Jan 16 (edited) • Functional Living
THEN vs NOW: (Part 1) How 150 years of “modern food” quietly rewired human biology
Did humans suddenly require processed grain at 8:00 AM to survive?Or did we get handed a story—and build our daily life around it?
The “Breakfast” story (and why it mattered):
The idea that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” didn’t come from ancient wisdom—it was heavily amplified by modern marketing. A widely cited example is a 1940s General Foods campaign used to sell cereal and promote a “good breakfast” as a performance requirement for work and school.
To be clear: humans have always eaten in the morning sometimes.But the mandate—“eat immediately, eat carbs, eat packaged”—is modern.
THEN (human default):
For most of human history, food was:
- Seasonal + local
- Protein-forward (when available) with fibrous plants
- Naturally time-restricted (periods of scarcity were normal)
- Minimal ingredients (because “ingredients lists” didn’t exist)
Your nervous system was designed for alertness when hungry (“hunter mode”).That’s not starvation—that’s adaptive biology.
NOW (the modern food environment):
Over the last ~150 years, the biggest shift isn’t that we eat more.It’s what we eat—and how engineered it has become.
1) Ultra-processed food became the default
Today, over half of calories in the U.S. come from ultra-processed foods. And historically, processed/ultra-processed foods rose from under 5% to over 60% of the food supply across the last two centuries.
Ultra-processed = food designed for shelf life + hyper-palatability, not human thriving.
2) The rise of “always eating”
We went from “eat when you can” to structured grazing:
- breakfast snack
- lunch snack
- dinner dessert
Constant stimulation → constant insulin signaling → constant appetite noise (for many people).
3) The metabolic disease curve didn’t come out of nowhere
Adult obesity prevalence is now around 40% in the U.S. That’s not a willpower failure. That’s an environment failure.
And yes—many things contribute (stress, sleep, toxins, sedentary life, meds, etc.).But food is the daily signal that hits your hormones, gut, brain, mitochondria, and immune system.
The real “Then vs Now” question
Did we get sicker because humans suddenly became weak?Or because our food became something humans were never meant to metabolize all day, every day?
THEN:
Food supported life.
NOW:
Food is often a product—engineered to:
- sell daily
- store forever
- override satiety
- keep you coming back
A faith lens (because this matters):
I don’t believe God designed you to be fragile—I believe we’ve been living inside an industrial script.
And freedom starts when you ask better questions:
- Who benefits if I’m told I must eat processed carbs at sunrise?
- Why is “normal” now: fatigue, cravings, inflammation, brain fog, belly weight, anxiety?
- What if “common” isn’t “healthy”… it’s just common?
Discussion (drop your answer below)
What’s one “normal” food habit you grew up with that you’re now questioning?(Example: cereal for breakfast, constant snacking, “low-fat everything,” seed oils, sweet drinks, “whole grains = always healthy,” etc.)
Dowload the Bedrock "Craving Stabilizer" Food Swap list below:
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THEN vs NOW: (Part 1) How 150 years of “modern food” quietly rewired human biology
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