Plants rich in starch helped early humans to thrive even at the height of the last Ice Age, researchers say.

While the evidence around meat eating is clear, the role of plant foods is less understood. Animal bones can last millions of years and still show cuts made by human butchering tools, whereas almost all plant remains disintegrate.

But new studies into the remains of plants that do exist are uncovering why and how our ancestors ate them.

Plants were the staples. They were the foods that formed the basis of our calories in most environments, said Dr Amanda Henry, a paleobiologist and associate professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Tubers and cereals are full of starch making them good sources of glucose, which is important for brain growth as well as energy, says DrHenry. She leads a project called HARVESTwhich is studying the diets of early human species and the role of plants as food. Tubers are organs where plants store nutrients modern examples include potatoes and yams.

Some of the earliest evidence she found of eating tubers and cereals dates back 40,000 years, to the Paleolithic era. Neanderthal remains discovered in caves in Iraq and Belgium show that our cousins likely ate water lily tubers, and grains from relatives of wheat and barley grasses.

Innovation

But unlocking the energy in them required innovation. The grains may have been eaten green when they are easier to digest, but many tubers are toxic raw, says Dr Henry.

They are likely to have cooked them, said DrHenry. This not only releases energy but also makes tubers safe to eat.

(Weve found) evidence of heating food in the presence of water which suggests they were boiling them, said DrHenry. Changes in the starch granules which suggests this type of cooking were found on the dental calculus (tartar).

The Neanderthal remains indicate they ate a wide variety of plant foods. This throws doubt on a theory that they died out because they had a narrower diet than our direct ancestors, DrHenry says.

Other researchers have found earlier evidence of cooked tubers from South Africa in a fireplace dating back more than 100,000 years.

During the last glacial period when ice caps expanded to cover much of northern Europe, there was an explosion of a new technology driven by the need for processing new sources of plant food: the ground stone.

It was a major evolutionary success, dating back about 30,000 years, says Dr Emanuela Cristiani, associate professor in prehistoric archaeology at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Hunter-gatherers primarily used knapped tools, made from big pieces of stone, says DrCristiani. At a certain point another technology appears like a boom which is the ground stone technology (It was) not used to cut or scrape or pierce, but to grind material, she said.

It means people were looking for new ways to eat during this dramatic climatic period, she said.

A lot of Paleo diets talk about health, but by this they mean weight loss. And I cant think of a single human ancestor who wanted to lose weight.

Amanda Henry, Leiden University, the Netherlands

Through a project called HIDDEN FOODS, DrCristiani is studying diets of humans in southeastern Europe from the late Paleolithic era when they were hunter-gathers to the Neolithic era, when there is the first evidence of farming in the region about 8,500 years ago. She is also exploring the evolution of plant food processing technologies.

Flour

Grinding meant people could make flour, which is another way of unlocking the energy in plants. The team found evidence in ground stones and plant remains in dental calculus that hunter-gatherers in the central Balkans ate a lot of wild oats, legumes and acorn flour, says DrCristiani.

The earliest evidence of flour dates back 30,000 years and was found in Russia, the Czech Republic and Italy.

It is likely that hunter-gatherers at the team's Italian research site ate cattail plants, which are abundant in a nearby river.

We think they used mostly roots. The plants root is very rich in starch and once its dried, you can make it into flour, said DrCristiani. The flour makes a sweet-tasting bread, she adds.

Paleolithic

The average Paleolithic person who survived infancy seems to have lived to age 50 or 60. It wasnt a life of luxury, it was probably a lot of work and generally cold, requiring quite a bit of effort, said DrHenry.

These early humans are likely to have died primarily from a combination of infections, parasites and physical trauma, she says.

Once people started settling and rearing animals and crops, disease levels rose mainly because they jumped from animals to humans and life expectancy appears to have fallen. That being said, agriculture is associated with increase in population size. Youre not living as long, but youre having more kids, said DrHenry.

Today, some people seeking a healthy alternative to modern industrialised diets look to the eating styles of our hunter-gatherer ancestors for inspiration.

The so-called Paleo diet eschews cereals, recommends few carbs and promotes meat and vegetables. But archaeologists say it does not represent the full diet of hunter-gatherers who ate cereals and relied on carbohydrates.

HIDDEN FOODS researchers found remains of legumes, oats and acorns in 10,000-year-old teeth from the last hunter-gatherer groups who built villages along the Danube river. This shows our idea of a Paleo diet as primarily based on protein intake is completely wrong, said DrCristiani.

Its important to understand for real what the (ancient) Paleolithic diet was. It was a very balanced way of eating, she said.

Hunter-gatherers were looking for calories, so carbohydrates in tubers and cereals would have been important.

A lot of Paleo diets talk about health, but by this they mean weight loss. And I cant think of a single human ancestor who wanted to lose weight, said DrHenry.

Diversity was integral to peoples diets, as was their ability to move to new regions. Plant foods vary a lot between environments. So, every time a human went to a new place, they had to learn what was edible, what was going to kill them and what was medicine, she said. There is no one size fits all diet. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something.

The research in this article was funded by the EU's European Research Council. If you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.

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How Stone Age humans unlocked the glucose in plants - Horizon magazine

Kwame Onwuachi and his cheesesteak. Photo: Margalit Cutler

Kwame Onwuachi has gone from spending his days thinking about cooking to thinking about how to get his employees back to cooking. The chef of Washington, D.C.s Kith/Kin who last year won the James Beard Foundations Rising Star Award and got his memoir optioned by A24 has been working with other industry leaders to get some relief for independent restaurants. Hes been in New York over the last week, staying with a friend, as he tries to get a coronavirus test so he can see his grandparents. Read his Grub Street Diet below.

Saturday, March 21I was back in New York after being down in D.C., staying at my friends place in Hudson Yards. I came up here trying to get a test for COVID-19 because its easier to get one here than in D.C., in case you were wondering, Why are you here where theres the highest number of cases of the coronavirus? It was so I could see my grandparents. My grandfather has a blood disease from cancer; he has to get a blood transfusion every week. I had to do a phone consultation first with the doctor. That was at 10 p.m. today, so more on that later.

At 10 a.m., I went on a run with my fianc and two dogs because all the gyms were closed. We went to 42nd Street to check out the emptiness. It was nuts, man. You know what it reminded me of? The blackout of 2003. Obviously, Times Square was empty then, because the screens were down and everything was down. But it wasnt as empty as it is now. There was literally nobody there. I ran down to the Meatpacking District, too no one there. It was very eerie.

Along the way, we stopped at Ess-a-Bagel to show support.We were just walking past it. We bought everything bagels, because of course. I got a couple of bagels for my friend, as well as a whole wheat one for myself. When we got back to the place, I drank ten ounces of egg whites for pure protein, and soft scrambled eggs to go with a half of my bagel.

Im eating really healthy right now. I dont want to call it a diet, but Ive just rearranged the way that I think about food. In terms of fat content, how long it stays in my body, how my body burns off calories. Ive been on this for about two months, lost 27 pounds, and toned up a lot. Ive been working out three times a day.

Around noon, I had a lunch smoothie with spinach, kale, apple, mango, flaxseeds, oat milk, and protein powder.

I was feeling kind of hopeful today. Like, Oh, well be back in two weeks because D.C.s mayor had said April 1. Then, Mayor Bowser announced that shed rescinded her dates, and that restaurants couldnt reopen until April 27. My heart dropped, I didnt even know what to tell my staff. Its a crazy time.

I just felt extreme sadness. I was worried about what my staff was going to do. You know, a lot of people work paycheck to paycheck, and even if you dont, maybe you have kids who are home from school now, whom you have to feed three times a day. Thats pretty significant. If billion-dollar corporations dont have enough money to get through two weeks of no income, what makes anyone think the average American does?

That was a tough afternoon, and its been really tough lately. So we had a fajita night for dinner. I made it just to bring some joy. I made roasted peppers and onions, refried beans, this charred scallion-cashew-and-hazelnut salsa, salmon and chorizo hash, and roasted garlic-rubbed flank steak. My fianc made pico de gallo. We had corn tortillas, of course. It was pretty tasty.

Around 10 p.m., I did that phone consultation with my health-care provider. Afterward they were like, Yeah, even if you have it, were not going to test you because youre young. So just stay at home for 14 days and take some Tylenol. I told them I wanted to see my grandfather, and they said, Thats probably not a good idea unless you get tested. I said, Well, youre not testing me. And they told me, essentially, Well, we dont have enough tests, so hope they make it.

We played Mexican dominoes with our friends until 2 a.m. Loser had to either drink or do 100 crunches. By the time we went to bed I was up to 1,200.

Sunday, March 22Had breakfast at 11 a.m. Two soft scrambled eggs with mushroom brown rice. We watched Love Is Blind, which is hilariously sad.

I spent my day calling a lot of my people and seeing how unemployment was going. Some of them were having trouble with the system for filing for unemployment; for some of them it was very easy. It depended on what time they called. Eventually they all figured it out, but it wasnt a smooth process.

I ate a few things through the afternoon into the evening. I had my smoothie for lunch. This one was kale, strawberry, kiwi, oat milk, and flaxseed.

Around 6 p.m., I had the Thai red curry that my fianc made she works in the industry, too over arugula and avocado. And for dinner, I made a brown-rice bowl with seared salmon belly, marinated peppers, and romaine with lime.

Monday, March 23I had some protein powder early in the morning, and worked out. I had a trainer who was seeing me, so hes been sending me workouts through this app. Leg routines I can do at home, ab workouts, high-intensity interval training. Ill do 15 push-ups, knee raises, bicycle crunches, ten squats, in succession. Stuff like that.

Later in the morning, I had my egg whites and a smoothie with kale, romaine, strawberry, and mango. I had that while I got on a call with a fellow chef about a plan to reopen restaurants around the country as community kitchens. He wants to do this at ten restaurants per major city, with 20 people per restaurant, so it gets some of the workforce back on. Thats the idea he has, so were just talking it through and figuring out how we would be able to do that.

Around 2 p.m., I had seared chicken breast with marinated peppers and lemon. I called one of my cooks, Tyrone, to see how he was doing and how it was going with filing for unemployment. I got him an interview with the New York Times about Easter, and how this is all affecting African-Americans because thats a holiday we celebrate and we cant get together right now. I was talking to him about that whole process, how he was feeling, and the restaurant and his growth since he started there.

I checked in on my grandparents. Its hard thinking about the fact that my grandfather has this blood disease, and I cant even go and see him. For obvious reasons, hes at risk. But its because they dont have enough tests. Its tough. We talked about that.

That night, I made my fianc Xiang-style noodles with pork and shrimp, and made myself poached shrimp in a scallion-fish-sauce broth and charred broccoli. Later on in the night, I made myself dinner: seared, plant-based Italian sausages with cherry peppers I cooked until they were jammy; spinach; and a spicy tomato broth I made with red pepper flakes and a little bit of chicken broth.

Tuesday, March 24At 8:30 a.m., I woke up and did 400 crunches and a HIIT workout. Then I had my ten ounces of egg whites, a kale, flaxseed, and mango smoothie. I drank that while on a phone conference for the Independent Restaurant Coalition, a group thats kind of like the Avengers of chefs. Danny Meyer, Tom Colicchio, Andrew Zimmern, Will Guidara, Marcus Samuelsson, Andrew Carmellini, Naomi Pomeroy, and many more all these people coming together along with a lot of support from the James Beard Foundation. So, we get together at 8:30 a.m. and also 5:30 p.m. and talk about what were working toward: Who in Congress are we talking to? What progress have we made? How can we represent the restaurant industry in totality? Ultimately, we were trying to get the restaurant industry included in the stimulus plan. So using our collective contacts to make sure that happens. So yeah, thats taken up a lot of my time as well: quote, unquote, lobbying for small restaurants. Just making sure were not forgotten.

For lunch, I made Trinidadian curried chicken with charred cauliflower over arugula. My family is from Trinidad, so its something I eat all the time. I have a curry powder I got down there called Chief and theres green seasoning in there as well, a culantro pure. You marinate the chicken in that and cook it.

I got ready for my Instagram Live, and did more crunches. For lunch, I had another smoothie. This one was kale, pineapple, and protein powder.

On Instagram, Ive started doing a cooking show called Eating Clean While Quarantined. I put the recipe out the day before so people can go shopping, and every recipe takes only 20 minutes or less. So I did a chorizo-white-bean stew with shrimp.

For dinner, my fianc made zaatar-rubbed chicken with broccoli and cauliflower, plus a white-bean pure.

Around 11 p.m., I had two scoops of nice cream. Its whipped bananas with vanilla and cinnamon. It has the texture of ice cream. Its really sweet, and it kind of hits that craving. Its a lot better for you than ice cream, but ice cream is my favorite food, so it helps curb that urge.

I was still at my friends house then, and my grandparents called me. They said, We didnt want to tell you, but whats happening with your grandfather, its getting serious. I thought again about how the doctor said I cant even go and see him until I get tested. I was sitting there bawling my eyes out. But I had to get ready because I had to be on Fox News with the chef Naomi Pomeroy, whod just written an op-ed for the Washington Post, to talk about the restaurant industry.

Its something thats extremely important to me because the well-being of my staff equates to the well-being of this industry that I work so hard to make into something. I want to make sure that its still there when this is all said and done. I try to stay optimistic about things, because without optimism, theres no one taking a chance on anything, right? You cant go into anything that youre trying to change or make something happen with a negative connotation.

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Chef Kwame Onwuachi Is Cooking to Cope - Grub Street

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Working from home can alter your routines and that includes mealtimes. Flickr/DG EMPL

The coronavirus uprooted most of our lives in many ways. We're now less social, less active, and way more anxious. It feels like we're in a state of limbo. As a result, people continue to veer away from their regular routines which is something you want to avoid.

"So many people are going off the deep end, eating pizza and drinking all day because they don't want to accept the reality of the situation," nutrition coach, Jeb Stuart Johnston, told Business Insider. "They can't control everything, so they control nothing. They're living in denial and that's amplifying anxiety and unrest, which leads to using alcohol and food as coping mechanisms."

Johnston says that accepting the situation at hand, although difficult, is another coping mechanism that helps remove emotion from the situation. This way, you're able to make more rational decisions.

A primary key to maintaining balance in your life is to keep a fully stocked kitchen with both foods you'd typically eat and healthy options that help you feel full. By having more food at home, you'll be less tempted to make frequent trips to the store and order out (though, we're not against occasionally doing so to support local business). You'll also save money, which is never a bad thing.

We tappedSamantha Cassetty, MS, RD, who is a national nutrition and wellness expert based in New York City, to find out what foods you should buy, how to overcome eating when you're bored, and ways to manage alcohol consumption (hey, no judgment, we could all use a drink right now).

Cassetty suggests focusing on six food categories: fruits, veggies, dairy, proteins, fats, and grains. She also says that it doesn't matter if you buy fresh, frozen, canned, or dried versions of these foods, but you should have a strategy in place to assure nothing goes to waste.

"You want to apply a system to make sure you're eating fresh foods first and using longer-lasting foods to stretch out your grocery supply," Cassetty said. "For example, mix tuna with chickpeas, white beans, or shelled edamame, and you'll get more meals out of a single can. Whip up a white bean puree to use alongside a chicken dinner or add some nuts to a veggie stir fry."

If you're concerned about the quality of frozen veggies and fruit, don't be. A 2015 study in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry" compared the vitamin content of eight fruits and vegetables and found that the amounts were equal in both, and in some cases higher in the frozen variety.

A balanced diet includes a mix of fruits, veggies, dairy, proteins, fats, and grains Miroslav Pesek/Shutterstock.com

Below, Cassetty shared the best foods you can buy in each of the categories mentioned above.

Cassetty believes that being at home more often is an opportunity for us to become more in tune with our body's hunger signals. If we learn to listen to what our body says, she asserted, then you'll find it's probably less hungry as you're less active.

"Your body gives you clues when it's painfully hungry and painfully stuffed and chances are, you've noticed those signals," Cassetty said. "But sensations of moderate hunger and moderate fullness are harder to recognize. Your body is really cool, and your appetite can level out as you're moving less."

On the other hand, Johnston added that your NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis (a fancy way to say calories burned through non-exercise related movement) accounts for 15% of total calories burned in a day. As we're moving less, our energy expenditure goes down but Johnston doesn't believe it causes us to feel less hungry.

"NEAT doesn't cause large shifts in our hunger hormones as intense exercise does," he explained. "We may be inadvertently increasing our hunger cues actually by being in a heightened food-centric environment."

Cassetty believes you should start to pay attention to when you're actually hungry versus just thirsty or bored, and begin to eat according to those signals. Cassetty noted that people who graze meaning they eat small snacks continually throughout the day aren't giving themselves a chance to identify hunger cues.

"Distract yourself in other ways and become more familiar with these sensations," Cassetty added. And as Johnston put it: "Hide your snacks."

Self-quarantine can be a lonely and isolating experience. For many, cooking food is a way to kill time and feel better. Do this too many times, though, and you'll end up overeating and gaining unwanted weight as a result.

"Focus on developing a new routine by doing things like waking up and going to bed at the same time, eating three regularly scheduled meals every day, and carving out time to stay active as well as relax," Cassetty said. "Also, eating out of boredom is totally normal, so if you do find yourself nibbling on a cookie, be kind to yourself."

Taking care of yourself in other ways helps offset this behavior, too. Cassetty recommends focusing on different aspects of your health such as sleep, stress, and social interaction.

"If you're stressed, take a bath or read a book. If you're missing social connections, call or FaceTime a friend or organize a larger, virtual meet up. If you're bored, do a lap around your house, go get the mail or just take a stroll down the driveway, or fold a load of laundry," Cassetty said. "When you have solid tools for dealing with emotions, including boredom, you can pull from them as needed, instead of turning to food each time you're seeking solace."

Drinking too much while self-isolating may not do your immune system any favors. Getty/Martin DM

First, Cassetty stated that "the safe limits are one drink a day for women and two for men but how you space your drinks out matters, too, so don't save all the drinks up for one or two nights."

While there's nothing wrong with drinking, it's essential to be aware of your actions. If consuming alcohol regularly is a way for you to relax, then Cassetty suggested looking into other ways to reduce stress such as meditation or listening to a soothing playlist. Also, drinking at night is a habit for many, so merely switching your scotch or brew for a herbal tea sustains the habit sans the alcohol.

For those who count their calories, adding alcohol into your daily intake is another way to regulate your consumption and keep your calories in check. Johnston recommends adding 35 grams of carbohydrates and 10 grams of fat for every 12-ounce IPA, and 10 grams of carbs and 10 grams of fat for every 12-ounce light beer, spiked seltzer, and a shot of liquor. Stick to these numbers, and you'll probably only have enough room for one or two drinks.

Read the rest here:
What to eat when working from home per nutrition experts - Insider - INSIDER

What is your diet like?

In the morning, I'll eat a good, healthy breakfast. Usually it'll be scrambled eggs with turkey bacon. It's with soy, so it's not fatty. And then peppers, onions, spinach, and feta cheese.

I don't eat fast food, so if I have to stop somewhere for lunch or dinner, Ill find a deli where I can get a good sandwich. My favorite food, really, is the carne asada nachos that we have at Trejos, with two eggs on top. We have the best nachos in the world. I'll put those up against anybody. And theyre actually pretty healthy. They're gluten-free.

Youre very outspoken about how your restaurantsand your personal dietare all about food thats high-quality, organic, ethically sourced, and the like. What went into applying those ideas to a restaurant business?

I was doing a movie called Bad Ass, and if I didn't like what the food truck on set had, I would order food. Ash Shah, the producer, kinda jokingly said, "Hey, Danny, why don't you open a restaurant?" And, still joking, I said, "Yeah, Trejo's Tacos." Two movies later, he brought me a business plan.

For the menu we talked about vegan and vegetarian options, how everything's gonna be fresh, and you can bite into a cow if you want to. So we had all that covered. We have four menus: your regular menu, a vegan menu, a vegetarian menu, and a gluten-free menu. We make it really, really easy. We've gotta take care of each other, and we've gotta watch out for one another.

Have you been cooking your entire life?

Yeah, in one way or another. I just kind of did it. Necessity is the mother of invention. I was a single parent for a while, so I'd cook my kids breakfast in the morning, I'd pack them lunch, and then cook them dinner. A dinner I love is a couple chicken breasts with garlic and rice and veggies. I'm not big on desserts, but that's a pretty good meal. I wouldn't say I'm a health nut, but I've always tried to live healthy, and my kids' mom was a good cook. She always did a pretty balanced meal.

Do you still have access to all the food you like in quarantine?

I'm still eating the same thing, but all our restaurants now do just take-out and delivery. We have a few people around the restaurants who are disabled, so we deliver to them. We make a point to make sure they're eating.

Youve got a bunch of projects to juggle. On a day where you're not social distancing, how do you manage your time?

It was once told to me that a busy man has time to do everything. When we're not in isolation, I just do whatever's in front of me. I gotta go here, I gotta go there, I just go. I really believe that success depends on the people around you, and I've got some great people around me. Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else.

Also, I love coffee. And Trejo's has the best coffee. I'm drinking our coffee right now.

Have you identified any specific ways to help people during the pandemic?

Right now what we're trying to do is partner with Angel Food. They pack up food, deliver it to anybody that needs ityou just call them, say, "Hey, we need food," and they'll deliver food to your door. It's so beautiful. We've worked with them for a while, so now we're trying to figure out how we can handle this crisis with them, because they go all over Los Angeles.

We're prioritizing getting food out because there are so many people that can't come out of their houses. I'm 75. I have two sons and a daughter. My son calls every day, I say, "I'm fine, I'm great, don't worry," but he'll come by, bring us masks, and if I had no kids or didn't have kids nearby and I lived alone, I would have to go to the market.

I think the government right now is trying to play catchup, because we didn't get on this thing right when we had to. A lot of people at the top didn't take it seriously. So now it's up to us.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Real-Life Diet is a series in which GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in-between about their diets and exercise routines: what's worked, what hasn't, and where they're still improving. Keep in mind, what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.

The NFL star's figuring out how to keep up his unorthodox workouts in a world of social distancing.

Original post:
The Real-Life Diet of Danny Trejo, Who's Banging Out Two-a-Days In Isolation - GQ