Our journey

Who we are and how we developed into Leaner Hunter-Gatherers.

Pink boxes for Heidi’s parts, blue ones for Alex’s, and gray ones for collective.

Hectic life without much planning

We hunted and gathered in the urban jungle: relationships, education, career, experiences, fitness, health and belongings. As we got to know each other, we shared and adapted each other’s best practices for improving performance and well-being in terms of nutrition, exercise, recovery and home organization. This has made us more vibrant modern hunter-gatherers with a stronger agency over our well-being.

Agency: Sense of control of one’s life and capacity to influence own thoughts and behavior.

After the covid restrictions lifted, I was a life-hungry, hard-working economic consultant. Cooking for one felt unsatisfactory, so I minimised meal planning by ordering meal deliveries and occasionally eating candy to satisfy my hunger. I travelled as much as possible. After the restrictions, I hunted and gathered experiences, after putting together a functioning home and independent life after a long relationship had been a tedious task. I hired a cleaner to try to feel a sense of control and recovery. I went to CrossFit classes whenever I could from parties, trips and work, but the balance of training, recovery and eating was uneven. I often got sick at the end of intense periods. Life’s highlights didn’t come without a cost.

I was still dealing with a painful break-up and the isolation of remote work in a covid-restricted world. My way of coping with both was working out. I had always enjoyed training and been pretty serious about it, but now I was focusing almost all of my free time and energy into either training or learning more about it. The gym is and was my comfort zone. I’ve often said I would work out even more often if it was in any way productive. Luckily, studying nutrition, technique, and exercise programming was always a productive use of my time.

To compensate for a sedentary desk job, I also ended up walking more than normal, making an effort to hit 20,000 steps per day, every day. The endorphins and clear daily goals helped me feel good about myself even when I wasn’t happy about where my life was or where it was going.

Appreciation for meal prepping

Alex’s appreciation for nutritious home-cooked food helped me prioritise home cooking over shortcuts. It was rewarding to occasionally cook for two instead of one and chat while eating. The nutritional value made cooking for myself more important. I learned to apply Alex’s best practices for meal prepping. Prepping means cooking larger quantities at once, preferably passively in the oven. Prepping food has improved my quality of life, as I don’t have to fuss over the stove every day to eat healthily, balancing cooking between busier days and weeks. Prepping has become a calming activity while listening to podcasts, books, or music.

Meal prepping: Preparing larger meals ahead. It saves time to cook multiple portions at once. It makes it easier over time to make more nutritious meal choices when there are heating-ready meals in the fridge / freezer.

Strength from the gym

We started training together on the basis of a free summer buddy offer. Without a plan, I said I could try Alex’s workout. Alex reminded me that he had been bodybuilding for years that his workouts could be too much. However, due to my persistence, I was willing to give it a try.

Alex taught me how to work out. Hard. Alex guided me with the movements, helped me adjust the equipment, assessed the appropriate weights and encouraged me to challenge my limits. I overcame the initial difficulties and started to improve. I enjoyed the post-workout endorphins and the calmness in my body.

The hard workouts cemented the importance of nutrition and recovery to my overall well-being. I felt energized and great when everything was in balance.

I learned to challenge myself physically, so my weights increased and my muscles started to show. Instead of ageing, I felt I was developing more than I had anticipated.

Alex professionally pivoted towards his passion

My employer announced that they were reducing staff, including the whole department where I worked. I had to look for a job, but the analyst jobs I’d been doing were no longer appealing. After some introspection, I came to a conclusion – I should become a Personal Trainer. Coaching Heidi’s workouts had been rewarding and I felt passionate about the industry. In coaching, all the time spent studying and training for 20 years can be channelled into serving others. It was a welcoming change: coaching has been so rewarding that I feel more alive.

Surprisingly beneficial fermented foods

Alex mentioned some health benefits of fermentation, but the ready-made sauerkraut in the grocery store tasted off. I learned to make Korean kimchi to experiment with the health benefits of natural fermentation in a tasty way.

Making kimchi humbled the Western hunter-gatherer. Hours of preparation and two weeks of waiting time awakened me to the new timeline of cooking, We soon discovered the many health benefits of fermented food, making the effort of chopping veggies seem worth the trouble.

Fermentation: Chemical process where e.g. salt and microbes turn into lactic acid bacteria, which enriches gut microbiome leading to various health benefits.

Heidi jumping off the consulting wagon

As a competition economist, I advised companies on competition challenges. Almost five years of fast-paced consulting seemed like almost a decade after numerous project managers, clients and competition cases. My diminishing motivation began to show physically, even as I tried to derive pleasure from managing people, organizing, and solving problems with economics. The joy I was experiencing at work faded as my learning curve flattened and projects moved away from the change I would like to see in the world. I left with only one certainty of change, but I believed I would find my way.

After leaving, a mental capacity opened up to read heaps of literature. The literature of interest revolved around the views of philosophers, doctors and coaches how to lead good life. I also returned to my long-time favourite The Minimalists podcast, appreciating their wisdom about inner peace through living a more meaningful life with less.

Home decluttering make-over

I’ve never been naturally tidy, but over the years depression, heartbreak, covid-restrictions and spending all my energy at the gym had made me neglect my home. With too many things and too little space to store them, keeping things in order was almost impossible. The wardrobe had become a cluttered warehouse where it was painful to navigate. Cooking was more of chore than needed, as there was little space available. When I had the energy and time to clean, tackling everything felt overwhelming. So I concentrated on the bare minimum to meet everyday needs.

In gratitude for my improved well-being, I offered to be the KonMari inspired project manager who would lead the decluttering process of Alex’s home. Alex agreed somewhat reluctantly, anticipating the heavy workload and his reluctance to hand over the reins of his home. Excitedly, I set out to tackle the accumulated redundancy. We put on the music and started by throwing out the outdated items from the kitchen cupboards.

At the beginning of the decluttering days, I scoped the space that would be covered from start to finish. We discussed the items in the space and their necessity. Space by space, the items were taken off the shelves (or various piled) and categorized. I organized the items category by category for Alex to decide which to keep, donate, recycle or throw away. We went through everything, category by category. Including all 85 sweatshirts (yes, 85). The decision making was not overwhelming because Alex only looked at one item type at a time. After decluttering the unnecessary ones, I organized the items on the wiped shelves in their proper places.

At the end of the project, I could hear birds singing more clearly through the open window, as my senses were not overloaded by the clutter. There was peace in the apartment.

We had made my cluttered apartment a home again. Now just being there I felt more calm and relaxed. I could rest without the creeping feeling of chaos and undone chores eating away at me. Prepping my meals became easier and I could easily inventory my cabinets and know with a single glance if I needed to buy something. I didn’t have to feel shame about the state of my home when inviting people over. It had become a place to reflect on life and make plans for the future. I had regained agency over my home and a big part of my life.

Becoming Leaner Hunter-Gatherers

I’m probably going to be in debt to Heidi for the rest of my life for the life-altering decluttering process. I had put it off for years and I’m not certain I would ever have gotten around to it. At least not without some major life event that would have forced me to.

I am grateful for a stronger agency over my well-being. I don’t eat and exercise to survive, but to thrive. We had experienced first-hand the benefits of reducing excess and intentional actions for well-being. The changes have also been enjoyable and sustainable.

As I reflected on our achievements, I realized: We could improve the lives of others with similar changes. I immediately called Alex and told him that we should set up a service to help people improve their diet, exercise, recovery and homes. I’m sure many people would need to strengthen their agency in their vitality. This is the change I want to see in the world: people who are better able to self-actualize themselves.

I was intrigued. She was clearly onto something. “What would we call ourselves?”. Heidi already had the answer:

Leaner Hunter-Gatherers.

We started planning during that same phone call. Over time we built up the company over daily, hours-long phone calls, countless voice messages, and weekend workshops. Planning the coaching service and brainstorming our message allowed us to combine our passions, drawing from our hobbies, habits, literature, podcasts, education, professions, mistakes, and successes. Now we are excited to share message to improve vitality.

Our purpose

We want to help people to perform better by 

• Identifying how their current needs are met – holistically.
• Mapping current needs – holistically
• Tailoring plans for changes
• Guiding better nutrition intake
• Guiding more productive exercise
• Guiding to remove what gets in the way

We want to see people thrive, not just survive. Hunting and gathering in an urban environment easily lead to unsatisfying results without intentional actions.

You can check out Example stories on how we can foster change or check out our services here >>.