What is the only macronutrient that can be completely eliminated from the human diet?
For me personally, intermittent fasting and eating primarily meat, eggs, and some dairy has worked wonders. Most people would call that extreme I suppose, but it is closer to what our ancestors would have been eating 3-4 generations ago.
We actually consume a LOT more animal products today than our ancestors did.
But, in general, we should strive to balance our diet. Going to either extreme will result in being less healthy than eating what our bodies are designed to eat (both animals and plants).
A few things to note:
Each person is different, and so their diet is going to be a bit different. Our bodies will tell us what it needs if we learn how to listen.
Meat eaters tend to eat too much protein and vegetable eaters tend to eat too little. The average male needs around 100g of protein a day (more/less depending on activity and body mass -- and less for women). As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to strive for half of our protein intake to be from plant sources, and half from animal sources. Of course, this is easier said than done, and some will prefer to err on one side or the other (for me personally, I tend to lean more towards animal products than vegetables, while my wife, vegetables). Also, if you're like me, you may forget to eat enough fish. Fish is extremely healthy, especially fatty fish like salmon. If you find yourself eating a bit too much red meat, the Christian tradition of no meat on Fridays (and eating primarily fish) may be a good routine for you.
STOP EATING CHICKEN. Seriously. I know, it's delicious. And getting hot wings every now and again won't kill you, but the hormones in chicken (and other fowl) are extremely similar to the hormones in humans. So whether or not a chicken has been treated with artificial hormones (which DEFINITELY stay away from), their natural hormones can be absorbed by our bodies. Additionally, since we only eat the hens, we are primarily getting female hormones. But this brings me to another issue:
Most of the animals we consume are the FEMALE of the species, and when they're not, the males are castrated from an early age. A balanced diet means BALANCE in all things. Eating only the females is an imbalance. Try to find wild boar meat, or any other wild male animal meat. Or, if you're lucky enough to live near one of the few pig farms in the US that raise both males and females without castrating the males, buy from them (there is one I know of in Colorado).
The fruit we have available today is extremely high in sugar compared to what it was even 300 years ago. Carbs are good for you, but you want to focus on COMPLEX CARBS over simple carbs, and stay away from too much sugary fruit and refined sugar. Think of fruit as a treat, and moderate appropriately. There are many benefits to fresh and dried fruits, but plenty of problems can occur with too much.
Avoid seed (sunflower, canola/rapeseed) and vegetable oils. In general, fats that are a part of the food you're eating will be better for you, but pork lard, butter, olive oil, will generally still be better choices than, for example, corn oil.
Bake your own bread. If you are a bread-eater (I try to avoid it for weight loss), find sprouted whole-grain flour and make it yourself. Store-bought breads are highly refined, and often made with vegetable and seed oils, or lots of refined sugar. Grains are not the enemy, but the refined store-bought foods are.
The produce we buy in stores is generally not very fresh. Frozen and even canned produce can contain nutrients that "fresh" market produce won't have. Generally, it shouldn't make a huge difference, but if you happen to have symptoms of a lack of particular nutrients, do cross reference what you're lacking with the decomposition process of the produce you're eating, because you may be eating the right foods and still not getting the right nutrients.
And as mentioned by others, do not underestimate how important Vitamin D from sunlight is. If you supplement dietary vitamin D for boosting your immune system, make sure it's mixed with an oil, because D is oil soluble. There are many cheaper D supplements that are pointless to take because your body can't absorb it. I keep a bottle of D-fortified cod liver-oil pills around.
But again, everything in moderation. Stopping for a cinnabon every once in a while isn't going to kill you if you're eating healthy generally. Treats can be treats; the problem is when a treat becomes breakfast, or lunch, or daily post-dinner routines.
Depends how far back you go. During much of civilization, people managed to barely survive on grains. As hunter-gatherers, we ate low sugar, high fiber pre-domesticated foraged plants and MEAT. The body needs fiber and MEAT. We can survive on grains, but we don't thrive on them. Domestication has made plants taste better, but not necessarily made them healthier.
Everything in moderation. Problem solved.
What is the only macronutrient that can be completely eliminated from the human diet?
For me personally, intermittent fasting and eating primarily meat, eggs, and some dairy has worked wonders. Most people would call that extreme I suppose, but it is closer to what our ancestors would have been eating 3-4 generations ago.
We actually consume a LOT more animal products today than our ancestors did.
But, in general, we should strive to balance our diet. Going to either extreme will result in being less healthy than eating what our bodies are designed to eat (both animals and plants).
A few things to note:
Each person is different, and so their diet is going to be a bit different. Our bodies will tell us what it needs if we learn how to listen.
Meat eaters tend to eat too much protein and vegetable eaters tend to eat too little. The average male needs around 100g of protein a day (more/less depending on activity and body mass -- and less for women). As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to strive for half of our protein intake to be from plant sources, and half from animal sources. Of course, this is easier said than done, and some will prefer to err on one side or the other (for me personally, I tend to lean more towards animal products than vegetables, while my wife, vegetables). Also, if you're like me, you may forget to eat enough fish. Fish is extremely healthy, especially fatty fish like salmon. If you find yourself eating a bit too much red meat, the Christian tradition of no meat on Fridays (and eating primarily fish) may be a good routine for you.
STOP EATING CHICKEN. Seriously. I know, it's delicious. And getting hot wings every now and again won't kill you, but the hormones in chicken (and other fowl) are extremely similar to the hormones in humans. So whether or not a chicken has been treated with artificial hormones (which DEFINITELY stay away from), their natural hormones can be absorbed by our bodies. Additionally, since we only eat the hens, we are primarily getting female hormones. But this brings me to another issue:
Most of the animals we consume are the FEMALE of the species, and when they're not, the males are castrated from an early age. A balanced diet means BALANCE in all things. Eating only the females is an imbalance. Try to find wild boar meat, or any other wild male animal meat. Or, if you're lucky enough to live near one of the few pig farms in the US that raise both males and females without castrating the males, buy from them (there is one I know of in Colorado).
The fruit we have available today is extremely high in sugar compared to what it was even 300 years ago. Carbs are good for you, but you want to focus on COMPLEX CARBS over simple carbs, and stay away from too much sugary fruit and refined sugar. Think of fruit as a treat, and moderate appropriately. There are many benefits to fresh and dried fruits, but plenty of problems can occur with too much.
Avoid seed (sunflower, canola/rapeseed) and vegetable oils. In general, fats that are a part of the food you're eating will be better for you, but pork lard, butter, olive oil, will generally still be better choices than, for example, corn oil.
Bake your own bread. If you are a bread-eater (I try to avoid it for weight loss), find sprouted whole-grain flour and make it yourself. Store-bought breads are highly refined, and often made with vegetable and seed oils, or lots of refined sugar. Grains are not the enemy, but the refined store-bought foods are.
The produce we buy in stores is generally not very fresh. Frozen and even canned produce can contain nutrients that "fresh" market produce won't have. Generally, it shouldn't make a huge difference, but if you happen to have symptoms of a lack of particular nutrients, do cross reference what you're lacking with the decomposition process of the produce you're eating, because you may be eating the right foods and still not getting the right nutrients.
And as mentioned by others, do not underestimate how important Vitamin D from sunlight is. If you supplement dietary vitamin D for boosting your immune system, make sure it's mixed with an oil, because D is oil soluble. There are many cheaper D supplements that are pointless to take because your body can't absorb it. I keep a bottle of D-fortified cod liver-oil pills around.
But again, everything in moderation. Stopping for a cinnabon every once in a while isn't going to kill you if you're eating healthy generally. Treats can be treats; the problem is when a treat becomes breakfast, or lunch, or daily post-dinner routines.
Depends how far back you go. During much of civilization, people managed to barely survive on grains. As hunter-gatherers, we ate low sugar, high fiber pre-domesticated foraged plants and MEAT. The body needs fiber and MEAT. We can survive on grains, but we don't thrive on them. Domestication has made plants taste better, but not necessarily made them healthier.
Don’t need fiber at all. We can’t digest fiber