{"id":1296,"date":"2013-09-17T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insta-pro.com\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2023-06-22T07:46:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T12:46:57","slug":"cooking-food-made-us-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instapro.spinuhost.com\/en\/blog\/nutritionandtechnologies\/cooking-food-made-us-human\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking Food Made Us Human?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently stumbled across a book, published a few years ago, that examined the role that cooking food played in human development.\u00a0 It is called Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human<\/a>, by Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard University.\u00a0 A brief interview with him on this topic can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fascinating idea, but the concept is also relatively simple: cooking food allowed humans to spend less time foraging for food, chewing food, and digesting food; thus, we were able to spend more time doing other things.\u00a0 Over time, we developed into what we are now, with smaller digestive tracts and bigger brains.<\/p>\n

This made me think of the ever-evolving food and nutrition advice coming from everywhere.\u00a0 The recent rise in interest with the Paleo Diet<\/a> is especially interesting, and seems to go against this concept in the book.\u00a0 The Paleo Diet advocates<\/a> a return to our pre-agricultural hunter-gather roots, at least in terms of eating, and has some characteristics of other diets, such as Atkins<\/a>. \u00a0The Paleo Diet specifically lists \u201cprocessed foods<\/a>\u201d on the \u201cdon\u2019t eat\u201d list (although there is a rule with the Paleo Diet that allows limited deviation from the hunter-gatherer approach to eating).\u00a0 Processing is many things, and cooking is a form of food processing.<\/p>\n

Another idea, new this year in the form of a start-up company, advocates a very different approach.\u00a0 A company called Soylent<\/a> is producing a dry, purified diet powder that is mixed in water and consumed throughout the day.\u00a0 This concept is a further extension of the cooking-for-human-advancement-theory in that you really don\u2019t have to worry about food at all.\u00a0 Simply mix up your balanced diet powder each day, and take a drink whenever you want.\u00a0 The thinking is that people who sit at a computer all day can continue working for long hours (if they choose to) and have more focus \u2013 no bloating and drowsiness following time-out for a big meal.\u00a0 Indeed, this effect has been reported<\/a> when the diet was tried.\u00a0 Also, the thinking is that having well-balanced meal replacers is beneficial for people who don\u2019t eat a well-balanced diet, or for famine relief.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, both of these approaches to food and nutrition have some merit, and everyone should try what works for them.<\/p>\n

Here are some undeniable truths, however, that you should keep in mind:<\/p>\n