Why Primal?

In the mid to late 90's my friend Mark from Wisconsin came out to Vegas for a visit. Since I had last seen him he had put on a lot of weight and was in terrible shape. During this time I was either inline skating of biking to work and walking every where else. My eating habits were not that great but I did only eat small meals only when I was hungry. That translated into once maybe twice a day. I was in fantastic shape. At the apartment complex I was living in it had the typical wall one can see everywhere in Vegas. It was about 6 feet high. On one particular outing Mark and I were going to walk to the nearest bar and call a cab to head to the strip. I went my usual way, over the wall in one swift motion as only an in shape mid 20 year old can do. Which I found out was not Mark. He could not get over. We had to walk to the main entrance to get out of the complex which I thought was just hilarious.

This past December, Mark came out to run the Las Vegas Marathon. I met up with him a day after the race. I was not laughing any more. We had completely switched places in terms of in shape-ness. I had to do something.

After some research I discovered Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint. I quickly identified with how he was going against most conventional wisdom. Pushing the boundaries if you will.

While I am no dietitian or scientist, I do follow Da Vinci's advice of observing the natural world around you to discover truths. So, I set about verifying Sisson's ideas of Primal living. A truth I discovered is modern day hunter gathers, yes some still exist, do not get certain diseases such as obesity, coronary heart disease, and type 2 diabetes while people living in modern civilization do. The difference appears to be related to agriculture.

I can only conclude that our modern lifestyle and diet is slowing poisoning us. So, it is Primal for me from here on out.

If all goes well, I will be running half* that marathon with Mark this coming December.

* Only half as the human body did not evolve to run these long distances. Short quick sprints, like one would do to escape a predator, are what we are designed for. That is why long distance runners always end up with knee or ankle injuries. Plus, have you seen these runners shortly after the race? They look like shit. Half a marathon is actually too much but it is a goal of mine to keep up with Mark.