Book Club: Fed Up

Conspirituality

In this episode of Conspirituality Book Club, host Derek Barris discusses Daniel Lieberman's book 'Fed Up,' which explores how evolutionary

Key takeaways

• Modern chronic diseases stem from evolutionary mismatches between ancient biology and contemporary environments.
• No single 'optimal' diet exists; individual variation and environmental factors matter more than genetics or fad trends.

Main topics

• Evolutionary mismatch in diet and health
• Critique of fad diets and wellness influencers

Notable quotes

"The pace and scope of cultural evolution now vastly exceeds the pace and scope of biological evolution."

Conclusion

Lieberman's 'Fed Up' offers a science-based, evolution-informed framew

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Hi, I'm Alex Goldman. You may know me as the host of Reply All, but I'm done with that. I'm doing something else now. I've started a new podcast called Hyperfixed. On every episode of Hyperfixed, listeners write in with their problems and I try to solve them. Some massive and life-altering, and some so minuscule it'll boggle your mind. No matter the problem, no matter the size, I'm here for you. That's Hyperfixed, the new podcast from Radiotopia. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at hyperfixedpod.com. Speaker 3 (0:34) Every now and then someone would die. Speaker 2 (0:37) Risk. True stories. No holding back. He comes Speaker 1 (0:41) up behind me and whispers right in my ear. Nobody knows where you are. Speaker 2 (0:48) These stories will make you laugh till you're crying. And then Speaker 1 (0:51) I realize I'm unconscious. Speaker 2 (0:55) Some will stick with you for life. They Speaker 3 (0:58) catch my mom poisoning Speaker 1 (0:59) my sister. My brother, he died at the hands of my mother. I said, Mike, don't Speaker 3 (1:04) make me shoot you, please. Speaker 1 (1:05) But he did. Speaker 2 (1:06) People say risk makes them feel less alone and more alive. Speaker 1 (1:11) During my time in prison, I discovered a podcast called Risk. That podcast saved my life so many times. Live your authentic truth, because you never know who may come to your funeral and turn that bitch out. Speaker 2 (1:25) Risk, the show where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share. Wherever you get your podcasts. In Speaker 1 (1:47) 2013, Daniel Lieberman published what will become one of the biggest influences on my personal thinking around health. The Harvard paleoanthropologist's book, The Story of the Human Body, Evolution, Health, and Disease, focused on the many mismatches humans endure in modern society. I took to the book largely because I was already aware of one of the central focuses, the evolutionary mismatch between shoes, And feet. I've been a minimalist since 2005 when it comes to footwear. I religiously wore Vibram Five Fingers, also known as toe shoes, when I lived in New York City, which started so many conversations in the subway. And I was regularly mocked for it, which is pretty funny given how much the younger generation right now has embraced them. The reason for me has always been biomechanical. Stuffing your feet into what biomechanist Katie Bowman calls foot coffins makes no structural sense. Our toes can be as flexible and strong as our fingers, but that's not how we bipeds treat them. And so, as Lieberman writes, As long as we continue to encase our feet in comfortable, apparently normal shoes, podiatrists and others who care for aching modern feet will continue to be very busy and probably make a lot of money. Not that his book is only about the bottom of our physical structure. Lieberman takes a much broader look at human anatomy, evolutionary history, and the origins of modern chronic illness over our six million evolutionary journey to, well, 2026 now. At heart, it can be summed up in this one line, quote, The pace and scope of cultural evolution now vastly exceeds the pace and scope of biological evolution. Just want to note that that quote could also be used for the book we're discussing today. Lieberman's central thesis in The Story of the Human Body is that our bodies were adapted by natural selection to survive and reproduce in paleolithic environments, not to be healthy or live to 100, or 200 if you're a biohacking believer. The paradox of modern health, he writes, is that while cultural evolution think agriculture, industrialization, sanitation, medical science, that has dramatically increased longevity and reduced infant mortality, but it's created a radical environmental change at paces that natural selection just cannot match. And so modern humans suffer from an unprecedented wave of non-infectious chronic and preventable conditions that Lieberman defines as evolutionary mismatches, which he defines specifically as illnesses caused or aggravated by living in environments for which our ancient biology is poorly or inadequately adapted. He even introduces a concept in this book called disevolution, which he calls a pernicious generational feedback loop. Honestly, he's not far off from Maha here, at least in terms of their marketing. Lieberman writes that modern culture excels at treating or buffering the symptoms of mismatched diseases, like orthotics, for example, rather than addressing their root causes. And you might have thought that RFK Jr. came up with that one himself, but no, it's been known for some time. Lieberman summed up the thesis in three forms of mismatch. First, there are mismatches of too much. Conditions arise because human physiology evolved in environments where calories were hard won, but today we're inundated with cheap, highly processed, energy-dense foods. That results in visceral obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease. dental cavities, and certain forms of cancer. Next up, mismatches of disuse. Lieberman writes that we have too little physiological stress because our organs depend on phenotypic plasticity, basically use it or lose it. Our bodies expect specific mechanical and environmental stresses during growth to develop normal structural capacity. When we don't get it, We get things like osteoporosis, impacted wisdom teeth, allergies, asthma, and autoimmune conditions. And finally, there are mismatches of novelty and comfort. Here, he discusses innovations designed for ease and convenience that often introduce novel stimuli or postures that erode normal bodily function over time. Hello, flat feet, plantar fasciitis. nearsightedness, low back pain, and physical activity. As I've long said on this podcast, RFK Jr. gets some of the diagnoses around health problems right. It just so happens that Maha's prescriptions always tend to be rooted in pseudoscience, misinformation, or compromised incentives. Lieberman's writing spans millions of years of biology, physiology, and anatomy. and is both a precursor to and necessary corrective to what Maha gets wrong about the human body. For Lieberman, in The Story of the Human Body, he writes that the only viable way to halt the vicious cycle of disevolution is to re-engineer our environments. And he calls for something he calls a soft paternalism. These are public health nudges like soda taxes, stair-accessible building designs, clear food labeling, and mandatory physical education that will ideally make healthier choices easier. And I know, I know, it's so close to Maha. The difference is Lieberman would have these be funded and led by experts, or funded by governments or public health projects that are helped decided by experts. And that's where the glaring divergence occurs. Speaker 1 (8:26) Now, for his latest book, he turns to just one mismatch, which he writes about in the story of the human body, but it's the one we're talking about today. And that happens to be a pretty big one. That is food. I'm Derek Barris, and today on Conspiratuality Book Club, we're discussing Daniel Lieberman's new book, Fed Up, what evolution teaches about food, diet, health, and eating well. As always, you can find us on Instagram at conspiritualitypod. Independently, we're on