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.

Brain Health: Fish oil helps maintain brain volume

By Dr. John

The first signs of human consciousness were found in Blombos Cave, South Africa and date to 70 to 80 thousand years ago. It is probably no accident that the site is littered with evidence of seafood consumption. Indeed, significant inclusion of seafood and fish in the human diet may represent the final nutritional factor in development of the human mind. 

The typical American diet is profoundly different from that of our Paleolithic ancestors and is increasingly considered the root of many modern diseases.

In a new study reported by EurekAlert, researchers at Rhode Island Hospital's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center revealed older adults taking fish oil supplements preserved brain volume and had smaller cerebral ventricles (a healthy sign suggesting less brain atrophy). Lead investigator, Lori Daiello, PharmD, states:

"In the imaging analyses for the entire study population, we found a significant positive association between fish oil supplement use and average brain volumes in two critical areas utilized in memory and thinking (cerebral cortex and hippocampus), as well as smaller brain ventricular volumes compared to non-users at any given time in the study. In other words, fish oil use was associated with less brain shrinkage in patients taking these supplements during the ADNI study compared to those who didn't report using them."

This observational study is just one additional piece of evidence demonstrating our continued movement away from the original human diet comes at a price. In this case, a shrinking brain. 

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The Standard or Average American Diet  
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Brain Health: Omega-3 fatty acids reduce anxiety
Loren Cordain - Origins and Evolution of the Western Diet