Nutrition

Ancestral eating: Should you take meal inspo from your elders?

22 March, 2022 . 0

Fad diets, fancy restaurants, and processed foods galore. Is it time to cast aside complicated cuisine and eat like our ancestors?

They say variety is the spice of life, and when it comes to food, the modern consumer is spoiled for choice.

Our supermarket shelves are stacked with produce that’s processed and packaged for maximum convenience, and our suburbs are bursting with cuisine from every corner of the globe.

But would going back to our gastronomical roots be better for our health?

According to ancestral eating advocates, the answer is yes.

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What is an ancestral diet?

Dietitians Australia spokesperson and dietitian Dr Anika Rouf, says ancestral eating centres around consuming the whole, unprocessed and unrefined foods of our direct ancestors.

“It’s about eating like your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents,” Dr Rouf says.

Because this varies according to our background, there is no single ancestral diet, explains dietitian and functional medicine practitioner Marieke Rodenstein from The Nutrition Practice.

“The main principles of ancestral diets, however, are the same the world over and revolve around consuming whole, unprocessed local and seasonal foods,” Marieke says.

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Ancestral vs Paleo: what’s the difference?

Marieke says while an ancestral diet is commonly confused with the Paleo diet, there are several key differences.

“The Paleo diet focuses on foods that were around in the Palaeolithic era (roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BC), before modern agriculture, so that means things like dairy and grains are excluded,” she says.

“Whereas an ancestral diet is focussed on local, seasonal and cultural food, which can vary greatly depending on what part of the world you live in.”

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What are the benefits of ancestral eating?

Studies show obesity rates have skyrocketed since the 1970s, largely due to diets high in processed foods, and this is a major risk factor for many conditions such as diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

And the latest Global Burden of Disease study found more than 42.3 per cent of cardiovascular deaths in Australia are attributable to dietary risk factors.

Marieke says a diet high in refined sugars, grains and industrial seed oils is a key driver of these poor health outcomes.

“The benefit of an ancestral diet, or any diet that encourages reducing consumption of processed foods and increasing consumption of nutrient-dense, whole foods, is that it can help to reduce chronic disease risk,” she says.

How do you eat like your ancestors?

Proponents of ancestral eating say there’s no “one size fits all” approach to the ancestral diet, because it varies depending on your background.

And while, ideally, you should eat the foods your direct ancestors had access to, the philosophy is more about what you avoid.

In its simplest form, an ancestral diet means eating less:

refined sugar
industrial seed oils such as canola and soybean and margarine
refined grains
processed soy products (soy, soy protein, and soy-based fake meat)
genetically modified foods
artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners
additives and preservatives.

And eating more:

grass-fed and pastured meats, poultry, eggs and dairy
wild-caught seafood
seasonal fruits and vegetables
fermented foods including sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir
ancient grains such as wheat, barley, rice, legumes and beans
unrefined fats such as butter, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil.

What are the drawbacks of ancestral eating?

Marieke says strictly following a list of “good and bad” foods can be problematic for many people and lead to anxiety around eating.

“The important thing to remember about an ancestral diet is that it is not a rigid ideology with a set of unbreakable rules to which you should adhere,” she says.

“There is no such thing as the perfect diet and, let’s face it, on some days life can make it difficult to stick to a certain way of eating.

“Sometimes we just want to eat that slice of pizza or bowl of ice cream and that is ok!”