"What we [are] capable of surviving doesn't automatically equate to what we as a species are capable of achieving in terms of optimal health."
- Alan AragonHumans are opportunists, we're omnivores, we're pretty darn scrappy. As evinced by the wide variety of ecosystems, diets, and lifestyles within which the human species has managed to call home, we can generally infer that the task of trying to uncover the bare-bones makeup of the optimal human diet is a daunting one at best. What sort of foods are humans most adapted to eating? What ratio of macronutrients should we incorporate into our diet so as to best mimic the dietary habits of our ancestors? Anthropological and archaeological data abound, yes, but ultimately, we must rely upon best-guesses and conjecture regarding the distant past in order to come to practical conclusions which we can apply in the present, and in the future. While I agree with many of the tenants of the paleolithic/ancestral diet, the reality is that we can never know what foods our ancestors truly ate; unless, of course, new scientific tools are created which can allows to see into the past. Until such a time arises, educated guesses and the following question are all we have: What does it look like to achieve optimal health vs to survive?
Surviving
Many in the paleo movement like to assert that the diets of our ancestors, prior to the creation of agriculture, represent the panacea of optimal human health. To their benefit, there does exist fossil evidence which suggests that hunter-gather societies exhibited greater health, strength, stature, bone density, dental health, lifespan and vitality, than the agrarian societies which proceeded them (1). Moreover, ethnographic data from modern-day non-Westernized, non-industrialized hunter-gather societies reveals than many of these groups which still subsist upon traditional foods (wild game, fish, fruits, tubers, roots, vegetables) are notably free of most all Western diseases of affluence--i.e., diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, etc. (2). Staples of the Western diet, particularly the American diet, such as breads, industrial seed oils, flower products, "Franken-meats," and factory produced hyper-rewarding foods are also absent from the diets of these groups.
But what of this? These groups are noticeably healthier than most Americans, but we in America actually have longer lifespans. We must of course consider the fact that our longer lifespans are more or less a product better medical services. If we suffer from diabetes, we have insulin shots. If we break a bone, we have topnotch medical professionals who can take care of us. In hunter-gather societies, no such medical services are widely nor readily available. A broken leg, which is something we in America usually consider a recoverable ailment, could represent a permanently crippling injury for a non-industrialized person.
What we see in this distinction is a notable example how the unavoidable balancing act of cost-reward can play out. The technological advances which we have experienced within Western society have arisen much in part because of the efficiency with which modern industry has revolutionized our method of calorie acquisition. Industrial food production has freed many people within our society from the time-consuming need to hunt and gather their food. People can freely follow intellectual pursuits. Music, science, theology, philosophy, technology, all of these things would have been impossibilities without the advent of agriculture. Moreover, the more recent advent of industrialized agriculture has made such pursuits all the more possible. Are not such innovations achievements? Haven't we gone beyond the need to merely survive?
Achievement is, however, relative. While we humans have made great technological advances, do these advances reflect an improvement in our condition? Sedentary lifestyles are the norm, and the fact that such a lifestyle is the norm reveals how truly affluent we have become. Our hunter-gather ancestors were true specimens of strength, power, and endurance. They were of a caliber that would rival that of our most skilled Olympic athletes (3). But, their prowess resulted from necessity. By all accounts, most of us today are physically unimpressive--I don't mean unimpressive in terms of aesthetics solely, but unimpressive in terms of our health.
Our bodies reflect the environment in which they've been placed. An environment in which 9-5 desk jobs reign supreme, congested traffic is the norm, late-night TV beckons, and fast food sustains, molds its inhabitants with such habits which are most naturally suited to allow for efficient survival in said environment. Our ancestors lived in an environment much different from ours. Theirs was one of intense physical bursts, ours is one of chronic mental endurance. Theirs was filled with times of scarcity and times of abundance, ours is filled with never-ending overabundance. Theirs necessitated strength, power, and flexibility, ours necessitates physical therapy, surgery, and pills. Yes, we have achieved much with the advent of mass industry, but we have lost much as well.
But what of this? These groups are noticeably healthier than most Americans, but we in America actually have longer lifespans. We must of course consider the fact that our longer lifespans are more or less a product better medical services. If we suffer from diabetes, we have insulin shots. If we break a bone, we have topnotch medical professionals who can take care of us. In hunter-gather societies, no such medical services are widely nor readily available. A broken leg, which is something we in America usually consider a recoverable ailment, could represent a permanently crippling injury for a non-industrialized person.
What we see in this distinction is a notable example how the unavoidable balancing act of cost-reward can play out. The technological advances which we have experienced within Western society have arisen much in part because of the efficiency with which modern industry has revolutionized our method of calorie acquisition. Industrial food production has freed many people within our society from the time-consuming need to hunt and gather their food. People can freely follow intellectual pursuits. Music, science, theology, philosophy, technology, all of these things would have been impossibilities without the advent of agriculture. Moreover, the more recent advent of industrialized agriculture has made such pursuits all the more possible. Are not such innovations achievements? Haven't we gone beyond the need to merely survive?
Achievement is, however, relative. While we humans have made great technological advances, do these advances reflect an improvement in our condition? Sedentary lifestyles are the norm, and the fact that such a lifestyle is the norm reveals how truly affluent we have become. Our hunter-gather ancestors were true specimens of strength, power, and endurance. They were of a caliber that would rival that of our most skilled Olympic athletes (3). But, their prowess resulted from necessity. By all accounts, most of us today are physically unimpressive--I don't mean unimpressive in terms of aesthetics solely, but unimpressive in terms of our health.
Our bodies reflect the environment in which they've been placed. An environment in which 9-5 desk jobs reign supreme, congested traffic is the norm, late-night TV beckons, and fast food sustains, molds its inhabitants with such habits which are most naturally suited to allow for efficient survival in said environment. Our ancestors lived in an environment much different from ours. Theirs was one of intense physical bursts, ours is one of chronic mental endurance. Theirs was filled with times of scarcity and times of abundance, ours is filled with never-ending overabundance. Theirs necessitated strength, power, and flexibility, ours necessitates physical therapy, surgery, and pills. Yes, we have achieved much with the advent of mass industry, but we have lost much as well.
Achieving
The best course of action, in my opinion, is to recover what we've lost (our strength, power, endurance, health, vitality) all the while preserving what we've gained (civilization). Simply put, we need to eat more whole foods and traditionally prepared foods, we need to get off our butts, we need to lift progressively heavier objects, we need to sprint, we need to go to sleep at a decent hour, and we need to stop being chronically stressed out by the trivial minutia which invariably crops up in our lives. All of these things represent actionable practices which will in no way, shape, or form endanger our "Progress"--whether Progress is any such real thing which we have achieved/are achieving is a long, though interesting philosophical debate which I don't care to go into at the moment. When we start enacting these practices, we will create for ourselves a new environment, and we will be molded by it and thus inculcated with new habits which will allow us to effortlessly and efficiently survive in it. But, we will not have reached "achievement."
We will have truly experienced achievement when we have made this abundant and vitalized life a reality for everyone. We do not put ourselves on the path to achievement when we set about living healthful lives in the midst of our affluence. Rather, we put ourselves on the path to achievement (Progress) when we recognize that while we are dying from being overfed, millions are dying from starvation. This is the great irony of the health crisis in America. We eat a lot of "bad" food, but the not-so-fortunate eat a lot of no food. We will have "achieved" the greatest good when we stop thinking about our "right" to health and, rather, start considering and acting upon our responsibility to help the unhealthy (whether they are overfed or underfed).
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