NUTRITION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Your body is a weight gaining machine. For most of human history there has not been enough food and in order to survive the body developed sophisticated methods to conserve energy and lower metabolism. Our taste buds compel us to eat sweet tasting foods which increase insulin in the blood and we gain weight by storing fat, which will be energy for the future.
For 95% of human life on earth mankind has lived as a hunter/gatherer. We ate nuts, berries, fruits, roots, tubers and vegetables, all rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Wild game and fish provided lean protein and high quality fats. Exercise was a natural and required part of daily life. Food supplies varied with the seasons and the rhythms of nature and the body adapted and survived. Most often stress was due to a real danger and the “fight or flight” stress response served us well. This is the foundation experience for the complex wisdom of your body.
Basically, you are not designed for the 21st century. Hunting and gathering has become pushing a shopping cart around the supermarket for a few minutes once or twice a week. Processed, refined, preservative filled, mineral depleted foods have replaced what Mother Nature provided to our ancestors. Our taste buds still love sweets and as our blood insulin raises so does our weight and overtime our cholesterol and blood pressure rise as well.
We are hunter/gatherers in SUVs so busy “making a living” we have no time to exercise, but always find time to worry.
In ancient and contemporary hunter/gatherer societies it takes about 20 hours a week to “make a living.” A few hours daily are needed to find food, provide shelter for the family and insure basic needs for the community. The rest of the time is devoted to family life, personal projects, play, communication, spiritual practices, contemplation and communing with nature.
The wisdom and design of your body is no different from that of your ancestors who lived on earth 40,000 years ago, but the environment you live in has changed dramatically. In order to stay healthy today it requires knowledge and effort. Health is no longer a natural outcome of daily life as it was for our ancestors.
The mismatch between the 40,000 year old genetic design of your body and modern diet and lifestyle has contributed to the following health issues:
• Widespread deficiencies in vitamins C, A, B6, calcium and iron
• Magnesium deficiency in 68% of people
• Majority of Americans deficient in trace minerals such as zinc and selenium
• Insulin resistance
• Weight gain
• Leptin resistance
• Food allergy, mostly delayed onset IgG antibody mediated
• Intestinal yeast overgrowth
• Lowered metabolism
• High cholesterol and triglycerides
• And more…
Medical and nutritional laboratory testing can help you understand the wisdom of your body and the best diet for you.