You can improve your energy, boost your stamina, maintain your vitality, and maximize your longevity all with the building blocks of a primal life
Fitness
Move Primally. Primal fitness means moving the way our bodies were designed to move and the way to do that is to adopt a lifestyle that will serve us for the rest of our lives and keep our bodies at a high level of functional fitness.
Our ancestors had lean and functional physiques that epitomize what a human on this planet should look like. At least the ones that survived. And those that survived their harsh and dangerous environment were able to pass their genes on to their ancestors – lucky us.
Furthermore, our ancestors, at least those few who were lucky enough to survive the dangerous and terrifying world they inhabited into old age (by avoiding getting eaten by a hungry predator or falling off a cliff or breaking a leg) would continue to carry lean functional bodies into their graves. Examination of paleolithic remains being dug up reveals a catastrophic accidents to be the most likely way to die for both young and old. But a surprising consistency of healthy bones – lack of arthritis or osteoporosis, for example – right through to old age. This indicated that life was highly functional and continued to be if you managed to live to old age and death came quickly. That’s extremely good news for us humans who have inherited those genes.
The sad contrast to today is that in our modern world we have come to assume that the normal pattern for human ageing is a slow and steady decline in our functional capabilities often starting in our 40’s if not much earlier. Various modern maladies including ever-expanding waistline, a slow decline in physical mobility and mental capabilities supported by an ever-increasing dependence of pharmaceuticals often leading to a long and extended chronic care period prior to death.
It does not have to be that way. Primal health is about what it means to live within your biological potential which includes health and functional fitness for your body and mind for life.
Food
Eat Primally. This modern world is wonderful. With the global movement of goods and services, we have a cornucopia of food choices available to us. And this rich diversity truly feeds into our joy of life. The most important aspect of primal living is adopting the foods and eating habits that are optimal for our bodies and how they have evolved. It’s estimated that 80% of body composition is determined by what you eat. That is very good news for those struggling to lose weight. It’s not primarily about spending hours in the gym or running for miles a day. It’s mainly where you shop and which aisles in the grocery store you visit and which ones you bypass.
The key to eating primally is that you are not on a diet. You have adopted a healthy relationship to food and eating. Diets have an abysmal track record anyway. Primal eating means deliberately changing course and adopting a new lifestyle related to food based on your evolutionary biology as a human. A food relationship that results in effortless weight loss, vibrant energy, and optimal health. Eating primally means loving your food because it makes you feel so good and makes life a buzz.
Attitude
Live Primally: If you are like most modern folks you may feel as if you are living a hectic and harried life. We are not biologically equipped to live this way and it ultimately wears us down; physically, mentally, emotionally. And it leaves many people longing for and seeking some sort of joy of living rather than a fear of dying. This is not how you are meant to live.
What does primal living look like? First, it is not about seeking pleasure as a way to find joy. It’s actually a lot simpler than that. And it is a very ancestral life. In a nutshell; Slow down; Simplify; Manage stress; Prioritize sleep; Get sun; Spend time in nature; Tap into your spiritual life. It’s about many of the things you may have heard before. But they are all things that have become counterintuitive and counter-cultural in the modern world. These are all factors in primal health that we all need to relearn because health is much more than running on a treadmill or eating Keto. And they are all things you can learn within a primal lifestyle approach to life.
“Much to learn you still have”
– Yoda