"It is increasingly recognized that certain fundamental changes in diet and lifestyle that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution, and especially after the Industrial Revolution and the Modern Age, are too recent, on an evolutionary time scale, for the human genome to have completely adapted. This mismatch between our ancient physiology and the western diet and lifestyle underlies many so-called diseases of civilization, including coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, epithelial cell cancers, autoimmune disease, and osteoporosis, which are rare or virtually absent in hunter–gatherers and other non-westernized populations. It is therefore proposed that the adoption of diet and lifestyle that mimic the beneficial characteristics of the preagricultural environment is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of chronic degenerative diseases." (The Western Diet and Lifestyle and Diseases of Civilization)
Acknowledging these changes is a big piece of the puzzle when some people wonder why so many of us are suddenly reacting negatively to foods that humans have eaten for hundreds of years. One aspect of this issue is that the foods we have been eating the last few decades are not the same. Wheat, and many other foods, have changed dramatically.
"By foregoing traditional preparation methods, shortening harvesting periods, the addition of preservatives and chemicals, and through the introduction of high speed steel roller mills, today’s grains are nothing like the grains of our past." (History of Gluten-Based Diets)
But the change in types of food isn't the only issue.
Our homes and work environments in large part have changed remarkably too.
My family, up until my mother's generation, were mostly farmers, and had been for hundreds, for some branches thousands of years. With the death of many, many family farms in the US during the mid 20th century our lifestyles changed. My mom moved us to a big city, where there was now more opportunity, and I'm the first generation to be raised in such an environment since some ancestors who lived in London 400 years ago.
Some people postulate that there are many issues with the modern city and accompanying lifestyle that effect our health, from electrification, to a lack of negative ions, to a more sedentary ways, the disbursement of the extended family in favor of smaller nuclear families and thus the loss of a support network, to pollution, and on and on.
I'm sure many other people who've had to work in cubicles in stuffy rooms under florescent lights staring at computer screens all day understand that besides being totally soul-sucking, those places just make you feel terrible and drained.
This capitalistic society pressures most of us into being wage slaves, and either promoting, manufacturing, supporting, or selling consumer products for 40+ hours a week. On the whole, this work is not fulfilling. It's empty, it feels like a trap, like a "daily grind." We start the week yearning for our days off, and spend each day struggling to stay engaged with the job, and taking stimulants mid-day so we can keep up the insane pace of the work. Then when we get home we numb ourselves with TV, food, and booze. I believe this kind of lifestyle is terribly unhealthy.
Yes, humans have always worked in some capacity, but wage slavery is, on the whole, a rather new invention. At the beginning of the industrial revolution factories used to have whiskey carts that would roll around and serve drinks to workers, just because that was a ploy to try and placate the staff to work hours that were more grueling and long that people were used to. Sadly, they've taken away the whiskey and now we're hooked on coffee and soda. And the kicker is that we've been conned into working these jobs in order to mostly buy more consumer goods! We could live way simpler, more in tune with our own rhythms, and still be nourished, fed, and sheltered. I know this is more challenging depending on your resources, but I think it's a great thing to strive for.
I grew-up poor/working class, then got a "good" job as an adult, earning a nice salary in a fancy office building. When I got there I realized how I'd been duped. This wasn't the kind of life that fulfilled me, and my entire being screamed for escape. I felt like the girl in this video, secretly making her wings to fly away:
In every cubicle I sat in I would decorate with pictures of the forest, my happy place, to keep me sane. I yearned, more than anything, to do something *useful* for my community, to actually contribute, and to be OUTSIDE, moving and interacting.
I *did* get to fly away and am never going back to a job like that again.
I feel amazing when I go to the woods. This is one of those places said to be full of beneficial negative ions, and a great place to "ground" or connect with the earth's magnetic field, undisputed by all of our gadgets and closed-in rooms. Whenever I have to leave the woods after a visit my entire self feels like it is just crying out, like a child being ripped from it's mother's breast. I'm slowly inching closer and closer to living in my beautiful woodland, hopefully soon I'll be there for good! As I write this, I'm sitting outside on my patio, shaded by some enormous trees, feeling the wind on my face, accompanied by my cats, who also love nothing more than lying in the dirt and sucking up the electromagnetic earth field all day long.
So my hypothesis is, that the umbrella cause of why we have all of these "diseases" increasing in frequency, is that we've cut off ourselves from our 'natural', harmonious way of being. We live in artificial boxes, surround ourselves with electronic devices, eat strange industrialized foods, don't touch the earth, don't listen to our natural sleep rhythms, don't expose ourselves to fire, don't have the sun on our skin enough, don't eat traditional foods like fermented vegetables and liver, instead necessitating the need for supplements to try to make-up for this nutritional lack in our diets. All of this has compounded to a dysfunction in how our bodies work.
Getting in tune with this interconnectedness was actually how I came to grips with the fact that my body needed to eat meat again after years of vegetarianism and veganism. The earth is one organism, and we are a part of it. Anyone who's ever been in an altered state of consciousness knows that everything on earth is alive. We as creatures consume living matter to survive. When our body dies, we feed other living matter with our flesh. Plant consciousness has also been researched as of late, further illustrating just how alive everything is. I think our disconnection with our hunter selves, and really, our disconnection with the deaths of our community members (those whisked away to hospitals and separated) has caused us to fear these cycles of death and re-purposing of flesh even more. I now acknowledge and respect the aspect of myself that is an animalian tigress. I no longer see food as antiseptic lumps purchased at the grocery store, but as the beautiful, respected beings that I give immense gratitude to for nourishing me.
The picture below is my desktop photo, and is my everyday reminder of my rooted self, my ancestral being that I strive to connect with more. It's an artist's rendition of a Germanic woman from 9,000-6,000 BC in Saxony-Anhalt. The things she is wearing are what was found buried with her, she was believed to be a very special shamanic women in the tribe.
(click for larger image)
Beneficial things that I've been trying to incorporate more of into my life as of late, in my quest to create more overall harmony and health, are as follows:
- Moving to a smaller city with more trees, natural water sources, and accessible natural spaces.
- Planning to move to the edge of the city and closer to the woods. Also building a garden, getting chickens, bees, and hopefully goats!
- Starting a business where I can be up, active, and connecting with community.
- Eating mostly whole, unprocessed foods. Learning traditional preparation techniques, such as fermenting, soaking, and culturing.
- Observing the natural rhythms in my ecosystem, the moon phases, weather, etc.
- Meditating and cultivating a sense of interconnectedness with others and the world.
- Reciting positive mantras daily.
- Reusing things and learning traditional crafts. For instance, I'm making a rag rug for the kitchen right now.
- Taking lots of walks in our local park and getting sunshine.
- Plans to take permaculture workshops near by.
- Dreams of living in a cob house or at least a yurt.
So there it is, my philosophy (ever evolving) on how our connection to the earth keeps us healthy and happy. I hope you enjoyed it, and all the best to you!
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