Chapter 2: Clues to Optimal Gene Expression

Question 1

What is the primary human fuel source?

Answer 1

Through selection pressure, we evolved to use fat as our primary fuel source—both ingested fat from animal products and stored body fat when meals were inconsistent, such as in the wintertime or during times of famine.

Question 2

True or False
As long as we obtain our foods from the tremendously broad categories of meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, we can be healthy and obtain maximum pleasure from our meals.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Law #2: Avoid Poisonous Things

Answer 3

71 percent of the calories in the Standard American Diet come from foods that were entirely absent prior to civilization: sugary foods and beverages, refined grains (wheat, corn, rice, pasta, cooking grains, and breakfast cereals), and industrial/chemically altered vegetable oils.

Question 4

True or False

Chemically altered fats can lead to systemic inflammation, heart disease and death.

Answer 4

True
Harvard epidemiologists estimate that chemically-altered fats are responsible for between 72,000 and 228,000 cases of heart disease and 50,000 deaths each year

Question 5

True or False

Engaging in regular, structured workouts can enable you to avoid getting “active couch potato syndrome.”

Answer 5

False
Even a devotion to regular, structured workouts is insufficient to protect against a general pattern of prolonged sedentary periods and lifestyle circumstances, such as commuting, working a desk job, and indulging in digital entertainment.

Question 6

What is “Chronic Cardio?”

Answer 6

Cardio workouts that occur too frequently at a pace that is slightly too difficult and for too long in duration, thus leading to fatigue and burnout.

Question 7

Law #4: Lift Heavy Things

Answer 7

Brief, intense exercise sessions involving functional, full-body movements support muscle development and delay aging. You can get really fit doing only two 10- to 30-minute strength training sessions per week in conjunction with frequent movement and occasional all-out sprints.

Question 8

What are the 4 Primal Essential Movements?

Answer 8

1. Push-ups
2. Pull-ups
3. Planks
4. Squats

Question 9

True or False
The longer your strength training sessions are, the faster progress you will make towards your strength and fitness goals.

Answer 9

False
Spending an hour in the gym several days a week doing assorted isolation exercises to build huge guns or calves can stimulate the prolonged release of stress hormones that have a catabolic (breakdown) effect on your body.

Question 10

True or False
The longer and more frequent your strength training sessions are, the faster progress you will make towards your strength and fitness goals.

Answer 10

False
Spending an hour in the gym several days a week doing assorted isolation exercises to build huge guns or calves can stimulate the prolonged release of stress hormones that have a catabolic (breakdown) effect on your body.

Two 10- to 30-minute strength training sessions per week in conjunction with frequent movement and occasional all-out sprints are sufficient to get really fit.

Question 11

Law #5:

Sprint Once in a While

Answer 11

Engaging in an all-out sprint (or a no impact all-out effort, such as on a stationary bike or other cardio machine), the fight-or-flight response is activated and a cascade of adaptive hormones enters the bloodstream.

Question 12

True or False

Sprint workouts should be brief and intense.

Answer 12

True
A workout lasting only a few minutes triggers your genes to work for hours or even days building muscle, improving energy production inside your cells, accelerating fat metabolism, and generally delaying the aging process.

Question 13

Law #6:

Get Plenty of Sleep

Answer 13

Minimizing artificial light and digital stimulation after dark, and instead engaging in calm, mellow evenings filled with reading, socializing and evening strolls, you recalibrate your hormones to better align with your circadian rhythm.

Question 14

True or False
The hormones Melatonin and Cortisol are secreted into the blood stream when it gets dark to enable you to transition to sleep.

Answer 14

False
Melatonin is secreted when it gets dark, and Serotonin and Cortisol are secreted in response to light in the morning to prepare you for the day.

Question 15

What is Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO)?

Answer 15

The process whereby the genes trigger the release of the hormone melatonin into the bloodstream, prompting the familiar sleepiness that allows you to transition into bedtime and an optimal cycling through all phases of sleep.

Question 16

True or False

Play has not been proven scientifically to enhance our health and well-being.

Answer 16

False
Play has been scientifically proven to increase work productivity, improve our ability to manage stress, and enhance self-esteem, social competency, and creativity.

Question 17

True or False
Experts believe that our ancestors engaged in far less play than we do now due to the dangers of selection pressures and the constant time demands of foraging and gathering food.

Answer 17

False
Studies of the !Kung bushmen, modern day hunter-gatherers in Africa, reveal that around six hours per day are spent engaging in unstructured play and social bonding. Experts believe that play served important purposes for our ancestors, such as helping to unwind from the stress of everyday primal life, improving social bonding in clans, and gaining valuable rehearsal of skills that were applicable to actual life-or-death challenges, but under risk-free and pressure-free circumstances.

Question 18

True or False

Sun is by far the preferred method for obtaining healthy levels of Vitamin D.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

Is Vitamin D obtained from the sun stored longer in the body than that obtained from supplements?

Answer 19

Yes.

Question 20

True or False

Regular suntanning is a great way to overdose on Vitamin D.

Answer 20

False

Overdosing from Vitamin D obtained via the sun is virtually impossible.

Question 21

What are some of the problems associated with Vitamin D deficiency?

Answer 21

Vitamin D helps regulate growth in virtually every cell of your body, increase cancer risk by compromising the function of the P53 “spellchecker” gene that is responsible for regulating healthy cell division, can also cause cardiovascular illness, cognitive impairment, poor bone health, sex hormone deficiencies, and renal difficulties.

Question 22

True or False
Even small parts of the body, such as the face, neck and hands, can generate sufficient amounts of Vitamin D to meet the minimum daily requirements.

Answer 22

False
The goal is to expose large surface areas of your skin to moderate amounts of direct sunlight during the appropriate times of day and year to achieve optimal vitamin D production.

Question 23

True or False
A primal-aligned eater consuming oily, coldwater fish, leafy greens and shitake mushrooms can get as much Vitamin D as a 30-minute sunbathing session on a summer day.

Answer 23

False
A 30-minute sunbathing session on a summer day can produce around 10,000 International Units (I.U.) of vitamin D, while a primal-aligned eater consuming vitamin D-rich foods might only get 1,000 I.U. on a good day.

Question 24

Law #9:

Avoid Stupid Mistakes

Answer 24

Our ancestors were constantly aware of potential dangers in their immediate environment, while we have been anesthetized to modern environmental dangers by distraction, overstimulation, and a false sense of security.

Question 25

True or False

Multitasking is a great way to remain hypervigilant and focused.

Answer 25

False

Multitasking nearly always results in a failed effort to increase productivity.

Question 26

Law #10:

Use Your Brain

Answer 26

Engage in creative and stimulating activities to nurture your mental health and overall well-being

Question 27

According to Robert Heinlein, should humans strive to specialize?

Answer 27

No. Heinlein believed that “Specialization is for insects.”

Question 28

True or False

Survival of the fittest is the most apt term to describe how humans evolved over the course of 2.5 million years.

Answer 28

False
Darwinian evolution suggests that species adapt to environmental selection pressures by the process of random mutation and natural selection. The genetically fortunate then pass their unique traits onto offspring, and eventually the longer beaks or lighter skin proliferate in the gene pool over ensuing generations.

Question 29

True or False
The random mutation of lighter skin pigment provided a competitive advantage over dark skin in obtaining Vitamin D from the sun at higher latitudes.

Answer 29

True

Question 30

What were the two main selection pressures humans have faced throughout our history?

Answer 30

Starvation and predator danger.

Question 31

True or False
We have not evolved as a species since primal times because civilization has eliminated our most important selection pressures.

Answer 31

True

Question 32

True or False

Hominids are the last surviving human sub-species

Answer 32

False
Homo floresiensis is believed to be the last surviving subspecies, having become extinct around 13,000 years ago in the area that is now Indonesia. Hominids are our pre-human ancestors who split from apes seven million years ago.

Question 33

When did Homo Sapiens first appear?

Answer 33

The earliest evidence of our Homo sapiens mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome ancestors came out of from East Africa around 160,000 years ago.

Question 34

What is meant by the term “gene-culture evolution?”

Answer 34

Our accelerated evolutionary timeline occurred because the increase in brain size that characterized the progression to Homo sapiens delivered huge rewards to successive generations, better tools, more mastery over the environment, and more flexibility to adapt to climate changes.

Question 35

What is “variability selection?”

Answer 35

The process of adapting to climate change skillfully

Question 36

Where is the Levant?

Answer 36

The eastern Mediterranean, the location of present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel.

Question 37

Describe what is meant by “environmental gates.”

Answer 37

Climate swings such as glacial movement that enabled migration to thrive for limited time windows. Over the centuries, gates opened and closed all over the globe, and humans followed accordingly.

Question 38

True or False

Weather gates throughout history have served to enable humans to expand into new areas and thrive.

Answer 38

False
As weather patterns change, weather gates can trap humans in areas with unfavorable climates and stifle their progress with not only migration but also survival.

Question 39

How many humans were estimated to be alive approx. 85,000 years ago?

Answer 39

There were only an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 African humans living at that time

Question 40

True or False
The original human migration from Africa into Europe was driven by weather gates that prompted them to travel in this direction.

Answer 40

False
Weather gates prompted the original successful human migration out of Africa to travel east, through present-day India and into Indonesia.

Question 41

True or False
Marine food sources were easier to obtain than hunting big game on the African savannah and were particularly important for the development of the distinctive human trait of a complex brain.

Answer 41

True

Question 42

When and why was the eruption of Mt. Toba and important factor in the story of human migration?

Answer 42

Approximately 73,000 years ago, it triggered an instant six-year nuclear winter and 1000-year ice age that halted human expansion across the globe

Question 43

True or False
One major difference between humans and Neanderthals is that humans had more robust builds that made them better suited to handle ice ages and colder temperatures.

Answer 43

False
Neanderthals’ robust builds were well suited to handle ice ages and colder temperatures further north of the equator. However, they were less locomotive than humans were and therefore unable to hunt successfully through some severe weather fluctuation periods that coincided with their extinction.

Question 44

True or False

Nearly all living humans carry some Neanderthal DNA.

Answer 44

True
Neanderthals and Homo sapiens interbred when they crossed paths in Europe, from around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago. Today, scientists confirm that virtually everyone in the world except indigenous sub-Saharan Africans carry some Neanderthal DNA.

Question 45

Despite their physical heartiness, what factor likely made Neanderthals less locomotive, and therefore led to their rapid extinction, than Homo Sapiens?

Answer 45

Neanderthals required an estimated 30 percent more energy to run or walk than Homo sapiens due to lower limb proportions.

Question 46

What are SNPs?

Answer 46

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms are genetic mutations akin to minor spelling errors within the written instructions (nucleotides) of genes that quite often have little or no effect on the final protein product for which the gene encodes.

Question 47

True or False
Lactose tolerance among Scandinavians is evidence that evolution, in the form of genetic drift, has continued since the dawn of civilization effectively eliminated all selection pressure.

Answer 47

False
Lifelong lactose tolerance is more the exception that proves the rule. The basic ways we all metabolize food, respond to exercise, or otherwise deal with challenges of our environments remains the same.

Question 48

True or False
The ability to procreate successfully means that almost all products of random mutation are incorporated into the genome without penalty and passed onto the next generation.

Answer 48

True

Question 49

How do parental lifestyle choices impact the health of offspring?

Answer 49

Research suggests that lifestyle choices can have a direct genetic impact on offspring. For example, parents who had adverse lifestyle factors during the time of conception (in the case of the male, affecting the vitality of the sperm) and throughout pregnancy impacted the health and genetic expression of the fetus. Maternal and paternal circumstances like post traumatic stress disorder, nutritional deficiencies, sleep deficiencies, and sun exposure deficiencies are revealed in the health of the child.

Question 50

True or False
Among our Primal ancestors, only the weak, lazy and unfit succumbed to illness, injury, predator attack or other Primal misfortune.

Answer 50

False
Weak, lazy, unfit, or sick humans simply did not exist, as everyone in the clan had to carry their own weight and be able to survive rigorous daily life challenges and responsibilities.

Question 51

True or False
Human fossil records from 10,000 years ago reveal larger average body size than that of today’s humans but brains that were the roughly the same size.

Answer 51

False
Human fossil records from 10,000 years ago reveal larger average body size than that of today’s humans, a LARGER brain size (1,200 cc cranial capacity compared with 1,010 cc today), and a virtual absence of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dental decay, and other modern afflictions related to current diet and lifestyle practices.

Question 52

What is the goal of a Primal-aligned lifestyle?

Answer 52

To implement and adapt the Primal Blueprint attributes into the context of our comfortable and safe modern life.

Question 53

True or False

The average lifespan of a paleolithic human who lived until the age of procreation was 54 years.

Answer 53

False
Life expectancy during the Paleolithic era (2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BC) was around 33 years. If a Primal human was able to overcome primitive hazards and reach puberty, life expectancy increased to age 39. And if one reached 39, he or she could expect to live until 54

Question 54

Why did lifespan drop so significantly after the advent of agriculture?

Answer 54

From age 33 in pre-civilized humans, life expectancy reached a historic low of 18 during the Bronze Age of 3,300 BC to 1,200 BC due to infectious diseases, warfare, and inferior nutrition to the hunter-gatherer diet.

Question 55

True or False
From its low during the Bronze Age, human life expectancy didn’t return to its pre-civilization levels again until the 20th century.

Answer 55

True
Life expectancy remained low (between ages 20 and 30) through 1,500 AD and then climbed only gradually over the next few centuries. It hit around 30 in 1800 and around 40 to 50 by 1900 in the United States and Europe.

Question 56

What factor(s) led Jared Diamond to characterize the advent of agriculture as the “worst mistake in the history of the human race?”

Answer 56

It brought on large-scale disease, imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and an inexorable progression to global warfare. He credits this to the “abuse of free time” resulting from the specialization of labor and the pursuit of power over resources, humans, and geography goals that were previously irrelevant in the largely egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies.

Question 57

Where was wheat first cultivated?

Answer 57

In the Mediterranean Fertile Crescent In Egypt

Question 58

True or False
South America was not only the last land mass that early humans migrated into but was also the last to witness the development of agriculture.

Answer 58

False

North America was the last geographical area to witness the development of agriculture approx. 4500 years ago.

Question 59

How might “aging” be best defined?

Answer 59

As a decline in strength, power, speed, endurance, flexibility, and organ reserve, and as an absence of disease or disease risk factors

Question 60

True or False
According to the principle known as the Hayflick Limit, in the absence of misfortune, our natural maximum lifespan could be characterized biologically as our species/ upper limit on the number of times our cells can divide.

Answer 60

True

Question 61

What is “apoptosis?”

Answer 61

Programmed cell death

Question 62

What are “telomeres?”

Answer 62

Short sequences of genes located at the tips of chromosomes.

Question 63

What does the length of a cell’s telomeres indicate?

Answer 63

The number of times a cell can divide before expiring by apoptosis (programmed cell death).

Question 64

True or False

Heart and Nerve cells do not divide.

Answer 64

True

Question 65

Why is telomere length used as a biomarker for aging?

Answer 65

There is evidence that oxidation, free radical damage, glycation, and inflammation, which are all driven largely by poor dietary habits, shorten telomere length.

Question 66

What is the ultimate goal of Primal living?

Answer 66

Robust health and fitness throughout a maximum life span!