The Human Zoo
The Liver King
I don’t like visiting zoos. Seeing animals in cages disturbs me. I remember a visit to a zoo when I was younger. There was a tiger in a cage, and he was pacing back and forth the whole time I stood there. I remember thinking that this was an animal designed to hunt, and that the pacing was his only way to express this instinct. This memory came back to me when I recently listened to a podcast with a fellow who used to be called Brian Johnson, now known as “The Liver King”. He told the story of his transformation from Brian Johnson to “The Liver King”. This transformation was so radical and complete that Liver King says Brian doesn’t really exist anymore. He is now indeed the Liver King. The name and transformation came about from his adopting an “Ancestral Lifestyle” and the taste he developed for eating raw liver. The Ancestral Lifestyle is one which is consistent with our evolutionary history as hunters, and which I’ve attempted to adopt in my own life. Just as the tiger evolved as a top hunter and predator, humans share a similar evolutionary background. We ignore this at our peril, and I believe that the diseases of civilization such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer, that are currently epidemic in our world are directly linked to not living in accordance with our evolutionary biology. Liver King likens this to being trapped in a “human zoo” where we’ve become so addicted to comfort that our health is suffering. I’ve written about this at more length in my article “Evolutionary Mismatch: Understanding Our Biological Heritage for Better Health”.
Liver King made several excellent points that are very relevant to anyone interested in improving their health and quality of life. He identifies the nine tenants of ancestral living on his website, which is well worth a look. The nine tenants are:
Sleep
Eat
Move
Shield
Connect
Cold
Sun
Fight
Bond
His mission is “to put back what the modern world has left out, returning our people back to strength and happiness.” One of the main consequences of not living by ancestral principles has been massive hormonal disruption. Hormones are critical to our health and well being, and current science shows that hormonal disruption is a causal mechanism in many of the diseases that plague us as modern humans. One measure of the levels of hormonal disruption is the dramatic decrease in fertility. Male sperm levels have dropped by 50% since 1970, and female fertility has decreased by 75% since 1991. Liver King asserts that this is the result of our decreased dietary intake of saturated animal fats, poor sleep, and lack of exercise, especially lifting heavy things. Indeed there is overwhelming scientific evidence to support his assertions. For instance. lifting weights has been shown to dramatically increase growth hormone, testosterone, and BDNF-1 (brain derived neurotrophic factor, critical to brain health). Sleep studies consistently show decreases in these and other hormones with disrupted sleep patterns. This paper shows that low fat diets drop testosterone in men by up to 40%. All these negative hormonal effects result from ignoring just the first three tenants of ancestral living.
A deeper discussion of all nine of the tenants of ancestral living is beyond what I can cover in this article, but I recommend Liver King’s website for a deeper look. There are a few other points Liver King made that I feel are important to mention here. The first one is that we have the choice “to suffer now, or suffer later”. The more I thought about this, the more I realized the wisdom he is expressing. I’ve written before about how our addiction to comfort is detrimental to our health. I just read the other day that the average person now spends less that 10 percent of their time outdoors. We were made to live outdoors, to move and hunt, and to be exposed to the elements. Many of you know that I have embraced cold immersion, and lift weights at least a couple of times a week. I can tell you that it takes conscious choice and will to step into my cold garage to lift weights, or to get into a tankful of cold water. Giving up foods like bread, pasta, and sugar wasn’t initially easy for me. Many people I talk to about my lifestyle tell me “I couldn’t do that”, when what they are really saying is that “I choose not to do that”. They see it as deprivation and suffering, but that choice then leads to suffering with chronic conditions later. I’d much rather consciously choose discomfort and some suffering now to avoid suffering with a chronic disease in the future.
Secondly, Liver King talked about the importance of consuming organs for human health. In his travels to visit the remaining hunter-gatherers left on the planet he observed that they always prized the organs over the muscle meat of any animal they killed. The same has been observed with wild animals, they will always eat the organs before the muscle meat. Organs like liver, heart, kidneys, testicles, and even brains are the most nutrient dense part of the animal. This is termed as eating “nose to tail”, and in hunting societies and with animals in the wild, almost the entire animal is consumed, even the bones. Many people can’t imagine eating organ meats, especially raw as they are usually consumed by hunting people and the Liver King. By not eating organs we are missing out on some key nutrients. Fortunately, the Liver King sources organs from grass fed cows in New Zealand, and sells them freeze dried in capsules. This retains the important nutrients they provide in an easy to take form. A couple of my favorites are the Beef Organs and the Bone Marrow and Liver. I’ve been using these products for over a year, and I can definitely feel the difference! If you are someone who is less keen on eating organs, you can get them into your diet with Ancestral Supplements.
Finally, Liver King also made the point that we have put ourselves in the cage of human comfort, what he calls the “human zoo.” Much like the tiger in the zoo who has everything provided for him, our quest for comfort has really imprisoned us. Spending 90% of our lives indoors, or in the comfort of our cars seems like prison to me. The difference between us and the tiger in the zoo is that if the tiger’s cage door was opened he wouldn’t hesitate to run out. We have the ability to leave our cage of comfort at any time. Will you walk out the door and reclaim your ancestral birthright of living a vital, healthy, and happy life?
