"Rewilding workshops and paleo diets: Why we're chasing a primitivist ideal"

[Hairyman]

"Rewilding workshops and paleo diets: Why we're chasing a primitivist ideal"

Searching for a primitivist-inspired lifestyle?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...paleo-diets-chasing-primitivist-ideal/9776114

 

[ChrisM]

An interesting read, thanks for the link.


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[Le Loup]

Searching for a primitivist-inspired lifestyle?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...paleo-diets-chasing-primitivist-ideal/9776114

Excellent post, good read. Thank you.
Keith.

 

[Bloffy13]

Biggest thing people forget about this is people actually live significantly longer now and are significantly more healthy for longer thanks to more varied, balanced diets, better health care etc.
People say the paleo diet was better. In some ways it was but they also had long periods of poor diet, ate scavaged meat, rotting grains etc. 40 was considered very old, many suffered from conditions such as brittle bones etc due to poor diets, and often dental health wasn't the best.
Not saying it is bad just heavily romanticized. Good if you can just go to your local health food shop and buy whatever you want but look at early photos of various indigenous peoples and, to my untrained eye, they didn't appear in the best of health.
Just my tuppence worth. Let the flaming begin.....
Cheers
Bloffy

 

[Oldnslow]

I've seen many posts on forums regarding "paleo" diets.
The best comment I read was paleo is what we use to call "eating"

Little personal experience.

If you don't like reading this is pretty long..... skip to the end.

From the age of 30 I started gaining weight... well even before (24), marvellous what getting married does for you.
I had no idea what the reason was and by the time I hit my 50's I was in the 100+kg range.
Not happy about it but figured it was just part of aging.

I'd tried cutting back on food but always ended up ravishingly hungry, eating more than I should anyway.

Last year I saw an article on tv about Paleo and some d!ck interviewer trying to make fun of Pete Evans the tv chef.
For his age Pete looks damn fit and the interviewer was doing his best to be snide with every comment.
Pete held his cool and answered respectfully.

Long story short SWMBO and I decided to give it a go, what could we lose.
At the same time we have a health nut in our home (our son), natural foods, keeping fit and lifting, no steroids.
Built very well and keeps his shape with regular gym visits.

So we started in April 2017, first month I lost 7kg.
For the next 6 months we lost a lot of fat and learnt a lot about how to eat well.
By the end of October 2017 I was 82.8kg. Wife had lost 10+ kg and at my lightest I had lost 20.

Now we decided paleo wasn't entirely right for us.
So we used a modified paleo lifestyle.
On average we eat a light meal at 10am
Lunch/dinner at 2pm
And snacks in the evening.

All low carb, with sweets once or twice a week.
Plenty of fresh fruit and vege as well as meat.
As the body is now burning fats and protein we are never hungry, which was my downfall previously.

Shifting from a carb rich diet makes total sense once you've done it.

The real fight now is habitual eating.
You see the brain says you should be hungry...... but you are not.
So snacking needs to be kept under control.
I have a decent amount of whisky, rum and vodka too, just in case you were wondering about alcohol intake.

Current weight as of this morning?
87.1kg.
Not starving, not fat.
If you are carrying excess weight and feel it, try eating a paleo style for 6 months to shed the fat.
Educate yourself on the calorie value of what you are putting in your body.
Learn what ketosis does for cleaning the body.

Try it

You have nothing but fat to lose.

Oh and I don't exercise at all, except walking around the house and yard.
Or going bush occasionally.

 

[barefoot dave]

Thanks oldnslow, spot on there!

 

[Leo Donkersley]

Interesting read - thanks for posting.

I agree with Bloffy that we have romanticized many aspects of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. I'm sure it was a bloody hard life they lived and I am quite relieved that I don't have to hunt and gather my family's food every day. Great to get out and forage or hunt or fish for a day - but for a lifetime? No thanks.

One thing that strikes me about hunter-gatherer cultures is the 'feast or famine' cycle of eating. One of our modern problems is that we eat too much, too often. I've seen that certain experts advocate a 'fast day' once a week. Along with eating less, this fast day apparently gives our bodies a healthier metabolism. Well they would say that I guess, if they are selling the idea of a Paleo diet, but it is something to think about nonetheless.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/fasting-for-three-days-can-regenerate-entire-immune-system-study/

 

[Le Loup]

Interesting read - thanks for posting.

I agree with Bloffy that we have romanticized many aspects of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. I'm sure it was a bloody hard life they lived and I am quite relieved that I don't have to hunt and gather my family's food every day. Great to get out and forage or hunt or fish for a day - but for a lifetime? No thanks.

One thing that strikes me about hunter-gatherer cultures is the 'feast or famine' cycle of eating. One of our modern problems is that we eat too much, too often. I've seen that certain experts advocate a 'fast day' once a week. Along with eating less, this fast day apparently gives our bodies a healthier metabolism. Well they would say that I guess, if they are selling the idea of a Paleo diet, but it is something to think about nonetheless.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/fasting-for-three-days-can-regenerate-entire-immune-system-study/

I agree it would be a hard life in some ways to be doing this for a lifetime. I have lived this way in past years, though we were & are growing our own garden foods. But I had to hunt fairly regular, & whilst as you say this is quite pleasant when it is not a NEED, having to do it in all weather conditions because you need to is a different kettle of fish all together. It is tiring & exhausting, depending on how long it takes & the environment you are living in. It became a way of life for me, & I guess I became used to it, but I would not want to still be living like that now at my age. I still could if I had to, that is good to know. Now I don't NEED to.
Keith.

 

[Leo Donkersley]

Exactly. The NEED takes all of the fun out of it! Incidentally Le Loup, you should write a book, if you haven't already. It would be interesting indeed to read the experiences of somebody who has walked the walk!

I've been out on skis looking for grouse that sit high up in the trees in the winter. Deep snow, and the wider lappland skis are instead of snowshoes - you don't get too many places where you glide along happily with minimal effort. Bloody exhausting, and after a full day can come home with just the one bird, or maybe nothing at all. Not exactly going to feed a hungry family for long.

Imagine having to do it with a bow, and not a rifle that can pop a bird off the branch at 100m plus. The effort cancels the benefit of what protein you will get from the meat. Only a couple of hundred years ago here in northern Sweden, it was smoked or salted meat/fish with whatever vegetables or berries that you had stored or preserved. After that it was just a case of hoping you all survived until spring.

It's like chopping wood - it's fun for a while. But in my first winter here, it was the thing that heated my house. It became a royal pain in the arse, knowing that I had to go out and chop wood when it was -25 degrees. When you HAVE TO DO IT, it is no fun at all. My second year? Bought a pellet burner.

 

[Le Loup]

Exactly. The NEED takes all of the fun out of it! Incidentally Le Loup, you should write a book, if you haven't already. It would be interesting indeed to read the experiences of somebody who has walked the walk!

I've been out on skis looking for grouse that sit high up in the trees in the winter. Deep snow, and the wider lappland skis are instead of snowshoes - you don't get too many places where you glide along happily with minimal effort. Bloody exhausting, and after a full day can come home with just the one bird, or maybe nothing at all. Not exactly going to feed a hungry family for long.

Imagine having to do it with a bow, and not a rifle that can pop a bird off the branch at 100m plus. The effort cancels the benefit of what protein you will get from the meat. Only a couple of hundred years ago here in northern Sweden, it was smoked or salted meat/fish with whatever vegetables or berries that you had stored or preserved. After that it was just a case of hoping you all survived until spring.

It's like chopping wood - it's fun for a while. But in my first winter here, it was the thing that heated my house. It became a royal pain in the arse, knowing that I had to go out and chop wood when it was -25 degrees. When you HAVE TO DO IT, it is no fun at all. My second year? Bought a pellet burner.

No I haven't written my own biography, though I have authored two books on primitive fire lighting & of course I have written many articles for magazines both local & overseas plus I am still writing on my blogs. I share my skills for anyone who is interested & someone did film a doco on me some years ago.
I actually quite enjoy cutting wood for the fires, we cook on a wood fired stove, so we need firewood all year round. I guess it is being in the forest that I like, plus being self reliant, it is a pleasant feeling.
When you are dependent on supplying your own food, you need to have gardens, & you need to run a trap line as well as hunting. I did not run a trap line in the Territory because it was not the right environment for it, & it was big game country. But I used to run a trap line here in New England.
Keith.