Chris Kresser–London

I’m in London today for a seminar hosted by Chris Kresser, who’s done the most in my life (except my Mum) to inspire me to push through my health challenges and live the best life I can.  He’s an amazing individual and right up their with Mark Sisson’s in trying to promote a lifestyle that’s in tune with our evolutionary heritage.  Both Mark and Chris align themselves with the Paleo movement, but Chris takes a more flexible, science inspired, approach whereas Mark is more evangelical.  Chris provides the best advice, Mark provides the best inspiration.

The day started early at about 6:30am after a good nights sleep.  I headed out to M&S for breakfast foods and to buy a big salad for lunch.  Since I’d given all my travel and breakfast money away to the homeless yesterday I then walked along empty streets for an hour, to King’s College Hospital, arriving way too early.  Fortunately I found a very nice Costa to wile away the waiting time reading.

I was surprised to see about 200 people in the packed lecture theatre, almost everyone there seemed very healthy, but it soon transpired that they all had invisible chronic health challenges.  As everyone was a fan of Chris though most people were managing their conditions well, just seeking a little more improvement.  All the attendees received a bag full of Paleo junk food, which was a bit disappointing, I tried a few of the items but wasn’t impressed.

The seminar was excellent, Chris started with half a dozen, getting to know his audience questions, answered by a show of hands.  He then asked for questions from the audience and then everyone voted for the top ones to answer.  The day was then a mix of prepared material that introduced his philosophy and perspective, answering the audience questions and finally responding to questions that then arose. It was an excellent lively format.

We had a 90 minute lunch break, which was too long, but I took the opportunity to walk to a park (see photo) I’d discovered yesterday to eat my very healthy lunch.  The whole event was very enjoyable, I made an effort to talk to the women sitting next to me which made it quite a social occasion as well as an educational one, women outnumbered men ten to one!  It was interesting to see that people had travelled from all over Europe to attend, one couple from Australia!

The one slight downside with Chris is that he mostly deals with the rich of California so some of his recommended foods, supplements and tests are very expensive, but his healthy living advice is free and that’s what I really came for.

After the event I walked the 90 minutes back to Euston, the empty morning streets were now heaving with people so it was slow going, but I still had plenty of time to stock up and M&S.  The seat reservation system wasn’t working on the train so I easily found a seat (I didn’t have a reservation) and I enjoyed a couple of episodes of Fringe on the quick train home.  Debbie picked me up and we were both surprised to see so many police around, apparently it was football fans that needed ‘looking after’.