Rerun - The Perfect Human Diet with CJ Hunt - EP012

Naysayers often dismiss the Paleo lifestyle with the claim that it is simply a fad. But if you start at the beginning and explore what early humans were eating two million years ago, it becomes clear that the animal fat diet not only sustained our early ancestors but actually led to the development of our species. So if the Paleo movement is a fad, it’s a pretty persistent one! Today’s guest is no stranger to the pushback against the lifestyle, and he’s here to explain how the latest science and technology support his understanding of Paleo as the perfect human diet.

CJ Hunt dropped dead at the age of 24. He was a dirt bike racer training to come back from an injury when he suffered full cardiac arrest while jogging. Paramedics resuscitated CJ, and he spent ten days in the ICU at UCLA Medical Center. Doctors eventually determined that he suffers from a birth defect in which the center of his heart is twice as thick as normal, and his left chamber is smaller. He was told that if he continued to exercise, he would be lucky to live for another two years.

This experience inspired CJ’s curiosity in health and well-being, and ultimately led him to back to school at the age of 53 to earn a degree in Electronic Communications Arts from San Francisco State University so that he could produce the world’s first Paleo documentary, The Perfect Human Diet. The film reached #1 in the categories of Documentary Film and Independent Film on both iTunes USA and iTunes Canada when it was released in 2013. Together with its companion book, the movie introduces a system of optimal nutrition based on the latest science. Today CJ explains how nutrition has become so much like religion and politics, why public policy lags behind the best science, and the roots of the pushback against the Paleo/Primal movement. Listen in to understand the fundamentals of Paleo nutrition and why this two million-year-old ‘fad’ is making a comeback!

Topics Covered

[2:47] How CJ developed an interest in studying nutrition

• ‘Dropped dead’ at 24, given just a few years to live
• Began to study health and well-being

[3:57] The evolution of CJ’s eating habits

• Sustained raw vegan diet for five years
• Mother killed by drunk driver, diet wasn’t helping recover from life trauma
• Gained muscle and recovered physically on animal protein

[8:18] CJ’s approach to the film

• Best way to deconstruct massive problem is go back to beginning
• Explore what humans ate, how healthy they were
• Conduct guided investigation in search of perfect human diet

[10:51] The ‘football field’ analogy of human evolution

• 70% of current diet only available since industrial revolution (a mere 91 years ago)
• As early ancestors continued to eat more animal foods, our brains developed (two million years ago)
• This is how we became human (160,000-200,000 years ago)

[13:18] Nutrition as a belief system (rather than based in facts)

• People who’ve invested in a particular way of life resist new info

[15:19] Nutrition and public policy

• Government not educating people with most current science
• First nutritional guidelines written by politicians’ staffers
• Food pyramid has become food plate, but not much change in basic information
• Grains and plants as foundation (though doesn’t hold up to rigorous science)
• Roadblocks in government due to vested interests
• Idea spread from ‘bottom up’

[19:47] The ‘feed lot pyramid’

• Ratio of elements of food pyramid same as pig chow used to fatten up swine

[21:04] How First Nations people respond to Paleo diet vs. westerners

• Instinctively found connections based on understanding of ancestors’ habits
• Namgis ancestors harvested fish, consumed very few fruits/vegetables
• Many becoming obese on standard American diet, recovered on Paleo
• Westerners disconnected from where food comes from (no spiritual connection)

[24:56] Why CJ developed a companion book to complement the film

• People were writing to ask, “Can I eat this?”
• True understanding of concepts leads to long-term change
• Film limited on time, book goes deeper into the why
• Book clearly delineates human vs. non-human foods
• Audience finds film through book and vice versa

[30:20] Why CJ is developing a sequel

• Much misinformation regarding health and sustainability
• Talk to world-class scientists to clarify understanding (i.e.: regenerative agriculture)

[34:01] The pushback against the Paleo/Primal movement

• Discounted as fad
• Some vegetarians attack
• ‘If they’re upset, you’re doing something right’

 Learn More About CJ Hunt

 CJ Hunt Reports

The Perfect Human Diet Documentary

The Perfect Human Diet Companion Book

 Resources Mentioned

Protein Power: The High-Protein/Low Carbohydrate Way to Lose Fat, Feel Fit, and Boost Your Health – in Just Weeks! by Michael R. Eads and Mary Dan Eads

The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf

Loren Cordain Books