How Civilization is really killing us...

...a few clues (or a trail of wheat-free bread crumbs for you to follow), if you're interested. With enough of these clues, one must begin to wonder if Obesity and Diabetes (among other scourges of modern life) aren't really just Mother Nature's Revenge.

Dave Pollard's posts earlier this week on Civilization, Domestication, and Noble Savages, reminded me of a Harper's article and some books that have gradually led me to my own contrarian view of the paradox of civilization being that which has cost us the more civilized behaviors to which we aspired.

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About two years ago, I read an article by Richard Manning, in Harper's, entitled, "The Oil We Eat." It's a bit long, but very thought-provoking, especially on whether being a vegetarian really is the most ecologically responsible choice to make... when you consider that not only do we obliterate natural habitats, indigenous plant life and grazing lands, but we expend more calories of energy in producing food crops than the crops actually provide. And then we feed most of this grain to animals, at additional expense of energy comsumption, when it might have been simpler, and better all-round (as well as more humane), if we had continued to allow the native bison, or even just domesticated livestock, to graze.

Several years before, I had read a book about eating according to your blood-type, by Peter D'Adamo: Eat Right For Your Type. Dr. D'Adamo has his detractors, as well as his followers, but from personal experience, although I could never follow his diet plan or suggestions to the letter, I must acknowledge that his basic outline for those with the "Hunter/Gatherer's" Bood Type-O works better for me. Being a lacto-ovo vegetarian definitely did not. Doesn't mean I don't still want my comfort food, though.

Somewhere in between, I read (most of) a book by Robert Lacey, The Year 1000. Lacey's book was structured on the Julius Work Calendar, and describes the regular seasonal activities and diet of the people. That Calendar was an early attempt to regulate a society's activities, rather like the wheel of the plough that it describes, something worth considering even now, when so many of us feel oppressed by our schedules. However, most relevant to this discussion is the authors' description of the skeletal remains of Englishmen of 1000 AD. Tall. Strong. Good Bones and Teeth.

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Apparently, different blood-types evolved over time, and under different conditions. For example, Type-O blood is the oldest, followed by A (farmers), then B (nomads), then AB (modern?). As one with Type-O blood, my body is more suited to a diet of animal protein and root vegetables, nuts, berries, and nothing refined, especially not any wheat or dairy products.

And, while I was struggling to give up wheat (and dairy), I was beginning to understand that before the Romans imposed a wheat-based agriculture on what would become the British Isles, my ancient ancestors had been much taller, with good, strong bones, and yes! --good teeth.

A milennium later, it is now commonplace to hear jokes about the poor teeth of those of us with English ancestry, as well as about both the inferior diet and cuisine of present-day England. Easy for "Colonials" to make such jokes when, after just a few generations, Americans were often a head taller or more than their European counterparts, given the virgin topsoil that provided them with superior nutrition, even though it has now been depleted.

Agribusiness, pesticides, genetically-modified foods, food-borne illnesses, polluted streams, rivers and water tables... one could go on and on. And Manning does name many of the bad actors.

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A few nights ago, I was watching an episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" on Oats and Oatmeal, which included the interesting tidbit that while the Brits were feeding oats to their horses, in order to improve their stock and their performance, the Scots were eating the oats themselves. However, an even more interesting tidbit was that the Romans never really did conquer the Scots when they occupied Britain. Perhaps I should have figured that out on my own, since I'm usually correct when I guess that an exceptionally tall person probably has some Scottish ancestry.

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