And yes, I took all those pics! ;)
Hey blog world! Long time no talk :)
I’ve been super busy going to Steelers games.. and Pirates games.. and Penguins games! working, so I apologize for leaving ya hanging – but today’s post should definitely make up for the mind-body-spirit science void that has been plaguing your internet lives these past few weeks ;) haha
Ok, so there’s this guy…
No, unfortunately it’s not one of those stories ;) But there is this guy named John Durant who caught my attention this week. Durant is the author of The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health. You guys know I’m all about keeping it old school, so the sub-title alone peaked my interest. But once I started reading, I was completely hooked.
In the sample chapter provided on Durant’s website, HunterGatherer.com, the author talks about a curious case involving an overweight gorilla named Mokolo. Mokolo lived at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, so his diet was consistent and adhered to guidelines established by the National Research Council. And yet, at 461 pounds – and with some troublesome blood tests and cardiac ultrasounds under his belt – Mokolo’s weight was anything but healthy.
So what gives?
Durant met up with Elena Less, a PhD student at Case Western Reserve, to find the answer. (Now, there’s a lot of super interesting stuff to fill in here – but for those of you on a time crunch, I’ll just skip to the point… but if you have an extra few minutes, I really encourage you to check out the full sample chapter for details!) But basically: after testing out a couple different theories, Less’s team found that when they switched Mokolo to a diet that more closely resembled the diet of a wild gorilla (versus the more processed, man-made diet he was on before), the weight fell right off – despite the fact that Mokolo was now eating twice as many calories!!
Say what?!
Let’s go over that again: Despite eating twice as many calories, Mokolo lost about 15% of his body weight just by switching to a diet that more closely resembled his natural diet!
And that’s not all. In fact – on a personal note, when it comes to the type of research I’m into – I found this next part to be even more interesting: Before the diet switch, Mokolo and his test companion, Bebac, exhibited behavioral issues. After eating all of their man-made biscuits, the gorillas would reguritate their food and reingest it. (Gorillas in the wild don’t do that.) Mokolo and Bebac also plucked out their hair every day, resulting in multiple bald spots. (As Durant notes, “In humans this would be categorized as a serious impulse control disorder.”) Flash-forward to the diet switch and,
After about a week the gorillas adjusted and seemed perfectly happy munching on their lettuce. The hair-plucking behavior strongly receded, and the regurigation behavior stopped completely.
That. Is. AMAZING.
I’m not a sales person, I just play one in this post…
Ok, so seriously: Go check out Durant’s website, buy the book, follow him on Twitter – do whatever you’ve gotta do, but definitely look into Durant’s research!
And in the meantime, I promise to check in more often and stop galavanting around Pittsburgh working so hard ;)
Great to hear from you! Obviously love the pics:) as for this monkey business are you suggesting we eat natural rather than processed Foods??? Sounds just like what all our Grandmas used to tell us.
Yep – listen to your elders! ;)
Welcome back! While we’re not following a paleo eating program, we’ve found that we feel better and are losing weight by shopping the perimeter of the store. There are very few processed foods in our diets these days, and it’s making a big difference.
Sticking to the outside of the store is definitely the way to go! :) I just posted a new article, Simple Gluten-Free Meal Prep, you might like too :) Nothing fancy, but you might get some new snack ideas out of it! :)