Why is the human diet so different from other primates? We eat grains and animal protein in large quantities...

Why is the human diet so different from other primates? We eat grains and animal protein in large quantities, starchy tubers and beans, and barely any leaves. A lot of humans are also allergic to fruit, which are the main source of monkey calories

big bwains require more energy
we don't eat leaves because we can't digest cellulose
allergy is an autoimmune thingy, curse of civilization

If we lived like hunter-gatherers like we used to thousands of years ago, our diet would be quite similar to chimps.

Invention of agriculture and cattle herding changed our diet massively.

>allergy is autoimmune

And the change was so massive that thousands of years later, our biology is still catching up. Some populations are better adapted to an agricultural lifestyle than others, and even within those populations there's still negative effects (however minor) associated with this diet that haven't been evolved around yet (and may never be).

our society is still catching up too. theres hordes of new age pseudoscience hippie "dieticians" obsessed with "muh paleo" and "muh veganism" and "muh organic food"

Yeah it's pretty stupid. In reality, there is no clear cut "right diet" or even "more right" or "more wrong" because we're in this awkward transition phase. Just figure out what does and doesn't work with your body and roll with it.

The only thing that's increasingly supported by science is that mass quantities of sugar (like that found in the diets of US residents) will fuck you up bad. Keep your sugar intake moderate and you should be good.

I would say because we cook. Eating leaves for example consumes lots of energy and time, so I've read the argument other primates have been slow to develop self awareness because so much of their day is devoted to consuming enough calories. Our cooking tradition allows us to access energy quite easily from practically anything, so depending on circumstances like is it cheap to grow potatoes or can we raise large herds of cattle etc. it gives us a lot of freedom to choose a diet every other creature beside us cannot.

Don't hunter gatherers focus on tubers too?

It's odd that we just plain gave up on harvesting leaves from trees though, worldwide

that's cute, saved

We have simple carbs for a reason lad

Unless you're Veeky Forums, or doing endurance work, there is no reason

Those teeth look very askew.

Leaves are virtually worthless to us as a food source.

Isn't salad leaves?

A lot of primates eat a lot of insects like ants and wood-eating animals to get protein, but sometimes they even eat monkeys or other small animals if they are hungry. Most of them are opportunistic eaters like us, they just don't have access to the good stuff as easily as we have.

I think allergies against basic food sources are a rather recent thing, before civilization natural selection would probably have take care of that.

>starchy tubers and beans
>leaves

All of these aren't really part of a natural primate diet. We cultivated barely edible plants to make their nutrients accessible to us and still most of them require cooking or other preparations to make them digestible.

Lettuce was domesticated from a weed which was formerly just used to get oil from their seeds.

All of the cabbages come basically from the same wild plant and were selected for different qualities in different parts of the world. Which resulted in the vastly diverse looking cabbage ancestors we have today. Most people don't have a clue cauliflower and broccoli have the same origin.

>Why is the human diet so different from other primates?
Because we have so many humans packed in tight spaces and need to feed them somehow, the magic of technology and domestication makes it possible.

>fruit, which are the main source of monkey calories
There's a world of difference between domesticated fruit and the chimp staple, wild figs, mainly the sugar to fat ratio.

Yes. Eat only lettuce/spinach leaves and see how far you get.

Who, other than you, was talking about leaves as sole food?

Perhaps lack of salad leaves to reading comprehension failure.

because we are plains/Savannah primates, not jungle primates

>pseudoscience hippie "muh veganism"

Have you seen 'Forkes over Knives'? There are plenty of independent studies that confirmed that veganism drastically decreases (all sorts of) cancer risks.

> there is no clear cut "right diet"
Yep.
>awkward transition phase
Nope. The DNA difference between us and the ancient paleolithic humans, is almost non-measurable.
That's why paleodiets tend to avoid refined flour, industry made food, leguminous plants (if you can't absorb lacteals avoid them too).

The primary argument for veganism decreasing cancer risk is the alleged connection between animal protein and IGF-1 production in the human body.

Do you have any idea what IGF-1 is? It's the hormone that causes you to grow tall. Know what we call someone who can't produce enough IGF-1? Stunted. By vegan logic the ideal diet is the one held by the five-foot peasants in Malaysia and North Korea

You're in no danger of getting "stunted by veganism" if you're already grown-up.

ohhh ok, i get it now!

so i should just eat meat until i hit my mid-20s uber hipster faggot phase ?

thanks user

Is that a girl with a fake beard?

It has no beard user.