Guest Blog Entry by Frank Forencich: Don’t we want more from the Paleo than diet?
Posted | 6 commentsJust back from the Ancestral Health Symposium at UCLA and my mind is buzzing with exuberance and ideas. In brief, the short story is simple: This was an outrageously inspirational event, not just for me personally, but for anyone interested in themes of health, human origins and primal living. This event will ripple all across the world; the effects will be felt for years and decades to come. This is going to have a huge downstream impact.
Because of simultaneous, concurrent presentations, it was impossible to see more than half the speakers. Not only did this present some excruciating choices, it also left everyone with only a partial view of the whole event. Consequently, everyone will now be living with a different impression of what the event was all about.
Nevertheless, the energy was incredible. People were friendly and supportive all the way around. I witnessed a whole lot of sincere teaching, sharing and genuine listening. There was expertise and curiosity in abundance and I was inspired.
In general, the preponderance of the presentations were on Paleo diet concepts. Naturally, there were differences of opinion on details, but the consensus view was that the low-fat, high-carb diets of the late 20th century were a dreadful mistake. A string of presenters made it abundantly clear: refined sugars, flour and food products contribute enormously to our modern health woes. Vegetarian diets also took a hit: most agreed that vegetarian diets simply don’t provide adequate support for good health. The scientific data and clinical reports were impressive. I will never look at a loaf of bread the same way again.
Curiously though, the strength of the conference was also its weakness. That is, a first-time observer of this Paleo scene would surely have walked away with the impression that Paleo is almost entirely about food, diet and nutrition. There was no question: diet was the central focus of this event. In fact, the conference might have well been called “The Paleo Diet Symposium.”
This is where I take issue. Powerful as the dietary evidence was, it still came across as an isolated, mono-disciplinary specialty. Several presenters drilled the biochemistry down so deep that I thought they would come out the other side of the earth. And in this sense, it wasn’t really consistent with a Paleo world view. If we know one thing about native, pre-modern cultures, it is that their orientations were inclusive and holistic. Food was obviously important to our ancestors, but they would find our focus/obsession with food to be completely out of balance.
The full range of Paleo experience was simply not represented at the conference. As far as I could tell, there was little interest in the human connection with land, tribe or the animal world (refreshing exceptions included Mark Sisson speaking about play and Erwan Le Corre talking about moving naturally).
Obviously, Paleo diet studies are vital. Public health is in serious decline and a large measure of this is the result of grain and carbohydrate over-consumption. Clearly, we need to be speaking up and making this case to the public at large. But by focusing exclusively on nutrition, we make a fundamental error and keep our minds stuck in a modernized, Western orientation. We attribute a systemic problem to a single cause. Our field begins to look and feel narrow, mono-disciplinary and reductionistic; this is a classic rookie mistake.
So I would pose a couple of questions: Don’t we want more from the Paleo than diet? Isn’t there more to be learned from the last 2 million years than a formula for eating? If all we take from the Paleo is a recipe book or a chemical prescription, we’re missing a much larger and potentially more valuable lesson. In fact, if all we do is mine the Paleo for nutritional, health and weight loss advice, we become guilty of yet one more form of unconscious cultural imperialism. In this case, we don’t invade other countries and tyrannize their people. Instead, we raid the past, take what we want and leave the rest behind. This is more of the same behavior that got us into our modern predicament in the first place.
I believe that it’s time that we listened to the full range of what the Paleo has to offer. Yes, let’s talk about food, but let’s not get carried away with substances and their effect on the body. Let’s keep it whole. Like good Paleo hunters and gatherers, let’s keep our attention moving across all dimensions of our habitat and experience. Let’s talk about our relationship to habitat, to the land and to the creatures around us.
Ultimately, health is about more than getting the right substances down our throats. It’s about developing a better sense of rapport- with our bodies, with the land and with one another.
Perhaps we’ll see a broader panorama at the Second Annual Ancestral Health Symposium.
In any case, I can hardly wait.
Frank Forencich is an internationally-recognized leader in health education and performance training. He earned his B.A. at Stanford University in human biology and neuroscience and has over 30 years teaching experience in martial art, functional movement and health promotion.
Thank you for this. Of anything yet written about AHS, this is far and away the most meaningful to me.
Yes, the “diet” is very important. It is a powerful, foundational basis.
But, it is a foundation only, albeit a powerful one for those of us, who like myself have experienced great healing over many years, through much lower carb/ancestral eating. And the power in the realm of not only the prevention of obesity but the power of prevention of serious diseases of lifestyle is truly very great.
But, this is only the “foundation” work.
Indeed, we must harken to a much more inclusive experience and view of each other and our worlds, and a much deeper interaction with the natural world, ongoing. And we must *listen* to what that nautral world is saying to us.
Real healing and real health, are so, so much more.
Thank you Frank and MovNat for the much needed reminders. Keep reminding!!!!
Although what we eat obviously plays a major role in the state of our health, there is much more to optimal health than diet, especially in our society where indoor sedentary lifestyles prevail. To me paleo is frequent exposure to fresh air and sunshine, plenty of exercise through natural human movement, adequate sleep, reducing the amount of chemicals that I put on my body (as well as in my body), and connecting with nature on a regular basis (preferably barefoot!)…all of this is in addition to fabulous nutrition. I also place a lot of importance on social and familial bonding through physical contact, frequent socialization, extended breastfeeding and attachment parenting. I think you hit the nail on the head with this post; paleo is a lifestyle, not just a diet.
I did not attend the AHS, but I’ve been following the information feed – pre, during & post. I work with movement and people, especially children. I believe firmly in the fact that it’s what we ‘add’ that tends to ruin our health template, so when i found the whole ‘paleo’ movement, it made perfect sense. The physical movement piece, especially.
The diet is something I continue to tinker with – full-out ‘paleo’ hasn’t worked for me. You know, I feel that is the greatest lesson this ‘diet’ can teach…here’s some really great ideas, based in solid common sense, but in the end, you have to get educated, watch, observe, get to know your body and what helps it feel and act healthy.
What I fear in watching all of this unfold is not only that the Paleo Diet will run away with the Horse, but that if good folks are not careful, the average person will think of this as another Golden Diet, the One True Way and forget, like many people do, to pay attention to their own nature/own body when it doesn’t work as well as it does for others. And that they will go back to the gym and do pointless, compartmentalized, hamster wheel stuff and perhaps drop everything because, again, they are not seeing the ‘results’ they want. They haven’t learned the all important rule – to learn, maybe for the first time ever, about their own true nature, to listen, to observe, explore. They are so stuck on externals and following fads. They take on the instruction, but miss the point.
One of the things that draws me most to Movnat, because it’s what I personally practice and have seen rarely in the world of ‘fitness’, is meeting people where they are. Old, young, vegan, meat-eater, brain-damaged, asperger’s, conservative, liberal, wheelchair. It doesn’t matter – the person matters. This is about helping as many people as you can; not focusing on & cheering on the choir. What you offer people, their experience, is what will sell it all. So, it is not only compassionate, but strategic to remain open & welcoming in your presentation & practice.
I do feel, from everything I’ve read, that the diet-centered folks do share this view of other elements of the movement being crucial and, certainly, this was the first AHS and every first is just that: a first. There’s always something to learn and improve upon (even in the 101′st
But, yes, it would be amazing to see a more multi-layered approach to the next symposium and in the manner in which the different threads in this movement cross-reference each other in between symposiums. That’s not easy, I understand, but I think it would be beneficial and worth the extra effort.
If the entire Paleo movement is going to be taken seriously, it’s going to need some science and experience to back it up. This being the first AHS, I suppose it was only inevitable that it focused primarily on nutrition. Paleo nutrition is easier to prove and make a point about than some other fields Paleo study. Erwan is probably the biggest authority on Paleo movement and fitness, because he did all the hard work not just by scientific research, but by developing a coaching system himself. He lives Paleo, and that makes him an authority on teaching movement and hence, MovNat.
What else could we add to the AHS? Ultimately, we need to take a look at all the preventable problems of individuals living in a modern society and see what insight that evolutionarily thinking could offer. We aren’t going to solve war and politics, but here are a few things that I think could be addressed:
1) Psychology. This is perhaps one of the biggest and most important issues, especially with the amount of psychological medicines and diagnoses flooding the population. Anti-depressants are everywhere, as is depression. ADD/ADHD is booming in kids. Eating disorders, self-mutilation, drug abuse, and suicide are all abundant in our modern, developed society. Yet I take a look at everyone I have met who eats Paleo foods and exercises regularly, and they are starkly happy. What could we say about forming healthy relationships with others and developing a positive worldview that hasn’t already been said? What can we do to heal the minds of our fellow people? Erwan has been working hard on Facebook and Twitter dealing out his wisdom du jour, but what else is possible?
2) Sleep and light pollution: Light pollution ties with resource consumption as well for green-minded folks. How consistent do you sleep? How much coffee do you drink? (I’m looking at Americans here) Caffeine and other stimulants are a crutch, but what can we do when we get that afternoon slump? I’d love to nap if it didn’t get me fired from work. How can we prevent something like that? “Get more sleep” is an ineffective platitude, we need to share steps to getting better sleep and rest as well as tips for unwinding your mind.
3) Environmental Pollution: I know a lot of Paleo-minded folks like Mark Sisson and Frank Forencich have a chilled-out philosophy of avoiding perfectionism and easing expectations. This is a great mindset to have, and one that we in the West are usually lacking. We’re so damn uptight and shameful that we usually are hesitant to engage in positive processes due to fear of failure. That is a terrible thing.
But there are things that we should genuinely be afraid of that we are NOT evolutionarily designed for. How can we recognize and know when there’s heavy metals in our water? How can we know when fish have just too much mercury in it? What are some ways to deal with air pollution besides breathing through our noses and moving to the countryside? If you approach these things with too much of a chilled out attitude, then you’re at risk for cancer and a variety of other maladies.
4) Building community. So far, the only dedicated Paleo community that I know of is on the Internet. There are very few people around me who eat Paleo or even know what it is. Living in China makes it especially hard to avoid processed foods, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and rice, and talking about avoiding it is sure to lose you friends. It was so easy to eat right and work out during the MovNat seminar I went on, but it became much harder to do Paleo after that, and I found myself frequently caving into peer pressure and lack of resources and convenience. I don’t always have 100% willpower to eat Paleo or work out right because I have spent a tiny minority of my time on this planet doing so. If I lived completely Paleo for a long time, it would be much easier and more natural. How can we sustain our movement for ourselves and then expand into the rest of the world? Does everybody have to move to Colorado?
5) Anthropological case studies. Erwan is a proud supporter of Survival International, and we could all learn from that. I think every person who is interested in this movement should try to donate some time or money to the survival and protection of indigenous people and hunter-gatherers. Every time one of these populations becomes bullied into taking up wage labor or agriculture (or just flat-out dies), a way of living sustainably within a certain ecosystem dies, and the knowledge dies with it. Hunter-gatherer populations vary wildly in terms of culture, appearance, social structure, values, and methods of survival, movement, and diet. We should learn about as many as possible in order to know our own human species better. Far too often we tend to think “African bushmen” when thinking about them, without realizing the incredible diversity of these peoples. The Zoo has taken so much from them, and we have taken so much wisdom from them. It should be up to us to lead the cause in their preservation.
Surely there are other ideas that I missed. I hope that anyone else reading this could contribute some more ideas here. The AHS is about so much more than diet, and if we employ a variety of approaches to living the Paleo Lifestyle then we’ll cast a wider net and draw more people in, and be more factual and comprehensive in our approach. I started my interest in Paleo by being taken on a barefoot run. Later, I google-searched “barefoot run” and found Erwan’s videos on Youtube. Later, I learned about paleo nutrition by clicking on various links around this site. Developing a Paleo mindset comes from a beginning interest in one of these fields that then develops to encompass many more, as it all starts turning into a congruent whole. Thus, the mindset of the AHS will likely follow the mindset of its constituents and attendants. The more we broaden our individual horizons, the broader our meetings and seminars will become.
What are some other ideas that you’d like to see represented?
This is absolutely brilliant. I left the symposium with many of the same sentiments as Frank. It is great to see the leaders in the field noting this crucial point. Paleo should be a vast health concept, not one relegated to only specific components of well being. I second what Leslie said, I couldn’t agree more. Thank you Erwan and MovNat for helping to get this message out and thank you Frank for your respected review.
Great stuff Frank. Really glad to see this discussion happening. Frank’s essay on the Paleo meme is worth a read as well.