Send us a text

It seems as though the great ‘Paleo Boom’ has come and gone! All the books, all the podcasts- where have they gone?

I’ve been writing and podcasting for more than 10 years; I used to listen to Robb Wolf and The Paleo Solution, Jimmy Moore and Livin La Vida Low Carb, Mark Sisson and his Primal Podcast, and many others. Don’t hear much from Robb Wolf anymore- Jimmy Moore is locked in prison for God’s sake- and Primal goes on, and is just kind of Paleo with a different name…

Now, the cutting edge seems to be focussed on Carnivore, with Sean Baker and others. But is this carnivore pivot really all that much different than Paleo or Primal?

Not really. Those are all just words that encapsulate a certain set of ideas- that living in a more ancestral way, more in keeping with that of our forebears, is far healthier and more beneficial than the modern, pharmaceutical and processed foods-based version of the present day. In other words, simpler is better.

Carnivore could easily be another word for Paleo. It’s just another, more extreme way to practice the way our ancestors lived. It is certainly A way, and a very simple way to have a ‘restart’ with your health, that is possibly really messed up in the present day.

I mean, you could call your paleo type of diet ‘The Great Grandparents diet’, or the ‘Post nuclear apocalypse Diet’, and the results would be very similar. The idea is just to get away from the modern conventions and pronouncements of current ‘experts’ and getting back to timeless sorts of recommendations from the past. Time-tested and proven methods of health and wellness that have stood the test of time- of millennia- and not just those ideas that are being pushed by Big Medicine and the modern trinity of Pharmaceuticals, Big Food, and the Government .

You know: Moe, Larry and Curly. The EXPERTS!

I’m being a bit facetious, but in light of Fauci and the Covid disaster, along with the Low Fat food recommendations of the past 60 to 70 years, and the endless recommendations of Vegetable Seed Oils in our diets, well, the “experts” aren’t looking too expert really, are they?

And let’s not forget the Exercise recommendations- “run long distances to gain complete fitness and above all, heart health…”. More nonsense in place of simple strength training, walking, and stretching! Grounding barefoot by walking on the earth, rather than sprint-running to exhaustion in timed races on tracks with over-cushioned shoes.

I’m sure you get the idea. The Paleo Diet and Lifestyle hasn’t gone away, not at all.

Maybe the erstwhile leaders have left the field, moving on to other endeavors. But the movement is intact, as strong as it was when it was being promoted by figures such as Weston A. Price, the dentist who noticed in the 1920’s and 30’s the wonderful health of pre-industrial people who ate their ancestral diets and moved in the manner in which they had evolved over long periods of time.

All of the tenets of Paleo are intact, and correct. Eliminate most of ‘modern medicine’, including most vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs, especially for our children. Go back to ancient leaders, like Hippocrates, who said in old Greek times to “Let thy medicine be thy food, and thy food be thy medicine”. This is timeless truth!

Eat good, basic foods like meat and dairy. Fermented dairy is best, and raw dairy is better than processed! Likewise with grains- they are optional, but if made in accordance with established traditions, such as sourdough fermentation, they can

Support the show

Send us a text

There seem to be many views on what should be the goal of exercise! Should you aim, above all, at flexibility, or should it be cardiovascular ability? Or should you shoot for a balance of strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular (aerobic) fitness!

Well, obviously it seems to me, that a balanced approach is better- after all, all of these three components are crucial in their own ways. But together, they are the key to ultimate fitness, right? Well- kind of…

It used to be axiomatic that running, particularly long distance running, conferred the most health advantages! A strong, enduring cardiovascular system would keep you from getting a heart attack, and that is the ultimate goal…

However, it turns out that endless distance running also consumes your musculature and strength, while simultaneously rendering you more and more inflexible and lowering your immune response to many diseases, and cancer itself! It also, over long distances and years, destroys your knee and hip joints. And the cardio benefits seem to be very temporary: once you stop running (from your self-inflicted destruction), those benefits disappear.

Flexibility as a sole benefit is very slight. The ability to bend your body and limbs over a wide range of motion might seem impressive and desirable, (especially after you have destroyed most of your flexibility by long-distance running alone), by itself to become a kind of ‘yogi’ like this is more a type of parlor trick, other than the sum of being fit. It just doesn’t make you capable of much at all!

No, ironically, the number one goal of overall fitness is to build strength and muscle! This is the last component that has been considered to be important in the last few decades. But, as you age, it becomes apparent that strength training is by far the most important thing you can do.

To be self-sufficient and vital, you need strength above all. Muscle tissue is what will burn calories, even when you are not exercising, thus keeping you from becoming obese. Of course, strength is also what keeps you mobile and walking, able to lift heavy items and move things as well as yourself.

The main goal of the elderly, and those of us who will all eventually become elderly, is actually to build strength and muscle tissue. Strength training is what keeps us out of the nursing home, and in our own homes! Everything else: sports of all types - running, basketball, racket sports, gymnastics, horseshoes, basketball and other “ball” sports- they might be fun, and improve us in some subtle ways; but they do not give us true, measurable, and long-lasting benefits.

Only strength training does that, and it can be done for our entire lives! In one study, researchers compared muscle building ability in women in their 90’s to those in their 20’s, and found that the elders built muscle and strength as fast as those much younger!

This shows us how much muscle is valued and needed by the body, providing we induce the stimulus by strength training to show that the muscle is needed. Muscle that can keep us from falling, helping us to keep our balance, and also building our bone strength along with our musculatures.

Strength training is indeed crucial!

Support the show

Send us a text

One piece of misinformation that has been around for a long time is the idea that strength training workouts need to be…LONG! And I mean HOURS long…

I fell for this myself in my younger days. I mean, if 1 hour of intense workout exercises is good, well, 2 hours is even better, right? And the big one: if 3 workouts per week is enough for Steve Reeves and his ilk, well why not be like Arnold and Zane, and workout 6 days per week, sometimes twice per day!

This is all sad, and ridiculous, really. Especially for average people, who don’t want to win bodybuilding contests, but just want to be strong and healthy for a lifetime! I remember reading about Jean Claude von Damme, and how he worked out 6 hours per DAY!! What a joke, really…

I’m here to give you a liberating philosophy of strength training:

You can reach your ultimate potential, and train for your whole life long, by training for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to three times per week! Really. I now train my lower body one day for about that long, and my upper body for the same time frame. I train, skip a day, and then train again. My weights and gymnastic rings are all set up in my basement, and I just walk downstairs, and start working…

Very convenient, quickly done, and very productive! Today, for instance, I took off two days between workouts, since leg training sometimes is more draining than upper body. No matter; I just try to feel how I am recovering, and judge accordingly.

It really is surprising to learn that, when you workout really intensely, a short duration is really all you need, and really all your body can stand! An intense stimulation of the targeted musculature must necessarily be brief, and is all that you really need or want.

Just as you don’t need a ton of food to grow and recover, you don’t need a TON of exercise to stimulate gains! Just make sure that the food you do eat is mainly protein, meat, eggs, cheese and seafood, and you will be very strong and healthy…Supplements are good too, so take vitamin D, magnesium and potassium, vitamin C and you will have all you need to grow, thrive, and be super healthy and strong!!

That is really all there is to it! It’s really not that complicated, my friends.

My only qualification is that I also work out every morning, first thing, for about an hour…

But that is my joy and pleasure- working out in front of the television, mainly with stretching and virtual resistance exercises, that feel amazing and make you like a cat, twisting and stretching to make you supple, and feel like you are a free creature of the jungle! You learn to use the muscles you build strength training like a feline, feeling alive in your body, injury free and vital!

To me, that is the ultimate, lifelong goal of physical culture.

Support the show