I consider it when sorting through the margins of my diet. You know the things that are not going to be your everyday but are going to be occasional deviations with little consequence. Two examples, beans & corn. My northern european genes (or north american gut bacteria) seem to handle a little bit of soaked beans just fine. But corn just doesn't work for my gut, no way no how... which makes sense because it's about as novel to me as wheat is to native american peoples.

I'm part Chinese, Irish, Scottish, and English. I don't even know where I would begin! But seriously, my family members are extremely varied in their diet and lifestyle and histories, so I feel like I'm just a mixed bag. Some things that work for my brother don't work for me, so it's a bit hard to spend too much time looking into my food heritage. I focus more on the food culture that I was raised in, which is a combo of farm-and-fishing culture: raising lambs and trapping prawns!

I'm Filipino and I know that my grandparents and all of my relatives eat a lot of white rice and coconuts and mangoes. We have a type of noodles called pancit that is a staple at get-togethers. So I'm trying not to be too aversive towards carbs and so I eat a lot of sweet potatoes (but have not eaten rice).
Filipinos also tend to eat a lot of pork (ever heard of lechon?) and fish and my mom told me that my grandfather cooked a lot of things in pork fat (and my grandfather was very fit/healthy and lived to be 92--died of old age). So hopefully I got some of his genes and am confident that if I eat somewhat similarly to him, I'll be good.

This is lechon by the way:

All very interesting. I've thrown around the "ancestral diet" phrase from time to time....meaning "where you're from" in more recent generations, rather than referring to a more "Paleolithic" type diet.

I know for myself, I can tolerate corn (though I still limit it now) as I'm 50% Latino/Mexican. Of course not good with wheat. I like my coffee and tea black (though I just made the switch with coffee in the last 6 months - no cream).

I do. I'm 100% scandinavian by ancestry (dad full-norwegian and mom half-norwegian half-dane). I confidently added some amount of dairy back in in the form of cheeses and kefir.

Zero observed problems, and it could be said that I the "better" feeling I got was particularly from the kefir. I can't bring myself to drink normal milk again though.

No, I don't work on "well in theory I should/shouldn't be able to handle this because of my ancestry"

I started (a long time ago) on a super clean diet like Robb Wolf's autoimmune protocol and then I slowly reintroduced things and see if they have a negative effect. Because of that I do heavy cream, butter, and after a glycolyticly demanding day I'll have a potato. That's only based on how I look, feel, and perform. And after all, isn't that what counts?

Eat what you like, it seems that if you think there are rules that you a too dogmatic, so screw the guidelines, eat anything as long a you can see a cavemen eating it. Paleo on this site means eat anything. The more popular Paleo gets, the less structure it has so EVERYONE feels good about their style.

It's certainly prudent to sort foods that way but not to never try them over a period of time necessary to gauge: I consider the following (this is not science, just me trying to make my life easier) 1. Bloat(short and long term)--do I feel and observe my gut expanding beyond what the volume of food would indicate is appropriate? 2. Skin--(long-term) are there changes in my existing condition (seborrheic dermatitis.) Is my skin drier, etc. 3. Breathing-(short and long-term) am I able to, controlling for the air in my immediate environment, able to continue exercising as I am accustomed to do without being short of breath. 4. Strength--(long term), as in #3, is there any difference? 5. Sleep--Am I sleeping as I used to? 6. Stools--obv. 8. Palate-match--do I like eating this? Can i envision doing so on a regular basis (not necessarily every day.) This may seem superficial but it may prove to be the most important consideration.

with regards to dairy, stuff like kefir and yoghurt don't, AFAIK, have significant amounts of lactose. I tried eating the rice variety of my ancestors (a type of sri-lankan red rice, there are about 4 I believe) and while I didn't have major problems, anything more than 100g and I felt seriously bloated which doesn't happen with the same amount of tubers. Genes must be expressed and if you're not in your ancestral environment, who knows what that supposedly milk-deprived genome will do in response to your 'new' environment? It doesn't have to be bad.

As an Irish chick, I've found I tolerate dairy fairly well. . . but I stick to cheeses and heavy cream. I can't imagine that with that ancestry, I'm not tolerant to it. In the rare event I drink a glass of milk, I opt for goat. I do think that minor intolerances would be difficult to pick up on an elimination experiment however. In contrast to Epic Beauty Guide, I find that wheat doesn't sit too well with me (particularly beer, despite a tolerance for alcohol), though my reactions may less significant than that of others, and I would have expected to be able to tolerate it.

I'm mostly Eastern European and Middle Eastern, so I tolerate dairy really well with no issues. My husband is Korean and Native American, and dairy KILLS him. He is much more likely to cheat with rice and corn, though, and I have some issues with corn, though not as much with rice.

So in short, yes, we definitely do take our ancestry into consideration. From everything I've noticed, Asians + dairy = big no no. My MIL doesn't understand the concept of "lactose intolerance" and so when she wants to lose weight (the woman is probably 90 lbs soaking wet, but whatever), she drinks milk and chases it with lemon juice - UGH. Then she basically loses weight by sitting on the toilet all afternoon. This is the same woman who thinks ex lax will cure a rash, but I digress.

Considering Afghan cuisine is meaty, fatty, and carby I'm probably the only Afghan person to have gluten sensitivities.

With that said, Afghans and Central Asians just don't drink milk. They consume dairy in the form of yogurt, fermented milk, cheese, butter, cream, dried curds, sour cream, and so forth. While in college, I drank milk on a daily basis and I had terrible cysts, rosacea, and stomach pains. I guess if I "stick to my roots" I can consume dairy as long as it's not the milk in typical grocery stores. I did once have fresh farm milk with fresh butter in Tajikistan which DIDNT GIVE ME ANY PROBLEMS. And it was amazing.

Also, Central Asians eat a lot of rice. I think enough to put Asians to shame! If I don't have rice at least once a week I'll have problems with my digestion. I'm slowly trying to wean myself off.

By the way, I like your tag "half-assed-paleo" haha.

I would love to explore this route. Just for fun. I am predominantly Greek. I know about the "typical" greek foods, as they are served in the US. But this probably isn't typical of what was eaten in the past. I am not sure how to find the more ancient and traditional foods.

Anyone know how to get started on finding that kind of ancestral diet information? I have done web searches, but haven't had much luck.

I am Northern European in Ancestry via Scotland and Wales (which in turn was more Southerly deeper European ancestry by way of the Celt, Scotti, Roman, Norman, and Angle conquests, frankly). There is a smattering here and there of Native American ancestry there, but I try not to use it to justify eating Corn when I know I shouldn't (besides, when I do eat corn, I blame alcohol and the deliciousness of late-night drunken taco binges, not genealogy ).

Considering genealogy comprises such a tiny window in Human evolution, I'm not sure what to make of it. If you really boil it down, most of the ethnic foods that are made famous as "indigenous foods" to certain ethnic groups, are steeped in agriculture for the most part. Yes, even corn to Native and Meso-Americans.

For the most part, I would take into account anything earlier than 10,000 years ago as being irrelevant in dogmatic Paleo eating. Even then, the very violent shifts in ecology over the prior 60,000 years of Sapiens development would make pinpointing a specific "Ancestral" food quite difficult... in warmer climes and climate-ages, you would probably see much more fruit, tubers, grubs, warm-water fish and shellfish eaten. In ice-ages, primary food sources would have been some vegetation and considerably more ruminant, marine mammal (in frozen coastal areas), and small-game meat. This is why, frankly, I think a better rule of thumb is to "avoid foods with ingredients labels", "eat whole foods", and "avoid foods that hurt you".

We succeeded as a species because of our communication (that enabled us to cook and share information about safe/not-safe foods), which allowed us to eat almost anything (provided it grew in the ground or had a face). And we were able to tell others about the foods that were not safe to eat.

I'm adopted, and all I know is what I've gleaned from DNA testing. Ancestrally, I'm western European on my mother's side and Ashkenazi Jew on my father's. I don't make any dietary decisions based on that. Of most concern to me is being APO E4/E4. As I understand it, E4 is actually the original ancestral version, and that makes me think I probably am better adapted to a less agrarian diet. I'm also 2.9% Neanderthal, for whatever that's worth.

My ancestors of 5000 years barely drank any sort of dairy. I never heard of my nation's cuisine having any sort of dairy in it whatsoever. But I THRIVE on goat dairy, while cow milk murders my skin. Perhaps the reason is because my great, great ancestors originate from Siberia, where they had milk. I believe that ancestry does matter when considering diet, but remember: everyone is mixed to a degree.