Are Our Bodies Designed to Thrive in Today's World?
- Dr. John Ross
- May 26
- 4 min read
I searched “best diet for my health” and got over one billion results in less than a second. Then I searched “best physical activity for my health” and got almost two billion results. That made me wonder—if best means the most excellent, effective or desirable, how can there be billions of different ‘best’ answers? How are we supposed to know what’s good for us?
We’ve all seen lots of diets, each one claiming to be “healthy.” There are also many kinds of exercise. It’s confusing, especially since we’re all humans, but each of us is also unique. Ideally, like Mentor Clinic, a Health Home has both an on-staff Dietitian and a Clinical Exercise Physiologist who help guide patients to the best choices for their bodies and lifestyles.
Let’s look at a few basic ideas.
Human Bodies Are Built to Move Regularly and Eat Whole Foods
Humans have evolved over millions of years. Early humans were always moving—walking to find food and water, running from danger, and adjusting to changing seasons. Their diet was high in fibre and changed often depending on what was available. It included different amounts of carbs, fats, proteins, and essential vitamins. Because their way of life stayed the same for such a long time, their bodies adapted and were perfected to that lifestyle. Humans were, and still are, designed to survive in challenging conditions – we need occasional hunger, changes in temperature, and constant movement. Those challenges activate all our systems to stay sharp and efficient.
About 9,000 years ago, farming began. That was a change, slow at first. People didn’t have to move around as much to find food. Later, industrial farming made food even more available—but also more processed, losing essential nutrients. These changes happened very quickly, especially over the last 200 years, compared to the millions of years of hunting and gathering. Our bodies haven’t had any time, in evolutionary terms, to adapt. Our bodies are, in essence, in shock.
Our Complex Bodies Need to Work Hard All the Time – Adversity is good!
Look at the incredible complexity of the muscular system. Muscles do a lot more than help us move. They protect our organs, support our joints and spine, and help keep bones strong. They also play a key role in metabolism by storing and managing blood sugar, which can prevent type 2 diabetes. All this happens with very little effort from us. Our muscles and nerves work together without us even thinking about it. The body is like, but so much more than, an amazing, automated machine.
But when we don’t move enough, our bodies suffer. Muscles follow the rule: "use it or lose it." Protein makes up about 15% of the body, and most of that is in muscles. Unlike fat or sugar, protein isn’t stored. If we don’t use it, the protein is broken down and excreted, so muscles weaken and shrink.
Modern Life Isn’t Always Healthy for Our Bodies
Technology has made life easier, but it’s also made us more sedentary. Many of us drive to work or school, then sit for long hours at desks and computers. Our food is often highly processed**, containing sugar, chemicals, and unhealthy fats. These changes may be convenient (and yummy), but they don’t support the way our bodies were built to function. We end up eating more of the low nutrient, high carbohydrate (sugar) and salty foods to get the essential nutrients that are lost during processing. Our bodies recognize that things are wrong by getting more inflamed. Inflammation is a distress state.
What Can We Do?
Human Metabolism Inter-Related Chemical Ecosystem Map
The overwhelming image above is a summary of interacting metabolic processes occurring in our bodies, perfected in hunter-gatherer times. It is, as you can see, an incredibly complex, inter-related and highly sensitive system. If you eat highly processed foods, or more food than you actually need, or stop moving regularly, the balance is quickly upset. But while science continues to explore all this, there are some clear steps we can take now.
Think of your body as being designed for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. It needs:
· Whole foods that are natural, not highly processed
· A variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats
· Foods with limited added sugars, colours, flavours, and preservatives
· Regular movement like walking, stretching, squatting, and lifting
· And enough sleep
Your body is incredible. It is basically designed and perfected to live 10,000+ years ago – it ‘likes’ (needs) adversity and thrives when there is a lot of movement and just enough whole food. Part of our goal at Mentor Clinic is to help you understand how your body works, so that you can manage it, and ideally live the highest quality life you want. This article, and our other blog posts provide information to assist you in that understanding.
** Some examples of highly or ultra-processed foods (HPF or UPF):
Chips, hot dogs, sausages, processed meats, store baked goods, most granola bars, sweetened beverages, white bread, most box cereals, frozen pizza, microwave dinners, and sadly many others. If you don’t know what all the ingredients are, it is likely UPF.
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