constant state of flux

I have just been reading a great post over at Jack Kruse (thanks Dexter) about circadian rhythms and seasonal eating. Although there is a lot of science contained on this site, I believe that the basic premise rings true: we should be eating like our ancestors ate because even though our brains have changed to accommodate differing patterns of life, our bodies have not.

What you feel like eating does not mean it should be what you are designed to eat.  What you can eat safely, does not mean it should be what we are designed to eat either.  What we are designed to eat is the answer to where our ultimate health really lies.  When we choose to eat in spite of our biologic directives this is when illness, disease, or bad feelings tend to crop up and cause confusion to the patient.  The best way for you to solve this situation is to think.  I want you to think about the message your neolithic mind is capable of delivering to your paleolithic genome on a daily basis.  Most of us are completely unaware of this biologic mismatch.  It is my belief that it underlies much of what currently ails most of mankind today.

- Jack Kruse

Even though Kruse is a staunch paleo meat-and-fat man himself and recommends a VLC diet, (with higher carb intake during the summer) which I personally (because of what I have read about metabolic typing) believe will only work for high protein types and possibly some mixed types, his writings on the way we should be eating is spot on.

For many years I have been trying to eat within the seasons and within the locality and because I live in the mountains, winter can be pretty limiting but I feel good this way. I never really gave it much thought though, other than that is what we have been designed to do, but now Kruse puts some hefty scientific weight behind the ideas.

His basic ideas are as follows (if you want to read about the science, I suggest you go to his site because quite frankly, I do not really understand it):

• Eat a carb-based breakfast (containing some protein) 30 mins after waking
• Be active between 9 am and 4 pm
• exercise between 1 pm and 4 pm (preferably out in the sunlight)
• eat a light lunch, or nothing at all
• do not snack
• your carb intake will change throughout the year; lowest around 21st Dec, highest around 21st June
• eat a protein orientated meal in the evening (before 7 pm in winter and before 8pm in summer).
• dim the lights an hour after sunset
• go to sleep no later than 10pm in winter and 11pm in summer

Looking at greater depth into these points we see that eating around the seasons of the year and according to the rhythms of day and night would have been the ONLY thing our ancestors could have done; ancient people would have been completely tied to the land they lived on and that is the only way it possibly can be in order to ensure habitat sustainability. So, in this day and age, why should we do any different? Just because we now have UNLIMITED food choices all year round, doesn’t mean to say that we should eat whatever we want, whenever we want to.

The metabolic types denote regions of the world where certain foods would have been available. The protein type would have predominated in areas of snow and cold, where the harsh landscape would only have permitted meat eating throughout the year, the carb type would have lived nearer to the equator where plant matter would have been available all year round and the mixed types would have been in the temperate zones with defined seasons of protein and fat eating and carb eating.

Within these cycles, as Kruse mentions, more carbs would have been available during the summer (peaking in late summer with fruit ad berries) and would have held true for all regions of the world to a certain extent, with greatest variability in the temperate zones.

I feel it is crucial to find out our metabolic type first (which gives us some indication of our ancestral diet) and then work seasonally and daily with our type. There is a time for sleeping, eating and exercising and these times change gradually over the course of the year. It is up to us to follow these cycles faithfully – in a sense, we need to respect our ancestry and grow closer to the original wisdom the earth holds to again become well.

To summarise, before the advent of electricity, the rhythm of the day would have been controlled by these two celestial bodies, and before the advent of international air freight, our bodies would have been tied into the land around us. In truth, our bodies have not forgotten these facts even though our minds may have done.