Mark Sisson's Blog, page 243

Blindspots Even Informed Paleo Enthusiasts Often Have

You read Mark’s Daily Apple every day. Paleo health, nutrition, and fitness folks populate your Twitter feed almost exclusively. You’ve got several PubMed alerts set up, helping you stay on top of the emerging evidence. Everyone in your immediate circle knows to come to you with questions about diet and exercise. You’ve been living like this for the better part of a decade, and things are going well. But what if there were a few blindspots you didn’t know about, or assumed you didn’t have to consider?

I’ve been doing this for a long time. Over the course of 10-odd years, I’ve realized that many Primal and paleo enthusiasts have a few glaring blindspots. They may not be cataclysmic, but addressing them—or at least acknowledging their existence—can certainly improve your health and happiness.

Let’s look at three of them.

Feeling their diet and lifestyle makes them immortal.

It’s easy to get caught up in the rapidity of initial health improvements accompanying a Primal lifestyle. You lose a dozen pounds and several inches off your waist. You stop falling asleep at your desk once 2 o’clock rolls around. You’re no longer ravenously, constantly hungry. Foods that used to be pleasantly sweet are now cloyingly so. You read about the relative dearth of degenerative diseases in even long-lived hunter-gatherer peoples, figure you’re “eating just like them,” and assume you’ll also live long and well without having to see a medical professional or worry about cancer or heart disease. After all, you’ve eliminated refined sugar and grains, get plenty of physical activity, and adhere to all the Primal laws (and even some of the runners-up). What could go wrong?

That’s not how it works.

We’re all mortal. We’re all going to die. And it’s not always going to be a pleasant subtle shift into non-consciousness. It may very well hurt. It may very well involve a long, protracted degenerative process. The fact remains that maintaining a relationship with a health professional can actually help stave off some of these unpleasant complications. I absolutely, wholeheartedly maintain that diet, lifestyle, and exercise are the most important factors in determining how one lives and dies, but don’t write off modern medicine.

Ignoring the role of genetics.

I’ve often said that the key to determining how genetics affect our health is through epigenetics: the turning on and turning off of genes in response to certain environmental stimuli. If we can just expose our bodies to the right environmental stimuli, we can. The “cancer gene” only becomes cancer-promoting in the wrong environment.

That’s probably true, but it’s also true that we don’t know all the environmental-gene interactions going on inside our bodies. Sure, eating healthy, lifting weights, getting adequate sunlight—these behaviors have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, even in those prone to developing it. But those with a familial history of cancer, heart disease, or other illnesses shouldn’t ignore it just because they’re seemingly doing everything right.

Heeding genetics doesn’t mean submitting to the slings and arrows of destiny. I want to make that clear. But the guy with the “obesity genes” is more likely to become fat in response to food. To avoid obesity, he’ll have to eat cleaner, limit junk food forays, and train harder and more frequently than those jerks with genes that allow them to stay effortlessly lean. At a population level, genetics tell accurate stories. In the individual, genetics identify predispositions.

The difference here is that in our genes we have a static, immutable recipe that doesn’t change over time, but is profoundly affected by the epigenetic inputs we decide to present. And that’s where the power of paying attention to your genetic makeup lies: as a roadmap for potential epigenetic triggers we ultimately control. If you ignore your genes, you’re flying a little blind.

Ignoring recent ancestry.

Humans are all built with the same basic physiological machinery. We use the same enzymes to process fats, carbs, and protein. We make the same endogenous antioxidants. Some of us don’t produce insulin, but we all respond to it.

And that’s why the basic Primal plan works for just about everyone. Because at the heart of it, eating Primal means ditching processed junk food and eating nutrient-dense animals and plants instead. It’s hard to go wrong with that. At the very least, it’s a great start.

But sometimes things stop working as well. And people get disillusioned. They get desperate and flail about, trying anything. Maybe they just need to get specific.

We know that humans are still evolving. A couple years ago, I even wrote a post describing some of the basic changes that the human genome(s) have undergone in the years since agriculture. Although personal ancestry-based dietary and lifestyle advice is years out, and we’re still figuring out the details and limited to making educated guesses, it might be worth it to think of your health and eating practices in terms of ancestral expectations.

Consider what I discovered after getting my genes analyzed. Much of what I was already doing—avoiding chronic cardio, eating more fat, taking more vitamin D (or sun) and omega-3s—was vindicated by the DNAFit results. It turns out that since I’m of Scandinavian stock, I’m adapted to and likely need a diet higher in fish and vitamin D for optimal health. I have the genetic predisposition to excel in endurance athletics, but my genes also predicted I’d be a strong power athlete; that explains why I was an elite marathoner in the old days and more recently have found decent success lifting and sprinting. I’d already figured all that out through trial and error, but not everyone does. Using your recent personal ancestry as a rubric for making lifestyle and diet modifications can be helpful. You don’t even have to go get a genetic test, although that can make it easier. You could simply ask your grandparents about their grandparents, or track your surname(s) and determine where in the world they likely originate.

It’s a fun detective game that can really pay dividends for your health and happiness. Later, I’ll probably write more in depth about using one’s recent ancestry to find clues about optimal lifestyle.

If these aren’t blindspots for you, cool. I don’t expect these to be issues for everyone out there. But they aren’t rare, isolated examples. Look within and ask if you’ve been ignoring some of these blindspots.

What else do paleo or Primal people tend to miss? What other blindspots are there?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!

15 Alternatives to Sitting Meditation

No longer the sole province of the hemp-swathed sprouting enthusiast, meditation’s popularity has exploded across our collective faces. Tech companies have embraced mindfulness meditation as the ultimate productivity. Google has “mindful lunches,” complete with prayer bells and hour-long vows of silence. And as legitimate meditation researchers uncover more benefits to our brains, our bodies, and our psyches, diehard rationalists have been forced to accept the scientific merits of mindfulness.

My explanation for why interest in meditation has grown is that it’s a replacement for the nature in which we no longer reside. For hundreds of thousands of years, we spent our days in natural settings where much of the mind chatter stops and we exist in the present moment. The falling leaves sparkling overhead with sunlight. The herky-jerk scamper of a startled lizard just off the trail. The erratic brilliant butterfly fluttering through the scene that you can’t help but stop to watch. That was life for most of human history. It wasn’t special. It was home. It’s what we knew.

Meditation represents a return to that ancestral state of presence in the moment. And yet I get the sense that more people are talking about meditation than actually meditating on a regular basis. I’m one of them, quick to recommend meditation on MDA because of the irrefutable benefits but unable to actually sit for a productive session, let alone a regular meditation routine. It’s hard. It’s unnatural. And it’s an artifice, albeit one made necessary by our environment.

Meditation has been shown to provide remarkable benefits to those who manage to stick with it, including but not limited to:

Lengthening of telomeres.
Upregulation of genes responsible for energy metabolism, longevity, mitochondrial function, inflammation, and insulin secretion.
Blood pressure normalization.
Stress reduction.
Greater resistance to stress.
Improved cognitive function by reshaping the actual brain.
Promoting neuroplasticity.
Anxiety reduction.
Immune system improvements.

If we simply don’t enjoy meditation or can’t make it work, what options do we have? How can we get some of those attractive effects of meditation without actually sitting in a room for 30 minutes a day, every day? Here are 15 alternatives:

1. Non-judgmental awareness

From the moment most of us wake up, we’re making split second judgments about everything and everyone we encounter. That guy across the street who didn’t pick up after his dog? What a jerk. All those cars lined up along the onramp? Great. Now I’m going to be late. Even—or especially—our thoughts and feelings demand a response from our brain, so that we end up stressing out about stress and lamenting the sadness we feel and thinking about thinking about thinking. Instead of all that, try this: when a thought arrives, or a situation occurs, or anything at all happens, hold back judgment. Even if it’s positive. These judgments are often subconscious, so the first step is to realize we’re making them. Observe and acknowledge the item. If it’s sadness, accept it. If it’s a rude driver cutting you off, move on. If a bird poops on your shoulder, get a paper towel.

As I see it, this is the ultimate goal of any formal mindfulness meditation practice: to do it in daily life.

2. Surfing

Have you ever seen a depressed, anxious surfer? Me neither. In 2011, researchers found that surfers are far less likely to suffer from depression or anxiety than the general population. Last year, scientists even rigged up top surfers with EEGs to quantify the physiological state of “stoke.” Although the results haven’t been released yet, I’d imagine stoke looks an awful lot like mindfulness.

Like mindfulness meditation, surfing has been used to improve quality of life in veterans with PTSD (makes me think of that scene in Apocalypse Now).

3. Standup paddling

This is my favorite and most dependable way to meditate. It’s not a workout (unless I intend it to be a workout, or I’m racing someone). The benefits to fitness and body composition are afterthoughts, albeit welcome ones. When I paddle, I’m immersed in what psychologists call the “oceanic feeling”—that sense of one’s self dissolving into the greater external world. That’s why I paddle.

4. Swimming

Many find meditative solace in swimming laps slowly, deliberately. Swimming is great exercise, sure, but those with crisp, clean technique and enough endurance can turn it into a legitimate meditation practice. As a child, Michael Phelps swam as an antidote to his ADHD because it quieted his mind. Though he didn’t call it meditation, it effectively was. Me? I hate long slow laps. They remind me of triathlons too much. If I’m swimming laps, it’s a sprint and I keep it very brief. But my favorite way to reach a meditative state in the pool is through underwater swimming. You dunk your head and enter another world where sound sounds different, gravity affects you differently, and you’re free to explore full-dimensionality. Nerves along every inch of your body come alive with water contact; the present moment becomes a sensory feast. You also can’t breathe, which means my underwater meditations are short bites. Another way is to simply float belly-up or belly-down.

5. Tai chi

Practitioners often call it “movement meditation,” and that’s exactly what it is; research has confirmed many similarities between meditation and Tai chi. In one study, elderly Chinese adults living in group homes were placed in tai chi, walking, social interaction, or no intervention groups. The tai chi group saw increases in brain volume, verbal learning, and verbal fluency, as well as improvements in dementia scores. It also lowers cardiovascular risk in women, just like meditation.

6. Yoga

Many yoga practitioners will say that yoga isn’t really about the poses or the stretching. It’s about the meditation. And when you think about what happens in your typical yoga pose, it’s the perfect opportunity to practice acceptance of discomfort. Those who practice mindfulness are also practicing non-judgmental awareness of both positive and negative emotions, thoughts, and situations. You can observe that you’re feeling sad, or happy, but it’s only by identifying with those emotional states that we grant them power over us (“I am sad and that is a bad thing”). Yoga poses are often painful and uncomfortable. If we can observe the physical discomfort of a particular pose from a detached position, neither running from it or dissolving into it, we are practicing true mindfulness.

Like meditation, yoga may have beneficial effects on telomere length (and longevity).

7. Music practice

Researchers have begun to reconceptualize musical practice as a form of mindfulness meditation. I wouldn’t recommend a total beginner grabbing a violin and expecting to reach a state of mindful bliss; you’ll just fiddle around and produce a cacophony so jarring that not even the Buddha himself could avoid passing judgment. Instead, use an instrument you can actually use. Grab a hand drum and keep a simple beat. Use a Tibetan singing bowl, strike the side, and observe the resonance. Something simple (or not so simple if you’re experienced).

8. VitaMoves

I’ve discussed Angelo dela Cruz’s VitaMoves before. It’s a movement practice predicated on moving one’s tissues and joints through their full ranges of motion in a deliberate manner. Rather than momentum, you move with presence and intent. Rather than speed through it while thinking about the bills you have to pay, you focus on your body as it moves through space. You feel and focus on the stretch in your lats, the pull of your left hamstring when you move one way, the contraction of the quads when you rise from a full squat.

9. Walking

Tara Brach, a Buddhist teacher who publishes guided meditations and lectures on her fantastic podcast, is a proponent of walking meditation (PDF). Rather than sit in stillness, she suggests walking along a short predetermined path of 20-30 paces somewhere quiet and familiar. This creates boundaries and reduces distractions. More seasoned or confident people can go on unstructured, longer walks. The important thing is to pay attention to the shifting weight of your body as you walk, the feel of your footfalls, and the sensation of gliding through the air. As with sitting meditation, allow thoughts and other distractions to come and go; acknowledge but do not dwell on or judge them.

Compared to a regular walking routine, a walking Buddhist meditation practice reduced depression, improved fitness and vascular function, and lowered stress hormones in depressed elderly patients. This may be even better in some respects than sitting meditation, which can also lower stress hormones and combat depression but generally doesn’t improve physical fitness.

10. Sex

The whole point of sex is to get out of your head and be present. Because why wouldn’t you want to be experiencing the present moment? It’s incredible! So rather than worry if you’re pleasing the other person or if you’re gonna mess up somehow, just lose yourself in the act. Worrying makes things you’re worrying about more likely to occur. It’s worse than pointless. Then it’s over, and you spent the whole time in your head and not in your body. A body which, by the way, was doing some really awesome things that you totally missed out on.

11. Breathing

Many meditative practices use the breath as the focal point, the rock to which you return when the mind slips away from immediate presence. “Return to the breath.” If the word “meditation” trips you up or intimidates you, just breathe. Inhale and exhale through your nose, ideally. Observe how your diaphragm contracts and expands with each breath. Feel the weight of your body settle into gravity’s pull as you exhale. Oftentimes, those intent on following a breathing pattern will find themselves in the meditative space without really trying.

Like meditation, deep breathing exercises can reduce sympathetic activity, induce relaxation, and counter anxiety.

12. Hiking

Combine being in immersive natural settings with the walking meditation mentioned above and you get hiking, my favorite land-based form of meditation. Maybe it’s my Type A personality I just can’t turn off, but being motionless is oddly stifling. I have to move to get a handle on my mind, to quiet the chatter. If I move through natural settings, the chatter stops even quicker.

13. Coloring

First popularized by Jung, who had his patients draw and color intricate mandala patterns, adult coloring books are enjoying an explosion in popularity. The top book on Amazon.com at the time of this writing is an adult coloring book. Curiously, this coincides. Coloring within the lines requires presence. Your mind wanders, you spill over the line. Most importantly, coloring is an immersive, intrinsically rewarding practice. To see the patterns pop alive in full color is its own reward.

14. Dancing

Dance like no body’s watching, they say. That’s exactly what meditative dancing looks like. The body and the music merge. The self, the all-powerful “I,” disappears, if only for a few minutes. But that’s enough. Best part of all? You don’t really even have to be “good” at dancing to get the benefits. Second best part of all? Dancing like nobody’s watching always looks better than dancing like everybody’s watching.

15. Guided meditations

Some purists might scoff at a person’s reliance on guided meditations to achieve mindfulness, but forget them. Shortcuts that get you to the place you’re headed are awesome. Guided journeys are still journeys. And hey, once you’ve been taken safely along the route a few times you can probably find your own way to the destination.

From truly impressive physiological effects like the beneficial alterations to brain function and morphology, the extension of telomere length, the activation of genes critical to health and longevity, and more intuitive benefits to general well-being, stress and anxiety levels, the established benefits of meditation on dozens of physiological and psychological systems far outpace those of the alternatives presented in this post. But self-motivation to practice meditation is tough when you’re not enrolled in a clinical study with a team of meditation experts supporting and encouraging you. For some people, saying “just meditate every day” is advice akin to “just eat less”; it “works” but not really. These alternatives are may not fully replicate the effects of mindfulness meditation, but they’ll get you far—and they’re certainly better than doing nothing.

Either way, you’re losing one’s self. The self as a psychological construct, a surveyor sitting behind your eyes observing and guiding your actions, is gone. What remains is only the direct experience of the present moment: the hand against the drum, the swelling of a budding wave off toward the horizon, the paddle slipping smoothly into the water, the breath entering and leaving your body. And that’s what truly matters most.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I’m incredibly curious: what’s your meditation?

Until next time.

Dear Mark: Hunter-Gatherer Fitness and Volunteerism

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering an email that reminded me of an idea I once had that I’m convinced could really work: organizing group workout sessions like fitness bootcamps only instead of a guy barking orders as you perform a completely arbitrary set of exercises with little regard for technique, the group performs “workouts” that are actually acts of volunteerism. This makes your workouts truly count, not just as stimulants of fitness improvements but to the other people your efforts touch. It addresses an important aspect missing from most fitness programs. Humans used to perform physically demanding tasks on a regular basis in order to live, eat, and thrive. It wasn’t “exercise” or a “workout,” but it made us fit, strong, and fast just the same. And it was essential to living. It helped our immediate family and communities.

We’ve lost that, but training as volunteerism can bring some of it back.

I live in Texas where the “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaign against littering is losing the battle. On my daily walks with my dog (weighted vest on board) I’ve started picking up trash along the walk. I’m going to start carrying a large bucket and some work gloves to this end. I just wanted to share this in the hope that you would write a post about it to spread the idea.

I don’t think much can be done about the people who litter but if enough folks would go out to “gather” it could really make a difference and set an example. I think putting it out there as a great form of natural exercise that mimics our natural history might just work and you have the platform for it.

Thanks for reading!

Teresa

Great suggestion. What are some ideas people could try? How can we turn our workouts into volunteerism?

Trail clearing/maintenance: Join a trail crew. Get a bunch of people together to join with you. You get to hike while carrying tools and performing manual labor requiring a variety of movements, like squatting, climbing, reaching, lifting, hauling, cutting. It’s hard work, to be sure. But it’s rewarding. You’ll be maintaining an incredibly vital public good that we, as human animals, require for optimal health and happiness: the wilderness and our access to it.

Every state has volunteer trail teams. Just Google “[your state, city, county, etc] trail volunteer” and follow the links. It’s that easy.

Labor share with friends or neighbors. Pretty much every person with a home has some project they “want” to undertake, but it never happens. Doing it alone is too large a job and paying a contractor is too expensive. There’s no time on the weekdays, and you’re so tired of working that the weekends are off-limits. Is that really true, though? Everyone lives in their own little box separated by fences and lawns and driveways, each with their own plans. There’s a lot of redundancy. A lot of people sitting around wishing they could summon the will and elbow grease to tackle that project they’ve mulled over for years.  Break down those barriers. The Amish have their barn-raisings. So should we. You probably don’t need a barn, but you can sure raise a chicken coop, tool shed, garden plot, or garage weight room. Be the one to broach the subject. You know no one else will.

Volunteering isn’t just relevant to anonymous strangers. You can volunteer to help out your friends, family, and neighbors, and they you.

Spruce up a neighborhood eyesore. Every neighborhood has that vacant lot with the weed strewn yard that makes you reconsider your anti-Roundup stance. It’s not just an aesthetic nightmare. These eyesores often tank a neighborhood’s property values. Cleaning them up, or outright demolishing them, can improve the financial situation of everyone around you.

Be sure to check with the property owner before cleaning the place up, clearing the weeds, and planting some flowers!

Plant trees. Most cities have tree planting programs because there’s nothing so dismal as an area without any trees. People go door to door planting trees and digging holes. Search “volunteer tree planting [your area]” to find a program in your hometown.

Cleanup. Although we’ve come a long way from just dumping our picnic litter all over the park, trash abounds in places it should not. Picking it up is great for the environment, and can be a great way to get in some movement.

Now, watch this video of Hadza men squatting around a monkey cooking on a fire. Note how they move through multiple positions while in the squat. They’re kneeling, going up on the toes, reaching, turning, and constantly shifting their weight from foot to foot. Instead of bending over with a rounded back to pick up that Snickers bar wrapper, try the Hadza squat. Plant yourself amidst a bunch of trash, squat down, and try different positions to retrieve it.

Beach cleanup. Beach cleanups are harder than any other type of cleanup because you’re walking for miles and miles on soft, spongy sand. There’s nothing more exhausting than sinking into the ground every step you take. You waste a lot of energy. Bad for a hunter-gatherer trying to conserve calories. Great for a coddled modern human trying to increase energy expenditure.

Google “[your area] beach cleanup.” No promises if you’re landlocked, of course.

Be a volunteer dog walker. This is pretty much the most Primal volunteer job ever. You get to hang out with your ancestral best friend, a dog. You get to do what ancient humans have done more than any other activity, walk. And although your humane society may not include this in the job description, bring along a tug-of-war toy, too. Playing tug of war is a great way to let a dog “strength train.” Dogs need more than just walking.

Google “[your area] volunteer dog walking” or head down to the local humane society.

Help a senior or disabled person. Next time you see Mrs. Jenkins hobbling from her car into the house or Bill the Vietnam war vet puttering around his yard making little headway on the encroaching weeds, ask if they could use a hand with anything. Ask if they’d like to make this a regular thing.

Those people tell the best stories and, if their memory’s intact, you can get incredible insights about the days of yore.

“Is Mad Men a realistic portrayal of corporate workplaces in the 1960s?”

“How good were McDonald’s fries before they switched from beef tallow?”

There’s always something to be moved, some furniture to be carried elsewhere, some garage to be cleared. Or even a dog to be walked. You’ll get a great workout, help a person who could use it, and hear some cool stories to boot.

Google “[your area] elderly neighbor volunteering.” That was intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but it actually produces actionable results.

What do these ideas all have in common? They objectively help others. They are Good Deeds. And they’re a great way to get a decent workout, to stay active and mobile in the manner of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. There’s no downside.

But there’s resistance, isn’t there? It’s easier to not do the thing. It’s way easier to just not go help clean up a beach or a county park. And it’s definitely way easier to not introduce yourself to the neighbor who might need some assistance. I implore you: ignore that voice tugging at your elbow, telling you to move along. Just make the commitment, the introduction, the offer. The actual act of volunteering is quite often enjoyable, once you’re enmeshed in it. Workouts aren’t exactly pleasant, but we do them.

Just imagine the kind of change you could effect if, once or twice a week, you and 10 to 20 others got together to clean up a park, blaze a trail, or perform some other public good. Pooling efforts reduces the efforts required of the individual and maximizes the output—and benefit. And you get a workout, too, plus the chance to make new friends and connections. It’s the perfect fusion of selfishness and selflessness that we need to make good things happen.

I’ll leave you with a few more ideas to help you get started:

Join NextDoor, a sort of Facebook for neighborhoods. You enter your address and get linked up with everyone else in your area. It’s the perfect place to organize local efforts.

Start a MeetUp group. Feel free to link to this post, or quote sections from it to help convey the idea.

Google volunteering calendars for your area. Comb the lists and find something that requires physical activity.

Start a thread on the MDA forums. Share ideas, find local people to join you.

Let’s hear from you. Can you think of any volunteer opportunities that also double as effective ways to stay active?

Weekend Link Love – Edition 373

Research of the Week

Early exposure to dogs and farm animals reduces the risk of asthma in pre-school and school-age children.

Urban fruit contained a wider range of micronutrients and fewer heavy metals than retail fruit.

Standing for at least a quarter of the day can reduce your odds of obesity.

A high protein, higher calorie diet improves body composition in resistance trained men and women

Delaying kindergarten by a year may reduce ADHD.

A single meal containing crushed, raw garlic alters immune and cancer gene expression.

Only full-fat dairy is associated with better metabolic health.

Chinese table salt is full of plastic.

In weight loss trials, low-carb diets outperform low-fat diets.

For optimal lung health, be sure to eat your veggies and whale.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 92: Doug McGuff: Doug McGuff is an ER physician and co-author of The Primal Prescription. In this week’s episode, Doug reveals the tips and tricks you can use to minimize your reliance on the healthcare system and still navigate its labyrinthine halls when you need medical care; he discusses the problems inherent to the medical system, including diagnostic false positives (or irrelevant positives), specialist shopping, and drug side effects (which they all have); and he gives you a dozen ways to stay out of the ER.

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.

5 Things You Learn Being a Primal Lifer
Primal Blueprint Publishing Update: Get Ready For Some New Books
The What, Why and How of “Dispositional Mindfulness”

Also, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Primal Endurance Podcast.

Weekly sweepstakes: Write a review for The Primal Blueprint Podcast or The Primal Endurance Podcast on iTunes and submit this form for a chance to win a Primal prize package. One new winner is chosen every week!

Interesting Blog Posts

How to treat your shrimp right.

Great dinner party hack: one giant steak for everyone.

Media, Schmedia

The regulated regulating the regulators.

Craig Venter wants your genome. Can you resist that face?

Everything Else

Got a few minutes? Take a quick paleo diet survey and help a grad student complete a research project.

London is getting an insect restaurant.

Wolf-coyote-dog hybrids are emerging in North America.

I’d like to visit.

Red meat significantly increases the risk of premature death in cattle. Researchers suspect causality but have yet to identify a mechanism.

New evidence indicates that English hunter-gatherers weren’t trading with farmers for wheat 8,000 years ago.

The earth needs more animal poop.

What pro apple farmers think of people who pick apples for fun.

Calorie counts on fast food menus are nice and all, but they don’t affect how many calories people eat.

Fake allergies create headaches for chefs.

Recipe Corner

This paleo chicken pot pie is quite impressive.
Don’t worry, dark chocolate gingerbread apricot truffles don’t have any actual bread.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Nov 10 – Nov 16)

What’s Living on Your Skin? – Microbes cover every inch of us.
Just Walk It Off: How Walking Can Improve Your Emotional Well-Being – The saying rings true after all.

Comment of the Week

Meanwhile, nearly 100% contain lips, udders, and sphincters.

– Fine by me.

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Winter Squash, Leek and Chard Frittata

A frittata is the perfect meal any time of day, cold or hot, eaten with a knife and fork or with your hands. It’s the type of dish a person is tempted to use as a receptacle for leftovers, throwing in bits of meat and cooked vegetables, wilted herbs and an old knob of cheese. It’s hard to go wrong with a frittata, but if you want to go really, really right, this is the recipe.

The sweet and earthy flavors of winter squash, leeks and Swiss chard swirl together here in a frittata with a creamy, custard-like texture. The secret to the heavenly texture is full-fat dairy; without it, frittatas often have the texture of a kitchen sponge. Dairy isn’t for everyone, but if you tolerate dairy well, then there’s no reason to abstain. Full-fat dairy has more than just rich, delicious flavor to offer.

In this frittata recipe, crème fraiche adds amazing flavor and texture, although the same amount of yogurt, cream, or grated cheese can be substituted. And if this frittata has too many veggies for you and not enough meat, then go ahead and add some prosciutto or cooked bacon. You won’t be sorry.

Servings: 4 to 6

Time in the Kitchen: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 acorn or butternut squash
2 tablespoons melted butter (15 ml)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary (10 ml)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or butter) (15 ml)
1 leek, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 large Swiss chard leaves, cut into thin strips (thick stems discarded)
12 eggs
1/2 cup crème fraiche (115 g)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (1.2 ml)
Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 °F/204 °C.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise, from tip to stem. Scoop out the seeds and stringy middle. Cut each half into wedges that are ¾-inch to 1-inch (19 mm to 2.5 cm) thick. In a large bowl, pour melted butter over the wedges and sprinkle with rosemary. Toss to coat.

Spread squash out on a baking sheet. Roast, turning once, until both sides are browned and the flesh is tender, 30 to 40 minutes. When the squash is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and cut the flesh into ½-inch/13 mm cubes.

Turn the oven heat down to 350 °F/177 °C.

Heat the olive oil (or butter) over medium heat in a 10-inch/25 cm ovenproof skillet (ideally, well-seasoned cast iron). Add the leek and cook until softened but not browning, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the Swiss chard. Cook, stirring often, until completely wilted and all moisture evaporates, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the squash. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, crème fraiche and nutmeg together. Pour into the 10-inch ovenproof skillet. Stir gently to make sure the vegetables are evenly distributed, the let the frittata cook undisturbed for 2 minutes.

Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the middle is no longer runny but is still soft and just barely set. Cast iron retains a lot of heat and will keep cooking the egg once it’s out of the oven, so it’s a good idea to take the frittata out before it looks completely done.

Overcoming Crohn’s: How I Dropped Sugar and Gained 30 Pounds

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!

Going straight to the point: Discovering I had Crohn’s disease after a few weeks in the hospital was the best thing that ever happened to me. I definitely would NOT have made that statement in the heat of the moment back three years ago, but I hit my 31st birthday and I’ve never had more vitality (for myself) and understanding of the human body (for sharing).

For years prior to my hospitalization I woke up every morning feeling poisoned. I had frequent mouth ulcers, the lymph nodes in my armpits where constantly swelling up and painful, I was always, always tired, I had bad acne on my back that didn’t seem to correlate to anything, foul flatulence, dandruff, joint pain, a smattering of skin allergies and I sunburned really, really easily (I’m a Northern Canadian who’s been living in Southern Spain for the last eight years, it is SUNNY here).

Despite this, I just couldn’t get help from doctors. I had visited a few over the years, but when they caught wind of my marathon running and regular rock climbing, it seemed like they would shut off, “this kid is obviously making it up,” I’m sure they thought. It didn’t seem to matter that my symptoms were chronic and that everyday for years, I was just an iota weaker and sicker than the previous. Nope. Doctors would tell me; you need to rest more, use antibacterial soap, eat more eggs, don’t worry, it’s not sinister, etc. Hahahaha. As a matter of fact, two days before being hospitalized a blood specialist told me to not worry, everything was going to be alright. Right.

So at some point along the way, I read about the vegan diet and got on board. I really wanted to be well and I didn’t want my health to come from a pill. So for a month I went from sick to sicker, I moved to loose vegetarianism from there until the hospital. Foregoing meat was a bad idea, but it got me into the kitchen and for the first time in my life, I started making every meal I ate, something indispensable for my future switch to paleo.

Recap:

– Spent years getting sick.

– Largely ignored by doctors.

– Found fleeting hope in veganism.

– Hospitalized with Crohn’s.

Hospitals suck. If you’re there right now, my condolences. If you’ve been there, you already know how pleasant 6 am blood drawings and nasty chemical IV’s really are. My arms looked like those of a crack addicts and felt like a dry well, the nurses were having a hard time getting blood out of me. I’m pretty sure I cried at least once while there and I praise God for the friends that came out to see me. For three weeks I had a visitor everyday. Visit your friend in the hospital, it’s time well spent.

I left the hospital here in Spain to go back home to Canada for Christmas. If I was going to be desperately ill, I might as well have my family around. Despite the fact that a hefty dose of corticoids were helping keep my bowel movement count in check, I still had never known so much pain. So I read.

I read The Maker’s Diet by Dr. Jordan Rubin, I read Wheat Belly by Dr. Williams Davis, I read the grand daddy of all nutritional books Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, I read some Breaking the Vicious Cycle, and I read Winnie the Pooh (in dark moments you need a little light). I was convinced that diet was going to save me yet!

I went back to Spain and a few weeks later I relapsed. I was getting better but then one weekend, BOOM! Back to square one: 20+ bowel movements a day and continued weight loss (I started this ordeal at 76 kg and at this time I was 57 kg). Through the reading I had completed I knew in my head what needed to be done, but in my heart I hadn’t been ready to dive in head first. The relapse only lasted a few horrible days, but it was at that point that I went through my cupboards and threw away anything with sugar, cereals, legumes, and preservatives. I also threw away fruit, dates, and nuts. I threw away coffee, tea, alcohol, chocolate (even the dark stuff). Everything. I wanted health and a good friend told me that big problems require big solutions.

This all helped, but I was still limping by. My intestines were continuously inflamed, my ileum constantly hurt (I didn’t even know what that was before this ordeal), and even eating free range chicken soup frequently resulted in long nights of vomiting, pain and diarrhea.

The pain wouldn’t stop and my waist kept shrinking. It’s scary to be in a weight loss free-fall. I threw up my hands up in desperation and decided I was done with eating for a while. It seemed so pointless to watch it flow right on out undigested.

Three days later I was noticeably better.

Ever since then, through regular weekly fasting, through stress management, and through high-nutrient/toxin-free eating, I have made steady progress. Not one of the previously mentioned symptoms are currently an issue, I weigh a very stable 70 kg, I am on zero drugs or supplements (but don’t tell my doctor, she’d freak out), and I am just an iota stronger every day. I can blow through a half-marathon without prepping. I do a lot of sport climbing, which I feel is one of the ultimate “paleo” exercises.

I love working out less for a body whose form and tone easily rivals that of the marathon running version of me, who basically gave up his social life to find enough time for running.

I came to Marks Daily Apple through a friend once I already found myself on the path of improving my life through diet and lifestyle, but in the years since I’ve read nearly every article posted and have thoroughly enjoyed impressing my medical doctor girlfriend with the amazing recipes. I’ve been so encouraged by every success story I’ve read. This site gets a high endorsement from me for it’s tempered view on health and for the gamut of topics covered. I recommend it to any friends looking to get started on a better life, it’s some of the best free information out there.

Every human body is endowed with an incredible capacity to heal itself and it desires in every moment to heal itself, it just needs the resources to do so.

Be strong!

James

Stop Saying No, Start Saying Yes!

I know parents who have “yes” days with their kids—days when the kids can ask for just about anything (barring the hazardous, illegal, harmful or physically impossible) and the parents have agreed to go with it. While the idea assuredly raises some eyebrows and probably isn’t for every family or age/personality of child, I’ve observed that it’s rarely the Pandora’s Box most people would assume.

On the first round, kids might try to push the limits out of sheer curiosity to see how far they can ride that train—how far they can push the parental units. With time and steadiness on the parents’ parts, however, the kids generally settle into a happy but reasoned approach in which their requests end up reflecting their parents’ values to a startling degree. They plan a healthy picnic or cook a healthy, albeit strangely assembled meal together. They ask for an extended family activity or day trip that includes some hiking or biking or family sport. It becomes more about their self-determination and maybe some creative embellishments than flying in the face of the normal family guidelines, oddly even if they’re subject for regular complaint. Nonetheless, the fun factor just went through the roof. We adults can learn something from this….

What would it be like, for example, to have a “yes” day when it comes to Primal health?

I’m not talking about eating dessert for every meal of the day or lounging in front of the T.V. all day long. This isn’t about thumbing our noses at what reason and experience tell us is good for us and makes us feel good in a day. It’s about taking back the intention to live well from all the dismal commandment thinking we typically assign to it.

Think of all the “no” statements you’ve burdened yourself in the past—the “no this or that anymore,” the “I can’t have,” the “I have to,” the “Don’t do/eat/drink,” the “I need to,” the “Thou shalt not.” Seriously.

Can I ask the obvious here? How inspired do you feel day in and day out focusing on what you CAN’T do? (I can just hear the band of children’s responses.) Let me fill my mind with all I can’t eat, all I shouldn’t do, all I must now take on, all I will need to swear off for all eternity, all that I shall forsake. There’s a recipe for short-term motivation (or long-term misery).

So, how about letting go of the “no” fixation?

Imagine for a minute what it would be like to say YES? What would it mean for your commitment to health? (What would it mean for your life?) How could you reframe your own personal manifestation of the Primal Blueprint—your Primal living—with the power of YES?

Think of the dozens of food choices you make in a day—what to buy, what to leave on the shelf, what food sources/suggestions to pass by (e.g. fast food joints, office donuts), what foods to pack/prepare, what to defrost or plan for tomorrow, how to cook it, what to add to it not to mention how often and when to eat. Think of all the ways you could be sedentary but would need to say no to. Think of every poor sleep or stress choice you could make if it weren’t for the rule of “no” hanging over you. How many hundreds of crummy, self-defeating options would you be on the lookout for each day?

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a lot of work put that way. How much more do you want to pile on in the name of proving your self-discipline?

But, wait, you might say. Isn’t healthy living about discipline after all? I think it’s all how you look at discipline. If continually testing your ability to say no a hundred times a day is the centerpiece of self-discipline in your mind, then I’d beg to differ. Research suggests overworking our self-discipline can majorly backfire—particularly at the end of the day when we’re decision-fatigued or when we’re going through stressful times.

If, however, designing a positive mindset around healthy living and putting effort into expanding and deepening your enjoyment of that lifestyle is self-discipline, then I think you’re absolutely right.

For me, it’s not about choosing a healthy life. It’s about building a healthy life.

I don’t want to visualize my life as a perpetual series of weighing tempting options—of starting over with each one of those dozens of choices I make each day. I purposely limit the number of choices I make in a day by wisely setting up my environment for that purpose. We only keep healthy food in the house. I more or less stick to a set schedule each day. I have a pretty consistent fitness/active leisure routine built into my day. I know where I like to shop. I have favorite meals, and I tend to make certain foods on a recurring basis. Keeping things simple this way conserves mental stamina which I can them put into other parts of my life.

Building a healthy life is all about where you put your energy.

If you perpetually spend your time skirting the “boundaries” between you and the forbidden lands (i.e. options), the “no” choices are always, ironically, front and center in our mind. You live suspended in a constant web of temptation and deprivation. You expend untold energy maintaining that “no” resistance. Forget the suffering and sacrifice. Face it: it gets tiring. Research shows that, while we may use our intellect to make a healthy plan, how we actually behave and choose in a day depends on our emotions.

If, however, your focus is building a healthy lifestyle one day at a time with all the things you enjoy the most, how much more pleasing and gratifying does that sound? Now we’re talking about what’s workable in the real world of human behavior.

Let’s do this. Let’s see how many positive statements about Primal living we can come up with.

A Primal choice I enjoy making for myself each morning is ______.

One of my favorite Primal pastimes is ______.

The way I like to move heavy things is ______.

The best part about making sure I get direct sun each day is ______.

My favorite Primal recipes are ______.

I look forward to ______ (Primal dish) each holiday.

The slow to moderate movement activities I most enjoy are ______.

I get so much out of these de-stressing choices ____________.

I can’t wait to get all the benefits (e.g. _____) of a good night’s sleep.

It’s great to be able to _____, _____, and _____ this weekend—all things I couldn’t do before going Primal.

I’m looking forward to my _____ for dinner tonight.

I love that I do _____, _____ and _____ for myself now—what I never would do for myself before.

Apply these now, and think of all you can say “yes” to—all you can lean into (rather than recoil from) in a day. Imagine all the choices you can truly relish and even celebrate in a day.

“Yes! I get to enjoy a hearty roast or juicy steak tonight!”

“Yes! I get to spend the evening walking around the park with my partner this evening.”

“Yes! I get to make that favorite Primal dish for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.”

“Yes! I get to enjoy my morning meditation time.”

“Yes! I get to feel the sun on me and take in the fresh air over my lunch hour walk.”

“Yes! I get to track my lifting progress at the gym tonight and see if I can top my personal best.

“Yes! I get to relish that afternoon nap!”

You get the point here, but the permutations are endless. Instead of engaging in yet another nagging internal battle around denial, we can turn the whole game on its head and ask ourselves what we are fortunate to enjoy that’s life-giving, healthful and happiness-inspiring. What are our favorite aspects of Primal living, and how are we looking forward to living them today?

What Primal choices and activities are you celebrating getting to do, feel, eat, achieve, enjoy, share today? And how does reframing it in YES mode make you feel differently about your selections each day? Share your thoughts, and thanks for reading, everyone. Enjoy your end to the week.

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5 Things You Learn Being a Primal Lifer

Being a Primal lifer is nice. You get to pat the heads and tousle the hair of precious newbies who just learned the words “lectin” and “phytate” and can’t stop talking about it. Navigating your local farmer’s market is a breeze, and you’re such a regular that you can show up half an hour past closing and still get the choicest produce. But there are other benefits, too. Bits of wisdom that you glean over time, and that can only come from years of adherence. Today, I’m going to discuss the five biggest ones.

Newbies: don’t expect to use these as a guide for your own immediate existence. These aren’t necessarily suggestions. Much of what long term Primal adherents learn about their bodies and their lifestyles requires that they put in the time to learn the things directly. You can read about it, but don’t be dismayed if you’re unable able to implement or integrate them immediately.

1. The occasional indulgence won’t kill you.

When you first start on the Primal lifestyle, you’re walking around on pastured eggshells. Every speck of food must pass the mental gluten filter before mouth admittance. You’re counting macros like crazy. You’re tracking nutrients. And you want to get it right, so right, that you maintain strict dietary purity. When out with friends wolfing down pizza and beer, you go for the salad and sparking water. This is pretty normal and, I think, useful. It allows you to establish a baseline. You learn about your body without the fog of unhealthy food obscuring your vision. You figure out what works for you.

Then you can play around. You can relax, and test your limits.

Because once you’ve established that excellent gut and metabolic health, and you’ve been topping up your nutrient stores with a diet based on healthy plants and animals for years, those occasional indulgences don’t really bother you.

It’s not just “physical” resistance. It’s also psychological. You realize that strict dietary purity is probably counterproductive, that acting like the modern food system doesn’t exist and agriculture never happened is a form of willful ignorance that ignores the reality of the situation: ice cream is real and tastes darn good sometimes. These brief cheats or indulgences just slide off your back because you’ve learned that freaking out over the quick serve meal you had to grab in a pinch because it was the only food for a hundred miles is more deleterious than the food itself.

2. But you no longer need that occasional indulgence.

It’s a funny cycle that develops over the years. You go from wanting the junk food but fearing its effect on your nascent Primal metabolism to being confident enough in your health and mental makeup to eat the junk food and enjoy it if you want it to not wanting it anymore because you truly enjoy and prefer real food.

This doesn’t mean you no longer “cheat”. You might still do it from time to time, and you generally bounce back just fine. But there’s a difference. You don’t feel deprived of pizza, or bread, or McDonald’s french fries. You sometimes want the junk. But you don’t need it.

3. Just enough exercise is plenty.

The newly Primal are real gung-ho about lifting heavy things, sprinting once in awhile, and moving frequently at a slow pace. So much that they tend to overdo it. They lift really heavy things, sprint more than once in awhile, and move frequently at a breakneck pace. It goes hand in hand with eating: if vigorous administration of the Primal eating plan improves results, so too should doing more of the suggested Primal training. After all, the notion that more exercise is always better is one aspect of conventional wisdom that persists.

But then something changes. You realize you can’t keep getting stronger, faster, fitter in perpetuity. That there is an end to limitless growth. And if you can accept this rather than trigger an existential crisis, you’re suddenly free. You can be perfectly fit, strong, and fast with a moderate amount of exercise. Maintenance isn’t so bad, it turns out.

Not everyone does this. Some people have explicit and driven fitness goals that require a high volume of training. They want to deadlift 2.5x and squat 2x their bodyweight. They want to run a marathon—and excel. They are their CrossFit box’s best hope at qualifying for the CF Games. And some people just enjoy training.

But more often than not, I see the Primal lifers take a nice and easy approach to fitness. They’re relaxed about it. Miss a day? It’s fine! There’s always tomorrow. Don’t feel like hitting the gym? That’s okay. You took your dog for a walk, your kid to the park (where you played just as much as her), and you had a walking meeting at work. You’re good.

The long term Primal enthusiasts realize that, unless you’re competing, being paid, or truly love it, training is best appreciated as a means to an end. We train for health, to look good naked, and to maximize enjoyment and corporeal engagement with the world. We generally don’t train for ego hypertrophy.

4. Leading by example is more effective.

Early Primal evangelism consumes the first year or two. Right after the benefits start accumulating and health marker after health marker improve—once it becomes clear that this Primal stuff really works—you have to tell everyone. Coworker offhandedly mentions wanting to lose weight for bikini season? You throw together an 800 word email with a dozen links detailing why and how they should go Primal. Out to dinner? You smugly refuse the bread basket and wait for the questions so you can make your case. Having a totally unrelated conversation with a complete stranger? You somehow manage to bring it back around to why grains are unhealthy and fat is unfairly maligned.

We’ve all done it. We’ve all been there. And we’ve all been rebuffed, rejected, and ignored by the people we’re trying to help. Overeagerness is a turn-off. It smacks of madness. Zealotry’s a red flag for the type of sensible people ancestral health can attract.

After awhile, our losses mounting and successful conversion rate sitting below 5%, we take a different tack. Instead of haranguing our acquaintances, we let our results speak for themselves. This way interested parties approach us. If the guy in line behind us glances into our cart and goes “what’s with all the meat?” we might give a brief one-liner. When a Facebook friend wonders how we lost so much weight, we tell them. If that friend asks for help with his weight, we’ll drop the link to MDA. When we host a dinner party, we cook incredible Primal food without advertising it. But we’re not going after people or forcing the issue.

We’re simply living it.

All that said, please do tell people about Mark’s Daily Apple!

5. Going Primal is just a template.

Most people’s early experiences with the Primal Blueprint look very similar. They avoid grains, legumes, seed oils, and sugar. They reduce carbs, since most of us are eating too many of them in the first place—especially if there’s weight to lose. They stop worrying so much about animal fat and, quite probably, begin eating more of it along with protein (which usually accompanies animal fat in naturally occurring foods). After getting the diet in order, they’ll modify their training. More weights, more walking, more sprints, less endurance or “cardio” type training. They’ll realize the importance of sleep and, if they really get into it, start taking the various other aspects of good sleep hygiene seriously (natural light during the day, low blue lights at night, orange goggles, etc).

After a few years, however, lifestyles diverge. People begin testing boundaries, trying new foods, shifting macronutrient ratios. Playing with the formula.

Sometimes, these divergences don’t pan out. But eventually, they do. And that’s when the Primal lifer realizes that traditional Primal is just a starting point.

Many people start endurance running after shunning it in response to my general skeptical stance on chronic cardio because it works for them and they enjoy it. That’s awesome. It’s also Primal.

Some people end up eating more carbs and less fat than baseline Primal recommends, whether because they’re training hard and need the extra glucose or because their metabolism just functions better that way. Whatever the reason, if it works it works. They’re still eating Primal.

But you had to start somewhere. You had to stand on common ground and get your wits about you before finding your niche. I mean, you don’t have to— some people luck into the right path—but it’s the most reliable way to figure it out. And all the most successful long-term Primal adherents arrived at their unique brand of lifestyle design through trial, tribulation, and tinkering. There’s no shortcut for that.

Lifers: what have you learned from your years being Primal?

Thanks for reading, everyone.

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Primal Blueprint Publishing Update: Get Ready for Some New Books

As you learned from my recent blog posts about our latest releases Fruit Belly and The Primal Prescription, things are cranking up in the Primal Blueprint Publishing world. Over the past couple of years, we took a bit of a respite from our usual pace of releasing titles to focus on some big internal projects, namely the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification program, the Don’t Just Sit There program, and the Primal Endurance book, which Brad Kearns and I have been hard at work on for the past two years.

In Primal Endurance, we return to our roots and introduce endurance athletes to the familiar Primal Blueprint principles of becoming stress balanced and fat adapted. Release date is early January, but I wanted to show you a sneak preview of the beautiful cover, created by our artistic grandmaster Janée Meadows and shot at the famous Malibu sand dune by Leslie Klenke (content details follow).

After a few years of frustration and false starts, Carrie has finally found her true and authentic voice and has nearly completed the manuscript for Primal Woman. Carrie explains the numerous project delays: “I’m not a writer, but I was trying to be one, or trying to outsource parts of the process that really shouldn’t be! One day at lunch with Mark and Brad, I revealed that I was at my wits’ end and about to completely give up. They reminded me that my gift is storytelling, finding meaning in the ordinary moments, bringing inspirational quotes into daily life, and transferring inspiration into action through my training in life coaching and spiritual psychology. Can you guess where this is going? That’s right—I junked the book writing fundamentals of chapters and a patterned narrative and decided to just start telling stories! So Primal Woman is a collection of stories with life lessons and even actionable steps at the end to formulate intentions and manifest them in your daily life.”

We actually have a whopping ten books in our development pipeline right now. Here’s a quick overview of what’s coming and when. And at the end of the post, I have an important message for the real bookies out there who want to go the extra mile and read and publish thoughtful reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

January 11: Primal Endurance, by Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns. Slow down, balance out, chill out, eat primally, introduce high-intensity strength and sprint workouts, and integrate complementary movement and lifestyle practices and advanced recovery techniques to become a complete and balanced endurance athlete, instead of an unhealthy, narrowly focused, carb-dependent mileage junkie. Of primary importance is learning how to transition out of chronic cardio and carbohydrate dependency to become a fat burning beast! You’ve seen me second-guess the chronic cardio ethos of the endurance community many times on this website, and lament the health challenges that arose from my own chronic training patterns. I don’t plan to be out there on a marathon starting line any time soon, but for those captivated by the extremely popular endurance movement, we describe in detail how to do things right—how to protect your health and delay aging instead of accelerate aging, which essentially is what happens when you follow the conventional approach. This book is for all manner of endurance athletes (Spartan/mud run/adventure racer, 5k, 10k, 13.1, marathon, and ultramarathon runners, sprint, long, and ultra distance triathletes, mountaineers, etc.), both casual and competitive—anyone who wants to do this stuff and stay healthy, really.

Our initial vision for this book was to produce a simple little Primal Blueprint spinoff guide to help acquaint endurance athletes with primal principles, but we had so much good stuff to share from our past (I coached Brad during the prime years of his career on the pro circuit), and from our observations of the disastrously flawed conventional approach in today’s booming endurance sports scene, that this thing turned into a magnificent beast. It’s an 8” x 10” oversized paperback of nearly 400 pages of detailed information, lively storytelling, emphatic urging (to slow down, ditch bad carbs, become intuitive instead of robotic, to learn from our mistakes instead of repeat them, and so forth) and memorable images (including long lost old school pics from dusty attics, like this gem) and cartoons (from book designer Caroline DeVita), with our first full-color interior design production. If you are an endurance athlete, you absolutely must read this book. It will blow your mind and radically alter your approach such that your endurance passions can support your health instead of compromise it. If you’re an endurance athlete and you refuse to read this book, you should probably quit.

April 19: Primal Woman, by Carrie Sisson features a collection of personal and impactful stories and anecdotes from Carrie on themes like Family & Parenting, Forgivness, Relationships, Health & Vitality, and Manifesting Your Intentions. Carrie’s empowering messages emanate from her devoted study of spiritual psychology and role as a facilitator to students around the world. She inspires you to be true to your own voice and intuitive signals, reject the harmful cultural forces that compromise female health, beauty, and happiness, and simply take time daily to enjoy your own company, chase your passions, and continually refocus your priorities. With Carrie’s warm, light-hearted approach, Primal Woman is an entertaining and enlightening journey for women of all ages who want to live the happy, healthy life they deserve. This collection of life experiences is presented in funny, lighthearted, raw, and honest prose that will motivate readers to go out and live a life beyond their wildest dreams. Each story is a lesson in and of itself, and is most often tied to an actionable exercise designed for readers to incorporate into their daily lives as they see fit.

May 17: Good Fat, Bad Fat, by Romy Dollè. We are translating another popular title from the author of the recently released Fruit Belly. Good Fat, Bad Fat provides a comprehensive, easy-to-read education on all aspects of dietary fat, and dismantles the misinformation that has created decades long “fat phobia” in the general population. The book provides a breakdown of assorted forms of dietary fat—the fats that are healthy and important, and the ones that are best avoided.

If you’ve ever been influenced by fat phobia, and might still be influenced by fat phobia, then this book is for you. Romy shows you how to improve your relationship with this vital macronutrient—because fat makes life worth living! The book is supplemented with 70 delicious primal recipes, easy-to-understand summaries of scientific studies, psychological insights, and personal experiences in collaboration with sports nutritionist and former competitive athlete Dr. Torsten Albers.

June 14: Paleo Thyroid Solution, by Elle Russ. Our very own Elle Russ (you may know her as the Primal Blueprint Podcast Hostess with the mostess; she is also one of our founding Primal Blueprint Certified Experts and program development consultant) details her arduous journey to health after ten years of suffering at the hands of dozens of uniformed doctors and endocrinologists. Blending medical research, alternative health care, and primal-style dietary modification, she diagnosed and resolved two severe bouts of hypothyroidism, including an acute case of Reverse T3/Thyroid Hormone Resistance.

The Paleo Thyroid Solution dispels the numerous myths surrounding hypothyroidism and exposes the shoddy science and big Pharma practices that have fostered widespread medical mistreatment of hypothyroid patients by doctors since the 1950s. Elle’s book provides the comprehensive, step-by-step guidance you need to navigate confusing medical advice, dial in your prescription regimen, and maximize your thyroid hormone metabolism through diet and lifestyle. The Paleo Thyroid Solution will help you transform from fat, foggy, and fatigued, to fit, vibrant, and energetic.

November 2016: Primal Blueprint 2017 Page A Day Calendar: Haven’t we had enough of Calvin & Hobbes by now? How about some daily reminders to stay motivated for primal living, or to learn interesting new tidbits, or rip off a recipe page for the fridge? I think it’s long overdue, so we’re designing a calendar for 2017 to make primal living even easier.

Peel a day off the pad and save your favorites, and enjoy a creative and informative new message each day of the year. Each month has a theme relating to one of the ten Primal Blueprint lifestyle laws and the ten Primal Connection habits, while each day of the week repeats with a theme of recipe, exercise, nature experience/connection, reflective journal exercise, and so on.

This desktop calendar in the familiar 6-inch square format is a fabulous gift idea for your favorite primal enthusiast. It also serves as a great introduction to primal living by providing simple, bite-sized inspirations and practical tips to enjoy primal living one day at a time!

December 2016: Kitchen Intuition, by Devyn Sisson. Yep, you read that author name correctly—Kitchen Intuition marks my daughter Devyn’s debut as an author. I am constantly astounded at my daughter’s kitchen intuition. I have to admit—even with a stack of great cookbooks and a folder of magazine clippings on the shelf, sometimes it’s hard to get my creative juices flowing in the kitchen. And then, in steps Devyn. I encouraged her to put her artistic culinary skills into writing…so here, for the first time, is a book dedicated to awakening your inner master chef and helping you become adventurous, creative, and empowered in the kitchen.

Devyn prepared this unique book to help transport you beyond the logistics of good cooking and into the realm of intuition—cultivating a harmonious connection between mind, body, and food. She truly is a self-taught chef and foodie extraordinaire, and she’ll get you acquainted with your body’s nutritional needs, your palate’s likes and dislikes, and the emotional elements that shape your cravings and deep satisfactions with meals. I am so proud of her for elegantly chronicling her personal journey of healing her body through healthful eating and creating this masterful guide to show you how you too can build up health, confidence, and self-esteem from intuitive cooking that transfers into all other areas of life. Devyn says, “This is the book I wish I had read years ago but instead find myself writing. Cooking doesn’t have to be scary, intimidating, difficult, or boring. Cooking can be fun, inexpensive, romantic, and adventurous, when you cultivate your intuition in the kitchen.”

January 1, 2017: Primal Blueprint Comprehensive Update, Expansion, and Revision: It’s hard to believe it’s been almost seven years since I delivered the original final draft manuscript of The Primal Blueprint to my publisher. When we went to paperback format in 2011, we added some extra content (especially the color success story insert) and did some general editing and revisions. Meanwhile, behind the scenes I’ve been enthusiastically canvassing research, listening to the leading voices in the movement, and taking copious notes about topics to revise what was originally written in the Primal Blueprint. As I state often here, I strive to be open-minded, adaptable and capable of revising my stance on all aspects of primal living.

I’m pleased to announce that a comprehensive update, expansion and revision of the original Primal Blueprint, slated to publish around December of 2016. We’re planning for a beautiful four-color presentation with photos and illustrations throughout for an easy and entertaining read. Even if you have a copy of the current Primal Blueprint hardcover or paperback, the 2017 version will be a must-have to represent the ultimate text on primal living.

Alcohol is one example of a topic that I have thought about, studied and done some personal experimentation with over the past seven years, the results of which have compelled me to make a material revision in the original Primal Blueprint stance. Alcohol has historically been listed as a “sensible indulgence” along with dark chocolate in the PB lore. We even threw awesome red wine and chocolate parties in the evenings at PrimalCon. Well, after doing my own personal abstention experiment, talking to many primal enthusiasts who struggle to drop excess body fat despite primal-aligned eating (but copping to a fair amount of alcohol consumption), and reviewing the latest research (particularly alcohol’s little appreciated connection to leaky gut syndrome), I have changed the official Primal Blueprint position on alcohol. It’s now part of Law #2: Avoid Poisonous Things. After all, alcohol is a toxic agent, it significantly interferes with fat metabolism (and promotes fat storage when consumed together with carbs), has been linked recently to leaky gut syndrome (I found this to be relevant when I did my abstention), and can hamper optimal hormone function, including the synthesis of important sex hormones and anti-aging hormones. Yes, red wine is a viable source of antioxidants, but we mustn’t forget that it’s the grapes delivering the antioxidants, not the alcohol.

Here are a few more projects in the early stages of development, but will be here before you know it!

Spring 2017: Primal Sleep: Here’s a high concept title that needs little explanation. But one thing that’s been on my mind the past couple years is that we primal enthusiasts seem to have reached a summit with the important big-ticket lifestyle items like diet. I mean, if you are locked into primal-style eating, how much cleaner can you eat? How many more hairs do we need to split ranking nuts by health benefit, or debating whether avocado oil is better to cook with than coconut oil (answer: they are both way better than oxidized vegetable oil!). If you are struggling with your foundation—ditching sugars and grains, emphasizing primal foods, covering the exercise laws, using too much screen and not enough pillow, by all means keep your focus there.

But once nutrition is tackled, it’s worthwhile to turn your attention to some oft-neglected primal behaviors, such as catching more zzz’s. When it comes to sleep, even the biggest enthusiasts seem to just pay lip service to the topic and spout off a generalization like “seven to eight hours a night is important.” Lately, I’ve become more and more interested in the nuances of sleep. I presented some significant information and practical tips in the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification, and since then I’ve been delving deeper into the subject with research and personal experimentation. Expect a book in early 2017 with a comprehensive take on the subject from a primal perspective.

2017: Fit Over Fifty: People say I don’t look my age, for whatever that’s worth. I guess if they thought I looked my age, they wouldn’t say anything? Anyway, Carrie hears that a lot too, which is cool since we’re a couple! It happens that I’ve prioritized health and wellness my entire life, and now at 62 I’m deeply committed to aging gracefully. The time feels ripe to share some primal-style anti-aging strategies with you…in particular the topic of how to balance peak performance goals with longevity, because there is sometimes a tradeoff there (Brad Kearns and I got into this subject nicely on a recent Primal Blueprint Podcast, Episode #87.)

Aging gracefully is an important concept to embrace, one that will enable you to set appropriate goals and accept an inevitable gradual decline in fitness and overall function that comes with chronology. This book will include suggestions to recalibrate one’s competitive goals based on age and lifestyle circumstances, adopting a healthy mindset about the inevitabilities of moving along past your peak performance years, along with other anti-aging strategies that might just surprise you.

2017: What To Expect When You’re Expecting, Primal Style!: The multitalented Julie Festa de Lagarde, popular Los Angeles acupuncturist, author, life coach, and super mom, is hard at work writing a book for primal pregnancy. We’ve had dreams of developing a primal pregnancy book for a long time, as fertility/pregnancy/childbirth is arguably one of the most, if not the most, important time to get your diet, exercise, and overall well-being dialed in. Julie is a real live active working mom with the comprehensive knowledge and real-world perspective to bring this message to primal enthusiasts, and hopefully interest people in going primal in conjunction with their fertility goals.

Calling All Big Time Book Lovers – Wanna Join Our Review Team?

We are looking for a select group of dedicated readers who would like to receive advance copies of our new books in the hopes that you will read and prepare thoughtful reviews on Amazon.com (and other places where you’d like to offer feedback, including your own blog or other communication resources). Your authentic review will help interest other readers in grabbing the book. We are not trying to stuff the ballot box with a barrage of insincere 5-star reviews, but rather to support those special folks in our community who really love to read and share their feedback with others.

Here’s how it works: just express your interest in this program, we’ll mail you new books (yep, a bunch of them in the coming months but we surely won’t keep this pace up indefinitely!) a bit before they even go on sale to the public, you enjoy the book at a sensible pace, and then post your review. Now, we won’t hunt you down and reclaim our book if you don’t post reviews, but we really hope that you are a good fit for the program and will participate in the spirit intended. How does that sound? If you have a U.S. address and would like to be added to the list, simply complete this form. (Limited to 300 people.)

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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Dear Mark: Bone Broth Edition

With bone broth bars popping up in cities, broth-based cookbooks appearing on Amazon, and mail order broth companies making a killing online, hot bone water is experiencing a renaissance. And not just among Primal devotees. Dr. Oz is recommending it as a coffee replacement and Kobe Bryant uses it to support his aging body. The renewed popularity has brought an endless string of questions from readers, and today I’m going to answer some of them. Is bone broth truly a miracle food? Yes, but maybe not for the reason you suspect. Should you make deer bone broth? Yes, with a caveat. Does adding vinegar to your water really increase the mineral content of your broth? Probably not as much as you think. Do beef brisket bones work? Yes. And finally, what are the best parts from each animal for making broth? I give a slightly more detailed answer than “All of them.”

Let’s go:

Some people talk about bone broth as if it’s some kind of miracle food—particularly people in the paleo world. What’s your take? I know you suggest people make and consume it, but is it really all people crack it up to be? I mean, how much nutrition can really be pulled from bones? Thanks, Mark.

Todd

The biggest nutritional takeaway from bone broth is the gelatin. Excessive methionine, the amino acid found in steak, eggs, dairy, and other “evil” animal foods, can reduce longevity in animal trials, which is why the life extension/calorie restriction crowd is so preoccupied with limiting it. They want to wring out a few extra years, and they’re willing to abstain from everything delicious to make it happen. It turns out that full-on methionine restriction may be unnecessary if you eat enough gelatin; glycine, the primary amino acid present in gelatin, “opposes” the methionine present in muscle meat. Adding glycine to a methionine-rich diet has even been shown to mimic the life extension seen with methionine restriction.

A bone broth habit, then, may allow you to enjoy the benefits of a diet rich in animal protein—good body composition, superior recovery from training, strong bones, overall robustness—while avoiding the downsides. Gelatin’s (particularly the glycine component) also good for sleep. A big mug of broth an hour before bed always puts me down.

Broth should contain hyaluronic acid, a promising pro-joint nutrient. Race horses with bad osteoarthritis get intra-articular shots or IVs of synovial fluid, and studies on oral administration indicate that hyaluronic acid is the active component. You can also find hyaluronic acid in the bones and the connective tissue of an animal, and they even make a high-hyaluronic acid extract from chicken combs—that fleshy red waddle that sits atop a chicken’s head—which improved quality of life and reduced pain in patients with osteoarthritis.

Chondroitin sulfate is a popular but controversial joint health supplement. Skeptics say it’s a scam. The osteoarthritis patients participating in the study which found that six months of chondroitin sulfate supplementation reduced their cartilage loss probably have a different opinion. Since the supplements are made from animal cartilage, and the keel cartilage of the chicken back bone is a particularly rich source of water-soluble chondroitin sulfate (PDF), a broth made with plenty of cartilaginous substrate should be a good option.

Minerals? The vast majority of bone broth as it’s commonly made is not a good source of minerals. It simply isn’t acidic enough to pull calcium phosphate from the bones. Older studies indicate the bone broths richest in calcium are actually the ones made with vegetables, and a more recent study of bone broth’s mineral content commissioned by Sally Fallon of the Weston A Price Foundation—who has been touting the calcium and magnesium content of broth for decades—came up mostly empty.

Nutrition aside, broth remains a miracle food because it’s absolutely indispensable for high-level cooking. Go to a great French restaurant and there’ll be a stock-based reduction sauce in just about everything you eat. Home cooking becomes otherworldly when you have ample amounts of bone broth on hand for hearty soups and to reduce into syrupy sauces that coat the mouth.

Mark,

It’s hunting season and I will probably take 4-5 whitetail deer this season. I have read about the benefits of bone broth on your site and would like to know is it feasible to make bone broth from the bones of the deer I will harvest. Also, would making the broth from deer bones be the same process as making it from grass fed cow bones? Lastly, do you have a recipe for bone broth that I could follow for the deer bones?

Thanks,

Jenny

Making broth from deer bones should be about the same as making it with any ruminant’s bones. Roast, add spices/herbs, cover with water, boil, reduce to simmer. Or roast and throw in a pressure cooker to save time. Maybe throw in a few juniper berries to counter some of the gaminess, if that’s a problem for you.

I gotta say that I’m jealous. I’ve never made deer bone broth, but what with all the running, leaping, and general high intensity movement these beasts do, I’ve got to think they’ll have some dense connective tissue, sinew, and gristle. That’s the stuff you want for great stock. It’ll turn into gelatin and make your broth gel at room temperature.

There is chronic wasting disease to consider. Although the pathophysiology is still unclear, and no human cases have been recorded or observed to date, you should probably make sure chronic wasting disease isn’t a problem among deer in your area before using the bones (or the meat, for that matter). The prions that may cause it tend to accumulate in bone, brain, and spinal tissue and are highly resistant to cooking.

Hi Mark,

I’ve read everywhere that adding vinegar to bone broth helps bring out the calcium of the bones. But I know that vinegar is an acid and calcium is a base and they neutralize each other and become new molecules when combined. So, when the vinegar brings out the calcium, is it changed to something other than calcium and not as helpful to us?

Thank you,

Becky

I used to religiously add a big glug or two of vinegar to every batch, but not anymore. I’ve never actually noticed a difference. Gelatin is water-soluble. Chondroitin sulfate is water-soluble. Flavor is water-soluble. What about the minerals?

To really extract the calcium in bone, your medium needs to be very acidic. I’m talking close to pure vinegar, with a pH of 2.4. Stick a chicken bone in a jar full of vinegar and it’ll get bendy and pliable after a few days. That’s because the calcium phosphate has leached into the water. Unfortunately, swapping water out for vinegar doesn’t really work when making broth. It’s expensive and completely unpalatable. Adding a few tablespoons doesn’t lower the pH enough to make a difference. So, out of luck?

Maybe not. In a 1933 study (PDF), researchers wondered how Chinese women were getting enough calcium without consuming dairy, particularly in a calcium-intensive phase: right after childbirth. They looked at a traditional meal that Chinese women would eat three or four times a week for over a month immediately after giving birth. The dish in question consisted of pork feet simmered in vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. To quantify the amount of calcium being drawn out of the bones and into the sauce and meat, the researchers tested a similar dish using pork spare ribs instead of feet. Same concept: meat and bones simmered in a vinegar-based (3.2 pH) sauce for about an hour. This produced high calcium levels in both the sauce and the meat.

Looks like a pH of 3.2 is plenty acidic for adequate leaching of calcium. How to do it without turning your broth into a vinegary abomination?

Simmer the bones in red wine before adding water. Red wine has a pH between 2.9 and 3.5, so it could work without involving vinegar at all. Plus, red wine tastes better than vinegar. I’ve thrown an entire bottle of zinfandel in with a batch of bone broth; it worked. Why not pre-cook the bones in wine to draw out minerals, then add the water?

Smash or blend the bones before adding vinegar. This will increase the surface area exposed to vinegar and make it easier to submerge everything. You’ll probably want to precook the bones to make smashing/blending possible/easier. If you want to blend, use a high-powered blender like a VitaMix.

But for the most part, adding a couple tablespoons (or even a half cup) of vinegar to a ton of water won’t affect the pH enough to draw out appreciable amounts of minerals.

This is my first time to make grass fed beef bone broth. I have done a lot reading in how to make it.

My grass fed beef bone was delivered today from Slanker grass fed meat and it is still frozen. I have six pounds of beef knuckle marrow bones that I plan on cooking to make beef broth. I also have 12 pounds of beef brisket bones suppose to be the dog bone edible brisket.

My crazy question is, can I use the beef brisket bones to make bone broth? If so, is it any different than the marrow bones?

Thank you,

Frank

Totally.

I’m not clear on what a beef brisket bone looks like, but any bone works. Some better than others. Brisket is a “tough” piece of meat, which is code for “contains lots of collagen” which is code for “will leach into cooking water and produce a rich broth.” If there’s a lot of meat, you might want to pull them out and strip the meat once it’s fall-off-the-bone tender. Save or eat the meat and return the cleaned bones to the pot. Letting large amounts of meat boil in a broth for more than a few hours can mar the taste.

Beef knuckles are probably the best beef bones for making bone broth. Between those and the brisket bones, I suspect the broth you’re going to make will be incredible and demand you send me a sample.

I’ll be waiting.

Mark,

Can you make broth from any bone from any animal? Are some parts better than others?

Brandon

For the richest, most gelatinous broth, favor bone junctions and intersections—where one bone meets or crosses another—and moving parts. Those bits contain the most collagen, which translates into great bone broth.

If you’re making poultry broth, be sure to include feet, necks, backs, and wings.

If you’re making beef or lamb broth, include knuckles, tails, feet, and necks.

If you’re making pork broth, include ears, tails, feet, knuckles, and hocks. Use an entire head if you can get one.

If you’re not sure, or you’re making broth from an unknown creature or cryptid whose anatomy hasn’t been catalogued, just stick to joint intersections and moving parts. These will reliably make the best broth.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and if today’s post brings up any new broth-related questions, shoot them my way or leave them in the comments.