Mark Sisson's Blog, page 229

Weekend Link Love – Edition 391

Primal Endurance is an INDIEFAB Award finalist.

Want a Primal meal plan? Now you can sign up for mine for only a penny. There’s no such thing as a free lunch–but this comes close.

A nice piece in Outside about some guy they call the “pied piper” of paleo.

Research of the Week

Coffee improves antioxidant capacity.

How meat eating begat less chewing and more talking.

Meat made our brains, and our brains still need it.

We evolved feet from hands, not hands from feet.

“Sea nomad” kids can see perfectly underwater (with enough practice, so can you).

Giving infants peanuts before age 1 seems to reduce the chance of allergy, even if you only do it once.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 110: Brad Kearns and Andrew MacNaughton: Brad and Andrew give tips on life transitions, awakening passions, focusing on process rather than goal, work-life-sport balance, and numerous other bits of practical life advice.

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.

Minimalist Living: Is It Primal?
7 Primal Ways to Be a Better Leader
Top 14 Ways to Increase Your Metabolism

Interesting Blog Posts

A guide to the world’s blood sausages.

Are you ready for super-intelligent humans?

Read this before (or after) giving your kid antibiotics.

Media, Schmedia

Most of what Americans eat is “ultra-processed.” Also, how growing life expectancies are changing the definition of “age appropriate.”

Fasting is becoming more palatable.

Everything Else

Whole Foods to test ugly fruit.

Strangest story ever: West Virginia lawmakers celebrate passage of bill legalizing raw milk sales by drinking raw milk, one of them comes down with a stomach bug that’s been going around the office and probably doesn’t have anything to do with the milk, reporters interview him as he’s groaning and moaning on the couch. Be sure to watch the video.

Have you fallen prey to the vast bay leaf conspiracy?

Dupont’s attempt to conceal the hazards of teflon.

Dozens of scientists and psychologists recently gathered to discuss the medical applications of psychedelics.

Investors just gave cricket protein bar company EXO $4 million more.

Tiny cameras you swallow may replace conventional colonoscopies.

“So you claim your share, rally your friends, tip the cow, and become a steak holder.” A new cow-sharing app.

Recipe Corner

Beef stew with paleo pita bread.
Creamy chicken stew, a perfect way to use those boring chicken breasts.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Mar 16 – Mar 22)

The Definitive Guide to Nuts – All you need to know.
Are We Thwarting Our Children’s Instinct to Explore? – We’re born explorers. Should we get in the way of that?

Comment of the Week

“When my 87 year old father died the physical goods he left behind were a car, a home, a closet full of simple, neat clothes, books on all subjects, and tons of framed photos of family. He was not monetarily poor, but simply had no need for ” things”. Today we call this minimalist, but what he really was, was content.”

– Well said, Marianne.

Quick-Pickled Mussels with Seared Cherry Tomatoes

Pickling mussels after they’re cooked is a good way to serve them as an appetizer. A large batch can be made the day before and set out at room temperature with toothpicks. Although, when the mussels are served with seared cherry tomatoes, you’ll need a spoon to scoop up all the garlicky, juicy goodness. And a fork will be necessary if you choose to eat the mussels and tomatoes over a bowl of salad greens, which is a fine idea, too.

When mussels are quick-pickled, for an hour or overnight, it gives them a vinegary kick, plus the heat of smoked paprika and red pepper flakes. The more ways you know to prepare and serve mussels, the better, since they’re a food that should regularly show up on your plate. Why? Mussels are nutrient-dense morsels filled with B vitamins, selenium, zinc, magnesium and manganese. You don’t need to eat a ton of mussels, or other shellfish, to get a healthy serving of nutrients. So share this batch of pickled mussels with friends, or cut the recipe in half for a smaller serving.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 45 minutes, plus 2 hours to pickle

Ingredients:

2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded (900g)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided (60 ml plus 15 ml)
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cups white vinegar (475 ml)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (5 ml)
½ teaspoon smoked paprika (2.5 ml)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (5 ml)
1 pint (12 ounces) cherry tomatoes, halved (340 g)
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (15 ml)

Instructions:

In a shallow pot of boiling water, cook the mussels with a lid for 2 to 3 minutes until they open. Drain. Discard any shells that do not open. When the mussels are cool enough to handle, remove them from their shells. Discard the shells and refrigerate the mussels.

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft, 3 minutes. Add the vinegar, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika and salt and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the liquid from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl or jar, pour the liquid over the mussels and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Before serving, set the mussels in their liquid on the counter to come up to room temperature.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until the oil is very hot and shimmering. Add tomatoes and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring only occasionally, until the tomatoes are blackened in places and begin to collapse.

Stir in garlic and cook only about 30 seconds, before the garlic burns. Season the tomatoes with salt and let cool.

Drain the mussels and toss with the tomatoes. Garnish with parsley.

It’s in the “Want,” Not Just the “Will”

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 was Fall 2013, and I was just finishing up my annual physical checkup. This year was no different: hearing from the doctor about how my bloodwork numbers were incredibly bad and how I needed to explore some other options in my diet (and needed more exercise). I was also informed my weight was at 332 lbs, the heaviest I had ever weighed in my life. When it was time for me to leave the doctor’s office, I even received a gift, considering my numbers were on the edge of me becoming diabetic: I got to take home a blood glucose monitor, just to kind of keep an eye on things. That little device would never come out of the box.

In the meantime, I would go on with my daily routine. Waking up in the morning, after not getting enough rest, dreading getting out of bed and walking on my sore knees and painful plantar fasciitis feet as I got ready for my workday. I just so happened to work at a grocery store, so anything I wanted food wise was available to me on an almost daily basis, and I was sure to take advantage of that. Fresh bakery donuts in the morning, whole frozen pizzas or frozen dinners, conveniently prepared in the break-room microwave for lunch, and pick me up snacks in the afternoon, all right there. I needed those things, because, dang, I was hungry and I was working hard, right?

Sure, I was overweight, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t ever tried not to be. As far as I can remember, I had always been considered overweight. A few years before reaching my heaviest, I had a couple hernia surgeries and each time was reminded that I was “morbidly” obese. At one of these consultations, the idea of bariatric surgery was even pitched to me. So around that time I took interest in some diets, with none of them really staying with me or making me feel like I wasn’t depraving myself of something. I did lose 20 lbs at one point, proving that I could at least lose weight, but it ferociously came back to me with additional weight added on. But in the Spring of 2014, I noticed someone who had lost a decent amount of weight and was determined to find out how they did it. I found out that I needed to look up Mark’s Daily Apple.

Wheels were about to be set in motion, or should I say, I was about to be set in motion on. I really like information and MDA seemed like it had much to offer. So I poured over the website quite a bit, and on July 1, 2014, decided I would give some of the principles a shot. I set what I felt were small, realistic goals, and decided to pursue them. The grocery store wasn’t all bad after all as it’s not a sedentary job, and it did allow me to lift heavy things now and again. There were also a lot of opportunities for me to look at labels and see just what I had been putting into my body, and it alarmed me. I started eating different, kept a watchful eye on my carb intake, and didn’t feel it was unbearable. I never knew I liked almonds so much, or that I could crave a good salad over a bunch of potato chips any day, and heck, grass fed beef tasted so much better than any beef I had eaten in the past.

After a few months the weight was steadily coming off. I decided I would start taking walks outside every now and then. I was enjoying being outside and getting some fresh air and sunlight. However, I knew cold weather season was on the horizon, so, I needed to get indoors, but somehow keep up my activity. So, I joined a gym and just started strolling on the treadmill for awhile. Eventually I decided I wanted to try to speed it up and try the running thing, and decided I wanted to get some sort of weightlifting in as well. The weight continued to come off in a steady manner and I wasn’t starving.

That brings me to where I am now on this journey. I sit here today weighing 178 lbs, having run one 10k and two 5k’s with very reasonable results (2nd in my age group in one!). There will be more runs in my future. But, most importantly, the Primal lifestyle will continue into my future. I no longer have to get out of bed in the morning with my foot or knees hurting. I’ve been to the doctor recently for another one of those annual physicals, and my numbers have taken a complete turnaround, with nowhere close to the word “diabetes” being brought up. Having just turned the age of 40, I think I may be in the best shape I have been in my life.

My story reads pretty clear and smooth, but, I will be the first to say it necessarily wasn’t, I just didn’t allow myself to give up. I had the foggy low carb flu in the beginning. I had some bumps in the road, but, you just get back to it and tomorrow is a new start. I still have some cravings and I still eat some bad things (80/20 rule, thank you!). You just have to be mindful of yourself and let your body reset, I think that is what has been most impactful to me. When I eat something out of the guidelines now, I can definitely feel how it alters the way I feel, giving me insight into whether I actually want to eat that option in the future. There really is so much more to The Primal Blueprint than the weight loss, I just can’t begin to write it all here and that is why I believe it works for me.

I have always been a little reluctant to write my “Success Story” because, what you have read here are just “chapters.” My story is not done, I can confidently say that with the lifestyle The Primal Blueprint has given me. Along my journey I have heard things such as “Determination” and “Willpower” and it brought to mind to me one day early on in the process, that it was “WANTpower.” So, I extend to you the questions, how bad do you “want” to lose weight, have a better understanding of your body, or even just simply feel better? You can do it, it can be done and with the help of MDA, I became proof!

GROK ON, EVERYONE!

Tadd Davis

9 Primal Ways to Become a Better Communicator

Eons ago, an evolutionary shift took root that would change the human story. In fact, it would write it. I’m talking of course about the capacity for complex language. The development spurred collaborative ability and, as a result, social organization. Where visceral reality once ruled, other conceptual layers came into play—cosmological narratives, genealogical stories, inter-band negotiations just to get things started. Perhaps rudimentary drawings or food offerings might have put us on a path to the above, but it wasn’t until language that these came to real fruition. With language, culture and all that comes with it was born. The ability to communicate didn’t eradicate raw instinct by any means, but it spoke back to it and opened up options for human social connection.

We rely on communication for all we do—how we parent, how we lead, how we love, how we navigate the world and all of our relationships. And, yet, it’s no secret that we’re doing our communicative talents no favors these days. From the filter of technology to the culture of busy, we’re seem to be backing ourselves into our virtual, isolated corners more and more.

Sherry Turkle, a writer and researcher I mention in Primal Connection, studies digital culture and its effect on human communication. “Our networked life allows us to hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other,” she writes. With even phone calls now being seen as intrusive, we live with increasing layers between ourselves and those we love or work with.

Human history around communication could easily have its own Smithsonian (e.g. everything from calling cards to rotary dial phones to stone tablets), but we’re always after the prehistory here. What did it look like in Grok’s day? It can boggle the mind to think we’re hearkening back to the advent of oral tradition. Never mind smart phone technology. We’re talking about a time even before more basic written exchange. All communication was face to face, eye to eye, in the full display of physical as well as verbal expression.

Is it any wonder kids these days, increasingly plugged into screens during and after school, are losing the ability to read emotions? Even we adults, who may pride ourselves having grown up old school, are running ourselves distracted. While 90% of communication isn’t necessarily non-verbal, we kid ourselves to think words (even for the most eloquent among us) and emojis are just as good as genuine, undistracted face time.

A few weeks ago I saw a social media meme that said technology can bring us closer to those far away and can distance us from those in our presence. The Primal (as opposed to raw Paleolithic) principle holds here: we enjoy and apply the best tools of modern times for the most convenient and most fulfilling experience of a life centered around what nourishes our inherent human needs—social communication being one of these.

I fully get it. Families spread over multiple states if not countries. Company employees span the globe. I see it in my own circles—both social and business. Most of the time, I work from home since it makes more sense for my current setup. None of this changes our need for communication, but it sure does take us far from our Primal traditions.

Every day we deal with utilitarian obligations (gotta work and earn money in the networked world) and with evolutionarily novel circumstances (Grandma and Grandpa live five states away). Yet, I think we can simultaneously make the best of our situations and know we can expect more from ourselves and others.

They say communication isn’t just about what you say but how you make another person feel. (Which part do you think the mind remembers most?) When we look at it this way, at issue isn’t just the mode of communication but the quality of connection that takes place.

Our schedules (or mindsets) can make us so tired and overwrought that communication can feel like a chore. From 5-minute fairy tales for our kids to cryptic texts to our partners or friends, we’re losing the forest through the trees. If a child or friend makes a telling facial expression and no one looks up (e.g. from a laptop or dinner prep) to witness it, did it really happen? Good communication can be as much a question of life balance as it is technology dependence. Do our ways of communicating support our ability to relate successfully and intimately? Do they serve our happiness and the happiness of those we care about?

In that spirit, I want to throw out a few ideas (some work oriented, others family/friend focused, some practical, some conceptual)—a few Primal-minded ways we can both communicate and connect better—because I think Grok would remind us it’s less about skill and more about purpose (and that purpose largely directs skill).

1. Practice regular technology fasts

If you make one change, let this be it. I’ve written about tech fasting in the past as a means of living in the physical, present moment. Get your head out of your smartphone and into conversation with the world around you. You’ll not only hear the words others are trying to share with you, but you’ll pick up on cues you likely too often miss—the subtle facial expressions and body language that tells you your spouse really loves you or your daughter needs you now or an ailing friend or parent isn’t doing as well as he/she has let on. It’s a great reminder that technology can be as much a barrier to communication as it is a tool for it.

2. Just be with someone—in undistracted silence

How easy it is to forget that we can literally just sit with someone and be in silence with them. Hunter-gatherer groups didn’t and don’t today live with the cacophony of blabbing that we do. Silence speaks. Presence listens. This is something even older generation of “regular” people understand, I think. As silence becomes rarer, so does our appreciation for its significance.

3. Embrace storytelling

Kids love to hear stories—and not just the fantastical stuff of princesses and knights, monsters, aliens and animals that talk. One of the fun things about grandparents is the stories they’ve amassed—about mom or dad as a youngling, about themselves, about historical events, about life before X, Y, Z invention or with whatever war or scourge inspires vicarious horror in a child’s imagination.

The best speakers—whether they be preachers or politicians, teachers or business leaders—know how to employ stories to their end. Stories are entertaining. They’re absorbing. And they often communicate points better than any directive you could ever come up with.

In Grok’s time—and even into the first few thousand years of semi-recorded history—morality, convention and religion were communicated through story rather than law. It was part of the vast oral tradition that encompassed everything from Aboriginal cautionary tales to the early Greeks.

There’s something humble about telling through story rather than dictate. As mythological scholars can tell you, our imaginations can stretch to comprehend vaster, deeper and more challenging concepts through the vehicle of metaphor and story than through any other means. Symbolic language can take us places literal language can’t.

4. Reinstitute the traditional family (or friend) reunion weekend 

When I was young it was customary for extended families to gather once a year for a big get-together. Cousins, grandparents, distant aunts and uncles would all gather for the annual steak-fry or barbecue on someone’s farm or at a local church. The kids joined up for their own adventures while the adults “visited” over coffee, beer and the buffet tables.

These days I think you see less of this—although I do occasionally run into big gatherings at hotels with dozens or even hundreds of laughing, embracing people all wearing that year’s official family reunion t-shirt. It’s a sight to behold, and it’s probably not all that distant a tradition from what Grok’s kin might have experienced during certain parts of the year when gathering was easier.

How often do we settle for Christmas cards (often electronic) and call it good anymore? Those cards as well as social media shares will mean a lot more if once a year (or more) you make the commitment to be together in the flesh. While social media and phone calls can help maintain a continuity, presence preserves intimacy.

5. Reinvent the staff retreat

Being a good communicator isn’t about making sure every exchange happens in person or that every email goes into protracted displays of emotional sensitivity. It’s about balancing the overall call for connection with the situational benefits of expedience. When it comes to work as well as family, it’s important to build a strong foundation of communication, trust and collaboration. Sure, people will do their basic jobs in order to be paid, but most of us (whether we’re on the leadership or the staff side) hope for a bigger, more fulfilling investment. The way to get that isn’t forceful directives or stale training. I find it’s often about getting people out of the office.

I’m not talking about a day long series of Power Point lectures with catered lunch in the adjacent corporate building. I mean an experience that gets people out of their typical roles and into something totally novel. Sometimes that might be a week in a resort cabin with climbing or kayaking lessons. It could be your team taking on a service project like a week of Habitat for Humanity work.

Whatever the choice, it should have no connection to the workplace. It should be an egalitarian affair. And it should be more than just a couple days. Within that space, you’ll all get to see different sides of each other, as well as appreciate new skills or characteristics of one another. By the end, the typical mode of relating will be cracked open. You’ll have established an intimacy from experience shared and built a trust that can color future communication and collaboration among those on your team.

6. Choose video conferencing over phone calls when you can

The fact is, sometimes we can’t be together, but here’s a case in which modern technology can help us get a little closer to the real deal. Whether it’s a weekly staff meeting (how many people telecommute these days?) or a call to the grandparents, the visual aspect of greeting and conversation is invaluable to feeling connected and included. In practical terms, it’s also much easier for the person “phoning in” for a group conversation if he/she can see who’s talking. Who agrees with me there?

7. Don’t forget about the power of physical contact

It’s well known we’re a stingy bunch in Western society. Other cultures tend to be much more hands on than ours when it comes to showing affection, and the same is true of observed hunter-gatherer societies.

Obviously, we navigate what’s acceptable versus unacceptable in the workplace, but among those in our family or social circles, could we be more demonstrative than we typically are? Could we offer more hugs or a quick squeeze of the shoulders? What about a kiss goodbye in the morning? How often do we hold the hand of our child these days? Would we be willing to take our mother’s arm as we walk with her? When we remember the purpose of communication is ultimately relating, we understand how important physical touch can be.

8. Consider your body language

Restaurant servers and flight attendants are among those trained to look their customers in the eye. It’s part of their job because a key aspect of their work is making people feel welcome and valued. Sometimes those of us in jobs less explicitly service oriented forget the impact of that simple behavior. Looking someone in the eye literally says, “I see you.”

How many of our conversations do we go through in a day—probably more so at home than at work—when we fail to even look the other person in the eye? Do we yell to our kids across the house to wash their hands and come eat, or do we take a minute to visit them in their rooms, get down on their levels, look them in the eye while lightly touching their shoulders and tell them it’s time to eat?

Do we stop what we’re doing and face them with an interested and quiet expression while they tell us about their day? Do we offer the same courtesy to our partners?

How do we look when we’re sitting in a meeting? Are we slouched back in our chairs, doodling on the pads in front of us, or are we focused attentively on the speaker? Do we compulsively sit hunched with crossed arms and a disinterested scowl at our in-laws? Guess what. Grok’s family wouldn’t have liked you either and very possibly would’ve taken you to task over it.

Here’s the cut-to-the-chase Primal principle: take responsibility for the energy you give off.

9. Deeply consider your words

Because technology diminishes or omits the input of facial expression and body language—what I’d call the social checks and balances of face-to-face communication, the onus is obviously on our words. When you add in the fast pace we fly by these days, we’re looking at a pretty high likelihood for miscommunication or at least the risk of not communicating our full intent—most likely the emotion behind our request or comment (always the most tricky and nuanced part).

The drive for efficiency can move us to take shortcuts in our communication, and what seemed utilitarian at the time can later strike us (too late for the recipient) as brusk and dismissive.

Is the one extra minute or two it would’ve taken to think through or re-read worth the happiness of a partner or child or the morale of a staff member? Get some Grok-style perspective and know that some things are worth your time investment.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Share your thoughts on the state of communication as you see it, and enjoy the end to your week.

Prefer listening to reading? Get an audio recording of this blog post, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast on iTunes for instant access to all past, present and future episodes here.

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Should You Be Getting More B Vitamins?

When it comes to obtaining sufficient amounts of certain micronutrients, you’re hyper vigilant. Magnesium? You’re eating spinach, throwing back magnesium glycinate, and adding Trace Mineral drops to your water. Iodine? You’re making dulse “bacon.” To bask in the holy triumvirate of vitamin K2, vitamin D3, and vitamin A, you’re willing to eat fermented cod liver oil and stinky natto. But as omnivores drawing upon a broad spectrum of plant and animal foods, Primal people tend to assume they have the B vitamins covered. It’s no wonder: punch a slab of beef chuck steak or a few ounces of liver into the USDA nutrient database and that whole B vitamin section seems to fill up.

Let’s take a look. You may be right. You may be totally fine. But it’s always nice to refresh your focus.

Vitamin B-1 (Thiamine)

Thiamine is a co-enzyme used to produce ATP, the energy currency of the body. Without adequate thiamine, your power levels drop. Wouldn’t want to be low energy, would you?

Deficiency Symptoms

Serious thiamine deficiency leads to an often-fatal condition that affects the cardiovascular system called beriberi. This is hard to get in developed countries, or any country that fortifies its grains. “Dry beriberi” is another serious condition that affects the nervous system.
Carbohydrate intolerance. Thiamine, which helps regulate glucose metabolism, has a strong connection to diabetes. Diabetics consistently have low serum levels of thiamine and the severity of diabetic symptoms matches blood thiamine.
Fatigue, listlessness, brain fog.
Poor sleep (thiamine is a co-factor in GABA production).

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Avoidance of fortified grains. Most people get adequate thiamine because they’re eating diets based on refined white flour, which is fortified with the vitamin. I don’t advise this tactic, but it does work if all you care about is thiamine. Primal eaters will have to eat other stuff.
Excessive alcohol consumption, which impairs thiamine absorption and increases thiamine utilization.

Where to Get It

Although most health websites never mention it, pork is the single best dietary source of thiamine. It’s in the muscle meat, so any amount of lean pork will be rich in thiamine. You don’t need much, either. 100 grams of lean pork gets you almost all your daily thiamine (PDF).
After pork, various seeds (sunflower, in particular) and veggies (spinach, asparagus) are .
Supplement. Thiamine HCL is a common, well-tolerated form.

Dosage

Men need about 1.3 mg per day, women 1.2 (1.4 when pregnant or breastfeeding). High-dose thiamine (300 mg/day) is safe and has been used to improve glucose tolerance, fatigue after stroke, fatigue in multiple sclerosis, and fatigue in inflammatory bowel disease. In young women with adequate thiamine status, 50 mg/day improved reaction time.

Vitamin B-2 (Riboflavin)

Riboflavin is a facilitator; it helps activate other B-vitamins like folate, thiamin, and B-12. It’s also a necessary co-factor in glutathione recycling.

Deficiency Symptoms

Cracked lips and skin, throat swelling and soreness, swollen tongue, scaly skin.
Pre-eclampsia. Pregnant women deficient in riboflavin are almost 5 times more likely to develop pre-eclampsia than replete women.
Low niacin. Riboflavin enables the conversion of tryptophan to niacin.
Anemia. Adding riboflavin to an iron-folate supplement combats anemia better than iron-folate alone.
High homocysteine. Certain MTHFR mutations increase the need for riboflavin.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Poor diet. Riboflavin is present in many foods, but a monotonous, limited diet can run short.

Where to Get It

Liver, dairy, meat, nuts, eggs, green vegetables.
Supplement. It just goes by riboflavin or vitamin B-2.

Dosage

1.3 mg/day for men, 1.2 mg/day for women. Excess riboflavin is excreted in the urine, turning it yellow. 

Vitamin B-3 (Niacin)

Like every other B vitamin, niacin figures prominently in the energy generation process, particularly the glucose-to-ATP pathway.

Deficiency Symptoms

Pellagra is a fatal condition caused by gross niacin deficiency. It doesn’t happen much anymore with widespread food fortification.
Elevated blood lipids. Taking niacin can raise HDL and lower the total/HDL ratio. It even beats statins when it comes to improving blood lipids and lowering arterial plaque.
Depression.
Low appetite.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Too much alcohol.
Insufficient intake of animal foods. Not only are animal foods the best source of niacin, they’re also the best source of tryptophan, which our bodies can convert to niacin when needed. This is actually why food fortification was enacted—to make up for the lack of animal foods in many nations’ diets.

Where to Get It

Fish, especially tuna, is the single best source, followed by beef liver, pork, dairy, and poultry. Mushrooms and sunflower seeds aren’t too shabby, either.
Supplement. Niacin often causes unpleasant facial flushing—that’s how you know it’s working. Older sustained release forms of the vitamin eliminated the flushing but didn’t work as well and caused other, more dangerous side effects, like liver damage. Both instant release niacin and newer extended release niacin appear to be safe and effective at reducing cardiovascular disease, so stick with that if you’re trying to prevent heart disease. High-dose niacin of any type is more drug-like than vitamin-like, so be sure to consult a medical professional.

Dosage

16 mg/day for men, 14 mg/day for women. Higher levels are safe if you can handle the flushing.

Vitamin B-4 (Choline)

Originally classified as the 4th B vitamin, choline was downgraded, but I don’t buy it. Choline is incredibly important for liver and brain health, and people aren’t eating the egg yolks and liver that provide the biggest doses of it like they once did.

Deficiency Symptoms

Fatty liver: Without enough choline to process the fats entering it, the liver may begin to store visceral fat.
All the downstream effects of fatty liver, including insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and, eventually, eternal damnation.
Brain fog, memory deficits, general mental “bleh”ness. Choline begets acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter. Remember how a ton of nootropics purport to act via acetylcholine pathways? Choline’s the currency.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Liver insults: Any insult to the liver, like alcohol consumption, increases the amount of choline you need.
High-fat diet: Higher fat intakes require more choline to process the fat.
Pregnancy and lactation: Not a true deficiency, but as choline helps build baby brains and gets diverted to breast milk, both pregnancy and breastfeeding increase choline requirements.
Not enough egg yolks and liver.
Inadequate folate intake: Folate is required to metabolize choline.

Where to Get It

Egg yolks (120 mg/yolk), liver (426 mg/100 g), kidney (513 mg/100 g), brain (491 mg/100 g), fish roe (335 mg/100 g).
Supplement. Lecithin, choline bitartrate (41% choline by weight), alpha-GPC (40% choline by weight) are all different types of choline.

Dosage

550 mg for men and pregnant women, 450 mg for women.

Vitamin B-5 (Pantothenic acid)
Pantothenic acid is present in most foods, so deficiency is really hard to attain. That doesn’t negate its importance in dozens of physiological processes.
Deficiency Symptoms

Tingling and numbness in the extremities, intestinal upset, headaches, fatigue. Again, almost unheard of in humans with access to food.
While outright deficiency is hard to achieve, extra B-5 may prove useful for people with acne (some researchers even think pantothenic acid deficiency presents as acne).

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Pantothenic acid is used in ethanol metabolism, so anyone drinking alcohol would be well-served with a dose or two.
Complete and utter starvation. An all-olive oil diet (olive oil is one of the few foods without B-5).

Where to Get It

All plant and animal foods (except for pure oils; pantothenic acid is water-soluble). Sweet potato, avocado, and mushrooms top the list of plant foods. Organ meats, shellfish, eggs, fish, and dairy top the list of animal foods.
Gut bacteria manufacture pantothenic acid, which may be absorbed by the host.
Supplement. Calcium pantothenate is the standard effective form.

Dosage

There is no upper limit set for pantothenic acid, a strong indicator of its innocuousness.

Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine)

B-6 is a co-factor in dozens of enzymatic reactions, including the synthesis of neurotransmitters and creation of proteins (like tryptophan). 

Deficiency Symptoms

Depression.
Morning sickness. Studies indicate that B-6 supplementation can reduce pregnancy nausea.
Inflammation. Elevated CRP is more likely in people eating less than 2 mg of B-6 a day.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Pregnancy increases B-6 requirements.
Long-term use of medications, including oral contraceptives and NSAIDs. Both may impair B-6 metabolism or distribution.
Low B-6 intake. It’s present in a lot of foods, but not all of them.

Where to Get It

Potatoes, bananas, poultry, nuts, fish, and legumes.
Supplement. B-6 is widely available and inexpensive.

Dosage

Aim for about 2 mg a day. Long term mega doses (1000 mg/day) may cause sensory neuropathy, characterized by numbness, pain, and difficulty walking.

Vitamin B-7 (Biotin)

Another fallen B-vitamin, biotin is everywhere. We can’t make it from scratch, but our gut bacteria make it for us, it’s present in many foods in our diet, and our bodies can even recycle the biotin we’ve already used for later use.

Deficiency Symptoms

Weak, brittle nails. Biotin supplementation may improve nail strength.
Progressive multiple sclerosis (maybe). A recent pilot study found that high dose (100-300 mg a day with the recommended normal intake being just 30 micrograms) biotin supplementation helped to stop and even improve the progression of multiple sclerosis.  More research is underway.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

Biotinidase deficiency, a hereditary condition which prevents biotin from being recycled from proteins in the body or absorbed from foods. Standard newborn screening usually looks for this, and biotin supplementation effectively treats it.
Too many raw egg whites. Uncooked egg whites contain avidin, which binds to biotin and reduces absorption.
Dairy allergy. Dairy is a common, reliable source of biotin, and some studies have shown biotin deficiency to be common in kids with milk allergy.
Broad spectrum antibiotics can disrupt the bacteria that make biotin.

Where to Get It

It’s all over, but the best sources are eggs, dairy, organ meats, avocado, pork, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach.
Supplement. Look for biotin.

Dosage

30 micrograms per day for all adults. More for pregnant women.

Vitamin B-9 (Folate)

Folate is a big one. It’s required for DNA methylation (a key component of gene expression) and synthesis of vital amino acids like methionine. Basically, if you want all the genes in your body to work and produce the proteins they’re meant to produce, you need folate.

Deficiency Symptoms

High homocysteine. Since folate converts homocysteine into methionine, folate deficiency usually leads to excess homocysteine.
Neural tube defects in offspring. This ins’t a true symptom since you won’t notice until it’s too late. Prenatal supplementation of folate (or an emphasis on folate-rich foods before and during pregnancy) is crucial.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

MTHFR mutations which increase requirements and impair metabolism.
Insufficient intake of folate-rich foods, especially if you’re avoiding fortified grains (which most of you probably are). See below for a list. 
Lack of vitamin C in the diet. Vitamin C improves folate absorption.

Where to Get It

Chicken liver is the single best source of folate followed by other livers. Leafy greens, pastured eggs, asparagus, lentils, and chickpeas are also good.
Supplement. Folic acid is the most common form, but people with MTHFR mutations which impair the conversion of folic acid to folate should take folate

Dosage

At least 400 micrograms a day for both men and women. 600-800 if pregnant.

Vitamin B-12

According to Chris Kresser, vitamin B12 deficiency is quite common, even among those who eat plenty of the richest source of B12: animals.

Deficiency Symptoms

Lethargy.
Unwanted weight loss.
Dementia/Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
Anxiety and depression.
Autism spectrum disorder in children.

Why Might Deficiency Occur?

We aren’t looking for it. As meat-eaters, we assume we’re getting plenty, and doctors don’t check for it regularly.
We aren’t absorbing the B12 in our food. Gut disorders like Crohn’s or diarrhea affect our ability to absorb nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, including vitamin B12.
We set the bar for “normal” too low. Everything could check out and look fine on paper, but the lower end of “normal” is too low and can still cause B12 deficiency symptoms. Other countries, like Japan, have higher “normal” B12 markers and fewer cases of Alzheimer’s/dementia.

Where to Get It

Animals. Liver, sardines, and salmon rank highest, with liver running away with it. There are no vegetarian sources.
Supplements. Methylcobalamin is probably the best.

Dosage

If you eat animal products regularly and liver occasionally, you’ll be getting plenty of B12 in your diet. No need to supplement if you have none of the symptoms listed above. But if you have some of the symptoms, or you have a gastrointestinal disorder that may be compromising your ability to absorb vitamin B12, consider getting your levels tested during your next visit to the doctor. In that case, try 1 mg/day of sublingual methylcobalamin, which will bypass the intestinal tract and pass directly into the bloodstream.

Should you supplement?

Not everyone needs to supplement. I’d say most people reading this don’t need to supplement.

Pregnant women usually need more of everything, and the B vitamins are no exception. Standouts for pregnant ladies include B12, choline, and folate. Any decent prenatal supplement will provide ample B vitamins. 

People with depression may want to throw in a B-complex, which has been shown to improve depressive symptoms across all groups (severely depressed, mildly depressed, people without clinical depression) and increase B-12 and folate status. The involvement of various B vitamins in energy generation, neurotransmitter production, antioxidant capacity, and vitamin activation suggest it’s just a good idea  for depressive patients to be replete.

Heavy drinkers should probably take more B vitamins, as ethanol metabolism depletes pretty much all of them.

One way to determine your needs is to go through the list of symptoms and see what applies to you.

Another is to get your serum levels tested, particularly if you suspect a deficiency.

But seriously, folks: just eat a quarter to a half pound of ruminant liver every week. It’s the best way to ensure you’re eating adequate amounts of practically every B vitamin you need. That little dose of liver combined with an overall healthy diet rich in animal products, leafy greens, nuts, mushrooms, and other foods mentioned in the vitamin profiles from today’s post will provide plenty.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope today’s post was informative!

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Minimalist Living: Is It Primal?

In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Philip K. Dick imagines a world overflowing with “kipple,” useless objects like junk mail, paperclips, empty matchboxes, old lightbulbs, depleted batteries, and gum wrappers that reproduce when no one’s around. It’s a drab, dreary, depressing vision of the future. It’s not that bad yet, but we definitely have a problem with stuff. Our oceans contain vast swirling vortexes of microplastics. The average American house contains over 300,000 objects, most of them we’ve long since forgotten. “Hoarders” is a popular, horrifying reality TV show. The growing minimalist movement is a response to all this: a concerted effort to declutter, remove non-essentials, and simplify one’s life. Dozens of minimalist blogs, podcasts, books, and decluttering/organizing businesses have popped up. One of the best-selling books in 2014 was the English translation of Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which asks readers to discard or donate every possession that does not immediately “spark joy.” Her most recent book is already topping charts and spawning a cult of personality. It’s big.

How does minimalism jibe with the Primal Blueprint?

Readers of my blog are already familiar with my take on the minimalist, or “barefoot” shoe. Unencumbered by supportive arch inserts, stiff soles, and cramped dimensions, the healthy human foot performs, feels, and functions best in a minimalist shoe. It cuts out the fluff and the artifice, the rent-seeking yet unnecessary modifications and upgrades that characterize the modern shoe industry and distills the essentials of what shoe should do—protect the bottom of the foot without changing the heel height or cutting off incoming sensory data. Even if you don’t currently wear minimalist footwear, you grasp the argument, understand the appeal, and agree that minimalist shoes hew more closely to the ancestral environment in which our feet evolved. They are Primal through and through.

Does the same hold true for the growing minimalist movement? Was Grok a minimalist? Sorta…

Most true hunter-gatherers were nomads, meaning they moved around a lot and carried only what they could hold themselves. No pack animals or vehicles, remember. Frank Marlowe, who lived with the Hadza people of Tanzania (one of the last remaining nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples in the world) for years, catalogued their personal possessions. The list looks an awful lot like what we’d expect from a paleolithic group of hunter-gatherers:

Tools required for sustenance (digging sticks, hammerstones, fire drills used to generate sparks and start fires, bows, arrows, poison, knives, axes)
Gourds as containers for water, honey, coals, and fat
Skins (as clothing and to carry food, make baby slings, and construct shelters)
Clothes
Art (primarily jewelry like necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets)

The Hadza have an oral tradition rather than written language, so they don’t carry physical embodiments of entertainment. They tell stories rather than watch TV or read novels. They dance and their native musical instrument is the voice, or perhaps a dried gourd used as a maraca.

What does this look like in contemporary Western terms?

You’d need the tools you require to stay alive. For the Hadza, that means the objects that help you dig out edible plants, catch and butcher game, and start fires. For most of you, that’s whatever you use to make money. Computer and smartphone if you’re a “knowledge worker.” Whatever physical tools you need if you’re not. Transportation to work. Plus, there’s a couple other obvious things to add to the list:

You’d need storage for food, tools, and your other possessions.
You’d need cooking tools. Or I suppose you could just take Soylent.
You’d need clothing.
You’d need shelter.
You’d need entertainment. Books, Internet, film, music (and the instruments to make it), television. Consumable stories.

What else do you need? I’d argue not much. That looks an awful lot like what leading minimalists own.

But what else do you want? That’s where I come up short on minimalism. We want things we don’t need, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some people just really like having and wearing tons of clothes, keeping vast libraries, or collecting souvenirs from their travels. And though strict minimalists can ostensibly hold on to “frivolous” possessions as long as they do so mindfully, it rarely pans out like that. They’re tossing everything. They’re throwing away every single object that they haven’t used or looked at in the last 60 days (or some other arbitrary period of time).

Overall, though? It’s great. I get it. Eliminating waste, focusing on experiences over possessions, tossing stuff you never use or even look at—who doesn’t agree with that? Heck, that’s how I determine my training—I eliminate the useless exercises and do exactly what I need to do to support my play and my health. And it’s how I try to write, by eliminating unnecessary words. I just can’t suggest that everyone overhaul their entire lives, clear out their storage space, and toss 80% of everything they own in good faith.

A few readers have asked me about tips for minimalist living. There are other and better guides across the Internet from people who write and think about this stuff for a living. My friend Leo Babauta writes beautifully on the subject, if you want more. But here are a few tips that I feel comfortable giving.

Eliminate single-use items. Alton Brown’s number one kitchen tip is to get rid of all single-use appliances like melon ballers (slice them instead) and garlic presses (just smash it with a knife). Unless you’re a pasta chef, you don’t really need that massive pasta maker taking up valuable pantry space. Besides, this is Mark’s Daily Apple—what the hell are you doing with a pasta maker?

Only keep single use items if they’re truly meaningful and valuable to you. If they “spark joy,” in other words.

Replace them with multi-use items. Increase capacity and reduce space taken.

A food processor can make pesto, quickly dice a ton of onions and garlic, produce fresh nut butter, and a million other things.

An Instant Pot replaces the rice cooker, the crockpot, the stovetop pressure cooker, the steamer, even the yogurt maker. The Bluetooth-enabled version, which allows temperature programming, can even double (or is that sextuple?) as a rudimentary sous-vide.

A cast iron pan can sauté and double as a baking pan.

A good 8 inch chef’s knife (here or here) is all most home cooks will ever need. Just keep it sharpened.

A Kindle can replace shelves of books (although I prefer paper books and won’t ever give them up). Maybe even better, a good local library gives you access to paper books without forcing you to purchase or hold on to them.

A barbell with a few hundred pounds of weights and a pullup bar will replace a room full of machines. Several kettlebells can do the same.

As much as people vilify their overuse (and I’m one of them), a smartphone can replace your map, GPS, flashlight, alarm clock, regular telephone, and many entertainment mediums like TV, gaming consoles, magazines, newspapers, and books.

A simple towel is the most important multi-use possession for any interstellar traveler, and as we progress into the coming Space Age any minimalist worth his or her salt should heed the prophet Douglas Adams’ suggestions.

Replace huge items with smaller ones. I refer to physical size. This isn’t always desirable, but sometimes it is.

A hand mixer can replace a KitchenAid stand mixer (that, let’s face it, you never really used anyway). A hand juicer can replace a huge electric juicer (unless you’re on a juice fast or something, which you really shouldn’t do). A French press makes better coffee than a drip machine.

Go digital. Bills, receipts, records—scan ’em and convert ’em.

Eliminate thought clutter. I’m not sure if this is part of the minimalism orthodoxy, but I like the idea of eliminating non-essential decision making. Think buying a quarter cow twice a year and freezing it instead of deciding what cut of meat to buy every night at the grocery store.

Ask “Does this add value to my life?” Whether it’s a knick-knack on the shelf, an old photo, a kitchen appliance, or an article of clothing, asking if the object adds value helps you identify the things to keep and discard.

Don’t identify as a minimalist. Use it as a system for eliminating unnecessary items, decluttering your life (and mind), and focusing on the things that truly matter and bring you joy, but don’t let it define you. I’m “the Primal guy” to many people. I wrote several books on the subject, I’ve maintained a daily blog for years. Look a bit deeper, though, and you’ll realize that all this time I’ve been constructing a way to approach problems, make decisions, and analyze the effects. I’m not giving you The Answer. It’s easy to say “I’m Primal” or “I’m paleo” as shorthand, but I also caution against turning it into a dogma or religion.

The same applies to minimalism. Acknowledge and implement the aspects that work for you. Even if you wholeheartedly agree with every maxim found on the leading minimalist sites, you don’t have to identify as one. And you can own more than 100 things. You can keep non-essential physical objects. Don’t let minimalism become another source of stress.

Minimalism needn’t mean “less stuff” if that stuff actually makes your life run more smoothly and makes you happier. Nothing is all or nothing. If you want to convert your bills to digital but prefer your old physical photos over scanned ones, that’s fine. Just pick what works because getting rid of anything you don’t actually want, need, or enjoy is a positive shift. There are no score cards.

Now let’s hear from you. I’m especially interested in hearing how people in the minimalist community make it work with Primal living. I suspect there’s a lot of overlap.

Thanks for reading!

Prefer listening to reading? Get an audio recording of this blog post, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast on iTunes for instant access to all past, present and future episodes here.

Dear Mark: Do High Protein Diets Cause Colon Cancer?

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m talking about a new rodent study has just been released that seems to identify the general low-carbish, Primal-ish way of eating as bad for GI tract health. I know, I know. It seems odd, especially since so many people get relief from digestive disorders, inflammatory bowels, and irritable guts after ditching grains and eating more animals and plants. I’ve certainly benefited from going Primal, having spent decades of my life being ruled by IBS to enjoying pristine bowel health the last decade and counting. But what do I and millions of others know?

Let’s dig into it.

Mark,

Have you seen this latest study? A high protein diet gave rats colon cancer. At first glance, it seem pretty scary and damning of a high protein eating style. Can you take a look at it?

Thanks,

Carl

You didn’t make this mistake, Carl, but others have asked me about this paper, and before I get started I want to reiterate that it’s not actually testing a low-carb, high-fat diet. It’s an explicitly high-protein diet.

Researchers placed rats on one of two diets: a high-protein (45% of calories), moderate carb (30% of calories) diet or a normal protein (20% of calories), normal carb (56% of calories) diet. Fat was lowish across the board, at around 25%. Rats who ate high-protein ended up with a ton of bad stuff happening in their guts:

Lower markers of immune function.
Activation of genes involved with tumor creation and promotion.
Increased cadaverine (can you think of a more ominous-sounding gut metabolite?), sulfide, and spermine.
Reduced butyrate, the gut-protective bacterial metabolite and energy source for colon cells.
Lower levels of beneficial bacteria.

They didn’t actually get cancer, but the high-protein diet did increase many of the traditional colon cancer risk factors. It didn’t look good for them. How does it look for you?

Where’d the macros come from? Let’s go through them one by one.

Protein was entirely casein.

Carbs came from a mix of wheat starch, sucrose, and amylodextrin (basically glucose).

Fat came from canola oil.

Fiber came from cellulose.

The rest of the diet came from isolated vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. All in all, this was a highly refined diet. Normally, that’d be an issue as refined diets beget bad results, but both diets were equally refined. So what’s going on here?

Five issues jump out at me.

Previous papers have found that compared to other protein sources, heat-treated (thermolyzed) casein promotes colonic fermentation and creates seemingly harmful metabolic byproducts like ammonia to a greater degree without actually promoting colon cancer. This week’s study also produced deleterious changes that indicated an increase in cancer risk, but no actual cancer developed. Maybe if it were allowed to play out longer, the rats would develop colon cancer. I wouldn’t be surprised. Those gut profiles didn’t look good. But it’s not proof. Not yet.
Casein usually accompanies calcium—think cheese, yogurt, and milk—which has a protective effect against colon cancer. Many animal studies indicate that calcium protects against heme-induced colon cancer. In fact, it’s often only by removing the calcium that researchers can get colon cancer to progress. I found one study that seems to bear this out. Researchers gave cooked Swiss cheese (which they called “heat treated casein”) to rats. Not only did the cheese not cause colon cancer, it protected against it.
45% of calories from casein is a different beast than 20% of calories from casein. It may be that a 45% protein diet based on casein is too much for the gut to handle.
Casein may only be carcinogenic in the presence of unsaturated oils. In the recent paper, the fat used in both rat diets was highly unsaturated canola oil. In the 1995 paper which found no increase in colon cancer from casein, the fat used was beef tallow (high MUFA, high SFA). I’ve shown in previous posts that colon cancer “triggers” are only triggers in the presence of high-PUFA diets, while diets higher in MUFA and SFA seem to be protective against those same colon cancer triggers. In one study, feeding heme iron to rats promoted colon cancer only when fed alongside high-PUFA safflower oil. Feeding MUFA-rich and far more oxidatively-stable olive oil alongside the heme prevented the colon carcinogenesis. Another recent study had similar results comparing PUFA to saturated coconut oil—heme led to more carcinogenicity on PUFA, none on SFA.
There weren’t any fermentable fiber sources for the gut bacteria to turn into protective butyrate (cellulose is a poorly fermented fiber that produces little to no butyrate). It’s true that the control rat diet didn’t have any either, but they weren’t dealing with 45% of calories from casein. I suspect adding some resistant starch and inulin and other prebiotic fibers to the rat casein diet would have improved the gut profile, if not normalized it.

So, is casein all bad?

No. Eaten in food form as part of an overall healthy diet, casein should be fine.

There’s the Swiss cheese protecting rats from colon cancer.

There’s the fermentation of casein by lactobacillus bacteria (as seen in yogurt and cheese-making) imbuing it with antiproliferative properties in human colon cancer cells.

There’s the latest meta-analysis which found no relationship between cheese consumption (the richest source of casein) and colon cancer, as well as a protective effect of non-fermented dairy. Earlier studies say the same thing.

If you’re obtaining all your protein from isolated casein, stop doing that. Also, don’t only eat cheese. Cheese is amazing stuff, I know.

Eat some fermentable fiber. Feed your gut.

Don’t eat a refined diet. Eat food.

Don’t eat a 45% protein diet, regardless of the source. The occasional day where you binge on steak? Sure. But eating like that for perpetuity is probably a bad idea.

Be sensible.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope today’s post helped.

 

Weekend Link Love – Edition 390

Mark Hyman is giving a pair of talks—Kickstart Your Health (for laypeople) and Addressing the Root Cause of Disease (for health practitioners)—in London early next month. Get your tickets now!

Also, sign up to check out my talk with friend and host of the Primal Blueprint Podcast, Brad Kearns. We have a long chat about some key topics featured in Primal Endurance.

Research of the Week

Four days living in “Stone Age” conditions reduced body fat, body weight, visceral fat, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance in 13 human volunteers.

According to a new systematic review, intermittent fasting works for weight loss.

Antioxidant supplementation countered pro-inflammatory effects of an inflammatory diet.

Ancestors of Australian aborigines and South Asians diverted over 50 thousand years ago.

The composition of the gut microbiome measures how closely hunter-gatherer groups adhere to traditional subsistence patterns.

Mindfulness and better glucose control go hand in hand.

“We find that users in states with higher birth rates search for more information about pregnancy, while those in states with lower birth rates search for more information about cats.”

Happy music makes the world brighter.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 109: Dr. Peter Osborne: Host Elle Russ hangs out with Dr. Osborne, author of No Grain, No Pain, doctor of chiropractic medicine, and clinical director of Origins Healthcare Center in Sugar Land, Texas. Dr. Osborne is an expert on the maladies caused by grain consumption, and today’s episode is chock full of all the messy, gritty details.

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.

Top 14 Ways to Increase Your Metabolism
Primal Rage: How to Manage Unproductive Anger

Interesting Blog Posts

Do statins really prevent dementia?

Tracking your physical activity might make it less enjoyable.

Walking as a practice.

Media, Schmedia

Why everyone needs to go barefoot more often.

“On the east coast, North Koreans cook clams on a sheet of metal. On the west coast,they pour petrol over them and set them on fire. Then they put more petrol on and keep going until they think it’s done… The clams stink and taste of petrol, and you sometimes get one that was partly sealed, with un-burned petrol still inside.” What with latest oil prices, I’m thinking we crank out a North Korea-inspired new Primal Kitchen dressing flavor.

Everything Else

OpenBiome is banking healthy poop and running studies to discover more uses for fecal transplants.

Why we have kneecaps.

Neanderthals might have used manganese dioxide to start fires.

According to the USDA, most families can probably afford eating far more fruits and vegetables than they currently eat (PDF).

Building a clay tiled roof hut using only primitive tools and materials.

Microdosing LSD.

Recipe Corner

The world’s easiest (grain-free) cookies.
Crispy orange beef so good it’d defeat Panda Express’ orange chicken.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Mar 9– Mar 15)

How We Die: End of Life Planning – Plan for the inevitable.
The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination – How to defeat the beast.

Comment of the Week

I’d also have to opt for saving the drowning friend first – it’d be too hard for me to have to try to swim with my mouth stuffed full of chocolate

– That’s my take as well, PrimalGrandma. You’d also risk diluting the chocolate with swallowed water, which would be a real tragedy.

Marinated Olives and Nuts

Olives and nuts marinated in extra virgin olive oil with rosemary, lemon zest, fennel seeds and hot pepper, is a savory, salty snack swirling with healthy fat, antioxidants, fiber, iron and copper. Plus, it’s a two-for-one recipe, in that you can eat the olives and nuts and then use the flavored olive oil for cooking or making salad dressing.

Walnuts taste great with olives, but, for this recipe, any type of nut will work, so take your pick. Same goes for olives. Buy black and green olives with pits, of any variety and size. Give them a few days to soak up the flavors in the spicy, herbal, citrusy marinade then serve the olives and nuts as an appetizer, bring them as a hostess gift, or use them as a garnish for roasted vegetables and meat, a whole chicken, or fish.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 10 minutes, plus at least 24 hours to marinate

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons fennel seeds (10 ml)
2 cups extra virgin olive oil (475 ml)
1 or 2 hot dried red peppers or 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) red pepper flakes
3 small sprigs fresh rosemary
Zest from 1 lemon
1 cup olives (nicoise, picholone, luques, etc.) (150 g)
1 cup raw, unsalted walnuts (or other nut) (150 g)

Instructions:

Toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan until the seeds are aromatic and lightly toasted, 2 minutes. Turn off heat. Immediately add the olive oil, hot pepper, rosemary and lemon zest to the pan.

Put the olives and nuts in a large glass jar. Pour the warm oil and seasonings on top. When the oil is cool, cover and refrigerate. For the best flavor, marinate the olives and nuts at least 24 to 48 hours before eating (they will stay fresh for several weeks in the refrigerator). Bring up to room temperature before serving.

From the Struggles of SAD to the Ease of Primal

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!

I was always chubby, never fat, but really enjoyed desserts as a kid. My parents moved to the US in the 90’s when I was a child, and our diets quickly assimilated to the local SAD diet, which included easily available pizza, deli sandwiches, anything fried, and way too much dessert.

My parents weren’t very aware of the dangers of sugar. For instance, I would drink chocolate milk in the morning while my parents had coffee, or was given cookies (dunkaroos anyone?) and ice cream every day for snacks. I still remember the blue, red, or green “juice” they would give us in school. This all led to me being a chubby kid my entire childhood. Luckily, I enjoyed karate and sports of all kinds, which helped me offset some of the unhealthy lifestyle.

This changed slightly when my father was diagnosed with lymphoma, and was told that his diet was a big factor. We got rid of refined carbohydrates in the home and increased vegetable and fruit intake heavily. It wasn’t really perfect, but it was definitely a step towards the right direction, which I believe helped my father recover. This turning point in my family’s life forced us to begin looking into how we eat.

When I reached high school, I realized something was off, because I was still chubby. There was a lot of peer pressure regarding looks and weight. I decided to look into health and nutrition purely for aesthetic reasons, and boy, it worked. I became obsessed with the whole “calories in, calories out” concept and ate around 1200-1400 calories a day in the form of protein bars, oatmeal, sandwiches, and fruit, while exercising heavily. It worked. I lost a lot of weight, but didn’t look too great for a 16-year-old, and I was obsessed to the point where I wasn’t doing anything else but tracking my daily food intake and exercise. I seemed sickly, and I never had any energy! Back then I thought it was all worth it to look great, but I wasn’t feeling well at all.

As you may have guessed, I couldn’t keep this up. Eventually, I caved in and started eating a bit more, because I couldn’t keep up starving myself. Just the slight increase in food intake made me gain weight like crazy! Eventually, I found myself 40 pounds heavier by eating the same amount of food that everyone around me was eating. I was so confused! To make it worse, I was a fitness instructor in the Israeli Army at this point, and I was not a good role model at all. It was extremely difficult, mentally, for me because I was fit but at the same time, overweight. I could run a 10k rather easily, although I didn’t look like I could. I didn’t understand.

Until, one day on guard duty, I came across Mark’s site while browsing on my phone. I still don’t know how I got to it, but when I did, I spent my entire 4-hour shift reading everything I could. It was so intuitive and so logical that I knew I had to try it! I even brought my boyfriend on board and results were too good not to share. I stopped starving myself! We started rock climbing and hiking! Every day was a day to look forward to. We are so ecstatic to be where we are today!

What’s interesting about my personal success story, however, is that I truly feel I put in a minimal amount of effort. When I was starving myself and over-exercising, every day was arduous and a struggle. With a primal lifestyle, I eat wonderful foods, create delicious dishes, exercise with so much energy, and enjoy every day! It comes so easily and intuitively! Sometimes we feel guilty because everyone makes it seem like being healthy is supposed to be difficult. Primal taught me otherwise!

Thanks, Mark, for your desire to spread free information to anyone and everyone all over the world. You are an inspiration, and you changed our lives.