Mark Sisson's Blog, page 144

Make Your Overall Wellness a Joyful Passion

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

 As a 50-year-old attorney I had let my desk job win. I knew my diet, sleep, fitness and overall stress levels were out of control, but I didn’t quite know what to do and definitely didn’t have the motivation. Until I read Mark’s 10 Primal Laws on his blog, which changed everything. What Mark was saying just made sense. I rushed out to get the Primal Blueprint and the the Primal Connection and my life has not been the same since. A few years later, down from 260 to 175, I can say, without hesitation, that the Primal lifestyle (as supplemented now with the Keto Reset) just works! I am the fittest I have ever been, my sleep and stress levels are great, and I have more energy than ever. With my wife as a partner in healthy living, we are a dynamic duo and have, to a great extent, the Primal lifestyle to thank!

I had lost weight before, but on a higher carb diet, and without all of the other Primal lifestyle changes, I may have been lighter, but definitely not any healthier. I still had sleep trouble, stomach issues, sore joints and low energy. And, inevitably, I put the weight back on, and more. When I got up to 260 I knew I had to make a change and somehow came across Mark’s Daily Apple. The rest is history, and more than 80 lbs gone and kept off for two years! Now my energy levels are incredible, I sleep wonderfully, I have solid functional strength and mobility and have reconnected with nature and a primal lifestyle.

My single biggest piece of advice: make your overall wellness a joyful passion, an enthusiastic endeavor. If it is not something you are having fun with, it will be hard to keep it up long term. Within the wide spectrum of healthy options for food and fitness, find those that you love, that get you excited, and double down on that to get you going. Make healthy living and other life-positive inputs the center of your media consumption as well. Read books and articles, get magazines, follow fitness and health enthusiasts on your social media of choice, listen to inspiring and informative podcasts and audiobooks. Surround yourself with wellness!

Here is what worked for me:

1. cut out almost all added sugar, which I believe made the single biggest difference.

2. adopted the primal diet, low enough in carbs to occasionally get into ketosis, but not “living” there. As Mark says, staying in the Keto Zone.

3. started focusing on sleep, got some low-blue-light bulbs for reading at night, got at least 8 full hours, kept artificial light off during sleep. I wake up now naturally before 6 am full of energy!

4. getting out in the sun very early in the morning (usually at sunrise), often for a walk or morning workout, including mobility work.

5. hit the weights a few times a week and do a HIIT workout at least once a week, but just as important, take long walks almost every day, often barefoot!

6. got a stand up desk, but alternate between that and sitting and moving throughout the day. I try to walk at least 5 minutes every hour.

7. getting out for adventures in the local desert and San Diego beaches as often as possible. Stand up paddling is a new favorite, I want to make more time for that!

8. we have also gotten more adventurous with our food choices, trying new recipes, getting excited about the food we are eating!

One more thing that worked for me that is not essential, and definitely not for everyone, is self-quantification. I “game-ified” my health journey! I used an app to log my food for overall calories and macro ratios, I used a smart scale to track my weight, body fat, muscle, etc. (knowing the accuracy limitations). I tracked steps and workouts for general calorie burn. I started with all of this at first just to calibrate my awareness of these areas, but then kept going for the fun and regular motivation! Seeing the charts over time and the accumulated data has been both useful and satisfying. Again, this is not for everyone, but for me it has been a very positive approach.

Thanks to Mark and crew for pointing me in the right direction and providing tons of great content along the way! — Vance McAlister

Want to make fat loss easier?

Try the Definitive Guide for Troubleshooting Weight Loss for free here.

The post Make Your Overall Wellness a Joyful Passion appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Don’t Miss the Ancestral Event Of the Year—Paleo f(x) 2018!

Paleo f(x), my favorite holistic health and fitness event in the world, returns to Austin, TX, April 27-29th! Yup, that’s right around the corner! In case you missed it the last 6 years, Paleo f(x) is the ultimate Who’s Who gathering of the ancestral health movement—as well as the best Primal party you’ll ever go to hands down.

I’ll be one of the speakers in several Mastermind Panels, including “State of the Paleo Union” and “The Smart Art of Endurance Training,” and I’ll be giving a talk on “The Evolution and Future of Ancestral Health Coaching.” Our very own Elle Russ, host of the Primal Blueprint Podcast, will also be speaking about her continuing research and experience with The Paleo Thyroid Solution. And my friends, coauthors, and fellow keto aficionados, Brad Kearns and Lindsay Taylor, will be there doing Q&A and other activities (be sure to check out their Keto Happy Hour), as will our Primal Health Coach and Primal Kitchen teams.

You’ll also be getting deep inside the brains of other world-class speakers including New York Times bestselling authors, physicians, scientists, athletes, health entrepreneurs, fitness professionals, biohackers, and more. Robb Wolf will be joining me, along with Chris Kresser, Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, Ben Greenfield, Sarah Fragoso, John Durant, and dozens upon dozens more. You can register for the event and see a full list of speakers here.

I had such a great time rubbing elbows with thousands of like-minded Primal/Paleo enthusiasts at last year’s Paleo f(x). The Palmer Events Center featured all the biggest companies in the ancestral health sphere along with over 30 expert speakers. Overall, there wasn’t a dull moment, an empty belly, or a lack of enthusiasm among the pop-up community of Primal/Paleo attendees.

2018 promises to be even more of a thrill. The event features:

Keynotes: Be empowered and inspired by the thought leaders of the wellness movement at the keynote stage talks. (You’ll find me in this crew.)
Workshops: Work live with coaches and fitness experts at the small group expo floor workshops. Master your squat, conquer your kettlebell swing, or have fun at a “Primal Playout.”
Cooking Demos: Learn new mouth-watering Paleo recipes, up close and personal with your favorite bestselling cookbook authors and foodie bloggers.
Paleo On-Ramp: The special beginner-friendly stage has “Paleo 101” level talks that gently introduce you to real food and optimal living.
Health Expo: Discover an array of health-conscious, paleo-friendly companies and sample delicious foods on the expo floor.
Book Signings: Meet all your favorite authors and speakers at book signing meet and greets.
Networking: Connect with entrepreneurs, creatives, and other passionate “builders” in the Paleo f(x) networking lounge. Includes special guided networking sessions for bloggers, fitness professionals, and health practitioners. If mingling isn’t your thing, Paleo f(x) also offers special guided networking sessions. You’ll be matched with 8-12 other attendees who share your similar interests, so there’s no way you’ll leave without making personal and lasting relationships with your paleo/Primal tribe.
Special Events: Celebrate the community and join us for the Saturday Night Charity Festival.

I’ll also be walking the ground floor for the entire event, so it’s a great chance for us to meet. Or catch me at my talk, when I’ll discuss the Primal importance of finding an avocation that excites you. I’ll share a bit about my own long and circuitous path to building my Primal businesses and offer some insight into how to discover hidden opportunities that can change your life.

Paleo f(x) takes place at the Palmer Event Center, a premier space in downtown Austin, adjacent to the city’s best food, music, and culture. Last year our Primal presence filled the streets, pervading every corner of Austin for the weekend.

This event is just around the corner (and tickets traditionally sell out), so be sure to register today!

Check out the website to learn more about why you won’t want to miss this opportunity.

Want To Virtually Attend?

And if you won’t be able to make it to Austin, no worries. The Keynote Stage will be livestreamed, and you can virtually attend by registering for the livestream option.  You’ll also have access to a private Facebook group of other Livestream attendees. Want to purchase recordings of the livestream events? You have that option, too.

Whether you attend virtually or in-person, you’ll discover:

Little Known Biohacks to Radically Improve Your Health
10 Ways to Look Look Good Naked & Live a Long, Limitless LIfe
How to Uncover Your Hidden Food Intolerances & Lower Your Sugar Impact for Better Focus, Energy & Fat Loss
The Last 4 Doctors You’ll Ever Need
Metabolic Flexibility: The Rosetta Stone of the Macronutrient Wars
How to Leverage Lifestyle Choices for Brain Health
How to End Chronic Disease
Dirty Genes
Origins of the Imagination: Speculations of the Antiquity of Consciousness

Plus,you can watch mastermind panel discussions on alternative medicine, caring and feeding a healthy gut microbiome, and health entrepreneurship!

Get your livestream ticket now.

OR

Get your ticket to attend in person.

I look forward to seeing you there!

The post Don’t Miss the Ancestral Event Of the Year—Paleo f(x) 2018! appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

A Day In the Life Of Keto

I get the question all the time: “So, what does a regular day of eating look like for you?”—particularly since I went keto. I get asked when I typically start eating and how I schedule my workouts around fasting periods? What do my meals themselves look like? Do I ever snack? Today I’m answering all of these—and sharing more about my own personal approach to ketogenic living.

In fact, I’m laying it all out there. Get a (literal) glimpse of some of my favorite meals and find out why I consider my Big-Ass Salad the basis of my keto eating strategy. I’m sharing one of my favorite snacks and how I negotiate my eating window each day.

But I also talk about the little appreciated principles of a sustainable keto diet—how to do it so you’re enhancing your gut health rather than compromising it, how appetite and cravings self-regulate in the first 1-3 weeks, and why after a thorough reset I’m not fully keto all the time anymore.

I have a lot to say about the lasting impact of a reset experience on metabolic flexibility and protein sparing in the body as well as on the common mistake people make in focusing exclusively on fat intake rather than broad spectrum nutrition.

Finally, I explain why I consider ketones the body’s (too often) untapped superpower—and just how much we naturally produce in a day that we can live and thrive from.

Check it out and share your thoughts. Plus, if you’re interested in more day-in-the-life posts or video, I want to hear it. Let me know what you’d like to see. Have a great week, everyone.

The post A Day In the Life Of Keto appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

The Roots of Depression: How Much Does Modern Culture Have to Do With It?

I can’t complain about my existence in modern culture. My life is great. I have a loving family. My kids are happy and successful. My wife is a friend and lover and confidante and partner. Business is good and interesting. I care about what I’m doing. Every day is meaningful—and unburdened by concerns around mental well-being. Depression isn’t an issue for me.

But it’s not the case for everyone. The numbers don’t lie. Depression rates are climbing. Antidepressants are among the most common drug prescriptions, even among children. And because it can be embarrassing to admit you’re depressed—like there’s “something wrong” with you if you say as much—many people with depression never seek help, so the real numbers could be even higher. Depression isn’t new of course. The ancients knew it as “melancholia,” or possession by malevolent spirits. But all evidence suggests that depression is more prevalent than ever before.

What’s going on?

First of all, the way we speak about depression makes getting to the root of the issue harder.

“It’s all brain chemicals.”

“You have a neurotransmitter imbalance. There’s nothing you can do but take this pill.”

“You were born with it.”

This is an admirable attempt to de-stigmatize depression, turning it into a medical condition that “just happens” and “isn’t your fault.” Some people get brain tumors, some have type 1 diabetes, some have depression. There’s no shame in getting treatment for legitimate medical condition. This is an important development, but there’s a cost: It removes agency. If depression is just something you get or have from the outset, many (certainly not all) people believe there’s no reason to investigate the root cause or pursue alternative solutions.

While there’s definitely a genetic component to depression, and neurotransmitters play key roles, most depression requires some precipitating series of environmental inputs. The vast majority of babies with “depressive genes” don’t come out of the womb listless and morose with “bad brain chemicals.” They may be more or less susceptible to the environmental factors that can trigger depression later in life, but they still require those factors.

What’s happening? Clearly, something novel is afoot. Although we don’t have data on the mental health of paleolithic hunter-gatherers, extant hunter-gatherers exhibit an almost complete lack of depression.

What might help fill in one neglected dimension is to examine what’s unique about modern society.

It Is Atomized

People exist in their own bubbles. We sit in cars, in cubicles, in houses, in separate rooms. Even friends out to lunch are often seen gazing into their smartphones, half-ignorant of the normal waking reality occurring around them. Families gather in the living room not to play board games and chat about the day, but to access their personal portals into cyberspace. Together but apart. It may feel like we’re connecting, but we’re really just lonely. Like something out of a post-Sergeant Peppers Beatles dystopian concept album, the UK even just established a Ministry of Loneliness.

Loneliness has stronger associations with depression than any other social isolation indicator.

Lack Of Tribe

Robin Dunbar came up with Dunbar’s Number after studying disparate tribes and communities across the world: The maximum number of fulfilling, meaningful social relationships a person can reasonably maintain is about 150. We’re geared to desire social acceptance from our tribe, because social acceptance in a tribe of 150 people is both feasible and desirable. It increases survival. If “desire for social acceptance” is mediated by genes to at least some extent, it undergone positive selection; it was helpful and beneficial and supported species survival. Consider what the tribe originally meant: these are the people you grew up with, the people who will have your back. It’s important that your tribe accept you, and that you accept them. Things work better that way.

Today, our tribes are enormous and unwieldy. There’s the city. The state. The nation. The globe. Twitter. Our social media feeds. We can’t know everyone in our city, state, or Twitter feed, yet we get feedback from them. We see the best parts of their lives—what they show to the world—and compare them to the lowest parts of ours—what we hide from world but cannot escape internally. And then ironically, many of us feel estranged from or ignore the people who could actually comprise our true tribes—family, friends, loved ones, neighbors—even when they’re in the same room in favor of the larger, faker tribe. Yet the desire for social acceptance from this sprawling “tribe” persists. And it’s impossible to achieve for most people. Letting your tribe down hurts. We have tribes. They’re just not real or realistic.

Social media consumption predicts depressive symptoms.

It’s Devoid Of Higher Meaning

The roles of religion and other binding schools of philosophy and morality in society are waning. Most people can’t lean on the church or patriotism to find meaning or direction anymore. They must create their own, or discover it. That isn’t easy. It’s far simpler to ignore the void within, flip through your Netflix feed, and obsess about the latest superhero movie than it is to find your purpose.

Having a sense of life meaning is inversely associated with depression.

Life Is Easier

Most people (most reading this, anyway) aren’t walking three miles each way just for moderately fresh water that they still have to dose with iodine tabs or risk parasitic infection, slaving away their entire lives just to produce enough calories for their feudal lord and family, building their own homes out whatever they can manage and fixing whatever breaks (or not). They just turn the tap, order food from Thrive Market, call the plumber.

Work Is Increasingly “Information Work”

Rather than manipulate material objects in the world, we’re manipulating data, filling spreadsheets, fiddling with abstract numbers. Information work is no less real, but it doesn’t feel like that to our psyches.

Life Isn’t As Tragic

There are fewer “classic tragedies.” Fewer people lose loved ones to warfare, babies to disease. While we still have plenty of wars going on, they aren’t logging death counts like the World Wars or Genghis Khan’s conquests. Major civilian centers aren’t being leveled regularly by bombing raids. This is a positive development, but there’s a catch: Research shows that real life disasters strengthen bonds between friends, the neighbors, and the community. If we aren’t facing difficulties, we may not be living to our fullest potential.

Powerful Technology Is Widely Available Almost Everywhere

You can follow Maasai herders on Twitter. You can engage in live video chat with anyone in the world. No need to visit Grandma in Del Boca Vista; you can Facetime her!

Material Problems Are Disappearing

Most people get enough to eat, can get from here to there, can access the Internet, and get medical care if required. You have to try really hard in a modern Western society to die in the street. Even worldwide, poverty is falling. In 1981, nearly half the world’s population was “extremely poor.” As of 2016, it was under 10%. All that’s left are psychological problems.

Why am I here?

What’s the purpose of life?

Why should I continue working this job I don’t really like just to support the same boring routine?

This kind of rumination is a major factor in depression.

In Tribe, Sebastian Junger shows how veterans returning from war—on paper, a hellish experience no one would ever miss—feel suddenly lonely, lost, and often depressed back home. War compresses human experience and intensifies human bonding like nothing else. When these men and women leave war, they’re leaving the strongest, most cohesive tribe they’ve ever known. They’re leaving people who’d die for them and for whom they’d die. What, are they supposed to stand in line at Starbucks, staring at their phones like everyone else and think everything is just fine?

Why are potential root societal causes ignored?

For one, they’re huge problems. A pill is way easier than restructuring the fabric of modern society. If you did that, you’d have to get it right the first time. You can’t exactly run an RCT on social upheaval.

Two, we assume a shared environment. Most of the people you see walking around eat the same basic diet, do the same basic exercises (or don’t), and deal with the same societal pressures and conditions. If you look at things wrong, it seems immutable and unavoidable. Even if they’re aware on some level that modern living is involved in the etiology of depression, most clinicians are assuming, based on prior experience with patients and their own misconceptions about what’s possible and what’s not, that we just have to accept it and apply the best band-aids we have. But if you’ve approached diet and exercise from an evolutionary angle and had incredible results where nothing else had ever worked—you know that common is not normal. You know that the environmental inputs shared by so many in the industrialized world might be persistent and tempting and hard to avoid, but they are avoidable. You can change your surroundings, your inputs, even your mindset.

Three, it isn’t clear what the solutions even are. The world is better today in many ways. Just because many veterans find their tribe in war and suffer upon returning, it doesn’t follow that we should go to war more often for our mental health.

We can’t rely on technocratic overlords to engineer the perfect utopia. Those always end in dystopias—more Brave New World than 1984. No, any change has to start within each individual, at dinner tables, in friend circles, in one person—you—deciding to do things differently.

I won’t get much into diet or exercise or sunlight or sleep today. Those are major parts of the equation, but I prefer to focus on how the structure of our society impacts depression and how we can transcend it.

These are some ideas. They’re not perfect. They’re not the whole story. And they’re not meant to replace medication or therapy or anything like that. But they won’t hurt….

Listen to the “first voice.” Every time you get that little voice saying “I should finally pick up that book” or “I should walk the dog” or “I wonder what my friends are up to,” DO IT. Don’t let the other voice override you and say “Nah, let’s just stay inside today.” That second voice is destroying you. Do everything you can to ignore it.

In low moments, rather than try to cheer yourself up, be of service to someone. A concerted effort to cheer oneself up often produces the opposite effect. We’re not great at doing it for ourselves, perhaps because at some level we sense it’s all a sham, a ploy to shift around neurotransmitters. But when you help someone else, you’re truly helping them. They feel good, you feel good, and everyone wins.

Chase meaning, not happiness. “Being happy” is hard work. You can’t get there by trying. Figure out what you care about at the deepest level of your being. What stirs you. What, most importantly, you can actually affect with your skillset. If you can manage to imbue every fiber of your being with that purpose, you’ll get going after it. You’ll have something to do, and maybe you’ll have less time for rumination and other things that make your depression worse.

Easier said than done, you might say. Definitely. I haven’t been there myself, but I’ve helped people close to me who have. Clinical depression isn’t just sadness. It’s profoundly demotivating, where taking even the smallest act like getting dressed can be a struggle. Dopamine, the neurotransmitter involved in movement and achievement and motivation, tends to plummet in major depression.

Still, what else is there? You are an individual, not an atom. An atom is separate but unconscious. It has no agency. It simply is. An individual is separate from other individuals but conscious. It has agency. It can form communities, strong bonds. Revel in your personal sovereignty but don’t forget that you’re a social animal who will probably be much happier with a few good friends (who aren’t all wielding smartphones 24-7).

There are other specific things to try. Trawl the scientific literature and you’ll find hundreds of studies showing efficacy for any number of medication-free depression therapies and interventions. None of them are the final answer, though, as much as they can help. Ballroom dancing isn’t going to fix things. Gardening isn’t enough. Heavy squats won’t do it. Plunging into cold water isn’t everything.

It has to be a comprehensive shift.

The common theme running through most of these “alternative” interventions is that it places you square in the midst of cold hard reality. You’re on your knees, handling soil and planting vegetables. You’re dancing, immersed in the music and managing the dynamic interplay between you and your partner. You’re lifting something very heavy. You’re completely submerged in freezing water. These are real. They cannot be escaped or negotiated with. They aren’t running on perpetual loops inside your head. They’re actually happening.

Get as much of that in your life.

In the future, I’ll discuss this topic further. I’ll talk about dietary, exercise, lifestyle, supplement, and psychological modifications we can make.

For now, I’d love to hear from you. Those who’ve dealt with or who currently deal with depression, what’s helped? What hasn’t? What’s your take on the list of social factors that may explain the rise in depression—or the severity of symptoms as you experience them? What do you think we can do—as individuals and as a society—to make things better?

Thanks for reading. Take care.

The post The Roots of Depression: How Much Does Modern Culture Have to Do With It? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Dear Mark: PUFA Confusion, Mushroom Coffee, Swiss Water Process, and Timing the Fast

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering four questions from readers. First, should someone homozygous for the FADS variant that increases PUFA conversion eat less or more PUFA? Next, what’s the deal with all the mushroom coffees out on the market? Are they actually beneficial? Third, when looking for a healthy decaf coffee, what should you watch for? And finally, how should a breakfast skipper/intermittent faster deal with increased morning hunger caused by morning workouts?

Let’s find out:

I’m confused. I’m 75% Norweigan, the rest mixed european. My FADS (myrf) is homozygous. My genetic report says this variant has “higher than average levels of arachidonic acid, LDL and total cholesterol levels due to upregulated elongation of omega 6 PUFAs to pro-inflammatory compounds. Consider limiting sources of omega 6 PUFAs especially AA.” So this says PUFAs are bad for me because they are pro-inflammatory, but you are saying they aren’t bad because they get converted to Omega 3’s which are anti-inflammatory. Is this not the FADS gene you are talking about, but one of the others?

It is confusing, I agree.

If you have “upregulated elongation,” you should limit omega-6 PUFAs in the form of linoleic acid. A large amount of the linoleic acid you eat will be successfully converted to arachidonic acid, a precursor for inflammatory compounds. You’ll also be better at converting alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) to the omega-3s found in fish (DHA and EPA), but linoleic acid is a lot easier for most people to stumble across than ALA.

If you have “downregulated elongation,” you should still limit linoleic acid. Unconverted linoleic acid is fragile, unstable, and liable to oxidation. You don’t want it hanging around or being incorporated into your tissues. Nothing worse than a mitochondrial membrane loaded with linoleic acid.

The point is that in most ancestral diets, omega-6 PUFA in the form of linoleic acid was available in much smaller amounts than it is today. Industrialization has concentrated its availability in the food system. Today, we get seed oils in everything—baked goods, fast food, restaurant food, chicken and pork (from the feed). Back then, we had to remove nuts and seeds from their shells to get a dense crack at some linoleic acid. High levels of linoleic acid are bad for the carriers of all the various FADS alleles, just for slightly different reasons.

Great article as always Mark.

Just wondering about mushroom coffee? The type that includes reishi & other varieties supposedly high in immune boosting compounds. Any benefit?

Thanks,

Allia

We had the founder of Four Sigmatic, Tero Isokauppila, on the podcast awhile back. Interesting guy and a great line of products. His signature one is mushroom coffee.

Are there benefits?

Well, mushrooms are legit. You don’t even have to wade into the world of magical immunomodulatory, brain-nerve-regenerating, adaptogenic mushrooms to see some interesting effects. Common culinary mushrooms like brown, white, oyster, porcini, and chanterelle mushrooms may all produce major health benefits, including blood pressure regulation, nerve cell growth stimulation, immunomodulation, and cancer protection.

What about the mushrooms often included in these mushrooms coffees, like reishi, chaga, lion’s mane, and cordyceps?

Reishi: Stimulates the immune system, including a boost in natural killer cell and T-cell activity. It reduces fatigue in breast cancer patients and neuroasthenia patients (neuroasthenia is a confusing medical condition characterized primarily by fatigue, so this is a big effect). In potential colorectal cancer patients, it appears to reduce the number and size of adenomas (benign tumors that could presage the formation of less benign ones) in the colon.

Chaga: Full of phenolic compounds, many of which have anti-cancer potential. Reduces oxidative stress in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, even protecting against DNA damage.

Lion’s Mane: May reverse mild cognitive decline in the elderly, help people with nerve damage regenerate destroyed nerves and regain their ability to walk, and act as a nootropic in healthy people.

Cordyceps: Included with immunosuppressant therapy, helps kidney transplant patients improve kidney function and avoid kidney transplant side effects. Increases lactate threshold in elderly folks during exercise; an increased lactate threshold means you stay aerobic and burn fat for longer before relying more heavily on glycogen.

Coffee is legit, assuming you tolerate caffeine. And even if you don’t, decaf coffee remains a great source of phytochemicals.

Is “Swiss water process” all you need to look for in a decaf coffee to avoid all the nasty chemicals and solvents Mark talked about?

Yes, that’s all you need.

I have been intermittent fasting, last food around 8 or 9 pm and then not eating until around noon, and this has been working great. But I have added in a morning workout and now I am getting hungry sooner, sometimes right after the workout. I suspect I need to up my calories overall. Should I just go ahead and eat “WHEN” as you say, and not worry about the IF timing, or should I try to get more calories in during my current compressed window?

There’s value in both. I find it plausible that feeling the sensation of hunger—true hunger, as arises after a hard workout with very little in your stomach—is worth experiencing on a semi-regular basis. It’s a feeling humans are “meant” to feel, as our ancestral environments often dictated we go without food despite desiring (and even “needing”) it.

WHEN is also a valuable tactic. To eat when hunger ensues naturally is to honor your physiology. If anything is a valid and accurate indicator of your body’s immediate nutritional requirements, it’s your subconscious instincts and urges.

I’ll give a third option, too. Instead of skipping breakfast, why not skip dinner? Have your last meal at 4 or 5 PM, do your morning workout in a fasted state, break the fast at 8 or 9 AM right after. You could even follow a “eat only when the sun’s up” rule to make things simpler.

Good luck, and let me know what you decide to do.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and be sure to help out down below with your own comments and answers (and questions).

The post Dear Mark: PUFA Confusion, Mushroom Coffee, Swiss Water Process, and Timing the Fast appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Weekend Link Love — Edition 499

Research of the Week

Giving experiences as gifts rather than things fosters better relationships.

Caffeine causes brain entropy (thankfully).

A new blood test might identify Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear.

Consistent meditation training may lead to enduring improvements in sustained focus and response inhibition.

Sitting might not be great for your brain, either.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 235: Paul Robinson: Host Elle Russ chats with Paul Robinson, a fellow thyroid patient and author of Recovering with T3.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

What Happens “After Keto”?
Women’s Fitness: Should It Change with Age?
5 Studies I’d Like to See

Interesting Blog Posts

The unparalleled efficiency of the human brain may be one of the biggest hurdles for AI researchers.

Cell-to-cell, we’re only about 43% human.

Media, Schmedia

Why one man kayaked across the Atlantic not once, not twice, but three times.

Antidepressants are hard to quit.

Everything Else

Calling it now: We’ll be taking probiotic viruses in the next ten years.

Guess who’s coming to your next oyster dinner?

Keep smartphones out of the bedroom.

If you want to try morning journaling, these are some good prompts to get you started.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Something I’ll try next time I go cycling: Wayfinding.

Conspiracy theory no more: Goldman Sachs wonders in research report whether “curing patients [is] a sustainable business model.”

This is why I hate hot air dryers in public restrooms: “These results indicate that many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers and that spores could be dispersed throughout buildings and deposited on hands by hand dryers.”

Sounds like an interesting idea: “Killing ourselves to live longer.”

Article that got me thinking: “Becoming a Man.”

Recipe Corner

Move aside, bird. Tandoori fish is coming through.
Sweet potatoes were already good, but then you add bacon and broccoli? Whew.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Apr 8– Apr 14)

7 Primal Mantras to Drive Your Success – Good ones to get you going.
“What’s That?” Ear Health: Dietary and Lifestyle Choices That Preserve It – Something you probably haven’t thought about before.

Comment of the Week

“I usually don’t pay attention to fads, but this one seems worthy of digging further!”

– Walked right into that. Nice one, Mister_Root.

The post Weekend Link Love — Edition 499 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Sheet Pan Chicken with Cauliflower Rice, Olives and Feta

You gotta love a meal that can be cooked and served on the same sheet pan, and will dirty only 3 other things in your kitchen. Maybe you’ll have to wash a food processor (if you rice your own cauliflower instead of buying cauliflower rice at the store) and maybe a garlic press and a spatula, but that’s about it—not bad for a healthy and tasty home-cooked meal.

The “recipe” for sheet pan chicken with cauliflower rice, olives and feta goes like this: Spread cauliflower rice out on a pan with olive oil, garlic and chicken. Bake. Add spinach, olives, feta and herbs. Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

How’s that for simple?

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 10 minutes hand-on, plus 30 minutes to cook

Ingredients

4 to 6 chicken chicken thighs (either boneless, skinless or bone-in)
4 cups/ 12 ounces cauliflower rice (or 1 head of cauliflower, riced)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (80 ml)
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (3.7 ml)
3 large handfuls baby spinach (about 3 ounces)
½ to 1 cup crumbled feta (45 to 90 g)
½ cup Kalamata olives (90 g)
Fresh basil and oregano (or parsley), for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 ºF/218 ºC.

Spread cauliflower rice out on a large rimmed sheet pan (18-inch x 13-inch). Pour olive oil and garlic on top, tossing well with your hands to coat the cauliflower. Place chicken thighs on the sheet pan. Drizzle a little more oil over chicken thighs. Sprinkle salt evenly over cauliflower and chicken.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and cauliflower rice is tender and lightly browned in places.

Remove the chicken thighs from the sheet pan. Let rest on cutting board.

Add baby spinach, feta and kalamata olives to the sheet pan. Toss with the cauliflower rice, coating the spinach in olive oil. Cook 5 to 8 minutes more, until spinach is slightly wilted and feta is warm.

Scatter a generous amount of torn basil leaves, oregano and/or parsley across the sheet pan. Add chicken back to the sheet pan (leaves thighs whole, or slice them). Serve the meal on the sheet pan. Enjoy!

Want more Primal recipes?

Try the Primal Blueprint Slow Cooker Cookbook for free here.

The post Sheet Pan Chicken with Cauliflower Rice, Olives and Feta appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Small, Successive, Healthy Decision-Making Leads To Consistency and Progress

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

 My name is Andrew Mencher. I am 29 years old. I’ve been following a Primal lifestyle for a little over two years now. I am writing this as a follow up to my previously published success story, which details my introduction to the Primal Blueprint, my struggles with starting, and the initial benefits I found while maintaining the lifestyle. I have since made adjustments, experimented, and undergone personal struggle and growth, all of which were influenced by and benefitted from the Primal Blueprint principles.

I’ll pick up where I left off, fall of 2016. Everything was going well until I had a surgery in Jan ’17 for an issue which could not be resolved otherwise and during the recovery I was diagnosed with Crohn’s. The diagnosis sparked something in me. It was part fear and part wake up call. I was engaged to be married that August, and I had (have) full intentions of starting a family. I was not going to let this disease interfere with my life and if I was going to be a role model to future adults who will contribute to society, I needed to healthy enough to do so. I got many consultations and they all ended the same, so I began regular infusions.

At the same time I became multiple orders of magnitude stricter with my diet. Not 80/20, more like 95/5, and now more like 98/2. I began to exercise in a way that was less likely to cause inflammation, did my best to try to sleep more (my main struggle currently), and I tried to spend more time outside. I adopted the Primal life as much as possible (I live in NY and work in an office in Manhattan, it’s not easy). My symptoms began to improve dramatically. There’s no proof, but I firmly believe that the increased Primal alignment in lifestyle assisted the efficacy of the infusions. I feel no pain and only minor inflammation on occasion. I do feel pain if I indulge though, which tells me it’s the diet as much as the medication which helps. And so with the stricter adherence to the principles I became a healthier individual. And with that, more weight came off. At the time of my wedding that August I was down to 207 (at 6’3”).

This is somewhat of an aside, but it has to do with our Primal conviction to eat locally grown food. Following my wedding my wife and I went on a once in a lifetime honeymoon to Thailand. But we’re more adventure than resort types (though we did spend a little time in Koh Samui getting massages and relaxing on some sand). That was an eye-opening trip. Thailand is still developing as a country. It has a rich history and a mostly Buddhist people, but there’s a lot of jungle and a lot of nature. The food supply chain there is minimal and most food is local. While there I avoided wheat but I did not avoid sugar as I normally would have and I ate more fruit and rice than I thought ever possible. Funny thing was I had no adverse gut reaction. I gained a little weight, but we were also hiking and walking enough that it was minimal. I got to see chickens everywhere and I swear they were little dinosaurs. It made me think about our fat farmed chickens here and how different they were. If you never had a SouthEast Asian drumstick from a random dino-chick, I’d highly suggest it. I believe the local production of the food and minimal processing and handling made the fruits and rices far less problematic for me to digest. I also discovered my favorite food ever, Khanom Krok a coconut cream custard pancake, which we can make into Khanom Grok, by removing the sugar and replacing with whatever low glycemic sweetener or no sweetener at all. I also discovered the Lamut fruit, which is like a cross between a mango and a avocado (also known as mamey in South America). I spent a lot of time in the mountain villages, in temples, and in nature, outside. It was enlightening how connected I felt to the earth and the people who resided there. It was calming and invigorating at the same time. I did not want to leave. Sadly I had to. When I returned home I was only more emboldened to spend time outside, exposing myself to a variety of elements, and I continue to do so.

As I continued to try to embody Grok, I also did some experimentation. I tried lactose free cheese as I previously thought I was lactose intolerant, and had an adverse reaction. I thought that was odd so I did some research. I discovered there’s a less known reaction to dairy based on the casein protein, rather than the lactose sugar. I also found out that each mammal has a different protein structure in their milk, so I ventured forth and acquired some goat yogurt. Finding it far less gross than expected to I actually enjoyed it. I also had no reaction to it. I then tried goat cheese, still no reaction, and finally straight up goat milk, no reaction. My joy at being able to reintroduce full fat dairy products into my life after a decade of avoiding them was immeasurable. Thank you Trader Joes for your goat brie, it’s divine.

Also I regularly intermittent fast for 15 or 16 hours (5-6 days of the week). This has helped me tremendously as I find it gives my gut time to heal and helps me deal with my hunger, as my hunger is just as much emotional as it is physiological.

At this time I have found that keeping my diet simple (meat, eggs, goat dairy, greens, and cruciferous veggies with the occasional squash, and keeping my oils to animal fats, coconut, and avocado oil) is fairly easy with routine and experience. I removed all powdered foods except for collagen, and my supplements are natural with no fillers (I thank Vinnie Tortorich for his Pure Vitamin Club magnesium, and those at Ancestral Supplements for their desiccated offal, they’ve been very helpful). I also recently learned to increase my salt intake as well as the benefits to the variety of different salts

by listening to Dr. James DiNicolantonio.

So I ventured into the next section for obsession. My movement. As mentioned in the other story, I’m fairly active. I am a martial artist, and I had been using the exercise bike and I did pushups and developed the muscles to do unassisted pull ups. But I needed more. I tried a bunch of things, I did yoga for a bit (challenging but not for me), I tried calisthenic

circuit training, which was helpful but didn’t stick. I was looking for what was missing. I found it. It was fun. I wasn’t having fun in my workouts. And yeah there are really un-fun parts to a workout, especially if you’re new to it, but overall if the entire experience is neutral or negative, I found it to be boring and annoying.

So I did some searching and I found an old site bookmark for GMB. Recently I was gifted the Elements program for the holidays which required no equipment, only space, and focuses on range of motion and body control through animal based movements and mindful movements. It clicked for me. It wasn’t about the activity any more, but rather learning and improving a new skill with my body. And that lead to a revelation about me for me. My motivation comes from learning and pursuing a useful activity and skill. I can now apply that to the rest of my future activities, in making sure they align with a useful objective or new skill rather than increasing a number of something or just a general health focus. I don’t have to work out for the sake of working out. I can learn and practice mindfulness at the same time.

Two tumultuous and eventful years keeping to the Primal lifestyle, trying to influence others to adopt the lifestyle, and watching them succeed, struggle, or for some straight up refuse, has taught me many lessons. I found a lot of success in consistency, self-love, compassion, and embracing the discomfort that comes with change. And they feed into each other. It’s a work in progress, but I don’t miss the old lifestyle of grains and sugars and self-congratulatory lethargy, spending weekends on the couch staring at a screen. I don’t even consider that an option anymore.

Sure I may miss pizza when I smell it, and the taste of a fresh baked pastry. But I know those are fleeting feelings of momentary pleasure, while the consistent feeling of a healthy body, and even the little serotonin burst from making a healthy decision not to eat a small dessert or piece of candy offered is well worth the rather small sacrifice of avoiding good tasting non-foods. I say non-foods because I no longer consider those items food as they are not nourishing. I also know I have issues with moderation, even with Primal foods. I cannot be around dark chocolate covered almonds. I will eat them all and search for more. Like I said it’s a work in progress and no-one is perfect. I’ve made my mistakes multiple times over (no more spicy curry), but I don’t beat myself up for them. I learn from them and I know that my next decision can be a healthful one, and the one after that, and the one after that. Small, successive, healthy decision-making leads to consistency and progress.

I mentioned embracing discomfort rather than accepting discomfort because I found that if I merely accept and resign myself to discomfort it’s a surrender and can lead to a negative association. Rather I found it more productive to explore the discomfort. Why am I uncomfortable, is it my mind playing a trick on me, is it pain or inconvenience, and so on. Each experience of discomfort is a learning opportunity. This lead to discoveries in why I felt hungry at certain times even though I had recently eaten, it helped me push through sticking to a workout routine no matter how I felt that day, and it helped me remain consistent in the lifestyle. That is not to say the lifestyle is uncomfortable, but rather it’s learning how to become more comfortable in a variety of situations. The more we avoid discomfort the less we progress and the chances of feeling uncomfortable with any change life throws your way increases.

The mindset behind healthful decision making has bled over into my personal life. I am progressing in my career and improving honest fulfilling relationships. I would like to extend a hearty thank you to Mark and the Primal Blueprint team. I look forward to continuing my Primal journey and hopefully inspiring others. Grok On and keep it consistent!

The post Small, Successive, Healthy Decision-Making Leads To Consistency and Progress appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

14 Ways to Make Coffee Healthier

According to the stats, more than 80% of American adults use coffee to get going in the morning. Increasingly, we’re getting collectively pickier about what we drink, too. A report released this year by the National Coffee Association found that, for the first time in 67 years, more than half of all coffee consumed daily was classified as “gourmet.” 

But let’s be honest. There’s a lot of junk in that category—syrups and whipped toppings, soy milk and sugar galore. It’s a damned shame because coffee can offer big health benefits when done right. When done even better? Well, let’s take a look.

Buying the Best Brew

Whether you’re getting your coffee to-go or brewing a batch at home, know which sources are best. What certifications should you look out for? What questions should you ask your barista? What’s worth avoiding altogether? Let’s dive in.

Organic

Coffee has one of the highest pesticide application rates in the world, with studies showing full-spectrum pesticide residues (including DDT) in many conventional coffee beans are more common than not. It seems like an easy win, but some research shows that washing and roasting together remove most of the pesticides residues from coffee beans. So, I wouldn’t sweat it for the sake of toxicity. However, other studies indicate organic coffee may be more liver-protective and higher in health-promoting compounds than conventional coffee.

Mycotoxin-Free

Recently, there’s been a surge of interest regarding the potential contamination of coffee beans and products with mycotoxins, and it’s a debate which continues to raise hackles. Essentially, mycotoxins are the by-products of fungi that grow virtually everywhere and on everything. In the coffee world, there’s two types of mycotoxins in particular that are known to cause their fair share of health issues when ingested—Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A.

Both Aflatoxin B1 and Ochratoxin A are known carcinogens (amongst other things), meaning it’s a good idea to avoid them when you reasonably can. But it’s estimated that they contaminate around 25% of all foods, leading many coffee aficionados to question the credibility of claims that certain forms of growing and processing can ensure (pricey) products labeled “mycotoxin-free” are much better than those that simply use fairly standard practices most higher quality coffee producers employ anyway. Those same folks also tend to quote a study showing roasting contaminated coffee beans reduced mycotoxin levels by an average of 69%.

As I’ve shared recently, I wouldn’t stress about this point because coffee consumption appears time and again to be protective against most types of cancer and shows a protective relationship with all-cause mortality.

Sourcing (Fair Trade/Single Origin)

For a company to receive the Fair Trade cert, they must employ strategies for environmental sustainability on the grow op. It’s possible that this could mean less chemical applications during growing and healthier soils, which means a less toxic, more nutrient-dense coffee…but that’s really just pure speculation. Either way, ethically, it’s still preferable to a coffee that isn’t Fair Trade.

That being said, Fair Trade coffee isn’t well known for having high quality standards. As an alternative, you could consider buying “direct trade” coffee—but this doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything, meaning the quality (and therefore health factor) of the coffee in question is dependent on the importer/roaster.

Single origin is another area where there’s a decent amount of uncertainty, but the fact remains that drinking blended coffee makes it harder to determine whether the origins of your beans were good or somewhat lacking in the quality department.

While coffee connoisseurs might argue that blends produce tastier, more complex flavors, there can be a tendency for certain importers to select cheaper beans and hide behind the un-traceability of their brew. 

Shade Grown

In addition to the amazing ecological benefits presented by shade-grown coffee, there’s also a decent amount of research showing the nutritive advantages of shade-grown over conventional coffee beans. This study, for example, showed that beans grown under lychee shade had higher yield, greater phenolic content and superior antioxidant activity than conventional beans.

Roasting

It’s a well-known fact that the antioxidant potential of a given coffee bean can be vary considerably depending on whether it is green (aka raw) or roasted. Studies have shown that, while green coffee has higher levels of chlorogenic acid (itself a very desirable antioxidant), roasted coffee tends to have higher levels of protective antioxidants. 

If you have the choice, opting for roasts that fall within the middle of the scale (like blonde and medium roasts) should provide the highest levels of bioactive phytochemicals.

Arabica vs. Robusta

Ultimately, whether you choose Arabica or Robusta beans comes down to personal taste more than anything. The antioxidant potential of each varies considerably depending on the region it was grown in, the way it was processed, and how it was roasted…meaning recommending one over another is a bit of stretch.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Robusta generally has significantly higher levels of caffeine than Arabica. Depending on your needs (and considering the fact that caffeine is an antioxidant itself), this may be a more influential factor in choosing between the two kinds.

Decaffeinated

If you’ve made the decision (or had your hand forced by the powers that be) to steer clear of caffeine, decaf coffee is still an okay choice…provided you choose wisely. Typical methods of caffeine extraction include organic solvents, water, or supercritical CO2. Most is produced using solvents like methyl chloride and ethyl acetate, which you really don’t want, so finding a decaf that doesn’t use nasty chemicals to remove the caffeine is the name of the game.

Keep in mind that decaf does tend to be a bit lower in antioxidants than regular, and that it’s not completely free of caffeine. 

Storage

As with all perishables, coffee is not immune to the vagaries of air, light, heat and moisture. Here’s a few tips on how best to store your coffee to avoid significant declines in quality and taste:

Whole coffee beans are best, as the hygroscopic (moisture-retaining) nature of coffee means that the less surface area you have, the longer it will retain its nutritional profile and shirk oxidation. Pre-ground coffee has a larger surface area, therefore making it more prone to the ravages of moisture and air. 
Unsurprisingly, coffee degrades relatively quickly over time, so try to buy your coffee in smaller batches that you can consume within a week or so.
Store your coffee in an airtight container, preferably one that’s composed of opaque glass, ceramic or stainless steel. Because heat and light can quickly compromise the nutrient potential of your coffee, store it somewhere cool(ish) and dark like in the back of the pantry.
If you happen to “accidentally” buy a large batch of coffee, you can store the bulk of it in the freezer. Just make sure your storage vessel is thick and super-duper airtight, to avoid compromising flavor and allowing in moisture. 

Healthier Additions For Your Coffee

Coffee by itself is good, but coffee with strategic additions is even better. Here are a few health-minded upgrades that may not only make your coffee taste a whole lot better but amplify its already impressive nutrient profile as well.

Real Cream

If vegetable oil based “creamer” is the epitome of lousy coffee, real cream is the pinnacle of coffee excellence. Because of the high fat content, choose organic at least and (even better) grass-fed to get the most benefit from those healthy fats.

Healthy Cream Alternatives

While cream has less allergenic potential than the likes of milk, it still contains trace amounts of lactose and casein. Macadamia cream certainly comes to mind, as it’s almost as rich and fatty as dairy cream. Tahini is also a decent cream substitute, due to its high fat content and coffee-compatible taste. And coconut cream is another obvious alternative, but the taste isn’t for everyone and it’s essential to find a product that isn’t laden with additives, preservatives and plastics.

Butter

Butter is even less likely to provoke food allergies than cream, and it’s almost as tasty. Beyond all the Bulletproof-esque hype, there’s undeniable benefits to adding butter to your cup of Joe—like easier absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins in coffee, and the vitamins and healthy fats in the butter itself. This is especially true for grass-fed butter. Just make sure you’re giving the caloric content full due here. 

Collagen

I’ve written about this before, and the team will routinely offer up collagen coffee recipes on the blog here and on the PrimalKitchen.com blog. It’s become a go-to for me since the early days of Collagen Fuel mixes. (My personal favorite in coffee is the Vanilla Coconut.)

Cinnamon

Nine times out of ten its natural sweetness is enough to make up for any lack of sugar. Plus, there’s the fact that it can offset any blood sugar spikes if you also end up adding sugar, and the way in which its earthy spiciness blends seamlessly with the flavors of a robust brew.

Cardamom

In a study published last year, blending coffee with cardamom produced enhanced free radical-scavenging and antioxidant properties over coffee alone. And if you’re partial to a little cardamom in desserts, you’re bound to enjoy it in your coffee.

Cacao

If you’ve got a soft spot for mocha, you could do worse than to add some raw cacao nibs or ultra-dark (>85%) chocolate to your daily cuppa. Cocoa beans are loaded with polyphenols, healthy fats, and a bucketload of flavor that pairs swimmingly with coffee beans.

A quick and dirty method is to roughly chop some dark chocolate squares, pour some freshly brewed, hot coffee on top to melt the chocolate, and add a decent serving of fresh cream to complete a drink that can hold its own against any mocha out there.  

Finally, for anyone who’s craving some now, check out these 7 healthier coffee recipes that use many of the strategies above.

Thanks for reading, everyone. How do you make your morning brew the best? Got any great healthy additions I didn’t cover here?

The post 14 Ways to Make Coffee Healthier appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

How Ancestry Might Inform Your Fat Choices

One of the more exciting developments over the past few years has been the explosion in population genetics research. People are a diverse lot, and even though we’re all people who essentially want the same things out of life (and we’re working with the same basic machinery), there’s a lot of wiggle room. It’s not just information for curiosity’s sake. The information researchers are uncovering about human ancestry can have real ramifications for how said humans should eat.

A couple years ago, I wrote a post laying out a few guidelines for using your personal ancestry to inform your diet. Today, I’m going to talk about another one: polyunsaturated fat metabolism.

For years, it’s been “common knowledge” in alternative health circles that most people just aren’t very good at converting the omega-3s (ALA) in plant foods into the long-chained omega-3s found in seafood (DHA, EPA), and that everyone should just eat fish for their omega-3s. This remains solid advice, but the reasoning needs a little tweaking. It turns out that the genes that encode the proteins responsible for conversion of ALA into DHA/EPA (and linoleic acid into arachidonic acid)—known as FADS—have a couple variants. Some variants make conversion less effective and some make conversion more effective. Furthermore, the distribution of these variants vary across populations.

For instance, the variant that increases conversion of ALA into DHA and EPA is more common in South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan) populations and African populations than any other group, while it’s moderately common in Europeans and East Asians and rarest in Native Americans and Arctic natives. Why?

In Africa, anatomically modern humans initially crowded along the coasts because that’s where the food was, especially the omega-3-rich seafood that provided the nutrients necessary for brain expansion. When humans began expanding into the omega-3-deficient interior of the continent, those with the FADS gene variant for improved long chain PUFA conversion were more successful. They could live in areas totally bereft of marine foods and still make enough EPA and DHA to survive and produce big-brained babies. Researchers estimate that the new variant became entrenched in African populations around 85,000 years ago due to positive selection. To this day, African populations almost exclusively carry the variant that increases conversion.

Then, as modern humans left Africa and moved into Europe and Asia carrying that same genetic variant, they encountered new environments that placed new demands on their genes.

In South Asia, the gene variant persisted. Plants were plentiful and long-chained omega-3s were not due to warm water reducing the omega-3 content of marine life, and the ability to efficiently convert fats offered a survival advantage. About 3/4 of the population carries it today.

In East Asia, about 1/2 of the population carries it.

In Europe, meat and fish were more widely available. Conversion was less necessary when you had a regular intake of pre-formed EPA, DHA, and arachidonic acid. Thanks to European admixture with existing archaic populations who still had the conversion-decreasing variant, its frequency increased until the arrival of farmers from the East, whose agricultural innovations selected for and genes contributed to the conversion-increasing variant.

In Native American populations, including Arctic, North American, and Latin American natives, the variant is almost completely absent. They were getting all their long-chain PUFAs directly from animal and marine foods, and it shows in the genes.

That’s a broad overview. The story’s more complicated than that, of course. East Asia is a big place with many different ethnic groups. Same goes for Europe, and Africa, and everywhere else. Except for the Africans and Native Americans, the frequency of the variants vary within these populations.

In European populations, for example, the conversion-increasing variant has the strongest selection in southern European populations (Tuscans), slightly less strong selection in Iberian populations (Spain/Portugal), moderate selection in Britain and northern Europe, and the weakest selection in far northern Europeans (Finns).

The ancient European groups that fed into modern populations followed a similar north-south pattern of variance. West and Scandinavian hunter-gatherers in the north show the least selection for the variant, since the cold waters of northern Europe offered plenty of cold water fatty fish and elongation of plant omega-3s just wasn’t very helpful or necessary. Pastoralists and farmers to the south show the most selection.

What’s it all mean?

People with African ancestry are almost certainly homozygous (2 copies) carriers of the increased-conversion variant. South Asians, including Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Sri Lankans, are also strong candidates to be homozygous carriers. Southern Europeans are most likely heterozygous (1 copy) carriers, Western and Northern Europeans less so.

Indigenous ancestry (unless African) probably means you’re a carrier of the decreased-conversion variant. Alaskan or Greenland Inuit, American Indian, Mexican mestizo—they tend to have lower FADS activity due to the relatively recent inclusion of agricultural foods in their ancestral diets. The farther north your people hail from, the more likely you are to carry at least one copy of the decreased-conversion variant.

If you carry the FADS variant that increases conversion:

Watch your linoleic acid intake. A major reason linoleic—>arachidonic conversion was selected for was the rarity of both long-chain PUFAs and linoleic acid in the ancestral environment. Being able to convert all your linoleic acid to AA is great, assuming you’re not cooking with soybean oil, eating fries fried in corn oil, and snacking on potato chips in between meals. Seed oil high in concentrated linoleic acid is a historical aberration for everyone regardless of ancestry.
Don’t think you can skip the fish and start glugging flax oil just because your mom was Sri Lankan and your dad was Tuscan. Studies show that the benefits of long-chained omega-3s like DHA are not modified by FADS gene status. Everyone can benefit from fish. Some people just need it more.

If you carry the FADS variant that reduces conversion:

You need pre-formed DHA/EPA and arachidonic acid. You don’t make it very well. That means eating fish, shellfish, eggs, and other animal foods. Hard sell, I know.
And if you eat a ton of vegetable oil—as most people do these days—you’re in trouble. Research shows that people with the conversion-decreasing variant who eat a lot of linoleic acid have lower HDL, higher triglycerides, and a bigger waist than those who eat very little.
Your absorption and incorporation of DHA from food may be enhanced. One study in infants with the conversion-reducing variant found that taking fish oil increased DHA way more than in other babies. This could be a feature of infants with the variant—mom eats fish, passes DHA through breastmilk to baby, who absorbs every last drop—and not of adults.

Don’t know your FADS gene status? No problem. It’s actually more fun this way.

I would take the time to get your ancestry tested, unless you’re absolutely certain of your family tree—and it stretches far enough back to actually say something about your deep ancestry. That way you can look at the various populations from which you hail and make some educated guesses. And you can even plug the raw genetic data into a service that spits out your nutrition-and-health-related variants.

Even then, you may not get any hard and fast answers. FADS gene variant frequency data isn’t widely available for every possible ethnic group on Earth, so a lot of this is more art and intuition than hard science.

If the traditional diet of your immediate ancestry is plant-based—not vegan, just not buying steak from the non-existent grocery store—you probably carry at least one and perhaps two copies of the conversion-enhancing variant.

If your people lived near the sea or ate a decent amount of animal foods, you’re probably carrying one of the conversion-reducing variants.

Whatever you do, take it easy. Have fun with it. Very few people represent the tail end of an unbroken line of ethnic purity. Most people will vary a bit here or there, or a ton here and a ton there. I have a lot of Scandinavian ancestry, which explains my need for a lot of pre-formed DHA and EPA from wild seafood (I’ve confirmed with genetic tests).

As this topic is a moving target, with new data coming out constantly, I’ll probably revisit it from time to time. Until then, what do you all think about the field of ancestral influence and health? What’s your ethnic background, and what do you think it means for your ability to metabolize PUFA? And what other questions do you have regarding ancestry and diet?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!

The post How Ancestry Might Inform Your Fat Choices appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.