Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

3

Evolutionarily speaking what animals were supposed to eat grains? Cows ate grass but what ate the grain and did we eat it?

flag	asked Oct 11 2011 at 14:37 Caveman formally known as Dan 4,873●3●17●53

fat humans :) (i say that cause I am am former grain eater) – paleoprimal Jan 24 2012 at 21:36

Bread-Eating Beelzebub · Answer 1 · 2011-10-11 14:48:47Z UTC

9

Cows do eat grains, just in season and as part of the grass. There is also evidence that Paleolithic humans gathered some grains as well. But in each case, grain consumption is low as a percentage of the diet and doesn't occur year-round.

answered Oct 11 2011 at 14:48

Bread-Eating Beelzebub
55.7k●9●63●237

4

Bingo. A moderate amount of grain fed to cattle is perfectly healthy. It's only when cattle are fed primarily grain do health issues start to crop up. – Matt Oct 11 2011 at 15:18

But also, if a grazing animal doesn't chew too efficiently (and some of them don't) the seeds get crapped out again in some nice fertile dung. Not everything that gets eaten gets digested. – stephenj Jan 25 2012 at 7:33

Rick · Answer 2 · 2011-10-11 14:42:30Z UTC

6

Birds. I usually get a light to click on in folks heads when I tell them that grasses have their seeds at the top of the plant so that the birds can get to them easily.

answered Oct 11 2011 at 14:42

Rick
694●3●9

4

And this is why poultry naturally has a higher O6:O3 ratio than ruminants like grass fed cows do. – Nutritionator Oct 11 2011 at 14:57

3

They're at the top of the plant so they can more easily spread farther by wind. – Matt Jan 7 2012 at 13:35

CR · Answer 3 · 2011-10-11 15:40:56Z UTC

In the spirit of the season Id like to point out that Scarecrows are aptly named :)

Usually found in wheat fields and other crop fields as a deterrent to typical crows or other aerial threats to the survival and successful harvest of a crop.

So there you have it, your major grain feeding animals are birds!

Lyndsay · Answer 4 · 2012-01-24 23:56:27Z UTC

1

My mom eats grains.

answered Jan 24 2012 at 23:56

Lyndsay
6,237●5●33

BaconHealsChic · Answer 5 · 2012-01-25 04:02:43Z UTC

1

Monsanto eats grains. But only if they've been treated with Round-up.

answered Jan 25 2012 at 4:02

BaconHealsChic
7,622●8●27

PrimalDanny · Answer 6 · 2012-01-24 20:47:13Z UTC

0

Why should anything be supposed to eat grains? Grains don't want to be eaten, isn't that the whole point?

answered Jan 24 2012 at 20:47

PrimalDanny
5,057●3●14

1

Nothing wants to get eat (aside from certain fruits). Heck, your local cow doesn't like the way you're eying him! Grains have defenses to being eaten for a reason. There most certainly are animals that have evolved to consume grains/seeds, and they also have evolved methods of dealing with these defenses. – Matt Jan 24 2012 at 21:21

1

Of course cows want to be eaten, that's how domestication works! They love me those cows. – PrimalDanny Jan 24 2012 at 21:24

Evolved defenses, or die fast enough that it doesn't matter to them... – James Jan 24 2012 at 22:25

One way love, Danny, that's not healthy! ;) – Matt Jan 24 2012 at 22:57

Hmm, aren't cows girls, so you would be eyeing her and her don't want to be eaten either. – Porkeys revenge Jan 25 2012 at 2:02

mindmt · Answer 7 · 2012-01-24 21:43:42Z UTC

Only (some) birds evolved to resist the toxic payload of seeds in general. Quite right, seeds aren't meant to be eaten at all - except for digestion "hardened" seeds of fruits, "designed" to pass through the gut.

Plants don't want us to eat their children!

coprophagous · Answer 8 · 2012-01-24 22:42:06Z UTC

0

i cant see or imagine a paleo hominid collecting grains, grinding them to a paste, gathering fire wood, then cooking grains. its just too much caloric work. i dont think you break even on the calories. creatures other than man like birds digest grains without the processing. Maybe if man had gizzards and multiple stomachs we would be vegetarians. it just didnt happen that way.

answered Jan 24 2012 at 22:42

coprophagous
3,354●3●14

Except that in the course of human history, we did do all of that! It is worth it. – Matt Jan 24 2012 at 22:55

1

in the course of history man enslaved fist other humans and then other animals to do the work, modern man converts petroleum into food. – coprophagous Jan 24 2012 at 23:00

currently 2 percent of humans grow all the food and that number is expected to fall to no humans as robots replace man in farming.our species no longer grows food for hunger. Corporations grow food for profeit. I have to agree that our species did all that. – coprophagous Jan 24 2012 at 23:54

Modern agriculture hinged on slavery? Reference! – Matt Jan 25 2012 at 12:27

google slavery go to its definition in wikipedia. go to the history of slavery. read how agriculture and slavery are one in the same. – coprophagous Jan 25 2012 at 21:13

If cows eat grass what eats grains?

8 Answers