SAM and SAL are two stone-age people who really know how to look good. STONE AGE MAN (SAM) and STONE AGE LADY (SAL) lived off the land, got plenty of exercise, and controlled their stress, and their way of living works wonders eons and eras later as we modern humans struggle to find a healthy lifestyle. Health Secrets of the Stone Age documents the research into just how our ancient ancestors lived, and how their habits helped keep them lean, strong and sharp well into old age.

Author Philip J. Goscienski, M.D., is a pediatric specialist with an impressive resume. He presents his years of research into the health secrets of our distant ancestors in an informative and easy-to-digest (no pun intended) program that centers on proven tips and techniques for dieting and exercise that may be quite old in origin but are firmly based upon solid modern medical research. The Stone Age plan consists of thinking as our ancestors did, living off of the land and being active, and dispels many myths rampant in today’s diet books, including some surprising health benefits of things we never knew were so good for us…and some equally surprising warnings to avoid things we often thought we needed. The entire plan has its foundation in concepts that have stood the test of time and still make sense today, despite the recent fads of low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie dieting.

Better health and a stronger, leaner body are the results of following the Stone Age plan, which the authors compares closely with our more well-known Mediterranean diet, focusing on eating natural foods that can be hunted, gathered and grown and keeping the body highly active with both aerobic and anaerobic weight-bearing exercises. This is nothing new compared with many modern diet strategies, but the Stone Age plan backs it up with evidence that our distant ancestors lived healthier overall lifestyles, even with the dangers they faced from predators and natural disasters, and that their remains show modern researchers exactly what kept their bones thick and strong and their body mass powerful, even into the latter years of their lives. Indeed, our SAM and SAL didn’t live as long as we do today, but their quality of life in their later years far surpasses ours.

There is plenty of advice on what to eat, which supplements to take, what exercises work best, ways to alleviate chronic stress, and how genetics plays such an important role in determining our health, so in many ways this sounds like just another diet and nutrition book with a gimmick. But in the case of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, the gimmick works. Finding such critical correlations between ancient lifestyle habits and modern research is enough to turn this millennium gal into a SAL.