Tuesday 12 February 2013

Mark Sisson's Masterpiece

Mark Sisson, The Primal Connection, book review
A mesmerizing read
In a first for me, I have decided to review a book, The Primal Connection: Follow your genetic blueprint to health and happiness, by Mark Sisson. I can't help it, I really want everyone to read it. I think the world would be a better place if they did. Overkill? Maybe....... or maybe not.

So why Mark's book? Why on a site about Migraine busting? I'll explain.

As those of you who have read previous posts on the topic of going Primal (Hunting the Cave ManThe Giza Approach) will already know, in an effort to banish the migraines from my life, I have started incorporating Primal Eating principles into my day. 'The Primal Connection' is one of the books I decided to read to gain some insight into the Primal approach, and wow, reading this book was like coming home for me.

Like many people I have long been feeling a disconnect with how my life is unfolding, with not so much concious interference from me but soooo much interference from my consumer tendencies. You know what I mean, constantly being influenced by media of all types that what you need is just one purchase away. Until you make that purchase that is.

Honestly, like many others in western cultures, I have been trying to buy my way to a better life. 

This is not a healthy way to live, even for people who do not have chronic health issues. The stress we place on ourselves trying to keep up with our consumer desires (which we have convinced ourselves are needs) can seem to crush our choices around life. For a person with migraines, it can increase the panic around life, born of the need to be successful in this culture, an endeavour made more difficult by poor health.

Mark's book for me, provides a framework to strip away the façade built by modern life and returns the focus back to the individual interacting with the world.

Mark discusses many ways to get in touch with the world, from the literal, bury your hands in the soil, run barefoot, bask in the sun, to the social, develop 'real' friendship networks as distinct from the 'social network'.

It's life like it used to be before everything we ate was processed and everyone thought they needed antibacterial cleaners for every room.

What is surprising about Mark's book however (though it probably shouldn't be) is the amount of research that has gone into developing his position. Page by page, the reader learns why turning back the clock to a less complicated life approach will improve their health. Banishing many modern health problems caused by poor immune systems, and improving many chronic health issues, such as, you guessed it, Migraines.

As the man himself say's, '...life is simply a matter of making choices'. I love the choices presented in this book, and while I don't think I will ever be a barefoot marathon runner, or be able to permanently eschew sugar, I do believe that inspiration should be taken where you find it and there is plenty of it to find between these pages.


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