The last chapter of "Landet Brunsås" made an impact on me (see the insert on the right: Inform yourself, "Mjölkpropaganda"). Since then I've been thinking a lot about what our anchestors actually used to eat. Well, it wasn't exactly the same as the official recommendations transmitted by the health center nurse. We Finnish moms are indoctrinated with the message coming from there: eat this and that, and a long list of what not to eat or to feed your baby - ever since the first visit confirming pregnancy. For an unexperienced mother, this information flow can be quite stressful, believe me, I know, I've been doing double check ups because of a weight curve sailing around -15 in those early years. What do you say to the nurse when she asked if your kid get their doze of calcium per day and when all your baby ever agreed to eat was avocado, water melon and pear...
Ironically, just some months ago, I had a friend and her son over for lunch. We were (as usual) talking about food for us adults and food for the kids, and about the changes in diet that I have gone through. She asked: so are you also into the paleo-diet? I said, h*ll no, I am not that freaky....and after some seconds I said, not yet at least...and we laughed. Because, this food business is really a journey of discovery. Once you've decided to dig, it's hard to stop. And now, thinking of human anchestor eating habits, half a litre of highly processed milk does not that easily fit the picture. Add to that the yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, butter... Nope, I bump into major coherence problems to make the puzzle complete. Neither did they eat highly processed wheat, sugar or meat every day. What did they eat? Well nuts, grains, veggies, dried fruits and berries, fish, lots of fish if my anchestors lived anywhere close to where the persons appearing in out family tree. Well, that anchestor fish is nowadays on the health center prohibited list: too toxic. Instead we are adviced to eat industrial breeded fish (define irony...). Grains are consumed as highly processed bread (many times with added sugar). And our consumption of milk products has skyrocketed since the 1940s.
So next time I have my friend over for lunch, and she asks about the paleo diet, I might just answer yes, we are steadily heading in that direction. Ironically enough.
Where did my sense of mainstream disappear now again?
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