Live Paleo Style – Now available on Amazon and other venues

Paleo Style is not just nutrition!

My book is now on Amazon – Live Paleo Style. It is available in Kindle, paperback, and Audible formats. The audiobook is also available for sale here if you don’t want to subscribe to Audible.

My way to the Paleo lifestyle started from the emotional and not the nutritional side of the mismatch. One day, after a dreadful day at work, I asked myself if work was natural for us.

Since I read a lot about our ancestor hunter-gatherers, I concluded that we are not evolutionarily adapted to work. I counted my pennies and decided to quit.

After enjoying my new autonomy and authenticity and finding a new purpose in life, I authored a book in Hebrew about coping with the emotional mismatch we face daily between our innate setup and the stress that the modern world throws at us. These were the early days of the Paleo Diet, so I included a chapter about nutrition in the book.

That was quite a few years ago. After publishing the book, I concentrated on the more apparent nutritional aspect of the ancestors-modern world mismatch in my blogs and academic activity.

Recently I have decided to translate, update, edit, and in fact, rewrite the book in English.

Here is a summary of the book, which also appears in the book’s first few pages. Each chapter also has a summary at the beginning so you can decide if it is worth your while to go deeper into the subject.

Enjoy!

A Brief Summary of the book

Not long ago, humans were hunter-gatherers wandering in a natural environment. Now, we live in a completely different modern world with a set of genes that evolved during the

preceding two and a half million years. The premise of this book is that humans will function optimally under conditions in which their genetic inventory has evolved over millions of

years. On the other hand, they will suffer from adjustment problems if forced to live in different conditions. If we understand and become aware of the implications

of this mismatch, the way to reduce suffering is paved before us.

Here are the main characteristics of the primal humans in their natural life and in their modern counterparts:

1. Living in a small and stable group – the primal human lived in groups of 15-50 who have known each other since birth. The level of interpersonal trust was maximal. In fact, a person rarely encountered people he did not know and whose interests differed from his own. Today we live in huge frameworks such as cities, states, and the globe, and in many cases depend on the decisions of people who do not know us and whom we do not know.

2. Most of the time was spent together – Even sleep was a group activity, and there was a lot of mutual care for the children. Presently, many of us live away from traditional support systems.
3. Sharing – Sharing food was one of the primary norms in hunter-gatherer groups. Sharing meant that none of the group members were hungry when other members were satiated. Usually, the hunter did not participate in the division of the hunt to avoid the appearance of their relatives’ preferences. Thus, no group member has ever seen another member abandoned to a state of hunger. Today personal ownership of property is sacred and homeless people do not get a second look.

4. Equality – There were no crowned leaders, and good hunters did not receive preferential treatment. Today inequality is the main engine behind the capitalist system and is accepted as natural.
5. Autonomy – No person could tell the other what to do, and no one owned the other’s time. Even parents tended not to tell their children what to do. Everything was done voluntarily and out of a sense of belonging and commitment to the group. Today we operate in a series of hierarchical structures, in the family, at work, and in the state, where we constantly fulfill privileged people’s demands.
6. No work – There was no commitment to work at certain hours and places. No repetitive tasks were performed for hours, and the final product of each task was visible and consumed or used immediately. Today we sell our time to produce a product that we usually do not see completed.

7. The tasks were short-term and easy to achieve – there was no long-term planning. There was no need for perseverance in performing a task over time. Today, many tasks require long-term persistence.
8. Lots of free time – Obtaining food only took a few hours, and plenty of time was left in the day to spend with the group. Today’s workday, including the commute, requires most daylight hours and often even some evening hours.
9. Nomadism – Nomadism was a form of diversity, and nomadism made it possible to switch groups to solve interpersonal tension. Today we are economically invested in one place, so even if the immediate environment is stressful or unpleasant, it is difficult to change.
10. Natural environment – The natural environment had no noise or pollution.
11. The risks were known and given – the simple lifestyle meant that the dangers were known, and so were the ways to reduce them. Today, rapid technological progress causes us to expect to be able to eliminate every risk. Facing uncertainty is a source of frustration and stress.
12. Authenticity – In the absence of work and in a state of perfect acquaintance with the group, there is no need to present a persona that is not authentic. Today we must show different personas in various social circumstances. Continuous emotional stress results from the mismatch between our situation now and during most of our evolution.

What can we do to help reduce some of that stress? Here are some suggestions, some easier and some more difficult to implement:

1. Recognize and get to know your hunter-gatherer’s core. Recognizing the source of anxiety and stress in the mismatch between our innate core and modern reality is the basic condition for relief. In most cases, you will be able to find your own ways to relieve anxiety and stress if you recognize their source.
2. Cultivate a small, stable community – Sometimes, family and close friends feel a little ‘boring.’ Try to overcome that feeling. Privacy is overrated. Share your life with others. There is a lot of value in steady, trusted, intimate companions.
3. Cultivate equality and autonomy – True for marriage or any other close relationship. People close to you stay close if they feel equal and free to develop their potential. In fact, you will feel better among equals.
4. Walk, ride, and travel in natural environments – Moving in natural environments was as basic as breathing to hunter-gatherers.
5. Find activities with immediate results – Learn a language, help other people.
6. Be spontaneous, just for the sake of it. Spontaneity is an expression of autonomy and is often associated with activities that bring immediate results.
7. Step away from large, hierarchical systems – Working in certain large organizations, such as the government and the army, is not for everyone.
8. Accept fate and uncertainty – In many cases, stress is caused by circumstances that can’t be changed.
9. Don’t feel ashamed when you crave free time.
10. Be authentic. Don’t be afraid to expose vulnerability. Authenticity is attractive.
11. Eat evolutionary-matched foods. This book suggests early retirement and other behavioral and conceptual changes to overcome the emotional and physical mismatch. Some lucky people genuinely love their work, and some unlucky ones are economically unable to retire. Most of the measures that are recommended in the book can be taken without the need to retire.

Let’s dive into the details of the mismatch and how its results can be minimized.

To continue the journey – The book is available on Amazon or. if you like to buy the audiobook as a single copy and not in the framework of an Audible subscription here is the link

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