Notes about Human diet
Humans(and all of the creatures that are anatomically and physiologically like us known as the anthropod primates: gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, and bonobos) are anatomically and physiologically adapted to the food of the tropics, predominately fruit, as are almost all of the tropical creatures. In Central America, for example, all mammals with the exception of the river otter and the jaguar are known to eat fruit, as are most of the birds, many of the amphibians, and quite a few of the reptiles.
Historically, it was only the population explosion caused by the advent of tools and hunting, and exacerbated by the introduction of farming, that resulted in humans being forced to move into what would otherwise have been considered inhospitable and even uninhabitable areas.
We effectively took the tropics with us, though, as we had no other choice.
Every one of us lives almost every minute of our lives in a miniature tropical environment, keeping ourselves in the tropics by the judicious use of clothing, bedding, and heat (most thermostats across the world are set to tropical temp of ~80F degrees). Even the Eskimos surround themselves with enough clothing and keep their homes warm enough so that they can spend almost all of their time "in the tropics".
As pre-human hominids moved away from the tropics, they started eating the (cooked) flesh of animals and experimenting with foods such as (cooked) tubers and other complex carbohydrates to substitute for unavailable fruits and vegetables. Evidence tells us this practice has been going on for at least 200,000 with the advent of grain agriculture in the past 10,000 years.
In terms of human evolutionary history, 10,000 years is an extremely short period of time, not nearly enough for our digestive physiology to adapt. Physiologists suggest that it generally takes 50,000 to 500,000 years or longer for evolutionary change to occur. Even then, however, we could not adapt in a healthful fashion to the nutritional losses or the toxins created by cooking food.
Prior to and throughout most of the 19th century, fresh fruit was a very popular food item, and people did not eat the high percentage of cooked(and processed) food that they currently do. In fact, the raw-food movement was almost as big 120 years ago as it is today, if not more so.
But the whole concept was essentially shot down with a single word :germs.
After scientist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) (i'm assuming that's where "pasteurize" came from(?)) published his "germ theory of disease" in 1878, fear of microbes developed into a full blown phobia for many people. This fear led the medical fraternity to suggest that all foods be cooked, for the safety of the consumer. People began cooking their apples, their tomatoes... essentially everything they ate. Due to the overwhelming power of doctors to influence society, cooking fruit became the norm.
Common sense doesn't not support cooking, however, as not a single creature other than man cooks its food. In general the animals that suffer from degenerative "human" diseases are domesticated or caged ones that are routinely fed cooked food by their human caretakers.
~Douglas Graham(excerpts from the book 80-10-10
(80-10-10 is the approx. ratio of fruit which is: 80% carbohydrate / 10% fat
And 10% protein
