John Durant, the self proclaimed urban caveman over at www.hunter-gatherer.com, relates this topic better than anyone else I’ve followed in the blogosphere. “How do you keep a wild animal healthy?” The first thought that should come to mind is the zoo example. Zoos around the world house and display an array of wild animals. While many accommodations have been made to imitate the animal’s natural habitat, there have been a fair share problems with holding wild animals in captivity. The most current example occurred with the death of Knut, the polar bear in a German zoo this past year. Apparently it’s common for mother polar bears to reject their cubs in captivity but this little orphaned cub made it 4 more years before succumbing to a sudden death. Knut was special because he was the only cub in the past 30 years to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo (one of the world’s premier zoos). As it turns out, many zoo animals seem have difficulty reproducing, they express odd repetitive behaviors, and have signs of chronic disease (tooth decay, heart problems). They also think that Knut had some mental illness and, as a result, was bullied by other polar bears.
So before I get too off topic I’d like to bring up my main point; animals thrive in their natural habitat. This is the reason why zoos are making strides to replicate a wild animal’s habitat as closely as they can to what is natural for that particular animal. Where am I going with this and how does it transfer to humans?… Well if we look at the world around us, the world we are “comfortable” in; we have it all wrong. Our bodies weren’t designed to sit around 9-10 hours a day, sleep less than 7 hours a night, survive on high calorie processed foods, and rarely ever see sunlight. This is apparent in relation to the current trend of obesity and other related health issues (cardiovascular disease, stoke, type II diabetes, cancer, etc.) as well as rising rates of diseases like autism and Alzheimer’s. Why, in the last 20-30 years, have these issues developed into what is looking like an epidemic? It is because as a species, we are not replicating the habitat around us and our lifestyle as a whole into what our bodies were designed for. The human form didn’t evolve for 2-3 million years to sit and work all day and drive through McDonald’s for a cheeseburger on the way home. Simply put.
At a time well before the domestication of plants and animals, we were all hunter-gatherers. I’m talking about the same primitive man that you learned about in high school history or science classes. Primitive man had a simple life mostly driven by the most basic instinct: staying alive. He foraged the plains and forests for berries and leafy green plants as well as hunted wild game like rabbits, deer, and bison. He slept at nightfall and relied on his circadian rhythm to wake him up upon dawn so he could start a day filled with foraging, hunting, or migrating.
Recent research has showed that primitive man was extremely healthy. Yes, they did have shorter lifespans, but this was due to violence, infection, and other causes of death that do not afflict modern people. If a child made it through infancy and didn’t have too many run ins with sabre-tooth tigers or grizzly bears, then he or she was due for long and happy life. Oh yeah that’s another thing! Primitive man didn’t struggle with psychological disorders such as depression or schizophrenia or any of the “diseases of civilization” like we do today.
I adamantly believe that diet is the most important building block for healthy vitality. If we take a look at the history of the human diet, you’ll notice that grains, starches, and legumes were only introduced about 10,000 or some odd years ago. Proceeding this agricultural revolution was the paleo-style hunter-gatherer diet which primarily consisted of lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries. This does not include sugar, corn, beans, rice, or any grain or legume for that matter. Humans ate like this for at least 2.5 million years. So simple science shows you that our bodies are more equipped and accustomed through evolution to handle this paleolithic style of diet. Eating this way caused no spikes in blood sugar leading to a sustained energy level throughout the day (much like I feel now) or any unwanted fat storage (due to spikes in insulin levels). There was no hypertension, high cholesterol, and especially no obesity back then.
Another important building block is for healthy vitality is exercise. Now I can assure you that paleolithic man didn’t wake up and do 100 pushups or curl and bench press heavy rocks in hopes for that perfect beach bod. Any physical exertion he or she endured was completely functional. By functional I mean, for example, long migratory walks, short sprints away from danger, throwing spears, lifting rocks, climbing up trees, running down game over great distances (persistence hunting), etc. He woke up every day knowing that he had to work for that day’s meal and he was in great shape because of it. How does your exercise routine compare?
- Me at the Westlake CrossFit 300 Challenge
Everything I’ve discussed can be summed up in the old saying,”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If there were relatively no problems or derived negative health conditions with how humans lived for millions of years, then what the hell are we doing with ourselves now? It is time for everyone to take a step back and realize how far we have strayed from what we were built for. Reconstructing our natural habitats in terms of diet, exercise, and sleep should be of top priority.Only then can we be completely happy and on the way to a healthier and more productive lifestyle.