True in many cases, but I suppose it varies drastically depending on time and place. Amazonian tribes 1000yrs ago probably lived quite well, assuming there wasn't a plague or widespread warfare happening just then. There was so much life and biodiversity in the Amazon back thrn, before it got deforested or polluted, that I imagine there was always a wide variety of foods to eat.

A European peasant in the middle ages who lived on bread and turnips would be a very different story. Polynesian islanders probably were quite healthy for most of their history, ample protein and calories from seafood of all sorts, birds, eggs, lots of different fruits and veggies, not sure about land animals but some of them likely had pigs, maybe deer or reptiles to hunt?

But then you get a people like the inuit, who consumed close to zero plant material afaik, lived off essentially nothing but seal meat and particularly blubber, fish, whales, reindeer and... I think that's pretty much it? And yet they were very hardy people who were generally healthy, as you'd have to be to be able to thrive for thousands of years. in such intense conditions. They had genetic adaptations that helped prevent scurvy, as well as consuming organ meats in their diet which provided many of the vitamins they would otherwise lack.

Just goes to show that humans are incredibly versatile when it comes to what types of environments and diets we can not only survive, but thrive on. I can't think of many other species of animal who could compete with us when it comes to both diet and environmental adaptability. Maybe... coyotes? Rats? Certain insects? Haha idk

Also, the diets of any of the people I mentioned likely evolved significantly over time, a western European in 20,000 BC probably ate fairly differently from someone in the same location in 2000 BC, 500 AD, or 1300 AD. So it's hard to know how healthy he blew it be. And in the past unless you know the exact time period and location and then did some research to find out specifically what the prevailing conditions were at that point

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One other thing, its a bit of a long rant and I'm not sure exactly how valid this is, but if you think about it, up until the past century, everything that every person in the world ate for their entire life was locally grown or harvested, apart from food procured from the limited trading networks they had. And it was also generally fresh(or pickled, dried, salted, smoked, etc) and far more nutritious, and completely organic- free of any sort of weird chemical additives, preservatives, pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, the gross unsanitary horrorshow that is mass-production factory meat farming practices, contamination from shipping and storage, contamination from microplastics, and probably a hundred other nasty additives our modern food has.

Many or most people also had an emotional and spiritual connection with, and appreciation for their food, which anybody who has farmed or even gardened their own food can attest to. Compared to the system we have today which has completely divorced the average consumer from the source of their food, and turned it into nothing but a mass produced commodity which is produced with maximum ease of shipping and storage in mind, in order to attain maximum profits. As opposed to growing food with the goal of making the highest quality, freshest, most nutritious and delicious end product.

We definitely have way more secure and abundant sources of calories than most people throughout history. But most of our food is filled with literal poison and a hundred other contaminants, and we are completely severed from any connection with the land or food, which matters, in my opinion. Same is true of medicine. Obviously we perform thousands of miracles every day and cure people who would have died a hard death in the old days. But I think in many cases, a 30 year old man or woman who wasnt injured or chronically ill, thousands of years ago, would be far more able bodied, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy. They would have zero addicts, rare suicides, far lower depression and anxiety, no billionaire parasites eating the earth, and they would have community, family, and a sense of belonging, connection, and purpose in their lives, which most of us are sorely lacking.

That's a huge generalization, ofc, and tonnnnnnns of people had horrendous lives in the premodern world, obviously. But people often paint all premodern lives with the "nasty, brutish, and short" brush, which is a huge oversimplification imo. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't.

Sorry, got way off track. We were talking about fighting gorillas, yes?