A few more instincto questions

[AnopsStudier]

After eating this way for a long time will you be able to predict what foods you will want?  Or do you always buy a big variety and test?  I have trouble deciding what to buy

And How do you guys all feel after a long time on the Instincto Diet?

[Iguana]

After eating this way for a long time will you be able to predict what foods you will want? 

Yes, more or less. Most people are able to eat any raw paleo food, so if we don't have a choice, we'll eat whatever is available. If the only food I have for a meal is for example oysters, then it will certainly be ok. No need to have a large choice at every meal: we can balance our food intake over a certain period.

But I already replied to a similar question of yours here: http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/instinctoanopsology/hard-anopsology-question-to-explain/msg118391/#msg118391

[AnopsStudier]

thanks.  Im just wondering if eventually I will be able to predict what kinds of things I will want/need!

[JeuneKoq]

In the wilderness animals have no way to predict what their next meal will be, or if they'll even have one.
They can only make presumptions, like a monkey will assume that if he moves to the next part of the forest he might find wild papayes, or a vulture will count on a lion's hunting skills to get some zebra corpse for dinner. But these presumptions do not always become reality and instead our monkey could stumble upon mangoes and the vulture could be getting gazelle meat instead too.

[AnopsStudier]

Iguana and who ever else.  I still have this question from an evolutionary stand point about eating.

How have we come to need these foods from all over the world if we all have different ancestors who may have not been to those part of the world?  How does a person of African or Asian Ancestry benefit from eating North American or European foods (healthy food) and vice versa. I though foods that we need were just adaptations from our surroundings

[Iguana]

We don’t necessarily need them. It simply facilitates the practice for beginners who often have difficulties of eating anything raw, so they get more chances to find something they can eat raw to start with, and choose the food best suited to their current degraded health state. This can be specially helpful for sick people.

Of course, if there’s nothing edible raw currently available where you are, it can prevent starving! Otherwise, it’s perfectly possible to live with a “local” range of food, the condition being that this range is broad enough, taking into account the health state and particular needs of the person. As Alphagruis argue, it might even be better in the long run.

Third point, there’s a stronger temptation to eat cooked food when you have for example only walnuts, apples and a few species of fish to eat. It was found unsustainable to remain exclusively on raw paleo with such a limited food choice.

The situation seems to be somewhat different in US because grass fed beef and bison is constantly available in unlimited amount, but it’s not the case in Europe, Germany excepted, perhaps. If suitable meat is available during the hunting season only, then it’s a problem, particularly if appropriate eggs are also unavailable. I could only proceed with instinctive raw paleo nutrition because seafood, New Zealand lamb and Australian horse meat are imported in Switzerland. Plus, having only apples as a fruit in winter would have despised me.

[AnopsStudier]

i guess my questions just still stem from evolution and what not


Has anybody instincively ate for long periods of time and tried different plants and fruits from around the world..   Mostly I am wondering if humans have selected the right foods to grow and consume.   We consume all these fruits but what about things such as wild greens and small fruits and what not from the rainforest?  We have no access to those.. Would the human palatte even enjoy them or have we evolved and changed so much that the foods we need are the ones we already grow and consume? How can we be sure to include the right foods on our journey?   How did we come to crave and need the foods we do and are we on the right track....?  I wanna make sure I am choosing the right things to include in my diet so my instincts can literally take over!

[CatTreats]

Just try the foods yourself then. Of the currently available plant-foods, I only enjoy fruit. Green onions are pretty good, regular onions taste fine but burn and hurt the stomach. Leaves .... no. I never consume greens as they are bitter, not enjoyable, and hurt my stomach. I imagine a similar result if I went into a forest and ate the wild greens there. I imagine that this is from the toxins present in plants that defend themselves from being eaten. Bitter usually equals toxic, so we are repelled by it. On the contrary, fruit are intended to be eaten. They are large, visually appealing (bright colors), and taste moderately to intensely sweet. Very appealing. For me, sweet and fatty are what I like, so fatty meats and fruit. And I trust my taste.

[Alive]

Not all vegetation is bitter, when plants are young, flowering or sprouting then they have not had time to make a lot of toxins and are good for eating. Modern cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Asian greens, celery etc are huge versions of these that I find delicious. 

Small amounts of bitter vegetation are known to be good for liver function (the dose makes the tonic).

Roots and tubers, such as beetroots and parsnip, provide slow release of simple sugars, starches, and resistant type starches  (I grate these to help my bad teeth caused by previous over consumption of fruit, sugar, and grains).

My European ancestors would have only had access to low sugar fruits, combined with my health concerns over sugar means I choose modern equivalents like marrow, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado & cranberries. Other than in small quantities, fructose has been found to be a toxin that the liver destroys as quickly as possible.

[CatTreats]

Not all vegetation is bitter, when plants are young, flowering or sprouting then they have not had time to make a lot of toxins and are good for eating. Modern cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Asian greens, celery etc are huge versions of these that I find delicious. 

Small amounts of bitter vegetation are known to be good for liver function (the dose makes the tonic).

You're right about those. But generally "greens" refers to stuff like kale, collard, spinach ... the dark leafy greens. Broccoli is not bad raw but still is bitter.

Roots and tubers, such as beetroots and parsnip, provide slow release of simple sugars, starches, and resistant type starches  (I grate these to help my bad teeth caused by previous over consumption of fruit, sugar, and grains).

My European ancestors would have only had access to low sugar fruits, combined with my health concerns over sugar means I choose modern equivalents like marrow, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado & cranberries. Other than in small quantities, fructose has been found to be a toxin that the liver destroys as quickly as possible.

I guess it's just that the vegetables that are not bitter are still not super appealing. I have never craved a vegetable thus far. But I will literally drip saliva out of my mouth (can be alarming when in public) while talking about whatever meat I'm craving.

I can't imagine that fructose is that horrible for you. Maybe in MASSIVE amounts or if you do some type of fruitarian diet. If somehow an animal came across a huge amount of fruit, they would not be thinking about fructose. Since fruit is a quick source of energy, they would most likely eat every fruit they can get to. But maybe I'm wrong. I just don't think nature would punish that animal for following its instincts like that.

[AnopsStudier]

I hear what your saying.  Ya know, Im just always thinking about the various pieces of human history and evolution and wondering about nutrition.....    and to be truly healthy as possible you would have to have access to different foods from different parts of your evolutionary history.  Which is impossible since obviously you can only be in one place at one time  ...     I am always constantly questioning if im doing the right thing when im eating the various fruits and vegetables I do.... We grow and mass produce the fruits and vegetables we do because....? They are parts of our history and the ones that are best for us?  or are we missing various plants and fruits...  Im basically a European mutt living in the US trying to use his instincts.... CONFUSING!  I some times wonder how wild african fruit and plants from the rainforest could benefit me.   or random plants ive never heard of from the Mediterranean, etc .. 

[CatTreats]

When you talk about mass producing ... that is definitely based on flavor. It's why we've selectively bred fruits to be bigger and sweeter ... it is definitely NOT for the health benefits. And veggies were selectively bred to retain flavor when cooked.