'Evolution is playing a game of catch up right now.
If we are Inactive, our body interprets that as a sign that something is wrong (such as we are stuck in a cave with no food) so it then lowers metabolism, mood, sex drive and cognitive function to conserve energy'
Tom Venuto
I've written in many emails about the importance of increasing not just activity....but also your movement template.
The ancestral health movement is rapidly growing in momentum in the health sphere.
The more people focus on adding in more movement, sleeping better and reducing refined carbohydrates and processed foods....the better their health gets.
However, all of this is only a best guess, and science needs to catch up if we want it prove it in studies so then we can calculate and measure our way to better health.
Personally this sounds like a loooooong process and I'd rather get ahead now...how about YOU?
Do you ever see a 'tubby' wild animal with a calculator and a calorie content text book under its paw?
To me it makes perfect sense that our ancestors had bodies perfectly adapted to their environment and available food
This differed across the continents so think about where your family came from:
- Could this be why it is really hard to find the ideal nutrition plan that works for
all?
- Could this be why we seem to be creating a sick and broken population with the more convenience we create?
- Could this be why populations deteriorate rapidly when convenience food replaces traditional diets?
- Could this be why the western world ends up immobile DECADES sooner than populations that squat to eat, poop (sorry!) and use their bodies all day
long?
We are out of touch with our movement template, gut health and natural evolution and repositioning our priorities towards this will set us right.
And here is a big one:
Maybe the
lifespans we estimate for our ancestors were way off?
With more predators, less shelter and lack of medicine could this is why we estimate that we lived to 50 years or so a few thousand years ago?
If we transported your great, great, great, great, great grandfather to the present day and let him eat what he always
done and move as he wants to, is it possible he would live way past 110 years in our safe environment?
(which is what some experts suggest is our more realistic target if we look after ourselves!)
NO PT or nutritionist has all the answers, only a series of best guesses and
evidence of what worked for some clients and many hours of reading and learning.
Of course we can help you speed things up with an hour a week but it is what you do with the other 167 hours is where the magic happens!
(This is one of the driving forces that started me off on investing lots of time
into these emails...so please share with your friends)
Some things to try:
- if what you are about to eat has more than TWO steps to its processing...put it back and buy something that looks like it would in the wild.
- find something to hang off: Our Latissimus Dorsi are climbing muscles. We are bald monkeys
really so these muscles need a work out (as we are meant to climb!) or they can't stabilise our backs and help pull our shoulders back and down.
- get up and walk about every 45 minutes...yes...really do this!
- go barefoot: I get funny looks as I walk the dog with no shoes on. Especially on grass and mud. There really is some studies that suggest that this process can realign the balance of the energy
in our body. This may seem 'out there' but google 'earthing' and see what you find. This is a new thing for me over the last year or so and I definitely feel more relaxed...try it for yourself.
- learn the main human movements and have fun with them (I list these in the archived email on link below).
- improve your sleep by reducing stress, light and temperature in your room. Also ditch the screens past sun
down/ 9pm.
- get a good foam roller..these thing are dynamite!
View this as a battle, a game or a challenge.
We are a product of our environment so get yours working for you....all day long..
Get ancestral,
James 'caveman' Chandler
:-D
