Most people follow the Paleo diet today because of the belief that hunter-gatherers who lived during the Upper Paleolithic era, approximately 10,000 to 50,000 years ago, were healthy due to a diet based on wild animal meat, being principally carnivores with limited access to plant foods. However, growing anthropological, archeological, and nutritional evidence from ancestral feces and dental studies paints a different picture. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors actually consumed a high amount of fiber, indicating that they ate a wide variety of plants. While meat was certainly a valued food, it was not always available. Foraging for wild plants, fruits, tubers, seeds, and nuts likely constituted the bulk of their caloric intake over time. These plant foods were often rich in fiber, phytonutrients, and complex carbohydrates —elements now associated with improved gut health, immune regulation, and longevity. The average fiber intake of today’s hunter-gatherer tribes, such as the Hadza in Tanzania, is estimated to be over 100 grams per day, compared to less than 20 grams in the modern Western diet.
Hunter-gatherers were extremely resilient due to the hardships they faced, and it is that resilience that we have inherited from them that we must utilize to achieve wellness in our present sedentary age of extreme comfort. Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with the often extreme and stressful adversity that early humans faced. We can substitute brief, stressful activities with those that will help make us more resilient, healthy, and stronger as we age. It can also help us confront incidents of excessive stress when they occur, such as chronic diseases, financial problems, loss of a loved one, relationship problems, and job loss. To activate and maintain our inherited resilience, we can intentionally undertake challenging tasks by deliberately engaging in mild, controlled challenges that stimulate our adaptation and repair mechanisms. These include:
- Intermittent fasting: Mimics ancient food scarcity cycles by cycling our energy source between carbohydrates and fat. It also enhances metabolic flexibility, reduces inflammation, and promotes cellular repair and cleanup.
- Breath holds (hypoxic training): Brief periods of oxygen deprivation can enhance cardiovascular performance and stress tolerance while also increasing oxygen distribution throughout the body, including the brain.
- Cold or heat exposure: Saunas, cold plunges, cold showers, or temperature shifts can improve mood and boost mitochondrial efficiency and immune function.
- Mental problem-solving: Cognitive challenges and novelty stimulate our brains, which can enhance mental function, improve memory, and delay cognitive decline.
- Voluntary hardship or challenge: Doing hard things on purpose—such as physical training, competitive sports, meaningful but challenging projects, or even emotionally uncomfortable conversations—builds emotional and psychological resilience.
- Cold or heat exposure: Sauna, cold plunges, or temperature shifts can boost mitochondrial efficiency and immune function.
- Mental problem-solving: Cognitive challenges and novelty stimulate neuroplasticity, which can delay and even prevent cognitive decline.
FINAL THOUGHT
Maybe the primary evolutionary gift from the Hunter-Gatherers lies not in the foods they ate but in the resilience required to survive daily in harsh, unpredictable situations such as:
- Hunger and feast cycles
- Physical exertion
- Cognitive demands
- Environmental extremes
Our ancestors didn’t just survive—they thrived under conditions that were far more difficult than ours. What we inherit from them is not just biology but a guide for how to live well under stress. By incorporating plant-rich, fiber-filled diets and engaging in brief, intentional challenges, we can unlock the same strength, adaptability, and vitality that helped our ancestors endure.
In a world engineered for comfort, we should consciously accept and enjoy challenges because resilience is not just a trait of the past — it’s a template for wellness in the future.
