tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12975674898800979372023-11-15T08:23:52.938-08:00Evo Mama: An Imperfect Primitive Parent Living in an Imperfect Modern Worldspacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-42299239817529105042012-05-29T12:37:00.003-07:002012-05-29T12:37:46.261-07:00The Perfect Food: Part 3a<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For Nigel …</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>DISCLAIMER:<span>
</span>This post is NOT about mothers who physically or physiologically cannot
nurse because of a medical or other condition. They are a special case, and are
the exact reason there needs to be a healthful alternative to breastmilk for
infants (though I’d prefer to see more milk banks, instead of formula
companies, to help children of mother’s who cannot nurse).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>A Brief History of Formula:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span></span>All of the
information I am about to lay out here was gathered from the </span><span style="font-size: small;">sources at the end of this post</span><span style="font-size: small;"> .<span> </span>Check them out for
yourselves.<span> </span>You’ll learn a lot more
than I’m prepared to educate you here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Before we can get into the history of formula, we need to look at wet nursing, as this was the viable option for mothers who couldn't nurse prior to the invention of baby formula. The history of wet nursing is probably as old as nursing
itself, in fact.<span> </span>Surely, in all cultures across
all time there were women who for some reason or another (more often than not
that reason being they died during childbirth) could not nurse their own
offspring.<span> </span>Other women in the tribe or
community would have stepped in to ensure the child’s survival.<span> </span>It’s good to be part of a tribe, yes?<span> </span>According to sources, many ancient cultures,
including Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, feature myths involving superhuman,
supernatural, and even animal wet nurses.<span>
</span>It appears that later, in the 17<sup>th</sup> and 18<sup>th</sup>
century Europe, wet nursing was commonplace.<span>
</span>One can speculate (though if one had more time one would actually do
more research and wouldn’t need to speculate) that if wet nursing was
“commonplace” during this time period, the employment of wet nurses expanded
beyond helping out mothers who couldn’t physiologically nurse to allowing
mothers who did not want to nurse another option.<span> </span>Interestingly, along with wet nursing, there was also the use of
cross-nursing or co-nursing, where lactating mothers would nurse each others
babies.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While researching wet nursing, I found a little
nugget from The Cambridge Companion to Rousseau, “The divided self is another
concept common to Pascal and Rousseau … Rousseau’s divisions flow from the
contrast between the <i>amour de soi</i> (love of self) that is naturally given
to us and the <i>amour-propre</i> (selfishness) into which our natural drives
are transformed by society.<span> </span>Humans in
the state of nature are similar to other animals insofar as they express love
of themselves by seeking to avoid pain and to safeguard their well-being.<span> </span>They are not selfish, however; they do not
compare themselves with other persons, they do not suffer from envy or petty
pride.<span> </span>On the contrary, they instinctually
empathize with others who suffer, pity being one of the few innate traits of
human nature.<span> </span>Contemporary evidence of
how love of self combines with concern for others may be seen in the practice
of breast-feeding, which is why Rousseau did his best – and with some success –
to convince aristocratic women to stop using wet nurses.<span> </span>The mother acts as agent of our not entirely
lost natural selves when she breast-feeds her child; she acts as the agent of
our socially acquired selves when, some years later, she sends her offspring
into the world with the imperative, ‘Achieve.’<span>
</span>Out of love the mother breast-feeds, out of love she wishes her maturing
child social success – but this second love is no longer the expression of
nature.”<span> </span>Two things jumped out at me
when reading this: (1) I need to start reading more Rousseau – even though French
people scare me, and (2) There has been a long standing dichotomy between the
natural self and the cultural self, and it’s about damn time we do more
contemplation on the implications of this chasm of thought for humanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Throughout history, mothers who did not breastfeed
and did not use a wet nurse, practiced what was called “dry nursing,” feeding
their babies prepared food.<span> </span>This
practice evolved to include feeding babies mixtures based on animal milk
(primarily goat, cow and sheep milk).<span> </span>During
the 19<sup>th</sup> century, dry nursing grew in popularity as the prevalence
of wet-nursing diminished.<span> </span>As per
Wikipedia, “This trend was driven by cultural changes …”<span> </span>I find this to be a rather obvious
observation.<span> </span>These changes would must
have been driven by societal forces, because mother nature herself, like my
dear husband, prefers boob.<span>
</span>Improvements in sanitation and the development of the “India-rubber
nipple” were also complicit in the transition from a nursing culture to a
formula-fed one.<span> </span>And it’s at this time
that the wonderful world of processed, manufactured food comes into our little
story.<span> </span>Here’s another quote from Wiki
(‘cause I’m lazy), “As early as 1846, scientists and nutritionists noted an
increase in medical problems and infant mortality was associated with dry
nursing.<span> </span>In an attempt to improve the
quality of manufactured baby foods, in 1867, Justus von Liebig (my notation:
yes, his name is “lie” “big”; just sayin’) developed the world’s first commercial
infant formula, <i>Liebig’s Soluble Food for Babies</i>.<span> </span>The success of this product quickly gave
rise to competitors such as <i>Mellin’s Infant Food</i>, <i>Ridge’s Food for
Infants</i> and <i>Nestle’s Milk</i>.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It wasn’t long after the invention of these infant
formulas that a large number of women decided not to nurse their babies,
instead relying on the food industry to nourish their children.<span> </span>By the 1930s, even many pediatricians held
that formula was just as nutritious as breastmilk, and therefore advised
mothers to use formula, as a more convenient and efficient means of feeing
their young.<span> </span>Pediatricians were not
well-educated regarding breastfeeding, and relied on the information provided
to them by representatives of infant manufacturers as the basis for their approach
to infant feeding (reminds me of doctors who rely on pharmaceutical reps for
information on new drugs, instead of diving deep into the research literature
and figuring things out for themselves).<span>
</span>Infant formula was touted as a scientific product, and doctors and
mothers bought into this marketing.<span>
</span>And, here’s the crux.<span> </span>Here’s the
moment when “science” beats down “nature.”<span>
</span>Here’s where hubris takes hold of the human mind.<span> </span>You can’t outthink or outperform nature (or
millions of years of evolution).<span> </span>She’s
gonna kick you in the nads every time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As a result, the incidence of breastfeeding
dramatically decreased throughout the mid-twentieth century.<span> </span>It took less than a 100 years to go from
“commonplace” (so much so that women who couldn’t nurse employed other women to
nurse in their stead) to “unscientific” and uncommon.<span> </span>Many women forwent nursing for convenience, and I think this is
a major motivator today.<span> </span>I think women,
and probably many doctors, still believe that formula is on par with
breastmilk, and therefore can be used instead without even the slightest hesitation.<span>
</span>It’s likely not a coincidence that the use of bottle-feeding increased,
as women began to enter the workforce.<span>
</span>And though infant formula has it’s merits and is constantly being
improved upon, there are many benefits that are unique to breastfeeding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There much more to the story, and I'll get to that in my next post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sources:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_formula">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_formula</a>;
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10935&page=42">http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10935&page=42</a>;
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbaby.html">http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbaby.html</a>).<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cambridge_Companion_to_Rousseau.html?id=AmQErzRljk0C">http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cambridge_Companion_to_Rousseau.html?id=AmQErzRljk0C</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1564&context=lawfaculty">http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1564&context=lawfaculty</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/2/409S.long">http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/2/409S.long</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684040">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2684040</a></span>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-5601686644257946392012-02-10T09:49:00.000-08:002012-02-10T11:33:37.022-08:00The Perfect Food: Part 2<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here's the thing about this perfect food,
breastmilk. Please look over your shoulder before you read on ... because
... shhhhh ... most of today's society doesn't really want you to nurse your child (and
especially not your toddler!). It's icky. It makes people
uncomfortable. One dares not do it in public. Many feel they can
make judgments about when, where, how often, for how long, and until what age you
can nurse, when this is purely a parental decision. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This whole breastfeeding backlash (which may be as old as modernity itself) is at the heart of a growing separation, delineation, and division
between human beings and their biology, their physiology, and their fucking
God-given bodies. And just like in other areas of human biology (like
nutrition and sleep) where humans exist in states of being that are not
complementary with their evolved physiology, lack of breastfeeding directly contributes
to poor health (the very epidemic of poor health that is swallowing this
country, in fact) devouring the citizenry, denying them the freedom and
prosperity of good health. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">People don’t acknowledge that humans are <u>mammals</u>
(you know, ‘cause we have mammary glands, i.e. breasts!). This "perfect
food" comes in a perfect container (containers men obsess over, perhaps because
they didn’t get adequate access as a little one, or maybe just because breasts
are awesome – even if many men don’t really get why). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Evolution selected for humans to be able to easily
carry their young over great distances efficiently, which meant that having a bagged
lunch all the time was a great advantage for human mamas. As I stated, there's a
clear sexual obsession with these amazing vessels of life-blood, which I think
clouds the view of the breast. Many see
breasts as sexual in <u>all</u> settings and circumstances. The concept
of the beast as a tool to feed and nurture our children creates too much
cognitive dissonance for these people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But people need to step up and accept the
complexity of the human situation. We live in this modern world with all
of its guts and glories, but our bodies were designed to live thousands of
years ago. This is Darwinism. It's hard to deny. Soooooo ...
we need to stop fucking denying it! Doing so is only making people
fatter, sicker and deader. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We must not deny the human nature of others,
either. Breastfeeding should be welcomed into public life, and seen as
the living and beneficial exchange that it is.
We need to support the mothers who are making the choice to best nourish
for their young children, not ostracize and marginalize them. In fact, we should be celebrating this
beautiful exchange between mother and child (not hiding the “obscenity”). What’s obscene is people who deny (or hate)
who they actually are: <u>human animals</u>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Next up:
Part 3 of this series will look at today’s industrial food industry that
claims to have created an equivalent substance (i.e. formula) that saves
parents time and effort, and generates amazing profits by feeding on the
disconnect between modern humans and their bodies.</span></div>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-12238030995495021292012-01-30T05:20:00.000-08:002012-05-14T05:34:25.110-07:00The Perfect Food: Part 1<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Some critics of the Paleo diet posit that there are not
any foodstuffs in today’s nutritional landscape that we can be certain were
eaten during the Paleolithic era. The
critic explains that the environment in which we live is vastly different from
the Paleolithic, many animals that were eaten then are now extinct, the plant
foods that are now grown often lack nutrients that would have been abundant
eons ago due to soil depletion, even organic fruits and vegetables tend to
contain some toxins that also would not have been prevalent in the Paleolithic
period, etc. Furthermore, many argue
that making it impossible to develop a true Paleo diet. Granted these critics are totally missing
the point of ancestral diets; they are also wrong. There is one food that we eat today that has been available,
likely in the same or very similar form, since the dawn of man: one perfect
food. At that food is breast milk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It is a perfect food for a multitude of reasons,
but today’s post is going to focus on its nutritional superiority. Here’s a short list of human milk’s unique
nutrition (taken
fromhttp://www.askdrsears.com/topics/breastfeeding/why-breast-best/nutrient-nutrient-why-breast-best):</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">High-quality protein – though the percentage of
protein in human milk is relatively low (for good reason – we are carrier
mammals, meant to keep our young with us at all times and if they grew too
large too fast, mamas would not be able to easily keep their young close by and
to carry their little ones when needed).
One amino acid in high concentration in breastmilk, however, is taurine,
which is critical for both brain and eye development. The body can’t easily convert other amino acids into taurine, so
it is very important for babies to get this amino acid through breastmilk. The proteins in human milk (primarily whey,
as opposed to casein) are also easily digested (thus why little ones are often
ready for another feeding not long after finishing their last “meal”).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Self-digesting fats – human milk contains lipase,
an enzyme that helps break down fat into a form that can be easily absorbed
into the bloodstream. This is essential
for little bodies with maturing digestive systems. This fat provides the little ones with the constant energy they
need to develop.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Nutritional plasticity – the fat (and nutrient)
content of human milk changes as needed, and even changes during a
feeding. Foremilk is generally lower in
fat and has a thirst-quenching element to it for the nursling, while hindmilk,
coming later in the feeding is higher in fat.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Brain-building fats – all of the nerves in the
brain are covered in myelin, which assists in efficient electrical
communication within the brain and body.
Myelin development requires two specific types of fatty acids, linoleic
and linolenic, both of which are abundant in breast milk. In addition to these fatty acids, human milk
contains ample amounts of DHA (docasahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid
that is vital to the growth and development of neural tissue.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Vitamin and mineral bioavailability – the nutrients
in breastmilk have been designed via evolution to be readily absorbed and used
by the baby’s digestive and circulatory systems. “For example, 50 to 75 percent of the iron in breastmilk is
absorbed by the baby. With formula, as little as 4 percent of the iron is
absorbed into baby's bloodstream.” Additionally,
nutrients in breast milk exist in ratios that compliment each other. The Vitamin C in human milk increases the
absorption of zinc, for example.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Hormones and enzymes – in addition to lipase, other
enzymes exist in breast milk that help the nursling to digest it. Additionally, breast milk contains hormones,
like Epidermal Growth Factor (useful in the development of the digestive tract
in addition to regulating cell growth, differentiation and proliferation – per
Wikipedia), in significant amounts.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Beneficial bacteria – this milk also contains
“Bifidus factor, one of the oldest known disease-resistance factors in human
milk, promotes the growth of a beneficial organism named Lactobacillus
bifidus.” (quote from
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/how_breastmilk_protects_newborns.html)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Immune boosters – One drop of breastmilk contains
“one million white blood cells” called macrophages that help babies fight
germs. Human milk also contains IgA,
which helps coat and protect the immature lining of the large intestine (this
not only helps with fighting infection, but also helps prevent allergies
because allergens are unable to sneak into the bloodstream due to IgA’s coating
of the gut lining). As if this wasn’t
enough, moms can also manufacture antibodies to germs their little ones were
exposed to and deliver those antibodies to their littles through nursing.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Health
benefits for the mama – studies (albeit most epidemiological) show that nursing
moms, (1) have a reduced risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer, (2) have
a reduced risk for osteoporosis, (3) experience less postpartum depression, (4)
have an easier time losing baby weight, and (5) save money by not purchasing
formula.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This truly is a short list. There is additional information available on
the benefits of breastfeeding, the amazing nutritional content and benefits of
human milk; and science continues to discover new beneficial components in
breast milk year after year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Part
2 of this series will look at other aspects of breastfeeding, further examining
this amazing part of human physiology that has been perfected through ages of
evolution, only to be marginalized by modern society, primarily driven by (1) a
culture that has lost touch with humanity’s animalistic, mammalian composition,
and (2) today’s industrial food industry that claims to have created an
equivalent substance (i.e. formula) that saves parents time and effort, and
generates amazing profits by feeding on the disconnect between modern humans
and their bodies.</span></span>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-65348917601901980612012-01-02T12:44:00.000-08:002012-01-02T12:50:42.190-08:00Link to an interesting article ...<h2 class="entry-title headline lg" data-href="/2012/01/02/how_stress_is_really_hurting_our_kids/singleton" data-rel="bookmark" data-title="How stress is really hurting our kids" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/02/how_stress_is_really_hurting_our_kids/">How Stress is Really Hurting Our Kids by Thomas Roberts of Salon.com</a></span></h2>
<h2 class="entry-title headline lg" data-href="/2012/01/02/how_stress_is_really_hurting_our_kids/singleton" data-rel="bookmark" data-title="How stress is really hurting our kids" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">
</h2>
<h2 class="entry-title headline lg" data-href="/2012/01/02/how_stress_is_really_hurting_our_kids/singleton" data-rel="bookmark" data-title="How stress is really hurting our kids" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</h2>
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The article includes an interview with an expert on this topic. The following question/answer struck me as worthy of posting here:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>We also live in a modern society with a lot of advantages
that humans in previous centuries and thousands of years did not.
Children in the Stone Age were exposed to a tremendous amount of trauma
on a daily basis. Doesn’t that suggest we should have evolved to deal
with this by now?</b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">They experienced stress for certain.
Potentially trauma, yes. But the reality was that in place was a family,
in place was a tribe, in place was a village that provided the
stability and the regular protection of that little nervous system. A
child might be traumatized by a saber-tooth tiger or whatever your
fantasy is, but the familial system and the extended family were in
place to pull that kid in. There was no, “Oh, that’s that person’s kid, I
won’t touch them because I might get sued.” That provides some of the
pieces of attachment that are so critical to building that little
nervous system competently.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><u>My New Year's Resolution</u>: I resolve to continue to develop and nurture strong, lasting bonds with our tribes (i.e. close friends and family) that help both me and my child feel connected and protected.</span><br />
<h2 class="entry-title headline lg" data-href="/2012/01/02/how_stress_is_really_hurting_our_kids/singleton" data-rel="bookmark" data-title="How stress is really hurting our kids">
</h2>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-20216126097600114522011-12-24T11:37:00.001-08:002011-12-24T11:37:54.195-08:00Holiday Tribal ReunionsI'm smiling ... more so than usual. My newly two year old son is laughing and playing with his older sister and brother. He manages to look at me with an expression on his face saying, "This is friggin great!". Lately, he's been getting lots of quality time with his siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends ... people he doesn't see enough on a regular basis. He hasn't figured it out yet, but he understands in his subconscious (or perhaps in his soul) that the magic of this time of year is all about the tribe. <br />
<br />
It's reunion time again, finally. It's that special time of year when we reconnect with our tribes, our family, people with whom we share ancestry, bloodlines, genetics, perspectives. It runs deep. Hunter acts very differently around family (and family friends). He warms up quickly. He beams in their presence. We all seem more at home and at peace in each other's company, even as we're driving each other crazy.<br />
<br />
Historically, traditionally, extended families lived together or in close proximity to each other. Perhaps something has been lost by our self-imposed division of extended family. Technology has only assisted in exacerbating our isolation. Sure, I can text my sister, call my mom, check my cousin's facebook status, read my friend's latest blogpost, in minutes, with the mere touch of a finger, but I'd rather give each one of them a hug, I'd rather see their facial expressions as we talk and laugh.<br />
<br />
I'm glad that I can enjoy lots of laughing, talking and hugging with my tribes this time of year. I need to consciously parlay this into a more regular thing for us.<br />
<br />
Humans need tribes. We evolved that way and our physiologies (and perhaps our souls) crave this form of interconnectedness and interdependence. <br />
<br />
Happy Holiday Tribal Reunions!spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-30082820721892252932011-12-24T11:35:00.001-08:002011-12-24T11:35:22.556-08:00spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-79577611532496139022011-12-16T08:27:00.000-08:002011-12-17T03:44:42.893-08:00What is food?<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What is food? It’s kind of sad that this question must be asked and answered, but most people have clearly lost a sense of its definition. The fact that the definition of food, something so essential to human life, is misunderstood by the public at large is at the heart of the problem with the current state of human health. </span></span> <br />
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</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, what is food? A quick internet search found the following definition: “Any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.” (<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/food">http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/food</a>).</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So the purpose of food is to be <u>nourishing</u>, to <u>sustain life</u>, to <u>provide energy</u> and to <u>promote growth</u>. Outside of providing energy, I would say most of the Standard American Diet (aptly abbreviated SAD) is not food. It certainly isn’t what I call <i>real food</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food is nourishing, sustains life (healthy, vibrant life), provides energy (not a spike in energy quickly followed by dips in energy, but sustained energy), and promotes growth (of muscle, bones, healthy cells, beneficial bacteria, hormones, etc.). Real food fulfills the very definition of food. Fake food (i.e. processed foods like frozen dinners, pizza, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, English muffins, waffles, bottled salad dressings, etc) is not nourishing, barely sustains life (and leads to diseases that diminish life), both provides and robs the body of energy, and does not promote growth of anything except adipose tissue.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, for the real food impaired, here are a few ways to recognize real food:</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food was alive once. It grew in the ground or was a living animal eating it’s natural diet and doing it’s natural thing.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food doesn’t need an advertising campaign.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food usually doesn’t need packaging, but if it does, it usually doesn’t have more than one or two ingredients (ex. cheese – ingredients are milk, rennet, enzymes; almonds – ingredients are almonds, etc.).</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food is food that your great, great grandparents and every generation before them ate and thrived eating.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food is organic.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food takes time to prepare in your kitchen.</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food is damn tasty (not fake tasty, using chemicals like msg and chemically manipulated “natural flavors”).</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Real food doesn’t give you a headache, or bloating, or constipation, or the runs when you eat it.</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Real food is ... real.</span></span>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-80146670867752580432011-12-07T09:02:00.000-08:002011-12-07T09:03:57.013-08:00The Need to Shift Perspective<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nothing in Biology makes sense except in light of Evolution. This is the title of a famous essay from Theodosius Dobzhansky, regarding how it is possible to reconcile a belief in God with the concept of evolution. The article is quite brilliant, but I think the biggest takeaway is the assertion made in the title itself. Nothing in Biology makes sense except in light of Evolution. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When we look at the evolution of the human race, we note that selection pressure to evolve began to rapidly decline after the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution. Humans shifted from being migratory to stationary, civilizations developed and grew, and humans began to enjoy benefits of society and technology, including amazing medical advancements. As a result, there was no reason for our bodies to adapt to the world around us, because the world around us had become a much more hospitable place. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Based on this evidence, one can adeptly theorize that human physiology has not changed all that much since the end of the Paleolithic era. Our basic needs as humans have not changed. Our world, however, has changed immensely. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our unnatural world is no longer congruent with our human physiology. This disconnect is at the heart of the multitude of trials and tribulations the human race has been experiencing for thousands of years. And, with every advance in technology, the gap between our evolved state and the world in which we live widens.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"> In order to bridge this gap, we must start taking into account this evolutionary perspective. We have to start looking at our world through a different lens. This blog will attempt to do just that.</span>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1297567489880097937.post-13447701826286422742011-12-05T05:30:00.000-08:002011-12-07T09:03:02.305-08:00Looking Back To Look Forward<div align="center" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Theodosius Dobzhansky</i></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If I'm going to start something, I might as well start at the beginning and work my way forward. I'm a linear thinker.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What the hell has happened to the human race? It's kind of pathetic, given the extraordinary capabilities of the human being. I'm just astounded at the way we have pissed away our genetic inheritance to the point of near extinction.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a world fraught with war, political corruption, widespread consumerism, the human being is sicker and sadder than ever in history. Given the technological and scientific advances made by humans in the past 100 years, one would expect better, much better.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is hope for us, though. We have a way out. Locked within us is our ancestral inheritance of instinctual wisdom, based on a multitude of evolutionary advancements. We need to explore and exploit the things our ancestors did that fit with our genetics. We need to look back at how we evolved to stop our de-evolution. We need to examine what ancient practices align with our physiological evolution, and how those practices can be applied to today's human in the modern world. This approach can be applied to all aspects of one's life and lifestyle, from nutrition to workout routine to family life. This blog will attempt to dig deeper into how we can employ the gathered wisdom of our ancient (and perhaps recent) ancestors to save the sick, sad modern human race.</span></div>spacewomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685318913125090866noreply@blogger.com0