if you dug out a root, what do you think? Would it really attract you to eat it, covered with earth and without attractive shape and color?
You can find far better…
And so we passed the roots and we finally reach…
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You are probably aware that children feel real excitement at the view of a fruit tree, or better yet, the opportunity to climb a tree and enjoy its sweet fruits.
The evidence that you are a fruit eater is:
And so we have come to the very food that attracts us in its natural form, gives us pleasure and the necessary nutrients. In addition to fruits, we can also be attracted to young, tender greens, as well as nuts and seeds.
As for the nuts and seeds, we can notice that they are found in shells that are not so easy to open. As many nuts and seeds we would get with the time and effort we would be willing to devote to opening them with bare hands, is an appropriate amount to eat. In the presence of our preferred food – fruit – which requires minimal effort and time to eat, nuts and seeds would play a small role in our diet.
I hope this lesson has taken you a step further in understanding what is the optimal diet for people.
Let’s address this topic in the next lesson.