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A few hours ago we came home from the Idaho Sportsman Show and it reminded me of my trip to Paleo f(x) last year. Each event didn’t feel complete to me; something is missing. Walking around Paleo f(x), a conference dedicated to ancestral health and eating, I didn’t see anything geared towards helping people hunt or gather their own food. I’m not saying there wasn’t anything there; I didn’t take an inventory of the booths, but if there was it wasn’t obvious. Over the course of a weekend I think I saw 1 guy wearing camouflage pants. Similarly, walking around the sportsman show I saw all kinds of camouflage and equipment for someone to procure wild game, the best meat there is. However, I didn’t see any booths dedicated to ancestral health, wild game recipes, or getting fit to hunt. It’s weird to me that there is such a disconnect between these two groups.
The Paleo World
On one hand there are people who recognize the importance of quality food but for most of them, I don’t think, their focus is getting it themselves beyond the local farmers market or specialty store. The booths at Paleo f(x) are hosted by some of my favorite companies. It’s nice to have grass fed jerky, nuts without polyunsaturated oils, Bulletproof coffee, and a huge building full of some of the cleanest products you can imagine. As Alex Charfen said, “This is my place in the world where I feel at home.” That is 100% true for me. It’s this amazing weekend where I can get together with strangers and instantly connect over topics like leaky gut, FODMAPs, SIBO, and AIP. We see food, sleep, and lifestyle as preventative medicine.
The Hunting World
Then I scroll through Pinterest looking for Paleo Wild Game Recipes and they aren’t that easy to find. As a health coach I don’t understand the point of hunting wild game and then bringing it home to coat it with high fructose corn syrup barbecue sauce. I look at recipes for venison jerky and some have a load of sugar and nitrates added. Others use polyunsaturated oils, grains, and sketchy seasonings which once again negates the quality of the meat they worked so hard to obtain. I’ve been hunting; it’s work. For the animal rights activists it isn’t like a person walks into the woods and shoots a deer in the first 15 minutes on day 1. It takes time, patience, skill, a good shot, and then a lot of heavy lifting.
The Disconnect
I’m not trying to sound like I’m giving anyone any grief because I belong to both groups; it’s just something that stands out to me. I’m a Primal Health Coach who understands all of the intricacies of ancestral health. Knowing what I know about our food system, hunting your own meat is the best quality you can get; this is why I picked up a bow at age 41. For me a big part of it is walking my talk. It’s also a reassuring thought that if SHTF I can go out and get my own dinner. Am I the only one who sees the disconnect? Let’s start a discussion. Write your thoughts below.
Originally posted on March 3, 2018 @ 16:03
