AnthroHealth
Something
New Under the Sun:
Adapting to Change in the 21st Century
Walking in Sunshine
LifeStyle
Changes to Make for a
Bright, Healthy Future
Kathleen E Fuller, PhD
Introduction
Around ten years ago, while working on an article, I realized that I was not walking the talk. Because of my degrees in paleoanthropology and biological anthropology, I knew all about human origins and adaptations. I knew what was necessary in order to have a healthy, successful life, but I was not fully implementing what I knew. I decided that day to begin making the necessary changes that would bring my lifestyle into better accord with that of our foraging ancestors. Our ancestors lived this lifestyle for at least two million years. This is the lifestyle to which our bodies are adapted. The chapter "The Sun…Exposed!" will explain our adaptations and our place in nature.
Once having made my fateful decision to walk the talk, the first thing I did was pour the rest of my gallon of milk down the drain. As you will discover in the chapters "The Staff of Life?" and "Premier Nutrition", milk does not do a body good. Agriculture is a very recent innovation in the history of human existence which means that our bodies are not adapted to the type of lifestyle that has resulted from this major alteration to the environment and to social organization. I gave away my boxes of cereal, loaves of bread, and packages of cheese. My goal was to eliminate all dairy and grain-based products from my diet. I now had gaping holes in my diet that needed to be filled.
What did our foraging ancestors eat? Well, that was pretty simple: lots of fruits, tree nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, some meat, and some vegetables. Instead of eating grain-based snacks, I ate almonds and cashews. Instead of cereal for breakfast, I had a salsa omelet. Instead of candy, I ate fruit. Two benefits from making these changes were that I began losing some of the extra weight that had crept up onto my body over the years, and I discovered that fruits and vegetables actually tasted better to me. The taste of dairy products is not a good complement to the taste of fruit. Eliminating grains and dairy from my diet made it easy to get 8 - 10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. So, while losing weight, I also improved my health through the addition of abundant phytonutrients and antioxidents. "Premier Nutrition" will help you make these positive changes to your diet and your health.
Having successfully made dietary changes, I decided it was time to get active. I find it incredibly easy to sit for hours at a time reading, writing, and thinking. Our ancestors probably spent a lot of time thinking, too, but they had to be pretty active or they would have starved. In the chapter "Walk, Don't Run" you will learn why walking is the best exercise for humans. Taking my own advice, I literally began walking the talk for about two miles per day. What with the dietary changes and walking every day, within weeks I was back to my optimal weight. Flexibility was also important to our ancestors as they needed to reach, climb, bend, and stretch with ease. A program of daily flexibilities is included in the Appendix. I have been doing these flexibilities for over two decades with great success.
An added benefit of walking in sunshine is that exposing unprotected skin to sunlight activates the production of vitamin D. I first began researching the effects of inadequate levels of vitamin D in 1992. For years, I felt like a lone voice in the wilderness. Oh, there were a few of us writing and talking about the effects of vitamin D deprivation, but it seemed that few people wanted to listen. Fortunately, that has all changed in the last year or so. The chapters "Vitamin D is the Key" and "Your Skin Color and Your Health" focus on the topic of how our bodies are adapted to vitamin D and the consequences of vitamin D deprivation.
Electricity has allowed us to lead 24/7 lives. But we are not adapted for such a lifestyle. We are adapted to be active when the sun rises and to go to sleep when the sun sets. In the chapter "To Sleep…" you will discover why sleep is so important and the problems that can happen when we fail to get enough shut-eye.
Our ancient ancestors can also provide us with helpful parenting tips. After all, if they were not successful parents, none of us would be here. Successful parenting seems to be a scarce resource in our modern lives, so the chapter "Natural Parenting" explains the changes parents can make that will lead to happier, healthier outcomes for their children.
As a biological anthropologist, I could not end my book without discussing the issue of diversity. Some people appear to fear diversity while others seek to exploit it. Both attitudes lead to divisiveness. In the chapter "Diversity, Not Divisiveness" I explain how focusing on what we hold in common is the way out of conflict to conciliation. After all, despite our differences, we all have a common origin.
Finally, in the After Word, I give a prescription for success. Am I able to follow all my prescriptions for a bright, healthy life successfully at all times? Of course not. But when I fall off the path, I rest and think for a bit about how much healthier I am when I follow the path. Then I get up and continue on to bright, healthy future.
Buy
the Book!
This book is available in a PDF format for $12.00.
When
payment is received, the PDF copy will be e-mailed to you.
Make sure that we have your e-mail address.
Thanks for purchasing this book.
