Mark Sisson's Blog, page 246

Why Older (and Younger) Runners Need to Strength Train

Last month, the NY Times Well Blog dropped a piece discussing the results of a recent study of how endurance runners alter their stride as they age. Investigators observed a group of 110 experienced runners aged 23 to 59 making their way around a track. Runners under 40 tended to display greater lower leg activity as they ran, whereas runners over 40 showed impaired lower leg activity. The latter relied more on their hip musculature (the absolute activity of which was still lower than that of younger runners) and showed an impaired “push off”; they had weaker strides and didn’t rise up as high off the ground. Overall, the older runners used their ankles and calves less without increasing hip musculature activity to cover the difference. They just got slower.

The study has its limitations. This study was a brief snapshot in time, rather than a decades-long study of how the same runners change their stride over the years. But it was quite clear: older runners tend to be weaker than younger runners, especially in the lower legs, and this results in a less powerful stride, an altered running gait, and a slower running speed.

What’s my take? I’m completely unsurprised.

This is just the latest in the growing body of evidence showing the beneficial effects strength training has in endurance athletes, especially older ones. Long ago, when I was running marathons competitively, I was one of the few guys paying any serious attention to strength training. It’s partially why, despite my genetic predisposition to joint injuries, I was able to stay in the game as long as I did. Sure, I had sky high inflammation, digestive issues, and some nasty tendinitis, but structurally, I got out relatively unscathed. I look around at some of my peers who are hobbling around and I realize I got off easy.

First and foremost—because it’s what runners truly care about—strength training can improve performance. Yes, even if you replace some of your miles with time in the gym. Yes, even if you spend less time running and more time lifting. Yes, even if you lift heavy, you’re not going to “get too big and unwieldy” enough to hamper your running performance. Why?

Strength enables optimal positioning. When you run long distances, you get tired. That’s unavoidable. Fatigue is a fact of running life and dealing with it is the name of the game. If you’re deadlifting once a week, your trunk musculature will be able to support the proper upright spine during long runs. If you’re not strength training and your lower back is a weak point (as it is for many runners), your body will reduce power output to protect you from injury. By strength training, you’ll increase your resistance to form degradation and increase power output.

Strength actually increases endurance. Lifting heavy things makes the muscles doing the lifting more efficient at what they do. That includes running long distances. And as the NY Times article showed, a distinct lack of lower leg strength may be causing the performance deteriorations associated with increased age.

Strength improves your finishing kick. It’s a pivotal moment of any race: the finishing kick. You’re coming up toward the last leg of the race. You’re exhausted. You want to quit. But what about that poser just ahead of you who’s been leading the entire race? He’s right there. He’s within reach. You can totally beat him if you just summon a burst of strength for the final few hundred meters and go all out. The guy who strength trains every week is going to have the explosive power necessary to make the final kick happen, even when fatigued at the end of a long endurance effort.

Strength reduces unnecessary stress. My friend Dr. Kelly Starrett, master physiotherapist and author of Becoming a Supple Leopard, notes that the optimal positioning provided by strength training can actually make running less stressful. Superior strength allows runners to keep an upright posture throughout the stride pattern, even as you fatigue in the latter stages of a workout. Rather than droop the head forward, roll the shoulders, tuck the pelvis, and constrict the breathing apparatus when fatigue sets in, strength training allows runners to maintain the “power pose.” This minimizes the fight or flight stimulation from the workout and speeds recovery by reducing unnecessary added stress that has nothing to do with the actual training effect.

Strength training improves resistance to injury. For many reasons, lifting heavy things increases your resistance to common running injuries.

First, strength enables good positioning and maintenance of proper technique; bad positioning and poor technique is what ultimately causes most degenerative injuries that occur in runners.

Second, strength training increases the injury resistance of joints and connective tissue. Running puts a huge amount of stress on the knees, ankles, and hips. Lifting heavy helps prepare your joints for some of that stress, and it may even help you recover from existing damage; just last week, a paper was published showing that high-weight, low-volume strength training may heal degenerated discs in the back.

Third, strength training improves bone density. Long distance runners consistently have lower bone density scores than age-matched athletes from other disciplines like sprinting, middle distance running, and power athletics. One reason is that endurance training tends to burn the most calories and cause the most stress to accumulate, leaving little energy left over to devote to bone maintenance, let alone growth. Another reason is that except for the legs, endurance running is low impact. Our bones require the application of direct mechanical stress to stimulate bone density growth. Throwing in a couple sessions of heavy (relative to your capacity) strength training each week can really make up the difference and stimulate bone density improvements. Since older folks are already the population at the greatest risk for low bone density, older folks who are also endurance runners absolutely must lift heavy things.

In the NY Times article, they reference a 2012 list of standard lower leg stretches and exercises older runners should employ to make up the strength deficit, the kind of thing you’d get on a fading printout from the orthopedist’s office. Give it a look. These are actually great choices, but they’re probably not sufficient. For instance, the heel cord stretch they recommend is inadequate. You’ve seen this one. Face a wall and do that thing with your legs where it looks like you’re trying to keep the wall from falling over. It’s the classic calf stretch, but in my experience, it doesn’t do much.

Two better alternatives?

Kelly Starrett’s heel cord wall stretch targets the same tissues with greater intensity. Just wear shoes for this one.

Lately, my favorite calf/Achilles’ tendon stretch has come from Angelo dela Cruz. If I squat, feel a bit stiff, do a few rounds of Angelo’s stretch, and squat again, my range of motion noticeably increases. Really raise those toes off the ground to stretch the calves. This also hits the hamstrings a bit.

The rest of the exercises are actually really solid. You might add some weight to the calf raises or, if you have a partner and a willingness to look ridiculous, try donkey calf raises. Still, simply focusing on the lower legs isn’t enough to truly obtain the benefits listed above.

Going barefoot (or minimalist) will help. Anyone who’s ever gone for a long hike or run in their bare feet or wearing minimalist shoes can attest: it blasts your calves and strengthens your feet. Doing that every once in awhile is a recipe for perpetually sore calves. Doing it habitually and gradually until your lower legs are inured to the stress makes for rock-solid, powerful calves, feet, and ankles. Be sure to run through my barefoot transition exercise recommendations, which are also good for general lower leg health and function, and be extremely cautious if you’ve spent your entire life inside shoes.

To really get the benefits, you’ll want to do some basic full-body strength training. Now, strength training is scary for many people who’ve been told to “take it easy” and warned about catastrophic injuries. Seniors can strength train. Heck, they can do power training. They can move quickly and lift heavy. Why? These are relative terms. A 64 year-old master’s marathoner doesn’t need to do jump squats with his own bodyweight laid across his back. A 55-year-old 10k enthusiast doesn’t have to power clean 0.75x her bodyweight to get an effect. What’s important is that they lift weights that are heavy—for them. One systematic review of the evidence even found that power training is slightly better than standard strength training at producing benefits to functional fitness in elderly people.

How?

Bodyweight movements may be plenty. For most runners who aren’t doing anything strength-related, bodyweight training is perfectly adequate. Establishing proficiency first in the Primal Essential Movements—squats, pushups, pullups, planks—will give an inexperienced runner a huge boost to performance and injury resistance. Bodyweight training also gives a good foundation for further exploration of strength training methods.

The classic barbell lifts—squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, bench press, rows—are difficult to surpass for sheer strength-building. They probably offer the most bang-for-your-buck.

Barbells are great, but machines are not the enemy. While I’ll always celebrate the aging runner who wants to squat and deadlift, the leg press and hack squat machines are both excellent choices for building real strength without requiring the mobility of the barbell movements.

Single-leg and single-arm training (unilateral exercises) build strength and offer a unique stimulus without requiring the loads inherent to bilateral movements. Instead of squatting with a 200 pound barbell, you can do reverse lunges or rear foot elevated split squats with a 50 pound dumbbell in each hand.

Whichever you choose, go high-weight, low-rep, low-volume. Keep sets short. Take breaks. It’s better to do 5 sets of 3 reps with slightly more weight than 3 sets of 5 reps with slightly less. You’re not trying to get huge (well, maybe you are). You’re not trying to destroy yourself and ruin the next day’s run. You’re looking to enhance your endurance work with smart, targeted strength work.

In my upcoming book Primal Endurance, I’ll lay out the optimal way for endurance athletes to strength train for performance, injury resistance, and longevity. For now, though, just go lift!

Any endurance athletes out there? How do you use strength training to improve your performance?

Dear Mark: Healing Broken Bones, and Blended Soups

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answer two questions. First, is there a way to speed up the healing process after a broken bone? What nutrients should we make sure to consume? Are there supplements we can take, foods we can eat, lifestyle modifications we can make? The next question comes from a reader trying to nurse his grandfather back to health after a bad stroke. Grandpa’s still in the hospital and can only eat through a straw. Are there better options than the tasteless slop, butterscotch pudding, and bad ice cream he’s currently receiving?

Let’s find out:

Dear Mark,

I was in a car accident and lost my right leg and my left leg has a Tibia Fibia fracture. It’s been just two months, but I am not seeing a lot of healing in the leg. What parts of the paleo diet are going to best help me in the bone healing department. I am currently taking a collagen and gelatin supplement in place of a bone broth. I fear my protein intake is low so I’ve begun supplementing with a protein shake. Wondering if you have any thoughts on bone healing. Would you recommend the Damage Control Master Formula supplement? I’ve got damage that is for sure. Any advice would be appreciated.

M

Move safely. Obviously, your mobility is limited. You can’t do nearly as much you’re used to doing. Shearing movement can hamper the healing process. And whatever you do must be done with the blessing and guidance of your physician, physical therapist, and anyone else with a stake in your healing. But some degree of movement and mechanical loading should help. Stability is good and crucial. Rigidity and immobility are not.

Protein matters. In wound healing, protein requirements go way up. Whether it’s a bad burn, a laceration, or a broken bone, you need protein to build new tissue. And even though we don’t really think of broken bones as wounds, you’re essentially recovering from a traumatic wound. The gelatin and protein powder are good starts, but you should seek to get most of your protein through whole foods, as they’ll contain other pro-bone nutrients. One review recommends around 1.5 g protein/kg bodyweight or close to 0.7 g protein/lb bodyweight for injured patients. Use powders to fill in the gaps.

Calories matter. The more healing you have, the more food you need. Bone remodeling is incredibly energy-intensive. Don’t go so far as to start putting on weight, but eat more food than you think you need.

As for specific nutrients?

Strontium has been shown to speed up fracture healing time. Strontium ranelate, a prescription form, seems to have the most backing in the literature, though there are some contraindications you should discuss with your doctor.

Vitamin D, a pre-requisite for bone formation and mineral deposition, probably helps fracture healing, although the evidence is a bit scant, with just one pilot study published to date showing improved fracture healing with supplementation. Still, vitamin D is an important nutrient that many of us don’t get enough of. Perhaps some midmorning sun-bathing sessions are in order.

Milk basic protein, a component of whey, has been shown to speed up fracture healing in animal models and is available as a supplement.

Zinc, found in oysters, red meat, and seeds, can boost fracture healing in animal models.

Don’t forget about calcium, the basic stuff of bones. Paired with vitamin D, it’s been shown to improve some markers of fracture healing in humans. Dairy, bone-in canned fish, and leafy greens are great sources of calcium.

Vitamin C helps tissue construction, and a 2004 study even found that giving tibial fracture patients a mix of vitamin C, proline, lysine, vitamin B6, and other essential nutrients (likely many of the ones listed above) decreased the healing time (PDF).

Vitamin K2 is an underutilized and under-eaten but extremely important nutrient for bone metabolism. Take a supplement or eat natto, gouda, or goose liver paté.

Silicon is a trace mineral most people don’t consider essential, but it plays a small but important role in bone health. Most mineral waters are good sources of silicon; check the label or look up the water’s website for confirmation.

Copper matters. In one study, the protective effect of calcium in drinking water on fractures was enhanced by the presence of copper.

Damage Control Master Formula is a great source of micronutrients, polyphenols, and other antioxidant compounds. It’s really the best, most comprehensive and balanced multivitamin in existence, in my humble opinion. As such, it can help control inflammation that may be slowing your fracture healing. It’s definitely worth a try.

There are some “alternative” therapies showing promise:

Pulsed low-dose ultrasound has strong evidence for the healing of fresh fractures and weaker evidence for the healing of “delayed union” (or slower to heal) fractures. It might be worth a shot.

Infrared light may also improve fracture healing. Many professional sports teams are using infrared lasers to improve athlete healing times.

Parathyroid hormone administration may be able to speed up healing.

This review paper discusses some other therapies with potential for healing bone fractures. You can’t exactly get stem cell therapy or bone marrow concentrate aspirate off Amazon, so print it out and discuss them with your doctor.

For further discussions on bone health, stay tuned for a post in the coming weeks.

My Grandfather recently suffered a major stroke, and although he’s back on semi-solid foods, the range of things he can eat is still fairly limited. The bigger problem is that the “food” they’re serving him in the hospital is so heavily processed, so devoid of flavour, that he eats nothing but the butterscotch pudding and ice cream that they bring with the meal. After tasting some of his food, I can’t say I really blame him. I’ve found some nice butternut squash soup recipes, but I’m curious what some of your favourite recipes for purée type soups are? Maybe something with a nice bone broth?

Thanks!

Steve

Great question. Here are three options you can try. I apologize in advance for imprecise measurements. Unless I’m putting together a recipe book (and getting lots of help/cajoling from editors and co-authors), I don’t really weigh and measure.

Throw together a basic seafood chowder. With clams, mussels, oysters, fish—any edible sea creature, really—they are nutritional powerhouses. Assemble garlic, shallots (the better onion), pre-cooked and cooled potatoes, herbs, broth, olive oil/butter, and cream. Here’s what I do:

Sweat shallots and garlic in either some olive oil/ butter (or both), or cook up some chopped bacon and use the resultant fat as a cooking fat.
Add a few splashes of white wine, reduce.
Add broth. Typically you’d use a fish broth, but I find that poultry broths work well. Heck, I’ve used rich beef broth before.
Drop in some finely chopped rosemary and thyme. Dried is fine.
Add some heavy cream. Add the potatoes (already cooked and cooled for maximum resistant starch, remember). Simmer and thicken. Allow it to get thicker than you’d prefer, because adding the seafood in the next step will increase the liquid.
Add the seafood. It’ll cook fast, so don’t overcook.
Blend.

Simple butternut squash soups are fantastic. Winter squash in general blend up incredibly well. Find a good one (it should be heavy in your hand), steam it until soft, blend flesh with broth, salt, and a little fat (olive oil, butter, cream, whatever you prefer), then heat? Baby, you’ve got yourself a soup you can drink through a straw that only took a few minutes to make. Some good salty pork sausage goes really well with a butternut squash soup.

Paul Jaminet recently published the baby food recipe he’s been giving his son as a supplemental food. If you made a few changes, it’d be perfect for grandpa. Here’s what I’d do:

Increase the liver. Having grown up with parents who made it on the regular, most grandpas (and grandmas) can usually handle more liver than the average Millennial.

Use whole eggs rather than just yolks. Paul omits the whites for allergic reaction concerns, which you don’t have in this situation. Seniors recovering from health issues need more protein, particularly when they’re on bed rest. To cook the whites, you’d obviously have to drop the eggs in while the porridge simmers. Time it so the white is fully cooked and the yolk is still soft.

Add some more animal. Include something like chuck roast, brisket, beef shank, oxtail, chicken thigh that breaks down and softens up when cooked for sufficient time.

Use bone broth instead of water. Adds gelatin and other important nutrients. Also, tastes way better than water.

Include some leafy greens. A mix of baby kale, chard, and spinach work great in soups and blend up nicely.

Basically, anything will work and be better than the swill they’re offering at the hospital. Have fun with it!

That’s it for today, folks. If anyone else has any recommendations for M or Steve, such as soups or nutrients they can try, add them down below! I for one am always interested in new soup recipes.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 369

Learn about my new eBook The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss here. Get it for free here.

Research of the Week

Certain gut bacteria appear to protect kids against asthma.

Bullied teens should exercise.

Washing dishes promotes mindfulness.

The true “polypill” is exercise.

Sorry, vegans: meat, dairy, fish, and shellfish remain the only significant sources of B12 in the human diet.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 88: Christopher Walker: Host Brad Kearns sits down with Christopher Walker, a former collegiate triathlete who, after discovering his testosterone had dropped to a dangerously low 11 ng/dl due to overtraining and a pituitary tumor, developed a holistic program to boost it to an incredible 1129 ng/dl. In this episode, you’ll learn everything you need to know about testosterone—how to increase it naturally, why it’s so important for health and happiness, how our training, sleep, and diet can affect our levels.

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.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Joining the Status Quo
The A-to-Z Guide to Leading a Primal Lifestyle
The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss
Foodborne Illness Wrap-Up: The Role of Your Health and Your Food’s Health

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

The decline of Big Soda.

When they’re drunk, a third of vegetarians eat meat.

While you probably shouldn’t re-freeze that pork chop you let thaw in your car on a hot day, you can re-freeze foods that were properly thawed.

Media, Schmedia

Dunkin’ Donuts is closing 100 stores.

Monsanto getting cozy with professors.

Speaking of which, a Monsanto pal just wrote a screed against organic agriculture, making sure to trot out all the old canards.

Everything Else

Want to write at night without blue light disrupting your circadian rhythm? Use NitePad.

Agriculture researchers want crops to start producing odors that attract pest predators.

Your future diet might be determined by a personalized algorithm based on your gut bacteria.

Bernd Heinrich is a cool dude.

Gut bacteria and brain function: an overview.

Ancient Romans living in Pompeii had perfect teeth and no dentists. They also didn’t eat sugar.

Recipe Corner

From Paleo Magazine, this chilled cucumber mash looks quite refreshing.
Holiday-spiced turkey and beef grain-free meatloaf.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 13 – Oct 19)

How Your Primal Connection to Water Runs Deeper Than Thirst – We need water in more ways than you think.
Why These Nine Famous Thinkers Walked So Much – There must be something to this walking stuff.

Comment of the Week

After I encounter a sweaty badass workout woman I log on to my Peeple app and rate her.

– As one does.

Primal Baked Pasta

All the comfort and flavor of baked pasta, without the carbs or gooey cheese? Sign me up! This recipe for Primal baked “pasta” uses a favorite noodle substitute, celery root, as a stand-in for the texture of penne pasta. Italian sausage, mushrooms and marinara fill out the dish, along with a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

The marinara sauce is homemade and it’s a keeper, for its perfect simplicity and rich flavor. It’s a sauce that can be used for all your pasta-like dishes, from zucchini noodles to spaghetti squash.

This recipe uses canned, whole tomatoes because they have a more consistently intense flavor than fresh tomatoes do as the seasons change. Canned whole tomatoes also tend to taste better than diced/chopped or pureed canned tomatoes. Unfortunately, they’re harder to find in BPA-free packaging, but not impossible. If you can’t find BPA-free whole tomatoes, then use a good brand of BPA-free chopped tomatoes instead.

Once BPA is out of the picture, canned tomatoes have a lot going for them. Like other brightly colored vegetables, tomatoes are full of carotenoids and lycopene, among other nutrients. One of the best sources of lycopene is cooked tomatoes with fat, which exactly describes this buttery sauce.

Like most baked pasta recipes, this one tastes even better a few hours, or a day, after it’s made. But don’t let that stop you from digging in right away. After smelling the heavenly combination of onions, garlic, tomatoes and Italian sausage in the oven, it’s hard to resist.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes (800 g)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup (60 g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter, divided
4 large basil leaves plus 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped basil, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (2.5 ml)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (2.5 ml)
1 to 1 1/2 pounds celery root (2 small or 1 large) (570 g)
10 ounces Italian sausage, raw or fully cooked (284 g)
8 ounces white or brown mushrooms, sliced (230 g)
1/4 cup whole cream (60 ml)
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (22 g)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 °F/218 °C.

Pour the tomatoes into a 13×9 or similarly sized baking dish, and crush and break up the tomatoes really well with your hands. Add the onion, garlic, 1/4 cup/60 g butter, 4 basil leaves, oregano and salt. Mix well to combine. Roast in the oven, mixing once or twice, for 35 minutes, until thick.

While the sauce roasts, use a paring knife to trim the skin off the celery root. Cut the celery root into sheets 1/4-inch (6 mm) thick. Trimming the sides to make perfect squares or rectangles before you cut the sheets into “noodles” is optional. (A perfect shape doesn’t matter all that much, since everything will be baked together) Cut the sheets into “noodles” that are about 3/8” wide (9.5 mm) (like a thin French fry) then cut the noodle pieces in half so they’re about the size of penne pasta.

Toss the celery root pieces into a pot of boiling water and cook just until fork tender, but not mushy, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

If the sausage is pre-cooked, then cut it into slices. If the sausage is raw, it can be cut into slices or pulled out of the casings so it’s loose. Either way, cook the sausage in a wide skillet over medium-high heat until nicely browned (and raw sausage should be cooked through).

Remove the sausage from the skillet and add the mushrooms. If more fat is needed, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter with the mushrooms. Cook, stirring as little as possible, until the mushrooms are nicely browned and the moisture has evaporated.

In a large bowl, mix together the roasted tomato sauce, celery root, sausage, mushrooms, 1/4 cup/60 g chopped basil, and whole cream. Mix well to combine and add salt to taste.

Spread the mixture out in a 2-quart/2 liter baking dish. Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

Bake at 425 °F/218 °C, uncovered, for 25 minutes. To crisp up the top a little, put under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes.

Holistic Medicine Meets Primal Principles

Hey, folks! It’s Friday once again, and that usually means it’s time for one of your amazing success stories. But something remarkable has been going on here at Mark’s Daily Apple that gave me an idea. Over the last year, there’s been a core group of people that our worker bees at MDA have gotten to know exceptionally well—a group of people that have gone above and beyond in their involvement in all things primal. I’m talking about the students in our Primal Blueprint Expert Certification program. Many of them have taken the knowledge from the program and inserted it directly into their personal and professional lives in ways we couldn’t have imagined. So I thought it’d be a great tradition to occasionally highlight some of their accomplishments—to share some of the ways they’re helping bring primal principles mainstream through their acts of passion.

So today, to kick off this segment, I thought we’d start with one of our Cert graduates, Dr. Dana Leigh Lyons, a holistic medicine practitioner who uses Chinese medicine and primal lifestyle principles to help patients thrive in a whole-body, East meets West modality. She’s a wealth of knowledge, so I thought we’d pick her brain a bit.

To start, tell us a little about yourself and how you came across the primal lifestyle.

I began following a primal lifestyle in my early 30s, while studying medicine. Before that, I spent 10 years as a vegetarian with a chronic-cardio habit—continuing on that path even when it was hurting my health. Adopting a primal lifestyle was pivotal to my own healing and in shaping my practice as a doctor.

These days, I run a holistic clinic with my husband. Our Alchemist Eating program helps people who experience food and eating as a place of struggle or pain. I work with clients both at our clinic and through long-distance sessions.

How did you come to study holistic nutrition?

I studied holistic nutrition as part of my medical training. In Chinese Medicine, we have an area of study called “Nourishing Life Principles.” This encompasses more than just food, but nutrition is a central component.

Within our medicine, individualized eating guidance—together with herbal medicine and acupuncture—helps patients to heal and stay healthy. Diet and lifestyle aren’t just “add-ons.” They’re an essential part of our modality—and an essential part of keeping people well!

What are some of the major tenets of your holistic nutrition practice?

I start with 5 core principles—everything else emerges from here:

The body and mind make up an interconnected system. When there is balance in that system, wellness results.
Finding balance is a process. Our eating patterns are a core component of this process and manifesting a healthier version of ourselves.
There is no one best diet for all people. The optimal eating pattern is individual, responsive and relational.
The primal eating guidelines offers a powerful starting point for finding one’s optimal eating pattern. Placing primal principles within the context of Chinese Medicine food therapy provides a guide for crafting an individual eating plan and continuously adjusting that plan to align with shifting needs.
Eating is more than just eating, and food is more than just food. They are wrapped up in our history, our identity, our social context and our beliefs. Changing eating patterns requires self-experimentation and mindful, focused exploration. It is a learning process that extends beyond what’s on our plate.

Given your previous education in holistic nutrition, what motivated you to take the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification course?

Together, primal principles and Chinese Medicine are a powerful combination. Each brings different perspectives and tools to the practice of “eating and lifestyle therapy.” But they share core places of alignment—this is part of why combining them makes sense and works.

The course was a wonderful bridge between my personal success with primal eating and my professional practice of medicine. It offered a wealth of information collected by a trusted source in an expertly presented way. The material is extremely accessible—explaining complex topics using clear, simple wording that I can use with patients. Also, it was fun!

What are some examples of overlap between holistic nutrition and primal principles?

Both are holistic in considering the whole body-mind system, rather than compartmentalizing symptoms or parts. They also see real-food eating patterns as a powerful way of supporting health and preventing disease.

And yet, both also recognize that eating is just part of the picture. Primal and holistic lifestyle principles encompass far more than a set of “food rules.” Eating well is a big deal—but so is adopting other habits and patterns that help us thrive.

Do you think there’s a strong demand for services like yours?

Absolutely! So many people experience food and eating as a place of struggle. And so many are suffering from health conditions that could be alleviated or eliminated by eating differently.

Oftentimes, people long to change their relationship with food (and movement) but don’t know how—or they know how but going it alone is just really tough. They are overwhelmed and looking for trained guidance and support.

What opportunities has the Cert given you as a health advocate that you didn’t previously have?

It has created closer connections with the primal community and real-food movement. It also expands my access to and credibility with people who embrace primal principles but who may not have considered holistic medicine as an option.

What’s something invaluable you do in your practice that you think more people should know about?

Alchemist Eating combines individualized, primal eating guidance with prescription of herbal medicines and Western supplements. This combination makes for outstanding outcomes.

Equally important, we work with clients as partners—helping them get where they want to be with health, weight and wellness. Going it alone when you’re struggling with food and eating can be really hard. As part of a healing partnership, we’re in this together and move from a place of mindfulness, compassion, abundance and fun.

What’s the most rewarding part of what you do?

By far the best part is watching people get where they want to be…in a way that is less about “diet” and more about integration and lifestyle. They start to feel and look better…and this becomes something enjoyable and sustainable—and something they then share with family and friends.

What advice would you give others who don’t yet have formal educational training, but want to become health advocates? 

Living with authenticity and integrity is number one—be really honest about where you are, and model the sort of lifestyle you wish to share with others. Second, embrace lifelong learning—both through self-experimentation and by seeking outside knowledge. The Cert course is an excellent place to start!

Dr. Dana Leigh Lyons

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Joining the Status Quo

The other day it occurred to me that we’re coming up on 10 years with this blog. In 2006, I started publishing (what were then) wacky, newfangled ideas about how people should go barefoot (or wear Vibrams), eat more animal fat, slash carbs and eschew grains altogether, avoid (most) vegetable oils, stand up while they work, expose themselves to cold, get off the chronic cardio wagon and climb trees or sprint down their streets like 9-year-olds. Finally, there was the proverbial (and ironic) icing on the cake of suggesting people ask what would Grok do—that now illustrious posterman for all things evolutionary. Ten years ago many of these ideas were still viewed as strange or even flat out wrong.

To jump on the Primal bandwagon then meant weathering a certain share of negative feedback—the jabs from coworkers or friends while dining out, the looks from passersby when working out at the park. So, for years, it was a regular theme on MDA to take up these “social” concerns—to remind folks that they shouldn’t give any energy to others’ judgments, that they are blazing their own trails and that they’re part of a growing and supportive community here at MDA and the paleosphere at large. In other words, we’ve spent a good deal of time talking about not being afraid to be different.

The fact is, however, in these last ten years we’ve seen everything from an explosion of barefoot shoe lines to a popping up of CrossFit gyms all over the country, the growth of standing and treadmill workstations to the expansion of farmers’ markets and cow sharing, a slowly turning tide against fast food to Time Magazine exonerating butter on their cover. “Paleo” is even becoming a category on restaurant menus (and not just Primal ones).

Sure, this is all a far cry from the full Primal picture. While more people are eating butter, fewer are clamoring for lard or duck fat. More people might be picking up kettle bells or doing burpees, but not many are on board with the likes of MovNat or isometrics. Some might be cutting their carb intake, but few take the “extreme” path of avoiding all grains. And Squatty Potties have garnered some media attention, but it’s probably safe to say they won’t be coming to a public restroom near you anytime soon.

And yet, the “health movement” as a whole has slowly been shifting into new territory over the last decade, and some of it looks pretty familiar. While adherence to or belief in the full extent of the Primal Blueprint definitely remains the curious if not offbeat exception, more and more individual components of the model are becoming increasingly less unusual. Let’s face it: it’s a new world when your Uncle Bob has monkey shoes and your Aunt Sharon talks about gluten free options for Thanksgiving.

While we Primal types are ridiculously far from being any kind of majority, numbered are the days perhaps of the Primal/paleo pariah. For the second year in a row, in fact, paleo was the most Googled diet. And while U.S. News & World Report might wish the “caveman” diet would just go away, it doesn’t appear we’re going anywhere but apparently more mainstream.

And this might feel a little strange for those of us who have been doing it since the time people wondered if we had our heads screwed on straight. Five, ten, fifteen or twenty years is a long time to live with the knowledge that your choices are branded unconventional at best, dangerous and deluded at worst.

To some extent, most of us Primal old-timers probably had to cultivate a certain detachment from other people’s opinions—including those of our own families or perhaps even partners. If those around us were especially judgmental, maybe we eventually identified with a maverick identity. We got used to the eye rolls and well-intentioned (or not) warnings. Maybe with a mix of humor and defiance, we took a little (or a lot) of amusement from them, maybe even a certain renegade bravado even. Know any good Primal/ancestral jokes? That’s what I mean.

To be sure, we adopted these Primal-style behaviors and principles first for our health. They made good solid sense. They worked for us—often when nothing else ever had. But explaining ourselves got old. Over time, the cultural pushback maybe edged us toward identifying with the practices as a community more than if they had simply been run-of-the-mill choices. While our initial intentions were pragmatic, the responses we got pushed us toward a collective “niche” association. Those of us who never saw ourselves as rebellious subversives thumbing our noses at big CW probably at least asserted the role of free thinker.

So, what does it mean when our trailblazing isn’t so blazing anymore? When we’re telling the whole truth, how do we really feel about certain long-standing, dissident ideals mass marketed around us? Does it become less gratifying on some level when the way we paved is suddenly much more populated on certain turns of the path? We might not feel the same self-satisfaction wearing our FiveFingers at the gym, but can we find other elements to appreciate here? Are there maybe some advantages to being more in line with at least a growing subgroup of the status quo?

We can and should take this is a victory of sorts. The messages—or many of them—have reached people. More are experiencing the positive impacts of healthy Primal minded choices. More people are really starting to get it.

And for our part, we may have to hang up the hat of the rebel, but we still get to be the model. We get to identify with and even flout our extraordinary health, the rare vitality and the uncommon sense of equilibrium that comes from living a life in keeping with our fundamental blueprints. We get to demonstrate how it’s done and what’s to gain. We have the opportunity of encouraging others to embrace more of the Primal/ancestral vision for themselves.

We can hang our Primal hats on the positive effect our choices and community have made on more people’s lives. Many of us probably have never considered ourselves proselytizers or ambassadors for the Primal/ancestral movement. And yet your example has indirectly advocated for the choices others are now freer to make. You share by example the bigger story of what Primal living can do—not just in terms of literal physical health—but also for greater well-being, even a more expansive and satisfying good life.

And let’s face it, is it such a bad thing to have more selection and accessibility in certain Primal areas—Primal fare suppliers (including Thrive Market), more barefoot shoe choices, more workout tools, more cookbooks, more Primal-friendly fitness clubs, more restaurant options, more health care providers?

And simultaneously, we can agree that there’s still plenty of work to do on this front. I decided a while ago I wasn’t going to be happy until I’d helped 10 million people get healthier. Perhaps I set the bar too low. Who knows where the end is.

Even within the Primal/paleo community, there’s uncharted territory to explore. Science delivers new developments every day. Research on the human microbiome is unfolding as we speak and promises to teach us so much about our risk for disease and our possibility of better health.

We’re learning so much about performing at elite levels in endurance events in healthier, more Primal ways. (Look for my book, Primal Endurance, due out in 2016!) The list goes on and on, my friends.

The ancestral health movement remains cutting edge, and more attention will mean more resources for its research and publications. I’m looking forward to being a part of all that’s coming. There’s much to learn, much to share and—oh, yes—still so many boundaries to push. I hope you’ll join me.

Thanks for reading, everyone. What’s been your experience with learning about the Primal/paleo/ancestral movement? What and when were your entry points? What are you most enthusiastic about seeing as ancestral health takes it to new levels? Share your thoughts, and have a great end to your week.

The A-to-Z Guide to Leading a Primal Lifestyle

Print this out. Bookmark it. Send it to friends who don’t quite get the Primal thing. Consider this a valuable resource for all-things Primal. It’s a nice, alphabetical encapsulation of what it means to lead a Primal lifestyle. It’s not everything, of course. You can always dig deeper into the details, but this summary gives a high-level look at just about everything.

Without further ado, I present The A-to-Z Guide to Leading a Primal Lifestyle.

Avoid chronic cardio. I spent about half my life running (and later, with triathlons, swimming and cycling) myself into the ground. I thought the more miles I could log, the healthier I’d be. That’s the mindset many people have, and it’s absolutely wrong. Running a ten-miler is different than running a ten-miler every day. We have the capacity to go long distances and even outlast wild animals upon which we’re preying. We don’t have the capacity to do that every single day without consequences to our health. Run long distances if you love it, compete if you love competing, but know the cost it incurs.

Barefoot is best. We’re born barefoot. Kids who are allowed to go barefoot or wear non-constrictive shoes grow up with excellent foot health because their feet grow naturally. They don’t need arch support because they develop their own built-in arches. They have lower rates of flat footedness. And perhaps most importantly, being barefoot allows a person to utilize the vast array of nerves, muscles, and connective tissue to experience the world underneath them—a rich world of which shoe-wearers are mostly ignorant.

Chronic stress is to be avoided. Before the advent of traffic jams, nagging bosses presiding over soul-sucking jobs, credit card debt, and other ceaseless sources of unpleasantness, most sources of stress were punctuated and acute. That’s the environment in which our physiologies, nervous systems, and adrenal responses evolved: one of acute stressors. We simply can’t handle a steady load of stress without suffering, which is why chronic stress is linked to heart disease, hypertension, overeating, and a host of other health conditions.

Ditch grains, refined sugar, and processed seed oils. They’re low in nutrients (and in the case of sugar and oils, completely bereft of them), high in toxins, and represent empty sources of carbohydrates and bad fat. And it’s not just that these foods were unavailable to humans for most of our history. That’s just the jumping off point for the hypothesis. It’s that modern science has identified refined grains, sugar, and seed oils as particularly deleterious to our health.

Expose yourself to stressors. If chronic stress is a historically unprecedented physiological insult that impairs our immune, mental, and physical health, acute stressors train our body to rise up to meet stress and grow stronger. Almost anything can be quantified in terms of stress. Exercise is a stressor. Too much exercise without adequate rest is a chronic stressor, but the right dose of exercise famously increases strength, builds muscle, and improves fitness. Other stressors include anything that takes you out of your comfort zone, that displaces your sense of homeostasis. Cold water (take the plunge), cold weather, learning a new skill from scratch.

Fat is good for you. Decades of health experts and government officials telling us to eat less fat—especially arteryclogging guidesaturated fat—has given us sky high obesity rates. So instead of trimming fat off your steaks, buying non-fat dairy, eating margarine instead of butter, fearing nuts and avocados and olive oil, you’ll have much better luck (and better-tasting meals) embracing healthy, natural fats found in animals, fruits (like coconuts, avocados, and olives), and fish.

Get sun exposure. Spending our days cloistered inside is a historical aberration. We’re meant to be outside, exposed to the sun from time to time. Full spectrum sun exposure promotes the production of vitamin D (a pro hormone responsible for hundreds of important physiological functions and health effects), nitric oxide (which maintains and improves endothelial function and blood flow), and happiness (which is tough to quantify but who doesn’t feel better after being in the sun?). Plus, getting full sunlight in the morning and afternoon helps establish a natural, healthy circadian rhythm. You shouldn’t burn yourself. You don’t need to suntan or “lay out.” But smart, sensible, moderate amounts of sun are far better for your health than avoiding it altogether.

Hunger is normal. A supposed benefit to living in the modern world is that few people go hungry anymore. Even if you’re poor, or heck, even homeless, you can usually fill your belly with adequate calories. But the flip-side of this is that no one’s ever hungry. Most people reside in a state of perpetual snacking. Instead of eating separate meals, they’re consuming a steady drip of food throughout the day. When you allow yourself to go hungry between meals, the food you do eat tastes better (hunger is the best spice). When you (gasp) skip a meal, you kickstart fat-burning and unlock a host of beneficial health effects.

Intensity of training rules. Make your short workouts shorter and more intense and your long workouts longer and easier. Go hard if you’re going to go hard. Go easy if you’re going to go easy. Don’t spend all your time in that middle area where you’re working hard for hours at a time, and you end up getting hurt or overeating or being unable to recover.

Just eat plants and animals. This is really what healthy eating comes down to: eating plants (nuts, berries, leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, herbs and spices, sea vegetables, roots, and tubers) and animals (pasture-raised beef, lamb, pork, bison, ostrich, venison, chicken, and eggs; dairy, particularly grass-fed and fermented dairy; sea animals like wild fish, shellfish, and various other crustaceans). If you do that, and make sure you’re eating the whole animal—offal, skin, bones—and not just muscle meat, you’ll be hard pressed to find a nutritional deficiency.

Keep up with your social relationships. You don’t have to be a social gadfly. You don’t have to be the life of the party or have dozens upon dozens of friends and acquaintances. But it’s important to have people (however many) you can really count on.

Lift heavy things. Strength training isn’t just for gym bros. Gym bros need it, yes, but strength training is absolutely essential for everyone. The elderly and women in particular should lift heavy things because they’re the populations most at risk for osteoporosis and most likely to avoid strength training for fear of injury or “getting too bulky.” Lean muscle mass is the strongest correlate with mortality. As Mark Rippetoe says, stronger people are harder to kill.

Mind your carb intake. Eat the right number of carbs for you, your situation, you training level, your personal physiology, your carb tolerance. For many people, this means eating fewer carbs. For some, it warrants eating more of them.

Nature is your home. We all come from nature. For millions of years, humans and our ancestors lived in forests, prairies, open plains, deserts, along rivers, near beaches, on mountains, in valleys. If you’ve ever gone camping and just felt right at home, that’s because you were home. So go camping, go barefoot in the dirt, hike as often as you can, trail run, gaze at the stars, peer at far-off vistas (don’t just take a photo with your phone and forget about it), go to the beach/desert/snow.

Old age isn’t the end. To be Primal is to age gracefully. It may not make you live past (or even to) a hundred, but by lifting heavy things regularly you can build the lean mass that will keep you vibrant and the strength that will allow you to attack life until you drop. By staying active, you’ll never give your body a chance to settle into old age sedentism. By keeping your mind engaged, getting enough sleep, and eating colorful plants and nutrient-dense animals, you will very possibly stave off the cognitive degeneration we normally associate with old age. Being Primal promotes compression of morbidity. Even if your life isn’t any longer than your pill-popping, walker-using peers, it will almost assuredly be better.

Play more. Adult humans are funny creatures. We complain about the drudgery of our jobs, the lack of “fun” in our lives, that there’s “nothing to do” on the weekends, yet we squander a characteristic intrinsic to humans and fairly unique in the animal kingdom: our ability to play. Mammals play, but many of them stop once they reach adulthood. Human adults stop playing, too, but they don’t have to. Play (physical, mental, whatever’s enjoyable) keeps us young and makes life worth living. Plus, it’s just fun. And that’s everything.

Question everything. I created the Primal Blueprint only because I began questioning conventional wisdom. And I’ve never stopped questioning what I or others believe because I consider it essential to this kind of life. Examine your biases. Question your assumptions. Accept nothing less.

Run really fast sometimes. Folks often say that humans aren’t really great sprinters. We can’t outrun most wild animals in a flat-out foot race. But it’s undeniable that sprinting is, pound for pound, the best use of your training time if brevity is the concern. The science confirms this. It boosts fat burning, increases both short-distance and long-distance cardiovascular fitness, builds strength in a fraction of the time it’d take to achieve it through other means. If I can’t do anything else, if I can’t get to the gym or I only have a few minutes to spare, I sprint. Always. I find a steep hill and run up it as fast I can.

Sit less. It’s not enough to exercise 3-5 times a week, go on long hikes when you get the opportunity, and actively commute to work on a bike. Every hour you spend sitting has metabolic and longterm consequences. Study after study has found strong connections between time spent sitting and all-cause mortality—even controlling for exercise.

Take it easy. It’s a misconception that hunter-gatherers work harder than anyone else. Experts who have studied modern hunter-gatherer societies estimate that most members of these communities spend about 3-5 hours a day “working”. If you want to be like Grok, make sure you get plenty of leisure time.

Use your mind. The human brain has conquered the planet, pondered the great mysteries of our universe, and invented the iPhone. It’s a real shame to squander it. Read books. Write books. Engage in lively, stimulating conversations. Think deeply. Study philosophy, science, history. Learn another language. Create something. Play an instrument.

Visit the moment. The past is gone. The future isn’t here yet. But right now? Right here? The present moment is all we have. It’s all we’ll ever have, so we’d better pay attention to it or we’ll miss out on our entire lives.

Walk a lot. Humans are obligate walkers. It’s simply what we do best. And though the demands of modern life—jobs, commutes, and home lives we spend sitting for hours and hours—have turned us into elective sitters, the human body responds remarkably well to lots of slow movement throughout the day. I’m not saying you should quit your comfy job to became a wandering vagrant. Just find a balance between all that sitting and all that walking. Take hikes, park far away, walk to lunch, take five minute walking breaks every hour, go for an evening stroll after dinner—that kind of thing.

X-rays are Primal. Just because something wasn’t available to our paleolithic ancestors doesn’t mean it’s dangerous, or unhealthy, or undesirable. Humans are above all else tool users. Modern technology, whether smartphones, cars, computers, Twitter, or medical diagnostic imaging, can help us be healthier, happier, and arguably more Primal. We needn’t shun it. And modern science ultimately allows us to test our hypotheses regarding ancestral ways of living.

You’re the boss. You’re reading this blog and ostensibly paying attention to the words I write, but they’re just that: words for your consideration. They aren’t the law (even though I write about things called Primal Laws). They are suggestions. You decide what happens and, more importantly, how to respond to what happens. It’s your choice to make.

Zs are valuable quarry. That’s an awkward way of saying “prioritize sleep.” Without sleep, we can’t recover from our workouts. We can’t consolidate memories or integrate new skills we’ve just learned. Without sleep, our health suffers. Our resistance to stress decreases, our attraction to junk food increases, and our insulin sensitivity plummets. Poor sleep is associated with a host of health issues, like cancer, diabetes and obesity. Better catch your Zs (napping helps).

That about does it, folks. Have I missed any major topics? Let me know in the comment board! Thanks for reading.

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

The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss

I get a lot of emails about weight loss plateaus. I’ve covered them in Dear Mark after Dear Mark. I’ve personally written countless emails to readers about beating a stall. Friends, colleagues, and peers frequently come to me for assistance with their slowed weight loss. If you type “weight loss p” into Google, the first autofill suggestion is “plateau.” Not “plan” or “program.” Clearly, weight loss stalls are a big issue for people. But they’re also usually inevitable. On any diet, weight loss stalls just happen. Our bodies are always chasing homeostasis, and once we get comfortable at a new weight, it can be hard to progress any further without making major changes to our diet and lifestyle.

Perhaps surprisingly, Primal folks arguably have it even harder because the initial weight loss comes so easily, making those little slowdowns even more conspicuous. We notice them. We grow desperate for solutions, for a return to the easy weight loss. And so we just do exactly what worked before, only harder. We go even lower carb. We exercise six days a week instead of four, even if it means losing an hour or two of sleep. We eat even more fat and we reduce protein to make room for it. And sometimes, this works. But not always. What worked before won’t necessarily continue working.

That’s the thing: weight loss is easy until it’s not. And when what used to work no longer seems to, we have to change course. How do we know which course to take? How do we avoid going in the wrong direction, trying something new and ending up worse off than when we started?

This is why weight loss ultimately fails people. It’s why people regain weight after losing it. It’s why we all have perpetually dieting friends who can’t lose weight no matter what they do. Most people simply don’t know what the heck they’re doing, so even if they get lucky and stumble into an effective weight loss plan, once that plan stops working they’re out of luck.

So rather than continue to answer individual queries (which I’ll continue to do when warranted, of course, so keep those coming), I decided to write a timeless resource for easy dissemination to interested parties.

It’s out. It’s been available. A few months ago, I quietly released an eBook to Primal Blueprint newsletter subscribers. It’s The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss, and the responses from subscribers have been hugely positive.

What is it?

In case the name doesn’t give it away, it’s a simple framework for tackling weight loss plateaus and slowdowns. The guide explains the 23 weight loss stumbling blocks I see most frequently trip people up (and how to overcome each one), describes the eight most common weight loss plateau archetypes (and how to figure out which one you are), and shows you how to use the information from the previous two sections to construct a weight loss plan that will work for you.

Rather than speak in generalities, the eBook explains exactly why most people have trouble losing weight. Many of the solutions are self-evident, consisting of identifying the stumbling block and then doing the opposite. For these, the power lies in identifying them. But you’ll also get prescriptive advice for overcoming the roadblocks whose solutions aren’t so intuitive.

To receive The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss, subscribe to the PrimalBlueprint.com newsletter. The PB newsletter is different from the Mark’s Daily Apple newsletter. In addition to the Troubleshooting Weight Loss guide, subscribers periodically receive important emails pertaining to crucial Primal topics like weight loss, gut health, inflammation reduction, and stress management. When we release new products, subscribers are the first to hear about them. And they also frequently get special discounts and offers that aren’t available anywhere else.

There are many good reasons to sign up for the Primal Blueprint newsletter. The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to Troubleshooting Weight Loss is just the latest.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope to see you in the newsletter!

Dear Mark: Histamine Intolerance

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering one question. But it’s a doozy: histamine intolerance and what to do about it. Now, this is a huge question. As you’ll read below, there are numerous causes, many overlapping. There’s no easy fix. There may not even be a hard fix. However, we can almost certainly improve the situation. In today’s post, I offer Laura my take on what to do about histamine intolerance based on my reading of the available literature. It’s not perfect, mind you. It’s complex and often seemingly contradictory. But that’s how it is with the human body, isn’t it?

Let’s go:

Hi Mark,

I hope you can one day shed some light on histamine intolerance. I am extremely sensitive to histamine and also found out that I am mutated for the DAO enzyme, making my problem even worse. I’ve found it very hard to eat primally, since most of the foods promoted like bacon, sausage, cheese, wine, onions, lemons, vinegar, keifer/kombucha/kimchi, bone broth, and a lot of veggies and fruit, etc., all either contain high histamine or induce mast cells to release histamine, causing a huge reaction. I’m sure other people in the primal community are suffering from this as well and would also appreciate any insight you might have.

THANK YOU!!

Laura

Great question, Laura.

Just so everyone knows, histamine isn’t “bad.” It’s a normal biochemical produced by immune cells during certain immune responses that produces some unpleasant but necessary effects. The stuffy nose we get during seasonal allergies is histamine’s most famous product, but it’s also involved in bronchoconstriction, hives, the immune response to bug bites and stings, alterations in blood pressure, and vasodilation. Histamine also promotes gastric acid secretion and acts as a neurotransmitter that can increase and inhibit the release of other neurotransmitters. Histamine is only bad when your body can’t break it down fast enough or you simply make too much.

Why might a person make too much histamine?

Bad gut bacteria: Many gut bacteria produce histamine themselves. If these histamine-producing strains are overrepresented in your gut, you may suffer negative symptoms from any extra histamine.

Mast cell activation syndrome: Mast cells are immune cells that produce histamine as part of the immune response. In the recently-identified-but-still-relatively-mysterious mast cell activation syndrome, a person’s mast cells release excessive amounts of histamine.

Why might a person be unable to break down histamine?

Bad gut bacteria: Many gut bacteria also degrade histamine. A dearth of these histamine-degrading strains in the gut may lead to impaired histamine degradation and increased histamine load.

Diamine oxidase deficiency: Some histamine intolerance stems from a simple deficiency in diamine oxidase, the enzyme that breaks down histamine in the body. Without adequate diamine oxidase, histamine builds up and causes problems where it shouldn’t.

HNMT deficiency: We produce another histamine-degrading enzyme called HNMT, or histamine N-methyltransferase. HNMT deficiency is largely genetic, as various HNMT polymorphisms determine endogenous histamine levels.

A Primal lifestyle is a good idea, but it’s not everything. And because many of our favorite Primal foods are high in histamine or, as you mention, induce the mast cells to release it, when you can’t break down histamine effectively, even eating cherished Primal fare can produce negative symptoms. These foods include but are not limited to:

Anything fermented: pickles, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, cheese, yogurt, fish sauce, kombucha, wine, vinegar.

Anything cured: salami, bacon, cold cuts, sausage, ham.

The longer a food is exposed to bacteria or yeasts (even recently cooked food sitting out, IOW leftovers), the more time those microbes have to convert the amino acid histidine present in foods to histamine.

Many slow cooked foods, like bone broth, also increase histamine content and can be problematic in sensitive individuals. For a complete list, check out Chris Kresser’s post on histamine-rich foods (and prepare to be sad). They won’t trigger everyone with histamine intolerance, but it helps to know the potential offenders.

What can you do except avoid histamine-rich or histamine-producing foods forever?

Focus on gut health. I may sound like a broken record, but the gut may be everything when it comes to histamine tolerance. Certain probiotics are histamine-producing (which may worsen your symptoms), histamine-neutral (which will have no direct effect), or histamine-degrading (which should improve your symptoms). If the histamine-producing ones colonize your gut, that’s bad news.

Among the histamine-producing, foremost are Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus, all of which are found in most yogurts. Avoid those. That’s why fermented dairy is a no-go for most people with histamine intolerance.
Take a probiotic that contains histamine-degrading strains, like Lactobacillus plantarum (my own probiotic supplement is one example). Soil-based organisms may also reduce histamine.
Eat prebiotic fibers and resistant starch. When choosing a resistant starch source, consider going with unripened green bananas (great frozen in smoothies, not so great as straight-up snacks) and/or cooked and cooled potatoes over raw potato starch. Raw potato starch may aggravate your symptoms, as potato lectins can induce mast cells to release histamine.

Check your intake of nutrients, foods, and supplements that support histamine metabolism and tolerance. Will they cure you? No, unless a frank deficiency in said nutrient is the proximate cause of your histamine intolerance. Might they make you feel better in the short term (which is incredibly important and shouldn’t be discounted)? Yes.

Selenium has been shown to reduce mast cell activation and attenuate allergic symptoms.
Quercetin, found in capers, apples, citrus, onions, and pretty much every fruit and vegetable, is a potent inhibitor of mast cell activation and histamine release. Supplements are widely available.
Vitamin C can regulate mast cell activity. Many histamine intolerance supplements (like quercetin) will often come with vitamin C.
Stinging nettle can reduce the amount of histamine the body produces in response to an allergen. In one study, almost half of subjects found stinging nettle to be as effective as over the counter anti-histamine drugs.
ECGC, the primary catechin in green tea, also inhibits mast cell activation. You can drink green tea or take supplements.
Diamine oxidase is the enzyme that actually breaks down histamine in the body, and it’s available in supplemental form.
Common antihistamines like Claritin are fairly well-tolerated, too.

Support the liver. As HNMT (the other enzyme that nullifies histamine) activity takes place in the liver, a healthy liver is crucial for histamine intolerance.

Avoid oxidized PUFAs (refined seed oils, bad restaurant food, fried foods). Eat healthy monounsaturated fats and saturated fat instead.
Avoid excess sugar, especially refined sugar, and carbohydrates.
Eat colorful fruits and vegetables rich in polyphenols.
Exercise regularly and stay physically active throughout the day. Deplete your glycogen regularly, as a liver with fully-stocked glycogen stores cannot store incoming glucose/fructose and must convert and store it as fat.

Avoid alcohol. Alcohol is a major DAO inhibitor, making red wine a double whammy for the histamine intolerant.

Watch stress. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulates mast cells to release histamine. But CRH also releases cortisol, which inhibits histamine secretion. In normal circumstances, with acute, short-lived stress, this works to oppose excessive histamine. In chronic stress, things change. We become resistant to stress hormones, and cortisol loses a bit of its histamine-inhibiting luster. We’re releasing massive amounts of histamine-stimulating CRH, but the cortisol is unable to stem the tide. So: watch stress. Avoid it, limit it, mitigate it, or rethink it.

Maintain optimal sleep hygiene. The activity of mast cells adhere to one’s circadian rhythm, so getting inadequate light during the day, excessive light at night, going to bed too late, and neglecting one’s circadian hygiene in general will likely perturb histamine tolerance.

It’s a messy story with too many threads to easily follow, but you can try a few things. Let me know how things go for you, Laura. And everyone else, let’s hear about your experiences with histamine intolerance down below. What worked? What didn’t? What else should Laura try?

Thanks for reading, all!

Weekend Link Love – Edition 368

We’ve got a brand new book out! It’s called Fruit Belly. Grab a copy from Amazon.com by Oct. 6 and get three free gifts. Learn all about the book and the special offer here.

You could be the winner of a $1000 primal shopping spree. Enter to win by Oct. 7.

Research of the Week

Self-control saps memory juice.

When it comes to the U.S. Clean Air Act and Safe Water Act, “compared with private firms, governments violate these laws significantly more frequently and are less likely to be penalized for violations.”

Low volume, high intensity loading might be able to regenerate degenerated discs in the back.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 87: Brad Kearns and Mark Sisson: Brad and I chat about longevity, peak performance, how to balance the two, whether achieving that balance is even possible, the future of endurance athletics and CrossFit, the challenge of having a young guy’s competitive intensity inside a 62-year-old’s body, and much more. You don’t want to miss this one. It was a lot of fun.

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.

9 Ways to Restart Your Primal Lifestyle
Eating a Super-Clean, Plant-Heavy Whole Foods Diet? You Might Have Fruit Belly!

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

Sure, giving everyone low-calorie leaves instead of meat will definitely solve world hunger.

Sweat-shaming is apparently a thing now.

Media, Schmedia

NBA players will soon start using wearable tech to track fatigue and predict injuries.

Americans eat all day long.

Australian TV investigates interval training.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, saturated fat is no longer the real enemy.

Is the science behind the US dietary guidelines actually scientific?

Everything Else

Need a good knife? Go ahead and pledge $55 to this Kickstarter. I got a sample from them, and it’s the best knife I’ve ever used.

George Costanza’s napping desk is finally a reality, thanks to a Greek design firm.

Crows pay close attention to (and learn from) other crows’ deaths.

A company is coating non-caloric nanoparticles in sucrose to create a new sugar substitute.

Most Finnish kindergarteners are illiterate by design.

People are embracing full-fat foods. We’re winning.

Jeremy Bentham’s prison cooking (incarceration not required).

It’s like Yelp, but for people. Sweet fancy Moses.

I would be surprised if Portland, Brooklyn, and SF didn’t have luxury backyard chicken daycare.

Recipe Corner

Butternut squash breakfast sausage. Sorry, vegetarians: it’s still got meat in it.
This avocado, kale, and hearts of palm dip is pretty much a meal on its own.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 6 – Oct 12)

How to Outsource Your Physical Activity – Because no one wants to be sweat-shamed.
Have You Checked Your Heart Rate Variability Lately? – The surprising science of an underrated biomarker.

Comment of the Week

Neat, will email this to my yogi friends who are cyclically bloated.

– Living in Malibu, I’ve got more than a few of these.