Meet the Hazda a tribe in Tanzania. They are one of the last societies of Hunter Gatherers
The Hazda tribe eats what they can forage and what they can hunt. A recent study looked at their exercise and found that they actually are sedentary MORE than U.S. Adults. the Hazda are sedentary 10 hours a day and American Adults 10 hours a day.
“They eat #meat, are sedentary and consume 15% of their diets in sugar so how do they have less heart disease?”
The study looked at what they did during active exercise, what they ate and what they did when they were "relaxing".
They found some surprising things
The Hazda diet was actually 65% carbohydrate. You may have come across paleo diets promoting very low carbs based on our ancestors eating only meat.
But we have now found that our ancestors ate whatever they could find
And they ate somethings that we don't think about when we talk paleo
They ate
Wild tubers (and these have been a human staple for 500,000 years). So that sweet potatoe....its part of evolution too
Berries and fruits. All primates eat these. One of the benefits is that when eating fruit they defecated and spread the seeds around which in turn grew more foods
Nuts and grains
Honey-the Hazda get 15% of their calories from the pure sugar of honey!
The recent study looked at what the Hazda were doing all day
It turns out
The men did 102 minutes per day of VIGOROUS exercise....like hunting while the women did 75 minutes per day
They were relaxed about 10 hours per day
But they made many 50+ transitions a day (going from sitting to standing or laying to standing)
So here is the catch
While they were in their inactive hours they were NOT sitting in a chair
They spent much of their day in a squat position instead of in a chair! They also kneeled a lot. That means that they kept their muscles active throughout the day. Even at a low level of muscle activity they still were engaging their muscles much more than sitting can
So what can we do?
Eat whole foods-ok so you already know that. So the next time you are thinking about buying something in a box or takeout consider what the Hazda would eat
Find other ways to do your work
When you are on the phone stand up and walk around. Use a headset
Get a stand up desk
Set a timer and get up from your desk every hour. If you are at home you might do a plank or a few squats. If you are in the office you may need to be less obvious so go for a walk around the building
When watching TV stretch on the floor or sit on an exercise ball. You can engage your core while you rest your mind
Walk up and down the stairs at least once an hour
References:
Raichlen DA, Pontzer H, Zderic TW, Harris JA, Mabulla AZP, Hamilton MT, et al. Sitting, squatting, and the evolutionary biology of human inactivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2020 Mar 31;117(13):7115–21.
Article New Findings From Modern Hunter-Gatherers, Precision Nutrition, Precision Nutrition Academy
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