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The Hunter-Gatherer Within: Health and the Natural Human Diet.   Science-based eating to match our genetics and evolution.

A recently published book examines some of the most important dietary questions facing people today.  What is the healthiest diet to eat? Why do weight loss diets almost always fail? Why do we have a crisis of obesity, diabetes, and other health problems in the U.S. today? Why are even children becoming obese and unhealthy? The answers can be found when one understands what recent scientific research says, and when one realizes that conventional dietary advice and the Standard American Diet are completely mismatched with our genetics and evolution.  In other words, the modern diet is out of tune with the biology of our species.

These topics are covered in The Hunter-Gatherer Within: Health and the Natural Human Diet, just published by the Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press.  It is co-authored by two Austin College (Sherman, TX) professors, Dr. Kerry Brock and Dr. George Diggs. For many years they have been teaching college courses on nutrition, diet, health, plant toxins, and evolution.

For the past two million years our ancestors existed as hunter-gatherers, living entirely on wild plants and animals. Only during the last one percent of that time have they eaten foods resulting from the agricultural and industrial revolutions. The modern diet is now based largely on processed foods made from flour, refined sugars, and processed vegetable oils—products unknown to our ancestors. Exposing our hunter-gatherer genetic makeups to inappropriate modern diets has come with a price—a dramatic increase in the “Diseases of Civilization,” including among others heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, autoimmune conditions, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and acne.

The book examines the problem and looks at practical, science-based ways to improve health and address weight regulation using simple diet and lifestyle changes.  It is designed to help readers actually understand the reasons behind many weight and health problems and to apply this understanding in their own lives.

Brock is a mathematician and scientist who is skilled at assessing the use of statistics and analyzing the data in medical and other scientific research. She has studied nutrition for many years and has taught numerous college courses in human nutrition and the connections between diet and health. Diggs is an evolutionary biologist and botanist who has studied and taught about human evolution, plant toxins, plant and cell biology, health, and nutrition for more than 30 years.  He is co-author of three botanical books and more than 30 scientific articles.

To purchase your copy of The Hunter-Gatherer Within visit the Austin College Bookstore, BRIT Press http://www.brit.org/brit-press/books/huntgather or call 817-332-4441 ext. 264. The price is $19.95, plus $4.50 shipping.

ISBN-13: 978-1-889-878-40-9

Publication Date: 01 February 2013

Specifications: 6.5″×9.5″ (pbk), 68 b/w and color figures