Mark Sisson's Blog, page 221

Check Out the Free Paleo f(x) 2016 Live Stream!

I’m getting ready to head off to Austin, Texas for Paleo f(x) 2016, one of my favorite events of the year. I always leave inspired, with an expanded mind and new friends who share my passion for ancestral health.

As you may know, Paleo f(x) is the place to be for anyone looking to discover something new within the Paleo/Primal sphere. It’s a full weekend composed of New York Times bestselling authors, leading physicians, scientists, practitioners, athletes, fitness professionals, health entrepreneurs, activists, bloggers, and more. And if you’re looking to get in on the action, there’s more than one way to do it.

If you’re planning on attending, then be sure to say hello. I’ll have a booth set up (as will hundreds of other Paleo/Primal-friendly vendors). My awesome crew and I would love to meet you. Plus, I’m delivering a keynote address on Primal Endurance principles, which you won’t want to miss. Paleo f(x) is expecting attendance to reach well beyond 2,000 people from all walks of ancestral health living, so you’ll be able to network, rub shoulders, make friends, and learn more than you’d probably thought possible in one weekend.

You don’t have to attend live though. Paleo f(x) is all about promoting the movement and reaching as many people as possible, so the organizers are featuring a number of presentations, Q & As, and panel discussions for FREE via live stream from May 27 – 29th. You’ll be able to livestream all presentations on the Bulletproof Paleo On Ramp Stage (including everything you want to know about health, nutrition, fitness, sleep, and lifestyle from an evolutionary health perspective). No travel arrangements necessary! You can catch some of the liveliest, informative discussions directly from your living room.

There’s going to be three days’ worth of content lined up from some of the world’s most prominent speakers in ancestral health, including:

Robb Wolf
Chris Kresser
Melissa Hartwig
Dr. Sarah Ballantyne
Michelle Tam
Abel James
Emily Schromm
Dr. Kellyann Petrucci
Dr. Johnny Bowden
Jill Coleman

Not too shabby for a free online event. If you’re already interested, just click here to sign up.

You can also check out a small sampling of what’s in store:

What to Expect When You’re Expecting & Paleo – May 27th, 5:05 pm CDT

This panel discussion, featuring Melissa Hartwig and other super ancestral health moms, will focus on all things related to tackling pregnancy with a Paleo/Primal lifestyle. Guest speakers will discuss the benefits of rearing your baby in concert with ancestral health principles, drawing from a wide array of professional and personal experiences.

Ask the Paleo Experts: Open Q & A – May 28th, 11:05am CDT

This live Q & A session features one of my own favorite Primal doctors here at MDA, Dr. Cate Shanahan, who’s answered some of your listener questions on The Primal Blueprint Podcast. As a medical professional well-versed in ancestral health theory, you’ll definitely want to tune in to see her take on whatever the audience has to ask.

Vaccines, GMOs and UFOs – May 29th, 11:05am CDT

You’ll also be able to see me put in my two cents as a panel participant. In what should be a lively discussion, we’ll be talking about the state of modern science, seen through the lens of certain public controversies such as GMOs and vaccines. We’ll examine the state of peer review, which scientific experts and the public should ostensibly trust, and when and where mainstream science or alternative health veers into pseudoscience. I’m sure this one will interest more than a few of you.

Again, that’s only a fraction of the lineup. There’s too much content to mention here, so check out the schedule to get the scoop on all the additional content that will be available over the entirety of the event. I’m sure you’ll be hard pressed not to find a speaker or topic worth checking out. Heck, if you tune in and get some questions about topics you’d like me to address, take some notes and send them in. This is a great opportunity to revitalize, explore, and tackle the newest issues circulating around the community.

So I hope you’ll join me, if not in person, then online from May 27th through the 29th for Paleo f(x). See you then!

Click here to sign up for the free Paleo f(x) Live Stream!

Dear Mark: Cycling Harder Than Running, High-Fat Football Training, and Orange Theory

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering three questions about training. First, why might cycling feel harder than running at the same heart rate, and what should be done about it? Second, is it safe or smart for a footballer to try to become a fat-burning beast when he’s currently in-season? Are there lessons can we draw from athletes who have given it a shot?

And finally, what do I think about the relatively new Orange Theory gyms that have arrived on the fitness scene? Are they good, bad, or both?

Let’s go:

Hi Mark,

I was wondering if you could answer this (or maybe answer in a blog post). I got a copy of primal endurance a couple of months ago and love it, great book. I’ve been running using Dr Maffetone 180 formula for a fair while (with good results whilst running), I also use the formula whilst hiking on trails and using gym equipment like the eliptical trainer. However I used to do a lot of cycling years ago and recently bought a bike as a different form of training for days when I don’t want to run/hike or use the gym. However when I use the 180 for cycling it feels A LOT more difficult for the same HR – 130 on the bike feels like 150 running for example. High 140s/low 150s – quads are burning whereas running at that same rate feels easy. Also my HR jumps around so much more whilst on the bike compared to other forms of training – I know this is most likely due to traffic, hills, bike handling on different surfaces etc.

Thanks

James

Back in the day, I always dropped 10 beats on the bike to get the same “effort” I got running. That’s when I was pushing myself and, quite frankly, breaking my body down.

For Primal Endurance, you use the same heart rate whatever exercise you are doing. Swimming being so easy on the body for example, you can bang out intervals working really hard at the maximum aerobic heart rate. When you swim, the water keeps you cool, supports your body weight, and reduces impact. Whereas with running you are just jogging to get that same heart rate. This just reveals that due to the weight bearing, temperature elevating, overall difficult nature of running or cycling in comparison to swimming, the sensations of effort/degree of perceived difficulty are different. In terms of recovery, you recover the same from a casual jog as you would from a festive interval workout in the pool because the latter is so much “easier.”

On a related note, the question often comes up about being allowed to bump up your aerobic limit number as you get in better shape. This is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Going faster and longer at the same heart rate and perceived effort means you’re improving your fitness in a safe, effective way. You don’t need to push it.

And of course, we all have disparate fitness levels in different activities. Cycling, especially if you’re a little rusty, very well may be harder because you haven’t kept up with it. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Your perceived exertion will vary but you still honor the heart rate limits.

Hi mark,

Will keep this short. I play Australian football (afl). It’s a 2 hour sport each week plus training. During the game I clock up between 13-18km and it affects both aerobic and anaerobic systems. Lots of stop start play. Tackling, falling down, getting up sprinting, jogging etc

I really want to try your eating methods but don’t want to lose energy in the transition. Do you think I should wait to post football season to convert or is it possible to change to the high fat diet and continue to have a high output?

Kind regards,

Matt

Your instinct is correct: wait for the season to end before you switch over to an entirely new way of obtaining energy.

You can’t go from being a sugar-burner to a fat-burner right away without losing a little something. You need to build the metabolic machinery to support the new diet. That takes time. We’re always burning both fat and sugar, of course—it’s not all or nothing. When I say sugar burner, I mean someone who relies on exogenous glucose for the majority of their energy. I mean a person who needs a steady infusion of sugar every couple hours. I mean someone who gets ravenously hungry in between meals, someone who cannot reliably utilize enough of their body fat to provide energy between meals. They still burn fat, just not well enough to get off the carbs.

Football, like you say, is both anaerobic and aerobic. You’re burning massive amounts of glycogen. That means you can probably get away with cycling between high-fat and higher-carbs after particularly grueling sessions. But increasing your ability to burn fat and decreasing your reliance on glycogen during training will improve both high intensity output and lower intensity output. You can still go fast and hard. You’ll just be able to conserve glycogen for the times you truly need it.

The good news is that eating and training this way can pay huge dividends provided you allow enough time for the switch. Lebron didn’t. When Lebron James went low-carb paleo a couple years back toward the end of the season, he chose the wrong time to do it. It was the back end of the season, when energy is lowest and wear-and-tear is highest. His energy and performance suffered. Don’t make that mistake.

I have seen Orange Theory gyms popping up everywhere, and can’t log into Facebook without seeing at least one post of someone’s workout results.

I was wondering if you had an opinion on this latest cardio craze, and if you could explain this “Orange Zone”, as it appears to line up right with the “Black Hole” in your latest book, Primal Endurance.

Best regards,

Court

I like that they’re doing high intensity intervals. Those are really effective. They offer great bang for the buck, and there’s considerable evidence they work better than the standard “cardio.”

I like that they bathe their trainees in soft orange light. One big problem with training at the gym at night is it ruins your circadian rhythm. The music’s blaring, the TVs are going, the fluorescent white light is burning into your soul and delaying your melatonin secretion. Using orange light mitigates the problem of night time gym visits.

I like that they’re full body workouts. It goes without saying that using your entire body is a better use of time than using a single body part.

I don’t like the monotony of the intensity. You need more than just high intensity all the time. One woman profiled in the Wall Street Journal found herself attending classes five days a week on top of running and Bikram yoga. She’s obviously an adrenaline junkie, the kind who has to go-go-go and end up a puddle of sweat or else feel like the workout was pointless. Orange Theory may attract and enable and encourage this demographic when really they should be slowing things down and using intensity intermittently, not chronically.

Honestly, it sounds a lot like basic circuit training or those boot camp groups you see in the park that focus on making folks “feel” like they got a great workout. Lots of movements, not a ton of reason behind them. I don’t see people getting markedly stronger doing only this.

The Orange Zone is a cool place to visit occasionally, but not everyday. That’s a recipe for burnout. Now, people can become addicted to the high intensity zone and feel like it’s working. And on some level, it is. It’s better than doing nothing. It will get you “fit.” But months, maybe years down the line, you’ll realize that you should have taken a more balanced approach.

That’s it for today, folks. Take care and be sure to chime in with your thoughts and advice below!

Weekend Link Love – Edition 401

Primal Blueprint Publishing’s newest book, Good Fat, Bad Fat, is now available for purchase.

Another round of Phat Fudge is coming. The stuff is addicting and sells out fast, so use PK10 to grab 10% off your pre-order while you can.

Research of the Week

Tylenol reduces empathy.

Women’s pelvises narrow as they age.

A new pilot study suggests psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) is a feasible anti-depressant.

Sex hormones—even exogenous ones—may lengthen telomeres.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 120: James Swanwick: Today’s guest is James Swanwick, an Australian-American entrepreneur who runs a 30-Day No Alcohol Challenge to help people understand the effect alcohol—even just a drink or two a night—has on us. He’s got some great tips and advice for people interested in not drinking.

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.

12 Essential Tips for Primal Women
How to Have a Civil Discussion About Divisive Issues
10 Ways to Treat Burnout (and How to Avoid It Altogether)
Did Grok Suffer From Seasonal Allergies?

Interesting Blog Posts

Be careful foraging.

“No animal dies of old age in the wild”? Try again.

Light weights work.

It’s from the Onion, but I bet it hits closer to truth than fiction.

Media, Schmedia

Roundup is not just glyphosate.

And now, a recipe for Frosted Flake guacamole.

Researchers are putting a longevity drug to test—in dogs.

Everything Else

It’s rather windy up top ol’ Mount Washington.

Bacon and eggs claim a life, while raw eggs prepare to claim another.

If meat-eaters acted like vegans.

To keep it affordable, a New York grass-fed beef producer is selling meat out of a vending machine.

Space really messes you up.

Some bowhead whales are hundreds of years old.

Don’t we all.

Recipe Corner

Black pepper bacon jerky. Real simple, real good. Portable.
You know what makes mashed sweet potatoes even better? Smoke.

Time Capsule

One year ago (May 25 – May 31)

What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self? – A thought exercise.
How Does Ancient Wisdom Intersect with a Primal Perspective?  – On stoicism.

Comment of the Week

The scientific term is “badonkadonk”

-Correct, Paleo Bon Rurgundy. I was worried laypeople wouldn’t get it.

Fish Tartare: A Recipe from Good Fat, Bad Fat

In honor of Primal Blueprint Publishing’s newest release, Good Fat, Bad Fat by Romy Dollé, we thought we’d share another recipe from this healthy fat resource. If you missed the Rösti with Fried Egg recipe from Tuesday, be sure to check that out too.

While this recipe calls for 3.5 ounces of sushi rice, keep in mind you can substitute cauliflower rice for a low-carbohydrate alternative. If you’re on board with white rice, and specifically resistant starch, then prepare the recipe as is.

For those of you new to the concept of resistant starch, the notion is pretty simple. Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that our digestive enzymes cannot break down, meaning it’s not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy individuals. As it applies to white rice, you simply cook-and-cool it. Check out The Definitive Guide to Resistant Starch if you’d like to know more about the topic.

And before you get all hopped up on good fat, here’s one last reminder about the Super Fat Bundle. This package includes a copy of Good Fat, Bad Fat, a jar of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo and Chipotle Lime Mayo, a digital copy of the PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo Cookbook, and a bottle of Greek Vinaigrette and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, all for only $49.95 (S&H included)! The offer ends May 25, so be sure to grab your Super Fat Bundle before you miss out!

Now, onto the good stuff you came for.

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

5 oz (100 g) fresh salmon or tuna fillet
1 tbsp (15 ml) tamari sauce (gluten-free)
Wasabi paste (quantity to taste, very spicy/gluten-free)
7 oz (50 g) avocado, peeled
5 oz (100 g) sushi rice or risotto rice, cooked (hot or cold)
Chives and spring onions, cut into thin rings (optional)
Optional: Wasabi mayonnaise (PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo and a dab of wasabi paste mixed in to taste)

Preparation

Cut the fish fillet into small pieces
In a bowl, combine the tamari sauce with a little wasabi paste
Gently stir in the fish pieces and marinate in the refrigerator for 10 minutes
Cut the avocado into small pieces

Serving suggestions

Serve with ring mold:

Place the ring on the plate
Fill the ring with cooked rice and press it down. Place the avocado on top of the rice, and also press it down
Place the fish on top of the avocado
Remove the ring and garnish with spring onions, chives, and mayonnaise

If you don’t have a ring mold:

Line a small bowl with plastic wrap
Layer in the fish first, then the avocado, and then the rice. Press lightly on the rice
Put a plate on top of the bowl and turn the whole thing upside down
Carefully lift up the bowl and remove the plastic wrap if it has clung to the food
Garnish with spring onions, chives, and mayonnaise

Alternatives

Instead of using raw fish, try fried or poached. Strained fish (pickled in salt water) from a can also works well
The mayonnaise is optional
Low-carb version: Create the tartare with cauliflower rice

Tip

How to make Cauliflower Rice—a low-carbohydrate rice substitute:

Prepare, wash, and chop a cauliflower in a food processor
The cauliflower pieces should be about the size of rice grains
Cauliflower Rice can be cooked briefly in clarified butter, blanched in salted water for 2–3 minutes, or microwaved until tender




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Going Primal Turned My Living Nightmare Into a Dream Come True

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!

It’s hard to say where my Primal story really begins. Maybe it began in college, when I got used to living off of simple processed carbs (pasta, rice, bread) in order to keep my food expenses as low as possible. At one point I was spending less than $20 a week on food! And that included “eating out.” I would drive through a Zaxby’s or McDonalds and order just French fries. Cheap and delicious, right?

I managed to stay skinny with no effort and a lot of carbs. I was a size six when I started college, but when I—a.) became a coxswain for the crew team (you have to be as small as possible, as you’re the only one in the boat not pulling her weight) and b.) fell in love with my now husband, I quickly dropped to a size zero.

The problem with ever being a size zero is that you feel like you can never go back to even one size bigger. So the next step in my story comes a few years later, when I got married and moved to Colorado. Suddenly, I was getting older and staying skinny required a lot more effort. I remember stepping on a scale in a hotel in Aspen where we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary. 125 pounds! The horror! I started eating less than 1200 calories a day of things like light yogurt, bread, and rice cakes, and tracking it all on My Fitness Pal. I started the Couch to 5k program and messed around with the weight machines at our apartment gym. And it worked! I looked awesome! The scale dropped to 113 at its lowest! I figured the constant hunger and deprivation was just the price I had to pay.

After a while, though, the scale started to creep higher and higher again. My jeans grew tight. I yo-yoed a lot, bouncing between starvation diets paired with running and “clean eating” paired with the Insanity workouts. I grew immensely unhappy with the job I had previously adored and tried to temper that stress and unhappiness with my favorite carby foods: bagels, French fries, donuts. I didn’t blame my job for my weight gain and eating habits, but I did blame it for the stress that was ruining every other aspect of my life.

So one day, I quit. I was able to leave immediately, without two weeks’ notice. The next day, despite the new stress of finding another job, I felt free. I have never once regretted that decision. This was the true beginning of my transition to a Primal lifestyle, even though I didn’t know it at the time. All I knew was that I had suddenly realized that being miserable at work shouldn’t be the status quo. Allowing the rest of your life to be ruined by your job shouldn’t be normal. So I said enough was enough and took my happiness seriously.

And then destiny truly smiled on me. I had worked with children for my whole adult life, first as a high school teacher and then as an ABA therapist for children with autism. I wanted to keep working with children, but I had been disillusioned with both of those fields (thanks to administration and management, not the children themselves). So I advertised myself as a nanny, and a week later I was starting work as nanny to the world’s cutest 17 month old. And then the real magic happened; his parents introduced me to Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint.

It took a few months for me to begin a lifestyle change, but in those months I was already becoming much healthier, thanks to being truly happy almost every single day. I started with them in May, and by August I was weaning myself off of my SSRI for anxiety. I truly didn’t need it anymore, thanks to a simple job change. And when I started doing weight training with the father of my “nanny family” and then following his nutrition advice and immersing myself more and more into the science behind the Primal lifestyle, I was quickly hooked. I was able to drop yet another medication: I no longer needed my daily corticosteroid for asthma management, which to this day I firmly believe is thanks to going gluten-free. Reading The Primal Blueprint was a magical “duh!” moment that removed all hesitation.

Now here comes the most important part of my whole story: My husband and I decided to begin trying to have a baby. Soon after stopping my birth control, it was obvious (due to various physical symptoms) that something was very wrong. In January of 2015, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and accompanying infertility. Although I was not obese and did not show evidence of insulin resistance, testing showed that I did not ovulate and had low progesterone and high androgen levels, along with the telltale cysts and other indications.

The recommended diet for PCOS is high fat and low carb, which already described my diet thanks to the family I worked for. So I kept doing what I was doing and threw in a higher focus on my weight training and low intensity cardio (I live in Colorado where it’s easier to hike than to avoid it!). I also began various medications and monthly hormone testing. For the rest of the year, I felt that I was living a nightmare. I grew convinced that I would never be able to bear a child. Our one success during that time resulted in a miscarriage on our wedding anniversary.

My Primal lifestyle became my lifeboat. I clung to the knowledge that I was nourishing my body the best way I possibly could and often told myself that if I couldn’t have a baby bump, I could at least have enviable abs. I began by keeping a Primal journal of sorts, literally checking off the Primal “laws” each day to make sure I hit all the important stuff. I tracked protein and carbs at first to get used to eating enough of the first and less of the second; I had a lot of success with keeping both higher on lifting days and focusing more on fats and fasting on “off” days. I slept well, ate well, lived well, and flourished in the sun like a plant. Soon, it was all effortless. I grew confident in my weekly meal planning, choosing nutritious foods and balancing my nutrients became purely instinctual, and the previous processed carb staples of my diet disappeared from my pantry, my shopping list, and often my memory. Suddenly I would rather eat a handful of berries than a handful of candy. And yeah, I was pretty proud of how I looked, too. My weight consistently remained higher than I ever thought I’d be comfortable with, but I had my new strong muscles to thank for that. (Freshly bronzed skin from embracing instead of avoiding the sun certainly didn’t hurt either.) I naturally ate less often (during my previous carb-happy life I would get “hangry” every hour or so!) and became a pro at intermittent fasting. My husband supported me every step of the way, and even though it wasn’t his idea, he has fallen even more naturally into choosing the right foods and intermittent fasting. He even helped me summit my first two fourteeners here in Colorado (he’s up to 23). Me, who had avoided exercise for my whole life, climbing mountains! The mind boggles.

And then, right before the end of the year, I had an initial appointment with a fertility clinic and then never needed to go back. I was pregnant. On my own. Spontaneous ovulation and 100% healthy hormone levels (and also great Vitamin D levels).

Maybe my body just needed to balance out after years on birth control. But I don’t believe that at all. I give full credit to Primal living. I was diagnosed with PCOS and declared free of all such indications (and also, of course, successfully pregnant) within the same year. Mark Sisson’s work and research, the family who pointed me in the right direction, the Primal lifestyle…these things turned my nightmare into a dream come true.

As of this writing, I am 28 weeks along and busily planning for our little girl’s arrival. My diet strayed quite a bit from the Primal side of things in the early weeks, but now I am going strong once again (albeit a bit higher in fructose than is ideal). I will say it has been hard to get used to eating frequent small meals again as my stomach gets more squashed! I have been able to keep up with my weight training the whole time, with a few modifications for safety. And I feel great!

I could write a novel on all of the ways a Primal lifestyle has changed my life, all of them for the (much) better. Health, happiness, vitality, sleep quality…on and on. My lifelong battles with asthma and anxiety are, if not over, at least much easier. But none of those is as astounding or as important to me as the fact that it healed my infertility. There is no way to describe the pain of infertility to someone who has not experienced it. It was purely by chance that I met this family who introduced me to The Primal Blueprint, the best local meat source, and to a much better way of exercising than Couch to 5k and Insanity. Where would I be now if that hadn’t fallen into place?

I am so excited to bring my Primal lifestyle into this next chapter of life; I envision hikes with my daughter strapped to my chest and our dog by my side, introducing her to nutritious foods from the very beginning, and embracing playtime, sunshine, and happiness with my growing family. Thank you, Mark Sisson, for everything you do. My dreams have come true and I proudly stand by my higher expectations for happiness and health (and delicious recipes). The Primal community is truly something amazing. We’re going to take over the world.

I don’t really have a “before” picture that shows a noticeable external transformation, and no one wants to see before/after pictures of someone’s ovaries. But this “after” picture is a pretty big deal to me.

Megan

Going Primal Turned My Living Nightmare into a Dream Come True

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!

It’s hard to say where my Primal story really begins. Maybe it began in college, when I got used to living off of simple processed carbs (pasta, rice, bread) in order to keep my food expenses as low as possible. At one point I was spending less than $20 a week on food! And that included “eating out.” I would drive through a Zaxby’s or McDonalds and order just French fries. Cheap and delicious, right?

I managed to stay skinny with no effort and a lot of carbs. I was a size six when I started college, but when I—a.) became a coxswain for the crew team (you have to be as small as possible, as you’re the only one in the boat not pulling her weight) and b.) fell in love with my now husband, I quickly dropped to a size zero.

The problem with ever being a size zero is that you feel like you can never go back to even one size bigger. So the next step in my story comes a few years later, when I got married and moved to Colorado. Suddenly, I was getting older and staying skinny required a lot more effort. I remember stepping on a scale in a hotel in Aspen where we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary. 125 pounds! The horror! I started eating less than 1200 calories a day of things like light yogurt, bread, and rice cakes, and tracking it all on My Fitness Pal. I started the Couch to 5k program and messed around with the weight machines at our apartment gym. And it worked! I looked awesome! The scale dropped to 113 at its lowest! I figured the constant hunger and deprivation was just the price I had to pay.

After a while, though, the scale started to creep higher and higher again. My jeans grew tight. I yo-yoed a lot, bouncing between starvation diets paired with running and “clean eating” paired with the Insanity workouts. I grew immensely unhappy with the job I had previously adored and tried to temper that stress and unhappiness with my favorite carby foods: bagels, French fries, donuts. I didn’t blame my job for my weight gain and eating habits, but I did blame it for the stress that was ruining every other aspect of my life.

So one day, I quit. I was able to leave immediately, without two weeks’ notice. The next day, despite the new stress of finding another job, I felt free. I have never once regretted that decision. This was the true beginning of my transition to a Primal lifestyle, even though I didn’t know it at the time. All I knew was that I had suddenly realized that being miserable at work shouldn’t be the status quo. Allowing the rest of your life to be ruined by your job shouldn’t be normal. So I said enough was enough and took my happiness seriously.

And then destiny truly smiled on me. I had worked with children for my whole adult life, first as a high school teacher and then as an ABA therapist for children with autism. I wanted to keep working with children, but I had been disillusioned with both of those fields (thanks to administration and management, not the children themselves). So I advertised myself as a nanny, and a week later I was starting work as nanny to the world’s cutest 17 month old. And then the real magic happened; his parents introduced me to Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint.

It took a few months for me to begin a lifestyle change, but in those months I was already becoming much healthier, thanks to being truly happy almost every single day. I started with them in May, and by August I was weaning myself off of my SSRI for anxiety. I truly didn’t need it anymore, thanks to a simple job change. And when I started doing weight training with the father of my “nanny family” and then following his nutrition advice and immersing myself more and more into the science behind the Primal lifestyle, I was quickly hooked. I was able to drop yet another medication: I no longer needed my daily corticosteroid for asthma management, which to this day I firmly believe is thanks to going gluten-free. Reading The Primal Blueprint was a magical “duh!” moment that removed all hesitation.

Now here comes the most important part of my whole story: My husband and I decided to begin trying to have a baby. Soon after stopping my birth control, it was obvious (due to various physical symptoms) that something was very wrong. In January of 2015, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and accompanying infertility. Although I was not obese and did not show evidence of insulin resistance, testing showed that I did not ovulate and had low progesterone and high androgen levels, along with the telltale cysts and other indications.

The recommended diet for PCOS is high fat and low carb, which already described my diet thanks to the family I worked for. So I kept doing what I was doing and threw in a higher focus on my weight training and low intensity cardio (I live in Colorado where it’s easier to hike than to avoid it!). I also began various medications and monthly hormone testing. For the rest of the year, I felt that I was living a nightmare. I grew convinced that I would never be able to bear a child. Our one success during that time resulted in a miscarriage on our wedding anniversary.

My Primal lifestyle became my lifeboat. I clung to the knowledge that I was nourishing my body the best way I possibly could and often told myself that if I couldn’t have a baby bump, I could at least have enviable abs. I began by keeping a Primal journal of sorts, literally checking off the Primal “laws” each day to make sure I hit all the important stuff. I tracked protein and carbs at first to get used to eating enough of the first and less of the second; I had a lot of success with keeping both higher on lifting days and focusing more on fats and fasting on “off” days. I slept well, ate well, lived well, and flourished in the sun like a plant. Soon, it was all effortless. I grew confident in my weekly meal planning, choosing nutritious foods and balancing my nutrients became purely instinctual, and the previous processed carb staples of my diet disappeared from my pantry, my shopping list, and often my memory. Suddenly I would rather eat a handful of berries than a handful of candy. And yeah, I was pretty proud of how I looked, too. My weight consistently remained higher than I ever thought I’d be comfortable with, but I had my new strong muscles to thank for that. (Freshly bronzed skin from embracing instead of avoiding the sun certainly didn’t hurt either.) I naturally ate less often (during my previous carb-happy life I would get “hangry” every hour or so!) and became a pro at intermittent fasting. My husband supported me every step of the way, and even though it wasn’t his idea, he has fallen even more naturally into choosing the right foods and intermittent fasting. He even helped me summit my first two fourteeners here in Colorado (he’s up to 23). Me, who had avoided exercise for my whole life, climbing mountains! The mind boggles.

And then, right before the end of the year, I had an initial appointment with a fertility clinic and then never needed to go back. I was pregnant. On my own. Spontaneous ovulation and 100% healthy hormone levels (and also great Vitamin D levels).

Maybe my body just needed to balance out after years on birth control. But I don’t believe that at all. I give full credit to Primal living. I was diagnosed with PCOS and declared free of all such indications (and also, of course, successfully pregnant) within the same year. Mark Sisson’s work and research, the family who pointed me in the right direction, the Primal lifestyle…these things turned my nightmare into a dream come true.

As of this writing, I am 28 weeks along and busily planning for our little girl’s arrival. My diet strayed quite a bit from the Primal side of things in the early weeks, but now I am going strong once again (albeit a bit higher in fructose than is ideal). I will say it has been hard to get used to eating frequent small meals again as my stomach gets more squashed! I have been able to keep up with my weight training the whole time, with a few modifications for safety. And I feel great!

I could write a novel on all of the ways a Primal lifestyle has changed my life, all of them for the (much) better. Health, happiness, vitality, sleep quality…on and on. My lifelong battles with asthma and anxiety are, if not over, at least much easier. But none of those is as astounding or as important to me as the fact that it healed my infertility. There is no way to describe the pain of infertility to someone who has not experienced it. It was purely by chance that I met this family who introduced me to The Primal Blueprint, the best local meat source, and to a much better way of exercising than Couch to 5k and Insanity. Where would I be now if that hadn’t fallen into place?

I am so excited to bring my Primal lifestyle into this next chapter of life; I envision hikes with my daughter strapped to my chest and our dog by my side, introducing her to nutritious foods from the very beginning, and embracing playtime, sunshine, and happiness with my growing family. Thank you, Mark Sisson, for everything you do. My dreams have come true and I proudly stand by my higher expectations for happiness and health (and delicious recipes). The Primal community is truly something amazing. We’re going to take over the world.

I don’t really have a “before” picture that shows a noticeable external transformation, and no one wants to see before/after pictures of someone’s ovaries. But this “after” picture is a pretty big deal to me.

Megan

We’re Looking for More PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Brand Ambassadors!

Calling all Primal Kitchen enthusiasts! Do you love our products? Does the idea of educating others on the benefits of wholesome, healthy, delicious ingredients pique your interest? Looking for some fun, flexible, part-time work? Then today is your lucky day! We’re expanding our Brand Ambassador team in Los Angeles and Orange County, CA, Denver, CO, and New York City, NY.

If you (or someone you know) meet the requirements from the list below, and you’re looking for work with lots of control over your schedule, please apply by filling out the application and emailing your resume to sierra@primalkitchen.com. Go over our Brand Ambassador checklist and see if you’re a match. If you are, then you might be snagging a killer position in one of these cities!

Requirements:

You love hanging out in Whole Foods or your local natural grocery store
You have an outgoing personality and you’re incredibly charming and fun
You live a Primal lifestyle
You have a general understanding of why avocado oil is the best oil—and you’re not afraid to educate shoppers
You like to talk
You have wheels
You live in Los Angeles, Orange County, Denver, or New York City.
You have a smartphone (for recording information from your demo)

If you think you’d make a good fit, apply here!



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6 Reasons to Look Forward to Growing Old

As someone in his early sixties, I feel like I’m sometimes asked to be a spokesman for those in the “older” generations who are adamant (or even defiant) about staying smack in the center of life. I make no bones about my “live long, drop dead” philosophy (I even made accessories to the effect.) Numerous times I’ve shared that in some ways I’m just reaching what I consider my peak. There are days I genuinely think I’ve never had more fun, contentment and satisfaction in my life than I do right now. Unfortunately, the dominant culture pushes a different message for those of us over 50 (and definitely over 60). I’m talking about the message that these decades inevitably put us on the sidelines, ushering in an inevitable fade-out of all our faculties and enjoyments. But guess what? I’m here to tell you some good news: that doesn’t have to be your destiny. In fact, there’s a whole lot to look forward to as you grow older.

It’s yet another bizarre, perturbing product of modernism that we don’t focus on the positive aspects of aging. The historical and sociological truth is that cultures throughout time have paid exceptional honor, respect, and social currency to their elders—and for good reason. Our primal ancestors undoubtedly depended on those with the most life experience to help support and teach critical survival skills and adaptive reasoning.

In fact, a pivotal cultural boon in humanity’s evolution some 30,000-35,000 years ago came in large part, experts suggest, because of increasing longevity. Longer average lifespans meant more older people around who could pass on information and show the rest of the group how it’s done—not to mention offer childrearing support for the young members of their groups. The more life experience Grandpa Grok had, the more practice of many arts he could draw (and teach) from. The more years Grok had seen, the more scenarios and outcomes he could recall for reasoning and anticipating current conflicts and crises. Knowledge matters for survival, and without ample means of recording information (minus cave drawings), it needed to come straight from the direct instruction of older generations themselves.

But I get it. In a society where aging too often coincides with the automatic surrender to preventable lifestyle diseases, we can get a grossly skewed impression. That said, when we take care of ourselves with a mind toward compressed morbidity (living as well and able-bodied as possible to the very end), our later decades can be some of our most satisfying. Maybe it’s time I accept that poster boy challenge after all.

Sure, when I was younger I wouldn’t have anticipated this turn of events. I was too busy doing, striving, training, moving onto the next thing. As exciting as those years were with an elite athletic profession, a succession of business ventures, and (later) two small children, I frankly wouldn’t trade what I have now to go back. I was often tired, anxious, overworked, overtrained and, well, unhealthy compared to how I feel now. These days I’m enjoying so many things I didn’t have the time, focus or priorities to appreciate then. And it’s not just a matter of the dust having settled. I’m still busy! But there are aspects of me that have fundamentally changed—aspects that could only transform over the long arc of time and experience.

In unfortunate contrast, youth more than ever today is set on a precarious pedestal with the message that these are your glory days; the only days you’ll feel good and be the center of attention. From a health perspective, it’s often a case of better live it up before your crummy habits catch up with you. From a developmental perspective, however, there’s something maybe even sadder—the assumption that your best times, your biggest joys, your most valuable achievements are behind you two to three decades in. No wonder so many young people struggle emotionally these days.

Before I get to the research—to the specifics and stories—let me offer this in no uncertain terms. If you expect your life to be a static continuum of the same activities and ventures, the same routines and figures with equal to increasing gratification, you’ll very likely be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you’re willing to trust your own life as an exploration through varying phases, interests and redirects, you’ll find that your later decades hold as much (if not more) capacity for depth, joy and enrichment as your younger years. Certainly good health can and will help, but attitude (I’ve so often said it) ultimately determines your course. And that (more than health) is always a choice. That crabby older man you know was probably a crabby younger man. Age, like alcohol, exacerbates the traits that were already there.

As in every transition—whether it be reclaiming health, choosing a new career path, or having a child, your willingness to change and be changed will largely determine your success and contentment.

Now let’s dig into some of these benefits.

1. You may have more of a handle on your emotions

There is something to the idea that (many) people mellow with age. Studies suggest that people in their later decades have an easier time regulating their emotions, particularly anger. While we might all develop our emotional awareness, as we age those emotions tend to crowd out less. In research scenarios, older adults reported better capacity for resisting impulsive responses and for maintaining goal-directed behavior. Likewise, older study participants showed heightened “clarity of emotions” and better regulation strategies than their younger counterparts.

2. You get better at relationships

I’ve heard many people say as much, but there’s solid research to back up this assertion. Older adults put a higher value and attention on the emotional dimensions of their interactions with others. As a result, they may be more attuned to other people in their relationships and, in conjunction with their greater emotional regulation, more able to listen and respond empathetically. Additionally, research shows, they’re better at recalling the emotional dimension of their interactions and experiences. I’ve heard people say they’ve gotten “soft” or “sentimental” in their “old age.” In truth, it’s likely a growing capacity for compassion and a deeper appreciation for the less obvious gifts and meaning within their experiences.

3. You may feel more content

A few years ago multiple national and international studies suggested people around the globe commonly experience happiness in a “U-shaped pattern” over the course of their lifetimes. Although where this pattern fell within particular ages varied from culture to culture, the pattern held as a seemingly universal experience. Researchers even noted that apes appeared to move through the same model based on their caretakers’ reports.

Study authors noted that the midpoints generally represented the most crowded years when people are likely to feel overwhelmed by responsibilities and perhaps disillusioned with certain paths they’d chosen. Yet, something shifts that swings happiness upward again, whether it be acceptance of their circumstances, a round of achievements, a lightening of the load, or a renewal through new interests or opportunities.

4. You gain new cognitive and creative abilities

Yup, that’s right—new. All the talk today is usually about maintaining what we have, and while that’s important, aging offers its own novel benefits on the neurological front.

In the latter half of life, the two hemispheres of the brain increasingly integrate and functionally intertwine. Additionally, our “patterning” capacity (the ever complexifying networking of our many ideas and experiences that create new connections and combinations) further develops in these decades.

While these likely are meant to help compensate for the minor declines in certain cognitive abilities such as working memory, these enhanced means of cognitive integration open the door for more creative thought and advanced reasoning.

5. You may be more satisfied in your career

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 9 out of 10 workers over the age of fifty were very or somewhat satisfied in their current jobs and were happier in their positions than younger workers. Not only do many older workers enjoy a greater sense of security because of higher income and promotions, but they reported also feeling more respected in their workplaces.

There’s a certain gratification that comes with appreciating a long span of growth and accomplishment in a given field or across fields for those who have changed career tracks. In the later years, when it’s typically less about striving, you may have a unique opportunity to look back and recognize the gifts and lessons of your professional development.

6. You’ll be better at navigating life’s challenges

Let’s be honest. When we’re young, we’re winging it. There’s a thrill to this exploratory, experimental time. Anything can feel possible. It’s vital to go through that period, to know that brand of euphoric, idealistic fervor—and, yet, it’s not the end-all.

In our later years, a deeper patience often settles in—a patience and present-mindset that softens the emotional impact of any decline we might see in ourselves perhaps, but also a patience with the world around us. Having seen so much of life at that point, our youthful idealism might wear differently these days, but it doesn’t necessarily change our enthusiasm or drive. Purpose matters in these decades, but it may become more personal as we home in on our remaining time to live life and achieve the changes we want to see.

Older adults are also better, research tells us, at focusing on the positive in life. In studies, older adults were more likely to remember positive than negative images or recall “false positives.”

So what does this all come down to?

With age, you can gain the unprecedented gift of the bigger perspective—on your own life and more.

While I’m grateful for all the challenges and phases and joys of my younger days, there’s a sense of groundedness, self-possession and culmination I get to enjoy now.

As something called socioemotional selectivity theory suggests, we become more content with life as we age and grow more conscious of our limited number of years left. Our mortality settles in, and there’s a kickstart response to that. We feel called to take our lives more seriously, to make our experiences count and to be grateful for the life we have today. Some people call it making peace with one’s life—moving through the last years and decades with a maturity to accept life on life’s terms (termination included) but to still find your way through it with more gratitude and gracefulness.

This is the part my thirty-something self never would’ve been able to fully, viscerally understand (beyond mere intellectual comprehension) because it wasn’t the task of that stage and shouldn’t be. With years comes a greater appreciation for the composite—how we’ve lived our own lives and how we still wish to experience it. But it also brings a greater reverence for continuity—the overarching human story we get to play a part in for a little while. It simultaneously helps keep me rooted in the immediate present and expands my awe for all the possibilities I’ve seen, will see and won’t have a chance to see in this lifetime.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. I’d love to hear what’s been true for you about the benefits of later decades—the ones you anticipated and maybe those you never saw coming. Have a great end to the week.

12 Essential Tips for Primal Women

Look: I’m a man. I’ve lived a different experience than the average woman, with totally different equipment and different concentrations of hormones coursing through my body. But I have a daughter and a wife and a good head on my shoulders that’s spent the last 30 years thinking about health, nutrition, and fitness for humans, so I have a few things to offer.

So let’s get right down to today’s post. What follows are 12 tips for Primal women. Or any woman, really.

(Men, too: if some of the things mentioned in today’s post aren’t working for you, and the tips seem to apply, go for it!)

1. You don’t have to fast (and maybe shouldn’t)

Amidst the growing acceptance of intermittent fasting as a legitimate tool for healthy aging and weight loss emerges the realization that men and women may respond to it differently. Whereas in men the response to fasting is usually positive, it’s more mixed in women. For instance:

One study found that while IF improved insulin sensitivity in male subjects, female subjects saw no such improvement and actually experienced worse glucose tolerance.

In another, obese men and women dropped body fat, body weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycercides on a fasting regimen. Healthy people may have different responses. Perimenopausal women were also excluded from the study.

And most recently, researchers found that women respond negatively to an energy deficit induced by fasting but positively to one induced by exercise.

Women can fast, but the conditions for success are narrower. If you want to try fasting, you may have success with shorter fasting periods (skip a meal instead of two), less frequent fasting (once a week or every two weeks).

2. You need to lift

Everyone needs to lift, but no one needs to lift more than women who’ve spent their whole lives avoiding it after hearing that lifting will make them “bulky.” Chances are, they haven’t lifted. Chances are even if they’ve managed to get into the gym with the intent of lifting, little niggling doubts remain and increase the chance they’ll veer away from the weight room toward the spin class. Or they actually lift but stick to baby weights rather than barbells. Lifting won’t make you bulky (unless you’re taking exogenous substances that render your hormonal profile more similar to a man’s). Lifting will:

Improve your bone density (osteoporosis hits women harder than men).

Improve fat burning.

Increase lean mass.

There’s no reason not to lift.

3. Your “ideal” body fat percentage is higher than you think

Women carry more fat on average than men. They just do. And when you look at a healthy woman’s body, her true body fat percentage is likely higher than you think. For a man, 12-15% body fat is healthy, while for women the healthiest (in general; everything is relative and there are always exceptions) body fat level is 18-25%.

So when you get your body fat tested and it’s 25% or even higher, don’t freak out. You carry weight differently than men. What’s high for a man may be completely normal for you. A woman can look about as lean as a guy but have far more body fat as a percentage of overall weight. This can cause anxiety—those cover models look like they’re 12% body fat but are actually closer to 20%—but it shouldn’t.

4. Junk in the trunk might be treasure

For many women it’s completely natural to have a higher body fat level and accumulate more fat in the gluteofemoral region–the hips, butt, and thighs–because that’s where women store DHA for future baby brain construction. That’s probably why gluteofemoral fat is notoriously stubborn and hard to burn – because it’s a reliable, secure way to store an important nutrient (DHA) that’s often scarce during pregnancy. In fact, having that kind of fat is actually a sign of good metabolic health.

Embrace your lower body fat, since it correlates strongly with health.

5. Don’t try to eat as much as the guys

It’s not just an illusion that many men seem to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining an ounce. Men are generally larger, with more muscle mass. Just to stay at their normal weight they require more calories. They can get away with more calories. But since women are smaller in general (fair warning: I’m going to be doing a lot of generalizing because it produces actionable advice for the most people), they can’t. But that food is so good and your husband is enjoying so much more of it. Unfair? Sure. So be sure to pop him one next time he’s not looking in retribution (not really though).

Being Primal usually takes care of the “inadvertent calorie reduction” thing pretty well, but not always. Be aware that you don’t need to keep up with your husband/boyfriend/guy friends/etc at dinner. And make sure you’re eating nutrient dense foods. Since you have fewer calories to “work with,” you need to make the most of the ones you eat.

6. Beware the female athlete triad

When women combine heavy, intense training with undereating, they may develop the “female athlete triad“: disordered eating, osteoporosis, amenorrhea. If all that sounds extreme, it is but it isn’t; the triad is shockingly common among adolescent and young adult female athletes.

Don’t train too hard. Don’t eat too little. Avoid doing both concurrently, or else your bone, reproductive, and psychological health can suffer.

7. Don’t diet too hard

I know, I know. There’s all this seemingly conflicting information being strewn about. Don’t eat too much. Don’t eat too little! Don’t exercise too much! That’s just the reality, though: in general, women can’t get away with as many metabolic perturbations as men. Whereas men can skip a day or two’s meals and actually come out leaner, healthier, and happier, women often respond negatively to the same stimulus. Men can train really hard and it takes a while for the negative effects to accumulate (remember, I did it for decades before enough was enough); women usually can’t. And men can usually get away with more restrictive diets, like eating very-low carb or super low-calorie for extended periods. In my experience, women usually can’t.

So be aware of all that. Eat the food. When losing weight, which really means “losing fat,” sometimes you need to eat a little more than you think.

8. Get your calcium (and the nutrients necessary to absorb and utilize it)

Across their lives, women have a higher risk of osteoporosis than men. There are a lot of reasons why this discrepancy may exist, but a major one is inadequate calcium intake. Women need more calcium than men.

If you tolerate it, full-fat dairy is a fantastic source of calcium. Highly bioavailable and comes packaged with lots of other nutrients that help it absorb properly.

Leafy greens are pretty good sources of calcium, but I wouldn’t rely on them for the entirety of your calcium intake.

Bone-in small fish, like canned sardines, give tons of calcium. And like the dairy, canned fish comes with many other important nutrients.

9. You might need a few more carbs

The Primal Blueprint recommends quite a varied range of carbohydrate intake. While detractors like to focus on the “low-carb” part of things, I’ve always said that eating around 150 grams of carbs per day is perfectly sustainable, healthy, and sufficiently low-carb. And a sizable portion of my female readers, friends, and clients all seem to do better toward the upper end of that range, in the 100-150 grams per day tier. Many do great on lower amounts, too.

Just don’t think you have to go ketogenic, or avoid berries, or count the carbs in spinach.

10. Get a handle on stress

Much of the research has been in animals, but the bulk of it suggests that females are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress than men. In female mice, chronic stress has a greater chance to cause depression. Girls appear to be more sensitive to the negative psychological effects of child abuse. Overall, females have a greater potential for dysregulated “stress reactivity” in response to stressors and show higher rates of stress-related disorders.

Even “physical” stress, like the oxidative damage caused by exposure to airborne pollution, is more potent in women than men. Female smokers, for instance, show evidence of more oxidative damage than equivalent male smokers.

11. Get your sleep

A recent study found that inadequate sleep was more likely to cause “psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger” in women than men.

Once again, it’s not fair. It can’t be ignored, though.

12. Watch your iron intake after menopause

For most of your life, you’ve got a built-in iron regulator: your period. Every month, you lose a little iron. You may have even needed to focus on getting more iron to account for the iron lost through menstruation. And through certain phases of life, like pregnancy, your iron needs are higher.

But after you stop getting your period, you’re no longer losing iron. You’re accumulating it, just like men do. And while it may be a confluence of factors, increased iron may be partially responsible for the overall increase in health problems that typically ensue with menopause. If you’re no longer shedding iron regularly, check out all the ways you can use your diet and other lifestyle habits to regulate your iron intake and absorption.

That’s it for today, everyone. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means. I’m sure I’ve missed some things, so now it’s your turn to help out down below.

Women: what tips, tricks, and practices have you found indispensable for your Primal journey?

Good Fat, Bad Fat Has Arrived! Order Your Copy Today and Get a Free Gift!

I talk a lot about fat on this blog—body fat, healthy fat, harmful fat—so when I came across Romy Dollé’s book Good Fat, Bad Fat, I was more than intrigued. The only problem was, it was written in German. So my team and I at Primal Blueprint Publishing collaborated with Romy and scientific consultant Torsten Albers, MD, to give you the English version of Good Fat, Bad Fat…and today’s release day!

In a nutshell, Good Fat, Bad Fat educates readers on all aspects of dietary fat, and dispels all the “fat phobia” misinformation promoted by the mainstream.

In Good Fat, Bad Fat, you’ll learn how to:

• Break through your resistance to eating fat and gain a clear understanding of the health benefits of good fat

• Increase fat intake with nutritious fats

• Eliminate bad fats from your diet

• Enjoy 70 delicious, perfectly balanced macronutrient recipes

• Stay motivated with inspirational success stories, easy-to-understand summaries of scientific studies, psychological insights, and relatable personal anecdotes

It’s actually Romy’s second book with us. We published Fruit Belly last year, which is a four-day step-by-step plan to eliminate the digestive distress and health problems resulting from weight loss diets featuring large amounts of fruit, salad, and low-fat dairy products. If you battle fruit belly, it’s a must-read.

As for Good Fat, Bad Fat, I’m commemorating the launch with two deals:

1. Order Good Fat, Bad Fat by May 25th and get a free digital copy of the PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo eCookbook.

2. Buy the limited time Super Fat Bundle before midnight on May 25th, and you’ll get:


A copy of Good Fat, Bad Fat
A bottle of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Greek Vinaigrette and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
A jar of PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo and Chipotle Lime Mayo
The PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo eCookbook

It’s just $49.95 plus FREE Shipping & Handling.

Both these deals turn into pumpkins at midnight on May 25th. You don’t need a coupon code. Just click here to purchase the book and we’ll ship it to you pronto and email you the PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo eCookbook soon after.

If your pantry is empty and you want to stock up on condiments with the Super Fat Bundle, then click here to order.

But before you go, check out this recipe from Good Fat, Bad Fat. A little teaser if you will!

Rösti with Fried Egg

Servings: 3 – 4

Ingredients:

1.8 lb (800 g) sweet potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
4 eggs
4 egg whites
2 tbsp (30 ml) coconut flour
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
Pinch of pepper
1 onion, peeled and chopped (optional)
3.5 oz (100 g) fried bacon, cut into cubes or strips (optional)
5 tbsp (74 ml) clarified butter

Preparation:

Place the grated sweet potatoes with egg whites, coconut flour, and salt into a bowl; mix well
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbsp (30 ml) clarified butter on medium-high
If you want to add onion and/or fried bacon, fry them in the clarified butter until soft
Spread the potatoes evenly over the onions and press down slightly
Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan, and cook for about 10 minutes
Place a large, shallow dish on the potatoes and turn the pan over; this will put the fried side of the rösti on the plate facing up
Pour the remaining clarified butter into the pan, then let the non-fried side of the hash browns slide off the plate into the pan. Fry again for 5 – 10 minutes
In a separate pan, fry the whole eggs
When finished, place whole eggs and bacon atop hash browns; add pepper and serve

Serving suggestions:

Instead of a big rösti, divide the grated potatoes into three or four servings to share.

That’s it for today! I hope you love the book. And I look forward to hearing everyone’s feedback.