Eating "Paleo"?

Through a Facebook group I'm in, I learned about this way of eating called "paleo", also "primal" or "hunter-gatherer". I posted a few videos (on Facebook) about it. If you think about how humans lived in the beginning of time--whether you believe it was 6,000 years ago, or 60,000,000,000--that's the idea behind this way of living.

It's more of a lifestyle than just a way of eating. Firstly, it's eating real, whole foods, that you've grown or caught yourself. Organic is probably acceptable, too, I'm sure, as most organic farmers try to grow things in a sustainable way that is closer to how agriculture was in the beginning.

Some people who eat this way don't eat grains, as a lot of the grains today are harder to digest, and quite far from what the ancient grains were like before agriculture began. Most people who eat paleo don't eat much, if any, refined sugars. Some do eat honey (raw), maple syrup, even molasses, or cane sugar. On Ruth's Real Food (blog), she has a link to videos of how to make your own coconut milk, oil, and toasted coconut. These are supposed to help with sugar cravings (which I'm sure they would), and of course, coconut is super-healthy.

The other parts of this lifestyle that I learned about are exercise, and sun. The principle is that our bodies were not designed to do intensive workouts every day. If you think about how aboriginals lived, they hunted, chased, (or were chased sometimes!), cut and carried wood, grew and gathered their own food, hauled water, etc. etc. Their whole life was work. But, they went to bed when it was dark, they had less "stuff" to take care of, their lives weren't as busy as our modern lives, and they knew to rest when they needed rest.

So, paleos don't workout at the gym 5 days a week. They do work outdoors, walk, hike, bike, swim, things like that. Intense exercise in short bursts.

The next thing, as I mentioned, is sun. We don't get enough sun these days! We mostly live and work indoors, or, we wear a lot of clothing. According to Paleos, we need a lot more vitamin D than is even recommended. And, if we gradually build up a tan, it will help to protect our skin. If you've had enough sun, you should cover up with clothing/hats, rather than slathering on sunscreen. Sunburns cause cancer, not sun itself. And yes, there is a hole in the ozone layer, so we have to be mindful of the increasing intensity of the sun's rays. But basically, spend time in the sunshine and fresh air! It IS good for you, if you are careful. Sunscreen is full of chemicals, no? Unless, of course, you can find something natural.

Anyway, I'm very interested in this. It's basically the way my Uncle Gavin & Auntie Jean live. They eat real foods, mostly organic. They don't eat things like margarine, processed cheese, canned soups, etc. They bike, they walk, they stay active, they rest when they need to. They don't cram their lives so full of obligations that they don't have time to slow down. And I know Uncle Gavin doesn't wear sunscreen. He has a tan, and usually wears long sleeves outdoors, and a hat.

I probably won't strictly adhere to the paleo diet. I definitely will eat as much wild meat & fish as possible, and we already raise our own meat chickens, and have laying hens, as well. Next year, I'd love to have a garden, too. I'm sure I'll have the occasional treat, though. Ya can't just ditch cake forever! ;) I should make my own bread, and I'm sure I'll still eat grains. Maybe not as much as I probably do now. I'm already walking almost every day, it's part of my day that I really look forward to. And I never was a big sunscreen fan, although I have had my share of burns, because of carelessness.

I don't want to kill myself getting healthy. Nor do I want to never treat myself, or be an extremist. But that's why it's called a "treat"--it's supposed to be occasional! I want to strive to eat healthy, natural foods, spend more time outdoors (and on this damn computer less), take better care of my body, and enjoy all the things it can do--and hopefully live a much healthier life!

So...here's to better health in the future, and living more naturally! Yet another chapter in my increasingly hippie-ish life. ;)