What are your Paleo Meta-Rules? - PaleoHacks.com

What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-29T18:30:14Z

Brent Pottenger has a looooonnnnggg (but worthwhile) post up about Paleo meta-rules (rules about rules) and he asked me to engage the Paleo community in helping to further develop his existing set of Paleo Meta-Rules:

An excerpt:

...

~Don't let a week pass without breaking a sweat at least once. - Brent Pottenger

~Don't think naively that plants are your friendly food friends; they've evolved as immobile creatures with toxin-laden tissues for protection against herbivory. - Brent Pottenger

~Don't disrespect the spirit of The Ten Commandments. - Brent Pottenger

~You can change the location of your body (genes) all over the planet (i.e. by traveling), but you cannot change the diet that your genes evolved on ancestrally. - Marc Simonson

~Don't forget that some stressors happen once per hour, others once per day, some once per month, with a few occurring just once per year (or less). - Brent Pottenger (adapted from @NNTaleb)

~Don't neglect to help your friendly intestinal bacteria / micro-organisms thrive ... they are your closest allies in health. - Marc Simonson

~Don't disrespect your ancestry. - Brent Pottenger

...

-- so have at it! What I'd like from you is:

A) Your favorite meta-rule from the existing list at Brent's blog

B) Your new contribution

PS If Brent likes what you got for him, he'll list you and credit you for it. I suggest reading his post before blindly firing out stuff. :)

Answer by Bread-Eating Beelzebub for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-29T18:38:59Z

I like this

Don't expend energy in ways that make your lower back ache (injury avoidance). - Brent Pottenger

I know way too many people that do harmful sports and are proud of how bad they feel...

Here is mine: "You can't eat a bunch of peanut butter and then take a bunch of fish oil to cancel it out."

and another "A "paleo" cupcake is still a cupcake."

Answer by sarah-ann for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-30T00:24:40Z

Don't consume anything that causes a negative physiological reaction.- Brett Potenger

It's a simple rule, but a very powerful one, and one that I think everyone needs to be reminded of from time to time :)

Mine is: "Never become dogmatic, we are all still learning."

Answer by Belinda for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-30T03:52:34Z

I found the post (and website) a little overblown. Prententious even. But hey, if that's your style, so be it. I was also shocked by one of the commenters - "I seemed to have a developed a taste for this raw rotting meat." I thought I was fairly primal, but that's extreme! Anyway, I don't have rules, but I do like sarah-ann's point about dogma - it's easy to become dogmatic when you are at the edge of the mainstream.

Answer by Pieter D for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-30T10:33:07Z

my take:

"Once you get the idea of ancestral living, don't spend too much time on the internet reading about it."

Personally, I think this is one of the toughest!

Answer by Tom Woodward for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-04-30T22:11:06Z

'Don't sleep with the light on." - Chris (mainly because I dig Lights Out by Wiley)

My own main rule would be,

"Let food be thy medicine."

But in all fairness, credit should go to Hippocrates on that one.

Answer by Rick for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-05-01T20:35:55Z

I like this one:

"Don't think naively that plants are your friendly food friends; they've evolved as immobile creatures with toxin-laden tissues for protection against herbivory."

I believe that Kurt Harris says it this way: "Nature is beautiful, and it's trying to kill you."

I also like these: "Don't disrespect the spirit of The Ten Commandments" and "Don't disrespect your ancestry."

Mine would be "Let health, not appearance, be your motive; let wisdom, not knowledge, be your guide."

Answer by vmary for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-05-01T23:35:06Z

experiment on yourself conservatively.

Answer by Matt for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-05-02T00:27:16Z

Here is mine: "Remember that biological systems almost always involve conflicts, trade-offs and compromises between conflicting factors, there is no perfection to reach."

This applies as much to the "perfect" diet or exercise as anything.

In evolutionary biology a trade-off between two traits is said to occur when an increase in fitness due to a change in one trait is opposed by a decrease in fitness due to a concomitant change in the second trait. The belief that evolutionary change is modulated and constrained by such trade-offs is a central pillar of evolutionary thought.

Answer by epistemocrat for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-05-03T07:03:49Z

Thanks, everyone!

I've added these to my running list.

Keep sharing them; much appreciated!

Best,

Brent

Answer by JakeA for What are your Paleo Meta-Rules?

2010-05-06T15:08:43Z

I think another good meta rule for me is "Don't experiement with more than one variable."

I have problems some times with changing a ton of things at once, feeling a little worse, and not knowing what to revert back to.