{"id":254114,"date":"2010-01-31T03:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715049094354778809.post-851513347056698041"},"modified":"2010-02-16T02:28:29","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T06:28:29","slug":"a-hymn-to-the-lifestyle-part-1-paleo-at-its-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/254114","title":{"rendered":"A Hymn to the Lifestyle: Part 1 – Paleo at its Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lately I’ve realised how much difference to how I feel the level of Paleo adherence makes.<\/p>\n

I always knew others chose their own interpretation, but until I’d experienced it myself, the implications were not clear.<\/p>\n

From 2007 until early 2009 I was, with the exception of one or two spectacular lapses, pretty much 100%. Last year, things went a little awry.<\/p>\n

To some extend inspired by Dr Dan’s recent fightback<\/a> on At Darwin’s Table<\/a>, I thought I’d tell you what I’ve learned. In part 1: Paleo at its Best.<\/p>\n

At its best, it can be transformational. When I am 100% dialled into the Paleo\/Primal lifestyle, there are days when I feel fantastic.<\/p>\n

Mentally, I am alert and able to think clearly – some of my most inspired and productive moments at work have come on days like this.<\/p>\n

My digestion feels brand new – it’s as if I’ve outsourced digestion to someone else, such is the low profile kept by my innards. Intestinal wind seems like a distant teenage memory, like acne or warts. When the need for ablution comes, it does so expectedly, regularly and takes place with such effortless routine that I feel like calling a friend to celebrate.<\/p>\n

I feel fit. Not just in a raw, VO2 max sort of way, but in a rounded way. My exercise sessions are brutal, but brief and functional – mainly bodyweight, sprints and swimming – things that feel like they have a purpose. I find myself semi-consciously tailoring the frequency, variety and setting to match a vague notion of the kind of environment I was built to exist in. This is not romanticism, you understand – simply an objective analysis of the most appropriate way to behave if I want to be in tune with my genes.<\/p>\n

My joints, muscles and tendons are free from significant stiffness and feel ready to take on a range of demands. When I’m walking to work I look out for tree branches to briefly swing from or steps to jump up to or down from. I almost clutch at the ground with my Vibram Five Fingers, seeking uneven areas on which to relish the stimulus and gain extra traction with the toes.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the sense of power over my environment is heightened by uncomfortable experiences I happily put myself through. I quickly learn that to feel truly comfortable in my environment I need to experience some hardship. I start my showers cold, moving to hot water only after 30 seconds, then finishing with another 30 seconds of cold at the end. Sometimes I have an opportunity to swim in the wild, where the more extreme cold makes the shower seem like a breeze; it’s no fun…. but it is<\/span> fun, because when it’s over, I feel more alive than ever.<\/p>\n

Hunger, satiation and my body’s hormonal balances seem to be in perfect harmony. Again semi-consciously, I regulate my eating to reflect the imagined availability of food to a hunter gatherer.<\/p>\n

I eat more on workout days, because it feels instinctively right. I go into sessions a little hungry and emerge with the righteous appetite of the successful hunter. I spend more time hungry than not. This feels right. I earn my food. I eat slowly, savouring every mouthful.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing on my mind but the Paleo fundamentals. Animal and vegetable. I fall asleep thinking about roast chicken and daydream about slow-cooked tongue with steamed vegetables.<\/p>\n

My mindset is so fundamentally Paleo that overeating is scarcely an issue… and my hunger is so in tune with my requirements that even when I do have a hearty meal, I skip the next one without thinking about it. Once, twice or even three times a week I throw in a 24 hour fast, dealing with the mild hunger with total control – not a cross word in sight. I look forward to dinner, yet do not crave it.<\/p>\n

I feel lean, I look lean. I box in front of the mirror. I look stupid, but I feel great.<\/p>\n

I get tired early when it’s dark, and in the morning I wake up early. My mind is alive with ideas. Sometimes I don’t get enough sleep and feel tired – but one day in three I sleep like a log.<\/p>\n

I imagine this is how I was meant to sleep. I console myself that whilst modern man may have the luxury of being out like a light for 8 hours, maybe sleeping light, alert for danger, is the truly Paleo way. I learn to function happily on the bad days after poor sleep because I know that on the good days I will be stalking the modern landscape like a panther.<\/p>\n

Zzzzzzzzt!…sound of needle scratching off record.<\/p>\n

If only this were the reality. Yes, I have achieved Paleo at its best for months at a time; but I have also, especially recently, spent months at a different level. The irony, of course, is that the knowledge of what could be<\/span> sullies what is<\/span>. Many would kill to feel as good as I do at the moment; but having felt so much better, I am not impressed. It’s not that I don’t do everything I described above. I just don’t do them all at the same time…<\/p>\n

A Hymn to the Lifestyle: Part 2 – Pseudo Paleo<\/a>
<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately I’ve realised how much difference to how I feel the level of Paleo adherence makes. I always knew others chose their own interpretation, but until I’d experienced it myself, the implications were not clear. From 2007 until early 2009 I was, with the exception of one or two spectacular lapses, pretty much 100%. Last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1676,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}