Mike:

"Perhaps I no longer need the support, having embraced the predator within."

That's the place I'm trying to help people get to.  Plenty of places can tell you how to eat paleo: what's necessary is a change in identity, from "I'm on a diet" to "This is who I am now."

"I'm not sure how to describe it; this 'community' just feels different. I think you wind up here after you've lost the weight but are still interested in learning more."

Eat Like A Predator tells you everything you need to know about what to eat.  I'm more interested in exploring the science behind it: why it works as well as it does, and how it changes us to function optimally.  As a bonus, the more we know about why this is indeed the natural diet of humans, the less likely we are to be swayed by the next diet fad…and the easier it is to convince the skeptical.

"A year later they still bring it up every time I won't eat bagels or birthday cake. Of course here they are, fatter than last year."

You can open the door, but they've got to walk through it on their own.

"Cold Thermogenics seems to be a hot topic right now. I'd be interested in your take."

I haven't done enough research to make any definitive pronouncements.  

That being said, I do not agree with the currently fashionable view that cold is purely a hormetic stressor: there are effects on thyroid function, just to choose one example.  Maybe I'll take a look at it once all the controversy isn't so fresh…right now it feels like picking at a scab.

gibsongirl:

"Once a waitress even complemented my "healthy" choices."

It's currently quite fashionable to dump on Atkins — but he was willing to stand up and take arrows in the back for decades.  I respect that.  

While I'm not low-carb myself (relatively speaking…I tend to eat a Perfect Health Diet level of starch), I don't feel it necessary or find it productive to dump on low-carbers.  Frankly, if it weren't for the previous efforts of the low-carb community, we'd have a much harder time convincing people that it's OK to eat a lot of meat and eggs.

Thank you for the vote of confidence!

Jan:

I'm glad you appreciate what I do!  

I'm not interested in telling anyone else what they should or shouldn't be saying or doing.  I'm just reminding us to ask ourselves "Am I furthering my own goals by reading or participating in this?"  

Sean:

Keep doing what you do.  I hope I made it clear that I'm not telling anyone not to argue — because it's necessary to weed the garden of ideas.  

As I said to Jan, each of us needs to ask ourselves if it furthers our own goals to participate.  Sometimes I get sucked into it myself.

Nancy:

"Being new to paleo has given me such exurberace in every aspect of my life, I can hardly sit still anymore."

Hearing comments like yours helps justify all the time I spend on writing and research!

More to come!

JS

Timothy:

I agree: I'm definitely here to learn.  The trouble is (as previously mentioned) that as the knowledge base of the community continues to grow, it's more and more difficult to unearth anything new to teach people!

Don't worry, I've still got plenty to say...but my articles are, shall we say, labor-intensive.

I agree that we're in a nutritional Dark Ages, so to speak...all the advice from governments and "experts" has actually managed to make the not-so-great agricultural diet far worse than before.  The advantage we have, as predators, is that we're not in the dark: archaeology and ethnology tells us a lot about what's healthy to eat while we're waiting for the science to explain exactly how it all works.  

And you raise a good point about inspiration: "I could do that/be like that" can be a powerful motivation.

Uncephalized:

Having done many years in the corporate trenches, I can sympathize.  Keep in mind that most of my photos are taken on weekends...

"Plus it will be 100+ outside every day for the next three months…"

That's what the days around full moons are for: exploration by night!  And even without the moon, headlamp technology has got to the point where bike riding at night is completely doable for under $100...let alone hiking, which is trivial by comparison.  Contact me if you want some pointers.

Also, keep in mind that every day is "Bring A Kettlebell To Work Day."

Elliot:

Touche!  I'm partial to Edwardo's myself, even though they're not old-school enough for a lot of Chicago folks.  But I won't turn down Malnati's, either...frankly, I think of Giordano's, Lou Malnati's, and Edwardo's as the Big Three of Chicago pizza.  (Gino's has apparently fallen off somewhat in recent years AFAIK.)  And none of the "Chicago-style" pizzas I've ever eaten outside Chicago have been even remotely Chicago-style, with one single exception: Zachary's in Berkeley.

Jason:

You're welcome!

Joe B:

"External viewer of self" is a great analogy.  It's good to take that step back sometimes and ask ourselves "Am I making progress towards my goals by doing this?"

And yes, associations are extremely powerful -- particularly those made in younger years, when our heads weren't already full of knowledge and experience.  We're continually building the future out of our past.

I have no intent of telling anyone else where they should focus their own attention, and I have no intent of abandoning my search for new scientific knowledge!  However, there's plenty of information already out there -- too much for anyone to comprehend.  My skill lies in presenting that information so that you and my other readers can understand it.

Meanwhile, I will continue to present a narrative of being human that lets us live in freedom and in beauty.  That's what The Gnoll Credo does, among many other things, and that's what I'm doing here.  Diet and exercise are just the beginning.

More soon!

JS

pam:

Great observations!  One characteristic of packaged food, including "fast food", is that it doesn't look anything like real food.  A surprising number of kids don't understand that hamburgers are made of cows.  (The only exception I can think of is KFC, which is obviously chicken parts.)

Particularly in America, we have this idea that babies must be fed "baby food" and kids must be fed "kid food" (e.g. bologna on white bread, mac and cheese, applesauce, etc.)  I think this is what leads to the fastidiousness you report in your husband, and which most Americans have to some extent: their "comfort foods" are all mushy, homogenized things that don't look like food at all!  

In contrast, if you feed your child real food, they'll eat it...sure, they'll complain at first, but about two hours later they'll be hungry enough to eat anything.

Brad:

"i think this is natural human behavior"

Absolutely!  That's why so many of us are doing it.  We're social animals.

The picture is from Genoa Peak.  It's actually a miserable grind to get up there on a bike...the road is mostly too steep to be rideable.  We did it because, well, we'd never done it before, so why not?

Heather:

"My additions? Being treated like I'm still "on a diet" when I've been doing this for more than a year. And why am I "on a diet" when I've lost my weight and I am healthier?"

Exactly!  Um, perhaps because you like being healthier?  People are so used to the concept of "dieting as temporary misery" that they don't understand it's possible to make a real change for life -- not just to look good in a swimsuit on vacation.

That's what gnolls.org is about: saying "This is who I am now."

Ignacio:

That's both profound and touching, and I have nothing to add.  Welcome home.

I'm caught up!  Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful comments.

JS