On Cavepeople & Cars

In Palaeolithic times, hunter gatherer man and woman would have eaten nearer to 4000 calories per day (that’s a big pile of food!). That food was also in its rawest form and unlikely to be 'unhealthy'. They were probably a lot more physical than we are and used their energy for keeping warm and other maintenance in a way we don't need to nowadays.

So we don't need to eat as much

-BUT-

This is a big one… The human body still needs the micronutrient values which are contained in that enormous pile of 4000 calories worth of food. That’s all the vitamins and minerals which are a crucial part of the way that the human body runs. It's a bit like a plant growing without very much light. It will still grow taller, and it will still be green, but after a while, the energy it is sending to those processes runs down and it can no longer fight off pests or diseases.

Now consider that the human body works optimally when it has resources which it can mobilise easily and draw on when needed. Calcium is a perfect mineral to use as an example here. We store calcium in our bones, and we take it in through various food sources. If the body needs to use some calcium to repair a bit of damage, it draws on its resources to send extra power to the area of damage. In order to do this, we hope that there is also some magnesium and vitamin D knocking around to complete the chemical process. If there isn't enough of those ingredients in the store cupboard then the body still needs to repair but finds itself under quite significant stress because its doing its job without the proper tools.

These stores are also crucial for the 'housekeeping' aspect of bodily functions. We hopefully don't need to use quite so much energy to remain warm in the modern world, but our bodies are still working hard behind the scenes in making and utilising hormones, fighting infection or other environmental stressors or working to combat stress itself. The same is true with the vitamins involved in creating serotonin (the happy stuff) and melatonin (the sleep stuff) and a number of others. If we only eat enough to provide the body with the vitamins and minerals it needs on a given day, we don't offer it enough to build any stock, or housekeeping stores.

So should we eat more to get all the micronutrients? Well, no. Very few people have the complete answer through diet, not to mention every single individual has a gut microbiome which is different to the next person, even in identical twins. Eating more can lead as we know, to obesity. I'd like to think that most people who hold an interest in their health and body have an understanding of the good stuff to eat, as well as the bad stuff. Let's face it, there are times when there isn't a substitute for a craving.

Prevention is better than cure and it also tends to be less disruptive, resolvable in a shorter time frame and invariably costs less. Who wants to get ill or suffer pain if it's possible to get ahead of the game and stand a good chance at warding off a problem by shoring up your defences. If there is evidence that you are running low on a particular micronutrient then its straightforward to find the right supplement to save wasting money on something which isn't quite what your body wants.

After all, if someone gave you a car and said this was the only one you'd have for the rest of your life, you'd take the very best care you could to keep it running at its best.