Hi. You've managed to stumble across the vast internet to my blog. Welcome. This is the first of what should be many, many posts. This blog is more of a diary than anything else - a place for me to put all the thoughts that came through me during the day. I was walking in the park yesterday and had so many thoughts rushing that I felt it was necessary to have a place to gather them all together. The plan is to post daily (time and computer access permitting) about a topic that struck me during the day.
As the first post, I think it makes sense for this to be introductory. So I'm going to talk a little about me, where I come from and how I came to be where I am now and hence why this blog even exists.
My name is Maurício Santos. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil just over 20 years ago, but have also lived in Oklahoma in the US and am now currently living in the UK. I have lived with my family in Reading for the last 10 years but I'm now in my second year of chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham. The weather shock was hard at first - but then it didn't get any better. To say I miss the sun and the beach is an understatement, but at the same time the luxuries that so many take for granted here are greatly appreciated. My family moved here to escape from life in Rio, namely the stress of work, traffic, crime and money, in search of a better life.
I'm a pretty simple guy who enjoys being with my family and friends, being active (especially rock climbing and mountaineering), reading, listening to music and playing guitar and generally stimulating my brain and muscles in any way. Recently I've become obsessed (to say the least) with Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. For those of you wondering, this is where Grok comes from. More on Grok on later.
The Primal Blueprint has changed my life and my perspective thereof more than anything else. Its underlying principles and the reasons behind them have completely altered the way I think, and this has had both positive and negative effects on my life. This blog is a way of trying to come to terms with these reflections in the hope they allow me to live a long, healthy and happy life. Lacking a companion with similar opinions to share these thoughts, I shall resort to the internet.
So what is the Primal Blueprint? It is a set of laws that, when adhered to, allow us to live optimally, the way we human beings were meant to. It is based on the fact that we evolved as a species for around 2 million years living as hunter gatherers. This life was often likely short and brutal, but our genes have been adapting to them ever since the first homos (from the genus Homo, although the pun still works rather nicely!) roamed the earth - the end product being the genes you and I carry today. The agricultural revolution, which happened simultaneously in several parts of the world around 10,000 years ago, suddenly changed our way of life. Plants was now grown instead of gathered, animals were now domesticated instead of hunted. We were no longer nomads - large cities became widespread. As food was plentiful yearlong, not everybody had to be concerned with its production, which led to specialized labourers and thinkers. Great civilizations were taking over, with advances in science, astronomy, engineering, philosophy and countless other subjects.
All this may sound great, but what were the implications for us individuals? Surely this sudden change in lifestyle would have a significant impact on our bodies, which were used to a completely different lifestyle. All of a sudden people are living off grains and domesticated animals, rather than wild fruits, nuts, vegetables and game. Also, people are now living a sedentary lifestyle, whereas before nearly every day men and women needed to find food, which invariably involved physical exertion. This meant walking for extended periods of time, making shelters, hunting animals, digging for food, etc.. This is where Grok comes in.
Grok was bad-ass. He is the stereotypical stone age man and is depicted in my profile picture. In today's world, he would almost certainly be in amongst the fittest people in the world. Not just a fast sprinter, a heavy lifter, a lean figure or an endurance elite, but all of them and more! Grok would spend his days doing the things mentioned above and eating foods which he could thrive on. This meant he probably would boast an incredibly small fat percentage and a strength to weight ratio which would make most athletes today drool. You try killing a wild deer with a spear and hauling it back to your camp which may be as far as an hour's walk away. I couldn't do it. (I just googled "How much does a deer weigh?" for interest, and a value of 200 pounds was common.) It's worth saying again - he was bad-ass.
(Food break - steak, brussels sprouts & sweet potato with a bit of cheese.)
Back to finish off before watching the final episode of A History of Ancient Britan. Stomach is very happy digesting great tasting and healthy food. In summary, I hope this short introduction to the Primal Blueprint was enough to stimulate some of your thoughts as well. In the next post I'll pick up where I left off and get into more detail about the Primal Blueprint. I think I'll take each law at first and say what I have to say about them. See you then.
Grok
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