I was asked the other day if I had ever researched the Paleo movement, which I hadn't, so I looked it up. What I found was that the Paleo movement is focused on changing a person's lifestyle to mimic that of a caveman in the paleolithic era. The basic premise being that human beings are not living in the state in which we were designed to live.
We were not designed for agriculture, and an agrarian society is the cause of most of what ills us. If we go back to our caveman roots, we will be healthier and full of energy. I might add that there is a lot of exercise involved to mimic the effects of the taxing of our physical resources while hunting and gathering. The gist is that you eat a lot of meat, berries, roots, etc- what you would eat if you were a caveman, and you would refrain from cultivated grains, etc- things you would not eat if you were in the Paleolithic era. Of this type of diet I've always said that if you eat like a caveman, you should act like a caveman, so really, I don't have any problem with this idea in its concept.
It's coincidental that right around the time I looked into the Paleo movement that I had just read an article by Scott Jurek in Runner's World about how he lives as a vegan, but is also one of the premier elite ultra-distant (i.e. beyond the race distance of a marathon) champions in the world. In the vegan world, you eat grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, etc- basically no animal products whatsoever. No eggs, no cow/goat milk, no cow/goat cheese, no butter... if it had a face, you cannot eat anything that came from it.
I don't believe in coincidence. I have literally just looked into the polar opposites in the spectrum of dietary lifestyles. One requires a walk-in freezer/refrigerator for all the vast amounts of dead animal I might need to consume, the other requires a large root cellar and a lot of Beano to store all the plant-based product and to help reduce the gaseous emissions that will be sure to follow.
As I've stated in previous posts, I am not a fan of "movements" or "diets", but it has occurred to me that all I've really offered you is my opinion on these fads but have not offered you my experience. I started wondering what would it be like for me to try out some of these dietary lifestyles for about a week at a time and then report on my experience. Before I start, I will need to be careful to research each one so that I am following precisely the rules associated.
I would like to invite you to join along. This could be a fun adventure into the unknown. I have not decided when I will start this or which specific diets I would follow, but as a brainstorm, I think it would go a little something like this:
1 week as a vegetarian - no dead animals, but animal products are ok
1 week as a vegan- no dead animals or any animal products
1 week as a flexatarian- kind of what I do now, occasional meat, but not the central focus
1 week as a Paleo- meat, berries, roots, etc.
I am currently researching vegetarianism and trying to figure out when to start this adventure. Any advice from anyone who knows someone or who is currently practicing these diets would be appreciated and helpful. What's interesting is that for any of these dietary lifestyles there always seems to be research to back it up and practitioners will always plead their case- I know, because as a practitioner of minimalist running, people are always tolerating my pleas- but at this point, I invite practitioners to sell me on whatever they want to sell me on. I'll do my own research and develop a plan, then report the results. Anyone who wants to join in is invited.
As always, thanks for reading, and God bless!
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