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The Benefits of Ancestral Eating at Every Stage of Life
Ancestral Nutrition During Pregnancy and Postpartum I've been motivated to write this from inspiration I have had from my niece who has started weaning her little boy ancestrally. She carried him without problems. She ate and lived ancestrally throughout her pregnancy using organ meat to supply all her folate requirements, all her B12 and Choline and all mineral requirements. Her approach resulted in an easeful pregnancy, a quick home birth and rapid postpartum recovery. This should be every woman's experience of pregnancy and birth. Weaning Babies the Ancestral Way When our children are ready to start food, a great practice is to start them on foods like liver, or raw dairy. Cooked meat is also great to start them on. Grains, seeds, legume and nuts have no place in the human diet. So our little man is thriving on amazing evolutionary foods and will not develop allergies. He will remain healthy and grow strong. Why Ancestral Eating Supports Children’s Growth Ancestral eating is the best choice for food across the ages. As children grow, feeding them with evolutionary foods is the only option for thriving healthy humans. I've heard many stories of children choosing meat and cheese over vegetables!! Processed foods for children may be fast and easy for easy feeding but these are not giving our children good support. Their brains and bodies are growing and they need the foods humans have developed on as well. Meat, organs, fruit and honey. With raw dairy supporting good strong bones. Feeding Teenagers in a Fast Food Culture Teenagers must be the worst age group to feed, with pressure from fast food advertising, and peer pressure. Good luck with this age group! Fingers crossed you have started them young with good nutrition and they now can make good food decisions on their own! There is so much more than feeding teens to support their growth. They need emotional support and “rites of passage” to find their place in the world. Building Strength in Your 20s and 30s with Ancestral Foods As you move into your 20s and 30s the body is laying down foundations like body fat, muscle and healthy systems internally. Keeping a well fed machine gives you the best opportunity for high performance, stamina, and sleep. This young body works freely. Feelings of invincibility are vivid. Staying Healthy in Middle Age Through Conscious Eating Entering ‘middle’ age can bring major physical changes. Conscious eating will become your friend!! It is key to staying with ancestral eating for health, weight and avoiding disease and common health problems that tend to creep up on humans during this time. You need to be aware that thriving is a response to feeding the body optimally. Adjusting Nutrition in Your 60s and Beyond I've found now that in my 7th decade, my food requirements have changed dramatically. The size of my meals have reduced and I'm aware that too much nutrition leads to more body fat than I'm happy with. With this awareness I’m choosing foods that sustain me throughout the day, ones I know will help with my cognition and memory and muscle growth. I also add a few fasting days a month. Preventing Muscle Loss and Cognitive Decline with Protein and Organ Meats As humans age, if we are not well nourished muscle wasting and reduction in bone density can happen. So it makes sense to feed with protein and fat. 1.6gm protein per kg of body weight. Most elderly people I know are fed the worst food. Cakes, biscuits, lots of vegetables and reduced fat and red meat. If you want your old people to thrive and live without sarcopenia and cognitive decline, encourage more red meat, bone broths and bone marrow, and of course organ meats. These are super easy if taken in capsule form. It’s Never Too Late to Start Eating Ancestrally Finally, its never too late to start changing your diet. Starting today, will give you more life and more energy.
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What Are the Nine Ancestral Tenets? A Framework for Modern Health
What Are the Nine Ancestral Tenets? During the last couple of months we have been looking at the Nine Ancestral Tenets. The ancestral tenets or principles have been part of the dialogue for ancestral living for a number of decades, primarily from the Weston A Price Foundation as well as a number of other organisations that see getting back to our primal motivations as key to our ongoing health as primates in the modern world. Researching the tenets has been a great learning experience and I've gathered more knowledge around the science and research that has been done in the field of ancestral living. I've added a couple of papers that I thought may be great nighttime reading if you're a bit geeky like me! The Tenets are: Sleep, Eat, Move, Shield, Connect, Cold, Sun, Fight and Bond. Why Are the Ancestral Tenets Essential for Modern Health? The essential nature of all the tenets are key for us to live and maintain our health and relationships in this fast paced life of ours. They are all interconnected, but we believe that the most important tenet is eat. Why Is “Eat” the Most Foundational Ancestral Principle? With an animal based diet, eating unprocessed and local seasonal foods we can create a radical health foundation that the other tenets can be supported thorough. Sleeping gets better, Being able to move freely without pain and discomfort, being able to push yourself to achieve good fitness goals, all contribute to a deeper life experience. What Does “Connect” Mean in Ancestral Living? I love Connect, this tenet is all about connecting to the wild! The wild outside and the wild within. Sitting on mountain or by the beach, tramping for days in the bush, or swimming with dolphins. These things are essential for us to really feel the bigger picture, the expanse of nature and this glorious world we are part of. How Does Cold Exposure Support Health and Resilience? I love the Cold. I used to hate it! I now know how essential it is for my health and wellbeing to get cold. The paper below has some interesting stats on cold exposure and how our bodies can thrive with regular cold exposure. Why Is Daily Sun Exposure Essential for Gut and Hormone Health? We also need the sun, to activate the fat soluble vitamins, to stimulate serotonin production and to remineralise our bodies. To help bone density and that 'good feeling'. There is also research, the paper is below, regarding sun exposure and improved gut biome diversity. We need the sun every day. Living the Ancestral Tenets This Summer The other 2 Tenets I'll cover in the next blog. In the meantime, get outside in the sun or the cold. Eat local, and Move! Sun exposure increases the gut microbiome diversity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6821880/ How important is cold exposure? https://www.athletespotential.com/uploads/2/4/7/3/24730224/cold-stress.pdf
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Everything Wrong With the Modern Diet (And Why Ancestral Eating Matters)
How Modern Life Has Pulled Us Away from Natural Living We have come such a long way from the lazy days on the farm. It seems now that the hamster wheel that is our daily life is impossible to get off but we are all searching for a respite, and a rest. Finding the answer could be the key to enabling the ‘slowdown’ and ‘breathe’. The realisation that I can step off the fast pace life, and take a breath without my life falling apart is a massive mind shift. I believe it starts with food. The Human Animal and the Need for Real Food Deeply embedded in our psyche is the animal, who needs natural foods, warmth, and company. For many years we've been pushing this animal away and numbing it down by this fast paced life, grabbing fast food, staying up late working and not resting, all the while thinking that we've “got to keep” going. Daily releasing the fight hormones that keep us running away from the tiger!! Why Returning to an Ancestral Diet Matters Getting back to an ancestral diet, one that is uncluttered with additives, one that is full of whole foods, not packed and processed for longevity on the shelf, is the first key to stepping off the wheel. The Rise of Fast Food and Processed Culture Fast foods have been part of our culture since the 70’s. KFC opened in Auckland in 1971!! And since then the large chains have been providing nutrient deficient foods to NZers!!! That's 50 years to create more disease and more self loathing than we have ever experienced. To undermine the health of an entire species. Easy to buy, mostly affordable and playing into our narrative of ‘not enough time to cook’. Modern Diet-Related Disease in New Zealand We as a nation have been afflicted with more diabetes, heart disease, gut issues, and obesity than any other time in history. We now need CHANGE. The New Movement Toward Whole-Food Living There's a new wave of healthy people, some who are thriving due to experimenting with their own food, some whose health has been so bad that they have found their own way through elimination. The ancestral diet, or getting back to basics, shows that we don't need all the additives and the processing. That we can sustain and nurture ourselves naturally, with locally sourced food its not impossible to regain our health, our birthright to radical aliveness. Are Paleo, Keto and Low-Carb Diets Just Fads? We are all familiar with these abbreviations; paleo, keto, fodmap, and we all know that the atkins diet was all about protein. These diets encourage us to look beyond the food pyramid and beyond the fast food drive through. They have been birthed from a sick and unhealthy population who need answers and a change. But are they just fads? The Truth About the Food Pyramid The food pyramid wants you to think that fads don't last and that you need 5 servings of veg a day, 50% carbs, lean meat, and no saturated fats! FYI the food pyramid is sponsored by Kelloggs, Big Food and Big Pharma!! But they are not fads, they are birthed from people pushing against the standard food narrative. Eating Local and Seasonal for Radical Health Getting back to basics and eating simply and local is a new movement, driven by thinkers who want more than to just exist. I believe it is the way to radical health. I Don't want to eat food that has traveled some distance and I don't want to eat food that is out of season!! Our inner animal wants warm slow cooked in the winter, when fruits are scarce and light meals when fruit is in season. When we can make yogurt from fresh milk and eat freshly slaughtered lamb chops!! Its simple and its simply nourishing. How to Start an Ancestral or Animal-Based Diet Starting is easy, clean out all the packaged food from your pantry, and fridge. Be ruthless! Take all the seed oils and dump them! That's all the processed oils from plants. These are not doing you any good! Remove the sugar. Start reading labels. Don't buy anything that has more than 2 ingredients! Engaging with these guidelines the food choices get interesting!! Meat, eggs, cheese, (dairy if you can) Fish, seasonal fruit. We use salt on our food. We cook in butter or tallow. The Benefits of Nutrient-Dense Animal Foods Nutrient rich foods like these can sustain you, hunger pains go and life feels bigger and more alive. Nutrients from animal foods are 100% bioavailable, this means that the body, when digesting, can use all of the food, it wastes nothing!! Liver is nature's superfood, it is dense in essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids that keep you sated and thriving. Drinking bone broth everyday provides you with enough collagen to help you recover from exercise, keeps you hair growing lustrously and keeps your skin glowing. Why You Should Try an Animal-Based Ancestral Diet So if you're feeling slow, sluggish, not thriving. If your gut health could be better, if your skin and hair are dull, I suggest you try switching to the Animal based, Ancestral way of eating. Try it for a month and see if you can transform your life.
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The Comfort Crisis: Why Challenging Yourself Improves Physical and Mental Health
Modern Life Is Making Us Too Comfortable Modern life is making us lazy. We've got too comfortable and this is not good in so many ways. We need moments that challenge us. Are We Moving Less Than Ever? I've started really noticing how many people don't take the stairs, how many people use the lime scooters in the city to avoid walking! We are really not moving as much as we did. How often I use my car when I could easily walk? We spend 95% of our time inside. Why Movement and Time Outdoors Improve Physical and Mental Health I really believe that movement changes us. Getting outside, climbing hills, up in the mountains or out in the fields, or on the beach. Choosing anything to get my head out of the digital world and my body outside. The Return of Ancient Breathing Techniques Breathing techniques are making a comeback. Wim Hof, James Nestor, Michael Easter to name a few. Hof's techniques come from ancient practice that we have lost. Learning how to breathe to sustain us, to heal us. Modalities like Kundalini Yoga are giving us the opportunities to learn ancient practices, to source inner strength and wisdom. How to Challenge Yourself and Build Mental Resilience How can you challenge yourself today? There are so many benefits to being challenged. We gain health, physical and mental. Self esteem and confidence. The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter: Why Discomfort Matters Below is an interview with Micheal Easter author of 'The Comfort Crisis'. Worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh-LTVrdOPQ Why Boredom Is Good for Creativity and Mental Clarity Micheal also believes that boredom is worth sitting in, boredom, mind wandering. It's creative, we go inward, it's time for the creative mind to start working. Sitting and being uncomfortable, in the silence, in the quiet. Remove yourself from all outside media, phones, screens. This opens the opportunity for the unlimited. Simple Ways to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone Every Day So start taking the stairs if you're able to. Be more active. Learn some breathing techniques for meditation or enabling a cold plunge. It'll help you to explore outside your comfort zone. So ultimately you'll have a deeper more fulfilling experience of life.
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For the Women: Reclaiming Feminine Health Naturally
The Feminine Body: My Thoughts on Being Connected to Her Women are the most amazing creatures, from the wild creator to the graceful mother, we can embody so many different energies or archetypes and live deeply alive, resonating with our true nature. We are the lover, mother, crone, child, and SHE comes in many forms. What lights you up?? What brings you joy?? Two really poignant questions today that I'm inviting you to answer. Discovering the Wild Nature of the Feminine Women's health and wellness has been a subject that I've been interested in for many years. My search has led me to discover the wild nature of the feminine, to be truly wildly me! and I'm so happy that I'm now at this place in my life where I can just be me. Connecting to my own power and my primal life force. That which is essentially feminine, has been a journey into pleasure. A healthy body can resonate with the ecstatic, the senses alive to sights, sounds, scents and texture. This is the power of pleasure. Let your pleasure guide you. To be healthy, nutritional support is important. I created Mojo for Women for this reason. Ancestral support for women, of all ages starts here. Daily Rituals That Nourish the Feminine With a regular daily practice, what ever lights you up: Yoga, mediation, prayer, and nutrition: ancestral, local, organic, foods that nourish your body, foods that are consciously chosen to nourish you through out your cycle. You will find that feminine within. And SHE is MAGNIFICENT!!!
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Fuel Your Brain and Body: The Essential Nutrients We Need Daily
We need a certain amount of nutrients daily to keep our brain functioning. Ultra processed foods have barely any nutrients, and medications can deplete our bodies of some nutrients, so being aware of what to eat to keep our nutrition optimal is key.
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What are Healthy Fats?
The Perils of Vegetable and Seed Oils Reprinted with thanks from Ancestral Health: The Debate: Sugar vs Polyunsaturated Oils The debate continues as to which is worse for your health—sugar or polyunsaturated oils. Here is Alex Fergus’s takedown of vegetable and seed oils, and generally foods with higher levels of polyunsaturated fats. ”PUFA's: The Worst Thing For Your Health That You Eat Everyday” https://www.alexfergus.com/.../pufa-s-the-worst-thing-for... Ranking the Biological Safety of Fats What I found most useful is his chart ranking the biological safety of fats. This morning I’ve already had some cacao butter (100% chocolate), ghee (clarified grassfed butter) and beef tallow (grassfed). Among other benefits, each of these is predominant in the saturated fat stearic acid (C18:0), which signals mitochondrial fusion, which makes mitochondria larger and more efficient, producing less free radical damage than when burning carbohydrates. The effect peaks 3 hours after eating, so I have some when I get up to be in peak metabolic readiness for my morning aerobic activity, such as cycling, kayaking or running. The DHA Question: The Polyunsaturated Fat Conundrum Of course the eternal conundrum regarding polyunsaturated fats always is DHA, which has important benefits in terms of biophysics and biology. The best natural sources of DHA are cold-water marine animal fats and grass-fed ruminant fat. The problem with DHA or fish oil supplements is that DHA is highly oxidisable once outside the cell (or the source is overcooked). Why bother with DHA? There are numerous performative advantages to DHA, especially with regard to cognition, brain resilience and transport of the fat in blood triglycerides into cells for fat-burning (important for the heart muscle). DHA Biophysics and Quantum Properties DHA biophysics is highly conserved in evolution and the biochemistry has evolved to exploit quantum effects of DHA, with it’s highly symmetric structure with short-length bonds that enable quantum effects and even molecular memory. The fundamental principles of reality as a complex adaptive system result in a hierarchy of layers of complexity, generally the progression of layers from physics to chemistry, to biology, to ecology, to society. The unique quantum properties of DHA enable the biology layer to bypass chemistry to exploit the biophysics of DHA to derive quantum benefits from a layer below the chemistry layer on top of which biology generally operates. Quantum effects, in essence, enable optimization problems to be solved using features of physics that operate faster than the speed of light. Quantum Computing Comparison: Understanding Complexity For example, an ordinary computer effectively tops out at problems of polynomial time-and-space complexity, such as problems that require n to the power 3 computational power. A quantum computer can solve problems of NP-complete or perhaps even exponential complexity, such as problems of order 3 to the power n. DHA is the clutch that engages this higher gear of biophysics capacity in ways evolved to enhance our biology. - Murray Braithwaite
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The Nutrients You Get From Grass Fed Bone Marrow
Freeze-Dried Raw Bone Marrow – Nutritional Breakdown Our Bone + Marrow blend is freeze dried raw, keeping all the nutritional goodness 100% available to us. Below is the breakdown. Each capsule contains 500mg of natural beef bone matrix, marrow and cartilage blend. Bone and marrow have both been valued throughout history for their concentrated nutrient profile: Calcium: supports normal bone density and skeletal strength Phosphorus: supports structural integrity of bones and teeth Type I & II Collagen: supports joint health, connective tissue, and structural support Hyaluronic Acid & Chondroitin: support joint lubrication and cartilage integrity Fat-Soluble Vitamins A, D, E & K2: support normal immune function and cellular health Essential Fatty Acids: support connective tissue health and overall cellular function Stem Cell Cofactors & Specialised Lipids: support tissue regeneration and recovery Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite: provides bioavailable mineral matrix for skeletal support Bone Marrow Compounds: deliver nutrients naturally found in whole bone for comprehensive support B Vitamins and Energy Production Bone marrow provides a small amount of the B vitamins pantothenic acid, thiamine, and biotin, which are needed for important bodily processes, including energy production. Collagen Content and Skin & Joint Health It’s also rich in collagen, the most abundant protein in your body. Supplementing your diet with collagen is thought to promote skin health and reduce joint pain Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and Immune Support Bovine bone marrow contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103755/), a type of fat that could decrease inflammation and enhance immune function and increases bone and calcuim metabolism. Additional Compounds Found in Bone Marrow Though more research is needed, bone marrow is also thought to provide several other key compounds, including glycine, glucosamine, and chondroitin. Summary Bone marrow is high in calories and fat. It also contains protein, vitamin B12, riboflavin, collagen, and conjugated linoleic acid. If you'd like to find out more this is a great place to start: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6704137_The_Role_of_Nutrients_in_Bone_Health_from_A_to_Z
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Glandular Therapy: Benefits, Mechanism of Action, and Immune Support
Geeky Stuff; The theory behind eating nose to tail for health. Reprinted from Owen Millar, humbly with thanks.
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