PALEOTERRAN

Monthly Finds 12.2010

New Type of Ancient Human Found—Descendants Live Today? - National Geographic Daily News, Dec. 22
Fossil finger bone of a 5 to 7 year-old girl suggests a previously unknown ancient human group living in Asia. See also John Hawks’ post The Denisova genome FAQ

Deep Breathing: How and Why to Do It - Mark's Daily Apple, Dec. 16
The how-to on rebalancing your stress hormones through deep breathing.

The Blood Type Diet: A Primal Perspective - Primal Wisdom, Dec. 15
“The blood type diet does not have a solid leg on which to stand.”

The Paleolithic Toddler: Green & Healthy Eating For Kids - Greener Ideal, Dec. 14
Nudging your toddler to a more Paleolithic diet.

Wheeled Snow Shovel Is Potent Green Alternative To Belching Snow Blowers - Environmental News Network, Dec. 6
Human-powered snow shovel looks classy. If you have one, let me know how it works.

Qatar World Cup Stadiums Promise Eco-Friendly Soccer Utopia - Wired, Dec. 6
Plan a trip to Qatar in 2022 and enjoy the fruits your petrodollars.

'No Fish Left Behind' Approach Leaves Earth With Nowhere Left to Fish, Study Finds - Science Daily, Dec. 3
With fisheries expanding at a size roughly equivalent to an Amazon rain forest each year, where do you put new ones?

New York’s Largest Green Roof Has Major Impact - EcoGeek, Dec. 2
2.5 acres of green on a roof in midtown Manhattan. 

Ancient vs. Modern Fruits and Vegetables - Mark’s Daily Apple, Dec. 1
“What, you thought every non-explicitly hybridized fruit and vegetable can trace a pure lineage back to the Paleolithic?”

Loss of Species Large and Small Threatens Human Health, Study Finds - Science Daily, Dec 1
“The animals, plants, and microbes most likely to disappear as biodiversity is lost are often those that buffer infectious disease transmission.”

A Paleolithic diet is more satiating per calorie than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease - Nutrition & Metabolism, Nov. 30
Paleolithic diet beats Mediterranean diet in satisfaction, weight loss and decreased waist circumference.

Happy Holidays!

Edward_Hicks_-_Peaceable_Kingdom copy.jpg

Edward Hicks - Peaceable KingdomWishing everyone a wonderful holiday season, which ever holiday you celebrate. One thing we share is respect for life on Earth as these passages, via Sustaining Life, show:

This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations . . . and the bow (rainbow) shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

GENESIS 9:16

There is not an animal on the earth nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you.

KORAN (QUR’AN) 6:38

All this world is strung on me like jewels on a string. I am the taste in the waters, the radiance in the sun and moon, the sacred syllable Om that reverberates in space, the manliness in men. I am the pleasant fragrance in earth, the glowing brightness in fire, the life in all beings.

BHAGAVAD GITA VII:7-9

My love to the footless, my love to the two-footed, my love to the four-footed, my love for the many-footed . . . All sentient beings, all breathing things, creatures without exception, let them all see good things, may no evil befall them.

“GRADUAL SAYINGS” OF THE BUDDHA

Books: 5 Recent Selections

These 5 books occupied my leisure reading over the past few months (I did not work for 5 weeks following the cycling crash). Subjects include the coming population crash (yes, population crash), the story of a neuroscientist who lost part of her mind following a stroke and how she recovered, a primal cookbook, an extensive treatise on biodiversity and its impact on human health, and a synthesis of the origin of humankind. 

The Coming Population Crash and our Planet’s Surprising Future

Fred Pearce 
 

One may think the global human population will keep growing over the next century and bring the Earth to its knees. Well, it is still growing, and yes, we may not make it comfortably through the coming peak of about 9 billion inhabitants, but by mid-century, the Earth’s population is going down. Why? Not enough babies. “Mothers today have fewer than half as many offspring as their own mothers.” For some European countries the birth rate has declined so rapidly they are not replacing their indigenous population and will grow by immigration.

Are mainstream nutritionists beginning to recognize the value of Paleolithic nutrition?

Steer clear. Image: KobakoYesterday the Los Angeles Times published an article by Marni Jameson that may nudge the mainstream a tiny step forward to primal nutrition. The article - A reversal on carbs: Fat was once the devil. Now more nutritionists are pointing accusingly at sugar and refined grains - begins thus:

Most people can count calories. Many have a clue about where fat lurks in their diets. However, fewer give carbohydrates much thought, or know why they should.

But a growing number of top nutritional scientists blame excessive carbohydrates — not fat — for America's ills. They say cutting carbohydrates is the key to reversing obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Cycling crash report

At the top of Squaw Pass. Author near center in blue jersey.Yesterday, I visited my orthopedic surgeon. My left hip fracture is healing well. On September 26, cycling down Squaw Pass in Colorado, I flew off my bike at a curve landing hard enough to fracture my left hip. Looking back, the question is why? Was I not adequately prepared? Was something missing in my training? Did I push above my limits? Was it a fluke? 

After initial healing following implantation of a dynamic pin (no need for a joint replacement!), my first response was to review my training. Besides working out at the gym a couple of times per week, I cycled in town 50 to 60 miles per week.

Simple Paleo: Lamb chops, artichokes, and broccoli

Looking for a simple yet delicious paleo meal? Try lamb chops with artichokes and broccoli.

“Mother hen” steamed the broccoli in the microwave. The artichokes, with their base sectioned, were steamed on the stove. The lamb chops, spiced with rosemary and Limnos Lamb Rub, were roasted in the oven at 375 degrees for 43 minutes.

That’s it! Simple, yet paleo delicious!

 

Run 2,800 miles in 64 days - loose muscle, fat, and brain!

Course of a previous race, the Transeurope-Footrace 2003On April 19, 2009, 45 ultra-endurance runners (39 men and 6 women) took off from southern Italy to run to North Cape, Norway, a distance of 2,800 miles in 64 days!! Why? “Because its there” doesn’t cut it. Certainly only a few can do this; congratulations to runners. But this is extreme. Persitence hunters in the Paleolithic covered a lot of ground chasing down an antelope but they did not run such distances in such a short time. The Trans Europe Footrace is possible only because of the large supporting cast. (The results of the 2009 race can be found here.)

Dr. Uwe Schutz and colleagues from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the University Hospital of Ulm in Germany decided to tag along with the runners and periodically study the anatomical and physiological impact of this ultra-endurance event. Their findings were presented at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting on November 29, 2010.

Paleolithic & hunter-gatherer sleep

Poor sleep is a major barrier to good health. Before we consider ways to improve our sleep, we need to look back to the Paleolithic and to hunter-gatherer societies. Paleo-anatomists studying fossilized skeletons of Australopithecus and Homo habilis note they were well adapted to climbing. Although they probably spent much of daytime on the ground, they likely slept in trees. Sleeping on the ground probably began with the control of fire, which, in addition to improving nutrition, provided safety.

The first hominid to control fire may have been late Homo habilis, or Homo ergaster. Cooking provided a higher quality and more digestible diet, which led to a smaller gut and a larger brain (the expensive tissue hypothesis). Both day and night could be spent on the ground and hominid anatomy slowly became more human-like. The resulting hominid, Homo erectus, was tall and well adapted for migration over land. Their vestibular anatomy also indicates a primarily ground-based existence.

Richard Wrangham, Professor of Anthropology at Harvard, in his book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, writes: