Summary: Paleojay podcast #57 Are we really Paleo, or are we... Barbarians?? First off, I want to say- I am so glad to have my computer back and running! Thanks so much to Elan technology of Columbus Ohio for “saving my PASTURED bacon!” New hard drive with total data recovery- thank guys!! And now, lets go into the show: I have always loved the Paleo metaphor for diet and lifestyle! Paleo, ancestral, primal; they all kind of work- they get the idea across that we have strayed from our roots- our future is in our past- we have REALLY MESSED THINGS UP!! But, when I really think about it, at this point we should really call ourselves barbarians! I have always loved reading about ancient history and civilizations! Did you know that the mummies of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs tend to be riddled with artherosclerosis, arthritis, and most of the modern diseases that we thought were only... modern!? Well, they are! The Egyptians of thousands of years ago might have been surrounded by “barbarians” that had none of these diseases, and most of their own lower classes probably were also immune, since they didn’t have the money to eat lots of grains, mainly in the form of sweetened confections that the upper classes prized. The more in depth that the old mummies are studied, the more modern diseases are discovered in these ancient corpses! And then there is Tacitus... a Roman from 98 A.D., he wrote about the German barbarians of the time- “he mentions that they all have common physical characteristics, blue eyes (truces et caerulei oculi = "sky-coloured, azure, dark blue, dark green), reddish hair ( rutilae comae = "red, golden-red, reddish yellow") and large bodies, vigorous at the first onset but not tolerant of exhausting labour, tolerant of hunger and cold but not of heat.[2] In Chapter 7, Tacitus describes their government and leadership as somewhat merit-based and egalitarian, with leadership by example rather than authority and that punishments are carried out by the priests. He mentions (Ch. 8) that the opinions of women are given respect. In Chapter 9, Tacitus describes a form of folk assembly rather similar to the publicThings recorded in later Germanic sources: in these public deliberations, the final decision rests with the men of the tribe as a whole.” Sounds like a pretty fair, modern group of folks, really, doesn’t it? He goes on to say that they don’t eat much grains, being from a cold, inhospitable land (nothing like the sunny Mediteranean!!) and mainly subsist on meat, vegetables, and dairy herds! Sounds pretty PRIMAL, doesn’t it? I think these guys would have loved a good Paleo smoothie, along with a nice grass fed steak topped with butter and bacon! And think of this: potatoes weren’t even discovered yet!! These ancient barbarians were golden!! At any rate, what I think about the German barbarians is this: WE, we Paleo folk, are more like THEM than pure hunter/ gatherers! WE live in civilization, or preferably on the outskirts of it (in more rural communities that are self-sufficient), and can choose to pick and choose from what civilization has to offer, but ignore and pass by the decadence and rotten morals that it is also riddled with... We can use the technology of civilization, but ignore and shun the GMO’s, the pharmaceutical poisons, and the toxic processed fake foods! We instinctively know better! We can be Noble Barbarians! Taking what we want of value of modern civilized society, and ignoring and reviling what we KNOW to be foul! Kind of gives you a mission, doesn’t it? Do what’s right- Eat what’s right- only real food... RIGHT?? Exercise right- real, bodyweight, and moving-through-nature exercise! Sleep right, plenty of it! LIVE right- avoid decadence and the EVILS that civilization tends to accumulate Live TRIBALLY- this is what the barbarians kept up from paleolithic times- a TRIBE is the only natural a
