Art De Vany

The Evfit site was initially created in an attempt to fill the gap while Professor De Vany prepared his text.  However, Evfit differs from Art's approach in a number of ways, primarily:

1.  Art has a solid grounding in physiology and nutritional science (planks one and two).  This site takes the view that we need know nothing more about nutrition and physiology than did our ancestors during the Pleistocene to be as fit and healthy as they were.  However, because we lack a Paleolithic understanding of the world, we do need to understand the Evolutionary Health Principle as enunciated over thirty years ago by Stephen Boyden.

2.  Art's writing is downright wittier

3.  Art sharpened his ideas over five years of intensive debate on the Evolutionary Fitness forum and in March 2005 opened a blog to continue the debate.

4.  Art does not place as much emphasis as Evfit on the importance of the third plank - the contemporary loss of our planet's Pleistocene environment and the implications for human ecology.

5. Following on from 4, Art advocates certain nutritional supplements, whereas we think good food provides adequate nutrition if it is consumed in conjunction with appropriate physical, mental and social activity, sleep etc.

6. Further, Art uses and recommends gym machines. We prefer to exercise using activities involving loads, movements and protocols as close as we can get to Pleistocene reality.

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On 2 April 2008 I was asked if I was going to Art DeVany's Las Vegas seminar in May. Here's my reply:

>Will you be there Keith?
>
Hi, Dave. If I lived in the US I might, but I won't be flying across the world. Also, I find myself diverging from Art as time goes by.

Specifically, I find the Evolutionary Fitness message to be very simple: live, eat, be active ("exercise" in 21st century language) as if you were living in the late Pleistocene. Now that's not wholly possible, so we all have to compromise somewhere, and it's where we each choose not to compromise that marks us out.

I believe mental approach is as important as physiology and in this respect I count myself as closer to "Deep Ecology", that is those who act to preserve the Pleistocene qualities of nature and who oppose those who would destroy them. I can't see how we can have healthy people if the planet is not also healthy, and I am very concerned about the coming confluence of climate change (of which Art is skeptical), peak oil, economic recession/depression, the end of antibiotics, human over-population, soil degradation and food security. So I draw inspiration from the writings of Derrick Jensen, Val Plumwood, Daniel Quinn, James Lovelock, John Zerzan, Arne Naess, Bill Mollison, Jay Hanson, Pentti Linkola and John Gray, but I am not a follower of any. These writers' books are not on Art De Vany's bookshelves!

But Art is far more comfortable in the Anthropocene than I am and he justifies his approach by physiological science - brilliantly and innovatively applied. It's true that I am changing more than Art is, and one way I am changing is that I don't need any physiological science to back up the Evolutionary Fitness principle. One difference between us which exemplifies our different approaches is his reference to the importance of "correct form" in exercises; I have come to regard "correct form" as a 21st century idea and not one people would have thought about in the Pleistocene. "Correct form" is what people do when they exercise in a gym, not when they are living an active life. My workouts will have "poor form"; I do exercise to failure and, despite Art saying "It's so easy", I find it damned hard work; it's also fun, demanding and unusual.

A few years ago in my mid-fifties a man about 25 years younger than me asked "How come you don't exercise like anyone else in the gym, but you have the best body in the gym?" The answer is in the question, of course. I find myself having a philosophy of life closer to Ray Audette's - possibly because our incomes are, I would guess, about the same - another reason why I won't be travelling to the USA for Art's seminar.

However, I am looking forward to the DVD Art mentions. I'm sure there is much there I'll learn - and willingly apply, despite what I have written above. I see he's doing EF for women and EF for children - great!

Page last updated 6 April 2008