I created Practical Paleolithic in the summer of 2010 during a time of great positive change in my life. My goal was to become a professional blogger and full time author – but only if I could say things that were worth saying.
My main goal is to change the conversation about health in the world.
The purpose of my work is to create new awareness, forge new connections and build new conversations about what it means to eat, move and live in and for health.
To say things that are worth saying…
My Life’s Purpose…
About a year ago, I was finally able to articulate a Life’s Purpose that felt truthful to me:
“I lead and inspire others to greater health and fitness both through my writing and my own life’s example.”
That’s it and that’s what Practical Paleolithic is all about…
What I Do and What I’ve Done…
I came to the Paleo Community after a number of years of “Paleo” or “Ancestral” eating. In 2004 I was extremely sick with Ulcerative Colitis and was nearly dead several times during that period. By 2008, I had proven to myself that the Medical Establishment was wrong and what I ate actually did have an effect on my digestive system’s health (Imagine that…). After years and years of experimentation with a number of different approaches, I arrived at Paleo mostly by trial and error. In 2008-2009, the Paleo community was large and visible enough – mostly thanks to CrossFit and Robb Wolf – that I was able to find my way full circle and embrace a Paleo lifestyle with a ton of Community support.
As I said in the post, “My Personal Journey to Paleo:“
“Everything changed for me in 2009 when I read Randy Roach’s book “Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors. Volume I.” In this outstanding history of bodybuilding and Physical Culture, Randy showed the diets and nutritional philosophies of the strongest and healthiest from the 1800’s and early to mid 1900’s. This is before modern medicine was what it is now, before marketing and medicating symptoms were what they are now. The early strongmen ate the things we eat now and consider “Paleo” in many instances.
For the first time, I was aware of athletes who were capable of moving weights I couldn’t have dreamed of in my best training days – and they were doing it long before anabolic steroids, “advanced” protein shakes and bars, pre-workout drinks and stimulants and all the equipment “advances” we’re told we need to be strong and be healthy. Many of these men drank raw cow or goat milk, ate foods straight from the farms they were grown or raised on and practiced a lot of the “strange” things I read about in many of the very fringe books I was reading about health and healing. Many of them fasted, they obsessed about food quality. Many avoided grains. Most avoided alcohol. This is the first time I really saw the connection between eating for health and eating for strength and performance.”
“I also saw the connection between lifestyle and health or the lack of it. Once I started making these connections, things started to really pick up momentum and change in my life. I quit jobs and ended relationships. My friend Chris Wright-Martell let me start training clients as a strength coach out of his school, Modern Self-Defense Center in Middletown, CT. He had a few kettlebells at the school and I started using them. I got hooked. A few months later I got certified as Kettlebell Teacher by Steve Cotter and Ken Blackburn from the IKFF. I started training harder and feeling better.
It wasn’t too long after this that I found my way to the CrossFit community when I taught a kettlebell seminar at CrossFit Relentless. I became good friends with the owner, Merle Mckenzie, and he encouraged me to get into CrossFit. I did. And that’s when I came full circle. CrossFitters were eating Paleo and doing it for performance. I started following Robb Wolf’s work.”
My Background and “Credentials…”
I put “credentials” in quotes because I don’t always put a lot of importance on them. There are some really, REALLY smart people who are definitely worth listening to who have very little in the way of conventional “credentials” and there are some complete doucebags who are entirely clueless and have every certification, degree and Old Economy endorsement you can list.
That said, I do think some of my experience is useful and helps me bring a more complete viewpoint to this blog. So, here are some highlights…
- B.S. in Chemistry Cum Laude from The University of Connecticut
- IKFF Certified Kettlebell Teacher – Level 1
- Apprentice Grappling Instructor under Harris International
- CrossFit Level 1 Trainer with an array of other CrossFit Certifications (Powerlifting, Gymnastics, Strongman, Rowing, Running and Endurance)
- Kettlebell and CrossFit Coach since 2008
- Former CrossFit Affiliate Owner
- Paleo and Ancestral eating since 2005
- Author of “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link“
