At 01:51 PM 3/23/01 EST, Charles Alban wrote:
<snip>
>
>Native paleo (that's paleo with a small p) peoples knew this very well.

<g>

Just wanted to say that one of the biggest "events" of my youth was reading
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.  It's amazing the gut-level effect that
had...  sparked a whole realm of interests that have outlasted most
everything else I was exposed to during my teens!

<snip>
>
>Nature religions treat every living thing as equal. The two worst things
>Judeo-Christianity has given us are  "thou shalt have dominion over every
>living thing..."   and   "they were naked and they were ashamed...." The
>first has given us carte blanche to rape and pillage the planet, and the
>second has made us ashamed of our own bodies.  Native peoples had neither of
>these philosophies. They observed that to the whiteman, nature was a
>wilderness to be tamed, but to them it was their home. Modern people are
>freighted of nature, of the outdoors.

I'd add "go forth and multiply" to that list, myself.  Ironically, all of
these are from a "borrowed" mythology!

>So what's this got to with your question? Well, It's the idea of respect for
>yourself, for your body, and for the world you live in. This is a native
>philosophy, and it is the original paleolithic philosophy that humans would
>have had from day1.
>
>Food has to be treated as something sacred. You are making a holy offering to
>the temple. This means that you don't over indulge, that you only eat best
>quality, and you learn to recognize what that is. You listen to what your
>body is telling you. You have to raise the sensitivity level. We get so
>dulled in modern society by too much external stimulation that we cannot feel
>anything.

Just wanted to say, I share your views, fwiw...

I wonder if there is a larger than average percentage of more neo-pagan
type leanings amongst those who are particularly drawn to paleo-like diets
for reasons beyond dealing with serious illness?  As you point out, the
philosophies and the eating go nicely hand-in-hand.

>Too much sugar is our biggest problem, because it dulls the sensitivity. The

I've noticed this, too.  Years ago I eliminated sugar and white flour from
my diet for a while, then after having a single candy bar acted like I was
on speed for a while--you'd have thought I'd have learned something (young
and stupid!)...

But since I've gotten rid of that stuff again, I find things like lemons
are sweet.  OTOH, I've always prefered my teas unsullied by sugar, lemon,
cream, what-have-you...

>reason americans do not drink tea  is because they cannot taste it. Tea,
>particularly green tea, drunk from small elegant porcelain cups in the
>Chinese manner, is highly beneficial. And this is paleo, because the indians
>made teas from wild herbs, and Paleo (with a capital P) would have done the
>same.

including the porcelain? [kidding!  sorry, couldn't resist <e g>]  But I
think you're right.

>To actually eat native american foods is going to require some organization.
>To gather wild acorns and berries, and roots and wild animals and insects
>means actually going out and doing this. I am working on it!

I, too, will enjoy hearing how you fare.  Having studied a little on
medicinal herbs and wild edibles and done a bit of foraging in my time, I
find all this sort of stuff fascinating...

Dianne