The Jungle Effect diet emphasizes the benefits of local, minimally processed foods and communal dining. Dr. Daphne Miller’s book explores the eating patterns of cultures with the healthiest diets, regardless of whether they live near jungles. Ancestral eating patterns may be optimal for consumption, and foods high in fat are not necessarily bad.
The jungle effect diet refers to the theories of Dr. Daphne Miller, as mentioned in her 2008 book The Jungle Effect and especially her theory that diets that rely on moderation and localized ingredients, but not many , often result in healthier people. Miller takes an anthropological and medical perspective, even though the book is written for the average reader, by explaining how certain populations of people tend to avoid various diseases that plague other cultures. Miller’s book emphasizes the food choices of certain cultures, from various regions of the world that appear to have the healthiest diets, and offers recipes, information, and solid evidence for her theories.
The jungle effect can be a bit of a misnomer, as not all cultures where health and diet seem optimal are found in jungles. In fact, some cultures Miller mentions as having a jungle-effect diet do not live near jungles, such as people in Iceland who tend to have a much lower incidence of risk of very devastating diseases. In fact, Miller attributes the name of the jungle diet to one of his patients who would return from his native Brazil and feel better. The idea that restoring eating patterns that occur in their homeland, as your patient would do when visiting Brazil, may say something about how ancestral eating patterns can be good for us. Miller’s argument is that our ancestors often had thousands of years to determine which foods were optimal for consumption, and because of that, they typically could have chosen foods that were truly the healthiest.
An optimal quality jungle effect diet has several components. It usually does not include processed oils, and most foods are available locally. The healthiest diets can be very different from crop to crop, but they often share common traits, such as being based on a local grain, containing some type of fermented food, and having some type of seasoning or condiment. Miller also argues, and she’s certainly not alone in this, that communal dining, like sharing meals with the family, appears to be healthier and may matter just as much, if not more, than the food you eat at potlucks.
Some of the material in The Jungle Effect seems to go against conventional dietary wisdom. For example, foods high in fat are not classified as bad or avoided foods if they are part of an optimal jungle effect diet, or part of their particular ancestry. “Low carb” diets are not praised. Certainly, Miller sees moderation as part of a good diet, but it seems like most minimally processed foods, especially the ones you make yourself, would make sense. It’s hard to guess whether it’s vital for people to consider their ancestry when thinking about diet, especially when people are, as they often are, of very mixed ancestry.
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