THE NEANDERTHAL DIET

Diets come and go, this one's been around for thousands of years
As  athletes, diet and nutrition play a huge role in our performance and in our overall health. The things we consume on the course—creatine, sports drinks, protein powders, energy drinks, etc—are probably less important than the foods we consume during our everyday training diets. Maintaining a favorable nutrition plan throughout the week can lead to better recovery, lower weight, more energy, and better general health. It’s no wonder we athletes get so many questions about the foods we eat. People understand the importance of diet and nutrition and they want to learn more.
Lately, I’ve been following a dietary program, “The Neanderthal Diet.” The premise of the Neanderthal Diet is straightforward, when trying to decide what foods to eat and what foods not to eat, use this simple filter: Would a Neanderthal Man have had access to this food? The rationale for asking this question is simple: the foods that early humans ate are those that our bodies were designed to eat.
Could Neanderthal Man have eaten white bread? Nope. He didn’t have the ability to process grains into flour back then. Ice cream? Uh-uh. Sugar refinement was still years away. Pasta? No way. Fettuccine doesn’t grow on a vine. What about fruit? Sure, find a tree and pick to your hearts content. Vegetables? You bet, he’d pull ‘em right from the ground. Fish and lean meat? Yep, if Neanderthal Man could catch it, he could eat it. Back in Neanderthal days it was all organic, so I try to choose organic as much as possible.
There is a body of literature which suggests that this diet may be one of the reasons Neanderthal Man suffered from fewer of the deleterious health conditions that afflict modern man, such as: heart disease, Type II diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and a host of others. I’m not very scientific, however, I just do it because it makes me feel better.
Of course, it requires some discipline to eat in this primitive way, but you’ll be amazed by your increased energy levels when you do, so you tend to stick with you. Maybe you’ll even try to chase down your next meal (okay, don’t take it quite that far).

NO BATTLIN ROPES OR PROWLERS EITHER!