A case study of one: Keegan living the Paleo Solution
The Paleo Diet is on the verge of passing from minority madness to creating a world-wide shift in mainstream health. It could literally end the health crisis-suicide we’re living and change our economic and social structure as we know it. We’re living through the biggest wave of world-wide human physical degeneration ever, which is paradoxically, not caused by famine but an abundance of toxic foods.
In this blog I share my story of emancipation through Paleo living with the goal of presenting a solution for all those looking for a higher level of health and living.
The first contact that I had with anything remotely paleo was “The Metabolic Typing Diet,” a great book by Bill Walcott that builds on the work of Roger I. Williams PhD. I read it on the recommendation of Paul Chek and although I’ve since moved on from some of the concepts in the book it was the first time I really considered that man had at some stage survived on lots of saturated fat and protein and almost no plant materials. I started eating more fat. I felt better, but over the next few years my priorities changed. I had good gains on something very close to the Paleo Diet in 2005 when I was living with my brother Rohan and working for the London Broncos, but it was more by chance than anything else. I was still eating some oats and bread and getting seasonal allergies.
Rewind a little in my story and you’ll see I’d developed auto-immune problems through my teens. I think it was a combination of low-fat eating, crappy nutrition supplements (thanks Bill Phil.), long-term antibiotics abuse for a minor skin condition and the use of anti-inflammatory creams for my multiple overuse injuries. The result was IBS and hay-fever along with “normal” teen depression, trouble gaining strength and weight and more overuse injuries than you can rub a whole tube of Voltaren on.
Fast forward through 4 years of exploration and self-abuse in Latin America, Central Australia and Europe in search of the meaning of life and an understanding of how others are living it, and I was a wreck. The journey was an amazing one full of enough amazing people and places to fill a lifetime, but I was lacking the vitality to create the changes I wanted to make in the world. My blog for the trip was “searchingforchange.blogspot.com.”
By the end of the trip I’d finally worked out that what I really needed to change was myself and tt had to start with my health.
Sean Croxton - Health guru
Sean Croxton’s Underground Wellness got me through an emotional time spent in a flat-share in Pamplona, Spain. (No I didn’t run with the bulls, I left 2 weeks before desperate to arrive to the furthest point in the world from Spain – Australia.) Sean’s passion and the awesome insights I was hearing from his guests helped me complete the 360 turn I had made from health and fitness freak to hippy/ revolutionist back to a health and fitness coach with a much broader perspective. I’ll be forever grateful for Sean’s work. If you haven’t seen his book “The Darkside of Fatloss” you should definitely think about investing in it and listening to his podcasts. I’ve heard all of them!
When I got back to Australia I started on the Paleo diet with the inclusion of some raw milk. I trained like a madman to get back the strength levels I’d lost over the previous 4 years of sporadic training. I completely wiped myself out with gruelling sessions I wasn’t ready for. I was motivated enough to keep going even though I needed 12 hours of sleep a day and I was getting the most powerful headaches I’ve ever had in my life. I gained some strength and continued on the same path tinkering with changes to the Paleo plan and supplements while continuing to bludgeon my hormone levels through the floor via too much work in the gym.
Reed Davis - Founder of Functional Diagnostics Nutrition
I enrolled to become an FDN provider through Reed Davis’ course and did the compulsory testing which confirmed that I was killing myself in the gym. About 10 months later I started easing off the volume and intensity feeling like I’d got to a level that players could respect. by this time I was now working in my current position as full-time strength and conditioning coach with the Catalan’s Dragon’s in the South of France. It was a huge change in lifestyle from the mountains of Mexico and teaching English in Manta, Ecuador. I was loving my job and life in France but my health still wasn’t in a state to really make the most of life.
It’s now been over year for me on the Palo lifestyle. My pimples have all but disappeared. (I get a little if I eat too much dairy – sometimes crème brule just has to be enjoyed in France!). I’m much stronger and leaner than I’ve ever been despite having trained just as hard and consistently in the past. My digestive system is no longer my enemy and seems to have given up its fermentation habit that it picked up while I was living on tortillas and dirty water in the mountains of Mexico.
When I ease of the training for a few weeks the world becomes a wonderful place, still it’s hard to hold off my barbell addiction so tendonitis and overtraining brain fog are always just a few too many extra sessions away. I’m getting better at holding back. I think it goes along with me starting to like listening to classical music and just getting older!
Daryl Millard in action last year
My Paleo experience goes beyond food. I’m part of a community for the first time in a while and even though I’m still “the Paleo guy” there plenty of others wetting their toes in Paleo waters and I’ve got a real devotee to health and lifestyle in Daryl Millard. We’re starting a Dargons farm project between 4 of us which will include chickens and vegetables (if the foxes don’t get their way). The Paleo life also extends to sleeping with the sun most of the time and I’ve just had my Vitamin D levels checked – no results yet.
Robb Wolf of the Paleo Solution in action
I couldn’t be more sure that the Paleo solution is a valuable one. The name Paleo itself doesn’t matter to me and neither do the t-shirts. What matters is that people are taking back control of their lives and their health and creating a better world in the process. It’s an individual journey that I’ve made. One that I hope will help me to help hundreds if not thousands of other people improve their quality of life.
Paleo is not a religion but it is a powerful system that can help you avoid cancer, diabetes and brain degeneration as well as look younger and have lower body fat levels
Check out my “Making the Paleo Diet work” article and “Paleo Resources” for details of what you can expect when you start on the paleo diet and exactly what the Paleo diet is.
Keegan Smith is an innovator in health, fitness and lifestyle. His search for health and performance wisdom took him through a University Degree in Exercise Science and then a 4 year world exploration of mind and body. He currently lives by example as Strength and Conditioning coach with the Catalans Dragons in the European Super League Rugby League competition. He’s fluent in French, Spanish and English on a good day. For more from Keegan check out KeeganSH.com or email keeganrs@gmail.com
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