As a pooper, and as a former catcher (american game - baseball), I object to the assumption that squatters would squat even if they had another option, oh.... I don't know... a toilet! It does show us that their lifestyle supports good hamstrings though.
gale
----- Original Message ----
From: Paleo Phil <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:46:40 PM
Subject: Re: Paleo Pooping
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paleolithic Eating Support List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marilyn Harris
> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 10:45 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Paleo Pooping
>
> Ahem. :-)
>
> Has anyone thought or even tried this more natural method of
> elimination?
> Meaning the squat method?
>
Yeah and, as it was mentioned, there are even devices made to adapt toilets
for squatting that are sold on the Internet, though I haven't encountered a
squat toilet yet myself. A friend of mine was surprised by the squat toilet
(basically a hole in the floor) in the French farm she vacationed at. She
thought it savage, and therefore inferior, which got me thinking. Given my
knowledge of the supremacy of the Paleo diet over modern diets, I wondered
if the ancient way of defecating was superior as well. I did some searching
and quickly found "SQUAT - DON'T SIT!!! Change your toilet so you can heal
constipation (and many other health problems)," by Stephanie Relfe B.Sc.
http://www.relfe.com/toilet_seat_constipation.html. While some of it is very
questionable, there were some good points. It sure seems like a no-brainer:
millions of years of squatting certainly argue in favor of that over the
recent innovation of throne-sitting.
Later, I happened upon a science TV show in which Julia Roberts and the
traditional Mongols she was studying were filmed squatting when they were
doing their business (luckily their nether regions were camouflaged by
bushes :-) ), to show how different the traditional Mongol way of life is
from our own.
So the raised, throne-type flush toilet is a modern invention, contorting
the human form into an unnatural position. It appears that, as with so many
things, the old Stone-Age way of doing things was healthier.
You don't have to squat on a dangerously unstable seat to get some
benefit--even without bricks you can lift up on your toes. It is at least a
small anatomical improvement and is probably healthier even in the absence
of constipation.
> She did and got crap all over her new cowboy boots! lol.
> People will try anything once, I suppose.
As was mentioned, there are still quite a number of squat toilets in
Continental Europe. Since some Europeans use the squat method every day, I
don't think it's necessary to crap on your feet to do it. I certainly
haven't noticed any Europeans walking around with soiled shoes! Lol I'm
sure with a little practice you'd get the hang of it, just as your ancestors
did.
> I'm sticking to the old-fashioned, on the toilet bowl methodology. It
> allows me to read and/or do sudoku puzzles at the same time.
> gale
Actually, the throne-type toilet is the new-fashioned gizmo and squatting is
the old-fashioned method that was used for millions of years and still is in
many parts of the world. Until the 19th century invention of interior water
closets in Britain, and for some time afterwards, most Westerners squatted
over chamberpots or holes and many people in the world still do today. Many
of the things that we have been conditioned to regard as "normal" are
anything but. Confronted in isolation, topics like Paleolithic nutrition,
evolutionary medicine, hunting for food, raw meat and organ eating, living
in the wild, and squat-toilets seem strange to a lot of moderners, but
brought together in a cohesive whole they make perfect sense. I found Daniel
Quinn's book Ishmael to be particularly helpful in bringing a lot of this
stuff together and lifting modern Western civilization's obscuring veil from
my eyes. It's amazing how something as mundane as the squat toilet can be a
stepping stone to understanding the fundamental nature of human beings! :-D
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