Mark Sisson's Blog, page 208

Weekend Link Love – Edition 419

 

If you’re pinterested in winning a gift certificate to Whole Foods, enter this Primal Kitchen Pinterest contest.

Elle Russ chats about The Paleo Thyroid Solution with Primal Health Coach Vanessa Lambert on the Bee the Wellness podcast.

Research of the Week

Oxytocin is awesome.

30 grams of freeze-dried wild blueberries provides big cognitive boosts to 7-10 year olds, 15 grams less so.

Your fitness tracker probably won’t actually help you lose much weight.

The effect of cold showers on health and productivity.

Don’t let your genetics dissuade you from exercising and eating well.

A review of vitamin D and cancer finds “there exist over 15 types of cancer for which UVB exposure and/or 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations have been found associated with reduced risk.”

Cultures historically exposed to large variations in rainfall (a proxy for agricultural risk) tend to be more collectivist, asserts a new paper.

New evidence of human-controlled fire in the early paleolithic: burnt mammal bones from a 780k-980k years-old Spanish dig site.

Scientists witness genes age (and find that eating less food slows the process).

Fasting for up to 72 hours is “safe and feasible” for cancer patients undergoing plantium-based chemotherapy.

Neanderthals made body ornaments.

In Singapore Chinese men and women, elevated liver enzymes predict type 2 diabetes risk.

Escaped farmed salmon are getting it on with wild salmon.

Too many are too sedentary.

The BMJ’s editor calls for an independent review of statins.

New (and Old) Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 84: Gabrielle Reece: Check out this episode from the archives. Elle Russ sits down with Gabby Reece, legendary Olympic volleyball champion. The two talk diet, pesticide use in Hawaii, raising children, ballistic training, and more.

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.

Where Do Legumes Belong in the Primal Eating Plan?
How to Snack Responsibly in the New World of Health Food Marketing
How to Accept Your Body After Significant Weight Loss
CRISPR: What Does Gene-Editing Mean for the Future of Primal Living?

Interesting Blog Posts

How to use resistance bands (and why you shouldn’t sneer at them).

Bad science: a matter of when, not if.

How current in vitro fertilization technology already allows prospective parents to assess each embryo’s genetic makeup before choosing.

Media, Schmedia

The Telegraph discovers the wonders of high-fat cheese.

Outside Online covers the high-fat diet for athletes.

Nature-based schools show promise.

Everything Else

Elle Russ chats about The Paleo Thyroid Solution with Primal Health Coach Vanessa Lambert on the Bee the Wellness podcast.

Swap ants for humans and you’ve got yourself a decent premise for a YA sci-fi series.

What’s the point of even living?

The UN General Assembly is meeting to discuss superbugs.

Why you should consider eccentric isometric training.

Danish archaeologists unearth evidence of an ancient goof.

Why doesn’t honey go bad?

Chicago just opened an adult playground.

Recipe Corner

Remember Salisbury steak?
DIY McRib (just ditch the bun).

Time Capsule

One year ago (Sep 25 – Oct 1)

9 Ways to Restart Your Primal Lifestyle – Everyone falls down. Here’s how to get back up.
Foodborne Illness Wrap-Up: The Role of Your Health and Your Food’s Health – The conclusion.

Comment of the Week

Gluten free apples are all the rage here!

– Man, I’ve been looking everywhere for those.

The post Weekend Link Love – Edition 419 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Beef Milanesa with Peach Salsa and Spinach

I’m Melissa Joulwan, but you can call me Mel. I have a killer recipe for you today. But first, I’ll tell you a little about myself. I’m the author of the paleo cookbooks Well Fed, Well Fed 2, and the soon-to-be-released Well Fed Weeknights: Complete Paleo Meals in 45 Minutes or Less (pre-order now!). I also write a blog called MelJoulwan.com (formerly The Clothes Make The Girl), where I write about my triumphs and failures in the kitchen, in the gym, and in life. I’m also a former rollergirl known as Melicious, but I’ve mostly stopped knocking people down for fun. Mostly.

After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and treating food as the enemy, I found Paleo in 2009, and I’ve been happily eating this way ever since. That year, I also had a thyroidectomy—which was less fun than you might imagine. In the aftermath of the surgery and recovery, I became really interested in how what I eat affects my hormones, body composition, mood, and motivation. These days, my workouts include yoga and meditation, as well as lifting heavy things and high-intensity intervals.

In my previous cookbooks I made a strong argument for batch cooking—a.k.a. a Weekly Cookup—so your fridge would be stocked with food all week. I still think that’s a great idea, but sometimes real life means we don’t have a few hours to spend doing prep in the kitchen. With Well Fed Weeknights, I gave myself a challenge: Go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients for a meal, then come home and cook it in under 45 minutes. I completed that exercise about 175 times, and the result is my new cookbook. When he reviewed an advance copy of my new book, Mark was kind enough to say, “Mel is one of my favorite authors/chefs in any food genre. She never ceases to impress with her creativity and passion, and Well Fed Weeknights is no exception. Be prepared to get your Paleo on every night of the week!”

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is super-fast and crazy-delicious. Milanesa is a popular dish in Latin American countries, but just about every cuisine has its own version of breaded meat cutlets fried to crisp perfection. In the United States, we’ve got chicken-fried steak, and there’s Austrian Wiener Schnitzel, Italian scaloppine, and Japanese tonkatsu. No matter what name you apply, it’s irresistible. This version uses a small amount of paleo-friendly starch and a pan sauté to create a crisp crust.

The bold, colorful peach salsa on top? That’s just bonus awesome.

I’d love to hear what you think of this recipe; get in touch on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Servings: 2-4

Time in the Kitchen: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients

Salsa:

1 (14.5-ounce) can unsweetened sliced peaches packed in juice
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 medium red onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 fresh jalapeño pepper
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Avocado Oil

Beef:

1 large egg
1/2 cup tapioca starch or arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 thin-cut slices beef top round or sirloin (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1-2 tablespoons PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Avocado Oil
1 (5-ounce) package baby spinach

Directions:

Make the salsa. Drain the peaches over a bowl to catch the juice and set the juice aside. Cut the peaches into 1/2-inch dice and slice the cherry tomatoes in half; place in a large mixing bowl. Finely mince the onion, garlic, mint leaves, and jalapeño; add them to the peaches. Add the lime juice, 1 tablespoon peach juice, and avocado oil. Toss gently with a rubber scraper to combine.

Make the beef. In a shallow bowl, beat the egg; set aside. In a second shallow bowl, mix together the tapioca starch, salt, and pepper with a fork. Place 1 tablespoon avocado oil in a large, nonstick skillet and heat it over medium-high heat, 2 minutes. While the oil heats, dip the beef slices in the egg, one at a time, then dredge each in the tapioca. Cook the beef on both sides, about 3 minutes per side, until well browned and sizzling.

To serve, divide the baby spinach leaves among individual plates, top with the hot beef milanesa, and spoon peach salsa over the top.

YOU KNOW HOW YOU COULD DO THAT?

Use fresh peaches in summer, if you’re lucky enough to have them. You can also replace the beef with thin-cut pork or chicken cutlets. Make it Italian with marinara sauce instead of peaches, or top it with a fried egg for Argentinian flair.

The post Beef Milanesa with Peach Salsa and Spinach appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Submit Your Story: You Could Win the Entire Primal Kitchen Product Line!

Calling all readers! Do you have a Primal Blueprint Success Story you’d like to share? Then I want to hear from you (and so do the rest of us)! I’ll even give you the shot at winning an awesome prize package.

Write it your story and include a photo. Including both pre-Primal and post-Primal pics is best, but not required. Don’t worry if you’re not sporting a six-pack. This isn’t a “who’s the most ripped” contest. Whether you’ve lost 100 pounds over two years of Primal living or you’ve simply managed to kick that Diet Coke habit, just tell me what going Primal has done for you. I’m looking for interesting and personal stories of all varieties.

You can include details about your health history, how you found MDA and The Primal Blueprint, what has worked and what hasn’t, what differences you’ve seen in how you look and feel, and anything else you think readers might be able to learn from (that you’re open to sharing) are welcome. It doesn’t have to be a thousand word diatribe, but more than a couple paragraphs is best. Feel free to be creative with your story format, too. Remember, good stories usually have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And of course, honesty is king.

If you’ve ever thought about sending in your story but haven’t gotten around to it, then there is no better time than now!

The Prize

The entire PRIMAL KITCHEN™ product line! You’ll get to much on and cook with every product currently available from PRIMAL KITCHEN™.  

The prize package includes:

1 jar of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo

1 jar of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Chipotle Lime Mayo

1 bottle of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Avocado Oil

1 bottle of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Extra Virgin Avocado Oil

1 container of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Vanilla Primal Fuel

1 container of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Chocolate Primal Fuel

1 12-pack box of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Dark Chocolate Almond Bars

1 12-pack box of my brand new PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Coconut Cashew Bars

1 bottle of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

1 bottle of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Greek Vinaigrette

Examples

There are tons of great examples throughout MDA history.

Just take a look through the Success Stories archives here for ideas on how to write your own.

How to Enter

Email me your story along with any pictures. Please use the subject heading “My Primal Story.” That way your story makes it to the top of my inbox and doesn’t get lost at sea.

Eligibility

Anyone in the world can enter.

The Deadline

September 30, midnight PDT.

How the Winner Will Be Determined

My team and I will determine which stories and accompanying photos get published on MDA. But the winner of the prize package above will be chosen at random from those that are submitted.

Ready to Share Your Story? Write It Up and Email Me Here.

Good luck, everyone! I look forward to reading each and every story.

The post Submit Your Story: You Could Win the Entire Primal Kitchen Product Line! appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

4 Surprising Ways Other People Affect Your Health

Jean-Paul Sartre in one of his famous plays said, “Hell is—other people.” I think most of us might sympathize with that claim depending on the day and the person we’re dealing with. On the flip side, people can be the source of our greatest joys. His sentiment, regardless, speaks to the strong impact others can have on us. Whether we like it or not, we all live (and need to live) in some relation to others. None of us exist in a vacuum, and research on extreme isolation suggests the real hell on earth might be exactly that. So make no mistake—how people make us feel is not just the stuff of poetry and philosophy. Other people can and do influence our immediate physiology as well as our ongoing health. What does this process look like though? How does it play out in our lives? Let’s examine a few examples.

Evolution shaped us to be intricately social creatures. From the time of infancy, we’re innately directed to be highly attuned to those around us—first to our mothers and/or primary caregivers and later to our peers and larger community. Complex neurological patterns guide our instinctual process of observation and emulation. Researchers have long studied “mirroring,” the subconscious mechanism that moves us to adopt the subtle behavioral signals of someone whom with we’re likely to establish rapport, trust and empathy—the cornerstones of human connection. Interdependence and the social tools to support it are written into our DNA.

But the effects go even deeper than observational behaviors.

Studies show that people’s brain waves begin to oscillate in the same rhythms during verbal exchanges they deem as positive. This goes for group settings and even with strangers.

Likewise, our heart rates synchronize with loved ones during personal exchanges or when we see them experiencing stress.

Communal rituals may hold the same sway. Participants in choir performance, for example, have been shown to synchronize heart variability.

So it shouldn’t surprise us to know that the company we keep has the power to influence our daily choices and, by extension, our overall well-being. This isn’t to let us off the hook. None of us is operating from a pure monkey see, monkey do mentality. But we can understand (and at times harness) the latent proclivity to go with the flow, whether its leading where we want to go or not.

Here are just a few ways the company we keep can affect our bodies and minds.

Weight/body composition

For better or worse, studies have shown that the kinds of folks you associate with can affect your waistline. A New England Journal of Medicine study found that having one friend who was obese raised the risk of obesity by 57% over the course of 30 years. Friends, the study showed, were more influential (even long-distance) than family members. This is enough to make anyone sit up and listen.

In fact, some research suggests that the social network model can be exploited to actually prevent or dial back the onset of obesity across groups. Offering weight management support for random members of a social cluster may have reverberating effects.

In other words, if one person (or several people) take charge of their body composition, the effects can effectively spread to other members of the social group.

Be the change, as they say, seems to apply here. Wearing a Grok shirt to family picnics or gifting a Primal book to your neighborhood’s Little Library may not hurt either. Share the message and connect with others who reflect the healthy “norm” you want to embody in your life. The effects can spread wider than you may know.

Mood disorders

Some years ago there were headlines claiming that depression was contagious. As most sensationalist headlines do, it got big attention at the time, but it only told part of the story. Indeed, some research does indicate a social clustering of depressive symptoms, particularly among women. Oddly, the study above found that the onset of depression in a spouse didn’t impose the same heightened risk of depression in his/her partner to the same degree as having a friend with depression did. This contradicts other research that revealed 40% of those living with a diagnosed depressed person met clinical criteria for depression as well.

Other findings, however, demonstrated the flip side of this phenomenon, showing the “spread” of happiness. The closer you live to, and the more you interact with, happy people, the findings suggest, the more potent the effect. Having a sibling or friend who experienced happiness and lived within one mile raised the probability of being happy by 25%. Living with a spouse who was happy showed a similar effect. Other research on adolescents also affirmed the spread of happiness, showing that having happy friends raised the probability of recovery from depression.

What we can take from this? Above all, we can understand the need to actively and selectively attach and detach from others’ feelings. When the mood is high, and people around us are happy, we can let ourselves soak it in. When it’s low, offer empathy and support, but stay vigilant to maintain your own emotional independence.

When it comes to depression, given our human propensity to be influenced by others’ behaviors, we must take charge of our own feelings. Meditation techniques around detachment can help fortify our own emotional boundaries. Likewise, taking responsibility for our lives (being selfish) means ensuring we don’t become fixated on another’s situation. The more problems there are around us long-term, the bigger life we need to live.

Fitness

One study of 3000 students from the U.S. Air Force Academy showed that a student was three times more likely to fail basic fitness requirements if more than half of his/her friends fell out of shape. (PDF)

On the other side of the coin, direct support from others can spur us to exercise more consistently and to make more of our workouts. A study of 1000 women commissioned by Virgin Active found that over 30% of respondents called their friends their “main motivation” for staying fit. Sixty-four percent of participants said they train harder with others than if they go it alone. The study found subjects worked out longer and went to the gym more often if they went with a friend. Other research found that people benefit from others’ fitness only when they perceive support for their own exercise efforts as well.

Here’s where community might just be essential. Even if you’re an introverted exerciser who’d rather hit the gym or the trail alone, you’ll benefit from a supportive set of friends. Accountability and encouragement might come over social media for some of us as well as it does in paired workouts for others. Choose the support you want for your fitness, and go get it.

Immunity and heart health

Have you been seeing red lately? Maybe it’s the times, but this one’s been on my mind lately. Anger, as anyone can imagine, doesn’t do our health any favors, and research confirms that assumption. Just recalling an angering experience suppresses immunity for six hours.

Not surprisingly, the effects can be much more deleterious. Angry outbursts can triple your risk for stroke within the next two hours. And if anger is a chronic problem for you, research suggests you’ll earn yourself double the risk for cardiovascular disease.

What does anger have to do with other people? (I can hear the snickers through the screen.) There’s a post unto itself, but let me just highlight the impact of anger on social media. A team from Cornell University cycled through 70 million tweets, observing user interaction and assigning each tweet one of four emotional labels (sadness, joy, disgust and anger). Of all the emotions, anger, they found, was more contagious than any other response. Anger had the widest span as well, lasting through three degrees of separation.

What’s the take-home here? It may not be a bad season to cull your social media feeds or take an outright break if you find the collective fury is disturbing your peace. Keeping yourself on an even keel isn’t selfish. It constitutes good self-care—and just may be a wise act of public service that keeps immune systems and tickers strong.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the influence of others on your daily health, well-being and peace of mind. Have a great end to the week.

The post 4 Surprising Ways Other People Affect Your Health appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

How to Snack Responsibly in the New World of Health Food Marketing

The growth of the Primal movement has not gone unnoticed. Food producers have latched on because, as much as we emphasize foraging the perimeter of the grocery store—the produce, the meats, the bulk goods—and eschewing processed foods, we remain creatures of convenience. Not everyone has the time or inclination to personally prepare every single morsel that enters their mouths. Sometimes we just need something quick and easy to snack on. And the food industry has risen to the occasion, offering ostensibly healthy Primal-friendly snack foods.

But are they really healthy?

It’s certainly better than previous incarnations of “healthy snack food.”

I’m thinking of the low-fat craze of the 90s, which spawned such obesogenic fare as non-fat Snackwells and yogurts, which made up for the missing fat with extra sugar, and the unholy chips cooked in artificial fat your body couldn’t even absorb—but that your underwear certainly could. This era saw obesity and diabetes rates skyrocket.

Then there are the “100% real juice” products (as opposed to what? I gotta ask). You’d hope the juice is “real.”

And don’t forget about the “healthy whole grains” emblazoned across anything with even a hint of bran and germ. It should just read “soon-to-be sugar, plus some gut irritants.”

The “no high fructose corn syrup” labels that gloss over the fact that they’ve simply replaced HFCS with an equal (and equally damaging) amount of sugar.

The fancy names for sugar: “Evaporated cane juice” (mined from natural sugar springs, no doubt), “crystalline fructose” (ooh, it must be breathtaking under a microscope!), “agave nectar” (hand milked from heritage agave plants on ancestral Hohokam tribal lands, no doubt), “brown rice syrup” (hey, that’s a healthywholegrain!), “raw sugar” (it’s kinda brown so it must be good for you), and all the others.

It’s easy to poke holes in conventionally-healthy snack foods. That’s what we do around here.

But what about the growing number of snack foods marketed to Primal, paleo, and “real food” consumers—are they good for us?

Some are, some aren’t. As I said, we like convenience. Often, we require it just to stay sane and make life go smoothly. Snack food will be on the menu, so we need to understand how to navigate the sordid world of Primal-friendly snack food. How can we do it? What should we watch out for?

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: Primal (or paleo) doesn’t mean healthy.

Is honey Primal? Sure. Are dates? Yep. How about cacao? Of course. And tapioca starch? I’ll give it to you. Coconut oil? Hell yes. Combining excessive amounts of them all into an amorphous blob doesn’t make the healthiest thing you can eat, though. It gives you a subpar brownie if not done correctly.

We all agree that nuts can be a beneficial part of a healthy Primal eating plan, but that doesn’t mean you should grind up a cup of them, throw in some coconut milk, coconut syrup, and eggs and make pancakes every morning.

So here are a few things you should do when picking out your next Primal-friendly snack food.

Heed the labels

They’re the first things you’ll see. And while they can be informative, they’re also misleading.

“Paleo-approved.” People are beginning to stick “paleo-approved” or “paleo” on just about everything. I like it. Helps you separate the (gluten-free) wheat from the chaff. But it can also be misleading if you don’t do some extra investigating.

Grain-free granola clusters with honey as the first ingredient.
Dark chocolate coconut-butter cups. I bet these are great. And they’re fine as an indulgence. But it’s ultimately candy and should be treated as such.
Plain old roasted almonds. Technically correct, as roasted almonds are “paleo-approved.” But the presence of “paleo-approved” on the label just increased the price by 30%; you’d be better off grabbing some almonds from the bulk bin or farmer’s market.

“Gluten-free.” Gluten-free crackers, cookies, cakes, and muffins are still crackers, cookies, cakes, and muffins. I’m not opposed to gluten-free crackers (see below), but let’s be honest with ourselves.

Organic is nice but not sufficient. All else being equal, I’ll take the organic snack over the non-organic snack. But things are rarely equal. Read the rest of the label.

Scrutinize the ingredients

Watch for sugar. Remember all the synonyms listed above.

Avoid weird oils and fats. The healthiest-sounding snack can be derailed by a big whack of “organic free-range soybean oil.”

Placement determines predominance. Food producers must list ingredients in descending order of predominance by weight. If there’s more honey than anything else, honey gets top billing. Use this to determine the relative proportion of problematic ingredients.

Look past the ingredients

Taking each ingredient on its own can make a product look impressive and nutritious. Consider the almond pancake I mentioned earlier. Yes, all those things are “good” for us. But in the end, it’s still a pancake (or a brownie, or a cookie, or whatever it is you’re contemplating eating).

Beware the sub par bars

“Wow, this bar has dark chocolate, figs, and blueberries! Those are all healthy foods that I enjoy on the regular. This bar must be the healthiest thing ever!”

Actually, it’s just a dense brick of dates, nuts, and other fruits. Very little protein, a ton of sugar, and more calories than you think. It’s real food, it’s nothing our bodies aren’t expecting, but the dense structure and high calorie content make it easy to put away a ton of food without realizing it. I’ve seen people eat three or four Lara Bars in a single sitting—close to 800 calories chock full of sugar—as a snack.

Beware fruit snacks (leathers, strips, etc)

I have nothing against fruit. Far more than just a “bag of sugar,” it’s a great source of polyphenols and fiber. If you’re looking for carbs or something sweet, fruit is probably a good option. But just eat the fruit. The vast majority of “all-fruit” strips achieve their status by using “fruit juice concentrates.” Sure, that banana blueberry fruit strip you gobbled as you stalked the aisles of Trader Joe’s didn’t have any refined sugar, but it did receive infusions of grape syrup.

Use crackers wisely

I won’t tell you to never eat those gluten-free chia seed-festooned sprouted wild rice flour crackers (partly because I know you’re going to get them regardless). Just don’t eat an entire box of them by themselves. Instead, throw some aged gouda on top and have fewer crackers. Spread some lamb liver paté on top. Have them with cream cheese and smoked salmon. This applies to any type of paleo-approved version of otherwise forbidden edible vehicles (bread, chips, wraps, etc).

There’s nothing wrong with convenience

Hell, one of my favorite pastimes is going into Costco, beelining for the organic section at the front of the store, and browsing all the snacks and treats. There’s always something new. Most of it is candy and other types of junk masquerading as healthy food—organic fruit snacks, trail mixes, high-cacao dark chocolate-covered pomegranate gummies—but occasionally you’ll find a gem. Like the time my local Costco had something called “Grok Chips.”

These things were the real deal. Grana padano cheese, oven-baked into crackers. They were crunchy and filling and rich in protein and calcium. And that name—what are the chances? I still wish I’d bought a case of them when I had the opportunity. Alas, I’ve never seen them since.

But there are some great products out there that both cater to a growing market and provide excellent nutrition. How about that: a company profiting by providing goods that truly serve a need and desire.

For Primal Kitchen, I’ve focused almost exclusively on real-food products that either replace a hard-to-make food or offer a hard-to-find nutrient. Everyone loves to eat it but hates making mayo, so I came up with some using avocado oil. Everyone knows they should be eating more gelatin/collagen but making bone broth is a pain, so I came up with a delicious chocolate almond bar (and now, coconut cashew bar) full of it.

If you’re having the classics, might I recommend:

Nuts and seeds.
Jerky and pemmican.
Hard cheese.
Cured meats.
Dried fruit.
Canned sardines and oysters.

As well as some newcomers:

Tigernuts (and tigernut flour, which is delicious added to yogurt).
EXO cricket bars.
Seaweed snacks.

If you’re still floundering in the sea of snacks, check out my “Essential Paleo Pantry Foods” post. It’s got a section for Sisson-approved snacks.

Again, I’m all about personal agency. You have to make your own choices. You can eat whatever you want. Just know that not every food producer trying to capitalize on the ancestral health movement is producing nutrient-dense foods. Hopefully after reading today’s post, you feel better equipped to determine which ones deserve your dollars.

Thanks for reading, everyone. How do you scrutinize snacks? What criteria do you follow?

The post How to Snack Responsibly in the New World of Health Food Marketing appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Where Do Legumes Belong in the Primal Eating Plan?

I never cared much for legumes growing up. Growing up, beans were the “magical (or musical) fruit that made you toot.” They existed in a quantum state: beans were your ally in schoolyard rear-facing attacks and your downfall during encounters with that pretty girl from history class. But the issues I had were mostly superficial. I’ve never come out strongly against legumes. My focus has always been on grain avoidance.

Way back, I placed beans and lentils and other legumes in the “Okay” category. If you wanted to eat them, and you had carb calories to spare, they were a decent choice. Flatulence aside, they are relatively nutritious and come with a big dose of prebiotic fiber for your gut flora (hence the gas).

Huh? You might be having one of two reactions:

Sisson says legumes are back on the menu, boys! Let’s go grab some Taco Bell bean burritos!

Sisson just put legumes at the bottom of the PB Food Pyramid! He’s sold out to Big Bean! Get him!

Before you either tar and feather me or subject your office mates to chemical warfare, allow me to explain.

Stephan over at Whole Health Source wrote an interesting article a few years back alleging that paleolithic (and some extant) hunter-gatherers did (and do) utilize wild legumes.

Stephan cites several examples:

The !Kung San from southern Africa, who in amenable regions eat large amounts of wild tsin beans. Tsin beans are about 33/33/33 fat/protein/carb, kind of a cross between a peanut and bean.

The Australian Aboriginals, who ate a lot of acacia seeds. These days, acacia fiber is a popular prebiotic supplement, but the whole seed was a legume providing ample protein, fat, and calories for the native inhabitants.

The tribes of the American Southwest, who ate the starchy legumes of the mesquite tree.

The Neanderthals of Shanidar Cave, Iraq and Spy Cave, Belgium, whose dentals fossils showed residues from wild legumes related to peas and fava beans.

With regards to the Neanderthals, I doubt they formed a large part of their diet; they were well-known fans of animal flesh. I don’t know that they should form a large part of your diet, either. But legumes were there. As I said earlier, someone had to stumble upon and eat the wild versions before domesticating them.

Okay, so in that sense, legumes are “Primal.” There is ancestral precedent.

But that’s not enough to sanction their use. We’re not in the paleo re-enactment business here. We plumb the anthropological record for hypotheses, but we check them against the current scientific literature.

What does research say about legume consumption? Aren’t they full of anti-nutrients?

I refer to lectins and phytic acid. I’ve mentioned these mostly as a reason to avoid grains and excessive amounts of nuts, but they also apply to legumes. No self-respecting plant wants their seed babies eaten and fully digested, after all.

Lectins are definite anti-nutrients. Studies show that they can damage the intestinal lining, prey upon already-damaged intestinal lining, and prevent the body from repairing that damage. If they make it into the bloodstream, they can bind to cell membranes throughout the body, trigger autoimmune reactions, and cause real havoc. People have actually been hospitalized from lectin poisoning.

However, cooking deactivates the vast majority of legume lectins.

In one study, navy and kidney beans had as little as 0.1% residual lectins after cooking.

Pressure cooking is particularly good at degrading lectins. One study found that pressure cooking kidney beans for 30 minutes eliminated all hemagglutinin activity.

Soaking does a number on them as well. A combo of soaking and cooking white beans completely eliminated activity of the most pernicious lectin, the one responsible for kidney bean poisoning: phytohemagglutinin.

It turns out that most of the research indicting legume lectins used animals consuming large amounts of raw lectins. Those people who got lectin poisoning? They ate undercooked kidney beans.

How about phytic acid?

Phytic acid is how many plants store phosphorus. When you eat a food containing phytic acid, it has a side effect of binding to several other minerals, like calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and inhibiting their absorption. Diets based in high-phytate foods can lead to nutrient deficiencies. As legumes are one such high-phytate food, people are justifiably cautious about eating them.

As I’ve mentioned before, phytic acid may have some beneficial anti-cancer effects in moderate doses. In people with excess iron, phytic acid may bind to and reduce iron’s absorption. The right gut bacteria can even convert phytic acid into inositol before it binds to minerals, providing a helpful nutrient that improves mood and insulin sensitivity.

Soaking legumes can reduce phytic acid. In one study using the common bean, cooking without soaking reduced phytate by 20%, cooking after soaking in the soaking water reduced it by 53%, and cooking after soaking in fresh water reduced it by 60%. Another study, also in common beans, found that cooking in fresh water after 16 hours of soaking with a 3:1 water:bean ratio eliminated 85% of phytate.

If you want to really eliminate phytic acid (which is probably unecessary unless you’re eating tons of legumes), you’ll want to soak and sprout your legumes. In one study, soaking for 12 hours and sprouting for 5 days reduced phytate in both adzuki beans and fava beans.

Legume-based diets? Bad. You’re asking for nutrient deficiencies.

Properly-prepared legumes added to a nutritious diet? Fine. You’re introducing some helpful nutrients without negating your absorption of others.

What about the carb content?

The legume’s musicality offsets its carbohydrate density. All those sugars and fibers being digested by gut bugs and producing the farts are carbs that you aren’t consuming as glucose. I usually don’t pay too much attention to “net carbs,” but the effect is quite substantial in the majority of legumes.

A half cup of cooked black beans has 20 grams of carbs with 7.5 coming from fiber.

A half cup of cooked chickpeas has 30 grams of carbs with 5 coming from fiber.

A half cup of cooked pinto beans has 22 grams of carbs with 7.7 coming from fiber.

A half cup of cooked lentils has 20 grams of carbs with 7.8 coming from fiber.

Not so carb-dense after all.

What about the gas?

Legumes are a powerful source of FODMAPs, which, depending on your gut biome, can be ally or enemy. Some people won’t be able to handle the gas, while others will get huge prebiotic benefits. What can you do if you fall into the former category?

Don’t eat them. You won’t be missing any nutrients you can’t get elsewhere. Legumes aren’t the worst thing, but they aren’t essential either.
Soak them. Soaking and then cooking beans reduces the oligosaccharides responsible for the gas by up to 41% while increasing the prebiotic fiber content. Just make you discard the soaking water.
Eat very small amounts that don’t trigger unwanted effects. Only increase your intake once you achieve a comfortable dose.

And remember: the majority of a legume’s fiber is prebiotic. A healthy gut biome will make good use of that fiber, producing short chain fatty acids and bolstering the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Those with unhealthier gut biomes may have to take it easy, but given enough time and acclimatization eating small amounts of legumes could improve their profile.

Are they actually nutritious, though?

Legumes aren’t nutrient-dense compared to something like liver or oysters, but they’re more nutrient-dense than grains and many other foods.

Again, a half cup of beans isn’t very many carbs. Maybe 20 grams, with only two thirds of that turning into glucose. You’ll get a lot of food for your gut and a decent whack of some important nutrients like folate, copper, magnesium, and manganese. That half cup of black beans provides 32% of your daily folate requirements, 20% of copper, 14% of magnesium, and 17% of manganese. A half cup of lentils provides 45% of your daily folate requirements along with 28% of copper and 21% of manganese. Not bad for a measly 20 grams of carbs.

The biggest bang for your buck is probably the lentil.

Take a look at a cup of your average garden-variety lentil:

40 grams carbs, almost 16 g fiber.
230 calories.
18 grams protein. It’s not prime rib or egg protein, but it’s still helpful in the context of diet that includes animal foods.
90% of folate.
28% of vitamin B1, 25% of vitamin B5, and 21% of B6. B vitamins generally aren’t issues for folks eating Primal, but B1 is a common stumbling block.
55% of copper (good if you’re not one to eat ruminant liver, another great source of copper).
17% of magnesium.
43% of manganese.

Lentils added to a meal slow gastric emptying, which should keep a person fuller longer. This is in contrast to most sources of refined carbs, which increase a person’s hunger.

Another benefit is that lentil prep is simple. They contain less phytic acid than most other legumes and require less soaking and cooking time than other legumes to reduce it.

I almost forgot. If you can find a Japanese market near you, look for possibly the best legume dish around: natto. I’ve spoken about this slimy, mucosal fermented soybean before. While it takes some getting used to (and many never get over the hump), natto is the single best source of vitamin K2 in the world. Try it mixed with soy sauce and ginger.

How should Primal people eat legumes? Assuming you’re even interested.

A little bit goes a long way. You don’t need to be pounding bowls of beans. But sprinkling some on your salad a few times a week? Opting for a scoop of (whole, not refried unless you know they use real lard) pinto beans alongside your carne asada? Dipping a carrot stick or two into good homemade hummus? The Primal gods will not smite you where you stand.

What do you think, folks? Where do you fall in the legume wars?

The post Where Do Legumes Belong in the Primal Eating Plan? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Dear Mark: Gene Editing

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’ll be addressing the concerns raised in the comment section of last week’s CRISPR post. Many of you were rather alarmed at my apparent whole-hearted endorsement and enthusiastic embrace of the latest gene-editing technology CRISPR. Actually, I am more cautious than I may have let on. You brought up some great points. And I’ll try to address some of them down below.

Let’s go:

Will there be 2 Olympics? One for sustainable grown people and one for genetically modified people? 2 types of baseball fields – one for organically grown humans and one for people designed to hit a baseball further so that homeruns are still an accomplishment? Will there be 2 university systems – one for naturally human people and one for intelligently designed people? Will natural humans be eligible for all jobs or will they be discriminated against? Will natural humans still have access to medical care? If a condition can be cured or improved by CRISPR, will medical authorities be allowed for force the procedure on people whether they want it or not? Will a natural person be denied insurance, medicare, medicaid, or welfare if they decline to be “adjusted?” Will CRISPR ignore the fact of environmental affects on epigenetic expression and presume all genetic disease markers must be revised according to some lobbyist’s ideas of how the human condition should proceed? Can CRISPR adjusted genes be down-regulated by too many Twinkies? Most importantly, will Dick Cheney live forever?

Jeb

I get it. The way-down-the-line implications seem jarring. So let’s touch on a couple of these hypotheticals (remembering, of course, that they’re hypotheticals).

First, these divisions already exist. People aren’t born equally. Some folks are just smarter than others. Some are more athletic. Some are more attractive. Some are friendlier, or more open to new experiences, or better at tracking wildlife through dense foliage. Some have better spatial intelligence. Others are great wordsmiths. Some people can rewire your home’s electricity or fix the plumbing; others are really good at marketing the electrician’s and plumber’s businesses.

There are already multiple strata of athletic ability. You’ve got the Olympics, the professional sports leagues, the minor leagues, NCAAD1, NCAAD2. You’ve got the NBA and the WNBA. You’ve got the Men’s Pro Tour and the Women’s Pro Tour. You’ve got Masters divisions for every sport.

There are even natural bodybuilding competitions and “enhanced” bodybuilding competitions whose participants openly use PEDs.

If we introduce a “superhuman” tier of competition, that’ll just become the new normal. Our expectations will adjust. Dunks from behind the three point line will draw yawns. Maybe we will have different playing fields.

Maybe athletes won’t break down as often. Maybe an athlete’s prime will last thirty years instead of eight. Remember, a significant portion of doping is done to protect athletes against injury and improve recovery, not just give them enormous muscles.

Science won’t ignore gene expression or epigenetics. Scientists are the folks who discovered epigenetics. And as you’ll see down below, they’re already using CRISPR to further their knowledge of how environmental triggers affect gene expression.

As for the jobs stuff, if I had to place a bet, I think the rise of superintelligent machines will displace far more human workers than anything else.

And no, Dick Cheney probably won’t live forever.

But those hypotheticals aside, here’s the more important thing…

In the original post I left out that perhaps the biggest gain we’ll get from CRISPR (because all the other supergenius, superman stuff is speculative and far off) are the insights into how our genome actually works: how genes are turned on and off, what happens when they are, and where causality truly lies. Already, scientists are:

Using CRISPR to seek out, attach to, and block the activity of specific genes. Instead of slicing and editing, they’re watching what happens when they prevent the gene from turning on. 
Using CRISPR to deliver proteins that activate specific genes. This allows them to “flip a switch” and see what lights up.

This is huge. Sure, we know the basics for staying healthy via gene expression.

Everything we talk about on this blog will still hold true.

But CRISPR will give us insight into the specifics of how this all works. Why does walking through nature reduce stress, improve blood sugar regulation, and boost natural killer cell activity? It probably doesn’t matter to most people.

Knowing that doing the thing helps is enough. That’s where I am.

But we all have that loved one who simply won’t (or can’t) give the Primal Blueprint an honest shot. And for them, that can provide extra motivation (or ability) to hop on board.

CRISPR may help scientists come up with ways to deliver epigenetic-based therapies to people who are unwilling or unable to adopt the wholesale lifestyle changes necessary to trigger beneficial gene expression—therapies that don’t involve gene editing.

Beyond that, there are other applications that have nothing to do with editing human genes. Scientists have used CRISPR to study the conditions necessary for the development of colon cancer.  Altering a single gene to cut diabetes risk in half or nearly eliminate one’s chance of getting colon cancer should be congratulated.

Yes, nothing is wholesale guaranteed. Yes, there can be unforeseen consequences. And I don’t blame anyone for having healthy skepticism against new technologies when they haven’t performed yet (especially since all of us here have been bucking against the Conventional Wisdom of so-called authorities for years). But certain advances are also a grounds for some (albeit measured) optimism. Maybe “hope” is the right word, since it implies what I really mean: I’m hoping for the best case scenario, given what we know so far, not stating that it will happen.

Someone mentioned my identification as a Luddite. How do I square the two?

So far in this life, erring on the side of “nature” has worked and led to the biggest gains in health, happiness, and productivity. Trying to counter nature never works well. Thinking we can make a smoothie out of pills and powders that’s more nutritious than anything found in nature is folly. Thinking we can improve the egg while missing what makes it so nutritious just doesn’t work. Assuming we can boil down a person’s health status to a machine’s analysis of a single drop of blood is nonsense (and the market has spoken). But Soylent, the vegan faux-egg guys, Theranos, and most other examples of food technology and medicine trying to “fix” what’s wrong all approach health and wellness assuming that humans know better than the natural world. They tried to contradict it and ran into gene-environment mismatches. They thought they could ignore the epigenetic environment under which humans evolved.

On the other hand, CRISPR acknowledges, works with, and targets the foundation itself: the genome. That’s why there are risks. You’re altering the stuff of life. But it’s also why there are great opportunities. We can’t ignore the reality of genes.

What about GMO?

Current GMO technology inserts foreign genes into organisms. This would never happen absent human intervention, and it’s why it sketches people out. It circumvents natural selection entirely, taking a top-down approach to what is normally a bottoms-up phenomenon. CRISPR is actually much closer to standard breeding practices, only sped up and with more precision. Instead of getting the two friendliest dogs to mate and hoping they have friendly puppies, you directly alter the “friendly” genes. You go right to the genetic foundation—to the bottom.

As for the DIY scene, I’m a big fan of letting people alter their own bodies, their own consciousness, and—once it’s available—their own genetic code (with qualifications, as you’ll see below). I may not do it. You may not do it. But if it’s not hurting anyone but the person hacking their genome, what’s the issue? No one will be able to program telekinesis, the ability to fire energy beams from their eyes, mind-reading, or other capacities that threaten people around them. Gene-hacking has hard limits.

Well, here’s the issue. DIY hackers (and anyone editing human germ lines) may affect others: future generations. If the changes are hereditary, if they edit the germ line, those changes will persist through to the offspring. Future humans can’t consent.

That’s the real issue here. And that’s a concern I definitely understand.

Then again, of course, no one consents to being conceived and born in general. Your children never consented to being the product of yours and your partner’s genetic material. But the big question is: is there a moral difference? I honestly don’t know the final answer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Because that’s definitely a conversation that needs to happen as this technology moves forward.

But the fact remains that other people/countries/entities will pursue gene-editing with CRISPR. It’s too alluring an opportunity to pass up, and the risk of being dominated by those who take the plunge will force everyone else’s hand. There’s no escaping it. It is coming.

All that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the complexity barriers to using CRISPR or other gene editing technologies in living adults are just too high to overcome.

Editing an egg or a sperm cell or an embryo is relatively simple compared to editing genes in a liver or eyeball, which involves editing millions of cells. Nor would I be surprised if we never figure out how to edit the thousands of genes that help determine complex traits like intelligence or personality or height without also triggering unwanted effects. Some of those “intelligence genes” may have multiple effects, like an increasing risk of autism. We’ll have to walk a fine line there, or perhaps only target a few of the ones we know to be monogenic.

Where I remain hopeful and optimistic is when it comes to prevention of major health issues. Many of these conditions are monogenic, or close to it.

Huntington’s disease? Single gene. Scientists have already used CRISPR to target the Huntington’s gene and treat the disease.

Muscular dystrophy? CRISPR already cured it in (adult, humanized) mice without any off-target effects.

Obesity? Many genes contribute, but editing them one at a time shows promise. Consider common polymorphisms of the FTO gene which add about 3 kg body fat, increase energy intake without increasing expenditure, and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and metabolic syndrome. CRISPR-editing the FTO gene in mice abolished obesity and made them totally resistant to an obesogenic lab diet.

Any recent parent has probably subjected their babies to the “newborn screening,” which uses blood draws to test for various diseases and disorders. Wouldn’t it be great to just eliminate those?

Or what about the fact that some people are more susceptible to tissue damage? I’ve got a genetic propensity towards damaging my tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues that has been realized throughout my life; I’d love to have had that one altered from the start and can’t think of any real downsides, provided it doesn’t have any polygenic effects.

So we probably can make some edits and be reasonably secure in the outcome. But, as I said, having reasonable skepticism and asking the hard questions is healthy, necessary, and vital to the unrolling of this technology.

Those are my thoughts on the subject. I’m sure we’ll have to revisit this topic in the future, but I’d love to hear if today’s post assuaged any of your concerns about my perspective. Let me know in the comment section!

Thanks for reading and—as always—asking the hard questions.

The post Dear Mark: Gene Editing appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 418

Research of the Week

Omega-3s improve reading scores.

Treating early prostate cancer produces side effects, but no survival benefit compared to “active monitoring.”

Couples with dissimilar immune genetics have better relationships.

Bulking works better if you lean out first.

The science of sticking points in the squat, deadlift, and bench press.

Zika affects adult brains.

High-fat cheese consumption has no effect on metabolic risk markers.

Bacterial fermentation of walnuts produces conjugated linoleic acid, the good trans-fat.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 135: Ann Green: Ann Green is the founder of BLiSS Ann Green Yoga, a waterfront wellness center. She talks about SUP yoga (yes, yoga on a standup paddleboard), the primacy of nature in spiritual and physical health, and much much more.

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.

How Using Fat for Fuel Can Boost Athletic Performance

Interesting Blog Posts

A few questions on statins from a (cautious) proponent.

Who regulates the lab-grown meat market?

Authorities are scrutinizing parents of vegan children and in some cases bringing charges against them. Is it just?

Before installing a tube in your stomach that expels half your food, maybe try going low-carb.

Media, Schmedia

Cities are increasingly installing LED street lights to save on energy costs, but at what cost to sleep quality?

The sugar industry paid scientists $6500 in the 1960s to absolve sugar, shift the blame for heart disease to saturated fat, and begin the nation’s long descent into obesity and diabetes.

Everything Else

Some schools are giving kids a ton of recess. Good for them.

Big Agra, meet Big Pharma.

The future of antibiotics may lie in the past.

“Hey Johnny, what are you rebellin’ against?” Childhood obesity.

Can your smartphone detect anemia?

Move over, kale. Come on, kombu.

The case for wooden skyscrapers.

Evolution in real time.

Recipe Corner

Nightshade-free taco beef spaghetti squash boats are for eating, not sailing the seas.
I’m pretty sure “zingy” isn’t a real word, but zingy beet and carrot salad looks great all the same.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Sep 18 – Sep 24)

10 Things You Shouldn’t Do if You’re Trying to Build Muscle – Avoid them.
What You Need to Know About Foodborne Illness—Part 2: Kitchen Strategies – Don’t kill yourself.

Comment of the Week

“Short answer to the title’s question: nope! ?”

– Way to simplify, Alex.

The post Weekend Link Love – Edition 418 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Roasted Bone Marrow with Rosemary and Garlic

Bone marrow is an important supplemental food that’s easy to love, if you love fatty, savory treats, that is. And bone marrow is a treat, with its over-the-top richness, meaty flavor and fatty, creamy texture. It’s delicious fuel for the body, brimming with vitamins and minerals. Bone marrow is easy to prepare, too. It needs nothing more than a sprinkle of salt (and maybe some fresh herbs) to reach perfection in the oven.

Roasted marrow is good enough to eat right out of the bone with a spoon, which is how it’s usually served. Forget about those fancy marrow spoons; instead, ask your butcher for marrow bones that are cut lengthwise (also called “canoe cut”). This cut exposes the marrow and makes it much easier to scoop out. Grass-fed is best, of course, both for flavor and nutrients. Bone marrow can be served with a green salad on the side, to cut the richness, and is also quite tasty poured over roasted vegetables.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 marrow bones, cut lengthwise (canoe cut)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (5 ml)
12 small garlic cloves
Salt

Instructions:

Recipe Note: Some recipes recommend soaking marrow bones in brine (about 2 quarts cold water and ½ cup kosher salt) overnight before roasting. This cleans the bones, removing some of the blood and making the bones look nicer. However, if you buy high-quality, grass-fed bones, brining doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the flavor or quality of the roasted marrow. Blood spots that come to the surface of the marrow before you cook the bones are perfectly normal, and don’t need to be wiped away.

Preheat oven to 425 °F/218 °C.

Place the bones, marrow side up, on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. Season the marrow generously with salt. Sprinkle rosemary over the marrow.

Rub any loose papery skin off the cloves of garlic, but don’t peel the cloves. Trim off both ends of the cloves of garlic. Rub the cloves with a little bit of oil. Scatter the garlic cloves around the bones.

Roast 25 minutes. The marrow should be very soft and warm all the way through and bubbling a little.

Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their peels. Drop the cloves in with the marrow, and eat with a spoon.

The post Roasted Bone Marrow with Rosemary and Garlic appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Paleo Thyroid Solution Success Story: Cara Haun

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. This week’s featured testimonial is one of many success stories spurred by Primal Blueprint Publishing’s brand new release, The Paleo Thyroid Solution, by Elle Russ. Note: If you’re outside of the U.S. and had trouble purchasing a Kindle copy of the book, it’s now available!

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!

When I look back on my life, I realize that I had hypothyroid symptoms for most of it. One I can recall clearly is that I was always cold. It could be 95°F outside and I would be freezing.

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about twelve years ago, when I had my second miscarriage in a year. My OB referred me to a well-known endocrinologist in Los Angeles, who immediately ran tests, diagnosed hypothyroidism, and without blinking an eye, started me on Synthroid (levothyroxine).

For about eight years I was diligent about taking my Synthroid pill every morning and getting my blood work done every three months. During that time I felt terrible. I was experiencing a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue (even though I was getting enough rest); weight gain (even though I was exercising like a pro athlete and eating healthfully); hair loss, cracked/dry skin; allergies (to everything); miscarriages; acne; heavy bleeding during my periods and long periods (more than seven days); and brain fog and emotional highs and lows.

Every time I would go in to see the endocrinologist, he would tell me my blood work was good and fell within the normal range. He would update my prescription and send me on my way. Several times I complained about having no energy and gaining weight. He told me I was probably just eating too much. (I was training for a marathon at the time.) When I asked about other options for medication, he just said Synthroid was the only option. Nothing else worked for hypothyroidism. I trusted that my endocrinologist new what he was talking about.

One day I was due to have my blood work done, and I was just too exhausted to drive the 5 miles to my endocrinologist, so I made an appointment with my internist, who is located less than a mile from my house. She did all my blood work and when she went over the results with me, she said “Your thyroid results are low, and did you know you have Hashimoto’s? I’m not sure why your endocrinologist has you on Synthroid…it doesn’t work well for people with Hashimoto’s.” This doctor appointment changed my life. My internist prescribed a new compounded medication for me (T4/T3 combination) that day, and I started taking it immediately.

After that appointment I went home and curled up on my bed and cried for the rest of the day. I was so angry and depressed that my endocrinologist never tested my thyroid antibodies to find out whether or not I had Hashimoto’s. How could he have misdiagnosed me and mistreated me for eight years? I was beside myself, because he not only ignored and dismissed all of my complaints, but also he made me feel as if I were a crazy person and a hypochondriac.

A week later I went back to my internist and she took some intensive blood tests to check all my vitamin and mineral levels. When we went over the results of those tests, she said to me, “If you were not sitting in front of me right now I would have concluded (based on the results of your tests) that you were a person who is going through chemotherapy. Your immune system is severely compromised.”

We immediately started a vitamin/mineral protocol to get my immune system back into shape. I am happy to say that after a year of supplementation, along with the new medication, my thyroid and immune system started to work properly again.

For eight years I suffered with massive hypothyroid symptoms and didn’t even realize it until my new compounded T4/T3 medication kicked in and I started feeling better—in fact, I felt amazing! All of my hypothyroid symptoms went away. I was losing weight; feeling smarter/more focused (my brain fog vanished!); started having shorter and lighter menstrual periods; free of all allergies (this was huge!); energetic and enthusiastic; and happy!

Now I go in and get my blood work done every six months. My doctor adjusts my medication, depending on my test results combined with how I feel. If I am having any hypothyroid symptoms, my doctor listens to me and adjusts my medication accordingly. I love that she doesn’t just rely on test results and isn’t afraid of a Free T3 that is toward the top or at the very top of the range.

I am currently on compounded thyroid hormone replacement equivalent to 4 grains of NDT (natural desiccated thyroid). Even though my thyroid hormone replacement is optimized, I continue to take supplements to support T4 to T3 conversion and optimal thyroid hormone metabolism/adrenal health. I am diligent about taking selenium, vitamin D, vitamin B-complex, fish oil, and a probiotic.

After many years on compounded T4/T3, I decided to adopt a paleo/primal lifestyle. Elle had gone primal a couple of years prior, but she didn’t try to convince me to change my diet and exercise lifestyle because she thought I would be the last person in the world who would ever be open to eliminating grains from my diet. That is, until Elle spoke with Dr. Gary Foresman about Hashimoto’s. Very concerned for me, Elle immediately called me and explained the connection between grains and Hashimoto’s antibody levels and what that meant for my long-term health. I was unaware that it was even possible to consciously lower my levels of thyroid antibodies, nor did I know that lower levels were better than higher levels. I assumed, like many (and my uninformed doctor!), that because I had Hashimoto’s I would always see the presence of antibodies on my blood tests and that the fluctuations were random and uncontrollable. I was also unaware that higher levels of antibodies are detrimental to my long-term health and could potentially ignite other autoimmune disorders and other health issues.

Since I adopted a paleo eating strategy and lifestyle (including significantly reducing my high-intensity tennis workouts from three to four days a week down to about one day a week), my Hashimoto’s thyroid antibodies have decreased significantly. Before going paleo, my TPO (thyroid peroxidase) antibodies were over 200 and after six months of adopting a paleo lifestyle (with a few cheat meals), my antibodies dropped down to 70. As of June 2016, my TPO antibodies are the lowest I have ever seen them…down to 25! Having the lowest level of thyroid antibodies is my new goal. Even though weight loss wasn’t a conscious goal, everyone in my life has noticed a major difference in my body. I have slimmed down even more and any inflammation/bloat that I had disappeared. The biggest change I’ve noticed since going paleo and becoming fat-adapted, is that I eat a lot less food overall. My body is more efficient and I no longer have the blood sugar highs and lows that I used to. The cranky monster that would come out when I started getting hungry no longer exists!

Because I am the cook in the house, my husband accidentally (or by default) transitioned to the paleo lifestyle with me. At first he expressed some resistance, because he is a creature of habit and believes that every meal should have protein, salad or vegetable, and some sort of carbohydrate like bread or pasta. There were definitely some grumbles at the dinner table when I first eliminated grains from our meals. Soon enough, he actually realized that he was benefiting from the paleo lifestyle too. He no longer had arthritis pain, he lost weight, he went longer in between meals, and he had a lot more energy. My husband has come a long way from being a reluctant convert.

Of course I am human, so yes, I do cheat every once in a while! I have no guilt about taking on a slice of pizza or a bowl of pasta every now and then. That said, it definitely comes with a price to pay. When I do cheat with something containing grains, I get stuffy and feel bloated the next day. I also wake up hungry and feel stiffness in my body. I have noticed after a solid year of going paleo that I rarely crave sugar. Being paleo has made big a difference in my life. I feel so much better, and I feel so much freedom around food because I am not always thinking about my next meal.

What I have learned through my Hashimoto’s journey is that it is very important to get second and third opinions, follow your intuition/gut, ask questions, learn about your health issue, listen to your body, and don’t let anyone make you feel bad about yourself. Oh, and go paleo!

Cara

Save

The post Paleo Thyroid Solution Success Story: Cara Haun appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.