Boundless Life 132 Pound Bow Draws & 3000+ Calories Burnt Per Day: How Fit Were Our Ancestors (& Where Do Plants & Grains vs. A Carnivore or Ketogenic Diet Fit In)?
Jul 13, 2019
Arthur Haines, a Maine hunting guide and foraging expert, shares his insights on ancestral eating and its relevance today. He stresses the importance of plant foods in traditional diets, challenging modern low-carb trends. The conversation dives into human domestication, movement patterns, and the benefits of dietary diversity through wild plants. Haines also emphasizes self-sufficiency through rewilding practices, advocating for a richer connection with nature and healthier lifestyles rooted in ancestral wisdom.
01:27:55
Human Domestication Criteria
- Modern humans display traits of domesticated animals like altered temperaments and social hierarchies.
- These traits include altered diets and the tendency to 'breed in captivity' through institutionalized births.
Hunter-Gatherer Fitness
- Hunter-gatherers were very active, covering large distances daily for resources.
- The Mikmaq people traveled over a million-acre home range annually.
Bow Draw Weights
- Hunter-gatherers used bows with much higher draw weights than modern hunters.
- Some bows required 132 pounds of force to draw, compared to the average 50-pound modern bow.
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Intro
00:00 • 3min
Exploring Human Domestication and Its Implications
03:19 • 2min
The Dynamics of Domestication
05:30 • 8min
Revisiting 10,000 Steps: A Journey Through Ancestral Movement
13:51 • 22min
Ancient Diets vs. Modern Trends
36:21 • 14min
Phytochemical Hormesis and Dietary Diversity
50:02 • 27min
Embracing Ancestral Skills for Self-Sufficiency
01:16:42 • 10min
Impact of Healthy Choices on Generations
01:26:12 • 2min
A New Path
Arthur Haines
A New Path by Arthur Haines examines the contemporary human lifestyle and seeks to reinstate biological norms by combining historical observations of hunter-gatherers with modern research. It provides guidance on aspects such as diet, nature immersion, and ancestral technologies to promote health and eco-conscientious living.
Nourishment
Fred Provenza
Guns, germs, and steel
The Fates of Human Societies
Fabián Chueca
Jared DIAMOND
(MEI )DAI MENG DE (Diamond J. ) XIE YAN GUANG YI
In this book, Jared Diamond explains why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others. He argues that differences in societal development arise primarily from geographical causes. The book details how agricultural societies developed immunities to deadly diseases, advanced in technology, and formed centralized political structures, ultimately leading to the conquest of other societies. Diamond also discusses the impact of germs, domesticated animals, and environmental factors on human history[2][4][5].
Collapse
How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Jared DIAMOND
In 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed', Jared Diamond examines the collapse of past societies, such as the Anasazi, the Maya, and the Norse colonies on Greenland, due to factors like environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of trading partners, and the society's response to these challenges. Diamond argues that environmental concerns are crucial to a society's success and that the way a society responds to its environmental problems is often the decisive factor in its survival or collapse. The book also draws parallels between historical collapses and current global issues, offering practical lessons and solutions to avoid similar catastrophes in the present and future[1][3][5].
When it comes to diet, water, medicine, awareness, nature immersion, movement, hormesis, community, and ancestral technologies, not many folks know quite as much as my guest on today's show: Arthur Haines.
Arthur is a Maine hunting and recreation guide, forager, ancestral skills mentor, author, public speaker, and botanical researcher. He grew up in the western mountains of Maine, a rural area that was home to swift streams known for their trout fishing. He spent most of his childhood in the Sandy River Valley hiking, tracking, and foraging.
Arthur now runs the Delta Institute of Natural History in Canton, Maine, where he teaches human ecology, focusing on the values of foraging, wildcrafting medicine, and primitive living skills. His series of YouTube videos has inspired thousands of people interested in foraging wild edible and medicinal plants.
Arthur recently authored a very big book that I thoroughly enjoyed, entitled “A New Path: To Transcend the Great Forgetting Through Incorporating Ancestral Practices into Contemporary Living”. This guide is a comprehensive work on nature connection and rewilding, detailing how to incorporate ancestral practices into modern living.
During our discussion, you'll discover: -The criteria by which humans have become "domesticated"...7:38- Altered temperament -- milder than in the natural state
- Cows originated from aurochs (now extinct), which were very fierce
- Altered social hierarchy (establish that humans are in authority)
- Our ancestors lived a more egalitarian lifestyle than we do today
- Altered diet
- Diet today is far different, oftentimes poorer in quality
- The ability to breed in captivity
- Humans consider pregnancy/giving birth to be an ailment
- 99% are institutionalized; take moms out of their most comfortable habitat
- Arthur maintains that humans display all of the above traits of domesticated animals
- Very active lifestyle out of necessity, depending on resource density
- Micmac people (still exist in N. America) estimated to travel over a million acre home range over the course of a year
- What we travel on foot today is a fraction of that
- 10k steps a day would be close to the average of hunter/gatherers (5-10 miles per day)
- Arthur does not engage in any type of self-quantification
- Draw weight of bows among our ancestors:
- The more energy required to bend the bow, the more energy can be imparted to the arrow
- Most bows today are ~50 lb. draw
- Bows of hunter/gatherers were much higher; ~70 lb.
- The highest recorded were over 130 lbs.
- Recent studies have conflicting results; some say it's the same, others say it's far less today
- Humans tend to be bigger today than in ancestral times; results in more calorie expenditure
- Hunter/gatherers spent far more calories moving
- Calorie expenditure today due to complexity of the food
- Diversity of movement in ancestral times is lost in the modern gym or fitness center
- Lots of walking; humans are meant to walk with episodes of running
- Paddling or carrying canoes
- Grains are milled by hand
- "Active lifestyle with bouts of athleticism"
- Brazilian jiu jitsu 1-2 times per week
- High Intensity Repetitive Training, HIRT (was mentioned in Q&A 398)
- Moving a killed animal over terrain
- "True cross fit" training can be found in everyday life, particularly in hunting
- Be aware of biological norms
- 97% of our time on the earth has been as hunter/gatherers
- Homo sapiens have been shown to be as old as 315,000 years
- Domesticated human diet for just a short time
- Wild plants were a huge component of their diets (~60%)
- Ancestors were not in ketosis on a regular basis
- Low carb diet is a "new" diet
- It is efficacious in treating things like epilepsy, not so much as a weight-loss strategy
- No group of people in history have ever been pure vegetarians
- Some have eaten mostly meat due to necessity
- Plants can't be grown due to climate/terrain, etc.
- However, they would gather plants in large quantities when available
- Large proportion of Vitamin C would come from plants
- Diet can be an actual therapy; drugs just cover the symptoms
- Plants can help us fight off the deleterious aspects of nature (sun exposure, toxins in the air, etc.
- BGF podcast about the book "Nourishment" by Fred Provenza
- BGF podcast with Dr. Paul Saladino
- Plants are edible for a finite amount of time in the wild; a natural protective mechanism as a result
- Hypotensive and hypertensive compounds in the same plant; certain suites of plants win out depending on the person
- Average # of plants consumed by American diet is 30,
- Many of them are only one species; ex. collards, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, are the brassica oleracea species
- No real diversity in the diet
- Inupiat people have been documented to ingest 40+ different plant foods; more than the average American diet
- Over 100 foods in warmer climates
- Stark contrast between wild and cultivated
- Minerals
- Vitamins
- Sometimes up to 100x more than what we find in the store
- Small berries have more skin; large berries are counterproductive
- Dillution effect: Individual fruits end up with lower mineral content than what's found in the wild
- Are backyard gardens wild or cultivated plants?
- Difference in genetics of most cultivated species
- Lettuce has been tampered with; it's more bitter in the wild
- Difference between organic and conventional (sprayed) produce
- When we tend plants, they don't need to work as hard to protect themselves
- Seedless grapes don't have nearly the same nutritional value
- More fiber in wild foods than in cultivated
- "Minimally modified plant foods" means eating closer to the wild
- What about grains?
- What is making the grains we consume today bad for us?
- Evidence of grain consumption up to 105,000 years ago
- Stone ovens that are 30,000 years old
- Diversify, properly prepare, choose the right type of grains
- Jared Diamond's book "Collapse"
- Hunter/gatherer is not a viable goal
- The entire goal is sovereignty: to lose our dependence on industrial society
- Begin with recovering your health: diet, movement, exposure to toxins, etc.
- Don't worry about how much or how little you know
- Primitive living schools are becoming more common (avoid the prepper schools)
-My podcast about the book "Nourishment" by Fred Provenza
-My podcast with Dr. Paul Saladino
-My latest podcast with Dr. Steven Gundry
-Jared Diamond's book "Collapse"
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