Modern Day Flintstones
A Stone Age Subculture Takes Shape in the US
"A modern-day Stone Age subculture is developing in the United States, where wannabe cavemen mimic their distant ancestors. They eat lots of meat, bathe in icy water and run around barefoot. Some researchers say people led healthier lives in pre-historic times.
John Durant greets the hunter-gatherers of New York once a month in his apartment on the Upper East Side. They eat homemade beef jerky, huddle around the hearth and swap recipes for carpaccio with vegetables or roasted wild boar.
Often enough, the host will deliberately skip a few meals the next day. After all, didn't his earliest ancestors starve a little between hunts? Instead of eating, Durant prefers to run barefoot across Brooklyn Bridge. In the winter, he takes part in the Coney Island Polar Bear swim in the icy Atlantic.
The 26-year-old and the other members of the New York group promoting what they term "Evolutionary Fitness" (EF) are part of a growing subculture that seeks health and happiness by emulating their Paleolithic forefathers. This diehard clan of modern-day cavemen call themselves "hunter-gatherers" or "paleos." Their philosophy is based on the idea that the human body is best suited to the lifestyle of the people who roamed the Earth tens of thousands of years ago.
Not surprisingly, the diet of these 21st-century hunter-gatherers is packed with meat. But they also practice climbing, sprinting and leaping as it they still lived in fear of marauding mammoths. Some even donate blood as part of their Stone Age existence. After all, hadn't their forebears spilt a lot of blood fighting saber-toothed tigers and their ilk?
Attuned to the Rhythm of the Seasons
"What did people eat back then? How did they move about? And what does it mean for us today?" Durant asks. The answers, he suggests, are obvious. Human genes are perfect for a nomadic existence; for the life of a hunter-gatherer attuned to the rhythm of the seasons.
"Prehistoric life was a very long camping trip with no camp stove or energy bars to get us through," says Arthur De Vany. The retired economics professor is something like the movement's guiding force. "We're not trying to idealize Stone Age Man," he says. However, he does think that evolution allows us to make some inferences about how we could lead healthier, happier lives.
De Vany and his wife Carmela live in a small settlement called Washington in the Utah desert. Their lounge window looks out over a lush green golf course. "I often sprint a bit out there in the morning," 72-year-old De Vany says. For the past 25 years he's been following a plan of his own devising. His body is like that of an athletic 45-year-old. He's 185 centimeters (6'1") tall, and weighs 95kg (210 pounds) – "with just 8 percent body fat." De Vany can hit a golf ball 250 meters (275 yards), and likes to test his muscles by pulling his Land Rover with a rope.
This born-again caveman exercises no more than twice a week, and for barely an hour each time. He thinks continuous exertion like jogging is harmful. "Have you ever tried to butcher a mammoth with a stone?" the fitness guru asks. The key to happiness à la De Vany lies in short but intense physical activity.
He also sets himself strict nutritional rules. Paleo food may consist only of the kind of things that our ancient ancestors would have eaten. Muesli? An abomination in the eyes of this modern-day Fred Flintstone. Spaghetti? "A plate full of sugar," De Vany counters. He considers carbohydrates of all kinds to be hellish. Followers of EF shun potatoes, chocolate, pizza and bread as well as milk, cheese and refined oils. Instead there's lots of game and fish, fresh vegetables, seeds and fruit.
"We try to only eat what was around before the invention of agriculture," De Vany explains. And variety is the spice of life. One morning Carmela serves roast turkey with bacon for breakfast, another day there's half an avocado."
However, not every diet in history was healthy
"A modern-day Stone Age subculture is developing in the United States, where wannabe cavemen mimic their distant ancestors. They eat lots of meat, bathe in icy water and run around barefoot. Some researchers say people led healthier lives in pre-historic times.
John Durant greets the hunter-gatherers of New York once a month in his apartment on the Upper East Side. They eat homemade beef jerky, huddle around the hearth and swap recipes for carpaccio with vegetables or roasted wild boar.
Often enough, the host will deliberately skip a few meals the next day. After all, didn't his earliest ancestors starve a little between hunts? Instead of eating, Durant prefers to run barefoot across Brooklyn Bridge. In the winter, he takes part in the Coney Island Polar Bear swim in the icy Atlantic.
The 26-year-old and the other members of the New York group promoting what they term "Evolutionary Fitness" (EF) are part of a growing subculture that seeks health and happiness by emulating their Paleolithic forefathers. This diehard clan of modern-day cavemen call themselves "hunter-gatherers" or "paleos." Their philosophy is based on the idea that the human body is best suited to the lifestyle of the people who roamed the Earth tens of thousands of years ago.
Not surprisingly, the diet of these 21st-century hunter-gatherers is packed with meat. But they also practice climbing, sprinting and leaping as it they still lived in fear of marauding mammoths. Some even donate blood as part of their Stone Age existence. After all, hadn't their forebears spilt a lot of blood fighting saber-toothed tigers and their ilk?
Attuned to the Rhythm of the Seasons
"What did people eat back then? How did they move about? And what does it mean for us today?" Durant asks. The answers, he suggests, are obvious. Human genes are perfect for a nomadic existence; for the life of a hunter-gatherer attuned to the rhythm of the seasons.
"Prehistoric life was a very long camping trip with no camp stove or energy bars to get us through," says Arthur De Vany. The retired economics professor is something like the movement's guiding force. "We're not trying to idealize Stone Age Man," he says. However, he does think that evolution allows us to make some inferences about how we could lead healthier, happier lives.
De Vany and his wife Carmela live in a small settlement called Washington in the Utah desert. Their lounge window looks out over a lush green golf course. "I often sprint a bit out there in the morning," 72-year-old De Vany says. For the past 25 years he's been following a plan of his own devising. His body is like that of an athletic 45-year-old. He's 185 centimeters (6'1") tall, and weighs 95kg (210 pounds) – "with just 8 percent body fat." De Vany can hit a golf ball 250 meters (275 yards), and likes to test his muscles by pulling his Land Rover with a rope.
This born-again caveman exercises no more than twice a week, and for barely an hour each time. He thinks continuous exertion like jogging is harmful. "Have you ever tried to butcher a mammoth with a stone?" the fitness guru asks. The key to happiness à la De Vany lies in short but intense physical activity.
He also sets himself strict nutritional rules. Paleo food may consist only of the kind of things that our ancient ancestors would have eaten. Muesli? An abomination in the eyes of this modern-day Fred Flintstone. Spaghetti? "A plate full of sugar," De Vany counters. He considers carbohydrates of all kinds to be hellish. Followers of EF shun potatoes, chocolate, pizza and bread as well as milk, cheese and refined oils. Instead there's lots of game and fish, fresh vegetables, seeds and fruit.
"We try to only eat what was around before the invention of agriculture," De Vany explains. And variety is the spice of life. One morning Carmela serves roast turkey with bacon for breakfast, another day there's half an avocado."
However, not every diet in history was healthy
posted by nolocontendere at 10:14 PM
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