The Primal Blueprint (15 page)
Read The Primal Blueprint Online
Authors: Mark Sisson
The exchange escalates into a blowout covering various pent-up resentments. Ken decides to make an appointment for his son to visit a psychiatrist. After two sessions, the shrink diagnoses Kenny with ADHD and promptly prescribes the amphetamine Adderall
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—This despite growing controversy surrounding its overprescription to children who lack serious symptoms and a true clinical diagnosis, the potential link to serious cardiovascular side effects, and the high incidence of abuse among teenagers using the stimulant recreationally. (An estimated seven million American kids take stimulants prescribed for attention disorders, a 500 percent increase since 1991.)
It’s more likely that emotional factors, lack of sufficient vigorous exercise, and poor dietary habits (sugar binges, regular caffeine intake, and lack of healthy fats) are to blame for Kenny’s adverse classroom behavior. Unfortunately, Kenny now has another hurdle on the path to getting his mind and body back into balance for the challenging high school years ahead: the powerful effects of stimulant medication on his growing body.
When critiquing the particulars of kids and their exercise, sleep, dietary habits, and school high jinks, you might default to thinking, “What’s the big deal?” Kenny and millions of his peers will continue their mildly objectionable ways, but they’ll get
through high school just fine (provided they heed
Primal Blueprint
Law #9, Avoid Stupid Mistakes). They’ll go off to college and pull all-nighters fueled by pizza, Red Bull, and Top Ramen, then they’ll unwind after exam pressure with lots of alcohol, more pizza, and maybe a few cupcakes at the Kappa Kappa Gamma bash. I don’t think previous generations can claim they are unfamiliar with this routine.
It’s true, young people are incredibly resilient, in case you’ve forgotten. With metabolism accelerated and the endocrine system flooding the bloodstream with peak levels of key growth and reproductive hormones, the raw (indeed, primal) energy of youth can often override any potential insulin-driven fatigue from a Red Bull buzz wearing off. We can all attest to the difference between being at our physical peak and being beyond it. At 55, I’m stoked to be able to (more or less) hang with my teenage son, Kyle, when we play Ultimate Frisbee (the official name of the game is simply Ultimate, given that Frisbee is a brand name and you can use any type of disc to play) till we drop. Then, while I’m sunk deep into the couch/ottoman licking my wounds and icing my strains, he’ll grab an apple and his skateboard (and his helmet of course…remember Rule #9) and bust out the door to the next activity!
However, if we consider the concept that our genes—even young genes—are predisposed to all kinds of problems if we give them the wrong environment (and, hence, the wrong signals), we can conclude that it’s just a matter of time until the fountain of youth runs dry. Remember in college those frat boys with six-pack abs drinking pony kegs every weekend? A decade later, you can find most of them with pony keg guts drinking six-packs every weekend. As a parent or an influential figure in a child’s life (or perhaps an evolved young person reading the
Primal Blueprint
!), you can assert the importance of having a foundation of healthy lifestyle habits and a deep respect and understanding for how to get the best out of your body. This will pave the way for a future different from today’s extremely disturbing one in which many experts predict a shorter life expectancy for children than for their parents—for the first time since…(Anybody? Bueller? Anybody?)… Since the advent of agriculture 10,000 years ago.
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This classic quote uttered by Walt Kelly’s popular comic strip character Pogo captures the Korgs’ plight perfectly: their well-intentioned efforts to do the right thing seem continuously sabotaged by cultural norms and misguided Conventional Wisdom. We are conditioned by the powerful forces of consumerism to pursue flawed solutions to our problems and ailments. The prescription drugs downed by Ken (and now Kenny, too), Kelly’s overly stressful exercise routine and overly restrictive diet, the massive amount of unhealthy food ingested by the family on a daily basis, and the lack of simple, quality family time might be disturbing to read about, but they are absolutely the norm today.
If you felt the Korgs’ tale was an appalling, melodramatic, and unrealistic example of a modern family, you have lifestyle reference points that are significantly more healthy and balanced than the average American family’s. The references to the Korgs’ daily routine, prescription drug use, weight-loss battles, eating and exercise habits, childhood obesity, teenage behavior challenges, and digital media use are provided in detail in the “Grok Chapter References” appendix.
As they say, your kids grow up—and you grow old—before you know it. A lack of awareness, lack of knowledge, and sometimes, sadly, a defiant, ignorant stance of disrespecting the essentials of health and well-being (including our genetic programming) tragically degrades the precious time families have together. This loss plays out every day and touches virtually every family in the modern world. It’s time to stand up and take control of your health and well-being, to honor your genes by living according to the
Primal Blueprint
, and, finally, to reject many tenets of Conventional Wisdom that are flawed and hazardous to your health. In this book, we will do just that, further building momentum and crushing obstacles in our path as we march toward the ultimate expression of our human potential.
How Grok Probably Spent His Day
| |
Hunting or gathering food | 5 hours |
Sleep, nap, rest, relax | 10 hours |
Habitat-, shelter-, basic human needs–related chores | 3 hours |
Leisure time consisting of play and family or group socializing | 6 hours |
Estimates derived from studies of the modern hunter-gatherer culture of the !Kung Bushmen in Africa
.
How Ken Korg Spends His Day
| |
Workplace | 9 hours |
Commute | 2 hours |
Sleep | 6.7 hours |
Television, computer, digital entertainment | 4 hours |
Grooming, household chores, free time | 2.3 hours |
(components: leisure/educational reading: 24 minutes; meaningful conversation with child: 3.5 minutes)
Estimates derived from TV Free America in Washington, D.C., American Time Use Survey Summary (U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.), A.C. Neilsen Company, and Kaiser Family Foundation
.
Chapter Summary
1. Grok’s Lifestyle
: Grok faced unimaginable hardships in primal life but in many ways enjoyed superior health to that of modern humans. While rates of infant mortality and death by predator or accident were far higher than today, if Grok were able to avoid such tragedy, he could enjoy robust health and supreme physical fitness into his 60s or 70s.
Grok’s hunter-gatherer existence involved a diet of natural plants and animals, hours of low-level aerobic exercise every day, and occasional short bursts of maximum effort. Primal existence was simpler and slower paced, with life-or-death stressful events coming infrequently and lasting only briefly. This type of existence is more aligned with our genetic makeup than is the unrelenting stress of modern life.
2. Korg Lifestyle:
Our modern suburban family, the Korgs, have diverged dramatically from the lifestyle basics modeled by Grok that are essential for good health. Long commutes, packed schedules, and excessive digital entertainment compromise family camaraderie. Financial pressures, insufficient sleep and downtime, extensive use of prescription drugs, poor dietary habits, and exhausting exercise programs lead to an excessively stressful modern existence and consequent health problems.
The Korgs’ diet features excessive processed foods and insufficient nutritious foods. In particular, they eat too many simple carbs and grains that lead to excess insulin production. These dietary mistakes lead to assorted health problems, particularly undesirable body composition, beginning in childhood and continuing for a lifetime. Kelly Korg’s well-meaning devotion to exercise and careful dieting does not lead to fat loss, because the workouts are too stressful and she regularly has excessive insulin in her bloodstream (from consuming too many carbs), which inhibits fat burning. Ken’s lack of exercise, poor eating habits, work-related pressures, and reliance on prescription drugs to counter lifestyle errors make him tired and stressed and put him on the path to the eventual onset of serious disease. The Korg children are victimized by the disastrous cultural trends of today’s youth, such as insufficient activity, excessive digital media use, high-insulin diets, and overpressurized athletic and academic experiences that lead to alienation and rebellion.
3. Your Family:
It’s critical to depart from these harmful cultural trends and create a different reality for you and your family. Modifying dietary habits to
Primal Blueprint
recommendations and placing limits on technology and jam-packed schedules in favor of relaxing family interaction will help reverse the appalling family dynamics characterized by the Korgs’ story.
Grok Family References
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Life Expectancy:
According to Wikipedia, life expectancy during the Paleolithic era (2.5 million years ago to 10,000 B.C) was around 33 years, factoring in the high rates of infant mortality. If Grok reached puberty, life expectancy increased up to age 39 and if he reached 39, he could expect to live until 54. And this was a ripped, energetic 54, not a guy struggling to hang on. The fatal hazards that befell Grok during his lifetime were entirely primitive: infections, accidents, and predators – not heart disease, diabetes or obesity.
The advent of agriculture and civilization caused life expectancy to drop significantly, reaching a low of 18 during the Bronze Age of 3,300 B.C. to 1,200 B.C.. Life expectancy remained low (between 20 and 30) through 1500 A.D. and then climbed only gradually, reaching ~30 in 1800 and ~40-50 in 1900 in the USA and Europe. The past century has seen a dramatic increase in lifespan in civilized countries, thanks mainly to medical advances that limit infant mortality and protect against disease plagues.
A 2004 study published by Rachel Caspari at the University of Michigan and Sang-Hee Lee at the University of California at Riverside revealed that a dramatic increase in human longevity that took place during the early Upper Paleolithic Period, around 30,000 years ago. The scientists studied dental information derived from molar wear patterns of
Australopithecines, Homo erectus
and
Neanderthals
and discovered a five-fold increase in the number of individuals surviving to an older age (defined by doubling reproductive age – so humans could become grandparents) around that time period.
The scientists speculated that “this trend contributed importantly to population expansions and cultural innovations that are associated with modernity.” Elders could pass on critical life knowledge to younger generations, social networks and family bonds were strengthened and Grok could generally become a better parent by living longer.
“There has been a lot of speculation about what gave modern humans their evolutionary advantage,” Caspari said. “This research provides a simple explanation for which there is now concrete evidence: modern humans were older and wiser.”
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Cold Water Benefits:
The healing properties of water have been recognized for thousands of years. Public baths were a common feature in ancient civilizations. The Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Turkish, Japanese and Chinese all believed water was helpful for muscle recovery, sleep and immune protection. In the early 1800’s Vincent Priessnitz, an Austrian farmer, pioneered the use of hydrotherapy as a medical tool. During the mid to late 1800’s, a Bavarian monk named Father Sebastian Kneipp gained wide recognition for his water therapy work. He cured himself of pulmonary tuberculosis (a common and typically fatal condition referred to then as “consumption”) by regularly plunging into the icy Danube River to stimulate his immune system. Kneipp wrote extensively on the subject of hydrotherapy and other natural healing topics, gaining notoriety that attracted people from across the world to visit his clinic.