I also believe that Asians - as well as most of the world - ate a diet very similar to their ancestors until the latter part of the 20th century. Records in China show rice cultivation going back 4000 years. You don't see a lot of "Western" disease in populations who eat a biologically appropriate diet. We on the other hand eat a diet so far removed from our own unique biology that we're dying from it.
IMHO sugars are the worst. Before mass production, you had to actually work at it to get something sweet like honey or tree sap.
Trivia Bite: Did you know that sugar became the prime reason and motivator for the African slave trade? Most of the Caribbean became a vast sugar plantation supplying Britain and Europe, which then annexed more African land to provide more slaves for the plantations. Sugar created immense bureaucratic, mercantile and industrial wealth.
And here's a few USDA statistics...
FOOD CONSUMPTION IN THE U.S.A.
Between 1900 and 1980
Fresh fruit and vegetable consumption decreased from 40% to less than 5%
Butter consumption decreased 75%
Lard consumption decreased 66%
Unprocessed potato and sweet potato consumption decreased 40%
Processed potatoes comprise 33% of all white potatoes consumed
The majority of these are in the form of french fries
The fast food industry sells 75% of all french fries eaten
Whole grain consumption decreased 50%
Beef consumption increased 75%
Dairy product consumption (other than bufter) increased 25%
Cheese consumption increased 400%
Fat and oil consumption increased 150%
Margarine consumption increased 800%
Corn syrup consumption increased 400%
Sugar consumption increased 50% (the average person consumes 150 pounds of REFINED WHITE SUGAR per year)
Between 1910 and 1980
Poultry consumption increased 350%
Fresh apple consumption decreased 70%
Fresh fruit consumption decreased 33%
Between 1930 and 1980
Processed citrus fruit consumption increased 2500%
Fresh citrus fruit consumption decreased 50%
Between 1940 and 1980
Egg consumption decreased 25%
Food coloring consumption increased 90%
Between 1960 and 1980
Soft drink consumption increased 300%
Each person consumes 38 gallons of soft drinks annually (one fifth of our sugar intake is in soft drinks)
And 'ya wonder why we're all messed up!
Karen
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