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Photo and Article by Giles Augustine:
Paleo is quite the buzz word nowadays, but what is the origin of this strange and foreign idea. Derogatory words have been tossed around like gluetards. So many modern weight loss diets are focused on low-sugar, low-fat, ready-made smoothies, microwave dinners, that amount to highly processed chemical sludge. No wonder Jenny Craig Patrons get fatter even though they are consuming less calories.
80% of the food in our grocery store today did not exist 100 years ago. Industry is engineering Salmon with eels to grow to the size of rolled yoga mats. Modern Food Industry sounds more like a 1980s b-rated sci fi movie. Starbucks and other chains are using the red pigment from beetle poop in coffees. Western and Eastern society has genetically selected animals and cross bread thousands of plants for millennia. Nothing is the way as it once was. But we are essentially unevolved from our prehistoric ancestor in regards to diet. Yes; nowadays we are Homo Sapien Sapien, a new species of humans. Some of us have genetically evolved to process another animal’s milk.
We are hunters and gathers. We are not meant to eat food made from petro-chemicals or beetle poop or made in laboratory like a rat lab. Open your eyes to the world around you. We are living in the movie “Wall-E.” People are getting heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension. The common thread is the sedentary lifestyle with our industrial processed diets. Our ancestors were trim and healthy with evidence of longevity to the centurion mark. All the while living off a hunter/gatherer diet. The name implies the diet. We fished and hunted wild game, and we gathered wild vegetables and fruits. We were a non-agricultural society. We worked very little and played very hard.How does this diet translate to the grocery store?
Grocery store meat is not the meat that we hunted in Africa. Even the store bought salmon (which previously to 2012 hadn’t changed for 10,000’s of years) is now genetically engineered, with coming FDA approval. Monsanto and its cohorts fill animals with pharmaceuticals, growth hormones and an array of strange and random chemicals. At all levels of the production, industry is putting chemicals in the food. Chemicals to keep fruit and vegetables ripening after being picked,. Pesticides engineered into the plants and soil.
The USDA organic label has thousands of acceptable pesticides, not to mention the industrial pollution that is already present in the air, water, and soil. If you think you can buy healthy toxic-free food out of the grocery store, you are drinking the kool-aid.
The only true way to have a diet akin to our original ancestral diet, would be to grow or gather your own food and hunt your own game, which is realistically impossible in an urban setting.
The only true way to have a diet akin to our original ancestral diet, would be to grow or gather your own food and hunt your own game, which is realistically impossible in an urban setting.
Don’t get glum. Our bodies are biologically prepared for the toxic jungle. With proper diet and regular exercise, our bodies can adapt to every day industrial contamination. For instance, a new study mapping the human genome discovered a gene previously thought to be useless, was found to actively fight cancer cells, if certain foods were apart of the diet (apples, broccoli). My advice for you, simply do not eat anything but fruit, vegetables and unprocessed meats. It’s not easy to switch to a Paleolithic diet, industry has put addictive substances in food and drink. There is also inherent addictive properties to certain foods like the opiate qualities of wheat.
Try to live a simpler life. Bicycle to work. Quit cigarettes and drugs and alcohol if you do them. Drink tea and coffee instead. Get comfortable shoes. Learn how to hunt and hunt your own game, help the eco system by eliminating invasive species. Also start a little garden on your roof or rejuvenate an empty lot with guerilla gardening.
I live in Jackson Wyoming, and I have the opportunity to hunt deer, elk, moose, and I have my own green house. But the majority of my food comes from the grocery store. I boycott Monsanto and all the other companies that paid millions of dollars in lobbying against GMO labeling in California. I bought a farm share this summer. I hope to have all my own food grown or hunted by myself by 2017. I eat the same thing every morning, Kale, Eggs, and Bacon. Then I make a dish in the oven with all sorts of vegetables; brochilli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, celery, turnips, etc. With some random meats like beef heart, steak, lamb chop, salmon, really anything as long as it is not processed. I use a lot of spice like peppar, tumeric, garlic, etc. I only stay away from salt. I use any plant based oils and butter regularly. I eat as much fish and seafood as possible, whilst walking a delicate balance of not overloading on mercury. I buy canned vegetables because it is sometimes cheaper than fresh vegetables. I spend less than $200 a month on food for myself.
Bio: Giles Augustine
20 something Ski Bum. Lives in Jackson hole. Spent last 5 years ski mountaineering in Utah, Alaska, New Zealand, Wyoming, Washington, etc. Bicycle from Seattle to San Diego. Hiked over 5000 miles around world. Activist. High Risk Specialist. Filmmaker.
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