SUNDAY PALEO / January 15, 2012

Adding color to our walls has not changed much in 25,000 years.By Dr. John

Scicurious, at Scientific American Blogs, notes that the Paleolithic diet is “pretty popular among Americans right now.” However, he questions how well we know the details of our ancestors' diet, especially when it comes to fish. Did our ancestors deep sea fish 40,000 years ago? In Does your Paleolithic diet allow tuna?, Scicurious reviews new evidence from Papua New Guinea and nearby islands, such as a cave in the island of East Timor:

The cave holds evidence of a VERY long period of human habitation, with carbon dating showing artifacts as old as 42,000 years before present all the way to the modern period (or at least around 5,000 years ago). Among the shells, beads, stone artifacts, and bone points, are fish bones. LOADS of fish bones. The authors recovered over 38,000 fish bones, representing almost 800 species of fish. And not all of these fish were shallow water specimens. In fact, there were a lot of Scombridae specimens, the tuna group, and these specimens reached back almost to the base of the bone pile, estimated to be, at the bottom, around 42,000 years old.

Is it dinnertime? Although not fish recipes, here are some great Paleo/Primal meals to consider:

Fajita Frittata with Avocado Salsa

Oven Roast Chicken with Truffle Salt and Thyme

Slow Cooked Lamb Roast

You're eating well and starting to see some results from your Primal or Paleo diet. What about exercise? Is it time to start lifting weights? Maybe do some cardio? These should be easy decisions, but when you consider our Paleolithic ancestors, things get tricky. Josh Noel wonders, if our “modern notion of exercise has gone astray?” Learn more on this brewing controversy at Train like a caveman. 

Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, suggests the way to determine how to exercise is to ask: What is the best fitness regimen for a tiger (or a tigress)?

So isn’t it high time for a healthy and meaningful paradigm shift in the way society and the fitness industry approaches fitness?  In the way you are personally approaching exercising?  Aren’t you thirsty for authentic human movement?

Here’s the right answer: in order to become and stay optimally fit, a tiger needs to move the way tigers move in their natural biome.  It is that simple.  Tigers will move naturally when they’re free to live the natural life every tiger should live; as will all other wild animals.

Read the post and let me know what do you think. Does it take more for us to regain or maintain fitness than "authentic human movement"? 

Finally, take a look at the recent post by John Michael and contribute your thoughts to Notes on a Manifesto.