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Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#91

Post by [deleted] »

narag wrote: post #82
nightski wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, while both are low carb the ketogenic diet and the atkins diet are different. Keto generally refers to a diet very low carb, protein as needed, and higher fat (generally most calories come from fat). Atkins was a low carb, high protein diet.

Atkins diet is a ketogenic diet. First week is next to zero carbs. Then slow carbs are introduced gradually, always trying to keep the ketosis, that stops around 60 or 70 g of carbs a day. No idea what "keto" label currently means. If you take a moment to review my previous comment, you'll see what exactly I was responding to. Edit: just to make it more clear, Atkins didn't tell how much proteins or fat you should ea…

[deleted]

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#92

Post by onetimemanytime »

Phenomenit wrote: post #74
murukesh_s wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May be hyenas also adapter over million year period to bust open bones. But i wonder why they did not develop a brain like ours!

Brains are only developed if there is an advantage and I guess a brain without fingers, our eyes etc isn't maybe as useful as using the fat for energy.

Yp, brain uses tremendous amount of energy so there's a cost. Use too much of it to build the brain and you starve...use too little and same result since you're outsmarted. Rinse repeat until it's perfected.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#93

Post by PavlikPaja »

XaoDaoCaoCao wrote: post #19
shard972 wrote: post #15

It's still a bit bizarre watching the western world switch form carbs good, fat bad to carbs bad fat good in the span of like a decade.

Going from a high carb diet to a high fat diet was amazing. "Wait instead of feeling omnipresent urges to overeat and snack, my satiety system actually works? I stop getting dips in energy throughout the day?" Said it before but a diet of bacon and eggs would be superior to the diets of most Americans.

I suspect it's the result of adding iron to flour. For many peopel it irritates their gut and may have a whoel host of negative effects. There is no reason why it should be neccessary to add it into all food, it made flour based products basically toxic, since the body has no way to get rid of iron. Eating grains never had any negative effects before this "fortification" began.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#94

Post by betterbeehome »

village-idiot wrote: post #69
betterbeehome wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an ideal world, a "balanced diet" would mean eating only locally, in season and have none of this fad diet nonsense (vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, keto, etc). This would produce a universal diet that adapts to environment, wild life and the success and failures of local agriculture. It would be a cyclical diet, ever changing. Maybe balanced diet is a poor choice of words... Local diet? Seasonal diet? Cyclical diet…

I do get annoyed about the definition of keto as a "diet", especially a "fad" diet. Ketosis is a biological process, and the "keto" diet is just designed to produce the state of ketosis on purpose. As such there really is no "keto" diet, as there are a pretty wide range of dietary choices that could produce the state of dietary ketosis. Also, literally every religious tradition in the world follows the "keto" diet on…

I'm not knocking ketosis itself. Just the absurd hoops people jump through to pretend their doing keto... how about just stop eating for a bit and you'll get a more robust ketosis. No need for hundreds of recipe books about keto desserts, keto friendly cakes and breads.

Just want people to keep things simple. That's why I was saying that stuff about cyclical dieting. In summer, there's a lot more carbs. In winter you'd change to eating more meat and fat. Since animals fatten themselves up for surviving winter. Eats what's currently in your environment. Prepare it properly. Move regularly throughout the day. Take time to relax and rest.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#95

Post by sc4les »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #30

Makes sense. The brain needs fuel. Without adequate fuel there's no way for it to grow, unless the body gave up some of its need for the same fuel. So I would presume there's that as well. That is, the body also evolved to feed the brain.

Well fat to grow but it burns sugar

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#96

Post by glogla »

narag wrote: post #53
shard972 wrote: post #15

It's still a bit bizarre watching the western world switch form carbs good, fat bad to carbs bad fat good in the span of like a decade.

...to carbs bad fat good in the span of like a decade Not at all. I remember it was a thing in the seventies. The low-carbs diet has been viciously attacked for many decades, so it comes and goes every few years. I first heard of it when Atkins popularized it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet See how Wikipedia says it's "a fad diet" and its claims "questionable", implying that it doesn't work at all. But now…

It's interesting how the two articles differ. The article about low carb diet is written in a very hateful style, while the one on Ketosis is very technical and includes no judgment on "fadness" or whatever.

Same thing about saturated fat. There are multiple articles that contradict each other, going as far as having a different selection of sources. One links only articles that support how harmful saturated fat is, while the other cites a some sources that say this, and some that say "there's no effect found".

It shows that trusting wikipedia might on something that's not physics or math might be losing proposition.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#97

Post by wccrawford »

EnderViaAnsible wrote: post #24
samstave wrote: post #10

I thought this was known. When my first born was a toddler, she would go into the fridge and eat butter. I expressed concern to my grandmother, a life long nurse who was born in 1920 said to me; “the brain knows that it needs fats to grow, just let her eat butter. It is what her body is saying she needs” She is super smart and it wasnt an issue otherwise.

The translation of deficiencies into food cravings has always fascinated me. People with pica, for example, often compulsively eat non-foods that are in fact related to a deficiency they have. Anemics sometimes crave dirt (which does contain iron). But how does it "know"?

I don't think your body "knows". I think your mind is very, very good at pattern recognition. It knows that when certain signals exist, a certain condition exists, and when certain foods are eaten, those signals are lessened. It doesn't know what foods will do what until after you've eaten them, possibly multiple times.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#98

Post by knowThySelfx »

pts_ wrote: post #79
knowThySelfx wrote: post #71

Ghee is considered "Brain food" in Indian culture. It is included in many food items and also in Ayurvedic Meds. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/amp39Gheeamp39-and-its-m...

There is no one "Indian" culture. In the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, goat bone marrow is relished a lot, and fatty fish brain is relished and considered brain food.

Does this mean Ghee is generally not used in WB? Sure there will be local variations due to a variety of factors - invasion of other cultures (islamic, christian, chinese etc) The Ghee thing does have its general influence in Indian culture.

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#99

Post by chiefalchemist »

sc4les wrote: post #95
chiefalchemist wrote: post #30

Makes sense. The brain needs fuel. Without adequate fuel there's no way for it to grow, unless the body gave up some of its need for the same fuel. So I would presume there's that as well. That is, the body also evolved to feed the brain.

Well fat to grow but it burns sugar

I was under the impression one of the things the brain "burns" is cholesterol. Yes? No?

Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains

#100

Post by huffmsa »

This is new news? O thought it was established a while ago that humans have only made the progress we have because of an increase in animal fat consumption.

Hell, with a few exceptions, you can cluster mammals in a pretty accurate grouping of intelligence by the percentage of animal fat in their diet.

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