Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
June 2009
Ever eat a Stone Age apple? Probably not. The Golden Delicious or Fuji that you find in your neighborhood market resembles apples of thousands of years ago about as much as modern English resembles the language of King Arthur's court — recognizable, but barely.
Wild fruits and vegetables tend to be small and fibrous, without much starchy pulp. They have abundant seeds that promote propagation of the species. Untreated with preservatives, wild fruit decays quickly so that its nutrients can return to the soil and its seeds can germinate swiftly. Pesticides keep an apple free from worms but back in the Stone Age that extra protein was part of the meal. My guess is that eating worms is a lot healthier than eating pesticides.
We had no Texas Ruby Red grapefruit a couple of generations ago. They are large, plump, sweet and seedless. The grapefruit that we knew as kids were full of large seeds and so sour that it was a rare child who could eat one without a heaping spoonful of sugar spread on top.
What are the nutritional implications of these differences? Very early humans were primarily vegetarians. In order to obtain sufficient calories they took in 3 to 5 pounds of fruits, vegetables, roots and nuts on a daily basis. Because these plant foods were not as plump, juicy and starchy as ours, there was lots of fiber and not much starch.
Does that matter? It does if you have a family history of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke or colon cancer. All these conditions occur less frequently in persons whose intake of dietary fiber is high, especially when that fiber comes from fruits and vegetables.
Destructive chemical substances called free radicals form when we digest and process food, fight infection, undergo stress or expose ourselves to sunlight and cosmic radiation. Eons before animals populated the earth, plants developed many different antioxidants to combat free radicals. Animals, including us, protect themselves from these harmful substances by ingesting a wide variety of plant foods and utilizing their antioxidants. Carnivores eat the plant eaters and acquire these nutrients indirectly.
Those apples that grew 50 thousand years ago were truly health foods. Nature knew what it was doing.
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.