:
: I suspect that you all are somewhat overestimating the impact of "genetics", 'ethnic" background, etc. on what makes for a healthy diet. : There are a few exceptions, for example Native Americans are believed to be especially susceptible to alcohol poisoning (forgive me if thsi is a bit dated, it might be),
It is, actually, but the news isn't too widespread, so only slightly. Like the Irish, Native American people have "a problem with alcohol," but this problem is probably more related to social than genetic factors. While it's true that a higher percentage of First Nations folks suffer alcohol-related disease than is true of Euro-Americans, the reasons for this are more likely related to the European occupation of traditional territories and the economic conditions at the concentration camps...uh...sorry, I mean "reservations"... that they've been forced onto. Oppressed folks tend to drink (or take drugs, or get deeply involved in religion, or some other form of avoidance behavior) at a higher rate than the general population, simply because they have more reason to want to avoid their present reality.
: Probably the best solution is to eat a high-protein, high-carbohydrate, low fat diet and exercise a lot.
True, although too much protein can also have negative impacts. Protein increases the metabolic rate, and thus increases the rate at which food is burned by the body. Excessive protein can, ultimately, lead to starvation, as Speth and Spelman (1987) demonstrated.
:Incidentally, the diet that emphasizes carbohydrates over protein (e.g. the typical 'primitive agricultural' diet) causes a wide variety of nutrition problems. ...See "Rise and Fall of teh Third Chimpanzee" by Jared Diamond (UCLA physiologist, ecologist, New Guinea explorer, and graduate of my high school) for more.
Articles by Dr. Jane Buikstra of UNM also support your point.
See, especially, The Foods of Early Man in North America: Biological Costs and Benefits, in Nutrition in Transition: Proceedings, Western Hemisphere Nutrition Congress V, P. White and N. Selvey, eds., American Medical Association, pp. 297-304 (1978).
Della C. Cook and Jane E. Buikstra. Health and Differential Survival in Pre-historic Populations: Prenatal Dental Defects, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 51:649-664 (1979).
Jane E. Buikstra and Della C. Cook. Palaeopathology: An American Account, Annual Review of Anthropology 9:433-470 (1980).
Mortuary Practices, Palaeodemography, and Palaeopathology: A Case Study from the Koster Site (Illinois). In The Archaeology of Death, Robert Chapman, Ian Kinnes, and Klaus Randsborg, eds., Cambridge University Press, pp. 123-132 (1981).
and
Diet and Disease in Prehistory: New Directions. In Current Directions in Midwestern Archaeology: Selected Papers from the Mankato
Conference, Occasional Publications in Minnesota Anthropology No. 9,
Minnesota Archaeological Society, St. Paul, pp. 56-62 (1981).
