PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #78 The Neanderthal Diet!

Are we really following the Neanderthal Diet??  Now THAT is Paleo writ large…

Since I do these podcasts on Sundays, I really believe that I am becoming the Paleo Pastor- I usually begin them shortly after church, as well, and so I am creating my own “sermon” to compete with that of the Methodist Church which I attend… not really- but in it’s own way it is very similar!  I feel like a minister in that I am espousing a way of life that includes:

A healthy wholesome diet
A rich and full family and tribal community
Good sleep and positive interactions
Doing right both for you and yours, and for all around you
Fellowship and productive exercise and treating your body like the temple that it is, making it as healthy as you can!

Sounds like a sermon, doesn’t it?

So anyway, let’s start this Sunday sermon with a thought about our wonderful progenitors- the Neanderthal!  Did you know that EVERY person, with the exception of pure Africans, has the DNA of the Neanderthal within them?  Even American blacks, since they average about 30% European ancestry have a proportion within them.  And what does this mean?

It appears that Neanderthals, besides probably giving us blue and green eyes, blonde and red hair, and an ability to deal with the cold climate of the North, also gave us more of a sense of community and peacefulness than we had heretofore possessed!

I liken the Cro-magnon version of us, coming out of Africa, with hyper aggressive, violent giant tribes, intent on conquest and expanding territory.  We encountered Neanderthal groups, who were much less numerous, and living mainly in extended family groups… and with NO DIVISION OF LABOR.

Men and women hunted together, mainly for large animals.  Our African forebears, contrarily, had a division of labor- Women gathered- men hunted! It seems like a small thing; but this is a major difference- while it is much more efficient, the equality and total group-bonding in that we are all equal, and all in this together… is GONE.  Our African selves were very efficient, very aggressive, and bent on domination at all costs.

Doesn’t that sound like us, in modern America and the West, today??

And now, it has morphed into pretty near a psychosis: we are all running in a rat race- we all need a bigger house, new kitchen cabinets, a new car, a better college for our kids, fancier clothes, a new stupid tattoo to show how cool we are…

Let’s go back to our inner Neanderthal!!

We’re all in this TOGETHER!  Our family is our TRIBE!!  We can all hunt, OR gather, together!  Women don’t need to cover their faces, men don’t need to dominate!

J