86Thousand400: Tim Noakes Blueprint

Banting Blueprint

- What are we designed to eat to optimise our health?

- All creatures must eat the foods for which they are designed

- Within nature life sustaining bacteria ensure not just the health of an animal such as a giraffe but also the bacteria's own survival - a perfect symbiotic relationship. If one were to change the giraffe's diet the key bacteria in its gut will die, followed shortly thereafter by the death of their host. In the same way, the modern diet we've adopted is slowly but surely killing us.

- For our height we have the longest legs of any mammals and the greatest capacity to lose heat from our bodies through sweating. There is a biological reason why humans are designed to sweat so vigorously

- Humans also have thin waists and narrow hips that make it easier for us to run long distances without tiring

- Humans also equipped with a complex network of springs in our lower limbs that allow us to store energy in our muscles as our foot lands on the ground when running. That stored energy is then released as the muscles contract, propelling us forward with each stride. This reduces the energy cost of running, improving our efficiency and explaining in part why exercise is not an effective way to lose weight - humans are designed to use energy very efficiently and without waste when we exercise

- A similar network of springs surrounding our shoulders allows humans to throw balls with great velocity and accuracy, just as we once threw rocks and spears

- All these findings suggest that humans are uniquely designed for efficient long distance running, especially in the heat. This design allowed for a competitive advantage

- Humans could effectively chase other non-sweating mammals until those animals became paralysed by heat exhaustion

- Over time the lean, linear, tall, long-legged, easy striding modern human became the greatest endurance athlete on the planet

- In order to capture and devour the energy-rich bodies of the large non-sweating African antelope, on which humans were so utterly dependent at that time

- The result was early humans grew strong and clever on an energy-dense diet rich in fat and protein provided by the bodies of savannah-dwelling antelope

Protein, Fat and Carbs (The Mossel Bay miracle)

- Modern humans are descended from a small band of a few hundred surviving early humans who lived about 195,000 years ago either in east or south Africa

- Morean's theory - the only remaining site on the entire planet able to provide sufficient food to support their survival - the Southern Coast of Africa, specifically the region around Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay

- The archaeological record suggests that during this period the human brain showed a dramatic increase in size, indicating that in their hardship this small band of humans had discovered a bounty of foods rich in fat and protein, ideal for optimum brain development

- We ate a diet rich in fat from fish and pasture raised animals supplemented by a smattering of carbohydrates from tough fibrous underground bulbs. Those foods would have produced a specific intestinal bacterial flora that thrived on those natural foods and, in turn, optimised human health

- Eventually the Ice Age ended and humans spread from Africa, crossing into Asia and Europe about 50,000 years ago

- The reliance on animal foods produced a specific human metabolic profile best able to metabolise two of the major dietary macronutrients (fat and protein), but somewhat less well adapted to using the third macronutrient (carbohydrate)