What makes for a healthy body? This question is at the core of all health-related endeavors, ranging from nutritional research to clinical medicine to personal training. Much attention is devoted to how different types of stimuli and exposures – nutritional elements, medications, exercise practices, and so forth – presumably affect our well-being and consequently how […]
Evolutionary Psychology: The Key to Understanding the Mind
One of the most profound realisations that everyone who discovers and embraces Darwinism is bound to make at one point or another is that the mind can be understood via evolutionary thinking. After all, the brain is not exempt from the evolutionary process. Like other bodily organs, it was molded over millions of years as […]
It Pays to Be Smooth: Another Reason Why Health Matters (a Lot) in Evolution
One of the most common and pernicious misconceptions about evolution is that health is somewhat irrelevant to Darwinian selection. All of the focus is placed on reproductive success, whereas parameters related to organismal health, vitality, and well-being are largely ignored. Even some experienced researchers operating within the realm of Darwinian/evolutionary medicine operate in this manner, […]
Why I Avoid Foods Rich in Resistant Starch: The Evolutionary Rationale for Less Nutritional Resistance
If you’re someone who’s been involved in the evolutionary nutrition community for some time, then you’re undoubtedly familiar with Resistant Starch (RS), which is a special type of starch that we humans are incapable of digesting without the help of the bacteria that dwell in our bowels. RS rose to fame some years back, spurred […]
A Healthy Partner: The Best Probiotic There Is
The probiotic market is flooded with useless – and in many instances harmful – products. Instead of turning to that marketplace for microbial solutions in the form of new materials to add to your microbiome, you may be better off exploring the vast pool of microbial life in which we humans bathe. Like you, the […]
‘Natural Selection, The Microbiome, and Public Health’: A Superb, “Must-Read” Article That Demystifies the Microbiome via Darwinian Means
The human microbiome is all the rage in this day and age. It’s at the forefront of modern science and medicine and features prominently in newspaper articles, health & wellness magazines, and diet books. But despite being so visible and scrutinized, the microbiome is frequently perceived as being a mystery – something that it’s difficult […]
Why We’re Built the Way We Are: The Magnificent Artistry of Natural Selection
Life, in all its beauty and complexity, is not arbitrary or designless. Rather, it was molded over billions of years through the process known as evolution via natural selection. This process is not planned, in the sense that there doesn’t appear to be a conscious designer in place that decides exactly what is to happen; […]
Casein: A Troublesome Protein Found in Dairy Products
Quite recently I put up an article here on the site in which I talked about the fatty acid profile of dairy products, pointing out that dairy foods have a lipid structure that differs markedly from that of the foods that we humans are evolutionarily accustomed to deriving our fats from, and that this is […]
Darwin: A Guardian Angel for Medicine
Charles Robert Darwin has by some proponents of Darwinian or evolutionary medicine been described as a sort of guardian angel for medicine. Historically, this spiritual helper hasn’t regularly come to our rescue, but that’s not because it hasn’t been willing to, but rather because we humans have ignored it and the assistance its willing to […]
Paleolithic Nutrition vs. Mainstream Nutrition: Where Does the Burden of Proof Really Lie?
If you’re someone who prescribes to an eating regimen designed on the basis of the dietary practices of our Paleolithic ancestors, then chances are you’ve come across people whose demeanor and expressions clearly reveal that they are skeptical of your nutritional approach, perhaps perceiving it as odd or dubious. If you’re someone who eats a […]