Hello! I'm the owner of Fusubon.
This time, I would like to summarize the history of humanity and carbohydrate restriction.
The beginning of humanity
Humans are said to have originated on the African continent around 7 million years ago.
Human beings did not evolve in a straight line from a single species as in the image at the beginning of this article. Rather, they branched out into several species as shown in the image below, and ultimately, we, Homo sapiens, were the only species to survive.
This point was also written about in the global hit book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.
There was a time when multiple human species coexisted in separate habitats and competed for survival.
For example, when our ancestors left Africa and made their way into the Middle East, they encountered Neanderthals, a different species of human.
Recent advances in genomic research have revealed that our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals.
Furthermore, we are beginning to understand that genes inherited from Neanderthals have contributed to our evolution.
By the way, it is said that Neanderthals had difficulty converting ketone bodies into energy , which made them vulnerable to starvation and led to their extinction.
Recent research suggests that Homo sapiens first emerged around 200,000 years ago.
Here, since 200,000 years ago, when Homo sapiens was born, is so long ago that it is difficult to imagine the timeline, let 's make the moment of the birth of Homo sapiens easier to understand by replacing it with a corrected time of 24 hours ago.
Nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle
From the birth of Homo sapiens until the cultivation of grains began, it is believed that they basically lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, moving around and being nomadic rather than settling.
Of course, that doesn't mean they didn't eat grains at all; there is evidence that they ate roots and other foods.
By the way, analysis of fossils and other evidence suggests that Homo sapiens first landed on Japanese soil 38,000 years ago.
According to cutting-edge research in molecular genetics,
Humans acquired language 40,000 years ago (corrected 4.8 hours ago),
Human settlement began 10,000 years ago (corrected 1.2 hours ago), the same time as the cultivation of wheat and barley .
Large-scale settlement with written language began 3,000 years ago (21.6 minutes ago corrected),
This is clear from the 200,000-year history of Homo sapiens (as of 24 hours ago).
Wheat cultivation = settlement began about 10,000 years ago (corrected 1.2 hours ago)
Wheat is said to be one of mankind's oldest crops, and its cultivation is said to have already begun approximately 10,000 years ago.
This can be seen from the fact that wheat ears and other remains have been found in many archaeological sites excavated so far.
Originally, wheat and other grains were mixed and crushed between stones, then roasted and eaten.
Later, when pottery was invented, people started to eat coarsely ground wheat like porridge. As soon as grains were cultivated, humans began to settle down, villages were born, and conflicts began to arise.
As people began to settle, the concept of ownership emerged, laws became necessary to protect stockpiles, and hieroglyphics also began to develop actively around this time.
The above text is quoted from the NHK Special: The Birth of Mankind page .
The history of the oldest bread
In ancient Egypt around 3000 BC, about 5,000 years ago (36 minutes ago after Christian correction), people ground wheat in a millstone, added water, kneaded it, and baked bread.
However, unlike modern bread, the bread of that time was not fluffy. It is said that one day, when the kneaded dough was left to sit without being baked immediately, the dough rose significantly.
Since this is a hot country, it is believed that there was natural yeast among the microorganisms in the air. When we tried baking bread with this, we were able to bake softer and tastier bread than before.
This is said to be the birth of the leavened bread we eat every day.
The birth of the rotating millstone (2,600 years ago, about 18 minutes ago)
Around 600 BC in the Ancient Near East, a rotating millstone called the rotary khan was invented.
By rotating the two tiers of stones, the upper and lower, it is possible to produce finer grained flour (which is absorbed more quickly and causes a quicker rise in blood sugar levels).
The Industrial Revolution gave birth to flour mills (200 years ago, 1.4 minutes ago)
Then, in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution (1760s to 1830s) occurred in Britain. When Watt invented the steam engine, flour milling technology changed dramatically and large-scale flour mills appeared.
In the 19th century, rolling mills, which are still used in flour mills today, were invented, and this led to the production of increasingly high quality flour (flour that does not contain bran and which causes the blood sugar level to rise the fastest).
The above text is partially quoted from the Nisshin Seifun Group website. Nisshin Seifun Group website .
Today, people move less due to trains and cars (70 years after the war, 30 seconds ago)
With the advent of flour mills, bread with concentrated carbohydrates was made, but at that time people were still quite active, and there was enough physical activity to keep blood sugar levels from rising too much even when consuming carbohydrates.
The meaning of refined flour for modern people who barely move around
Nowadays, commuting to work or school involves very little exercise, and the amount of exercise required for housework and cooking has rapidly decreased due to the development of electrical appliances and other things.
Even though many Japanese people are less active than before, they continue to eat a lot of concentrated carbohydrates and sugar products such as rice balls, bread, udon noodles, and ramen, which easily fill you up without chewing.
It is said that the average Japanese person consumes between 270g and 300g of carbohydrates per day.
The Westernization of the diet has led to an increase in lifestyle-related diseases, and people often talk about returning to the traditional Japanese diet, but while there are some parts of this that are correct, there are also some parts that are incorrect.
There is nothing wrong with trying to get vitamins, dietary fiber, protein, omega-3, lactic acid bacteria, etc. from vegetables, oily fish, and fermented foods such as natto and miso, but by including white rice as the main source of food in comparison to bread, the idea of cutting out only that part and making white rice = healthy food is a bit off.
Although it is said to be traditional, I am very concerned about the use of white rice. Instead of white rice, we should use brown rice, which is rich in vitamins and minerals and has a chewy texture, and we should also talk about changing our lifestyle habits, such as getting moderate exercise on a regular basis to regain the amount of exercise we did in the old days. Otherwise, we will be missing the point.
We often see people who get by on just two rice balls and vegetable juice for lunch, believing that "Japanese food is healthy = rice balls and vegetables are good for the body," but most people are not only consuming too much carbohydrate, but are also lacking in protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals.
If we define the birth of Homo sapiens as 24 hours ago, then only 30 seconds have passed since our species entered the age of plenty.
Since most of humanity suffered from hunger up until 23 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds before that, it would be natural to think that our bodies are still adapted to hunger.
If you don't normally exercise much or would like to lose weight, consume the amount of carbohydrates that suits your level of activity, muscle mass, and body type, control your blood sugar levels, and extend your healthy lifespan.
see you.
