If Cavemen Were Healthy, Why Didn't They Live Longer?

Q:  I read your article on what to eat and avoid.  My question is . . . how did this effect the longevity of the Caveman, and what do we do in place of dairy for calcium?  I am curious to know if prehistoric man lived a longer life span on this consumption and where in history is their diet documented?

A:  The Caveman's natural diet greatly improved his longevity.  How could it not?  It didn't cause chronic disease and it optimized his immune system.  As you probably already know, his exposure to the elements was his greatest problem.  Other than his immune system he had no protection against 100% natural organic toxins, bacteria, and viruses.  Injuries could easily be fatal.  Child birth probably claimed many women and children.  Many infants died at an early age due to exposure.  Starvation and extreme weather conditions also took their toll.

Today man has greatly improved his environmental factors and modern medicine is capable of putting people back together again after major accidents.  But the modern foods of man cause chronic diseases that plague nearly 100% of the population and everyone sits around thinking their diseases are normal.  The cavemen never had chronic disease so he would look at modern folks and wonder what's wrong with everyone and why so many are taking drugs to survive.  In addition, he would be appalled to learn that one of the deadliest things people do is come under the care of doctors.  (There are about 200,000 deaths a year due to medical malpractice!)

As for calcium, the last thing we need is dairy products.  Think about this for a few minutes.  A cow eats grass and grows very big, strong bones.  A cat is almost an exclusive meat eater and it eats the flesh of cows.  The cat ends up with real strong bones.  The calcium all animal life needs will come from the green leaf -- not its seed.  Therefore all animals that eat seeds (grain) will ends up with weak bones.  (By the way, calcium is only one component of the many that make up bones.)

The documentation of what prehistoric man ate is pretty good.  If you were a student of anthropology you'd know that what is known about prehistoric man far and away exceeds even the wildest imaginations of laymen.  Also, anyone who spends time in the wild has a pretty good idea about early diets.  For instance, I've been ranching for over 40 years.  Hundreds of years ago Indians roamed the same area.  I can tell you now that the plant and animal life here today is very similar to what existed back then.  For a fact the Indians were not eating anything like what the modern man eats.  Not even remotely close.  The Indians ate mostly meat and some green leafy type plants.  Yes, very seasonally they found some nuts and maybe some fruit.  But in no way would they have survived without eating meat and green plants.  That's why we find so many arrowheads in our country.

Take a walk in the wild outdoors sometime and just imagine what you would eat as you amble along the trail.  Then ask yourself, "What would be growing alongside the trail all the other months of the year?"  For a fact the vegetation would change with the seasons.  So what you may find today may not be around for another 12 months.  But the wild critters, they are there all the time