FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Seriously...do people eat Pizza Hut in real life?

Shuurai

wrote:
> Shuurai wrote:
> > > > Well, regardless of what you think humans are "meant" to be eating, the
> > > > fact of the matter is that wheat, barley, and so forth have been
> > > > staples of human consumption for eons.
> > >
> > > Um, no. From dictionary.com, a definition of "eon"
> > >
> > > 1. An indefinitely long period of time; an age.
> > > 2. The longest division of geologic time, containing two or more eras.
> > >
> > > 10,000 years doesn't fit the definition.
>
> Four eons so far: Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic.
> >
> > Well, gee whiz you got me on the "eon" thing... now how in the hell is
> > that relevant to the point of the discussion?
>
> Points out that you were wrong by roughly four orders of magnitude.
> Seems relevant, given that evolution takes time.

I used the word "eons" because it's commonly used to denote a really
long time. I don't frankly care about the accuracy. The fact of the
matter is, humans have been eating grains for most of our history as a
species. The systematic cultivation and collection of grains can be
traced anywhere from 10,000 to 23,000 years ago, depending on who you
ask. However, humans were eating grains long before that.

> > But just to make you happy:
> > Well, regardless of what you think humans are "meant" to be eating, the
> > fact of the matter is that wheat, barley, and so forth have been
> > staples of human consumption for a really, really gosh darn long time.
>
> Roughly ten thousand years, sure.

We've been deliberately *growing* them for 10,000 to 23,000 years. We
were most certainly eating them before we decided to go through the
trouble.

> > > > You might consider the fact that we humans have molars - teeth
> > > > specifically designed for grinding fiberous materials like *gasp*
> > > > grains;
> > >
> > > Or vegetables and nuts.
>
> > Molars are more specialized towards grains than veggies - though nuts
> > are certainly a possibility.
> >
> > > >>Humans were meant to eat meat, eggs,
> > > >>green leafy vegetables, and certain berries. They were certainly not
> > > >>meant to eat wheat grass.
>
> > > We wouldn't have enzymes
> > > > specifically designed for digesting them.
> > >
> > > We don't. We do have carbohydrate digesting enzymes, but they're
> > > equally applicable to fruits and vegetables.
>
> More. Uncooked grains aren't particularly digestible.

Fallacy. They're more easily digestable when cooked, and release more
nutrients, but they're not undigestable raw. And actually, some
biologists have suggested that the relatively long length of the human
digestive tract is intended to accomodate grain consumption. Meat
eating animals tend to have shorter digestive tracts and much more
powerful digestive fluids. Herbivores tend to have longer tracts and
less powerful fluids.