Hacker News Reader

Comment by cik | Hacker News Reader

I have this theory - and it's completely untested on my side. There's no data, there's just a feeling. It's qualitative, based on my own anecdote only. People were bred to eat specific foods.

I gave up manufactured food. Then I gave up North American food - in exchange for eating the food my ancestors grew up with. My IBS disappeared in two weeks - I haven't had any of the debilitating pain I had, eating North American foods. Going back to hamburgers and crisps - my stomach felt like it was ready to jump out my sides. I vowed to stick to what was prevalent as a kid, not what I have access to now.

View on HN

>It's qualitative, based on my own anecdote only. People were bred to eat specific foods.

Makes sense considering humans diverged into vastly different environments thousands of generations ago. Compare the food available to, say, Inuit tribes vs groups living in a jungle. No reason we couldn't have specialized, particularly given genetic links to gut biota [1] (I'm sure there are more pertinent sources). Meanwhile globalization has rapidly exposed all of us to foods from corners far away from the lands of our ancestors.

1. https://m.phys.org/news/2019-10-survive-human-gut-bacteria-g...

What do your meals throughout the week consist of? I'm curious to know.

I'd also like to know if you think ground meat itself is problematic, or if it's the preservatives and seasonings that are added to fast-food burger meat.

I would be more concerned about the fries and the bread. The fries are cooked in vegetable oils that are high in Omega-6s and low in Omega-3s. Prior to modern American diet, most diets had high Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio and now that's been flipped. There are some studies to back this up:

"Marked elevations in pro-inflammatory polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolites in females with irritable bowel syndrome" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2853445/

I had chronic IBS, GERD and other inflamatory-related issues resolve almost immediately upon transitioning to a ketogenic (ultra-low carb) diet. The transition to keto can be hard due to lifelong habits but once I got through the first month, it started getting easier and now I love what I eat and I'm the best shape of my life.

I'll chime in that I have experienced exactly the same effects on keto, going several years on the diet now.

I've done keto three times now. It's the only way I can lose weight and eat healthy. I've always ended up breaking after 3-4 months due to missing Chinese & Japanese food too much.

So to be fair - I'm vegetarian.

But my foods mostly consist of cooked vegetables that we had in the middle east (peppers, tomatoes, onions, leaks, etc) and not things that are here now such as sweet potato. Chickpeas (hummous), Sesame seeds (tahina), and various combinations of all these things with the nuts we had (walnuts) means.. well I feel amazing.

I've never had a fast food burger in my life.

It appears like this is true for some foods at least, dairy in particular. I believe Scandinavians have a much lower rate of lactose intolerance than equatorial cultures

Yes lactose intolerance rates in northern Europe are extremely low and they increase as you go further south or east. Looking at a map of the rates is quite telling. I guess it figures that it's thought to be a mutation that conferred benefits during harsh winters

I have Crohn's disease and I've wondered the same thing. Crohn's is affected by diet but triggering foods vary wildly by patient.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com