An Opportunistic Life…

Instinct… an animal’s response to specific stimuli, engrained deep within after thousands of years of evolution. This behavioral hardwiring is intended with one purpose and one purpose only, life… either to pro-create or pro-long it. A clap of thunder, seek shelter; Attracted, court; Opposing sex is in heat, mate; Smells good, eat; Stronger than you, submit; Weaker than you, fight. The list goes on and on, and for many animals this will be the basis that they live their lives ...

 by. This basis may not be altered, however, it may be covered, a foundation that an immense structure of learned behaviors take shape upon.

Human beings have an amazing ability to learn, they grasp eagerly onto information and process it into new behavior, thus adding another level to their behavioral structure. Parents, teachers, peers, doctors, bosses, advertisements, clever marketing and even societal norms continue to add level after level to this structure until eventually most lose sight of the ground. A new skyscraper of “what we think we should do” covers our innate ability to simply “know what we should do.” Well, I’m here to swing the figurative wrecking ball and bring you all back to ground level. To bring you back to basics and give you a glimpse at what I believe nature intended.

To provide that glimpse I am going to use the most advanced artistic tool I  have available (no, it’s not photoshop,) your imagination, however, I need your help.  To visualize this natural state we have to wipe all traces of our modern day society, no more technology, no more cars, cell phones, computers, television advertisements, not even newspapers. Let us take it even further down the rabbit hole, no houses,  no food markets, no farms, no pastures, not even a horse drawn carriage, how about we eliminate society altogether, the slate is clean…an empty canvas willing to accept it’s first splotches of paint. It is now you in your most simplistic state…  Alone, naked, standing at the edge of a vast lush green forest.

To one side there is a sweeping plain, shoulder height green grass with the tips of the blades burnt beige, as they have no protective shade. Your body is lean, quadriceps and calf muscles are heavily defined by shadow cast from their sweat covered, glistening bulge via the noon time sun.  The strong lower extremities are indicative that you are used traveling long distances and fast! A sturdy torso, muscular back and bulging biceps tell you that you are a willing climber. While protective calluses covering your feat and hands are evidence that you have done both many, many times over.

It’s hot, your mouth is dry and you know relief can come from a quick wade through the plains to the pond set at the middle. But one quick look at the tall grass and the hair raises on the back of your neck. Something is wrong, danger, predators may lurk below the thick grass, with no trees to escape in you will make easy prey. You also remember a past visit to the pond, the smell of a big rotting animal carcass turned your stomach and gave you a hesitant feeling drinking the water, additionally something bigger must of been their to kill it. Better stick to the long way around and you continue always moving, following the outskirts of the forest.

Along your path you may climb a tree from time to time to harvest fruits, pick berries or forage nuts off the forest floor. As you progress further through the forest you have gradually lowered in elevation, plants change, the ground becomes moist and you can harvest root vegetables you have become familiar with. Finally, after what feels like half a days walk you come upon a stream that feeds the pond in the plains. Cautiously checking your surroundings you lower yourself to all fours and dip your lips into the cool running water fed from the peaks up above and quench your ever growing thirst. Whipping your soaked head back in a scream of exhilaration, your hair cascades arcing droplets of water in every direction and startles the unseen duck pair from their nest across the stream. What presents itself is quite the fortunate find, 3 delicious white eggs unguarded and ready to be swiped. Happily collecting your bounty you prepare for one last objective before heading back to your camp, balancing your spear with learned expertise you wade into the shallow water intent on catching some fish or possibly the duck parents returning to defend their nests. Catching either would make an excellent dinner before the adventure begins again tomorrow…

The lights are on and we are back to reality. Of course I am not an expert in nutrition, or botany, or anthropology, or history or any subject at that matter but, I like to consider myself fairly well learned, pretty rational and have a very unique perspective on life. I was also granted this platform, by well, I guess you so I will not put it to waste.  The story was written with the intent of helping you understand a natural healthy human diet and lifestyle. In our most basic state we are always moving and exercising to reach a goal, whether that be to quench thirst, sate hunger, or protect ourselves. The overall objective has always been and will always be life. As for diet, the things we ate and that we should eat are the ones that are most opportunistic to us, naturally speaking the majority of our diets were made up of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Then we ate what we were able to catch, usually shellfish, fish poultry, and small game animals. On occasion if we were able to bring down a larger hunted animal (i.e. red meat) it was obviously fortunate but not frequent. I’ll tell you one thing, you probably couldn’t walk up to the closest mountain goat or buffalo and attempt to milk it nor could you readily whip up some refined white flour to bake some bread.

So go out put some effort into having a healthy life(follow the list of better foods to eat from the bottom of my last blog.) You only live once, take the opportunity that was granted to you, you have no idea how fortunate you are to have it, take advantage of it and make it a long, healthy and happy one.

All my Love – Teej

Health Update: I have my first set of abdominal and chest CT scans tomorrow morning since my last treatment. I will know the results Friday around noon time. My last blood tests about 3 weeks ago were indicative of no increased cancer activity with a CEA of 2.5. I feel great, look great (probably the best shape I have ever been in in my lifetime) and been doing everything in my ability to be as healthy as possible. That includes Walking/Running the dogs 1-2 times daily and seeing a trainer 3 times a week. My diet is as I preach. No matter what, I will keep trudging forward until this disease has left me for good.