Somewhere inside you is a primitive man making primitive decisions about food and exercise. Let’s call this man Grok. Grok lived in an age where food is scarce and life is harsh. Grok didn’t have access to modern medicine, fast food, ice cream or reality TV. Grok only knew three things:
- Eat
- Sleep
- Procreate
Not necessarily in that order.
Grok’s world trained him to eat as much rich food as possible and expend as little energy as was required to fulfill his eating and procreation needs. Grok would binge on rich food when he found it because he knew food was scarce. Grok also minimized his physical activity, just as modern apes do, to the minimum required by the gathering of food, social interaction and running away from predators. In other words, Grok wasn’t that different from a chimp.
Grok was very well adapted for his world of scarce resources, but he wasn’t so well suited for our world of abundant foods and office jobs. If you left him in McDonald’s, Grok would eat as many big macs as he can and then go to sleep. Going to the gym would seem crazy to him, as would a shower…
Grok doesn’t sound like someone you’d want to live with, does he? And yet, inside your head is a little Grok who you’re letting make many of your health decisions. Sound crazy? We’ll see in our next series:
Chaining Grok: Restrain Your Inner Caveman
