I wholly agree it's unnatural to eat so frequently. But is 2 full days of fasting a week enough? I never thought there was anything noble about fasting, just the natural order.
Why would you believe that any fasting is necessary at all. We only fasted when forced to do so. I don't think anyone would find just not eating - especially when you are hungry - "natural". I just eat when I'm hungry and then eat until I'm satisfied. Most of the time I'm only hungry once per day, but on occasion I'll eat twice, especially when I've been physically working hard, and once in a while I'll get busy and forget to eat. I NEVER do intermittent fast on purpose or a schedule. The amount of IF I do is very small, maybe a half dozen times per year at most and then I only miss one meal which usually means just one day.
I see, I see. What you're saying is making a lot of sense. Alright, but however unsavory, would Paleos still be eating those when available? And what about peoples who lived in the tropical areas? Would fruit have made a portion of their diet (however small, perhaps in between kills)? I'm just trying to find a reason why so many people seem to thrive on very low carb that can't seem to adapt to zero carb, and a relative few function best on zero carb. My own ancestors come from a tropical area.
The human species started and matured in the African Plains. All of us started from the base of a Top Level Carnivore. As we migrated to other areas of the world and large game became scarce we made do with whatever foods were available. This does not mean that these are our best foods. We've been eating grains and other carbs as a significant part of our diet for over 10,000 years yet this still causes us to suffer most of the degenerative and auto immune diseases that are so common today.
10,000 to 50,000 years is not enough time to change our fundamental DNA makeup and therefore our nutritional needs are still those of our paleo ancestors from 500,000 to 2 million years ago. What has changed is that as people migrated to different regions where our normal food was scarce and we started to eat regionally available carbohydrates to survive, those that couldn't tolerate the new foods in the area were selected out of the population (they die without reproducing an abundance of offspring). Those that tolerated the food better survived to build communities that did well on the new foods. This does not mean that their DNA and nutritional requirements changed, only that they tolerated the new foods better than those that didn't survive. In the tropics it was fruit, in the middle east it was grains, in Europe it was dairy, in the far east it was rice. You can easily see this in the fact that almost all Europeans can eat dairy with no problem (those that couldn't tolerate it were selected out of the population many generations ago) but most Asians are allergic to dairy because dairy is a brand new addition to their diet. The same goes for people of middle eastern decent do OK on wheat as they started eating wheat thousands of years ago, but many Europeans are gluten intolerant as this is a relatively new addition to the European diet.
YOUR ancestors (like mine), during the time when our DNA was formed and therefore our proper diet, came from Africa. A few thousand years of eating fruit in the tropics, dairy in Europe, or grains in the Middle East doesn't change this fact. You see, even those of us who can tolerate these new foods (new meaning in the last 10,000 to 50,000 years) still suffer from degenerative diseases caused by eating these foods long term. If our DNA had actually changed, then this would not happen.
Our best food is still red grass fed meat. This is the closest we can come to the foods we evolved to eat. No one is allergic to meat, just plant foods.
I do believe that we did eat some fruits in the late summer/early fall when they were in season and this caused us to put on weight to prepare us for the lean winter months. I think our bodies respond to carbs the way they do just for this purpose. However, fruits in our natural wild environment were self limiting as there was much competition for them and they were only available for a very short time during the year (except as you point out, in the tropics). In our modern society, we've turned something that was supposed to be limited in quantity into the foundation of our everyday diet and this has not served us well.
Another interesting observation: Samoans are known for a very large (almost obese) body type. If you stop feeding them their "traditional" diet of tropical fruits and carbs and feed them a diet of mostly red meat and fat, they slim right down. Why would this happen if their DNA had adapted to fruit as their best diet? The truth is, they haven't adapted much at all and suffer the consequences of eating such a diet rich in carbs.
It is a free country and you get to eat whatever you want. You may eat as much fruit as you want whenever you want but for humans it is a second rate food, and an excess will likely cause health issues over the long term.
Now I've been on my soap box yelling a lot and you're going to say, "But what should I eat then?" I suppose I owe you an answer to that question. It is clear that we ate some carbs but they were limited. Our goal should be to make our modern diet similar. Fruits and veggies (though nothing like paleo) are available all year around, we should just do our best to limit them to a very small amount and only eat those that are in season in the area where we live. Now here's my specific dietary advice:
Eat one or two meals per day consisting of meat and fat until you are fully satisfied. I also suggest red grass fed meats make up most of your meals but occasional chicken, pork, fish, and eggs, though not as good (in my estimation) as red meats shouldn't cause much of a problem - they just don't have the best nutritional profile.
Next, drink water as your only beverage. Fruit juices, coffee, tea, soda, and dairy is not what we evolved to drink. Drink whenever you are thirsty and drink until you are satisfied - even during meals. Thirst is you body telling you it needs water. Don't ignore basic biological drives like thirst based on some guru's say so (and don't drink when you aren't thirsty either). Thirst and hunger have been sufficient to get us this far for many millions of years. You don't need made up schedules or amounts - just satisfy hunger and thirst and you'll do fine.
Lastly, if you decide to include carbs in your diet limit them to a very small amount, and only eat fresh fruits and veggies, and then only the ones currently in season in your local area. How do you limit them? Limit carb intake to EITHER one small piece of fruit (1/2 to 1 cup max) OR a small green salad, (but not both) each day eaten as a snack completely separate from your meat meals.
Avoid all grains, nuts, seeds, dairy, beans, legumes, starchy root vegetables, and all plant based oils.
Well that's it. You are free to believe what I say or not. You can disagree with me and you won't hurt my feelings at all. I can say that whatever you choose to do will determine your long term results. You see, our choices in life do have consequences - some wonderful, others less than optimum.
Lex
