About PaleoTerran
Around 2.6 million years ago, an upright being made a stone tool, a step that by 200,000 years ago led to us, Homo sapiens. The Paleolithic era spans the time from these first stone tools to the introduction of agriculture around 10,000 BC. The original diet of our ancestors included lean meats, fish, roots/tubers, vegetables, and occasional fruits, berries, and nuts. Cereal grains were rare, and we consumed no dairy. Our fitness was due to the trials of survival. Though life was hard, we worked less and spent more time socializing. The quality of our sleep was due to our efforts, the comfort of our social bonds, and the darkness. We were taller then. At least that’s what we know of the early Europeans' ancestors: women lost 3 inches in height and men 5 inches following the agricultural revolution.
Once agriculture and animal husbandry were introduced, humankind rapidly multiplied and eventually spread to every corner of Earth. While our modern world is based on the success of the agricultural revolution, diseases that had little or no effect on our Paleolithic ancestors now visit us frequently: heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and more. We are conditioned to view these diseases as a normal part of life. Are we causing these disorders? Have we sufficiently tampered with our original diet and physical health and put our children’s and our own future at risk?
PaleoTerran is focused on returning to our original health, in a modern light, and on minimizing our impact on the of Earth on which we depend. The challenge is finding a path which allows the human spirit to continue to flourish while recapturing the health we appear to have lost. We welcome your participation.
Dr. John is a neurosurgeon, snowboarder and occasional photographer. In 2003, he developed an interest in Paleolithic nutrition and has become more involved over time. He has supported species and ecosystem protection for over 20 years, which, together with his long interest in human health, led to the establishment of the philosophy of this site: human and planetary health are interrelated and both must be nourished. He also has a long interest in human evolution and, over the past decade, in the evolution of the brain.
John Michael is a traveling writer and a teacher with a deep interest in humankind’s connection to the natural world. His blog posts focus on issues of both physical and environmental health, with themes ranging from exercise and the body, to the impact that our global society has on ecosystems worldwide. Underlying his writing is the belief that our health is tied to the health of the environments in which we live, and that anything that damages these environments will eventually come to damage us as well.
“Evolving, one day at a time….”
Leslie Why Reap is a mother, an athlete, a passionate speaker and a certified nutritionist. Prior to children, Leslie lived in Europe and the UK where her life experiences ranged from Teaching English as a Foreign Language to coaching the first Czech National Lacrosse team in the 1993 World Cup. After returning to the US, she got her MBA, ran with the 2002 Olympic Torch and “retired” from high tech sales to raise her children. She had the realization that the greatest gift one can give a child is a healthy, happy start to life and the foundation of that gift is simple: a predictable routine of high quality nutrition and sleep, physical movement in a natural environment and daily rejuvenation.
Contact: paleoterran@me.com