 We're gonna get started in a few seconds here, so up up next we're gonna have Regina Aguilera and Andrea Culberson. I'm curious How many people went to the poster session yesterday? Raise your hand How many people saw the ancestral food wheel and spun it? Yeah, we have a little piece of it here. I thought it was a really cool thing that they had going on So they're gonna tell us more about the project that they've been doing Good morning That's kind of weak. Good morning. All right now. We're alive. My name is Regina Aguilera I'm with the project native paleo, and I'm really excited to be here being a part of ancestral health symposium this weekend So my project native paleo as Tessa'd asked how many of you had been there yesterday So I just starting off so I don't have where's my clicker There we go So this is something from a leader on a snob leader Winona la Duke the recovery of the people is tied to the recovery of the food Since food itself is medicine not only for the body But also for the soul and the spiritual connection to history ancestors in the land So as native people we feel very closely to that and to the land Native paleo we've called not functional nutrition and fitness Again, I'm Regina. I'm a licensed acupuncturist. I'm hailing from Southern, California My tribe is yaki. My tribe is bordering Arizona and Mexico my grandfather Oh used to say that I didn't cross the border the border crossed me because he freely moved back across back in the 1900s and here Andy culbert sin sitting here to my right She's also very much a component of native paleo. She's helped with a lot of the artistic design Collaborator and just a colleague is mine. So I'm really excited to have her here with me today She she did the poster presentation and does beautiful artwork and has a registered dietitian as well So again, so many many of you saw our ancestral poster session yesterday. So again, how many of you spun that wheel? Few you spun that wheel anybody get a poster got a few posters. Okay, great Again, that was our sister talk getting ready for us today. So thinking about local foods I'd like to have a little audience participation to get us started How many of you have eaten a food and ancestral food for pre-contact pre-agricultural food from the area where you lived? If you have please stand up second part of this if that food was something that you hunted or gathered yourself stay standing Oh, look at that. Nice. How many of you have hunted that food? Why have some hunters awesome? How many of you are gatherers? Beautiful. All right. Awesome. Okay, you can go ahead and have a seat. Thank you So what is native paleo? Our vision is to serve indigenous communities with creative and culturally meaningful Wellness education in order to reclaim optimal lifestyle balancing using ancestral health practices So myself I've founded this Whole kind of movement which it is right now. It's really just being steamed by a few of us a handful of us Andy is here, but then my colleague Thosh Collins. He's a ton out from the Tonata nation in Arizona He's also very much a fitness advocate fitness specialist. He's a photographer many of the beautiful slides You'll see on the presentation our thoughts his work He travels all over the country taking pictures of native people in fitness and movement and Creating that is a part of his lifestyle. So with that, you know, he thought she and I are both board members I'm a founding board member of an organization and a national nonprofit organization called the native wellness Institute And so from the Institute native paleo is born Native paleo is a blend of ancestral food culture lifestyle and fitness Culture is very much a big part of what native paleo has to be as native people are Tied to the land are tied to the earth the sky the waters that is all very much a part of who we are And so I know that has to be a component of what native paleo is bringing it back to our lifestyles and to our fitness levels So just thinking back ancestral food What is ancestral food food that is on the earth things that we're here before pre-contact before as native people lived On this earth on this continent throughout from South America all the way up to the tip of Alaska What kinds of foods were there we see dried hanging meat coming from the buffalo I have many friends and you know neighboring tribes that also are still hunting and going out and getting the buffalo Gathering getting berries getting fruits as some of you shared that you're doing as well You know making pemmican there on those hands show the ingredients of pemmican very simple dry meat and dried berries Added with the fat the tallow back from that animal We think of us as native people how strong how resilient we were as beautiful people that we were We look at the bodies of native people from old pictures very slender very fit strong people I share that often in workshops that I do I tell people you know if we had to read we're relying on the cultures of the Strength of our ancestors and we're here today And we're resilient today because of the health of them the culture of the lifestyles that they had and it's sad to Say where people native people are today and if we continue this way and hearing things in workshops and lectures from yesterday How our genes our DNA is built upon our ancestors? So knowing that we need to be strong for the next generations and looking at our you know We have black feet women there cooking over the fire just very culturally indigenous how we lived how we you know And worked and had gatherings and we came together as family and tribal groups And then we've got Thosh there. That's my beautiful colleague Thosh there lifting a log looking at native inspired fitness So we're reclaiming our fitness levels our cultural identity is built in that so our native dancers How many people have been to a powwow? Nice So you know the powwow that's a lot of exercise. That's a lot of cardiovascular endurance dancing for hours Our ceremonies are built around that as well So things like even hunting you see a buffalo hunt there these men just went out and they hunted a buffalo And that's a lot of work as well to to take care of that hide and all everything that's part of that So again as I said I'm part of native wellness Institute our non-profit organization Native paleo began as a branch or we're a sister organization of native wellness Institute I'm a founding board member. We are founded in the 2000 and we serve tribal nations all throughout United States as well as Canada and we do a lot of issues dealing with more Emotional things maybe like healthy leadership Native youth leadership Wellness in the workplace. We have a healthy relationship curriculum as well So we get grants and funding from government sources and we bring this type of wellness issues out to communities We have tribal groups that bring that ask for our trainings or for our come to our presentations We have a large large following throughout native America But all through that what I found as an acupuncturist is a person, you know practicing functional nutrition Holistic lifestyle coaching exercise coaching was that there was a missing link within all of this and this wellness That I really felt the physical component of it wasn't being fed to where it should be and so with that native paleo Was born from that realizing what I need to bring back looking at fitness and foods and looking at our lifestyles in that way So native wellness is a cultural and traditional lifestyle model as you see here It's built around a medicine wheel and we use that and we split it into four areas So it's a holistic approach to living one's life in a very balanced way So it has four directions as the medicine wheel does it's about choice and personal growth And I always like to say is that our wellness and this wellness model is very much a proactive model to bring back our health So we know it's very holistic. It's in a circle as native people. We often sit in a circle We do ceremonies in a circle the circle tells us about evolving about connection and then there's no beginning and no end So looking at this circle, we see the four quadrants emotional spiritual mental and physical So in each of those we look at where is our wellness at and we can all use this as a tool to look at emotionally You know, are we balanced there? Are we expressing emotion? Are we having a high self esteem? Are we sharing with each other? How positive are we are each day? So spiritual connection is also very much a part of native wellness It has to be there. We often see body mind and spirit But how many of us actually think of spirit and that spiritual connection we have to the earth and to our self It's about faith. It's a connection as we often say to creator as well Physical that was the area where I felt like we had a lot of things daily fitness breathing sleeping All is a part of that physical model And then mental, you know, how are we thinking are we feeding our brain? Are we taking care of ourselves? So again, that's kind of the the base of what native wellness is about and what we share with Communities and native paleo is just becoming a part of that as well And I like to think of our one of our tribal leaders from back in the day was black elk Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle again that evolving in a circle So we know as explorers came and they found native people on this earth They found it on this land here that we have an explorers who said they noted the agility of the women is so great They can swim over great rivers burying their children upon one of their arms So that is how explorers found our people, you know, is that we're very healthy very vital very strong So within that what happened over time? What happened when we had contact with the white man? We have what we've called and we had a quote from a California native that said we have a broken basket Here in California our basket tree if we have beautiful basket makers here that make just beautiful baskets But our basket has come apart from misuse and neglect So some of the things you know that has happened part of that broken basket is you know our hunt our people from before They were hunting gatherers, you know, they went out in the earth and they hunted they gathered We had our native lands. We had our plants. We had vital sources of nutrition for us. We were active We were healthy. We ran great miles and then we had tribal dependents. We had communities We were built around communities where our earth was and you know today present day There's numbers of native people that are very much been relocated. We've heard a relocation So we're often put into tribal into areas offered tribal land and our ancestral lands Into areas where there wasn't good soil. There wasn't hunting grounds put into areas That was just not a vital source of nutrition or or vitality for our people The poverty line for Native Americans is very high and because of that We see a lot of poor lifestyle choices with foods and how our people are able to eat and sleep and drink You know every day and then you know the incidence of disease is much higher in native people as well So we look at something from Western price who we all know and familiar with this work So just looking at seminal dental health so indigenous food looking at healthy dentures You know teeth and then after market food many of us are familiar with this work I just thought we'd add that as well. Seminoles are down in the Florida area and the reality what we have It's funny, right? Someone posted this on my site and I go it's humorous. Yes, but it's sad You know, that's our six packs That's a tribal six pack and it's funny because I mean these guys it is humorous You can laugh at this but it's but you know looking at that how many of us are familiar with commodity foods and what those are What US government gave us when we put us on undesirable lands We had no place to hunt no place to gather and now we're also getting Commodities commodities are still alive and well and people are very proud of their monthly source of food sources As you can see in the picture. They're all carbohydrates. They're all poor sources of nutrition we look at bags of flour white flour white sugar just a Cornflakes rice cakes all of these things that you know I have friends ate at Christmas time to get bags of white flour a baking mix and then jars of caro syrup That's for the pancakes So it's no doubt that the reality this come on bodies is a sad reality Because we're really looking at you know how people are eating and drinking so that's like our biggest thing is cleaning up Diets taking away processed food taking away sugars taking away flowers and it's a journey. That's for sure But we have people that are starting to make some healthier choices David Bender was actually in a native our native magazine and he's like he said He finally realized that our main problem is that we are the people who are meant to be hunting gatherers Lakota's were hunters They were vital men but living in a modern world in order to change and to cure his wife Who is very sick? He had to change his diets hers mine and that of the kids and they had to become active So we do have a movement starting within all of this people are seeing we need to make a change We need to go back to our cultural roots There's women like Valerie Seacrest who's up there in the Muckleshoots tribe up in Washington So she's developed these eight tribal traditional food lessons that are beautiful Food is at the center of our culture and as native people we gather any gathering a native people I will guarantee they'll be food Honor the food web chain. So honoring that food source. We pray as we hunt We pray as we gather that food eat with the seasons many of us know, you know We can eat very well just eating for the seasons eat a variety of food. So many different color sources Traditional foods are whole foods. So looking at our traditional food sources Those are the best food sources we have and eating local foods Wild and organic foods are better for health. So we all know that and believe that Cook and eat with good intention. How often do we cook and not really give blessings or thanks to the food that we have? It's like sitting at the table and giving thanks to that food Bring your ancestors to the market with you. Let them help you make those food choices and And native paleo was bought out through all of this movement and looking at where do we start? Where do we get a good start? So kind of jumping on to the whole paleo primal food movement ancestral health So Andy and I she's been really helped a big helping with collaborating and giving me a lot of power and steam with this and just being my my Backbone throughout all this as well as like we started a Facebook page right now I think I have over 2040 people on there They're native people throughout all over us in Canada and it's really exciting because we get new things happening all the time our Face our website went live last month. So we've got native paleo comm as well. So that's really exciting The goal is to be fit and healthy there's thoughts again I mean a perfect example of a healthy young man, you know lifting weights these pictures as well was a native paleo Seminar that I hold held in San Diego last December. So we had people outside doing functional fitness We were testing we're showing doing squats. We were doing sit-ups holding planks You know doing things to be very fit to see how fit we were Gaging that and then also talking about nutrition and how do we look at healthy lifestyles? And this is Nathan Nathan is a an elder. He's Elam. He's from up in the North Bay area And he is what a video do we did of him? So we go ahead and show just a minute or half second of this He's a po-mo. So thank you Nathan for being here Really appreciate your your contribution here So please describe your tribe and how you came to this way of eating My tribe is they're the po-mo people from Lake County, North Carolina the name on the edge of the East side of the lake We're known as the water people my way of eating Traditional ways is realizing them For my health and my life For my people So what changes have you seen within yourself since you started eating a native paleo way? The native paleo way has taught me that the way I feel right now besides I have the energy I have More win in running More preparation for ceremonies Right now I feel good I feel healthy I feel strong you know From the past I was Overweighed lazy no energy no strength You know I'll propel my ceremonies and so on because I just didn't have it Thank you, and I'm gonna add something in here. Would you share with us the biggest loser competition at your work? And I want to say too so his interviews on our website Nathan was part of a biggest loser campaign on his in his tribe and through their community health department He lost over 47 pounds in just a very short time Just completely changing his diet eating healthier eating a native paleo type diet as we know it So that was like a huge, you know kudos to him and where he was So some things that we have in the horizon So we have our online interactive food medicine wheel for each tribe that we have on our website So that tribes can go on and start naming. What are their traditional superfoods? What do they have in their area? Then we have our tribal superfoods as part of our campaign We were looking for funding for trainings for tribes and groups without funds and creating more of an online presence You know, I would like to create more blogs and pieces Just looking at what we have out there in the greater I'm just trying to be a part of the greater paleo primal community and also mass distribution of our ancestral food wheel posters So if you have those posters that we can get them into the hands of people that could share them with tribal communities in Your area, that'd be awesome turning them on to native paleo So there's our beautiful food wheel We're gonna have a table out front by registration so that you could you know purchase these and they're all just going donating back to the funds for native paleo and Just again the tribal superfoods just based on looking at scientific data that shows the nutrient composition of selected Traditional foods how much richer they were and nutritionally vital they were for our people because they're from the land from where we're living and I'm asking you. What are your local tribe superfoods? What do you eat in your area? What are those foods that you're gathering hunting, you know, did you have those foods that are vital to your health and To finish I just wanted to dedicate this this prayer that a Marietta King. She's black feet what she said So if we can just look at this This is a prayer and dedication and that native people first nations and indigenous people everywhere may we live in joy humbleness compassion Wisdom and companionship with a dancing heart and the fullness of love that is driven by our strength and courage For our children's children yet to be born that we shall be free of disease and stand in good health in our heart soul Mind and physical body. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you That was really great. Thank you. I think we're out of time for questions But I'm sure they these two ladies would be happy to