Originally Posted by
I Like To Ride
Fiber is very important and it was a huge part of ancient diets, that's why cancer and heart disease was almost non-existent in the old days. Fiber removes toxins and bad cholesterol from the body, helps with digestion and feeds gut bacteria. I know that fermented dairy is great for gut bacteria too, but that doesn't mean you should skimp on fiber. Majority of people in the western world are not deficient on protein but they are seriously deficient in fiber.
Cancer and heart disease were almost non-existent in the old days because life expectancy in ancient times (say around 100 A.D.) was about 30 years and stayed at that level until the early modern age.
Edit:
It's ironic, but cancer and heart disease rates have increased because modern diets (in addition to improved sanitation, vaccines, etc.) have resulted in people living longer.
Living longer means that your cells go through more cycles of regeneration, with the likelihood of mutation increasing with each new cycle. (A depressing thought for those of us in our 70's who have escaped cancer and heart disease so far. As far as we know.)
It's astonishing, by the way, that people are now living long enough to develop heart disease. I can't fathom how it is that hearts are lasting two and three times longer than they did for the vast majority of human history.
