If you’re a regular here on Wild Movement, you’re probably familiar with Paleo or evolutionary health. Or maybe you’ve heard a few of the basic ideas. Things like… The modern world and all its chaos is draining us of our health and vitality. That optimal health can actually be achieved by looking backwards to our evolutionary past. That our bodies are in fact genetically engineered for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

While this seems logical and fine, what does it truly mean to LIVE according to our genetic disposition as animals on earth? Does Paleo, evolutionary or wild living mean simply abstaining from wheat and dairy? Does it mean going barefoot or running through the woods like a wild man? To me, the Paleo lifestyle pervades all aspects of life, both physical, mental and spiritual. In fact, many areas of my life that I consider innately Paleo aren’t typically linked to the evolutionary health movement at all.

In this post I hope to slice through the fog of confusion that has settled around evolutionary health, to paint a clear and all-encompassing picture of what it truly means to LIVE Wild and give you actionable steps and resources to implement each aspect in your own life.

I am not claiming I have all the right answers. These are simply my views and opinions derived from research and experience. If you disagree with something, please let me know about it in the comments and we can discuss it together!

The Sad Reality of Modern Life

With the exception of uprooting and forming a nomadic tribe in the woods, living a truly wild existence in today’s modern world is no longer an option. Keeping the fact that we will never truly be able to embody a completely natural lifestyle in mind, our best option is mold the knowledge and wisdom of our evolutionary past to suit the world that we live in today. While we can’t reunite with our primal roots completely, we can achieve a form of “new paleo” designed for the 21st century world. It may take some work, discomfort and serious lifestyle changes but I believe the rewards in health, energy and personal happiness far outweigh any potential inconveniences. After all, only in the face of hardship and challenge do our bodies and minds fully flourish.

The Definitive Guide to Living Wild in the Modern World

The first and most obvious piece of the Paleo puzzle is diet. This aspect receives the most attention and is undoubtedly the most important. Most people will agree that the food we eat determines our health, physical body and level of energy more than any other factor. While this is not subject for debate, WHAT we should eat is a heated argument that is continuously changing and shifting with new discoveries, research and popular opinions.

As you probably know, advocates of the Paleo Diet say this: Humans are genetically adapted to consume certain foods. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors did not consume wheat or dairy and instead stuck primarily to meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and therefore we should eat in the same way.

Even though I largely follow a Paleo-style diet, I do see a few key problems with this reasoning…

1) We really don’t know what our ancestors ate. We can make fairly accurate guesses, but there was probably not one staple diet for all humans on earth. People living in cold climates may have lived off only fish and whale blubber while tribes living in other parts of the world probably survived on a largely vegetarian diet. Geographical variation inevitably created dietary variation.

2) Everyone’s body is different. We all react to food in different ways. Some people can do fine on large amount of animal products while others would meet serious health complications consuming these same foods. Therefore, it is unreasonable to think that we can prescribe one diet to countless different body types.

So if everybody’s body is different and we really don’t know what our ancestors ate, what should we eat? What DO we actually know about how we as humans have evolved to eat?

Well, we can be certain of a few things…

1) Our ancestors consumed their food fresh, raw, and straight from the earth. Studies show that food that is 5-7 days old (the food in our supermarkets) has 40% LESS nutritional value than freshly picked food. In addition, cooking food removes another 20-30% of it’s original nutritional value.

2) Humans never consumed processed, bio engineered or otherwise manipulated foods. We ate what mother nature provided for us and nothing more.

3) Paleolithic Humans never consumed dairy. We can be nearly certain that for the majority of planetary life, humans never drank the milk of another animal.

So, what It a TRUE Paleo Diet?

In my opinion truly eating according to evolutionary insight means eating fresh food directly from the earth, avoiding dairy and processed food of any kind and adjusting your diet to meet your own personal dietary needs.

Evolutionary Movement (Paleo Fitness)

You’ve probably seen the iconic video’s of Erwan running like Tarzan along the stunningly beautiful coast of Corsica. If not, go watch them now. This is how I was first introduced to natural movement, and immediately I was hooked. In a nutshell, Paleo fitness is exercising by mimicking the movement patterns of our hunter gatherer ancestors.

While inspiring and enthralling to watch, we run into the same problem. We really don’t know how our ancestors moved. Some bands of people probably wandered the plains hunting large animals while others lived in jungles where they probably climbed trees and fished to survive.

So while there is no one size fits all workout plan based of our evolution as humans, there are a few vital chunks of information that we do know that can give us clear insight for how we should workout today…

1) Life was extremely active. It is estimated that Paleo people walked an average of 5-10 miles every day.

2) Movement was diverse. While the degree of diversity is up for speculation, one thing is certain: specialization was not an option.

3) Humans moved barefoot or in very thin footwear over varied and natural terrain.

So, what does it truly mean to move naturally? What is true Paleo Fitness?

In my opinion, true Paleo fitness means moving barefoot in diverse, spontaneous, playful and varied ways regularly and maintaining a very active lifestyle.

Non Conventional Paleo: Non mainstream aspects of the Paleo lifestyle

Diet and exercise are obvious. However, for me there are three other evolutionary aspects that aren’t nearly as well known but hold equal power in transforming our lives. If practiced, these aspects can drastically compliment the practical and physical components of evolutionary living (diet and exercise) and make optimum health and happiness not just a far off goal but a reality.

Non Conventional Aspect #1: Survival Skills and Connection to Habitat

The other day I was walking through the woods behind my house when a thought struck me. After thinking about it for a while, I now believe that this one insight largely accounts for our physical degeneration and cultural unhappiness. Are you ready for it? Here it is…

We are the only animal on the planet that has forgotten how to survive in our natural habitat. In our struggle to tame nature we have ironically domesticated ourselves.

For thousands and thousands of years, humans lived in intimate connection with the planet and depended on it for everything. Shelter was built by hand with trees from the forest and the skin of animals each tribe killed themselves. Food was grown or hunted with tools made directly from nature. Skills of survival and self reliance were passed down from generation to generation. Our very existence revolved around the flow of life and the earth was respected above all things as the supreme provider.

This connection to earth, to land, to habitat, is what I believe to be the least known yet biggest gaping hole in modern society. This video explains this hole and the need for connection beautifully.

Want to rediscover your forgotten ability to survive, live and thrive in nature? Here are some killer resources.

- Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School

- Backpacker Magazine

- Primitive Crafts and Skills (book)

Non Conventional Aspect #2: Minimalism

Just like the Paleo lifestyle, minimalism and the idea of living with less has been exploding over the past few years. However, these two ways of thinking aren’t typically placed in the same category. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense that they would naturally compliment each other.

Contrary to popular opinion, proponents of minimalism suggest that we are actually far better off owning less rather than more. Ev Bouge, a minimalist blogger, has gotten his total number of personal belongings down to 32, and claims this lack of material ownership brings with it a sense of lightness, freedom and ease… as if a huge burden has been lifted.

Looking at it from an evolutionary standpoint, we aren’t designed to have material attachments. Due to the nomadic style of life, our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived with nothing except a few primitive tools all derived directly from the natural world. None of the useless junk and trinkets that crowd our homes, lives, and minds.

Life in the wild was a continual and evolving flow of life, death and change. Without physical permanence, there cannot be material attachment, and without attachment there is greater joy and freedom. Mother nature keeps all things in perspective.

Interested in learning more about minimalism?

These resources should get you started…

-Ev Bouge

- Zen Habits

- Becoming Minimalist

Non Conventional Aspect #3: Spirituality

“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.”

- The Dali Lama

Throughout history, all cultures practiced some form of spirituality. Be it ancient forms of Buddhism and Christianity or primeval paganism, all peoples connected to something greater than their physical reality. Today, spirituality has taken a backseat to money, fame and other ultimately unfulfilling desires. And, consequently, people are suffering because they no longer have the faith, hope and spiritual tools they need to create real peace and happiness in their lives.

In addition to our division from the natural world and lack of connection to habitat, I believe this non-spiritual orientation is taking a massive toll on our cultural health and happiness.

As Aldin Sinclair once said, “Without faith, hope and trust, there is no promise for the future, and without a promising future, life has no direction, no meaning and no justification.”

Interested in cultivating spirituality in your life? These three books offer clear, non sectarian views on what true spirituality is and how to embody it in your life today.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Living Buddha, Living Christ

If you’re interested in reading an amazing personal journey of a young man from Chicago seeking enlightenment in spiritual India, I strongly advise you check out The Journey Home
by Radhanath Swami.

True Paleo Living

While commercial Paleo designed to sell more diet books might paint the Paleo lifestyle as simply a way of eating, to me it is far more that that. To me true paleo is a combination of a fresh diet derived directly from the earth, diverse and spontaneous movement, knowledge of and connection with the planet, simplicity of life and a connection to something greater than the material plane that we live on.

The culmination of all these aspects is what I believe to be a fairly sound recipe for real and lasting health and happiness. Granted, I still have much to learn, but if you and I can follow even two of these five aspects on a regular basis, I believe we will be well on our way to truly embodying wild health and vitality in the confines of our modern world.

Now, I want to know what YOU think. Are there pieces of this puzzle you disagree with or would change? Are there other aspects that you would add?

Please let me know in the comments and let’s spark a conversation about what true health is all about.

To your health and happiness,

Logan