Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

ProteusOne — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:59:27 GMT

It seems logical that a learned man would place his trust in biology and and science in general, including evolutionary theory - to do otherwise would truly make him crackpot.

Back to topic, here's what doesn't make sense about the cooking hypothesis: evolution is driven by environment, and one is forced to reckon with environment when making claims such as leaps in brain function/power. This is no new theory (that cooking somehow increase our brain power), but it is extremely weak in terms of evolutionary theory. Only environmental challenges can allow for progressive evolution. In short, favorable mutations thrive while dysfunctional mutations or no mutations die off.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

C Ed Wright — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:32:01 GMT

Holy mackerel, Andy! Another phony salespiece for Darwin, Evolution, and Millions & Millions of Years, and we're all falling for it all over again to the point where we're all wasting time discussing the impossible in minute detail! Then we discuss the discussion and then the discussion of the discussion. There's a wonderful word for this: Pilpul. Usually it's reserved for this practice involving the Talmud...

So I guess what we're doing here with this article would be called Gentile Pilpul, since the Talmud has nothing to do with the discussions of the discussions of the discussions of what's being discussed.

However, there is nothing in the Talmud about Darwin, Evolution, or Millions & Millions of Years. Nor in the Bible, which the Talmud is supposed to supplement, according to Talmudic scholars. So we're actually doing, what, Enzyme Pilpul? Digestive Pilpul? Atheist Pilpul? Or just plain Nonsense Pilpul?

Cooking foods made us smarter but raw foods make us healthier. SO THE CHOICE IS SMARTER OR HEALTHIER... Right? Of course not. That's nonsense. So it's Nonsense Pilpul. Thank you, again, M5.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

energymaster — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:07:10 GMT

Anyone else hear Mr. Rogers saying;

"Can you say "OFF TOPIC? I KNEW YOU COULD!"

I for one won't be eating any raw cows anytime soon.

Whethere evolved or made in the image of a Holy Cow...

Abiut a million parasites and eggs / larvae per sq inch

maybe a few less if it's organic.

Ask Dr Shultz, I forget the exact number :)

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Rett — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:51:32 GMT

God provided for humans in the garden until those humans decided that the serpent knew more than God. He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness and they still chose to disobey God. He offered them a land flowing with milk and honey. Because of their disobedience only two of the original multitudes were allowed into the promised land. For a time, God prospered them and then they turned from God to do what the pagans were doing. Jesus fed the masses with a few loaves of bread and a couple fish and healed their afflictions. They crucified Him after they tortured Him beyond recognition. His own disciples scattered lest they be associated with Him. And we are still forgiven when we repent and are baptized according to His requirements. That means a total body submersion. They there is a laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the pulls of this world. Then we start learning how to let God be God. From Genesis to Revelations, God tells us what He requires of us to have eternal life in His soon coming Kingdom. Jesus is returning. Are you ready for Him? Don't believe me. Believe your Bible. Start by reading all that Jesus said in a red letter Bible. It is written that we are a little above the animals and just beneath the angels. Who are you going to believe, God or bad science and false religion? Humans did not "evolve" from apes and humans have not been here for hundreds of thousands of years. Humans have not been here ten thousand years. But don't believe me. Believe your Bible. Only God has the right answers. Only through Jesus' sacrifice can we know salvation. We already know that fake oils and processed foods and dairy and big pharma are crap. We know that raw organic produce, grass fed beef and free range poultry are the best for food. We know but we do not. God does not make things so complicated. Humans do because it strokes the ego and pride factor. We are carnal until we learn how to be spiritual.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

RickW — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:05:35 GMT

If, as some suggest, we evolved as a scavenger species, we would have eaten a raw plant diet, AND we would have eaten partly decomposed (another form of 'cooking') meat diet.

As Colonel Trautman noted in the original Rambo: "Rambo's been trained to "eat things that would make a billy-goat puke!"

That would be our origins as Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Then we discovered that cooked food also made food more digestible, so we no longer had to wait until it partly rotted.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Lakhana — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:01:53 GMT

To Reverand Alan,

Regarding your statement about "the the sun went backwards in the sky, the sun stood still in the sky.", you should read, "Earth in Upheaval" and Planets in Collision", both by Immanuel Velikovsky. His painstaking research proved the earth is capable, and in fact has, shifted on its polar axis a few times. The writings in the Bible and hieroglyphics from Egypt and many other myths and legends from all around the globe were based on this event. IN fact, Egyptian records and other stories from the opposite side of the world talked about the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. At least have an open mind and heart and read material with an unbiased attitude. Sure the Bible and many other religious texts have been used to control and manipulate us, but a lot of it was based on actual events. It was the language of the time and the TRANSLATIONS of the original language that has corrupted what we have now. Best wishes to your reading.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Lakhana — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:49:10 GMT

To craig_br,

Sounds like a lot of anger and sarcasim there craig. As far as enzymes not being reused, you're quite wrong about that. Several studies have shown when pancreatic (animal based) enzymes are taken orally they ARE re-cirulated via the lymphatic system BACK to the pancreas where they are reused . Not only that, there are many other clinical studies that show enzymes, while they are protein, are NOT broken down by stomach acid, as with many other protein structures that are taken into the body whole.

If concerned about parasites and other micro-organisms, the USDA showed many years ago that if you freeze anything (herbs, plants, animal products) ALL paraistes and micro-organisms are completely destroyed. Several years ago, the FDA released a study showing that 97% of all food-borne illness comes from COOKED foods rather than raw foods.

And while many foods do have toxic chemicals inherent in them, there are also "buffering" chemicals that protect us from the toxic ones. THAT is the BALANCE nature put into what we are given for food. I have eaten raw animal protein for 4 years now without any ill efects. That includes eggs, meat and dairy. I also eat some fruit and veggies and very little grain. If you are serious about any of this, and not looking for reasons to trash other's ideas I suggest you go to www.primaldiet.com to read about Ajounas Vanderplanet and his approach to cancer and to www.nexusmagazine.com to read my 3-part article on "Enzyme Nutrition".

I have specialized in enzyme therapy for 23 years now and have seen miracles occur when siply changing one's diet to include more raw foods, includng animal proteins and using enzymes, both as digestive aids and in between meals to correct health problems. I am writing a book on enzyme therapy. I have spent hundreds of hours at the university medical library gathering information form the last 120 years about the clinical use of enzymes. Try it, you might like it.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Arixensjach — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:43:33 GMT

It's interesting how all this debate about evolution got started by an article that is based on environmental adaption. It's because those textbooks in school said environmental adaption proved evolution was real. They even renamed it micro evolution. Just because most of academia believes in a theory doesn't mean it still holds true. The people that are beating the evolution drum loudest, probably still believe in the "big bang" and "human caused global warming". Yes the evidence is mounting against those theories too.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Excel9 — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:44:25 GMT

What a bunch of hooey! It is 100% speculation. The human brain has always been pretty much as it is now. How do I know that? The same way the geekolutionists know about things they say occured thousands or millions of years ago.

I would love to ask them - "were you there"?

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

cmoody12 — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:03:34 GMT

One man's medicine is another man's poison. Hipprocrates said that. I wonder what he ate for breakfast...

I know since I stopped eating crappy food, my hair is thicker now than it was when I was a teenager, I haven't had a cavity in years (knock on wood), and my menses have been a breeze. I used to suffer from endometriosis-like symptoms. I would literally black-out and be bedridden from the pain.

(I think a lot of the craziness in this modern world could be attributed to toxins in our environment. I think my amalgam filling removal helped, along with the better diet. Not to get too far off the subject,but, those little suckers, have created HUGE problems for this society.)

I think that our increase in intellegence wasn't caused by any one factor.

If you like eating mostly raw and it makes you happy, eat raw. If you like eating mostly cooked and it makes you happy, eat cooked. Personally, I think that Yin/Yang thing makes sense, as does Hipprocrates's little quote. :)

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Arixensjach — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:56:15 GMT

The first food we probably cooked was tubers. www.corante.com/.../meet_your_inner_mole_rat.php is an interesting article about humans relation with mole rats early in our dietary development when we moved from the forest to the savanna. Cooking does make many of our fall back foods more digestible. Fall back foods are primarily root vegetables and grains, both of which store well for long periods. Historically when we did eat these, it was because other food was sparse. Bone marrow along with collagen and gelatin from connective tissue are also easier to extract with cooking. So I agree with Dr. Mercola that raw foods are better, so unless you find them unpalatable eat your food raw.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Kris588 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:15:45 GMT

If we went by points on this site, one would think that most people believe in evolution, and don't have faith. The most points seemed to go to atheist skeptics.I'm surprised and saddened that people who seem to have such good sense about health have become so overcome by secularism.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

gregly — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:53:04 GMT

Although Dr. Mercola has lots of useful info on this site, I too experienced very negative health effects from trying to go raw for just a few weeks. I think raw may be helpful for relatively healthy individuals as a way to loose weight, detox, cleanse or energize on a short term basis, but most of us are in fact nutritionally deficient in ways we don't even know and a raw diet makes it very hard to correct these deficiencies and can make them much worse. For many folks, the short term benefits of going raw (or any other diet based on "types" (blood, body, genetic, etc) actually occurs from giving up highly processed foods full of refined, cheap, poor quality ingredients and additivies; and from inadvertantly eliminating many pro-inflammatory foods (wheat, corn, etc) that lead to gastrointestinal problems resulting in malabsorption and chronic illnesses. Please check out the work of Weston A. Price www.westonaprice.org on the diets and food ways of traditional cultures which experienced health and longevity. Also, I have benefited from TCM approach to balancing chi, both in diet approach and chi balancing. Price's approach and TCM have many similarities in their approach to using fermented foods, traditional cooking methods and seasonal diets to balance energy and nutrients. Also, I don't think anyone will suffer from giving up wheat products and corn/corn syrup containing products. There are so many other grains and sweetners (like agave)! Increasing If possible, get a blood test (from a nutritionist, doctor, naturopath) for food sensitivities and nutrient and blood factors status (iron, calcium, Vit D, B12 etc) so that you KNOW your situation and are not just guessing. A good practitioner (check for chiropractors or other alternative medicine folks so trained) can use muscle testing to check for this also.Randomly trying new diets or throwing supplements at your health can be disastrous.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

OmShanti6 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:50:04 GMT

I think that our species is in period of relative decline.

"The China Study" seems to indicate that most traditional

societies had better teeth, bone structure and much less

chronic disease before the advent of white bread,

polished rice, canned goods, pasteurized dairy, hydrogenated

oils, white sugar, sodas, preserved meats, etc.

Our health is challenged by the fluride & chlorine added

to our already polluted water. The foods we ate are grown on depleted, chemical

drenched soils.

Worse still, ceaseless advertising and the fading away of traditional diets have led us to chronically

poor eating habits and choices. The selection of fruits and vegetables available

in our markets is better than ever, but so much of what we buy is

processed, preserved, artificial junk.

I'd agree with Dr M's opinion that raw is better, because cooking causes a huge loss of nutrients &

food value. Certain starchy foods are virtually indigestible raw, but most fruits, veggies, seeds, nuts

etc are best assimilated raw.

I think it was the gradual accumulation of tribal wisdom that accelerated mankind's ascendance.

A group acquires more and more shared mastery and understanding of their environment.

Shelter and nourishment improves and diversifies. The organism has what it needs.

With more technical know how and essential information

to master and preserve the more the brain is challenged and grows.

The tribe has been scattered by waves of conquerers. Good will and trust and sharing exist in little isolated groups.

Meanwhile the country has predatory & cynical food, drug, medical, auto, energy, insurance, defense and research industries (to name a few) ready to sacrifice virtually any and everyone on the alter of their greed. We are confused, divided and plundered by our own friends,

the talented people who work in these corrupted industries.

Thanks Dr M for helping us preserve & protect our health.

re: Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

burbankmichelle — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:07:36 GMT

Wow Dr. Mercola I'm really disappointed in you. So far I have genuinely trusted your research and opinions after losing trust in conventional medicine. I think you should do more research on the theory of evolution, just as you have on other important medical issues. It doesn't even make sense. When in any other time in history has evolution ever happened? More and more scientists are giving up their belief in evolution after studying the facts. Of course they are ostracized from the scientific community, much like natural medicine is looked down upon from Conventional doctors who are the majority. I really trusted you and now I will have some doubt in your articles and the agenda you have. You have really proven yourself on so many issues, why not this one?