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Yes… But Our Ancestors Didn’t Take Supplements
One of the most common refrains you will hear in Total Health Breakthroughs is that we should mimic the diet and lifestyle of our Paleolithic ancestors. That includes what we eat, how we exercise and even our patterns of sleep (early to bed, early to rise).
The reasons are simple. Our genetics have evolved over many thousands of years to survive and thrive on a particular diet and way of life. Yet in the blink of an eye – at least in evolutionary terms – our diet and lifestyle have drastically changed. Our bodies are not equipped for these changes. The result has been an epidemic of obesity and degenerative disease.
By modeling the diet and lifestyle of our genetic ancestors, you have a very good chance of modeling their immunity to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and more. These conditions did exist, but until the last century, they were exceedingly rare.
What about nutritional supplements?
The idea that we should mimic our ancestors prompted Rob in California to ask a question. “I understand why we should follow the diet we ate before modern food processing,” he writes. “But doesn’t that mean we should also avoid supplements and get our nutrients from food?”
It is a great question, Rob. The answer is yes… and no.
Without a doubt, the best sources of healing nutrients come from whole foods – fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, wild fish and seafood, and animals raised on their natural diet.
Many nutritional supplements contain the same healing nutrients found in food, but they are often delivered as isolated ingredients. Isolated nutrients simply do not work the same as when they are contained within a synergistic matrix of nutrients found in whole foods.
So clearly, the ideal situation is to get most of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you need from a widely varied diet of whole foods – just like our ancestors did.
Unfortunately, that is not possible in today’s world…
It is true that our Paleolithic ancestors were virtually free of the degenerative diseases that plague modern man. And of course, they did not swill down a handful of supplements every day. However, their food and game was produced from soils that were much richer in vitamins, minerals and nutrients than our soils today.
Numerous studies have shown that our agricultural soils have been drastically depleted of nutrients. Not surprisingly, the nutrient content of our commercial crops has fallen precipitously. A study by the Nutrition Security Institute shows that in the United States, the average calcium, magnesium and iron content in cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and spinach fell 81% between 1914 and 1997.
And do not think these important minerals are being replaced by fertilizer farming. Most plants grow just fine with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium – so that is what Big Agriculture replaces. Never mind that humans require dozens of vitamins and minerals to remain healthy.
We have also found many new ways to destroy our health that did not exist hundreds or thousands of years ago…
Our genetic ancestors did not eat processed foods. They were not exposed to chemical toxins. They did not take pharmaceutical drugs. And they were not subjected to chronic stress.
The bottom line is that in today’s world, it makes perfect sense – in fact, it is critical – to “supplement” your diet with healing nutrients that have been proven effective.
This immune builder is virtually gone in most soils…
Selenium is a trace mineral that is essential for optimal health. And there is a good chance that you are deficient in it. In fact, most people are, because it has been depleted from most of the world’s soil.
This mineral makes such an impact on our immunity, that the incidence and mortality rates from several different types of cancer are closely correlated to the selenium content in the soil in those countries.
And the benefits are not just evident in population studies. Controlled trials show that low-selenium diets are associated with greater risk of just about every type of cancer. And selenium supplements have been shown to lower that risk.
Stop Living in Fear of Cancer!
With astounding results, one substance has cleared all of the hurdles. Even the FDA cannot ignore the results of this powerful mineral. Plus, it’s 100% natural!
Armed with three weapons, it is helping scientists turn the corner against the deadliest threat…
- Maintaining healthy DNA against aging and environmental factors
- Impacting genes that are linked to the progression of cancer
- And blasting away oxidative stress!
It’s as if this was made to go toe-to-toe with today’s biggest health concern. And now you can have it like never before – in the perfect form and coupled with a powerful immune discovery!
Read what the FDA has to say about it yourself and start protecting you and your loved ones today!
You don’t want to be short on selenium…
Most doctors and nutritional experts recommend 100 – 200 micrograms per day. That is a small amount, but it is difficult to achieve in the diet.
- Good food sources of selenium include garlic, grass-fed butter, grass-fed organ meats and wild salmon. But the best food source, by far, comes from Brazil nuts, which contain about 70 to 90 micrograms per nut. If you want to optimize your intake of this vital nutrient, be sure to eat five or ten Brazil nuts each week.
This is one nutrient, that is so important (and so hard to get from most foods) that I also recommend it as a supplement…
But many people supplement with an inorganic form of selenium – like selenite or selenate – that is poorly bioavailable. The most effective form of selenium is one that is stored in your body’s proteins.
This allows your cells to easily access the mineral in times of stress – like when DNA is under free-radical attack or when an invading pathogen enters your body.
Look for a supplement that contains selenomethionine. This is the form your body can easily store and utilize. In fact, a placebo-controlled study in 120 selenium-deficient subjects found that the bioavailability of pure selenomethionine was almost twice that of selenite!
To Your Health
Jon Herring
Editorial Director
Total Health Breakthroughs
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Fantastic information, well-presented and greatly appreciated.
excellent information. nature cure awareness you are creating is fantastic indeed!
thanx , pl. continue to do so
Thank you very much, this is an excellent article, and I will pass this information along to as many people as I can…
good information,pl continue.
I agree that our modern diet is not healthy with so much processed food available. I agree that a back to basics, fresh food diet would serve all of us better. However I take issue with the discussion that our Paleolithic ancestors were so much healthier and did not have degenerative diseases. THEIR lifespan was only about 30-35 years!! Most of us live to be 80-100. If they had lived that long they would also have shown more signs of aging and degeneration too!! In the interest of trying to push people to a healthier lifestyle don’t overstate the issues.
Constance,
Thank you for the feedback… I thought this might come up. Several years ago, I asked Dr. Loren Cordain, author of the Paleo Diet, to address this issue. Here is his response.
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Were Our Ancestors Really Healthier than we are Today?
We strongly believe that the healthiest diet is one that closely replicates what our Paleolithic ancestors ate. That is, a diet rich in protein and healthy fats and low in high-glycemic carbohydrates (like sugar, processed starches and refined grains).
But almost invariably, when we publish this idea we get questions from readers along the lines of what Allen posted in our reader’s forum. In response to a recent article by Dr. Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Allen asks:
“…isn’t it true that our Paleolithic ancestors were lucky to live into their 40s? And isn’t today’s life expectancy in the 70s? I understand that these numbers might have to do with a lot of things other than diet, but don’t we need a bit more evidence…”
So I asked Dr. Cordain, who has written a book called the The Paleo Diet, to address Allen’s (and many of our reader’s questions). The following is an excerpt from Dr. Cordain’s response:
“In regard to the life expectancy question… there are two issues. The first is how we determine the average lifespan of people in any society. The second has to do with how people die in westernized and non-westernized societies. Let me address the first issue.
“If you have a man and woman who both died at 80 years of age, and who had 2 children who died during childbirth, the average age of death of this group would be 40 years of age. On the surface this example would suggest that all people lived short, unhealthy lives. What is needed to get a better picture of the health of the living are called life tables… Life tables of hunter gatherers show that a significant percentage of the population lived into the 6th and 7th decades and beyond.
“More importantly… the elderly in these populations rarely or never exhibit diseases or disease symptoms which run rampant in elderly western populations such as hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The primary causes of death in hunter gatherers resulted from accidents and trauma spent living their entire lives outdoors battling the environment, without the benefit of sanitation, clean water and the advances of modern medicine.
“Clearly modern, fully westernized modern humans have much longer average lifespans than hunter gatherers, but we are not necessarily healthy during the last few decades of our life.”
yes what you say makes sense my particular problem is that (after 40 odd courses of antibiotics in my childhood-some of them unfinished!!) I very easily get candida even on a no added sugar no wheat diet and as I understand it the selenomethionine is yeast-based is it possible to get a yeast-free version?
Most people look at all the beautiful fruits and vegetables in the supermarket and assume that they can live healthfully by improving their choice of diet to include these selfsame fruits and vegetables. What they (most people) are unaware of is that these beautiful fruits and vegetables are not the same as what their parents or grand parents ate. The nutritional value of all our foods is woefully deficient to the extent of providing, perhaps, only a small percentage of the nutrients that nourished our ancestors. Essential trace minerals are nearly non-existent, so the only way to get them now is with proper supplements. By the way, the watchdog of health, the FDA, is trying to outlaw supplementation on the supposed theory that they are not necessary and potentially harmful. This is all to the benefit of drug manufacturers that profit from selling very high priced drugs to “manage’ disease caused, in the main, by nutritional deficiencies. The government is a willing participant in this malfeasance.
This is an excellent article and I would recommend that my family and friends read it.
Those hunter-gatherer ancestors had a shorter life in part due to accidents, feuds with other tribes and getting eaten by other predators!
We don’t hunt and gather anymore. Seems all of our food comes through corporation pipelines. We need nutritional supplementation just to keep even with our ancestors.
Be careful on taking too much selenium supplements. Now I read that too much can elevate cholesterol and increase the incidence of heart disease.
Best reading for a long time and invaluable, essential reading. Thanks for the information, keep it coming and buy some Brazil nut stocks
This is an excellent informative report,very helpful for manknind.I would appreciate if you let me know if selenium can be taken in homeopathic form as selenium salt and if so in what potency.I am currently taking it in 3x potency.
Thanks and best regards
Saleem
Hi All, again an excellent article with lots of interesting information to chew.
Thanks,
Alfredo E.
With all of the processed foods we eat today that are almost void of nutrients and the lifestyle most live it is important to discuss supplementation with your doctor. He or she will be best to advise you.