There is no doubt that humanity has made significant strides forward over the years in many spheres of life. The things we consider very normal today would be, to put it mildly, unfathomable for our ancestors who walked the earth thousands of years ago. But life in the olden days was not entirely inferior.
There are certain practices that one can borrow from early man in order to improve life today. One of these is diet. It is no secret that the world is today plagues by what are often referred to as diseases of civilization. These include diabetes, heart conditions and obesity. And many of these illnesses have their basis on the high processed sugar and processed fat foods that we eat today.
Barring other external factors such as the dangers encountered from living in the wild, the cave man was much healthier than the modern man. The caveman's diet ruled out the need to go through the pains of modern diet programs including detoxification and the taking of vitamin supplements.
So what exactly did cave men eat that made them so healthy? A basic principle to consider when pondering this question is that cave men ate that which was easily within their reach, whether this was wild plants growing nearby or animals that they needed to hunt and catch. They did not have the luxury of long distance travel as we do today and therefore had to make do with what was in their immediate surroundings.
One must also consider the different environments cavemen lived. Those that lived next to water bodies did not necessarily eat the same thing as those that lived further inland. Even the type of water bodies they lived next to was a factor; for instance those living next to salt water bodies such as the sea had a significantly different diet from those dwelling next to fresh water bodies such as rivers and lakes.
There are certain types of foods that we know prehistoric man (looking at the history of man did not eat as their cultivation or inclusion into diet did not take place until after 10,000 BC. Examples of these types of foods include potatoes. Food such as beans that would need a long time to cook can also be safely ruled out based on both the period when man first discovered fire and the sheer length of time it takes to cook them.
The type of food eaten was natural and whole. This compares favorably with modern preparation of foods such as grains where certain parts of each grain as discarded during processing. The grains casks for instance contain vital minerals that enriched the caveman's overall diet, something that one cannot say the same of the processed grain foods of today.
One of the key components of their meals was meat. Now, meat has often been vilified as one of the causes of cardiovascular illnesses and other health complications today. So what was the difference between then and now? The answer lies in the free ranges of man's early days. Unlike today's sources of meat that are literally bred in enclosed areas and sometimes injected with artificial growth stimulants, the animals of yore had the benefit of the free ranges to run about and thus maintained a healthy level of fat.
Fish, a rich source of protein, were the preserve of cave men that lived next or close to water bodies. The cave man also ate wild fruits and berries which contained far less sugar than modern day fruits many of which have been genetically altered. They also ate nuts, yams, sweet potatoes and carrots.
