As I tweeted to Andrew Badenoch, “beautiful find.” Glad my Daily Paper.li account picked it up. For once, a rather positive take on Paleo, and from NPR no less. Here’s some pics (there’s more pics in the article) and excerpts.
Paleo Diet Echoes Physical Culture Movement Of Yesteryear
Eugen Sandow, photographed circa 1885, was a German-Russian bodybuilder credited with founding the physical culture movement in Europe. He opened several Institutes for Physical Culture to teach healthy eating and physical fitness throughout Europe.
The paleo diet is sometimes ridiculed as a fad that relies on an overly rosy view of our primitive past.
But it turns out that popular health movements that advocate going back to a more natural way of living are nothing new.
Consider this quote: “It is reasonably certain that man was originally made to live and exercise in the open air, bathe in rivers, and expose his body to the healthful action of the sun.”
And this one:
“Civilized man is manufacturing and eating many substances that slowly but surely lead to degeneration, disease and premature death.”
These nuggets could easily come from a paleo lifestyle blog, the kind that argues our modern diet and way of life are making us sick.
An ad for Bernarr Macfadden’s physical culture course appeared in one of his periodicals, Fair Play, in 1902.
As Hamilton Stapell, a historian at the State University of New York, New Paltz, found when he went digging into the archives of physical culture, there are striking resemblances to the paleo movement today. And, he argues, this shows that people seem to romanticize a healthier past in the midst of great societal upheaval: the Industrial Revolution, in the case of physical culture; and the digital revolution, in the case of paleo.
“The problem, according to physical culture and paleo, is modern civilization,” Stapell tells Shots. “With so much change, people reject overconsumption of food, alcohol and mainstream medicine, and look for ways to get back to nature. Both movements have a clear sense of going back to the past to fix the present, and a willingness to throw out what’s normal and acceptable to try an alternative.”
In another editorial cartoon from the September 1905 issue of Physical Culture, the ideal specimens of humanity judge the weak.
The paleo movement, also known in scholarly circles as the “ancestral lifestyle,” looks at modern health from an evolutionary perspective, and finds inspiration for what to eat and how to exercise from the past — the distant, preagricultural past, in some cases. Followers adhere to a simple diet of meat, fruit and vegetables, and exercise in ways that mimic the movements of our ancestors — like lifting heavy objects.
A health food ad in The Naturopath from 1910. According to Hamilton Stapell, a historian at the State University of New York, New Paltz, the physical culture movement advocated a scientific approach to nutrition, with an emphasis on eliminating processed foods.
Rewind to the 1880s in England when Eugen Sandow, a Russian-German, was pioneering the sport of bodybuilding. Over the years, Sandow fine-tuned his ideas about “natural” dietary habits and weight training, sowing the seeds of the physical culture movement. Rather than the preagricultural era, he drew inspiration from the Greeks and their ideas of the perfect physical form — he even modeled his own body after Greek sculpture. He would eventually open the first of many Institutes of Physical Culture to teach diet and exercise to the masses.
As Stapell notes, weightlifting was at first seen as a peculiar activity 100 years ago in the same way that CrossFit and Vibram FiveFinger shoes — staples of the paleo community — seemed extreme when they first appeared a few years ago.
An editorial cartoon from the April 1905 edition of Physical Culture magazine denounced the trappings of modern civilization, including smoking, alcohol, overconsumption of food, patent medicines and ill-fitting clothing.
Just as the paleo community has evolved largely through the Internet, with hundreds of paleo bloggers offering dietary and exercise advice to newbies, the physical culture movement spread through magazines and books. Both media rely heavily on success stories — photos and stories from people who try the alternative diet and exercise, and lose weight and feel better. […]
The diet recommended by physical culturists emphasized natural and pure foods, and took a scientific approach to nutrition. White sugar and processed foods were no-nos, while raw milk and cod liver oil were encouraged. But even then there was a lot of disagreement about the ideal diet.
“And we’re still having the same debates 100 years later — vegetarian vs. meat-eating, raw vs. cooked, endurance exercise vs. pumping iron,” Stapell says.
Though I don’t recall it from the schedule and missed it, Stapell presented at the Ancestral Health Symposium last year (AHS12). Also, Skyler Tanner and Keith Norris spoke of the Physical Culture movement in their presentation at AHS11.
I guess there truly is nothing new under the sun.
Update: You can follow Hamilton Stapell on Twitter.
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It’s also important to note that the roots of physical culture precede the dates note in the article, at least in Europe. The fruits of this “Battle of the Systems” are still present in our culture: Swedish massage, the scouting movement, and of course the Natural Method.
For more reading:
books.google.com/books?id=k-OpgUChK6QC&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=Turnen+1830s+gymnastics&…
books.google.com/books?id=UcosAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=Turnen+1830s+gymnastics�…
This is just an attempt at the Paleo movement to paint itself into an even broader term. The early strongmen ate tons of non paleo foods, bread, beer, spirits, milk, cheese, pudding, desserts, sugared tea, etc. They also relied on lifting near maximal weights almost daily to gain their physiques. There is nothing paleo about it. Sure almost all would agree that fresh air, good sleep and relatively clean living is a must for peak physical health but that is just common sense.
Yea, Zach, I know, everyone, even going back 100 years has to have gotten every detail right, or they are subject to people who have never built anything anyone can tell.
Hey, ditch the stupid propensity to destroy, demolish and tear down, first. Build first, then tear down and rebuild what you built.
Otherwise you risk being dismissed by all smart people as just another in the conglomerate of pussy wankers,
What the fuck do i care what people think? Im busy actually being a strongman, not pretending and putting labels on things to make myself feel better. Fuck the paleo movement up their weak, flabby asses.
Strongmen were part of the physical culture movement but certainly not the emphasis. Gymnastics was a more consistent form of training amongst these systems, as I linked to earlier.
Pedestrianism (the predecessor to race walking) was certainly more popular than any “strongmen” type activities of the day, due to its accessibility and ease of entry.
I’m not suggesting that heavy lifting wasn’t part of it; everybody is going to specialize based on their strengths. However, we have great historical accounts, books from the era, as well as pamphlets to suggest that Eugene Sandows were as rare, relative to the majority of the population engaging in physical cultures, as they are today.
Also of interest: it seems those who were the most “nutty” of these movements (or extensions of the movement) practice what they preach and seem to benefit. Macfadden died of a UTI at 87, and Lalanne dies at 96 of pneumonia. Some genetic luck? Surely, but they did things that seemed to support what the genes were capable of giving (doing?).
Zack, and yet your actions betray your words.
Let it go, then. Do yourself a favor. Stop letting what I happen to blog about make you into such a pussy.
Nevermind, Skyler. Zach was evidently born yesterday, has nothing to learn, and feels a need to trash others for “imperfection” that I don’t care to understand.
Perhaps some psych meds would help,
UTI? Urinary tract infection?
He must not have read one of my fav , early John Irving novels (Garp, Ciner House Rules, Hotel New Hampshire): The Water Method Man.
Yes Richard, urinary tract infection. Guess he wasn’t aware of cranberry juice in this regard.
And Zach. Kindly point us to all _your_ pioneering work and insights.
I have half a thimble for that, to try and make half full, because that’s the kinda guy I am, always helpful.
This post is about very good people coming up with very good pieces to a generally good puzzle.
Thanks for exposing how stupid you are, strongman.
détruire gets called out every time around here.
Now go away forever.
[plonk]
John Irving’s novel was about a wresting coach (all of his novels have wrestling and a few other elements he personally loves) who had perpetual urethritis, and drank lots of water to keep things flushed out.
I do note that the culture of BB includes being often severely dehydrated because that’s how one looks the most ripped.
awesome find, that is all.
Irving writes great stories and characters. The World According to Garp is one of my favorites.
What happened to you and Ray Cronsie? Is there still any love there? Blog about it?
Eugen Sandow died of a stroke at 58, for whatever that might be worth.
Does anyone know if the Methode Naturelle/Georges Hebert is connected with the Physical Culture movement?
Nice post. I bet someone would publish something similar 100 years later about paleo, and there would still be no agreement whatsoever.
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Ray and I seem to have come to an impasse over paleoman the hunter vs paleoman the gatherer. I think it defies all logic he he was primarily a gather except for those in tropical regions (and still, many of them do a lot of fishing). I have a blog about that in draft, but won’t be calling out Ray specifically.
I’m reading a biography on Bernarr Macfadden (publisher of Physical Culture magazine for several decades) called “Mr. America: How Muscular Millionare Bernarr MacFadden Changed The Nation Through Sex, Salad, And The Ultimate Starvation Diet.” Great title, by the way. And when you look at what he did and recommended, there is a lot that is similar with paleo. Bernarr hated wearing shoes. He called white bread “The Staff of Death.” He was a huge proponent of fasting, and of eating only two meals a day. He thought walking was the best exercise, and liked to walk everywhere. He was against alcohol and tobacco, and loved lifting heavy things. All those things sound pretty paleo to me.