Page 52 - Winter2009

All Thumbs Book Reviews

Primal Body—Primal Mind that is not required for human health. Fats and
Empower Your Total Health the Way proteins—the other two—are absolutely es-
Evolution Intended (…and Didn’t) sential, however. Only red blood cells require
By Nora T. Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT glucose as fuel, and the body can manufacture
Primal Body—Primal Mind Publishing, that from a combination of fats and proteins when
2009 needed. All other tissue cells in the body—in-
cluding those of the brain and heart—prefer
Nora Gedgaudas, a nutritionist for over ketones, energy units metabolized from fat, as
twenty-five years, has written a densely en- their fuel source. Most medical authorities and
dowed guide to total health based on years of conventional nutritionists completely ignore
study to answer one organizing query: how did this fact, says Gedgaudas, even in the face of
our ancient biological history as human beings “abundant evidence that many modern disease
condition us to eat? The answer to that question processes, including cardiovascular disease,
informs all of Gedgaudas’s recommendations for elevated triglycerides, obesity, hypertension,
improving health and for addressing or prevent- diabetes and cancer, to name a few…are the
ing the scourge of degenerative diseases common product not of excess natural fats in the diet, but
among modern populations. of excess carbohydrates.”
As the image of the Lascaux, France Paleo- Modern humans have become, for the most
lithic cave paintings on the book cover hints, the part, dependent upon glucose as their bodies’
clue to our successful future as a species lies in source of fuel, whereas our ancestors used ke-
our past. Gedgaudas is not the first to point out tones as their primary metabolic energy source.
that modern humans are essentially genetically This is a crucial distinction to understand, since
identical to our ancestors of more than forty the maintenance of proper blood sugar levels is
thousand years ago. Over the course of about one something the body is “literally obsessed with,”
hundred thousand generations, says Gedgaudas, stresses Gedgaudas. While excess blood sugar
nature refined our design and conditioned us can theoretically be burned off—by taking a hike
In fact, through specific selective pressures so that “we after eating a sugary dessert, for example—the
regulating are all—biologically, genetically, and physiologi- hormone that regulates blood sugar levels—in-
blood sugar cally, without exception—hunter gatherers.” sulin—cannot be burned off. And it is constantly
circulating blood insulin that causes so many
This implies that the “natural” diet of hu-

levels is a mans centered primarily on animal source foods, health problems. In fact, regulating blood sugar
rather which provided adequate amounts of protein with levels is a rather sideline function of insulin, ac-
sideline func- generous quantities of fat—always coveted as a cording to Gedgaudas; the main function of this
concentrated energy source, especially in colder hormone is to store fat. While insulin is present,
tion of insulin, regions. Depending upon climate and geography, body fat cannot be burned.
according to fibrous fruits and vegetables, with some nuts and Yet insulin itself is regulated by another hor-

Gedgaudas; seeds, were also part of some of our ancestral mone that was only discovered fifteen years ago
diet. In this pre-agricultural proving ground, hu-
in, of all places, our fat cells: leptin. Researchers
the main mans had very little dietary exposure to starchy were amazed to discover that our fat cells are
function of carbohydrates, and grains were notably absent. not merely ugly excess baggage, but constitute
The truly critical understanding that a complex and sophisticated endocrine organ.
this hormone Gedgaudas emphasizes to the reader is the fact Further, the newly discovered hormone leptin
is to store fat. that carbohydrates are the single macronutrient was not only very important, but revealed itself
50 Wise Traditions WINTER 2009