Metabolic Effects of a Traditional Asian High-carbohydrate Diet

A recent study supports the notion that an 'ancestral diet' focused around high-starch agricultural foods can cultivate leanness and...

Thoughts on the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend

For those of you who aren't familiar with him, Dr. John McDougall is a doctor and diet/health advocate who recommends a very low fat, h...

Sugar Intake and Body Fatness in Non-industrial Cultures

Around the world, non-industrial cultures following an ancestral diet and lifestyle tend to be lean. When they transition a modern diet and ...

Beyond Ötzi: European Evolutionary History and its Relevance to Diet. Part III

In previous posts, I reviewed some of the evidence suggesting that human evolution has accelerated rapidly since the development of agricult...

Beyond Ötzi: European Evolutionary History and its Relevance to Diet. Part II

In previous posts, I described how Otzi was (at least in large part) a genetic descendant of Middle Eastern agriculturalists, rather than be...

Media Appearances

Last October, I participated in a panel discussion organized by the Harvard Food Law Society in Boston.  The panel included Drs. Walter Wil...

Beyond Ötzi: European Evolutionary History and its Relevance to Diet. Part I

In the previous post, I explained that Otzi descended in large part from early adopters of agriculture in the Middle East or nearby.  What I...

Lessons From Ötzi, the Tyrolean Ice Man. Part III

There are two reasons why I chose this time to write about Otzi.  The first is that I've been looking for a good excuse to revisit human...

Lessons From Ötzi, the Tyrolean Ice Man. Part II

Otzi's Diet Otzi's digestive tract contains the remains of three meals.  They were composed of cooked grains (wheat bread and whea...

Lessons From Ötzi, the Tyrolean Ice Man. Part I

This is Otzi, or at least a reconstruction of what he might have looked like.  5,300 years ago, he laid down on a glacier near the border be...

Weight Gain and Weight Loss in a Traditional African Society

The Massas is an ethnic group in Northern Cameroon that subsists mostly on plain sorghum loaves and porridge, along with a small amount of m...

Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part V

Non-industrial diets from a food reward perspective In 21st century affluent nations, we have unprecedented control over what food crosses o...

Healthy Skeptic Podcast

Chris Kresser has just posted our recent interview/discussion on his blog The Healthy Skeptic .  You can listen to it on Chris's blog he...

Interview with a Kitavan

Kitava is a Melanesian island that has maintained an almost entirely traditional, non-industrial diet until very recently. It was the subje...

Glucose Tolerance in Non-industrial Cultures

Background Glucose is the predominant blood sugar and one of the body's two main fuel sources (the other is fatty acids). Glucose, in o...

Impressions from the Wise Traditions Conference

I spent last weekend at the Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions conference in King of Prussia, PA. Here are some highlights: ...

Potatoes and Human Health, Part III

Potato-eating Cultures: the Quechua The potato is thought to have originated in what is now Peru, on the shores of lake Titicaca. Native ...

Potatoes and Human Health, Part II

Glycoalkaloids in Commonly Eaten Potatoes Like many edible plants, potatoes contain substances designed to protect them from marauding crea...

Potatoes and Human Health, Part I

Potatoes: an Introduction Over 10,000 years ago, on the shores of lake Titicaca in what is now Peru, a culture began to cultivate a species ...

Tropical Plant Fats: Coconut Oil, Part I

Traditional Uses for Coconut Coconut palms are used for a variety of purposes throughout the tropics. Here are a few quotes from the book P...