| s-501
| Each of us, however, sees drastic changes in our lifestyle and environment over a matter of a few years. |
| s-502
| Let’s compare the life for which this body and brain has evolved with the life we live, from my perspective as a scientist and a physician. |
| s-503
| What we eat |
| s-504
| We evolved in a context of scarcity, and had to walk or run for miles and scavenge to find food; we had to work for it. |
| s-505
| When we ate, we did not know when the next time would be. |
| s-506
| When we had it, we were better off eating the high-calorie food that increased our chance of survival when hungry (greasy food feels appealing). |
| s-507
| Food was not quick to digest, stomachs also had to work hard for it: meat, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. |
| s-508
| None of these contained “easy” sugary calories. |
| s-509
| The body that was prone to starvation, evolved to eat it all when available, and store it, and be stingy in its use. |
| s-510
| But now, food is just a few feet away, and we can easily consume thousands of calories in one serving. |
| s-511
| Fatty food, which required days and miles of hunting and scavenging to acquire, is now right there in the fridge or at the McDonald's . |
| s-512
| It is like giving full fridge privileges to your Labrador. |
| s-513
| Easy calories like soda and candies provide a very large amount of energy in a very short amount of time and confuse the whole system. |
| s-514
| We end up fat and fatigued. |
| s-515
| How we move |
| s-516
| Our ancestors had to be active to survive in the wild. |
| s-517
| They had to walk miles a day, and were frequently involved in high intensity physical activity: moving heavy objects, climbing, fighting, chasing a prey or fleeing predators. |
| s-518
| This body did not evolve to sit at a desk eight hours a day, and then lie on a couch for the rest of the day munching on high calorie food, looking at a small or large screen. |
| s-519
| A contemporary American may only walk a few dozen steps to the car, drive to work, ride the elevator to the office, walk a few dozen steps back to the car, get drive-thru food, then be back on the couch. |
| s-520
| Suboptimal muscle use leads to weaker joint support, and weird postures cause pain. |
| s-521
| Pain leads to reduced activity, more obesity and weaker muscles; then comes opioid epidemic, overuse of pain medications, and back surgeries for all! [...] |
| s-522
| What can we do to feel better? |
| s-523
| When we adopt a pet, we learn about their normal environment, activity level and nutrition. |
| s-524
| Isn’t it interesting that we do not apply that to the animal we live in? |
| s-525
| To feel normal, we should live normal, and a human’s normal life is that for which she or he has evolved. |
| s-526
| So I believe the first step is to understand ourselves, and why we do what we do, and desire what we desire. |
| s-527
| When we crave fatty food, or cannot stop eating, that is because the human animal had to do so to survive. |
| s-528
| Such understanding brings empathy, reduces judgment and helps us get creative. |
| s-529
| Keep away the high-calorie sugary food. |
| s-530
| I tell my patients: do not buy it, or if you do, buy in small amounts. |
| s-531
| Try to eat what you were evolved to eat. |
| s-532
| Know the body is lazy, because it wants to save precious energy. |
| s-533
| The drag of going to the gym may be because of that. |
| s-534
| Also know that this body would be much happier when it is regularly, and highly active. |
| s-535
| We know that exercise is not only helpful for cardiovascular and bodily health, but also reduces anxiety. |
| s-536
| I ask all my patients to commit to some level of exercise, as part of their treatment plan. |
| s-537
| And it does not have to be treadmill or gym. |
| s-538
| Whatever rocks your boat: yoga, boxing, walking, running up the stairs at work, doing 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups and 20 squats a day, or dancing to a TV ad; whatever makes your heart pound faster. |
| s-539
| Other bonuses come with exercise: getting sun exposure or to know your neighbor when walking the dog, making new friends (or a date) at the gym, feeling better about yourself, and being more attractive to yourself and others. |
| s-540
| All these factors lift your mood. |
| s-541
| Do not feel disappointed if you did not lose weight, it’s not the only goal. |
| s-542
| Other benefits are abundant and even more important: increased strength and energy, cardiovascular and joint health, improved mood, etc. |
| s-543
| When it comes to sleep, changing behavior works. |
| s-544
| Here are some tips for better sleep: avoid late caffeine, bright screens (including your phone – Facebook can wait), and use your bed only for sleep and sex. |
| s-545
| Finally, you may need a regular dose of healthy and safe exposure to real-life excitement, and a little bit of fear. |
| s-546
| Bottom line: If we treated our body the way responsible dog owners treated their dog, we would live a much happier life. |
| s-547
| The Beast |
| s-548
| I was thirteen. |
| s-549
| It was spring, the barren time in March when you can not be sure if it is really warmer, but you are so desperate for change that you tell yourself the mud at the edge of the sidewalk is different from winter mud and you are sure that the smell of wet soil has suddenly a bit of the scent of summer rains, of grass and drowned earthworms. |
| s-550
| And it has, because it is spring and inside the ground something is stirring. |
| s-551
| I was wearing a yellow linen dress which my mother had picked out and which I therefore disliked although I knew it flattered me. |
| s-552
| My shoes were white and I was concentrating on keeping them out of the mud. |
| s-553
| My father and I were going to mass — my mother did not go; she was Protestant. |
| s-554
| My father put his hand on top of my hair, his palm on my head, and I could feel the bone of my skull and my skin and his hot palm, so dry and strong. |
| s-555
| When I was a little girl, he did that often, and called me Muscles. |
| s-556
| He had not called me Muscles or put his hand on my head for a long time. |
| s-557
| I could not help arching my back a little, I wanted to push against his hand like a cat but the instinct that comes with being thirteen, the half-understood caution that makes a girl timid, or wild, the shyness told me to just walk. |
| s-558
| I wanted to feel the rough edge of the pocket of his coat against my cheek, but I was too tall. |
| s-559
| I wanted to be seven again, and safe. |
| s-560
| But I still wanted to push against his hand and put my hand in his pocket and steal the leather palmed glove, that secret animal. |
| s-561
| Instead I went into the church, took a Bulletin, dipped my finger in Holy Water and genuflected. |
| s-562
| The inside of the church smelled like damp wood and furniture polish, not alive at all. |
| s-563
| My father took off his coat and draped it over the edge of the pew and when I came back from communion I stole his glove. |
| s-564
| The paper taste of the wafer was still in my mouth and I took a deep breath of the leather. |
| s-565
| It smelled like March. |
| s-566
| We walked back through the school because it was drizzling, my father tall in his navy suit and my shoes going click on the linoleum. |
| s-567
| There were two classes of each grade, starting at the sixth and going down to the first. |
| s-568
| The hall ended in a T and we went left through the gym, walked underneath the bleachers and stood next to the side door, waiting for the rain to stop. |
| s-569
| It was dark under the bleachers. |
| s-570
| My father was a young man, thirty-five, younger because he liked to be outside, to play softball on Saturday and to take my mother and me camping on vacation. |
| s-571
| He stood rocked back on his heels with his coat thrown over his shoulders and his hands in his pockets. |
| s-572
| I thought of bacon and eggs, toast with peach jam out of the jar. |
| s-573
| I was so hungry. |
| s-574
| The space under the bleachers was secret and dark. |
| s-575
| There were things in the shadows; a metal pail, a mop, rags. |
| s-576
| Next to the door was a tall wrought-iron candle holder — the kind that stood at either end of the altar. |
| s-577
| There was no holder and the end was jagged. |
| s-578
| On the floor was a wrapper from a French Chew. |
| s-579
| They were sold at eighth-grade basketball games on Friday nights. |
| s-580
| The light from the door made the shadows under the bleachers darker, the long space stretched far away. |
| s-581
| I heard the rain and the faint rustle of paper and smelled damp concrete. |
| s-582
| I did not go near my father but kept my hand in my pocket, feeling the soft leather glove. |
| s-583
| There was a rustling on the concrete and the drizzle of soft rain. |
| s-584
| I wondered if anyone ever went back under the bleachers, if there were crickets or mice there. |
| s-585
| The rustling might have been mice. |
| s-586
| I wished the rain would stop. |
| s-587
| I wanted to go home. |
| s-588
| I made noises with my heels but they were too loud so I stopped. |
| s-589
| Something else clicked and I tried to see what it was but couldn’t see anything. |
| s-590
| It wasn’t as loud as my heels. |
| s-591
| My father cleared his throat, looking out the door. |
| s-592
| I imagined a man down there in the dark, an escaped convict or a madman. |
| s-593
| It had nearly stopped raining. |
| s-594
| In fifteen minutes we would be home and my mother would fry eggs. |
| s-595
| I heard a noise like paper. |
| s-596
| My father heard it, too, but he pretended not to, at least he didn’t turn his head. |
| s-597
| And there was a heavier sound, a rasp, like a box pulled over concrete. |
| s-598
| I looked at my father but he didn’t turn his head. |
| s-599
| I wished he would turn his head. |
| s-600
| There was a click again and the rustle, and I could not think of what it could be. |