There is so much conflicting information out there about the ‘ideal’ macronutrient combination. Nobody can agree. So it got me wondering, is there really just one answer? I was listening to an interesting talk by Robb Wolf discussing metabolic flexibility where he dives into this subject of optimal ancestral nutrition. As he points out, there are a lot of primal type populations who have been very long lived and very health, such as the Inuit, the Okinawan, and people in the “Blue-zones”. What these people share is that they eat largely whole unprocessed foods and have similar lifestyle practices. Where the commonality stops is in macronutrient composition. The range is huge and many different These populations have a compressed morbidity cure meaning they are healthy for most of their lives, free of chronic modern diseases and are sick for a short period before they die. We on the other hand, see to start getting sick younger and younger and suffer for way too long. What Robb thinks we need to focus on is metabolic flexibility. He says that it should be possible for humans to consume and thrive on many different macronutrient combinations. What we are lacking today is the favourable blood glucose response and hormonal response that people eating an ancestral diet have. Our metabolic flexibility has been hijacked in our modern world. So how metabolically flexible are you? You can find out by taking my Metabolic Flexibility Quiz here: https://sarahjanevickery.com/endo-quiz/
Metabolic flexibility: Why there is no ideal macronutrient combination
