Why Are PUFA's Delicious?

[thebigpeatowski]

Kirby...for what it's worth, I agree with your point AS LONG AS THE PUFA IS IN THE FORM OF A NATURALLY OCCURRING FOOD.... like nuts or avocados. Certainly not in the form of industrial oils laden with toxic solvents etc.

If I was starving and food was getting scarce, hell yes I would squirrel away some nuts as a matter of survival, and yeah it might slow my metabolism which could be beneficial, if only for a season.

But the reality today is we are inundated with poisons everywhere and EMF too, we aren't living in a time of scarcity. I think that's why we focus on safer foods...just my uneducated opinion.

 

[kirby]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18171691/

This seems to be an interesting study that might support my argument

 

[j.]

The question is silly, we didn't evolve to eat plastic, plastic only begun mass-production after the 1930s I believe. The human organism did however evolve to get rid of toxins through the liver, lymph system etc

Your argument is that since many don't spit out PUFA, we evolved to eat them. Using your argument we would conclude that we evolved to eat small amounts of plastic, which shows not that we evolved to eat plastic, but that your argument is flawed.

 

[j.]

Is hibernation an adaption to lessen the damage of suboptimal conditions or is it an optimal state?

 

[kirby]

Kirby...for what it's worth, I agree with your point AS LONG AS THE PUFA IS IN THE FORM OF A NATURALLY OCCURRING FOOD.... like nuts or avocados. Certainly not in the form of industrial oils laden with toxic solvents etc.

If I was starving and food was getting scarce, hell yes I would squirrel away some nuts as a matter of survival, and yeah it might slow my metabolism which could be beneficial, if only for a season.

But the reality today is we are inundated with poisons everywhere and EMF too, we aren't living in a time of scarcity. I think that's why we focus on safer foods...just my uneducated opinion.

I pretty much agree with you, I think this could be the answer to the OP question. Why are PUFA foods delicious and addictive? Probably because humans and other animals evolved to gorge on nuts and seeds in the autumn (only time they were available) in order to slow down metabolism and build fat reserves for the long winter in temperate climates. In tropical climates there is no need for this hence coconut and palm oil for example are very rich in saturated fat and poor in pufa.

 

[j.]

I pretty much agree with you, I think this could be the answer to the OP question. Why are PUFA foods delicious and addictive? Probably because humans and other animals evolved to gorge on nuts and seeds in the autumn (only time they were available) in order to slow down metabolism and build fat reserves for the long winter in temperate climates. In tropical climates there is no need for this hence coconut and palm oil for example are very rich in saturated fat and poor in pufa.

What about people who lived in tropical climates, where there is fruit all year?

And which is the ideal environment for humans, i.e., if one person achieves the maximum level of health and well-being that an all-year sunny tropical climate makes possible, and his twin brother achieves the maximum level of health and well-being that a place with temperate climates makes possible, which of these two achieve a higher level of health?

 

[kirby]

Is hibernation an adaption to lessen the damage of suboptimal conditions or is it an optimal state?

This is exactly my point. Hibernation is of course an adaptation to temperate climates. Today we live in heated homes year-around so there's no need to induce semi-hibernation with pufas, it in fact seems to be detrimental to our metabolism and health, especially since the pufas have come to replace the saturated fats on a year-around basis

 

[thebigpeatowski]

I don't think torpor is necessary or beneficial at this stage of evolution (shelter w/central heating, huge food supply etc.). Our thyroid glands, hormone systems and mitochondria have enough to deal with and are many are struggling as is.....but I still maintain: while many whole food sources of PUFA (cashews and avocados) are indeed tasty, they are detrimental out of season (context).

 

[kirby]

I pretty much agree with you, I think this could be the answer to the OP question. Why are PUFA foods delicious and addictive? Probably because humans and other animals evolved to gorge on nuts and seeds in the autumn (only time they were available) in order to slow down metabolism and build fat reserves for the long winter in temperate climates. In tropical climates there is no need for this hence coconut and palm oil for example are very rich in saturated fat and poor in pufa.

Which is the ideal environment for humans, i.e., if one person achieves the maximum level of health and well-being that a all-year tropical climate makes possible, and his twin brother achieves the maximum level of health and well-being that a place with temperate climates make possible, which of these two achieve a higher level of health?

This is an interesting question. I think that the difference might be neglible today since we live in heated homes year-around and have continual food-access. Tropical climates might provide more vitamin d for example and the other positive effects the sunlight brings. On the other hand the risk for infectous disease might be higher for instance

 

[j.]

This is an interesting question. I think that the difference might be neglible today since we live in heated homes year-around and have continual food-access. Tropical climates might provide more vitamin d for example and the other positive effects the sunlight brings. On the other hand the risk for infectous disease might be higher for instance

If the answer is that tropical, sun-all-year environments are the best for maximum health, then PUFAs probably aren't necessary, since they can consume fruit all year. The question then becomes whether a person who lives in a tropical climate is better off consuming some PUFA, but they would consume little, since the hot weather makes the fats in the environment, such as coconut fat, saturated.

 

[kirby]

I don't think torpor is necessary or beneficial at this stage of evolution (shelter w/central heating, huge food supply etc.). Our thyroid glands, hormone systems and mitochondria have enough to deal with and are many are struggling as is.....but I still maintain: while many whole food sources of PUFA (cashews and avocados) are indeed tasty, they are detrimental out of season (context).

I agree and I believe pufas are in fact the main reason behind overweight and obesity in the industrial world. I believe sugar, starch, saturated fats and lack of exercise have little or nothing to do with obesity.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

I agree and I believe pufas are in fact the main reason behind overweight and obesity in the industrial world. I believe sugar, starch and saturated fats have nothing to do with obesity.

Well, if a person has a broken metabolism from ingesting waaaaay too much PUFA, then sugar and starch do definitely contribute to obesity. It takes a while to undo glucose intolerance. I am finding this out from personal experience.

 

[kirby]

Yep I think since practically nobody today actually lives in cold environments without central heating (except maybe eskimos and some other small groups) pufa-induced semi-hibernation is nothing but detrimental to our metabolic health. Unfortunately the foods are still as delicious as they ever were, we are led to believe the pufas are actually healthy for us, and it's practically impossible to avoid pufas when eating out (I tend to not go to extremes though)

 

[j.]

In my questions, where I asked which environment are ideals, I referred to the natural versions of them, at least regarding diet, not with imported food.

 

[kirby]

I agree and I believe pufas are in fact the main reason behind overweight and obesity in the industrial world. I believe sugar, starch and saturated fats have nothing to do with obesity.

Well, if a person has a broken metabolism from ingesting waaaaay too much PUFA, then sugar and starch do definitely contribute to obesity. It takes a while to undo glucose intolerance. I am finding this out from personal experience.

The danger lies in avoiding all sugar and starch, you will then do further damage to your metabolism imo

 

[j.]

Unfortunately the foods are still as delicious as they ever were, we are led to believe the pufas are actually healthy for us, and it's practically impossible to avoid pufas when eating out (I tend to not go to extremes though)

Have you ever fried chicken in coconut oil, and then fried another piece in PUFA, and concluded that the PUFA one is tasty?

 

[kirby]

In my questions, where I asked which environment are ideals, I referred to the natural versions of them, at least regarding diet, not with imported food.

I believe humans are best adapted to the climates where we evolved in the tropics and semi-tropics. If we didn't have fossil fuels to heat our homes and transport foods I think this would quickly become apparent

 

[kirby]

Unfortunately the foods are still as delicious as they ever were, we are led to believe the pufas are actually healthy for us, and it's practically impossible to avoid pufas when eating out (I tend to not go to extremes though)

Have you ever fried chicken in coconut oil, and then fried another piece in PUFA, and concluded that the PUFA one is tasty?

To be honest I dont really like fried chicken but deep fried chicken and yeah I will definitely try to cook it at home in coconut oil, palm oil, or at the very least refined olive oil. From where I'm from Sweden it's impossible to get restaurant-, fast food and snacks that haven't been deep fried in PUFA oil

 

[thebigpeatowski]

I gained about 25 pounds when I started Peat eating. I have not eaten ANY PUFA at all in nearly six months, but prior to that I lived on nuts and nut butters, fatty fish and fish oil supplements as well as TONS of flax seed oil in my smoothies and next to ZERO carbohydrate.

I had a horrific time with processing all forms of sugar when I first started. It is so much better now, fruit, milk and sugar no longer make me sleepy and brain dead and I have lost 8 of those 25 pounds.

To the average person watching me, not knowing my context or situation, it would appear that all this OJ, milk and fruit made me fat...but the REAL reason why I gained weight is what I did to myself beforehand. Very hard to convince people of that tho....

 

[kirby]

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/total-shutdown/

Here's another interesting article on the topic of hibernation in animals and humans (with mention of omega3/6 role in it)