were so successful that they left us with smaller brains.
We didn’t know it at the time, but in one fell swoop we
had turned our backs on the diet and lifestyle that created
the human brain, and adopted one that shrank it.
Energy Dense, Nutrient Poor
Given the obesity epidemic and the amount of food
Americans and others around the globe routinely throw
away (even slightly misshapen fresh vegetables get tossed
out so your supermarket-going experience is as aesthetically
pleasing as possible), it may surprise you to know that our
bodies are still somehow . . . starving.
Have you ever wondered why so many packaged goods
now have to be “fortified” with vitamins? There are more
than fifty thousand edible plant species around the world—
plants that provide a bevy of unique and beneficial nutrients
that we consumed as foragers. And yet today, our diets are
dominated by three crops: wheat, rice, and corn, which
together account for 60 percent of the world’s calorie intake.
These grains provide a source of cheap energy, but are
relatively low in nutrition. Adding in a few cents’ worth of
(usually synthetic) vitamins is the dietary equivalent of
putting lipstick on a pig.