I don't know if trees were my ancestors, or how to talk to trees, or if junk DNA is our instinctual programming, but beyond that, this session was pure win. Perhaps these were metaphorical, I don't know.

He had me at the social aspects, at how school was designed to keep kids busy while their parents would be exploited with work, and how our creativity is suppressed by schooling and corporate work, where obeying is far more important.

I totally agree with his "It's natural to have the urge to..." and how modern life has trained us to turn off of all of these, and that we're dangerously out of touch with our primal natural urges, drives, and instincts. "Rise with the sun and set with the sun."

We've discussed the artificial lights and their effects on us in many questions here at PH, but of course it doesn't hurt to have those pointed out again.

The coffee and green tea thing struck a chord of realization with me, as I tend to be a fiend with these two.

"In our primal environment, we had to live by the laws of and dictates of nature. For all creatures in the wild, there's a survival code and a need to live in accordance with that code, is the urge, simply to live or die if you're out of that code, you become food for some other creature." Pure gold.

Of course the environment our genome and epigenome was adapted to no longer exists, so it's difficult for us to return to that balance, and we should listen to our bodies, and simply as much as we can in our lives.

"Stress is trying to do too many things at once, be too many places at once, or be too many people at once."

I want to resist the urge to copy more quotes into this answer, or the slide points, but clearly, this, to me is a "must watch" session, it's pure gold!

I enjoyed the discussion of the mechanisms of control that are used to make us go against our natural state of being. It's something I think a lot about, and enjoyed hearing about it.

We're not people anymore, we're consumers. It's very true, and very very sad.

So apparently fresh produce is needed if your constipated and less animal flesh. The poo is supposed to float. Where is getting all of this from? He really doesn't seem to be fond of beef.

He kinda lost me on the talking to trees thing and I found it difficult to come back.

I've also lived in close contact with many many other humans during my lifetime and I've yet to meet one who routinely restricted their pooping so that they went only once every three days (Chek says this is common), or a whole week (he claims he works with several people for whom this is the norm). I doubt it is possible for someone to eat even remotely regularly and not poop for an entire month. Stuff like this loses me some more. The most restriction on pooping I can think of has very little to do with being stapped for time, and more to do with social embarrassment of pooping in public restrooms. I myself prefer to poop at home, but if I gotta go, I'm gonna go.

Sort of a shame because he had some good stuff to say about not reading books about how we should eat and move and just do what feels right for us. I also like his approach to self-experimentation. Too many n=1's are not even undertaken in a manner that will produce meaningful information to that "1".

I liked Paul's session. He was spot on about independent thinking and trial and error and fasting. I love trees--I like to say I commune with them--but haven't had much conversation with them. I always figured they were too stuck up to respond to a puny human.

I was intrigued by his emphasis on hydration. I'm not a very thirsty person but I do eat lots of low-density greens, etc., so I pass his skin-pinch test just fine although I frequently drink only about a liter per day even on my fasting days.

The kid in me giggled throughout his discussion of poop but again I thought his comments were spot on. Produce sure works for me and I've never been constipated in my life except after surgery when I'd been forced to "clean out" before the procedure.

A new insight for me was his talk about "the urge to move" which I admit I tend to suppress. His stern, "Get up!" is good advice I must say. His reminder to let your diaphragm so most of the work when breathing was also timely for me; I'm familiar with the basics but sometimes I forget.

His comments about movement were very realistic, particularly for mature adults--consistent, not painful, vary from day-to-day, etc.

His bottom line comment "Return to basics" says it all.

P.S. The school system totally failed to train my grandson to be a conforming, left-brain person. He's just a little too independent and rambunctious for my taste just now. :-))

"We all instinctively know what food really is."

This brought to mind watching an infant who wants to feed and is given a bottle rather than a mother's breast. Our society, from the earliest stages, conditions what we think, how we move, even trying to claim who we are.

I think his presentation was pretty solid. People have already touched on the areas of disagreement, but I think that his mantra to "simplify everything" makes a lot of sense. In my view, we aren't meant to live in civilizations like we have today.

Notice the urges, notice the patterns, get up and move, listen to the body. Makes a lot of sense to me!

Great talk. I've basically never heard of the guy, but have already reached many of the same conclusions he has come to, albeit maybe not in the exact same terms.

Much of it boils down to simplicity. This paleo/primal thing really isn't that hard.

Stick it through and there are some good points. I liked it though I understand why some did not hang around for the entire talk.