Learn from our Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors
Somewhere in the midst of smartphones, processed food, desk jobs and video calls, we've forgotten that we evolved from our Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors and that we've evolved to move, not sit at a computer all day, to eat foods and quench our thirst with what nature provides, not to consume ultra-processed foods like a packet of crisps, microwave meal or a bottle of pop.
Most of us have never lived without supermarkets, we can't comprehend having to hunt or forage like our ancestors did. All we have ever known is food packaged in plastic bags and cardboard boxes, aligned on shelves and we believe without really thinking about it, that this is food and how it has always been. However, it's not, and it's killing us.
Approximately 300,000 years ago, humans as we think of them emerged, and fed themselves by hunting and foraging - the Hunter-Gatherer. These Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors of ours had varied diets - nutritious and full of fibre. They didn't worry about where a sheep should graze or an apple tree should grow but they did have to find their food which meant being highly active.
Their lives were hard and a fight to survive with many dying young due to injury, illness and predation.
Today most of us have never lived without supermarkets, we can't comprehend having to hunt or forage like our ancestors did but this convenient life is making us unhealthy, and the diet of processed foods is slowly killing us.
We evolved from our Ancestry, which means they survived despite the world they lived in, and a big part of that was their diet and active lifestyle.
We don't need to go back to their ways for everything. Our medical knowledge and current research can help optimize health and is great at treating the acute causes of death that killed so many of our ancestors. We can learn from and embrace their diet and active lifestyle with the goal of improving our health and longevity.
For the Hunter-Gatherer:
- Cancer was rare.
- Atherosclerosis was rare and therefore so were Heart attacks.
- Blood pressure was low - 105/65, compaired to our normal of 120/80.
- Mothers nursed their children for around 3 years, not our typical 3 months of today.
- Early deaths were mainly from injury and infectious diseases which are treatable today.
- Diets we're high in fibre and other nutrients consuming 1-5x of RDA.
- Salt intake was less than 1 gram, much less than the 6 grams recommended by the NHS.
Ancestral Health
- Nutrition of our Ancestors
- We exist because our Ancestors survived on a varied and whole diet. Nutrition Of Our Ancestors is about nourishing the body with foods that were around in the time of our Ancestors, applied with common sense - fruits, nuts, vegetables, legumes and so on, like the.
- #NutritionOfOurAncestors
#NutritionOOA - Exercise like our Ancestors
- Our Ancestors lives depended on being active, whether hunting, foraging, or escaping predators. The same holds true for us today: exercise keeps us healthy and fit. Embracing ancestral forms of movement in modern ways, like walking, jogging, swimming, yoga, rock climbing, weight lifting or cycling, helps us maintain our well-being and longevity.
- #ExerciseLikeOurAncestors
#ExerciseLOA - Sleep like our Ancestors
- Our Ancestors weren't pressured to be at work for a set time, they went to bed when tired and woke with the dawn. To Sleep like our Ancestors is to prioritising sleep, having as many great night sleeps as you can and to wake up naturally.
- #SleepLikeOurAncestors
#SleepLOA - Outside like our Ancestors
- Our Ancestors lived outside, they had no fixed abobe or lived in simple shelters. Ancestral In Nature is about getting outside in Nature (something most of us need to do a lot more), absorbing the sun and calibrating our circadian rhythm.
- #OutsideLikeOurAncestors
#OutsideLOA - Disclpine of our Ancestors
- Our Ancestors didn't have the luxury of being lazy, their lives depended on them having discipline to survive. Today, it takes will power/discipline to stop us being lazy, to get us up in the morning and do the exercise!
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#DisclpineOfOurAncestors
#DisclpineOOA