Publisher's Synopsis
Anaerobics is anti-aerobics - literally, symbolically, morally and everything-l y. Fifty years ago in 1968, ' Aerobics' by Dr Kenneth H. Cooper was published. This book kick-stat1ed a period of the most profoundly foolish exercise and nutrition advice the world has ever seen. What made it so damaging was that the advice became universally hegemonic. It was pushed by experts and used as the basis for Government health policy. The l970 's and 80's saw an explosion of university research ' proving' the virtues of everything which turned out to be bad for us. People who disagreed were cranks.
We are now paying with rising levels of obesity, hea11disease, diabetes and a host of insidious disorders, many under the radar at a population level but worryingly noticeable le at a personal level. All the dieticians, nutritionists, exercise professionals and health experts who thought they knew what they were talking about; all of them backed by qualifications, certificates, degrees and PhD's - it was all tripe.
The 'scientifically proven' aerobics paradigm recommended three meals a day with snacks between, a high carbohydrate diet, healthy grains, polyunsaturated, low protein, low fat, energy balance, superfoods, wholefoods, five-a-day, light resistance, high endurance, fat-burning exercise, on and on; in other words, the derangements of modernity, practically the reverse of our evolutionary history - the apotheose is being the skeletal, sugar-fueled marathon runner, and the overweight, calorie-counting, jogger - at opposite ends of the discredited BMI table but both unhealthy and sick.
When you loo k at health and nutrition through an ecological, environmental and evolutionary lens, you won't always get it right (it's a complex system), but you'll develop the ability to smell bullshit at a distance. Contrary to the contention of experts, you don't need to know how everything works (they don't either); as long as you understand that for a wild animal to remain healthy, it needs the challenges of a wild environment.