Hunt

What if I told you there was something relative simple that could possibly make your taller, better looking, and less likely to suffer from sports injuries or joint pain? You probably wouldn't believe me, but there is and when I heard about it I couldn't believe I didn't think of it before.

When you look at pictures of hunter-gatherers and others living a traditional lifestyle, what you see depends on what you are looking for. To most Americans they just seem vaguely fit, but there is something more going on here. Physical therapist Esther Gokhale was looking for why so many modern humans suffer from back pain, but traditional cultures don't despite the fact that they often perform very laborious work. Esther noticed that they carried themselves differently and also noticed from old Western pictures that this used to be the norm. Now we are a nation of sloucher and it not only affects our back and our look, but internal organs as well.

This was a wake up call for me. As a former gymnast, I once had what I thought was decent posture, but over the years I've definitely developed the dreaded slouch by hunching at the computer. Last winter I suffered from awful upper back pain, which required a visit to a chiropractor. Thankfully it hasn't returned, but I've been on the lookout for something that could prevent an issue like that. Chris from Modern Paleo and Nick from Paleo DC raved about Esther, so I bought her book 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back. I've only completed one of the steps and already my physical wellness after a day of computer work is much improved. Another thing I noticed is that my mood is better. A day of hunching= a night of fatigue for me.

What's really cool about the book are the pictures of hunter-gatherers and agrarian peoples like the man above. It's interesting because she posits a theory that humans need to learn correct posture from parents and other elders. While that might seem counter-intuitive, it makes sense to me since I've read about ape populations losing important survival skills like this with domestication, especially if a zoo population is built out of orphans. 

So I'm definitely excited about this book and look forward to posting about my results. At the tech conf this weekend I started noticing how bad the posture problem is. Food is an issue, but disease of civilization are multi-factorial.

A traditional high-fat paleo diet is being promoted among the Maori in New Zealand. The results are "eye opening." Notice the comments— naysayers saying it's just another fad diet like Atkins. But it's not Atkins. It's a diet that revives food traditions and is culturally appropriate. Contrast that with Jamie Oliver's failures in West Virginia pushing a generic "healthy" diet.

Another great video on persistence hunting:

“245 unread messages” my Blackberry tolled. I had turned the dreaded workhorse on after a week, dreading its weary proclamations. How I had cherished the days without glaring at its tiny, but unforgiving screen. My camping backpack laid heavily on my shoulders- a double bagged bolus of sulphur-reeking Vibrams and muddy bathing suits. I suspected getting the smell out of the Vibrams would require elaborate chemical warfare. 

My arms and legs were covered with gashs, nicks, tears, welts, and oddly shaped bruises. Flecks of mud clung stubbornly to my nails.

What the hell had I been doing?

I had that exact thought on Tuesday, after arriving in West Virginia for a Movnat Reawakening workshop with Erwan Le Corre. After a morning of swinging in branches, lifting heavy logs, and jumping across planks, Erwan had told us we would run to Summerville lake- a “mere” 2.5 miles. The woods looked pleasant and inviting; the path a mild compression of soft soil. But that was just the beginning- soon the pleasant woodlands turned into what seemed like an untamed jungle. Vibrams stubbed on slippery rocks, legs were menaced by nettles and poison-ivy, and at several points the group was pursued by angry hornets. I questioned my choice of Vibrams (why oh why did I not buy KSOs to spare myself the lumps of dead leaves embedded in my now-soggy shoes?), Erwan's grasp of American measurements (could this really be two and a half miles?), and my own presence at the seminar. My back ached and my legs throbbed with intense stinging pain. Erwan sprinted ahead, sporting muscles in places I didn't know existed. What sort of brutal Tropical Thunder-like boot camp had I inadvertently subjected myself to?

Soon, feet and legs smarting with various wounds, we reached the white rocks surrounding Summerville. Simmering in the late afternoon heat, I quickly disrobed and dove in, expecting a bracing coldness- but I was pleasantly surprised by the lake's generous warmth. I soon forgot my disdain for the Metric system and any muscle pain as I swam like a small dolphin among the rocks and branches lining the lake. I was like a child again- a selkie meant for the water. I couldn't help but remember my childhood in Georgia, playing Sharks and Minnows at the Meadowgrove pool. I would dive deep beneath the water, holding my breath as I butterfly-kicked away from the "sharks." But I didn't particularly care about winning- being a predator was probably more fun anyway. 

Suddenly I remembered why I was here- I was reawakening the kid I had killed. The young girl from Georgia with skinny colt legs who had too much time on her hands because she finished her homeschooling workbooks early. She rolled across the mossy knolls in her backyard, swinging herself into dogwood and maple trees, jumping across the muddy creek, feeling the warm sun draw freckles upon her bare shoulders. I killed her. I sat her upon a chair and made her pale and wan, her arms atrophy, her mood grow short-tempered as she stared for hours and hours upon a glowing rectangular screen.

The paleo diet had fixed so much of the problems that plagued me, but it was so easy for me to dismiss exercise. After all- in New York I felt I got enough exercise jumping across disgusting fetid street-puddles (god forbid my expensive Vigrams touch those…) and carrying loads of meat from the inconveniently-located grocery stores that are a feature of city life. I had lost weight without really focusing much on exercise…going outside for 15 minutes for lunch was enough…right?

It says a lot that I viewed exercise as a mere means to an end.

I had met Erwan in New York City, not long after moving there and falling into a cycle of eating paleo, but not really living paleo. John Durant, the other organizer of Eating Paleo in NYC had attended one of his fitness seminars in Mexico and had hosted Erwan on several visits to New York. While they pounded the pavement shirtless and barefoot early on the morning on what was certainly the coldest and most miserable day of the winter. My alarm clock rang, but I looked at the blizzard out the window and pressed snooze. A few weeks later they effortlessly glimmered shirtless and muscular against the glare of the snow in several full-page spreads in Nordic magazines. For these men, exercise was not about weight, but about being human.

During that winter I experienced a realization that the life I was living, despite my immaculate paleo diet, was simply incompatible with being a human being. The silent sepulchral commute, the dreary isolation of my work, the fatigue that assaulted me as I climbed the stairs to my closet-like apartment. No amount of wild salmon and pampered grass-fed beef could make up for this life.

There is an ample body of evidence that it was not just what our ancestors ate, but how they lived that accounted for their lack of “diseases of civilization.” There is certainly just as much evidence that an antisocial stressful life is as bad as a ladle full of high-fructose corn syrup.

I wanted to not just eat like a human now, but live like one. As I swung my leg up upon a rough branch, struggling mightily to push myself up, the pressure on the back of the delicate skin behind my knee reminded me of a dogwood I had climbed as a child. I remembered how it scratched me sharply, but how happy I was to clear the ground and dangle my feet merrily high above my mother's bright pink azalea flowers. It was easy then, I thought, as I dropped to the ground in failure.

I would wander about the neighborhood for hours, probably illegally trespassing in the yards of several dozen neighbors and coming home with my legs as beat up as they were now.

Rocks, logs, sticks, stones, water were now imprinted into my skin. Strangely, it didn't hurt. I was too busy being social and eating amazing paleo meals with Erwan, our other coach Vic, our chef Allie, and the other awesome participants. It was actually a fairly diverse group- men and women spanning decades. Despite this being Erwan's lower level workshop, most of us were in fairly decent shape and had at least broken in one pair of Vibrams or other thin-soled shoes. I imagine the week would have been more painful if I were completely unused to using my feet, but even so, my poor little toes were cramped from the workouts we did. Doing trails in a manicured park doesn't really prepare your feet for dashing through thousands of tiny pebbles and scrambling up boulders. I was very impressed with the vertical performance of my shoes. Vibrams are a no-go on a commercial rock climbing wall unless you enjoy putting all your weight on one toe…but here they provided the perfect amount of traction even right out of water.

All the meals were classically paleo- without salt, coffee, or dairy, which are holdouts for me. It was good to go a week without them- it definitely made me reconsider dairy and helped me finally kick out coffee. My stomach felt better and my energy level was not impacted. However, some participants who had never done paleo before reported feeling fatigued.

It's funny because a few months ago I wrote about my indoor container garden once. I didn't write about it again because let's just say some plants didn't do so well. I transplanted the survivors to outdoor containers and now some of my plants are ginormous. Just like fertilizer and windows were no substitute for the sun upon their leaves, vitamin D supplements and lamps are no substitute for the sun upon my shoulders. I feel like I'm opening a whole new chapter in my journey towards a happy, healthy…and humane life. Movnat was a great stepping stone and I definitely recommend checking Erwan's workshops out!

Exercise isn’t a way to “get in shape” or get Vitamin D. Moving is about being a human animal...

A genetic adaptation to high altitude present in Tibetans is probably only about 3000 years old. On the evolutionary timescale...that's nothing! 

Growing up I was a taught creationism, which is roughly the idea that evolution didn't happen because God created everything as it was written in Genesis. When I did learn about evolution though, it was clear to me that it was real and happening now. One of the books that had a big influence on me was The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, which is the amazing story of major genetic adaptations observed by scientists in the Galapagos over a span of mere decades.

Lactase persistence, the ability in adult humans to digest milk, is another famous recent human genetic adaptation. I suspect we will discover more and more of these.

Does that invalidate the evolutionary nutrition concept? No, because properly as a concept it's not about imitation, but about evaluation. Yesterday I was thinking "What if I still believed in creationism? Would I still eat this diet?" Either way, there is plenty of evidence out there for NOW in modern humans that the lipid hypothesis is bunk (see Good Calories Bad Calories) and that foods like gluten are hardly good for you (gluten linked to schizophrenia as an example).

So what use is evolutionary nutrition? It provides a further framework for questioning and evaluating foods. I might have never questioned the role of gluten in my diet if I hadn't awoken to the idea that our ancestors didn't eat grains...and did better than fine. But I'm also saying that there is plenty of evidence to eat this way outside the evolutionary evidence.

As for that, we shouldn't be afraid to question it as well. Is every food in the fossil record nutritious? Cycads anyone? And is every one that isn't the epitome of evil? That's why I sort of like Cordain's newsletter- when he is taking down neolithic foods, he provides an extensive bibliography- though unfortunately a lot of it is extrapolation of test tube in-vitro science, not actual studies of humans. I would love to see more of those. His recent series on the evils of nightshades was ultimately fairly unconvincing to me, because well...yeah, they have some chemical compounds that are questionable....but name a plant that doesn't! Let's not underestimate the human capacity to detoxify- it's why we have several robust organs to do so.

And several of the in vivo studies he cited to prove potatoes are questionable are questionable themselves-" Two recent human studies have shown that high potato diets increase the blood inflammatory marker IL-6" cites this study- "Chronic intake of potato chips in humans increases the production of reactive oxygen radicals by leukocytes and increases plasma C-reactive protein: a pilot study." That's not potatoes! It's potatoes fried at very high heat in rancid PUFA-infested oils. Ack.