The Caveman Diet: A Possible Treatment for Chronic Diseases

One of my theories is that man evolved to survive on the diet eaten by cavemen. Mother Nature designed man to survive. The current American diet is completely different. Man evolved over millions of years. His diet has changed drastically in the past few hundred years. The caveman did not drink beer. He did not eat pizza. He may have eaten tomatoes.

Junk Food

The current American diet includes sugar, coffee, cream, ice cream, etc. The cavemen did not eat cheeseburgers. They did not eat dairy products except when they were babies they drank milk.

My guess is that they may have fished, but not like today. They probably had to catch fish with their bare hands much like bears do. I don't think they caught that many fish that way. Perhaps they made a spear and speared the fish.

The cavemen did not drink whiskey or vodka. They probably mostly drank water except possibly for some coconut milk.

The caveman diet did not include the massive amounts of fat in the current American diet. The diet in India is much different. The diet in Africa is also much different. The diets in India and Africa contain a great deal more fiber and are probably much closer to the caveman diet.

But what disease would the caveman diet help or prevent? This may be a very long list including mental disease, cancer, atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes, lactose intolerance, stroke, heart disease, etc. The caveman diet probably had much less cholesterol and saturated fats than we do. They didn't have margarine or cremora. They didn't have trans fats. They didn't have nitrates and nitrites that we have in hotdogs. These nitrates and nitrites can be converted to carcinogenic substances by the body, unfortunately.

Mental Disease

The caveman would not survive well with schizophrenia. He would die. Therefore there may be a factor in the caveman diet that fights schizophrenia. There might be several factors that do so, including the fiber. Fiber is even good for hemorrhoids because it acts as a stool softener. Fiber slows the rapid rise in blood sugar seen after eating certain foods such as cake. The cavemen didn't eat cake. They didn't eat anything with flour. They didn't have salt.

But what about protein? Unfortunately there are certain terrible diseases in which the brain is allergic to protein. One example is celiac disease. Another example is PKU. Did the cavemen eat a lot of protein? They didn't have tofu nor soymilk, both of which are rich in protein. They didn't have miso soup, made from soybeans. They didn't have cheese. They didn't have pig farms like we do. My guess is that they didn't eat as much protein as we do. The caveman wouldn't survive with obesity. They may have eaten less of everyting except for water.

They didn't have the Golden Arches. They didn't drink coffee, which has phenolic acids and caffeine. There is a theory that links caffeine to benign prostate hypertrophy (enlargement). The phenolic acids may contribute to acid reflux. They didn't drink fruit juice, which has little pulp. They ate the fruits themselves, which have the pulp. Bioflavonoids and fiber are in the pulp. The didn't drink Coca Cola.

They had a diet which was probably largely free of caffeine.

PKU

PKU is a form of mental illness and retardation which has a know metabolic basis. It is an aminoacidopathy.

This information has been abstracted from PKU News. Two cases will be presented. PKU was first discovered by Folling in 1934. Case 1 was born in 1935 but was not diagnosed with PKU until 1992! She had sun sensitivity. She had "behavioral problems".

Case 1

She was screaming. She had "agitation". She was given psychiatric drugs. She was pacing. She had fair skin and hair.

The clinic ruled out a relate disorder-biopterin deficiency. She was started on the low PHE diet. She improved on the diet.

Case 2

Case 2 had "behavioral challenges". In 1983 "her behavior worsened" and she was given psychiatric medication. She was put on the diet. She had "screaming and aggressive behaviors". She had anxiety, agitation, and "skin picking". She was placed on the diet in 1993.

The "screaming behavior abated and has recurred rarely". Her tantrums and throwing items abated. Her anxiety was reduced.

Both patients were in California, where the clinic is.

Synthesis

It can be concluded that the old theory that the diet only benefits children was false. The diet benefits adults as well as children.

The diet is low in protein. Foods allowed include coffee, Tang, Kool-Aid, strawberry syrup, sugar, etc.

Banned foods include aspartame, Nutrasweet, Equal, milk, high protein foods, etc.

Substitute a nondairy creamer for milk. Allowed are Coffee Rich, CoffeeMate, and Mocha Mix.

Antipsychiatry Too Radical

Certain radicals in antipsychiatry, including Laing, Szazz, Breggin, and others, have managed to ignore over a century of scientific data (dating back to Alzheimer and even before).

The Real Deal

In the 19th Century Alzheimer reported organic changes in the brain in "dementia praecox", which is now called "schizophrenia". Similar findings were reported by Kramer, Nissl, Cotton, Southard, Gurd, Freedman, and many others. This vast body of neuropathology data has been completely ignored by people in antipsychiatry.

The antipsychiatry people point to problematic treatments such as lobotomy. These criticisms are valid, but there are also terrible side effects of cancer treatments. These side effects do not prove that cancer is not organic.

The Solution

The solution to this quagmire may involve amino acids. The brain is made up of amino acids, which it gets from the food we eat. If something goes wrong with the amino acids, the results could be disastrous. It is possible to modify the brain composition by dietary manipulation, even though this is difficult. For example, the brain could be flooded with amino acids. In that case a dietary restriction of amino acids might help.