Mark Sisson's Blog, page 245

Stronger, Fitter, and Faster Than Ever Before

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

My diet success story is different than most. I didn’t start overweight or out of shape. I was merely bloated and exhausted. The Paleo diet improved every aspect of my health.

Working out was the religion of my youth starting at 14. Everyday I ran and lifted weights for an hour plus. It was a routine I would continue into my 40’s. I was convinced that intense exercise would keep me young forever.

Middle-age jumped me and took my lunch money. It came late, but it came. Around my 50th birthday, a stubborn rim of chub settled at my mid-section. I was a dozen pounds heavier than in my prime, and was in thirty-five waist jeans for the first time in my life. My blood pressure started flirting with higher numbers too: 140/85.

I thought I was eating healthy. I had studied the Zone Diet, and ate precisely calculated meals—always balancing my blocks of fats, carbs and proteins. If I ate out at a fast food place, I always made sure that I doubled the meat on sandwiches (to get adequate protein) and passed on the soft drink and fries. But I was ignorant of real nutrition. I loved Chinese food, and ate rice several times a week along with tons of protein bars. As for alcohol, I reasoned that my intense workouts, coupled with a stressful job, entitled me to two beers every night before bed.

In 2011, at 51, I reached my highest weight… 184 pounds (on a 5 foot, 9 inch frame). At that time I was working out about an hour a day, (doing P90x and training for a half marathon). I was tired all the time, and frankly, looking quite bloated.

In 2012, I read The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. I liked the premise; eat like a caveman and fuel your body with lots of healthy, natural foods like vegetables, fruits, lean meats and nuts. Coconut oil and olive oil replaced vegetable oil for cooking. The diet recommended a carbohydrate load of 100-150 grams a day. According to Sisson, if we ate like our ancestors, our modern bodies would revert to our earlier, more robust models (like a computer rebooting). I decided to try a thirty day experiment. I tracked my results on Facebook.

I loaded up the fridge with fresh foods and went off of all processed foods for a month.

The result of the experiment convinced me that Mark Sisson was right. I dropped 15 pounds and felt more energetic. I have continued the diet since 2012. I also changed two other components of my life: exercise and rest. I exercised less. I slept more. The end results surprised me. My weight leveled out at 169 and I shrank to a 31” waist pants size for the first time since college. I also got stronger and faster. I can now match the speed of my 23 year old son in a fifty yard dash (he’s been faster than me since he was 14). My blood pressure dropped to 110/75.

Here is a typical example of a day on Paleo:

Breakfast: 3 boiled eggs, fruit

Snack: one half avocado

Lunch: giant salad with chicken

Snack: almonds

Dinner: bag of veggies stir fried in coconut oil with grilled meat

My typical grocery list:

Egg s- hormone free
Chicken breast – hormone free
London Broil
Raw Shrimp
Tilapia
Canned tuna – in water
Frozen veggies in microwaveable bags
Fresh celery
Fresh carrots
Cucumbers
Spinach
Lettuce
Peppers
Apples
Strawberries
Bananas
Blueberries
Mushrooms
Vinegar dressing
Cheese block
Butter
Texas Pete
Raw walnuts
Raw macadamias
Indian cooking sauce

From that list I can build many combinations of meal. My favorite recipe – Pressure Cooker Paleo Stew:

2 pounds of chopped chicken breast
1/2 chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (solid)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 bag of Foodline frozen mixed peppers and onions 16 oz
1 14 oz jar of Sherwood’s Indian cooking sauce (I like their Butter Chicken)
Salt, pepper and spice to taste (I like lots of red pepper)
1 cup of water

Fast and easy.

Heat cooker on medium high, stir in coconut oil, chopped onions, and garlic. After onions are translucent, add the chicken and stir for about a minute. Season with salt, pepper and spices. Add bag of frozen peppers and onions, add jar of Indian cooking sauce, add 1 cup of water. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat once pressure lid is on and let simmer for 25 minutes. Makes 5 big servings of low carb, high protein Paleo stew.

It’s easier to list the things I don’t eat on the Paleo Diet. Here is a list of what I don’t consume: wheat, potatoes, rice, corn, sugar, alcohol, beans, peanuts or vegetable oil, or any kind of processed, pre-packaged food. I also don’t eat protein/meal bars, even if they call themselves “Paleo.”

Here is a list of the things I consume in moderation: dairy, cheese, and butter.

I eat when I’m hungry. No set schedule. I don’t measure portions. It’s hard to over eat fresh veggies like carrots, celery and spinach. The hardest food to give up was bread. After going a few days without bread, my taste buds became super sensitive, and when I ate bread again, it tasted like a candy bar! I found the best way to kill carb cravings is a handful of walnuts and/or almonds. (I try to eat more vegetables than fruit to keep my carbohydrates at about 100 a day.)

Packing for Paleo: Preparation is the key to success. I spend 15 minutes every night packing my food for the next day. The modern world is an alien wasteland of non-food. Every night, I sliced up tons of fruits and veggies and put them into sandwich baggies. I also pack bags of sliced, grilled meat, and nut mixes (macadamia and walnut is my favorite combo). For dinner, I keep bags of frozen veggies in the fridge (Pictsweet Steam’ables Spring Vegetables is one of my favorites). I eat a whole bag with a healthy sized chunk of meat that I’ve grilled over the weekend. Getting caught without a plan or prepared food is a recipe for failure. You will succumb to hunger and find yourself gulping down junk food.

The exercise component: I cut down my strength workouts to just 3 times a week. I also shortened the duration of the workout to 30 minutes. Intensity became the key. At least one workout would be a max effort. Pull ups, push ups, and sit ups until failure. The evolutionary theory behind the Paleo diet states that you should occasionally push yourself with short, extreme blast of maximum effort to replicate the harsh lifestyle of our ancient ancestors. A brief, life or death struggle stimulates the body to grow stronger, so that it can handle the challenge if it happens again.

I cut my aerobic training down to three times a week. I spiced runs up with at least 6 sprints and stations where I do push ups. I no longer run for times, and I never go more than 5 miles. On bad weather days, I hit the heavy bag for 30 minutes and watch episodes of my favorite sci-fi series, Smallville. The secret, for me, is to make the workouts fun. I checked my top speed for a single fast mile a few weeks ago: 6 ½ minutes. That’s fast for me; I haven’t been able to anything like that for decades. I can also do 20+ pull ups and 50+ push ups. That exceeds anything I could do when I was twenty.

Rest, in my opinion, is one of the least understood and underutilized fitness tools. I increased my sleep time to 7 ½ hours a day (up from 6), I’d like to get it to 8. I also added a 15 minute meditation session to my afternoon break. I found that drinking just two beers a night was ruining the quality of my sleep, so I switched to Sleepy Time Herbal Tea with valerian root. If you must consume beer (or wine, etc.), I suggest saving it for your free day.

Taking a day off from Paleo: In his book, The Primal Blueprint, Mark Sisson states that dieters should shoot for a 80% compliance rate, and not worry about an occasional indulgence…hence a free day. Saturday is my free day on the Paleo diet. It’s OK, have a bite of your Kryptonite. If I want apple pie, pizza, beer or whatever, Saturday is my day to go wild. Funny thing is, I seldom indulge that option anymore: the pizza tastes incredible, but after just a couple of slices, I can feel the sugar rush in my face, and my mind gets foggy. I really do prefer the potent mental alertness that the Paleo diet provides. That being said, a couple of Girl Scout cookies are not going to kill you.

I work at medium-sized daily newspaper in Virginia as an advertising account representative. My friends in the newsroom followed my primal lifestyle musings on Facebook and became intrigued. In June of this year I was invited to tell my story in the newspaper’s Healthy Living section. (Here is a link to that story.)

“Paleo it Forward” is my Facebook page where I share more personal experiments, and my philosophy: Sharing is the best way to spread the secret of a healthy body. Share information, share your stories, and when you can, cook somebody a delicious Paleo meal.

The primal  lifestyle and workout protocol as presented in The Primal Blueprint, has worked for me: my body has reverted to a younger, more vital version, I am never hungry, nor am I frustrated by long, boring workouts. I eat as much real, healthy food as I wish and maintain a decent weight… and can do more pull ups at 56 then I could at 17! What more could a middle-aged caveman want?

Bobby

A Brief History of U.S. Dietary Guidelines

Prior to 1980, how in the world did anyone know how to eat? When you think of all the centuries, the millennia of human existence, how did the species manage to survive bumbling their way through day after day of undirected eating patterns? I’m guessing those of you who know me expected a few irreverent remarks when you read the title of today’s post. Still, I’ll try to keep myself on a short leash today. It’s a legitimate and even, in some regards, culturally (and probably politically) significant question: why were government dietary guidelines ever put in place—and what was the backstory of their uses and modifications over time? Finally, what perspective can it bring to our understanding of embracing a “niche” dietary model like the Primal Blueprint?

While the first official set of nutritional guidelines were published in 1980 as a joint effort of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and HHS (Department of Health and Human Services), earlier government issued reports had initiated the series and stoked federal involvement in nutritional “policy.” You could trace a long history of discussion and publication leading up to these developments, but I’ll stick with the more recent events for my purpose today.

The Origins of Government Recommendations

In the late 1960s, a public push for addressing hunger in poorer pockets of the country spurred the creation of a bipartisan “Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs” that existed from 1968-1977. Chaired by Senator George McGovern, the committee’s initial proposed aim would eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the United States. Committee members in the early years examined the reality of severe health conditions stemming from malnutrition considered to be third-world problems like marasmus and kwashiorkor.

While the early years of the committee’s work focused on federal assistance to combat hunger, the string of hearing reports and wide-ranging research eventually sent them by the mid-1970s in the direction of nutrition policy with the goal of examining the link between diet and chronic disease. At this point, questions of both deficiency and overconsumption were on the table.

By 1977, the committee had compiled its research, including the testimony of American scientist Ancel Keys and others who promoted the still prevalent but unsubstantiated link between fat (and cholesterol) and heart disease. (Some of you might recall Keys’ famous/infamous “Seven Countries Study,” highlighting conveniently cherry-picked nations in which both fat consumption and heart disease rates were high—and ignoring countries which contradicted the hypothesized link).

The committee finished out its work in 1977 with the resulting publication (largely influenced by Keys and his cohorts), “Dietary Goals for the United States,” the central recommendations of which were generally as follows:

Focus on energy balance by consumer only as much energy as will be expended
Lose weight by consuming fewer calories and expending more through movement
Decrease consumption of total fat and animal fat
Partially replace saturated fat consumption with polyunsaturated sources
Decrease eggs, butter and other significant dietary sources of cholesterol
Substitute low-fat/non-fat dairy products for full fat versions (for adults)
Decrease sodium intake
Decrease refined/processed sugars
Increase “complex carbohydrates” and “naturally occurring sugars”

(Sounds familiar, no?)

The guidelines’ publication was met with significant controversy. The American Medical Association for its part argued that nutritional guidance should come in the form of personalized recommendations from doctors to their individual patients. The meat, dairy and sugar industries naturally battled the reports’ suggestions to decrease consumption of their products. Additionally, individual scientists within and outside of the U.S. rightly critiqued the research behind the recommendations and demanded additional review and revision.

While recommendations against meat consumption were eventually softened in an addendum version later that year, the basic recommendations remained the same for reports to come, including for the first official (aforementioned) brochure issued through the collaboration of the USDA and HHS, “Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans.” This brochure would be the first of the ongoing series of federally issued dietary guidelines we’ve seen over the last few decades. (The newest version is being created now for 2015. More on that in a moment.)

What have these recommendations looked like through the years? While the longer narrative reports are too cumbersome to detail here, the very basic guidelines between 1980-2010 have been as follows.

1980 Guidelines (PDF)

1. Eat a Variety of Foods

2. Maintain Ideal Weight

3. Avoid Too Much Fat, Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

4. Eat Food with Adequate Starch and Fiber

5. Avoid Too Much Sugar

6. Avoid Too Much Sodium

If You Drink Alcohol, Do So in Moderation

1985 Guidelines (PDF)

Basically the same, except a terminology change to second recommendation:

2. Maintain desirable weight

1990 Guidelines (PDF)

Much the same with these changes:

2. Maintain healthy weight

3. Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol

4. Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain projects

5. Use sugars only in moderation

6. Use salt and sodium in moderation

1995 Guidelines

The 1995 set of guidelines generally followed the previous concepts, revising the second of the seven recommendations and moving the suggestion about a low fat diet to the third rather than second placement. It also altered wording for the fifth and sixth guidelines.

Among other new resources, the 1995 guidelines introduced the “food pyramid” we know and love (kidding).

2. Balance the food you eat with physical activity—maintain or improve your weight

5. Choose a diet moderate in sugars

6. Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium

2000 Guidelines (PDF)

Guidelines increased from 7 to 10 and were clustered into 3 thematic groups, reflecting more substantive changes than previous years.

“Aim for Fitness”

1. Aim for a healthy weight.

2. Be physically active each day.

“Build a Healthy Base”

3. Let the Pyramid guide your food choices

4. Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains

5. Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily

6. Keep food safe to eat [related to preventing foodborne illness]

“Choose Sensibly”

7.  Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.

8. Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars

9. Choose and prepare foods with less salt

10. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation

2005 Guidelines

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines offered a substantially more complex set of recommendations—41 suggestions total (23 for the general population, 18 for “special populations” such as pregnant women). You can read the full set of 41 recommendations here. The USDA also released the MyFoodPyramid Food Guidance System shortly after the official 2005 guidelines.

The nine topics covered by these guidelines were as follows.

Adequate Nutrients Within Calorie Needs
Weight Management
Physical Activity
Food Groups to Encourage
Fats
Carbohydrates
Sodium and Potassium
Alcoholic Beverages
Food Safety

Nutritional messaging, while more detailed and made available in more consumer-friendly public-focused versions, remained roughly the same. Noteworthy modifications or additions include emphasizing fitness efforts that incorporate cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility exercises and strength-building exercise and the balancing of potassium-rich foods with moderation of sodium intake.

The guidelines emphasized obtaining less than 10% of total calories from saturated fat sources, less than 300 mg of daily cholesterol intake and as low as possible trans fat consumption. Total fat intake should favor polyunsaturated and monounsaturated sources and should fall between 20-35% of total caloric intake.

The 2005 guidelines also present the concept of “discretionary calorie allowance” for the “small amount of calories” that may be applied to “solid fat and added sugar” choices when other food selections have been appropriately nutrient dense.

2010 Guidelines (PDF)

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (the most recent iteration) took a pivotal turn as they were written not for “healthy” Americans but for an overweight/obese population. Talk about a sad commentary on the state of our nation that our national guidelines were now addressed for a presumed unhealthy population.…

Two “new” concepts that were stressed in this iteration of the guidelines included:

1. Maintaining “calorie balance” (ye olde outdated “calories in, calories out” model) throughout the full lifespan to manage weight, which had actually been an element of the 1977 report.

2. Emphasizing nutrient dense foods by scrutinizing how many of a food’s calories came from fat or added sugar versus its total caloric value (never mind that clean fats offer their own essential health benefits…).

Also within the guidelines report is the assertion that “strong evidence” suggests “that there is no optimal proportion of macronutrients that can facilitate weight loss or assist with maintaining weight loss.” Simultaneous to this declaration, the report lists 4 of the top 5 sources of calories for Americans (over two years of age) as the following: grain-based desserts, yeast breads, soda/energy/sports drinks and pizza.

Given the recognized prevalence of obesity, what should this list suggest about the optimal balance of macronutrients—specifically the recommended high carbohydrate proportion (2 cups of fruit, 3 cups of grains and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables each day)? As they say, “How’s that working for ya?”

The 2010 guidelines for the first time recommended a 1500 mg sodium limit for those over 50-years-old, those who are African-American or who have existing chronic conditions like hypertension or diabetes. This new point is in addition to the traditional 2300 mg limit suggested for the general population. The 2010 version also took out the 2005 language about “discretionary calories” and recommended limiting refined grains (PDF).

Why Do These Guidelines Matter?

When the initial focus of government efforts was expanding federal food assistance programming, a major interest was setting standards for these programs—what foods would be covered by food stamps and the WIC program or what standards would be used for subsidized school lunch programs.

Yet, their impact is broader than public funding or institutional benchmarks. Government issued guidelines establish a cultural norm, an anticipated standard. Whether they reflect the latest and most trustworthy scientific standards (they don’t), the majority of the public will view these guidelines as the most authoritative source for nutritional information. And this is where it gets tricky.

It’s clear industry forces (e.g. Big Ag) as well as institutional inertia (e.g. Can the rest of the country ever let go of the old fat fallacy, please?) have a seat at the table when it’s time to establish the latest round of nutrition recommendations, and I’ll go out on a limb and say this shouldn’t make anyone comfortable. The 2015 guidelines are in the works, and already the process is a loaded political subject. I’ll say it makes me feel that much better that my dietary choices are based on something a little more established than the result of political and financial wrangling.

How much the government should be involved in the actual creation of food guidelines is probably a topic for another post if not another blog altogether…. Nonetheless, if this has you fired up (or you’ve been fired up on this issue for a while), there’s a petition you might check out “demanding that quality science determine the 2015 U.S. dietary guidelines.” There’s an interesting thought at least….

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that if any of this interests you, there’s a fantastic book my company published called Death by Food Pyramid. In it author Denise Minger exposes how shoddy science, sketchy politics and shady special interests have shaped American dietary recommendations—and the impact this has had on the health of Americans. She does this with much more wit, humor and knowledge about this topic than I’ve showcased here in this short blog post. I highly recommend it. Lucky you, you can claim a free digital copy of Death by Food Pyramid for a limited-time. Learn all the details here.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these government issued guidelines and their shifts in some areas (and inertia in many others) over time. Have a great end to your week.

The Primal Prescription: Surviving the “Sick Care” Sinkhole (A New Primal Book Plus Limited-Time Bonus Offer)

When I wrote The Primal Blueprint, my vision was, perhaps, a lofty one. I wanted to see a healthier world. I wanted to illuminate the path towards greater medical independence. I wanted to help readers eat, move, lift, play, and sleep their way to the best “health insurance” of all: living in accordance with our primal genes.

And as scientific research continues affirming the benefits of an ancestral-inspired diet (while reader success stories pour in daily, echoing the same), it seems that vision is coming to fruition. Primal living is proving itself more valuable than anything that can be bottled, pilled, or scribbled on a doctor’s prescription pad. Across the globe, primal adherents are reclaiming not only their health, but their independence from pharmaceutical and medical shackles—and the number of those “system expats” is growing.

It’s tempting to kick up our heels and declare the battle preemptively won, but let’s face it: sometimes life throws curve balls, including ones that land you in the ER. Freak accidents abound. Arms and legs break. Diseases emerge from genetic mutations or prior decades of questionable habits. Stupid Mistakes happen, even if they aren’t our own (ahem—they’re never our own, right?). And so, try as we might to dodge the sticky clutches of the medical system, we’re sometimes reeled back in by necessity.

That’s why I’m excited to announce the latest, much-needed, missing-piece addition to our Primal Book family: The Primal Prescription, by Dr. Doug McGuff, MD, and Robert P. Murphy, PhD. An ER physician and economist, respectively, perhaps no duo of authors is better suited to tackle the mission of this book: equipping readers with the background, the comprehension, and the tools needed to navigate our increasingly precarious medical system. (In fact, I humbly take credit for uniting these two men as co-authors: Doug’s experience “on the front lines” in the medical field seemed like the ideal complement to Bob’s extensive work in economics. If I do say so myself, it was the perfect meeting of minds.)

Read an excerpt of The Primal Prescription

Whether you’re an economics buff, a history geek, a nutrition nerd, or simply trying to keep yourself (and your loved ones) healthy and safe, this book has something invaluable for you. The Primal Prescription is an excursion into the fascinating, oft-twisted history of American health care; an examination of the doomed economic model upon which our medical system stands; and a game plan for handling insurance, doctors, medical screening, medications, hospital visits, and virtually every other aspect of health care you’re likely to encounter in life.

In other words, The Primal Prescription fills in the medical gaps left by The Primal Blueprint, and in so doing, completes the vision I set into motion years ago. This book is a guide for deepening your autonomy and saving your health—maybe even your life.

Not convinced yet? Here’s what you can expect to learn from Doug and Bob’s masterpiece:

How the American health care system evolved to its current incompetent state
Why Medicare is ultimately a Ponzi scheme—and why its collapse is imminent
Why the FDA is even more dangerous than you think
How “health insurance” is an entirely different beast than “health care”—and why conflating the two is perilous
Why Obamacare is, at its core, a matter of “health redistribution”
How to change your diet and lifestyle to dramatically reduce your risk of the Western world’s biggest killers
How to choose a doctor who will fight for your health and well-being
How to safely wean yourself off unnecessary medications
How to advocate for and ensure you receive the highest standard of care when you are in the hospital
How to determine which medical screenings and elective procedures you do (and don’t) need
And much, much more.

The beauty of The Primal Prescription is that you don’t have to enter its pages already “primally convinced” to benefit. Sure, following the 10 Primal Laws is instrumental for disease prevention—and the book elegantly reinforces that message—but this is a book you can give to your low-fat-yogurt-eating mother, your vegan coworker, your grainophile friend, or anyone else who has to interact with the medical system and is discontented with the situation.

With The Primal Prescription, Doug and Bob have given readers a truly priceless gift: a combination of life-saving education and actionable steps. Devour it—twice, or thrice; there’s plenty to absorb—and then place it on the shelf next to The Primal Blueprint. Between the two, the future of your health will thank you.

Per Mark’s Daily Apple tradition, I’ve put together a special limited-time offer for this book release. It expires on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 11:59 pm PST.

Limited-Time Offer

Order one or more copies of The Primal Prescription from Amazon.com in any format (Kindle, audio, physical) by Oct. 28, and fill out this form to get all three of the following bonus items delivered directly to your inbox for free:

1. Death by Food Pyramid by Denise Minger

While The Primal Prescription tackles the notorious U.S. health care system, Death By Food Pyramid exposes the erroneous science, shady politics, and disgraceful special interests that have shaped American dietary recommendations and destroyed the nation’s health. Because “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to diet.

Death By Food Pyramid reframes your understanding of nutrition science. It’s the perfect companion to The Primal Prescription. Instead of trusting blindly in the government’s flawed dietary and health care recommendations, you’ll learn how to take control of your own health with the guidance provided in each book.

Death By Food Pyramid has received rave reviews from both critics and readers across the world. The ANH-Intl Book review says, “Denise Minger’s Death By Food Pyramid is the ideal compass to see you safely across these choppy waters.” Ultimately, Death by Food Pyramid is about empowering you, the consumer, the eater of food, the arbiter of what goes into your mouth, to make the right choices and bypass the middlemen when it comes to interpreting science. A digital (PDF) copy of this book is yours for free with your purchase of The Primal Prescription.

2. Exclusive Access to a Live Q&A Webinar with Co-author Dr. Doug McGuff

Want to learn how to become an empowered advocate for your own health within today’s complicated, expensive, and sometimes deleterious health care system? Purchase your copy of The Primal Prescription by October 28th and gain exclusive access to a live online Q&A with co-author Doug McGuff, MD, who will teach you how to be a savvy self-advocate when it comes to your own health care. Learn how to take control of your treatment by asking the right questions, knowing your full range of options, and making informed decisions that maximize your benefits and minimize your cost. Dr. McGuff will give you a crash course on how to be the most effective patient possible so your health is always in your hands—and not in those of the ineffective, inefficient, and sometimes dangerous powers that be.

The event will be held via live streaming Wednesday, November 4th at 10:00 am PST. So grab your copy of The Primal Prescription today to receive your link to the event!

3. $10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com

You can use this $10 gift certificate to purchase anything at PrimalBlueprint.com. This $10 gift certificate essentially covers the majority of the cost of the book!

That’s it! Three great complementary bonus items, all for free when you grab a copy of The Primal Prescription by Oct. 28.

How to Claim These Free Gifts

Just submit your purchase receipt using this form and we’ll email you all of the freebies in no time. Don’t miss out!

Fine Print:

This special bonus offer ends at 11:59 pm, Oct. 28, 2015 (PST).
All receipts must be received by 11:59 pm, Oct. 29, 2015 (PST). The forms will stop working on Oct. 30, so be sure to fill out the form and submit your pre-Oct. 29 receipt(s) by then.
On an iPhone? You won’t be able to upload your receipt from it, unfortunately. You’ll have to use a computer.
You will receive access to the webinar details, the eBook, and your PrimalBlueprint.com gift certificate via email within 24 hours.
Pre-orders will be honored for all bonus offers.
Both orders placed online (from any source) and in brick and mortar retail locations will be honored.
Both domestic (U.S.) and international orders are eligible for the bonuses.
All book formats are eligible, including physical books, audiobooks and digital versions (e.g. Kindle).
The PrimalBlueprint.com gift certificate expires on November 15, 2015, and is valid for a single use on orders valued at $10.01 or more.

Health Perspective for Every Stage of Life: Part 2

Last week I took up the subject of health through the varying stages of life. What does health mean to us? How should we develop it or live it within the scheme of the different stages we go through as logistical events and developmental maturity shift the focus and parameters of our lives? How do our major milestones challenge our approach to well-being? Let’s pick up that topic again and finish off the discussion. I hope you’ll share your own thoughts on how differing stages of life influenced your thinking about health and what approaches fit the times best for you.

Busy Career (a.k.a. Learning to Accept There Will Never Be Enough Time)

For some people, this happens straight out of college. For others, the sensation might not settle in until a decade or later when they’re further along in their careers—or it resurges when they switch professional tracks. Whatever the timing, it’s when you find yourself in the thick of career demands, and the old ways of organizing your time do not meet your needs anymore. Because the unfortunate fact is, the earth doesn’t slow down and add hours to its daily rotation simply because you’ve got a bigger workload.

This is the one stage of life when I particularly advocate time management strategies. The more legitimate tricks you can employ, the better off you’ll be.

Depending on your individual schedule, ask yourself what times of day you could “mine” for more workout, food prep or meditation opportunity. Are you utilizing your mornings to an effective end? Are you organized enough on the weekends to make sure you begin your week with Primal choices in the refrigerator and workout clothes clean? Do you come off of the weekend well rested? Are you maintaining a consistent sleep schedule?

It’s time to establish something of a routine if you want to not only prioritize healthy, Primal behaviors but make them sustainable choices that can fit into your now busier schedule. When circumstances change, we can either moan about them or figure out a way to make our lives work for us in the midst of them.

Some people balk at any suggestion of structure, and I’m not saying everything in your life needs to be set up like clockwork, but running helter skelter throughout the week is a recipe for crappy convenience food and little workout time—and/or eventual burnout.

This is the time of life (and, let’s be honest, most of us hit up against this challenge at a variety of points in our careers) when we are obliged to take responsibility for what we need. In some cases, the answers might feel good (e.g. advocating for treadmill desks or using full break times for short activity breaks at work). In other cases, we might not appreciate the answers (e.g. committing to an earlier bedtime, giving up T.V. or dropping certain social commitments).

Finally, we might even hit up against major life-changing decisions (e.g. leaving a certain job because the commute is too much, forgoing income to take a less demanding schedule that allows for better life balance). The ultimate point of this stage (realizing there will never be enough time in a day) is coming to personally value our time as our most precious and limited resource. It’s up to us to ask ourselves how we will best spend it for our own health and well-being and for the opportunities and connections that matter to us.

Having/Raising Kids (a.k.a. Tired, Tired, Tired…)

It’s hard to overestimate the toll these years can take, and I’d say the pattern isn’t necessarily the same for everyone. Some people might struggle the most when the kids are wee ones. The middle of the night feedings, the early mornings, the extra household duties, the constant vigilance, the entertaining and cooking for multiple ages—the sweetest years of parenting can also be a major slog.

Sure, some people cruise through the early years with fairly adaptable young ones—miraculous outliers who sleep through the night after a few months, love the jogging stroller, nap well, eat anything, avoid perilous behaviors and tolerate the gym childcare. (I’ve heard these children exist.) And then these people have a second child….

Parents too often unconsciously try to white-knuckle it, push their way through to the next break or developmental phase that’s supposed to be easier—illusions that, I hate to break it to anyone, mostly evaporate like cruel desert mirages as you finally approach them.

With good intentions and love for their adorable and needy offspring, parents put their workouts “on hold” until the intended temporary hiatus becomes a couple/several years. They fall back into old eating habits, maybe turning first to caffeine, which then becomes a gateway drug to some sugar here or there. Convenience food starts to look more appealing despite the nutritional void.

They legitimately lose sleep but often exacerbate the problem by staying up late after the kids are finally asleep in a bid to reclaim their lost personal time each night (or catch up on bills and laundry). They stress themselves over being the perfect parent, comparing themselves to the “expert” books, to friends’ Facebook postings, to family Pinterest utopias.

(Even those who sidestep or at least survive the early trials might bump up against their Achilles’ heels when the activity years hit with the temptation to overcommit to hosting, driving, fundraising, coaching, or even just attending every single event, practice, game or other function.)

Having given away unsustainable amounts of time and energy, too many parents run themselves down, their resilience becoming further eroded.

There’s enough advice for raising healthy children to float the entire continent. Information for parents maintaining their health in those early years? Not so much.

Of all I’ve witnessed (and experienced) in this department, I’d offer this nugget above all: embrace the principle of “good enough.”

Because just when you think you’ve got the whole “life” thing down, here comes the parenting tsunami to wipe out most if not all of your finely tuned system. When I said for the previous stage that I recommended time management strategies primarily for handling a busy career, I wasn’t being coy. (Sure, if you’re wasting hours in parenting chatrooms or following Pinterest, you need to get honest with yourself and give up the time sucks.) That said, parenting puts us in unchartered waters. The challenge in these years isn’t to see how much can be done but how much can be left undone.

Parenting, particularly if you have young children, multiple children, challenging children, children with special needs or if you’re parenting on your own, often obliges a total slate cleaning. In other words, lose your attachment to how your life worked before.

It helps to begin with a bit of acceptance. You will never be able to do everything right. You will never ward off their experience of every cold, every negative peer interaction, every junk food intrusion, every picky taste, every irritable day or sleepless night.

Resolving to create a “good enough” life can finally set you free to take care of yourself and even enjoy parenting (ironically, often letting you do a better job of it). You toss off the manic, frantic dash to give away every particle of energy to make everything perfect for your child and everything else consistent with the way it used to be.

When you decide to live by the principle of “good enough,” you prioritize certain choices that you feel will make the most difference for your child, you use hacks and tools where you can (e.g. baby wearing), AND you decide what you’re willing to let go of for the chance to invest in yourself. That will entail disappointing just about everyone a little on a daily basis—and that’s a good thing. This is the point. I promise everyone will live.

What self-care matters the most to you? What do you need the most? Do it. Keep carving away at your responsibilities by simplifying your life, recruiting help and letting the other non-infant people in your life become a little more self-sufficient, and make your self-care happen.

Don’t be shy about organizing your kids activities around your health endeavors either. They can hang out in the kitchen while you put together a salad that will last you three lunches. They can tolerate the stroller for thirty minutes (or more) a day while you enjoy a walk or jog. The dishes can wait while you take a nap.

The fact is, for a while, you might have to do certain aspects of Primal half-@$$%&, and that’ fine. Grok’s mother had a lot more help and a lot fewer expectations than many mothers today. This is the perfect time of life to practice not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. There are worse things than going a few months or even years eating a “good enough” diet or being in “good enough” shape. This stage, as intense as it is, doesn’t last forever.

And don’t underestimate the power of offering your children an example of a sane, balanced, healthy adult who takes care of him/herself.

Middle Age (a.k.a. Seeing the Possibilities in Transition)

Everybody has their own impression it seems of “middle age” these days. I think this reveals our culture’s resistance to or at least ambivalence about this stage. On the one hand, we’re shown impressive models of 40- and 50-somethings who look fitter and more stunning than anyone we know who’s 30. On the other, we see the statistics about risk factors for this and that and recommendations for tests after 40, and suddenly it feels like a more vulnerable age than the media images suggest. Which is it, or is it both?

If we’ve kept ourselves fit and well nourished, we may not feel vulnerable at all. In fact, having gotten past those early parenting years and finally returned to the gym, some of us might feel in better shape than we have in a long time. We feel on a psychological and maybe professional level that we’ve earned our stripes. We’re more balanced as people, more saavy, more successful, more compassionate, more comfortable with who we are.

And yet even in the midst of this contentment, we know change is afoot. Over the course of these two decades or so, we notice subtle changes in clothing fit or body contours. Even if we’re doing the same workouts with a mind toward appropriate progressions, we can see and otherwise sense minor modifications evolving. We can be strong and trim, robust and healthy, but we acknowledge on some level that this is the end of the Teflon years. We can be hale and hearty, but we’re no longer invincible.

The fact is, raw “age” numbers don’t matter as much as the physical changes that happen during this time. For women, peri-menopause and eventual menopause set in. In both sexes, certain hormone levels shift (although not as much—particularly for men—as we often assume), metabolisms begin to downgrade, and it simply takes progressively more effort to maintain the same shape and strength as you had in more youthful days.

This doesn’t mean by any stretch, like conventional thinking suggests, that everyone is doomed to grow spare tires, lose insulin sensitivity and relinquish active—let alone athletic—endeavors. It just means we need to invest more wisely to get the same results we’re used to getting. Maybe a moderate carb diet for us used to mean 90-100 grams of carbs a day. Now we may have to dial that back to maintain the same body composition. Likewise, we might need to step up or choose an alternative exercise program (in addition to some additional, well-timed protein) to maintain our muscle mass.

While age brings perspective and even patience, we might not have the same physical resilience to stress we once did. Adding more self-care and some kind of relaxation routine can help us fill that gap.

A full night of uninterrupted sleep might not come as easily, but we can be more diligent about the impact of blue screens and the influence of food cues as well as other Zeitgebers.

In other words, the push into middle age tends to be the time when we need to step up our discipline and hone our overall health regimen. More specialized support can be an answer, as might a tweaking of supplementation—or switch to something more comprehensive (I might know one—wink, wink) as might new complementary practices. Maybe, for instance, it’s time to hire a trainer or begin that meditation practice.

If we find ourselves at this stage without having taken care of ourselves, this is probably doubly true. While building health from the ground up is entirely possible at midlife, we’re wise to gather additional support, and we likewise might need to check out some hormonal health indicators to see what physiological factors we’re working with (or against).

Still, against this hard health backdrop, bigger themes at midlife are often playing out and influencing our overall well-being. For my part, I felt like I hit my stride personally and professionally during these years. This stage was the time when I grew my vision of the Primal Blueprint. I applied it first to my life, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Just when I was told by some that I’d be dealing with chronic pain and digestive issues for the rest of my life, I found a different way. I’d pushed my body into territory and conditions that were characteristic of those older than myself, but I didn’t let that stop me.

Just because the old methods weren’t working didn’t mean I was relegated to poor health and deterioration. I reclaimed my health with a totally new approach, one I think works well for anyone in any age group. I’d also call it an approach that can be easily calibrated as we need to ratchet up our efforts or take a more whole-body approach to maintaining our health. Developing our well-being will always be a multi-faceted, shifting and long-term vision. Middle age makes that more obvious.

Finally, I’d suggest that midlife is also the perfect time to set new goals. In part, it can open us up to new resources and opportunities. And it can also speak back to the common sense that this is a downward trajectory—that pushing past that midpoint fulcrum we’re headed downhill, which hasn’t been my experience at all and doesn’t need to be yours.

Claiming a second act—whether personally, physically or professionally can be the healthiest endeavor you can imagine for yourself. It situates us in pursuit, in play. Life as a grand experiment isn’t anywhere close to over. We’re still actors discovering our storylines. And everyone knows, of course, that all the main action happens in the second act.

60s and Beyond (a.k.a. It’s Anybody’s Game!)

Much more than any other stage, I think this one is truly a wild card. Increasingly, people come to these decades in poor health, with little ambition for an active, let alone adventurous path. There’s a preoccupation with getting to retirement, qualifying for Medicare and then hanging in there for as long as medically possible. From my perspective, that’s an incredible waste of possibility.

It’s true that if we find during midlife we’re not invincible, we understand at this stage that we’re not immortal. And yet there are people who embrace the transition to these later decades with an inspiring long-term commitment to their health as well as a calmness, clarity and vision that can make these the most fulfilling of any life stage. Anyone is free to makes these years the slouch to “old age,” but that’s a definite choice—not an inevitability. (Check out this video of Dick Van Dyke, almost 90 years old, if you need convincing.)

These decades involve in some regards a gradual slowing down, but that’s not the same as stopping and waiting to die. I have a friend in his mid-70s who preparing for his first trip to Antarctica next year. I have another who’s about the same age and climbs as many mountains as she used to three decades ago. When we get together she always revels in sharing this season’s plans for her climbs.

At 62-years-old, these people are always reminding me how young I am. I laugh but acknowledge that I’m as content and (nearly as!) active as ever. We’ll see what I’m up to when I’m as seasoned as they are. I’m forever inspired by their example of new endeavors, new adventures. I truly believe their positive attitudes and pursuit mentality keeps them as young as their activities themselves.

As for me, I’ve spent a good deal of time taking care of myself with exactly a vision for living well at the age I am now. I continue to prioritize maintaining lean muscle mass and organ reserve with body and free weight resistance training. I keep my core strong and work with full body protocols that keep me more limber and agile than I was when I quit racing in my 30s with chronic joint pain. And, of course, I play as much as I can.

I’ve taken care of my bones the same way—with plenty of physical stimulation of the musculoskeletal system, a daily dose of sunshine and a healthy balance of the nutrients like calcium, vitamin K2, magnesium, potassium in addition to vitamin D that support bone integrity.

I’ve devoted the last couple of decades to eating a Primal Blueprint diet with optimal multivitamin/mineral and fish oil supplementation to support my health from every angle—including my cognitive health. I eat clean and limit my exposure to toxins. My diet keeps my blood sugar balanced and insulin sensitivity strong.

My workouts haven’t changed much. I still do sprints—plenty of them. I lift, but I give more thought and generosity to recovery time, and that pays off.

The biggest change I’ve noticed—and addressed—is a need to rein in stress. I’ve noticed I have less patience for it, and I think that’s a good thing. From both a physical and mental perspective, I’ve felt the desire to reduce the impact of everyday tension. A relaxation routine has become a mainstay for me at this point, and at times I wish I’d adopted it sooner.

As a trainer, I’ve observed how useful professional support can be for ongoing fitness—for proper progression and for needed modification. I’ve always recommended extra protein for folks in their later years, particularly following workouts to maximize gains, as well as optimally comprehensive, higher dose daily multivitamins, since absorption of nutrients can gradually decline. The healthier you are and the fewer medications you’re on, the less of that decline you’ll see.

Finally, there’s the adage about making peace with your age in later years. Although some people misconstrue the thought as an excuse for overall complacency, I do think the concept—intended from the right spirit—bears some truth.

What we wisely make peace with, however, isn’t the surrender of our well-being. Embracing as I do the Primal call of Live Long, Drop Dead, Life with a capital L will have to pry breath from me.

Rather, what I sense making peace with is a shifting sense of time, a deliberate deceleration of life’s pace even as my experiences go as deep into my long-term passions and my abilities still stretch into the same activities I’ve always enjoyed. I think well-being in that way takes on the dimension of time—a new perception and appreciation of it.

I’m just as likely to begin something new for the sake of my body’s health, my family’s enjoyment or my professional enthusiasm, but I offer it time with a generosity I didn’t seem to have before. Likewise, moving into my later decades hasn’t cut me off from the likes of intermittent euphoria or awe. It hasn’t deterred my gratification in pushing my physical limits. But I linger in the gains now in a way I never did. Physical recovery has integrated with a deeper sense of psychic processing that merges into attentiveness to the greater picture—that cumulative composite I’m grateful for each day.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. I’d love to hear your thoughts on health, wisdom and well-being in any of these stages. Share your comments, and enjoy your week.

Dear Mark: Do Hunter-Gatherers Sleep Less Than We Thought?

For years, we’ve thought that hunter-gatherers slept like babies: long and hard. They’d drift off as the sun dropped, lingering around the ubiquitous campfire only for a short time, sleep a good 8-10 hours, and waking up at first light bright eyed for the next day. For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m examining a study that calls these assumptions into question. What if hunter-gatherers don’t actually sleep any more than us? What if the absence of artificial light doesn’t lead to a ten hour session of blissful repose under the stars?

Let’s go:

Hi Mark,

I just saw media coverage of a study on hunter-gatherer sleep habits. According to the reporting, hunter-gatherers don’t actually sleep any more than modern people living in the developed world, despite not having smartphones and other emitters of blue light. Does this mean artificial light isn’t a problem?

Thanks,

Jerry

This is a really cool study. Researchers looked at three groups:

The San, out of southern Africa, living in villages 20° south of the equator but retaining their hunter-gatherer ways.
The Tsimane, along the Maniqui River in Bolivia 15° south of the equator; they are hunter-horticulturalists.
The Hadza, in northern Tanzania 2° south of the equator, the only fully nomadic hunter-gatherers of the three.

None of the groups had access to electricity, electronic devices, or artificial lighting. They certainly didn’t have the latest iPhones. The only light available after dark came from small campfires.

Despite the absence of late night Facebook updates, the groups all slept about the same as modern westerners: six and a half hours a night on average, or between 5.7 and 7.1 hours. They also spent roughly the same amount of time in bed. Sleep onset—when they fell asleep—varied more than sleep offset—when they woke up. Across all three groups people woke up at around the same time, so sleep duration was determined primarily by sleep onset. Most groups stayed up for a few hours after sunset.

Sleep duration may be similar between zero-electricity hunter-gatherers and electricity-addicted westerners, but the researchers found other, major differences in how we sleep:

All groups lived their lives in full exposure to the seasonal and temporal variations in ambient temperatures without access to heating or cooling systems. If it was cold out, they felt it. If it was hot, they had to deal with it. Rather than light, ambient temperature was the primary determinant of sleep onset. People usually stayed up past sunset, often going three hours into the dark, only heading to bed when temperatures fell. In the summer, the mean bedtime was 10:44 pm. In winter, it was 9:16 pm. Since wake time was similar throughout the year, they slept an average of 53 minutes longer in the winter.

Insomnia was almost absent. Neither the San nor the Tsimane even have a word for “insomnia” in their language. When prodded, 5% reported ever having trouble falling asleep and 9% reported problems with sleep duration. And only 1.5-2.5% reported having these sleep issues more than once a year. Meanwhile, 10-30% of people living in industrialized countries report chronic insomnia, and sleep disorders are so widespread in the US that doctors write over 60 million sleeping pill prescriptions each year.

They didn’t nap. Other than a few instances, the majority of San, Hadza, and Tsimane rarely napped. Folks living in industrial cultures tend to experience a mid-afternoon dip in energy, and naps are an effective way to recharge and even improve attentional capacity. Problem is we don’t get the chance to take them very often.

They usually woke right before sunrise. Contrary to industrial societies, where waking occurs after sunrise and people are likely to sleep in as long as they can (which usually isn’t very long), the majority of the hunter-gatherers’ only slept when it was dark out.

They got the majority of their light exposure in the morning. They tended to avoid a lot of light during the afternoon, probably because it coincided with sweltering tropical temperatures. This squares with clinical research finding that morning light exposure is effective in treating sleep and mood disorders. And since most people living in industrialized countries sleep past sunrise and remain indoors for those critical morning hours, they’re missing out on what may be a vital piece of hunter-gatherer sleep hygiene: maximal light exposure in the morning.

Stress increases sleep requirements (PDF). These people aren’t working 14 hour days. Heck, they may be working 14 hour weeks. They aren’t trying to convince their kids to complete their 3.5 hours of homework a night or stewing over a disappointing sex life. In short, the hunter-gatherers haven’t erected the manmade stressors that pervade our lives and make sleep such a necessary yet fleeting delicacy. This may explain why we need (but usually don’t get) naps and the Hadza, San, and Tsimane do not. Unlike 6.5 hours-a-night-sleeping people from industrialized nations, the people in this study were remarkably free of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, overweight/obesity, and all the other health conditions usually associated with inadequate sleep. They’re free to sleep more than 6.5 hours if they want or need it. They just don’t do it. 6.5 hours is, clearly, perfectly adequate for them. We want to sleep more than the 6 or 7 hours we’re allotted, but we often can’t do it.

The fact remains that artificial light negatively affects sleep in modern populations. I’ve covered this before, and the evidence is quite clear. This study doesn’t change that.

Ambient temperature is probably more important for sleep than we previously thought. We simply don’t experience the wide variation in ambient temperatures occurring, mostly because we’re no longer outdoors much. Plus, when we’re inside, we’ve got the heat going (if it’s cold) or the AC on (if it’s hot). We have the luxury of remaining at the same ambient temperature for our entire lives if we want. And boy do we want it.

For sleep to occur, body temperature must drop. If the ambient temperature is high, our body takes longer and works harder to drop temperature. If the ambient temperature is lower, it’s easier for our body to lower its temperature and sleep to commence. People with heated homes take longer and work harder to reach the necessary body temperature for sleep.

This is a great paper. I’m not sure it absolves our smartphones in the bedroom habit, though.

What’s your take on the paper, folks? What else do you have to add?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care and have a great rest of the week.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 370

Right now, you can get a free jar of Primal Kitchen™ Mayo as a gift with purchase at Thrive Market. Register here to qualify.

Research of the Week

Men really do prefer sex over food.

The danger of eternal summer, or how central heating and AC have disrupted our seasonal biology.

It turns out that elephants, who never really get cancer despite having 100-times as many cells as humans, have over 40 copies of a cancer-inhibiting gene. Humans? Two copies.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 89: Tommy Brice: Host Elle Russ sits down with Tommy Brice, one of California’s top physical therapists who just happens to use Primal principles in his practice. In this episode, you’ll learn about overtraining, the effect going Primal may have on your pain levels, how increasing muscle mass can improve pain and injury resistance, the importance of proper posture and presence when moving, and how to find the right physical therapist for you.

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 7 Emerging Paleo Trends
Why Older (and Younger) Runners Need to Strength Train

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

Is too much nutritional knowledge counterproductive?

How to be happy, according to neuroscientists.

Media, Schmedia

Is this the greatest viral ad in the history of the Internet?

The modern onslaught waged on the microbiome.

Everything Else

Stonehengers were big on barbecue (and cheese).

Human transplant organs to be grown in genetically-altered pigs.

The White House is requesting $700k for standing desks.

Scientists have programmed viruses to kill pathogenic bacteria and leave benign ones alone.

Is this how your camping trips look?

In 2017, a Japanese technology company plans to unveil the world’s first farm completely run by robots.

Recipe Corner

What if instead of bread you used spaghetti squash for sandwich buns?
Next time you’re feeling under the weather (or you just want some delicious chicken), make pollo al ajillo (garlic chicken).

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 20 – Oct 26)

Are Video Games Good or Bad For Us? – How gaming can actually improve your health.
How to Accept Your Imperfections –The guide to loving you.

Comment of the Week

Yay, these changes are fantastic! Now someone besides me please talk to my husband.

– Spouses really are the biggest hurdles.

Beef Curry Stew in Edible Acorn Squash Bowls

In this acorn squash recipe you get a two for one: A delicious edible bowl, plus the generous amounts of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and magnesium that acorn squash provides.

Any type of squash can be a bowl, but the size and shape of acorn squash makes it an especially good choice. Cut the squash in half, lightly coat in oil or butter, then roast until soft. Fill it with soup, stew, chili, or meat sauce. A pile of sautéed greens in a squash bowl isn’t a bad way to go, either.

In this recipe, a spoonful of the roasted squash bowl with a spoonful of the coconut beef curry stew poured inside is like edible autumn. Warm spices, creamy coconut milk, tender beef, sweet squash…this dish has it all. Plus, crunchy, salty squash seeds sprinkled on top if you like.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 40 minutes, plus 1 hour to roast in the oven

Ingredients:

2 acorn squash
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or unsalted butter, divided (30 ml)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (2.5 ml)
1 shallot
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled (2.5 cm)
2 garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon curry powder (15 ml)
1 pound beef chuck cut into small 1/2-inch pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper (450 g/13 mm)
1 cup beef broth (240 ml)
1 13.5 fl oz can coconut milk (398 ml)

Recipe Tip: When buying the acorn squash, pay attention to the size and choose one you can imagine cutting in half and using as a bowl.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 °F/205 °C.

Slice each acorn squash in half lengthwise, from tip to stem. Slice a little bit off the bottom, so each squash half sits flat on a table, without wobbling. Scoop out the seeds and stringy middle, keep the seeds if you want to roast them (see below) and discard the stringy part. Carve enough out of the middle so there will be room for a cup or so of the beef stew.

Rub a tablespoon of coconut oil/butter over the flesh of each squash. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the squash halves. Season each squash lightly with salt. Arrange cut side down on a baking sheet. Set aside.

Put shallot, ginger, garlic, and lime juice in the bowl of a food processor or blender, and process until everything is very finely chopped (or just chop everything by hand). Set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of coconut oil or butter in a large heavy pot over medium-high. Working in 2 batches, cook beef until browned on all sides. Turn the heat down to medium if the meat starts to burn. Add more oil between batches if the pot seems dry.

With all the meat back in the pot, add the shallot mixture and curry powder and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally

Add beef broth and 1/2 the can of coconut milk.

Bring to a boil, then cover and transfer to the oven. At the same time, put the baking sheet of acorn squash in the oven. Cook each until the squash is soft and can easily be pierced with a fork and the meat in the pot is tender, about 1 hour.

Remove the squash and meat from the oven. Add the remaining coconut milk to the meat.

Ladle the beef stew into the acorn squash bowls before eating. Top with roasted squash seeds, if you like.

To roast seeds:

Rinse the seeds with water to remove any stringy parts clinging on, then pat dry.

Coat the seeds lightly in oil of your choice, then sprinkle with salt. Spread the seeds out in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake in a 300 °F/149 °C oven, just until the seeds start to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

No More Debilitating Back Pain

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 can’t move.” I said to my fiancé.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I can’t move! My back hurts so much.”

In May 2013 I was on vacation in the Netherlands with my girlfriend. She was pregnant in the 9th month and on that vacation I proposed to her on the beach (and lucky me, she said yes).

One morning I woke up and couldn’t move. The pain was so bad that I had to roll out of the bed because I couldn’t get upright. Damn, I was 28 years old. What happened?

I never played any sports and was always a bit chubby. When I met my girlfriend I was pretty big already. I didn’t own a scale so I don’t know my weight at the time, but it had become really bad. So after the “I can’t move” incident, we traveled back home, I immediately stepped on a scale, and had a mini-heart attack – 105 kg. Oh boy. How did I become so fat?! To make things even worse I smoked a pack of cigs per day.

Something had to change.

After Googling a little bit, I found the workout app You Are Your Own Gym (body-weight exercises only), and started right away. Man, I didn’t know muscles could ache that much! Along with this, I started to count my calories. By October 2013 I had lost around 3 kilos… but I felt sluggish and really crappy.

One evening I googled “Losing weight without effort” (or something like that), and found a link to Mark’s Daily Apple and started to read. I read and read and read. And read. Wow, could it be so easy?

Living in Germany, there was no way to go to a book shop and buy The Primal Blueprint, so I went online and ordered the book via Amazon. It arrived fairly quickly and I read the whole thing within a few days. I was convinced. This could be it!

I told my fiancé: “Honey, I want to try that out. I have to lose weight. Will you support me?” She was really skeptical but she agreed to support me. So in October 2013 I started to live primally.

The first week was pure hell. I loved bread and it was really hard to ditch the grains. I had a massive headache, my belly really hurt, and I sweated constantly. I was feeling really sick and I nearly stopped the whole experiment.

But then something magical happened – my mind cleared. It was a revelation. The foggy feeling I had my whole life was gone. I was feeling like I had a mini super computer in my head. It felt like I could think faster, clearer, sharper – it was unbelievable. The craving for bread was still there, but this new feeling in my head was so awesome that I did not think about turning back.

I trained constantly with the YAYOG app. After a few months, I started to ride my bike regularly to work (22 kilometers one way). A little bit later I moved on to the Freeletics app and was hooked. Tough workouts in a large group – awesome feeling!

So what changed during my journey?

I lost roughly 25 kg (55 lbs)
I built up some muscles. Not that much, but I can see and feel them.
I stopped smoking.
The diffused pain in my belly is gone.
The pain in my finger joints vanished.
My back pain is completely gone.
My physical condition dramatically improved.
I only eat when I am hungry – and I stop eating when I am satisfied. No sugar cravings any more.
… can I write this? My stamina and potency improved…

Will I ever turn back? Hell no!

There is still some remaining body-fat, but I am on my way and I don’t want to hurry. It will vanish eventually, so I am pretty relaxed.

Going primal was the best decision I ever made. Thank you, Mark, for everything. I don’t know where I would be today without you. Probably pretty fat and immobile.

THANKS!

Chris

Health Perspective for Every Stage of Life: Part 1

Through my personal experience and through coaching and working with thousands of people over the years, I’ve had the privilege (and sometimes surprise) of more or less seeing it all. And, I’d like to think I’ve picked up some helpful perspective along the way. I thought I’d highlight some of that perspective on the unique challenges or “spirit” of health at each age—how to live well and take care of yourself through each of life’s phases. Look for part two next week!

Childhood – (a.k.a. Play Is All You Need)

Let me jump right in with the young ‘uns….

You lucky ones are as close to Grok instinct as it gets. Embrace it for all it’s worth. Don’t be in a rush to surrender your inner cave child.

Get muddy. Get sweaty. Climb trees. Build forts. Skip stones. Make plenty of dirt pies (and don’t hesitate to taste them). Stay outside as long as your parents will let you. Play as hard as you can. Run so fast that your legs feel like they’re going to propel right out from underneath you.

These years aren’t the time for life or health to feel too complicated. In fact, don’t worry about what it means to be healthy for now. Just try to understand that you’ll thank your parents and/or other adult figures for limiting your junk food and pushing meat and vegetables. Cave children need these. Teddy Grams and Gold Fish won’t help you reach your wild potential. That would be a major shame and so not worth the sugar crashes.

Think instead about pushing your limits, discovering your abilities, reveling in all that you notice about yourself and the world around you. Explore—and experiment—as much as you can. Discover awe in small things the way Grok Jr. would’ve—in animal encounters, cloud formations and large sticks.

Childhood should first and foremost feel like a rush—hitting up against your limits, pushing them further. Ask yourself—and test—on a daily basis—how high can I jump, how far can I throw, how long can I run, how fast can I climb?

Sure, some wet blanket people may try to tell you that play isn’t productive. I’m not suggesting you get yourself in trouble with these folks, but don’t believe them, okay? The outdoors calls you—although school gyms and trampoline parks can be fun, too. Still, spend as much time under the sun as you can.

And for the record, you’re right: recess is the golden part of the day, and it should be. Trust me—that’s the stuff you’ll really use the rest of your life. If you make recess a daily habit throughout your entire life, you’ll give me and every other person on this site a major run for his/her money. Keep up the good work!

High School Years – (a.k.a. Challenging the Adolescent “Everything Goes” Attitude)

You’re coming off those years when you played hard and slept hard. Now you probably just want to sleep period—until noon anyway.

Life is, most likely, much busier than just a few years ago. With homework, activities, an after school job and friends, health may not command much (if any) attention. Maybe you even consider it something “old people” (i.e. people over 25) think about.

It’s true you’re still in the thick of growing—pretty quickly actually. It probably feels like the adults in your life endlessly fuss over you with this rule or that. From your perspective it’s totally unnecessary and annoying. You seem to bounce back from whatever choices you make with no perceptible effect. Energy drink? Pizza for lunch three days in a row? Your friend’s brother’s cigarettes? What’s the big deal?

These might seem like Teflon years—when you can do what you want without noticeable consequences. Save the salads and exercise for when you get older and need to take your body seriously, right?

However, these are the years when you’ll see some of your peers (or yourself!) begin losing their grip on vitality if you can believe it. Maybe you observe it already. Certain friends have started to put on extra weight. You see some people struggle on the more intense gym days.

Recess is no more. After school doesn’t mean playing outside. Riding the bus or commuting by car is the norm for getting to and from. At home there’s plenty of homework and an array of online diversions to keep you sedentary. Food is often whatever friends are grabbing at a drive-thru or from concession stands. Caffeine is the thing to drink—and even show off (how grande can you go?). This is the life of the every-teen, isn’t it? No biggie.

Except you deserve better. And there’s the rub….

Take that in for a minute. You deserve better. Absorb it. Consider what it might mean for you. Make a point of remembering it—even if you aren’t ready to act on it or even claim it yet. Carry it with you until something in your life or thinking brings it to a head—tomorrow, next month, next year, two decades from now. Trust me—this truth will change your life someday—maybe many times over.

For now, imagine you aren’t just sauntering around the school halls each day. Picture yourself on a class trip climbing a 14,000 foot mountain in the Rockies. Would you be able to do it? Be honest, and don’t automatically assume yes. I’ve seen these kinds of trips pick off a surprising percentage of teenagers (not to mention adults). Your little kid self probably would’ve been pumped at the opportunity. How much have you—your motivation and your abilities—changed?

See, it’s so easy at this age to let peer behavior influence our choices and coerce us into letting go of so many things about ourselves that we should never surrender—aspects of ourselves and our best interest we’ll regret giving away one day. Yet, in the social moment, no one wants to look like they care too much. As “old” as I am, I get it.

But try to care about your bigger (and not just social) self-interest. Try to see that what you do today matters for how you can live your life now (and, yes, what will come down the line for you later). But focus on today. When we’re honest, that’s usually the better motivation for all of us.

What are you putting your time and life into these days? What is it asking of you? How is it pushing you to develop your physical potential? How is it encouraging you to enjoy exercising that? You can probably see that screen time, junk food and all the other common adolescent traps don’t offer very inspiring answers to these questions.

You’re at an age when intellectualizing health won’t make much of an impact, but living it should. Enjoy what you used to enjoy as a younger kid in a renewed way—whether in team sports or in your own pursuits. Trust me, you aren’t limited to what’s being offered in school. Seek out martial arts, parkour, community running and walking clubs, biking events, community swim times, hiking and other outdoor activity groups. You’re no longer a child, but don’t be so quick to cede your wild, primal potential. Casting off your ability to play means abandoning yourself at a fundamental level. Don’t surrender your physical vitality and creativity before you even graduate high school.

As you grow into your interests (a big part of life at this stage), decide (or find!) what stokes your inner fire. Don’t apologize for your choices if they aren’t what your peers or parents would choose for you. What will YOUR active, adventurous life look like? There’s no need to have it all figured out at this point, but begin to ponder it. Envision claiming it. Step toward that however it makes sense each day.

College Years (a.k.a. Forging Your Primal Path)

So, you’re no longer under your parents’ roof. You have a totally new level of autonomy—and some new responsibilities.

You’re suddenly in a position to make (much of) your own weekly schedule. Maybe you even make your own food (or at least eat at the cafeteria where you have a plethora of choices). The fact is, no one is watching or directing or dictating whole aspects of life anymore. A skeptic might joke, “What could possibly go wrong?”

On the one hand, I tend to think we expect too little at this age. Older adults in our lives assume we’ll make stupid choices and generally chalk up this time of life to burning off one’s inner dumba$$ instinct. It might sound like a heyday at the outset, but is that ALL you really want from life today?

You’ll see plenty of people your age, maybe even good friends, organize these years around short-term gratification (e.g. Captain Crunch at every meal and frequent Mountain Dew pick-me-ups) and even varying levels of self-destructiveness (e.g. binge drinking, drug use, chronic sleep deprivation, risky sexual behavior). Underlying this tendency, I think, isn’t just entitlement to sabotage but also maybe the sadder belief that this is your last/only chance to “live it up.”

We perpetuate an enormously destructive lie in this culture—that these years will be your best. Trust me, if you’re living your life to its full potential and aren’t beset by horrible tragedy just after graduation, this won’t be true. Believe it now, and you’ll coerce yourself to live with a pressured immediacy that can end up narrowing your experience almost as much as the opposite extreme of the spectrum—where people can’t loosen up enough to step away from the term papers and service projects. Either extreme offers an impoverished and caricatured vision of what this stage can be.

I’m not preaching the straight and narrow route here. By all means, use the time to explore and enjoy yourself. However, develop the discernment to imagine what you want out of these years (in health and other terms) and the self-discipline to make sure you’re acting toward those purposes most days.

So, let me ask you this question. What condition—physical and psychological do you want to live your way into during college? This isn’t a hiatus from life after all—what happens in college stays at college (as much as the culture talks about it this way). I’m sure you could come up with a hundred jokes and many more examples of this principle. Suffice is to say, those “freshman 15” will likely be coming with you post-graduation unless you do something about it. The other effects of a sedentary 4-year college career will leave with you, too.

The fact is, here’s the chance to make your life your own. Remember that very personal question of what your active, adventurous life will look like? Are you planning on living that—or holding yourself captive on some socially dictated detour for 4+ years? This is the time to understand that living your own life to its healthiest (and generally most successful) potential means accepting the responsibility of creating your own path rather than tagging along with the crowd.

Getting Married (a.k.a. Negotiating Personal Boundaries and Partner Dynamics)

So, you found your true love, and now you’re living in holy matrimony or a romantic agreement in which you’re both on the lease. Unlike the string of roommates you’ve had over the years, now there’s this vague expectation that you share everything—share food, share meals, share free time, share responsibility, share social lives, etc. Some elements of this arrangement go better than other. Achilles’ tendon? It just might be a Primal versus non-Primal showdown.

How can it be that someone who makes us so happy can also challenge our efforts to stay healthy? It just happens.

Primal couples exist, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. More are made after the vows, but the majority of married Primal folks, I’d easily venture, go it alone. Perhaps many of their partners exercise and/or eat reasonably cleanly, but many others don’t.

Sure, there are strategies you can employ involving separate shelf space, co-existing food budgets, overlapping food preparation/meal planning that calls in your Venn diagramming skills.

The number one tip I’ve gleaned from coaching Primal clients with non-Primal partners: take independent responsibility for yourself.

I know too many people who have put too much energy into cajoling or complaining about their partners. Some of it comes from feeling like they’re being cheated of convenience they feel they should have. (Why should anyone feel entitled to this?) Some of it comes from feeling like they’re missing out on support. (This is certainly nice, but you partner isn’t responsible for emulating or cheerleading your choices.)

Finally, others feel they’re missing out on a sharing and bonding experience over what some Primal types consider deeply held values. While I get this, I also think people have the choice of sharing instances or elements of their commitments (e.g. now and then sharing a meal—or most of a meal—that fits both tastes, enjoying after-dinner bike rides or weekend hikes together) without requiring mutual adherence to appreciate the occasion.

Some people might call this approach harsh or unsympathetic. I call it realistic and, ultimately, respectful. I’ve seen a lot of people lose the forest through the trees focusing on a tallied list of differences. They took their partners’ choices as personal slights or, even worse, evidence that the other person didn’t care about their relationship. In other words, they wanted to see change—in the other person.

Whether it’s a question of food or the proverbial toilet seat, we all have a choice in long-term relationships to stew in a cauldron of resentment and discontent about our partner’s lack of compliance or “good sense.” Alternatively, we can let that $#!% go—really go—and focus on ourselves.

Are there cases in which partners are so far apart on the spectrum of valuing themselves and their health that not enough is left holding them together? Yes, I’ve seen these cases. And, it’s really not my business whether someone leaves their marriage or not.

That said, I think we benefit when we embrace our own independence within a relationship and demand less from the other person, particularly when our interest is in making them more like ourselves. I’ve suggested to disgruntled clients that for one month they let go of attachment to the idea their partners have any role in their choices—or in their own sense of contentment with life as well as health.

Yes, this flies in the face of what our culture teaches us, but see how it works—30 days or your full-blown misery back!

After battling some inner resistance, it’s amazing how many of them have come back to me happier in their marriages, more centered in their own choices—and (further down the road if they keep it up) in more productive (not perfect, but progressing) collaboration with their partners. The power of self-focus in health as in life—with its emphasis on boundaries and responsibility—can’t be overestimated.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. As mentioned, look for my follow-up on the remaining life stages next week. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on health, wisdom and well-being in early life. Share your comments, and enjoy the end of your week.

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Top 7 Emerging Paleo Trends

Things are changing. You can throw a stone in any direction and hit either a CrossFit gym, a Whole Foods, or (on Sundays) a farmer’s market. People have actually heard of paleo and most places have a decent salad on the menu. Going Primal isn’t so strange or alienating anymore. Now that the status quo is catching up to us, it’s time to look to the horizon. What are the emerging trends in Primal/paleo thinking that will break out and propel us forward? Where are we taking this train next? And is the world changing in ways conducive to our Primal lifestyle?

Let’s see the top 7 emerging trends.

The embracing of forbidden foods.

Google Trends are strong indications of the current zeitgeist. Twitter mentions, page views, and book sales are, too. But when an investment firm is betting the farm on something, it’s worth paying attention. Switzerland’s Credit Suisse just published a report entitled “Fat: The New Health Paradigm.” Using hundreds of doctors, researchers, and advisers, the firm analyzed the scientific literature and made a few conclusions:

Red meat, dairy, fish, and egg sales are headed upward. High-carb (especially high-sugar) and low-fat food sales are on a downward trend, while vegetable oils and poultry sales are flat.
Saturated fat and monounsaturated fat aren’t responsible for the obesity epidemic. Skyrocketing intakes of carbs and vegetable oils are more likely culprits.

As to why this excites me, it’s not just because it lines up with my reading of the literature; it’s because it highlights the untrustworthiness of the majority of nutrition experts in government and academia. Those guys have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo because they’re the ones who created it. They have egos to suckle, tenure to protect, industry ties to maintain, previously-established positions to buttress against incoming evidence. Meanwhile, an investment firm isn’t out to save lives or improve humanity, nor are they toeing the party line. They want to make money, and if they’ve determined that red meat, eggs, butter, and other full-fat, Primal foods are the future, that’s a powerful endorsement and spells continued growth.

Entomophagy.

Not long ago, the idea of seriously eating insects never crossed a person’s mind. Oh, sure, they might try the chapulines at a Oaxacan restaurant or marvel at the bug markets of Bangkok, but for the most part bugs were edible props on gross-out game shows and symbols of exotic excess in movies. Who doesn’t remember (cringing at) the dinner scene in Temple of Doom?

Oh, how things are changing.

About a third of Americans say they’re interested in eating more insects, and that appears to be increasing quarter over quarter.
Several cricket-based protein bars are available, and they’re delicious. I’ve even invested in one company—Exo—making the very best cricket protein bars.
The consumer response has overwhelmed supply. Bug farms can’t produce cricket flour fast enough, and new operations are revolutionizing the way we farm insects for human consumption.
Just recently, the EU released a report recommending a variety of insects, including houseflies, crickets, and silkworms, for use as human food and livestock feed.
Companies are even exploring insects as a source of nutrient-dense cooking oil. Research indicates high levels of antioxidant compounds present in many bug oils, making them suitable for high heat applications.

The environmental and nutritional advantages of insect consumption cannot be denied. According to a 2013 FAO report, the use of edible bugs has the potential to balance the worldwide food (and animal feed) supply and provide animal (or arthropod) protein at a lower price-point and ecological footprint to those who desperately need it. I expect to see that potential realized.

Increased availability of paleo food options.

From the Paleo hot bar at Whole Foods, the grass-fed burger at Carl’s Jr., the anti-GMO pledge of Chipotle and subsequent (and most important) switch to rice bran oil from soybean oil, to the widespread excision of synthetic ingredients and human antibiotics from a number of leading food producers, Primal or Primal-friendly food is increasingly available in everyday life.  Those are specific examples, some would suggest isolated ones. But it seems like every other place advertises “grass-fed” this or “local” that or has slipped a paleo or low-carb addendum to their menu. Search your feelings—you know it to be true.

I’m doing my part with Primal Kitchen franchising. Once those start rolling out, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame.

Consumer rejection of unhealthy food.

Former titans like McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts are closing locations and trying “all-day” breakfast gimmicks to hold onto a fragmenting customer base. Soda sales are way down, with companies only staying afloat because they also happen to sell bottled water.

The loss of jobs that ultimately results from the closure of major sources of employment is unfortunate. But overall? It’s a good sign that people are rejecting the kind of food that got us in the predicament we’re collectively in. And let’s be real: if McDonald’s wants to stay relevant in a world that rejects what they offer, they’ll change their offerings. They’ll switch to grass-fed beef in the burgers and go back to beef tallow in the fryers.

They’d better, anyway. Because the consumer rejection of unhealthy food is only going to increase.

The microbiome.

Used to be that “gut health” was all about digestion (and only digestion), probiotics were only about countering antibiotic-related diarrhea, and prebiotics were—wait, what the heck were those?

Now we know the members of our gut biomes do way more than help us digest our food. They produce sex hormones and neurotransmitters. They synthesize short chain fatty acids that fuel our colonic cells and stave off cancer. They turn anti-nutrients into nutrients and convert vitamins with low bioavailability into vitamins with high bioavailability. They appear to affect our mood, our emotions, and maybe even our behavior. Heck, the microbiome isn’t just living in the gut; it’s on the skin, in the mouth, in our armpits, and even in the bacterial auras that surround us. Much of this research is young and limited to animal studies, but the implications are clear and we’re already seeing great health benefits with probiotic usage. You’ve also got soapless hygiene products that keep you clean (and give be by spraying bacteria all over your body.

But there’s a whole lot we know we don’t know, and it’s only a matter of time until we suss it out. Within a decade or so, I fully expect therapeutic modulation of the microbiome to be available for conditions like depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, autism, food allergies, and autoimmune disease. Just you wait.

Standing desks at schools.

Sitting is bad for us. We know that now. And many companies have responded to the unequivocal evidence against prolonged sitting by offering standing or even walking/cycling workstations to their employees. When they do and the employees indulge, productivity goes up and physical inactivity drops.

Now, another neglected, arguably more important population is getting the same treatment: our kids. Yeah, kids. Those organisms who famously can’t sit still for longer than twenty minutes yet we expect to remain seated for six hours a day. A Marin County elementary school has just outfitted its classrooms with standing desks, and the initial response from teachers, parents, and kids is overwhelmingly positive. And just last month, an Alexandria, Virginia middle school did the same.

This is just the start and I have to assume it will spread across the country, especially with the likes of Kelly Starrett’s StandupKids leading the charge. Although there are fits and starts with the adoption of any large change, folks generally go with what works. If standing desks help kids learn, improves their metabolic health, expends their excess energy, and prevents the acquisition of terrible headaches in both parents and teachers who have to deal with them, who’s going to protest?

The rise of low-carb endurance training.

For years, we’ve been told that to excel, compete, or even finish races in endurance athletics, we need to carb-load. Cue the buckets of pasta, flagons of oatmeal, ziploc baggies full of glucose goo, and gallons of ice cream. That’s how I fueled my years in endurance athletics and, truth be told, it’s how most athletes still do it. Here’s the surprise: you can be an effective endurance athlete while being fat-adapted.

A landmark study came out showing how endurance athletes on very low carb ketogenic diets can burn upwards of 1.8 grams of fat per minute as they run, smashing previously-assumed limits of 1 gram per minute. Incredibly, these dudes weren’t going all out, hitting the wall, or even approaching it. Where their ability-matched counterparts on a standard diet were burning about half glycogen, half fat, the fat-adapted athletes coasted for hours while burning 90% fat. That means they can burn their own body fat for fuel for longer at greater intensities, sparing the rare and precious glycogen for use at the end of the race when all the sugar-burners are bonking.

More and more athletes are discovering the power of fat adaptation. They’re going longer and faster while running on their own body fat. They aren’t bonking like they used to.

Next year, I’ll be doing my part to push this movement even further with the release of Primal Endurance. I can’t wait for you guys to read it.

What other big paleo or Primal trends do you see on the horizon? Let me know down below!

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