The Cavegirl Philosophy on Food

Human beings have roamed this planet for somewhere between 2 and 3 million years. Through an infinite series of adaptations, we evolved to thrive under certain conditions during the paleolithic era. At the dawn of the agricultural revolution, everything changed. The human diet changed from meats, leaves, nuts, and berries to seeds, grains, and dairy. Daily life changed from nomadic hunting and gathering to domesticated farming and agriculture. It started 10,000 years ago at the earliest and really took off about 5000 years ago. In terms of human existence, this is a mere blink of an eye and not enough time for us to adapt to our new environment. Human generations are long and we reproduce slowly. Genetically we are all still cavemen and cavewomen.

Worse yet, less than 100 years ago, pesticides, hormones, industrial vegetable oils, preservatives, artificial flavors, trans fats, and a host of other frankenfood ingredients were introduced to the human diet. It's death by 1000 nutritional cuts.

What we try to accomplish with the cavegirl philosophy is a "genetically congruent" lifestyle based on eating the foods available to our paleo ancestors and leaving out the modern additions. This means we eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, and little starch/sugar. Noticeably absent from the cavegirl diet are all grains, dairy, and legumes. The cavegirl menu is loaded with highly nutritious, quality food that is as close to its natural state as possible. We choose pastured or grass fed meats, buy (or catch!) wild fish, and opt for organic, local, and/or in-season produce. This diet is naturally much lower in carbs than the horrifying North American diet and high in quality proteins and fats. Health promoting, brain supporting, pro-heart fats.

Eating this way leads to positive gene expression, tilting your body towards health, longevity, and vitality. Caveguys and cavegirls were naturally lean and strong, without Jenny Craig, Special K, or a globo gym membership. A primal diet is the solution to most of the diseases of civilization like obesity, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, depression, crohn's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, gout, acne, and on and on. It's not that this diets protects against disease, as if we are somehow destined to be fat and sick. But rather, this diet doesn't cause those diseases in the first place. You are genetically programed to thrive, not suffer a slow, agonizing, humiliating decline to an eventual early grave.

My intention with this blog is to show that primal eating is not boring, bland, or impossible to achieve. Cavegirl food is delicious and flavorful, and easy to cook. It also leaves you feeling satiated and energized. No need to suffer through an agonizing, depriving low-cal, low-fat silly "diet". Not here. No thank you.

Pay Now, Live Later put together an excellent 5 minute video to explain precisely this philosophy on food.