This is a new popular term for something that is actually very old- eating and attempting to simulate the life of our ancient paleolithic ancestors of from maybe 100,000 years ago  up until the agricultural revolution.  This is the period in which our bodies and brains developed, and is the lifestyle for which we are built. Although we have had agriculture in Northern Europe since around 3000 BC (it was developed in the Middle East 10,000 years ago) the mass consumption of grains is really a far newer development. Grains were not that easy to harvest and consequently less available in the days before industrial production; and the grains themselves were quite different than  the ones we consume today. Hence, the diets of our ancestors were far more focused on meat, fat,  and vegetables and far less on starches (aka carbohydrates). It is for the meat, fat,  and vegetable diet that we are built.

Also, our ancient ancestors didn’t spend their days doing daily one hour cardio workouts. They sat around a lot, walked a bunch, and then did short bursts of intense exercise- as in chasing an animal for a few minutes at a time. This is the kind of exercise we are built for.

These ideas are heavily supported by modern research in nutrition. Many of the ideas we have been programmed with- such as the anti-fat and pro-carbohydrate diets- are turning out to be almost completely incorrect. Since beginning to follow these modern diet ideas (since the 1970s) our levels of chronic illness and obesity have skyrocketed- and heart disease hasn’t gotten any better. The ideas were just plain wrong. Diet ideas before the 1950s were much more like the Primal Diet; and exercise was a lot more like the short exercise ideas- pre-aerobics and Jim Fixx running addictions.

I suggest that you look up  the Primal (or Paleo Diet) and also look up the accompanying trend of short burst/intensive exercise- such as PACE or Crossfit. Believe it or not- these ideas are absolutely science based and work.

It will be very hard to believe it when you read about it since it is so opposite to everything we have been raised to believe- but it’s the way things were viewed until the last40 years and we all know how well that has worked out.

Well, smarter approaches to anti-aging have been discovered that I feel a lot better about, and that strike me as the actual truth. I have long trusted the ancient Chinese Taoist wisdom- even if their language may be archaic, they were onto something. Their approach was a balanced and sensible one which still applies to us today. They believed in ‘cultivating the center’. This meant three things: strengthen digestive health; strengthen the center of the mind- the Shen in Chinese; and supporting the Kidneys- hormone health, mostly.

What is the Shen- well, it most closely resembles the brain.

So they recommended supporting digestive health; brain health; and hormone health.  What do all three have in common? They are all managed and stimulated by the brain. So, what we are really saying is the key is to support brain health. Well, they were right, and modern discoveries have revealed the truth of their ideas.

Brain health is the true anti aging medicine!

The other two are also important and all three interact with each other.

Well, yes they are but they weren’t always so separated. From the time of Alexander the great’s conquest in around 330 BC, the centers of learning in Greece and Egypt were connected by very active trade routes with Northern India and Central Asia. Greek kingdoms were established in the Northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan area by Alexander. These kingdoms retained Greek characteristics for close to 1000 years, even as they continuously absorbed new conquerers and were converted to Buddhism. Their Hellenic culture was of profound influence in the region and changed the local cultures they encountered. This Greek region was at the center of what became the Silk Road, from which traders spread to all the centers of culture of the ancient Eurasian world- including Rome, Alexandria, China, Persia, and India. Particularly under the Kushan dynasty a new cultural synthesis occurred in which all the great ideas were integrated and a new culture spread to all the regions. I call this a Second Classical Age- one in which the separate Classical traditions became one new one. What is this culture? It’s the one you live in now.

We always hear of the classical teachings but we don’t live by the understanding as they had in those ancient times, we have an understanding of those ancient classical teachers as they were reexamined in Central Asia and then reimported back to us, fused with other ideas.

The main teacher in the West that represents this for us is Plotinus.  Plotinus sits at the center of Chirstian thought as we inherit it through the church fathers, at the pinnacle of Platonism, and of Western Mysticism. The same tradition is known as Mahayana and Tantric thought in Buddhism, Sufism in Islam, Vedantic thought in Hinduism, and Neo-Taoism and Neo-Confucianism in China.

So, as we encounter these seemingly foreign schools of thought today, we should recognize that they are in fact fellow members of the Second Classical Age that occurred in Central Asia in Kushan Empire times, and are essentially one teaching as understood and translated in these different regions.

To read more I would suggest this book ‘The Shape of Ancient Thought’ by Mcevilley  , and ‘The Silk Road in World History’ by Liu. You should also Google the Kushans and Silk Road History, as well as what I believe to be the main memory of that time, the mythology of Shambhala. There are some fun documentaries on the Silk Road too that are worth watching.

Along with discoveries about the human brain have come discoveries in the field of psychoneuroimmunology– a field which has discovered how the brain, the nervous system, the immune system, and the endocrine system all communicate with each other directly and through the brain, each system directly regulating the other systems in ways never before imagined by science. These are discoveries directly supporting ancient holistic medicine theories, and giving us many new tools.

Of interest to me and you are the direct application of these insights into managing our own health care. These discoveries have enabled us to discover nutritional strategies for brain and psychological health. We can now directly nourish neurotransmitters, along with nutritionally addressing the underlying causes of their imbalances. For example, maybe our depression is really just a case of low serotonin– so we can nourish serotonin and clear our depression. Many difficulties in other areas of the body can alter neurotransmitter and brain health, with serious effects on the ability of our brains to regulate our body’s many systems. Aging itself has a major effect on brain health. Fortunately we can use science based dietary, nutritional, and herbal strategies to counteract or slow these damaging processes. In addition we now have insights into how meditation and other exercises can directly repair the body and optimally tune the brain.

I never thought about being a blogger, really, but I do love reading them and spend too much time on other people’s blogs. I think of blogs as modern versions of hanging out in cafes ranting about whatever comes up. Well, cafes are now all filled up with people staring into laptops so they aren’t the same anymore- well, still a little bit the same- I still get things out of my cafe time and still spend plenty of time there doing my paperwork and studying, Still, I must say, blogs are more convenient for these things. You can go to them at any time and take the time to think about any responses- or just lurk with no pressure.

So, here’s my blog. Lurk away if you want- but I’d love if you’d comment too- then I’ll feel like I exist and I’m not just yammering into the air. I know that I love when people respond to my Facebook posts, so I’m sure this’ll be even more like that and will inspire me to continue- at least I hope I’ll continue.

My basic goals for this blog are to expound on holistic medicine, the science behind it, meditation (especially Dzogchen), neuroplasticity, psychoneuroendoimmunology, qigong and qigong science, nutrition, and the food industry. I’m a foodie too so I’m sure some of that will creep in there too.

I need to give talks for business reasons so I hope that this will be a good place to work out some ideas for such presentations.

I also hope that I have some fun- so wish me luck- and I hope that others enjoy it.