Saw Dust is not food? Then your going to Bleach it with Chemicals and put Preservatives in it with Refined Sugar???
An academic argues that agriculture arose to increase the supply of addictive substances
charlie3
(charlie3)
#6
Humans are not the only creatures with a food addiction vulnerability. We kept horses on the farm back in the day and fed them oats. The horses had shelter but were free to be in the pasture at will (a healthy practice). The fence around the pasture is only there to remind the horses of their territory. (They remain voluntarily because they get food, water, companions and security). We stored the oats in a locked building in a retired chest freezer secured with a padlock. The reason for such extreme security was to garrantee the horses could not force their way in to the supply. If a horse gets access he will over eat and is likely to die of colic before his hunger signal has a chance to sound a warning. Horses in the wild never faced this risk because edible grains are never so concentrated.
Keto6468
(Karen)
#7
I think it also has to do with the chewing and the saliva production that is created when eating grass and hey. It takes time to eat grass and hay. At least that’s what I’ve heard I don’t do horses.
dlc96_darren
#8
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charlie3
(charlie3)
#10
We know a lot about horse metabolism similar to other domesticated animals. I’m not an expert and have forgotten a lot of the fine details because it’s been some years but a few more observations seem worthwhile.
Horses are designed to do well on food that is not calorie dense. They can spend 8 hours a day chewing low quality feed. They have 200 feet of small intestine to break down what they eat. When they are eating only grass they can develop an enlarged belly, not fat, just all that intestine full of digesting grass. If we ask horses to do more work than the calories in grass can provide we need to provide more calorie dense food to maintain weight. Now things get tricky. If the feed is too calorie dense it can thicken the blood and cause breakdown of the capillaries in the feet which can be permanent and debilitating, the common name is founder.
Similar kinds of complications exist in human nutrition. Most people aren’t as thoughtful about what they feed themselves as what they feed their animals.
gitanacv
(Bill C)
#11
My take on this is a bit different. Yes, of course, food companies want people buying their products as often as possible but the transformation of agriculture within the food industry was as much about creating relevance and need than addiction. If people only ate whole foods all of the processed and packaged products would be irrelevant, worthless. So, artificial need or desire has been created by the food industry, not necessarily addiction.
Keto6468
(Karen)
#12
Amen. I work in a school. What parents pack and what the school serves is appalling.
kandescent
#14
Horses also have a caecum, which is where the grasses ferment (and also why we don’t want to feed concentrates, which also ferment there but with sugars). This is where they pull the energy out of grass/hay. Fermentation in the caecum is also what keeps them warm in the winter (particularly if they are not confined to a cage/stall/small paddock). The caecum is their furnace.
We can look to higher protein grasses, for example alfalfa, for horses who need a bit extra energy to match their output. But can’t go too high in protein or else there will be other problems. Additionally, we can increase fat. Some people add corn and soy oil, etc., which is just as bad for horses as it is for humans.
Something that has been very successful is adding coconut copra (apparently it is really good for cows as well, which is where the original research in Australia was done, I believe). The copra is a byproduct of the coconut oil industry. It is low in non-structural carbohydrates and has a fair amount of fat and protein. Most horses take to it well after introduction. It’s sloppy though as it should be fed mixed with water.
The benefit of copra is increased calories without the glycemic spike that causes the inflammation that @charlie3 mentioned. The increased excessive blood flow from inflammation caused by excess sugars causes the laminae that hold the hoof wall to the bone to become inflamed - laminitis. If this keeps going, the laminae are damaged and lead to what is called founder, which is essentially separation of the hoof wall from the bone. We can read every episode of inflammation in the hoof wall. Inflammation causes increased production of hoof wall, and therefore a ridge appears. We see inflammation also as a result of vaccinations, some illnesses, change of feed, etc. And you can tell about when the incident happened by how far down the wall it is.
Horses that are fed high levels of concentrates and sugars end up developing insulin resistance. (And some breeds are more prone to it than others.) Even horses with heavy workloads can still show the problem in the laminae, even if they are not fat and not developing the tell-tale fatty deposits of insulin resistance. So, just as for us, it is important that their sugars be kept low.
Horses who are sensitive to sugars because of their insulin resistance can have a tougher time in the spring when the new grasses grow in. But usually, this is for horses who are not kept in pasture and don’t get to experience the gradual intake of new grass as it develops. There are all sorts of techniques for treating insulin resistant (IR) horses as they can no longer be kept on rich pastures. Supplementing with more magnesium is standard. Some use an herb called jiaogulan to help with sugar processing. Paddock paradise is a way to keep the horse moving but off of sugar rich grasses.
I had a business for several years in which I helped to, holistically, rehab the hooves of horses like this. Of course, I always educated my clients about changing the diet, housing, and movement situation of horses. Without these changes, no amount of proper trimming will improve the hooves and end the lameness.
CFLBob
(Central Florida Bob )
#15
I would maintain that anything that has to be put in a blender and made into a puree is not real food.
At the very least it isn’t an ancestral/paleo food. Not many Cuisinarts a hundred years ago, let alone a few thousand.
As for the OP, I remember reading about the “grains are addictive” theory over 20 years ago. I think they included milk as an addictive substance, too.
charlie3
(charlie3)
#16
Wow, thanks for filling in the gaps. You didn’t contradict anything I wrote so I did okay. I think, if we scoured the galaxy and found thousands of civilizations like us, you might not find one with a relationship like the one between humans and horses. So many things had to sort out perfecly, mechanical and psychological, on two completely separate evolutionary paths. In the mean time I’ve been away from horses for decades (and no plans to take it up again, too much commitment).
Back to the topic, everybody here agrees carbs can be addictive. I’m persuaded it was true 10,000 years ago too. I’m probably not the only one who’s heard this, “humans are the only species smart enough to make their own food, and dumb enough to eat it.”
kandescent
#17
Yes, more than ok. 
I wish more horse people had that knowledge.
Totally agree. I’m out of it as well, except for one retired coming 25 yo Thoroughbred gelding who is living the life of Riley on a Kentucky retirement farm.
atomicspacebunny
(Bunny)
#18
…I would maintain eating baby wheat grass AS IS (with dirt still attached to the roots; geophagy[1][2][3]), does not require a blender… 
The animals we eat do some of that for us (i.e. geophagy) but not entirely? (e.g. micronutrients and resistant starches in plants and the dirt they grow in; our missing gut flora microbiome?)
Footnotes:
[1] “…Early humans ate very much like modern pigs and bear and were ‘simply acquiring enough calories to survive and reproduce.’ the researchers said…” …More
[2] Smart Monkeys? Hmmmm? ”… Last October the Los Angeles Times released an article about research on tool-use among the wild bearded capuchin monkeys of Brazil. The article showcased two short videos of the monkeys smashing rocks against larger boulders – which was interpreted as intentional tool-making behavior. Several hypotheses were proposed to explain this behavior: the monkeys were licking off the minerals in the rock dust collected on the surface of the rocks; they were consuming lichen with antimicrobial properties; or, they were simply consuming fragments of rocks that can destroy parasites in their guts. Aside from the capuchin monkeys, other animals have also been observed to demonstrate geophagy (“soil-eating”), including but not limited to: rodents, birds, elephants, pacas and other species of primates.[1] …” …More
[3] 089: Dr. Josh Axe – Eat Dirt • Leaky Gut Is The Root Cause Of All Disease • Soil-Based Organisms
Related:
atomicspacebunny
(Bunny)
#19
Why eating like we did 20,000 years ago may be the way of the future: “…It’s this realization that has led some thinkers like Jared Diamond to proclaim that agriculture was the worst mistake our species has ever made. While it’s been great for society as a whole, from a health perspective it’s proven catastrophic for individuals. …” …More
Jared Diamond, “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race,” Discover Magazine, May 1987, pp. 64-66: “…While farmers concentrate on high-carbohydrate crops like rice and potatoes, the mix of wild plants and animals in the diets of surviving hunter-gatherers provides more protein and a bettter balance of other nutrients. In one study, the Bushmen’s average daily food intake (during a month when food was plentiful) was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, considerably greater than the recommended daily allowance for people of their size. It’s almost inconceivable that Bushmen, who eat 75 or so wild plants, could die of starvation the way hundreds of thousands of Irish farmers and their families did during the potato famine of the 1840s. …”
“…As population densities of hunter-gatherers slowly rose at the end of the ice ages, bands had to choose between feeding more mouths by taking the first steps toward agriculture, or else finding ways to limit growth. Some bands chose the former solution, unable to anticipate the evils of farming, and seduced by the transient abundance they enjoyed until population growth caught up with increased food production. Such bands outbred and then drove off or killed the bands that chose to remain hunter-gatherers, because a hundred malnourished farmers can still outfight one healthy hunter. It’s not that hunter-gatherers abandoned their life style, but that those sensible enough not to abandon it were forced out of all areas except the ones farmers didn’t want.
At this point it’s instructive to recall the common complaint that archaeology is a luxury, concerned with the remote past, and offering no lessons for the present. Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed a crucial stage at which we made the worst mistake in human history. Forced to choose between limiting population or trying to increase food production, we chose the latter and ended up with starvation, warfare, and tyranny.
Hunter-gatherers practiced the most successful and longest-lasting life style in human history. In contrast, we’re still struggling with the mess into which agriculture has tumbled us, and it’s unclear whether we can solve it. Suppose that an archaeologist who had visited from outer space were trying to explain human history to his fellow spacelings. He might illustrate the results of his digs by a 24-hour clock on which one hour represents 100,000 years of real past time. If the history of the human race began at midnight, then we would now be almost at the end of our first day. We lived as hunter-gatherers for nearly the whole of that day, from midnight through dawn, noon, and sunset. Finally, at 11:54 p.m. we adopted agriculture. As our second midnight approaches, will the plight of famine-stricken peasants gradually spread to engulf us all? Or will we somehow achieve those seductive blessings that we imagine behind agriculture’s glittering facade, and that have so far eluded us? …” …More
Beginning an exercise regime
Sheri_Knauer
(Sheri Knauer)
#20
Yes! When I go have lunch with my elementary school age kids at their school, I am always appalled at the garbage that a lot of the kids have packed for their lunch.
I remember one girls in particular, who is a friend of my daughter and sat with us, whose lunch was just horrible, no lie, cookies, rice krispy treats, muffins, goldfish, candy, juice box. Oh, and grapes. She was such a happy kid all smiles and talking while eating that crap. I felt so bad for her. Not one spec of real food (except for the high sugar grapes).
I brought this up in a FB group where there was a discussion about kids school lunches and I was accused of being judgmental because maybe the parents were having a tough time with “whatever” or maybe the kid made her own lunch. All I have to say is if my kids were to make their own lunches, they certainly wouldn’t have any of that crappy carbage to pick from.
Sorry for the rant. I tend to rant when the subject of school lunches and what kids bring from home is brought up. Warning: I also tend to rant when the subject of kids sports games and the crap that is offered to them to purchase is brought up too.
Ok, all done…until next time. 
Keto6468
(Karen)
#21
Since I was working in the position of a elementary school educational assistant for eight years I had the opportunity to educate a little at lunch. As I went around I would point out to each kid the thing that was the best in their lunch bag or tray.
Oooo good choice on the broccoli
Nice meat and cheese rolll up
Etc
charlie3
(charlie3)
#22
So the study from the 1980’s seems to conclude that agriculture was forced by lack of game and/or population pressure. The speaker I found on youtube proposes that the controling influence was addiction built into humans, not environmental factors. He may be right.
PaulL
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing)
#23
At most Paleolithic digs, the Cuisinart is usually found right between the microwave and the fridge! 