Preparing For De-Evolution

I've been reading a lot about the paleo (or Caveman) diet lately. Really, my interest in this approach to nutrition has stemmed from a year-long desire to eliminate processed "foods" - a disturbingly difficult task these days.


The new year Men's Health issue had a really cool, in-depth article about what nutritionists are now calling "Obesogens." It is depressing to learn how much of what we eat (and even what we eat it from) is jacking up our bodies and giving us cancer.


Not being a member of the 40% portion of the American population that believes the earth is only 6,000 years old, I've also been intrigued by the approach of these modern day Cavemen. it really makes you wonder what our ideal diet is as a species, considering that humans have been on the planet for 2,000,000 years and the first agricultural revolution was only about 10,000 years ago. That doesn't even take into consideration what we've been doing to food in the last 100 years.


In many interviews I have heard promoters of the Caveman Diet describe our current world as a zoo, with humans being the prominent animal on display. Like any good zookeeper, it is our responsibility to provide our animals with their most natural diet and habitat. So, if you were given a human and wanted to give them the food they were evolved to eat, what would that be? In one article I read something like, "you could keep a lion alive on Twinkies, but you wouldn't be feeding it its ideal diet."


By the way, you should really check out MovNat to learn more about their view of "natural" eating and exercise habits. They explain it much better than I can.


Erwan Le Corre, the founder of the movement was once described as "the fittest man alive." One of his close friends and New York co-founder John Durant was recently featured on Colbert, which scores him major points, of course.


Anyway, this is starting to feel like a sales pitch. Honestly though, the most compelling argument I've heard about their eating and exercise habits is, "watch how a child exercises." They run, jump, wrestle, climb, spend zero time on a treadmill, and yet they seem to have unstoppable energy, glowing skin, incredible flexibility, and natural athleticism. I would go as far as venturing a guess about how a child would choose to eat naturally, but it would be almost impossible to find a control group. As soon as they are old enough to ween most kids get loaded (poisoned) with high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated... everything. I'm realizing that it really is a shitty time to live as far as food is concerned. Even our vegetables are riddled with pesticides and genetic modification, unless of course you can pay $8 a pound for organic green peppers.


It really puts things into perspective when you realize that eating a raw lizard is much cleaner and healthier than chowing down on a box of mac and cheese.


We've already started focusing our shopping efforts to the exterior of the store--ALWAYS a good idea. But, the more I read about the way we were designed to eat, the more eager I am to get a garden going and start eating more venison--and feeding it to my kids before I help ruin their perfect little bodies.