Changing up your Diet

[growstrong]

How important is it to change up your diet? I have heard it is not ideal to eat the same thing over and over. Example chicken for every meal which i have caught myself doing many times! What do you guys think/rec?

[JackBlac]

I personally like to change things up but that is not based on any scientific evidence... I do it basically to keep the tastes interesting

[xjsynx]

Well Charles Poliquin suggests changing it up to avoid food allergens, especially with eggs.

[GeneGnome]

Variety is overrated. Our ancestors, even recent generations, did not have such convenience. They relied on local food sources.

For many nutrients, ratios are likely more important than amounts, as long as you are getting a minimum. A constant diet may be preferable, though there are many variables to consider. It may be desirable to go for variety in the current food market to ensure deficiency prevention because of the decrements in food quality.

[growstrong]

Originally Posted by GeneGnome

Variety is overrated. Our ancestors, even recent generations, did not have such convenience. They relied on local food sources.

For many nutrients, ratios are likely more important than amounts, as long as you are getting a minimum. A constant diet may be preferable, though there are many variables to consider. It may be desirable to go for variety in the current food market to ensure deficiency prevention because of the decrements in food quality.

Good stuff Gene... thanks for the reply... I was just going on the saying "all things are good in moderation." I have read variety is good to help with preventing deficiency. The ancestor comment is a great poit. I have read things related to this stating we should eat things our specific ancestors. For example german ancestor should eat things the germans ate.... this craziness?

[growstrong]

Originally Posted by xjsynx

Well Charles Poliquin suggests changing it up to avoid food allergens, especially with eggs.

Yea i do eat way too many eggs IMO!

[GeneGnome]

Originally Posted by growstrong

Good stuff Gene... thanks for the reply... I was just going on the saying "all things are good in moderation." I have read variety is good to help with preventing deficiency. The ancestor comment is a great poit. I have read things related to this stating we should eat things our specific ancestors. For example german ancestor should eat things the germans ate.... this craziness?

Well there is a lack of genetic research in this area so it is hard to say. Within the next few years we will have an explosion of data to look at because nearly everyone will have their genome mapped, and there are diversity projects happening right now. The price is dropping fast on mapping technologies, it is a race. There are a few indications that adaptations can occur pretty quickly but what the significance is, I am unsure can be theorized. Nutritional genomics is a field I love reading about and follow closely, because it will be a big part of the future. If you think diet advice is all over the place now, wait until we have to deal with interpretations of thousands of people about thousands of genes! I foresee a lot of over-microanalyzing.

Here is a basic paper with a couple of examples: Challenges in human genetic diversity: demographic history and adaptation -- Balaresque et al. 16 (2): R134 -- Human Molecular Genetics

Here is an article describing more amylase copies enzymes in high starch consuming countries: The New York Times > Log In

We are likely somewhat adapted to the modern reduction of variety from 10K years ago when agriculture began so an extreme paleo type diet is not really necessary. The speed of evolution would depend on how extreme the food changes were compared to previous generations.

I wouldn't worry too much about consuming german type foods as it would likely be similar enough to yours.

[growstrong]

Originally Posted by GeneGnome

Well there is a lack of genetic research in this area so it is hard to say. Within the next few years we will have an explosion of data to look at because nearly everyone will have their genome mapped, and there are diversity projects happening right now. The price is dropping fast on mapping technologies, it is a race. There are a few indications that adaptations can occur pretty quickly but what the significance is, I am unsure can be theorized. Nutritional genomics is a field I love reading about and follow closely, because it will be a big part of the future. If you think diet advice is all over the place now, wait until we have to deal with interpretations of thousands of people about thousands of genes! I foresee a lot of over-microanalyzing.

Here is a basic paper with a couple of examples: Challenges in human genetic diversity: demographic history and adaptation -- Balaresque et al. 16 (2): R134 -- Human Molecular Genetics

Here is an article describing more amylase copies enzymes in high starch consuming countries: The New York Times > Log In

We are likely somewhat adapted to the modern reduction of variety from 10K years ago when agriculture began so an extreme paleo type diet is not really necessary. The speed of evolution would depend on how extreme the food changes were compared to previous generations.

I wouldn't worry too much about consuming german type foods as it would likely be similar enough to yours.

Good stuff Gene! Really appreciate your advice