Early Humans Likely Ate Carbs and Sugary Foods

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• Hacker News
• What a coincidence, so do I
  by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS
• Their carbs were natural, and they walked all day. It has no relation to consuming foods and drinks with added sugar, especially while relatively sedentary.
  by OutOfHere
• Humans have always eaten carbs; it’s the body’s preferred energy source. But human bodies can get energy from three sources, in order of preference—carbs, fat, and muscle (when all else fails).

  Our bodies evolved to store fat for this very reason—future energy needs. Ancient humans lived feast or famine, and our biology adapted. We’re built to fast for days, using body fat for energy. When carbs are available, they’re preferred because they are faster and easier to burn.

  Sugar is carbs. But ancient fruit in no way resembles today’s cultivated monstrosities, in appearance or sugar content.

  Our modern problem is—we gorge on carbs all day long. So our body helpfully stores the excess as body fat for future use—because it expects eventual ‘famine’ where we’ll be fasting with few carbs available and need it. But we never let our body get to burn that fat.

  by jamesgill
• Today we know sugar was a key ingredient for brain development in humans, not just proteins because of eating meat.
  by jhoechtl
• The link doesn't work (it only serves a redirect to hearsnetworks.com/) if you are outside the united states
  by sebstefan
• If you’re constantly moving sugar is a necessity for maintaining glycogen. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any food type, it’s all about context.
  by louiereederson
• I don't think this is new. The idea always was that proto-humans had to live in an environment rich with energy dense food (fruit) prior to growing a brain large enough to figure out how to make barbeque. Otherwise you never get to the barbeque capable brain. The whole point of making fire and therefore consuming cooked meat is that now you can migrate to places that don't have abundant sources of energy dense food.
  by dboreham
• There’s many theories but one that I learned was that women and children provides the bulk of the calories for Early Humans. While the men went out and hunted for meat they also relied on the fruit harvested by the women and children. That would give them the energy necessary for trekking and hunting.
  by slicktux