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Ramblings of an evolutionary-minded physician

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The relevant factors… »

Because what the world needs now…

February 26, 2012 by principleintopractice

…is another paleo blogger.

Actually- I don’t think that’s the case, but here I am.  What the world might need, however, is a few more ‘paleo’-minded doctors, and I am one of those in the making.

Many of my friends (and people that might actually read this) are familiar with the term ‘paleo’, though as it means different things to different people it’s only fair that I explain my interpretation of the word.  To be clear, I don’t use the term ‘paleo’ as a clear-cut definition of a specific diet, lifestyle, or perspective, but I think it is a useful term for describing a general set of principles that are loosely based on the evolutionary history of humans.

Like all species, humans evolved to thrive.  Like it or not, you are the result of millions of years of evolution.  While some species live in very precise niches in very particular circumstances (think, for example, of the thermophilic bacteria of the deep sea hyperthermal vents, or the limited diet of the eucalypt eating koala), the human species has evolved to thrive in a variety of environments and on diverse diets.  What has become clear, however, especially to those that pay attention to epidemiological trends or to those that marvel at the expanding waist lines, increased health costs, and mountains of prescription and over-the-counter drugs so many have come to rely on, is that humans are not ‘thriving’ as one might hope and expect in our modern world.

On a whole, the world in which humans evolved has not changed dramatically in the last couple of hundred years, but the environments in which many humans live-namely the civilizations which we have developed for ourselves- are incredibly different (there are certainly people living in traditional cultures, but they’re unlikely to be reading this on the internet.  If you’re reading this, this applies to you).  For hundreds of thousands of years, humans were hunters and gatherers.  Ten thousand years ago humans adopted agriculture.  The industrial revolution occurred a few hundred years ago, and the scale and rate of change of civilization has accelerated from there.

Darwin came to the theory of evolution after reading Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell while voyaging on The Beagle.  Lyell was a geologist who advocated the idea of uniformitarianism- the concept that the earth was slowly shaped by continuous forces over a long period of time that are still occurring today.  This was in contrast to catasrophism, which dictated the environment was shaped by a number of large, catastrophic events (in consonance with biblical stories).  The theory of abrupt, catastrophic changes to the environment is not conducive to the gradual change of evolution, but when one realized that the world was slowly changed by gradual processes, one might also realize that species might also slowly change to best fit their environment.  This realization is oft implicated as the seed that sprouted the principle of natural selection in Darwin’s mind.  The idea of uniformitarianism does not exclude catasrophism, and indeed aspects of our world were shaped by catastrophic events such as earthquakes and volcanos.  While species gradually evolve to fit their slowly changing environment, acute and catastrophic events introduce a strong selection pressure to survive (and then thrive) in such altered environments.  Catastrophic events can reverse the fortunes of species, creating environments where the former top-species can no longer survive or providing an environment where a previously marginalized group can now thrive.  As the poet Tennyson put it ‘Nature, red in tooth and claw’.

And where does this fit in the concept of ‘paleo’… For 200,000 years, humans evolved to thrive as hunter-gatherers.  This is the niche they evolved to fill.  One might suggest (and indeed I do), that the recent changes in the human environment (and yes, at 10,000 years, I consider agriculture to be a recent change, but I consider the developments of the last century even more pressing) should be considered a ‘catastrophic’ change in an otherwise fairly ‘uniform’ history.  Surely there are some among us that have won the genetic lottery to thrive in this modern world, but most of us did not.  This is evidenced by the growing amount of chronic disease in our communities.  Most of us are not capable of thriving as sedentary, indoor-dwelling, calorically over-nourished and nutritionally malnourished insomniacs.

Humans did not evolve to thrive in a limited niche, eating a specific diet, living and moving in one particular way (if you haven’t watched the BBC series “Human Planet”, I highly recommend it).  We are a species capable of surviving, and indeed thriving, in a multitude of environments and situations.  It seems, however, that the modern world has pushed our capabilities to a breaking point.  Not everything about our modern world is problematic- indeed, humans are better off because of many medical, scientific, technological, and cultural developments   Let us not, however, doom ourselves to lives of chronic disease and malcontent because we are all too eager to step outside the limits of our biology.

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Posted in General | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on February 26, 2012 at 1:19 pm Nance

    I look forward to reading your thoughts. I blog on this lifestyle from the viewpoint of an older woman. I started out calling the lifestyle primal, then ancestral, and I now call it MODERN nutrition, as in using our knowledge of our evolution and current research about the human body to select those whole foods most likely to support health and well-being. Since I’ve always liked to think of myself as a forward-thinker I decided modern was the true label for me.

    I bookmarked your blog and will definitely look forward to reading more posts.


    • on February 26, 2012 at 2:08 pm principleintopractice

      Thanks for stopping by!

      I like to think of my perspective on the primal/paleo lifestyle spectrum as a practical approach- combine what we can glean from our past with what we learn from research and then choose what is appropriate at the individual level .


  2. on February 26, 2012 at 1:34 pm Kellee K Campbell, DVM

    OK, Victoria. I’m ready to wander along this with you but remember that I tend to turn the medical mind off after the work day is over, so if I struggle to keep up be patient.


    • on February 26, 2012 at 2:10 pm principleintopractice

      Thanks for stopping by Kelly! I don’t plan to get too technical on the medical front in my writing, but you know me… sometimes I get all nerdy and can’t help myself!


  3. on February 26, 2012 at 8:02 pm Exceptionally Brash

    Jump on in, the water’s great


  4. on February 27, 2012 at 4:20 am primalherbalist

    I like the way you are using the concept of catastrophism to illustrate evolutionary discordance. It’s a powerful image – conjuring volcanos, dinosaurs keeling over etc. – powerful metaphors that we are all familiar with from TV and cinema.
    I don’t think it overstates the problem either, particularly when we consider climate change, exhaustion of fossil fuels, and various other human foibles that are leading us inexorably into the abyss. That’s why, I think, the paleo movement is growing so rapidly. People (at least, some people) seem to be waking up. So thank you for adding your voice and speaking so well.


  5. on February 29, 2012 at 10:58 pm Tom

    Hey, great blog concept. I’m glad to know there will be another paleo doctor in the years to come, and I look forward to reading more of your posts.


  6. on January 22, 2013 at 10:10 pm New Year in Dubai- part 2 « principleintopractice

    […] As someone who is named after the geologist Charles Lyell I was immediately fond of the these deep desert ravines that showed how water had eroded through many layers of rock, exemplifying the theory of uniformitarianism. I also really enjoyed the scenery as we went “Wadi Walking” through Wadi Wurayah in Fujeira. […]



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