Stop feeling guilty about that second serving of rice. Your ancestors spent millions of years engineering your DNA to find it delicious.
It is February
12. If you are a science nerd, you know this is the birthday of Charles Darwin, the man who ruined creationism and gave us the concept of natural selection.
Usually, when we talk about "evolutionary diet," the conversation gets hijacked by the gym-bro community. You know the type. They preach the "Paleo" lifestyle - steak, berries, nuts, and the rugged masculinity of a caveman who supposedly spent his days spearing mammoths. According to this narrative, carbohydrates are a modern poison, a toxic by-product of the agricultural revolution that made us soft.
But there is a glitch in that logic. If we were strictly evolved to run on protein and fat, why does a plate of steaming, aromatic Chicken Biryani trigger a dopamine response that feels almost spiritual?
The Brain Needs Fuel, Not Just Brawn
Here is the thing about the human brain: it is an energy hog. It makes up about 2% of your body weight but devours roughly 20% of your daily caloric intake. And guess what its preferred fuel source is? Glucose.
While your muscles can run on fat (ketones), your brain gets cranky without sugar. To support the massive expansion of the human brain over the last two million years, we needed a reliable, high-octane fuel source. The meat was great, sure, but it was dangerous to get. You could get trampled by the dinner.
Tubers, roots, and wild grains? They didn't fight back.
The "Amylase" Smoking Gun
This isn't just speculation; it is written in your spit.
We have a gene called AMY1. It codes for salivary amylase, the enzyme that starts breaking down starch into sugar the moment it hits your tongue. Chimpanzees, our closest relatives who eat mostly fruit and leaves, usually have two copies of this gene.
Humans? We have anywhere from six to twenty copies.
Somewhere along the line, our ancestors who could extract extra calories from starchy foods survived longer and had more babies than the ones who couldn't. We literally evolved to be starch-processing machines. So, when you shovel a spoonful of rice into your mouth, your body isn't rejecting it. I am rejoicing. It is saying, "Finally, the good stuff."
The "Biryani" Algorithm
Now, let’s talk about Biryani. Or pizza. Or any dish that combines carbohydrates with fat.
In the wild, this combination is incredibly rare. You find sugar in fruit (no fat) and fat in nuts or meat (no sugar). But processed modern food - and grand culinary inventions like Biryani - combine the two.
From a Darwinian perspective, this is the jackpot.
Your hypothalamus - the lizard part of your brain - sees that combination of rice (quick energy) and meat/ghee (long-term storage) and lights up like a Christmas tree. It is signaling "Survival Assured." The urge to overeat isn't a failure of willpower; it is a highly successful evolutionary program running in an environment where food is too easy to get.
So, this Darwin Day, cut yourself some slack. We aren't just "hunters." We are "starch-ivores" who learned to cook. The craving you feel isn't a sin; it is a survival strategy that worked a little too well.
Does that mean you should eat Biryani every day? Probably not. But when you do, know that you are honoring a few million years of genetic engineering.
