Unless you are a serious word-buff, salubrious is not common in your vocabulary. We chose it as the title for this book for two reasons: First, if our readers only read the first page, they would at least gain a new vocabulary word. Instant win. Second, its usage has plummeted since the mid 19th century (see stolen Google Image below). Interestingly, this is about the time the Industrial Revolution swung into full effect. It was at this time in history the human environment became far less… salubrious. From assembly lines to slaughterhouses, the way humans moved and ate would never be the same. While a full discourse on these events is far beyond the scope of this book, most folks are aware that our ancestors did not eat fast food nor scroll Facebook on smartphones. Indeed, their world was often one of scarce (yet nutritionally rich) food and abundant physical labor. Contrasted to our current society, our recent ancestors were relatively poor in technology (including medical technology), yet did not suffer epidemically from such conditions as arthritis, low back pain, obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, lactose intolerance etc. Somehow we have all but terminated great diseases such as polio and tuberculosis, yet cannot keep our sticky fingers out of the sugar bowl (or vending machine). How is this possible? While our ancestors were likely just as prone to addictive and lazy behaviors as we are, it was their environment which provided an antidote. Over time, our environment has become abysmal at fostering mobile, well-nourished humans. This trend is not slowing down. Ten years ago, if you wanted to buy groceries, you had to physically walk out your door, into a store, pick things off of shelves, push a cart around, and twice load and unload bags from your car. Now you can simply push the “reorder” button on the Amazon App and it will be delivered to your door (Note to self: See if Amazon will pay me for this product placement). Speaking of buttons, if you wanted to roll down your window, a hand crank used to be the standard! Add to this worsening air, water, and soil quality, increasingly stressful job markets, and out of control global politics, and it’s no wonder our predicament is dire at best. But there is something we can do! We may not be able to overhaul our entire planet, but we can have significant impact on our personal environment. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with new technology, but we must not forget the first and greatest technology humans have ever possessed: ourselves. Moreover, we must recognize that we do not exist in isolation, but in context and community- in an environment. That environment can be a wasteland or a vibrant garden, and we are smart enough to shape it either way. Macro-control: There are some things about our environment we cannot change. We cannot individually change the air quality in LA, the relative price and availability of nourishing food to junk food, nor the demands of LA’s never-sleeping economy on our jobs and careers. Micro-Control: There are some things in our environments over which we have total control. We have control over the direction we are headed. We have control over how we respond to circumstances. Salubrious is your guide to re-shaping your environment in a way which promotes the three key elements of wellness: Moving often, moving well, and eating well. In this book, we propose a call back to eating the way our ancestors ate, to moving often and like we were created to move.Life is meant to be lived to fullest. Life is meant to be salubrious.