Mark Sisson's Blog, page 258

The Greatest Piece of Exercise Equipment Ever Invented

Not the barbell. Not the bicycle. Not the rower, the Airdyne, not the pullup bar. I’m talking about the Smith Machine, of course, specifically the squats and curls you can do within its elite confines.

Just kidding. It’s the Versaclimber, folks: the most brutally effective piece of fitness equipment you’ll ever use (but probably haven’t).

Most people don’t know about it because no one talks about it, few use it, and gyms don’t stock more than one if you’re lucky. Is this because it’s a useless piece of machinery? No. The Versaclimber is almost too good, too effective, too intense an experience for most people. The few that have used it almost invariably quit because it’s so hard. And gyms don’t have many because they can’t convince people to use it, to actually go all out like they’ve never gone all out before.

The Versaclimber and I go way back. Back in 1992, I actually set the (unofficial) world record for the mile climb on one, doing 5,280 feet in 22:40, a 232 feet per minute average. The craziest thing about that mile was that I wore a heart rate monitor and held 186 beats per minute for the entire ride. To put that into perspective, by then I was in my late thirt and had already had a full career as an elite endurance athlete (both marathons and triathlons), yet I’d never held my heart rate that high for that long. Nor since.

And in the last year, I’ve rediscovered it after a (too) long absence. Man, have I been missing out.

I’ve always said it’s the greatest piece of cardio equipment ever devised. I can think of nothing that gets your heart rate higher quicker. And it does so with very little unneeded stress or pounding on the joints. You are using both lower and upper body and since you’re upright, the heart is having to pump a bit more uphill to feed the arms. It’s a true total body workout — arms, trunk muscles, legs, glutes, and cardiovascular system are all called upon. Best of all, the work is spread out over the body, so you’re able to tax your entire system to a greater extent than if you were generating all the power with, say, just the legs (on a bike or treadmill).

You can adjust the stride length to make it so that you torch your glutes or, if you prefer, focus on the quads and calves. You can focus on the upper body, really stretching it out so every stride is like a single-armed supported pullup. In my opinion, that makes this the premium full-body glycogen depletion tool. Anyone interested in really emptying their reserves (say, a cyclic ketogenic dieter preparing for a refeed) should hop on the Versaclimber for a depletion workout; no muscle group gets passed over on these things.

How do you use a Versaclimber?

It’s one of the more intuitive cardio machines. Step with the left leg as you pull with the left arm, then switch. (Or do “cross crawl” climbing pattern depending on which model you have access to and which pattern you prefer.) Like the stationary bike, it’s hard to mess up on the Versaclimber.

Today I primarily use it for intense intervals, doing a minute hard with a two minute rest for six rounds – or doing 1,000 feet hard with a four minute rest for three or four rounds. On the tougher ones, I’m getting my heart rate up to 170 and holding it there, well beyond my 61 year old theoretical max of 159. Occasionally, I will just get on and hold a steady pace for 3-4,000 feet as a time-trial or “tempo” workout.

There are some other options, too:

Reverse tabatas: 10 second all-out sprint, 20 second active rest for 8 rounds.

Tabatas (if you’re game): 20 second all-out sprint, 10 second rest for 8 rounds.

Sprint snacks: 5 seconds on, 5 seconds off for as long as you can.

Is it just a Stairmaster?

No, emphatically. Stairmasters are cool, but the steps move on their own and you have to keep up. With the Versaclimber, you move the steps; they wait for you to initiate the movement. You have to be motivated, then, to train on this machine. You can’t just go through the motions because you are creating the motion.

My Versaclimber is fixed resistance, but models with adjustable resistance exist. I find the fixed resistance to be plenty hard, and I’m using it mostly for the cardiovascular benefits/sprinting, so I’m not looking for a strength session. Your mileage may vary. You could always wear a weight vest, I suppose.

This is such a ball-buster that I don’t do it more than once a week, sometimes once every two weeks. I still sprint, but the Versaclimber has replaced some of them. It’s just too “gentle” on the joints while being absolute hell on the muscles (all of them) and cardiovascular system to ignore. If you’re at all leery about running all-out sprints, or you have confirmed injuries that sprinting exacerbates, this might be the thing for you. Like any piece of cardio equipment, it’s a tool in your arsenal that can be used to increase fitness when deployed appropriately — but can also be abused in a chronic cardio sort of way, which I have seen happen. I still wear a heart monitor when I use a Versaclimber and can sometimes scare myself at how hard I can work when I choose to. I think that’s a good thing, provided I am attuned to my level of fitness and recovery. I’d recommend that anyone who pushes the limit on the Versaclimber also wear a heart rate monitor if they aren’t completely in tune with their body’s limits and recovery needs, just to be safe.

I so believe in the efficiency and effectiveness of the Versaclimber — when used appropriately, not to excess — that I invested in a gym in L.A. called Sirens and Titans that offers group workouts using the Versaclimber that put other group cardio classes to shame. I’ve gone through a couple of them and, well, I try to find excuses not to go back.

If you can find a Versaclimber at your gym, give it a go. If you find one cheap on Craigslist, or you have the money to spend on a brand new one, pick one up. I have one in my home, which the good folks at Heart Rate Inc who make the machines were kind enough to give me. Since it’s vertical, it actually doesn’t take up much space — about four feet by four feet. You can easily stick one in a corner without it sticking out too badly. Just make sure you use it to train, not hang clothes!

So let’s hear from all of you. Anyone used a Versaclimber? If you haven’t you really should. I’d love to hear all about your experiences with the machine.

Thanks for reading, everyone.

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The Definitive Guide to Napping

In most Western nations, napping is a sign of weakness. Those who do it — or, even worse, need it — are slothful wastes of resources who can’t hack it in the “real world.” They lack grit, determination, and stick-to-itiveness. They’re getting old. Why nap when you can put in more hours, be more productive, make (your employer) more money? Naps are for babies and senior citizens and other non-productive members of society. They simply aren’t tolerated in able-bodied adults.

Yeah: as much as people are willing to pay lip service to the importance of a solid eight hours every night (actually sleeping that many hours is another thing entirely), most do not seriously entertain the value of napping. That’s a real mistake, because not only do humans have a long and storied tradition of snoozing in the middle of the day, there are also huge benefits to naps. Far from being anti-productivity wastes of time, a well-timed nap can boost cognitive function, improve work output, and make you healthier, happier, and a better employee (and person).

We are time-strapped to a historically unprecedented extent. The vast majority of available evidence suggests that our hunter-gatherer ancestors enjoyed ample amounts of leisure time. Now, extant hunter-gatherer groups aren’t perfect representations of prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups on every aspect of diet and lifestyle, but I’d argue they offer illustrative examples of ancestral leisure time. The ones who’ve survived till now have been pushed off ancestral lands onto marginalized ones, often with fewer resources and requiring greater time commitments for the same return. Yet even people like the Hadza of Tanzania “work” only about four hours a day. The rest is leisure time. And midday 1-2 hour naps to escape the sun’s peak heat are common.

The midday nap is a constant through many different human cultures. In Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines, you’ve got the siesta. Bangladesh has bhat-ghum, or “rice sleep.” The Greeks, Italians, , and even Chinese Ikea-goers enjoy a culture of napping. And though they aren’t ingrained into the culture, both Germans and Brits do a fair amount of napping on the sly. It’s not just culture and warm environments and big lunchtime meals provoking naps, though. Most people experience an energy dip in the afternoon, between 1 and 4 PM. This is totally normal. According to sleep researchers, it’s also the perfect time for a nap.

Benefits of Napping

Evidence shows that indulging this biological imperative when it arises is probably a good idea:

Napping has been shown to help stave off jet lag.
A 20-minute nap can improve “subjective sleepiness, performance level, and self-confidence.”
A quick nap can be enough to overcome the negative effects of sleep deprivation on learning and memory.
A study in Greek adults found that an afternoon nap was associated with improved heart health and reduced cardiovascular events.
A mere 26 minute nap can boost performance by 34%.
An afternoon nap improves post lunch “cognitive flexibility,” or the ability to multi-task.
Napping reduces stress, particularly the stress caused by sleep restriction.
Napping restores immune function impaired by sleep restriction.

Different Types of Naps
The one-second hypnagogic nap.

You know that half-awake, half-dreaming mindscape you drift through as you begin to doze? That place where strange figures from your past call to you, where you imagine tripping or falling or catching an arrow to the face and jerk awake? That’s hypnagogia. It marks the transition from waking to sleep, and icons as diverse as Einstein and Salvador Dali deliberately spent a considerable amount of time there cultivating their craft, finding inspiration, and working through problems. Dali’s method was to nap sitting up in a chair while holding a coin between two fingers poised above a ceramic dish. When he fell asleep, the coin would drop onto the plate, the clatter waking him after just a second or two. But as anyone who’s dreamed knows, a second in “real time” can last an eternity in sleep time — long enough to come up with a creative solution to a vexing problem.

Good for creatives, artists, problem solvers, and, apparently, theoretical physicists.

The ultra-short 6-minute nap.

If you can manage to fall asleep fast enough and wake up on time, you can reap the memory-boosting benefits of the six-minute nap. Yes, six minutes. Don’t you dare sleep for seven, though.

Good for people with no time at all, like first year medical residents.

The ten-minute nap.

A recent study tested the effects of 5, 10, 20, and 30 minute naps on sleep latency, subjective sleepiness, fatigue, vigor, and cognitive performance. The 5-minute nap was pretty useless, the 20-minute nap produced benefits 35 minutes after waking, the 30-minute nap produced immediate post-nap grogginess and benefits that took over an hour to emerge, while the 10-minute nap was the sweet spot. Subjects who napped for ten minutes enjoyed immediate boosts to all markers.

Good for people interested in the minimum effective dose.

The 25.8 minute nap.

It sounds oddly specific, but that’s the average time pilots in a NASA study spent napping in-flight. They fell asleep in, on average, 5.6 minutes, experienced no negative effects on nighttime sleep patterns, had fewer instances of “micro-sleep” (the dangerous and frightening phenomenon of falling asleep while doing something that normally precludes sleep, like driving or flying), improved their reaction time, and were able to maintain their duties and responsibilities. If pilots can nap on the job for almost half an hour without incurring disaster, I think you can get away with it. Of course, 25.8 minutes isn’t optimal for everyone; that was just the average napping duration.

Good for doctors and nurses working long shifts in the ER and people with 40 minutes to spare (the block of time allotted to napping pilots in the study).

The power nap.

It’s a shame that we feel the need to hack and optimize something so pleasant and luxurious as a midday nap, but that’s the world in which we live. If people simply can’t spare the time but still need the extra boost to cognition, memory, and wakefulness, the power nap — which can range from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on who you ask — is the ticket.

Good for people working demanding, high-stress jobs or studying for finals.

The 60-minute power nap.

Sleeping for 60 minutes means reaching slow wave sleep and risking a bit of sleep inertia upon waking, but it can also boost alertness and performance for up to ten hours.

Good for people who know how to overcome sleep inertia (see below).

The sleep cycle nap.

Going the full 90-120 minutes allows you to wake up after leaving slow wave sleep, either during or right after REM sleep. This means you’ve essentially finished a sleep cycle and minimized the risk of sleep inertia. Furthermore, full sleep cycle naps that include REM sleep boost creativity and outperform caffeine on some measures.

Good for people with the time to spare and a need/desire to think different.

When to Take a Nap

Research suggests anywhere between 1 and 4 PM is best, but only because that’s when most afternoon slumps occur. Just take a nap when you get a little sleepy. In my experience, however, it’s ideal to take a nap when you want one and feel like you could use it, not when you absolutely need one. The distinction is subtle but important. Avoid the emergency nap, the nap that cannot be reasoned with, the nap that inserts itself in inopportune situations (the drive home, a meeting). Don’t get to that point if it can be avoided.

Knowing your chronotype helps determine the optimal nap time, too. Morning people will do better in the earlier afternoon (1-ish) and night owls are better served with later naps (3-4-ish).

To be safe, avoid naps after 4 in the afternoon. That’s not a nap, it’s an early bedtime.

How to Do It

If you need to convince your employer that naps are a good investment, read this older post. Together with today’s Definitive Guide to Napping, you should be able to sway them.

Lie down. You’ll fall asleep faster than if you were sitting up, and the sleep you’ll get lying down is superior.

Darken the room. Draw the blinds, close the door, wear an eye shield if it helps.

Nap outside. My favorite place to nap is outside. If you can swing it, grab a shady spot under a tree, in some soft grass, or maybe swaying in a hammock. The light doesn’t seem to bother me, for whatever reason (though I’m certainly not napping in full sun).

Go someplace quiet. Loud noises are a sleep deterrence.

Quiet the mind. Count your breath, sheep jumping over the fence, recite a mantra. Guided meditations can also help.

How to Avoid Post-Nap Sleep Inertia

Sleep inertia: it’s a terrible feeling, waking up in a mild panic as it dawns on you that there’s still work to be done and responsibilities to fulfill. You’re groggy, you’re confused, you can’t think straight, you just want to go back to sleep, but it’s 2 PM and you have a few hours left in the workday. You’d probably be better off not napping at all if you’re just going to end up sleepier with worse performance, right? Here are some ways to avoid it.

Get some bright light immediately after waking and splash some water on your face. This combo alleviates post-nap inertia. Either alone should work, too.

Make it a caffeine nap. Drink a small cup of coffee right before you hunker down for the nap. As long as you stick to a 20-30 minute schedule, you’ll be waking up right as the caffeine takes effect.

Just have some caffeine. If you miss the boat for the caffeine nap, having a little caffeine (100 mg in one study, about a cup of coffee) minimizes sleep inertia.

Avoid 40-60 minute long naps. This is where you start hitting slow wave sleep, which makes for a rough wakeup and extended sleep inertia. Either go short (30 minutes or less) or long (75-90 minutes). Avoid the middle ground.

Who Should Take Naps

Everyone. I’m serious, folks. Very few of us get the amount of high quality sleep we need to function optimally. But here, in case you don’t believe me, run a little nap test:

Lie down somewhere quiet and dark and calm in the afternoon.

Close your eyes.

Count your breaths (or sheep, or whatever you prefer).

If you find yourself drifting off, or you actually end up falling asleep, congratulations: you should nap.

Napping is one of those things we tell ourselves we need to incorporate into our lives, yet it so easily falls by the wayside. I hope today’s post has convinced you naps deserve a place in your Primal life — because they definitely do.

Let’s hear from you folks. Do you nap on a regular basis? What’s your favorite type of nap? Duration?

Tell me all about it down below, and thanks for reading!

Dear Mark: Balancing Strength with Military Conditioning; Sitting in a Squat Position

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering two questions from readers. First comes from William, an officer in the Navy who likes lifting heavy but also needs to score well on the physical fitness assessment, which involves a 1.5 mile run, pushups, and pullups. His taste for basic 5×5 strength work has left his running performance lacking. What can he do to improve the run without eating into his strength numbers? After that, I explore whether sitting on a footstool or medicine mall in the squat position is better than just sitting in normal chair.

Let’s go:

Dear Mark,

I really enjoy your blog; you’ve exposed me to a lot of research and information that convinced me to switch to a primal eating style about 4 years ago. Thank you!

I’m a US Naval Officer, which means that I need to maintain a high level of physical fitness. I’m in good shape thanks to my diet and some experience weight lifting, but I’m not really satisfied with my exercise routine. I’ve been doing the Strong Lifts 5×5 system, which has made me stronger in all lifts (Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Rows, Pull-ups and Dips), but I feel like the intensity of this lifting routine has decreased my ability to do the type of cardio I need to get an outstanding cardio score on my PFA (run time around 9:30 for 1.5 miles. I can still score in the 9s for 1.5 miles, but it’s not nearly as easy as it used to be…I think my worry is that I have a focused lifting routine that is fairly effective, but I’m not effectively training cardio.

So, I was hoping you might have a suggestion for a workout routine that includes more push-ups and pull-ups to improve my strength scores, as well as cardio to maximize my run times. Part of my concern is ensuring that I maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of my workouts so that I can maintain my strength (especially around a busy work schedule). I’m not looking to negate what I’ve gained by running too much, and I definitely want to avoid the perils of chronic cardio.

Thank you for your time and support!

All the best,

William

Great question, William.

I’d definitely recommend dropping the StrongLifts program. As you mention, it’s just such a nasty combination of intensity and volume. It’s great at making you strong, but it’s hard to improve other aspects of your fitness while you’re on it. There’s just not much left over at the end of the week.

If you’re interested in sticking with the basic heavy lifts, I’m a big fan of the 70’s Big Strength and Conditioning program (PDF). It’s got a few similarities to StrongLifts, namely the focus on the big lifts — squats, deadlifts, power cleans, overhead presses, pullups, dips, bench presses. But instead of 5 sets of 5 reps of each, 70’s Big prescribes 3 sets of 5 reps for squats and presses, 5 sets of 3 reps for the power clean, 1 set of 5 reps for deadlifts (since they’re so demanding if you go all out), and 3 sets of as many reps as possible for pullups and dips.

The format is different, too.

Mondays, you squat, press, and do pullups (or chinups, if you prefer).

Tuesdays are power cleans and dips, followed by a conditioning workout. Conditioning workouts in this program last between 6 and 10 minutes, consisting of brief but intense efforts. Think hills sprints, sled drags, any of the conditioning workouts posted on this blog. They could also be mile or 1.5 mile runs to prepare you.

Wednesdays are off days. Use these to work on skills (like practicing for a sport) and just have fun (play games, mess around on the slackline, gather pals for some Ultimate Frisbee, go for a hike, that kind of thing).

Thursdays are squats, bench press, and dips.

Fridays are deadlifts and pullups followed by conditioning.

Saturday and Sunday, just do something. Throw another conditioning workout, maybe work on your 1.5 mile time, play some more, hike again, garden — whatever. But don’t go too hard.

This plan is nice because it’s spread throughout the week, so no single day is awful. You’re not deadlifting and squatting and pressing on the same day. You’re not squatting three times a week. You don’t really dread your workouts, so you’re more likely to actually do them.

Another option is to focus on the stuff you need to improve and fit the “non-essential” lifts where and when you can. If you have access to pullup bars (or anything overhead that you can grab and use as a pullup bar) throughout the day, try the “grease the groove” method. That involves doing pullups as often as possible, using short sets and never going to failure, or even approaching it. You could do 50-75-100 pullups throughout the day in sets of 1-3 over the course of 12 hours, just kind of getting a few reps in when you can. They never feel “hard” and you’re not stressing your body much but you’re still accruing the work and getting stronger and more comfortable with the movements. This works for pullups, too; just use slightly higher rep counts but stay away from failure.

Twice a week, go for a run. Improve that 1.5 mile time.

Do something short and intense once a week. Maybe hill sprints or intervals on a bike. Tabata kettlebell swings.

Lift twice a week. Squats and bench press/dips (weighted if need be) one day, deadlifts and overhead press the next. You’ll always be doing pullups and pushups, remember, so there’s probably no need to focus on those. Don’t worry about the reduced volume. You’ll maintain your strength and even get stronger if you work hard enough.

Oh, and thanks for your service (and patronage).

Hi Mark,

I had a quick question for you. We’ve all heard about the dangers of sitting. Obviously learning to love the squat as a resting position is best, and I try to spend 10 minutes a day in a full squat. What I was wondering, however, is if it’s more beneficial to sit in a full squat position than to sit in our typical 90 degree chair or couch position? I often find myself using a medicine ball or a footstool to sit in a squat stance when I’m watching TV or doing work on my laptop. Is this actually any less harmful than just sitting in a chair, or am I simply deluding myself? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do!

Best,

Kris

I suspect it’s not much better, but let’s go through the various issues with sitting and see if your full squat method counteracts them. That will give us a better idea than just relying on a hunch.

In a normal chair, your back rests against the back rest; your trunk musculature (the “core”) does absolutely no work. If the “full squat chair” you’re using is a stool or medicine ball without a back rest, your trunk is doing some work. Better.

In a normal chair, the rest of your body weight is supported by the seat; your glutes and all the other supporting musculature are completely inactive. When squatting with your butt on a stool, your weight is still supported by the stool, not your muscles. Just as bad.

Energy expenditure drops when you sit in a chair, mostly because your body is at complete and utter rest. If you’re sitting in a much lower chair, you’re still not doing much, except for the modicum of work your trunk muscles perform to keep you upright. A little better (but not really).

Sitting depresses the activity of muscle lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme necessary for proper regulation of fat metabolism, triglyceride formation, and entry of fatty acids into adipose tissue (PDF). This is caused by muscle inactivity, so your full-supported deep squat stool sit won’t be any better. Just as bad.

Sitting in a normal chair is basically like sitting in a parallel squat position, with a shortened and progressively tighter hip. Sitting in a shorter chair that makes you sit in a deep squat position probably isn’t much better. And since it places your hip in deep — yet passive — flexion, you might end up with even tighter hip flexors than you would sitting in a normal chair. Just as bad and possibly worse.

I don’t know, to be honest, and you can certainly try, but I don’t think it will be much better. The backlessness of the ball or footstool is helpful, though. Just try to find something that lets your knees lie below your hips, like a backless bar stool or the Locus Seat from Focal Upright (which I use and love).

Good luck and tell me how it goes.

Thanks for reading, everyone. If anyone else out there has additional input for today’s questions, by all means toss it in down below!

Have a great week.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 352

Primal Kitchen: Bringing uncompromisingly delicious, high quality, nutrient dense foods to cities everywhere. I’m talking about Primal restaurants across the country. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s a franchise. Yes, more details will be shared soon. For now, “Like” our Facebook page for the latest exciting announcements.

The Paleo Girl One-Year Anniversary Giveaway ends on June 18. If over $1,700 worth of paleo books, paleo foods, and other paleo goodies interests you, and you have an Instragram account, be sure to enter by then.

Boulder, CO readers! June, 19, I’ll be at the Whole Foods on Pearl Street signing books and handing out Primal Kitchen™ Mayo samples. Come say hello, try a 30-minute CrossFit workout, and taste some delicious mayo.

Research of the Week

Risky outdoor play improves kids’ health. Which would actually make it safe outdoor play, right?

Adding cooked eggs to your raw salad increases the amount of carotenoids you absorb from it.

Regular consumption of phytate reduces the inhibitory effect it normally has on non-heme (plant-derived) iron absorption in women.

Do statins protect against cancer? Quite the opposite, say some.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 71: Laird Hamilton: I hang out with my Malibu neighbor, Laird Hamilton, who’s considered by many to be the greatest big wave surfer of all time (he actually co-invented “tow-out” surfing, where boats take you out to massive waves otherwise unreachable by paddling). We talk about Rolfing, breathing (and its effect on performance), unheated pools, barefooting, jet lag, how Laird eats and trains (and why), plus more.

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.

Paleo Girl’s 1-Year Anniversary
5 Reasons to Run Outside Instead of On a Treadmill
The Power of Your Food Dollars

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

Weekly sweepstakes: Submit 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

Why the supposed protective effect statins have against cancer is baseless (and the reverse is likely true).

Have antibiotics caused the massive rise in celiac disease?

Media, Schmedia

Why don’t many indigenous cultures have high rates of back pain despite sitting, bending, and enduring heavy labor? It’s the posture.

Feeling the heat, McDonald’s hires Obama’s former press secretary as PR chief.

Everything Else

Robb Wolf and NordicTrack teamed up to produce an awesome new paleo infographic.

Seven hours a night is pretty much the minimum for health, say sleep experts.

Now that’s a cool dad.

Going by the current definition, a number of sitting behaviors, like playing video games and typing, are considered non-sedentary. Does the definition need updating?

As producers scramble to capitalize on consumers’ growing appetite for indigenous African greens, what makes the vegetables so nutritious (and desired) may be lost.

Recipe Corner

Honey maple sriracha chicken sounds like it belongs at Panda Express, but it’s totally Primal.
Salmon burgers with avocado mango salsa will make people think you work a lot harder in the kitchen than you actually do.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jun 16 – Jun 22)

Is the Technology in Your Life Working for You or Against You? – Is your smartphone controlling you or enhancing your life (or both)?
Have You Had a Breakthrough Workout Lately? – Find out what a breakthrough workout entails and why you should incorporate them from time to time.

Comment of the Week

Bro, I dig your stuff… but who would want to eat mayo right after a 30 min Crossfit workout?

– What, no one else is doing the mayo whey isolate smoothie post-workout?

Rosemary Aioli and Kaleidoscope Fries

This is a guest post from LeslieKlenke, author of  Paleo Girl , and our very own Marketing Manager here at Primal Nutrition, Inc.

Hi, friends! Leslie here, and I’m amped to be back on the MDA blog again—this time I’m coming at ya with a delicious recipe I whipped up using Primal Kitchen™ Mayo!

I’m a mayo fanatic. I used to feel gross for having an obsession with the condiment (because of the unhealthy industrial seed oils and the shame from mayo haters), but now that Primal Kitchen has launched the world’s first healthy mayo—made with pure avocado oil—I don’t have to feel like such a weirdo for dipping my fries in its creamy magic.

If you’re a mayo lover like me, you must try my crave-worthy Rosemary Aioli and Kaleidoscope Fries recipe. Heck, if you’re not a fan of mayo you should check this recipe out. I’ve witnessed plenty of self-proclaimed anti-mayo friends of mine go back for seconds of this gourmet aioli during taste-testing.

If you love this recipe and want more from me and this awesome paleo community we’ve all built together, be sure to sign up for my FREE bi-monthly eZine called Paleo Girl Magazine. To get your free subscription, join my newsletter here. You’ll receive an instant download of the current issue, and all future issues will automatically be delivered to your inbox every other month!

Be well!

Leslie

Serves: 4-6

Time in the Kitchen: 25 minutes

Rosemary Aioli

Ingredients:

½ cup of Primal Kitchen Mayo
1 minced garlic clove
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine and stir all ingredients together in small bowl
Store in refrigerator while you prepare the fries

Kaleidoscope Fries

Ingredients:

1 medium yam
1 medium purple potato
1 medium white sweet potato
3 tablespoons avocado oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Peel and slice tubers lengthwise into ¼” pieces
Rinse tubers to remove any excess starch
Heat avocado oil in skillet over medium heat
Add tubers to skillet and fry for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned
Season fries with salt and pepper to taste
Serve immediately with Rosemary Aioli

Get creative! Try a variety of roots and tubers like yuca (cassava), turnips, parsnips, or jicama.

Not Sure What to Eat? Get the Primal Blueprint Meal Plan for Shopping Lists and Recipes Delivered Directly to Your Inbox Each Week

 

 

Crohn’s Conquered!

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!

This is not a weight loss story, though I’ve been immensely impressed with the numerous weight loss success stories here on MDA! If anything, this is a weight gain story. It is a war story about a fight against inflammation and auto-immune disease. It’s a story about how a chronically tired, shy, uncompetitive, wimpy (though smart and artistic) teen began to grow into a chronically tired, shy, uncompetitive adult…and eventually into deteriorating health.

I was always that scrawny kid growing up. At 16, my first driver’s license had my height and weight at 5’10” and 135 lbs. Looking at old childhood photos, I had a classic, distended “wheat belly.” Constipation was normal for me right up until, at age 24, stool habits gradually transitioned from once every few days to several times per day with severe cramping, gas, diarrhea, etc. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

Over several years I saw numerous gastroenterologists and had most of my colon removed. Never was I told to follow any particular diet other than “avoid what bothers you.” The SAD diet was normal, and I was told that many vegetables made Crohn’s symptoms worse. Even the hospital dietitians were ignorant on all things dietary, except for fats, carbs, proteins, calories, and their ratios. As hard as it was to get good nutritional advice, it was even harder to find advice tailored to a person with a full colectomy and ileostomy! At my lowest point (I wish I had a picture of this) I was down to 119 lbs…at 5’10″!!!

Fortunately, my crazy, hippy aunt Joyce (don’t we all have a crazy hippy aunt or uncle?) was kind enough to encourage me to explore diet more on my own. She was mostly vegetarian at the time. I also had enough of a scientific background and enough love and respect for my hippy (and also very healthy aunt) to understand that she was right. After all, why wouldn’t diet play a role in gastrointestinal disease??

I had been pre-med in college, but as a result of my discontent with the medical community, I finished my biology/chemistry degree and went into industry. In 2005 I left Toledo, Ohio and moved to Portland, Oregon. WOW! What a cultural shift, and definitely for the better! I discovered a “thing” called Naturopathic Medicine. Of course, it’s more than just a “thing,” but it was hard to convince my parents of that! After an appointment at the student clinic at the National College of Natural Medicine, I enrolled in the Naturopathic Doctor program which I completed in 2012.

What a shift in paradigm! Not only was I feeling better than ever before with fewer Crohn’s related bowel troubles, but the whole philosophy of naturopathic medicine fit perfectly with my own beliefs that I was just starting to form. Studying to become an ND got me about 80% towards excellent health, but even in ND school, paleo eating is not the norm. Gluten free was all the rage, especially for desserts, and the anti-inflammatory diet was a treatment to be prescribed, but paleo? That didn’t sit well with the vegetarian nutrition professor that taught half of our nutrition program.

Fortunately I came upon MDA in my own private study. THIS was THE TICKET! It was The Primal Blueprint that finally allowed me to dial in my nutrition to the point of being completely pharmaceutical free, inflammation free, symptom free, and up to a normal weight! I’m now 5’10” and 170 lbs and at almost age 40 I feel better than I have ever felt in all of my life! The ileostomy will always be a part of my life, but I dare to say I am Crohn’s free – permanent remission!

Now, as a physician, I get to help hundreds of people per year improve their health. Almost all of them get a printed “Definitive Guide” depending on their unique situation, and a recommendation to read The Primal Blueprint.

Thank you to this entire community!!! It was YOUR SUCCESS STORIES that motivated me to dive into a Primal way of life—your stories that convinced me of it’s legitimacy, feasibility, and effectiveness.

Joshua

Paleo Girl’s One-Year Anniversary (Plus a $1,700+ Giveaway)

This is a guest article from Paleo Girl author Leslie Klenke.

Do you know that sensation in the pit of your stomach when you feel like something is meant to be? I’m not going to lie. I had that feeling the first time I met Mark Sisson two years ago at PrimalCon Oxnard. After just a brief conversation with him and a quick fangirl photo op, I knew my life’s trajectory was about to change—and boy did it ever.

If you’ve been active on Mark’s Daily Apple over the past year, you may have witnessed some of that change firsthand. You might have read my success story, heard about the release of Paleo Girl, tried one of my recipes, or listened to my feature on the Primal Blueprint Podcast. I also created Paleo Girl Magazine, a free bi-monthly eZine produced from community created content (you can sign up to receive your free subscription here.)

It’s all been loads of fun, but, more importantly, it’s been rewarding beyond words.

So today, I’m excited to mark an important milestone: the one-year anniversary of Paleo Girl’s release. And to celebrate, I’ve curated a massive giveaway of all my favorite things bundled up in a prize package worth over $1,700 for one lucky winner! But first, a very quick recap of Paleo Girl’s journey.

Immediately following its release last June, I was caught in a whirlwind of a press. Paleo Girl was featured in a number of blogs and magazines. I was a guest on some of my favorite paleo podcasts, and I was even on the KCRA Sacramento morning news teaching viewers how to make a few of my favorite meals and also some grok-tastic exercise pointers!

But my favorite piece of press was definitely one of the smallest: a feature in my hometown newspaper back in Ohio, The Vandalia Drummer. Receiving a picture of my mom holding that newspaper (after buying as many copies of it that she could find) will forever be a memory I treasure. (I love you, Mom!)

Paleo Girl even nabbed some book awards, including gold for the 2015 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award, silver for the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award in the Teen: Nonfiction category, as well as gold for the 2015 Eric Hoffer Award for Health.

All in all, Paleo Girl has grown beyond my wildest ambitions. It’s made a space for more Paleo/Primal lovers to share, connect, and support one another in their journeys to better health. It’s also reinforced how important our ancestral health lifestyle can be to those seeking answers to questions that don’t have solutions in conventional wisdom.

So as a thank you to everyone who has connected with Paleo Girl and made it such a success, I’ve reached out to all of the incredible friends I’ve made in this amazing community and pulled together a HUGE giveaway! The list below (totaling $1,700 in retail goods and services) includes all of my favorite paleo goodies and is going home to one very lucky winner (with three other runner-up winners going home with some awesome swag, too!)

So if you want a chance to win the Paleo Girl One-Year Anniversary Giveaway, just follow the simple steps below!

Step One: Follow me on Instagram @LeslieKlenke

Step Two: Share the contest graphic on your Instagram page

Step Three: Hashtag #PG1YEAR in the comments

Step Four: Tag me @LeslieKlenke

That’s it!

The grand prize winner will receive the Paleo Girl One-Year Anniversary package ($1,700 retail value) and three runner-up winners will receive an autographed copy of Paleo Girl and a jar of Primal Kitchen Mayo. The contest will run June 11-18 and ends at midnight PST. All winners will be announced June 19.

That all said, I’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to each and every one of the sponsors for donating an item to this giveaway and celebrating the one-year anniversary of Paleo Girl in style! We’re an awesome community working for the same things, and getting together to celebrate is what makes living this lifestyle such a blast.

So, last but not least, check out the goods and start sharing for your chance to win big! (Follow @LeslieKlenke on Instagram first for the complete list of these sponsor’s Instagram accounts.)

Paleo Girl One-Year Anniversary Package


Leslie Klenke autographed copy of  Paleo Girl
Leslie Klenke Paleo Girl Magazine (three most current issues)
Primal Blueprint 15-serving Primal Fuel (your choice of Chocolate or Vanilla)
Primal Kitchen 3-pack of Mayo
Paleo Magazine bundle including 1-year print subscription/digital magazine, PM water bottle, and Readers’ Favorites Cookbook
5280 Meat $50 gift card
Paleo Plan one-year Paleo Fit and Paleo Meal Plan membership
Caveman Coffee Caveman Kit including one bag of Blacklisted, one bag of White Gold, and one can of MCT
Bee The Wellness/Nesta! One-month of Unveil Your Wellness, Meditation Challenge, and a Surrender CD
Woodchen cutting board 12” x 11.25” x 1.5”
Paleo Chef one-hour coaching call
Darryl Edwards autographed copy of Paleo Fitness
Nikki’s Coconut Butter sampler pack including: Vanilla Cake Batter, Dark Chocolate Fudge, Honey Pecan Pie, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie
Safe Catch 6-pack of tuna
Jilz Crackers one box each: Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt, Mediterranean, and Tuscan
Epic Bar one box of bars
Otto’s Cassava Flour 2lb bag of cassava flour
RxBar Whole30 pack including four of each: Coconut Cacao, Blueberry, Coffee Cacao, and Apple Cinnamon
Grassfed Girl copy of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking
Wholly Bites two packs of each: Sweet Curry, Apricot Pecan, Cacao Nib, and Ginger Snap
Primally Pure Body Butter, Outdoor Lotion, Deodorant, and Lip Balm
Tin Star Foods 16oz Ghee and Brown Butter
Paleo Treats sampler pack two of each: Bandito, Brownie Bomb, Cacao Now, Mac Attack, and Mustang Bar
Kelly Starrett Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Edition
The Granilla Bar Mixed Dozen including four of each: Dark Chocolate Honey, Sunbutter Brownie, Cherry Maple, and an 8oz bag of Crumble
Paleo Porn Pigskin Paleo eCookbook and bacon earrings
Kasandrinos bottle of Olive Oil, Balsamic, and Fig Balsamic
Live Soda one-week supply (seven “One Free Bottle” coupons), LS shirt, and hat
GoodOnYa sample pack including two of each: Oranges & Pineapple, Lemons, and Berries
Julian Bakery Paleo Wraps, Bars, Jerky, Pancake mix, and Pizza mix
Paleo Valley 10 pack of 100% grass-fed beef sticks
Simple Squares 12-pack variety box
Lunch Bots LunchBot Duo stainless steel lunch container
Real True Foods four-pack including: two beef broths and two chicken broths

P.S. For those of you that don’t want to enter the contest, Paleo Girl is on sale this week only for $14.95—that’s 25% off retail price—and I’ll sign each and every copy that goes out! In addition to the discount, you will also receive the One-Year Anniversary issue of Paleo Girl Magazine with your order.

5 Reasons to Run Outside Instead of on a Treadmill

Let me get this out of the way: treadmill running is better than sitting on the couch reading blogs that outline the reasons running outside is better than running on a treadmill. If it’s your only option – or even just the way you prefer to exercise — have at it. You have my blessing. The best exercise is the one you’ll do, remember. But there are limitations, risks, and biomechanical changes that occur when treadmill running. It’s not the same as running outside, and there’s evidence to suggest it might be worse in some respects.

So let’s explore the potential problems associated with treadmill running:

1. Running outside is more enjoyable.

This makes sense on an intuitive level, but there’s actually empirical evidence to suggest that outdoor running is more enjoyable than indoor running. A 2004 study out of Duke University found that when on treadmills, runners ran more slowly, reported higher rated perceived exertion (RPE), enjoyed themselves less, and experienced less satisfaction than runners doing their thing outside. And it’s that second part that’s really interesting: the higher RPE when running on a treadmill, even at objectively lower speeds. If an exercise is so boring that it becomes work and you don’t feel like you accomplished much after doing it, you are less likely to do that exercise. We are more likely to stick with a workout regimen if we enjoy it and derive intrinsic value. Running through nature or even around your hood as the sun goes down confers the enjoyability factor that’s just missing from most treadmill runs.

2. Treadmills are flat and linear and unchanging. The outside world is not.

Every little pebble, every half buried root, every slight dip and furrow and bump on the ground and elevation change must be addressed by the biomechanics of those who traverse it. And these slight variations happen subconsciously. Often, we don’t even realize we’re changing joint angles and altering muscle activation patterns in response to elevation or textural changes along the path. But our walking experience is characterized by thousands of these subtle reactions, and our bodies adapt to them. Thus, the trail runner travels in a well-rounded, highly-adaptable body, equally comfortable on tracks, fire roads, forest paths, and city streets. The exclusive treadmill runner is good at running on treadmills.

But it’s more than just adaptability to different terrains. The exposure to different terrains means no step is the same and the load is balanced and dispersed. On a treadmill, every step you run is the same as the last one. Nothing changes. Your foot lands in exactly the same place with exactly the same cushioning and your joints travel along the same path and receive the same stresses. This is a recipe for repetitive strain injuries. And although there’s very little data in the literature on treadmill runners and repetitive strain injuries, I’ve seen it happen in almost every heavy treadmill user I’ve known. Shin splints, IT band pain, the works.

3. Treadmills change the biomechanics of your run.

Several studies confirm this.

One study found that treadmill runners showed “significantly greater” peak eversion, eversion velocity, tibial internal rotation and tibial internal rotation velocity than overground runners, with the authors suggesting this could lead to chronic injuries.
Another found greater ankle eversion (rolling inward) in treadmill runners.
A 2013 study found major differences between accelerating on the treadmill and accelerating on the ground. On the ground, the runner accelerates and modifies his or her biomechanics to accommodate the acceleration. Power output from the hip joint increases and output from the knee decreases. On the treadmill, the ground accelerates and “virtually no kinesiological adaptations to an accelerating belt are observed.”
Treadmill runners have also been shown to take longer strides, altering their gaits to spend more time in the air and allow more of the treadmill to pass under. This technique, sadly, has poor applicability to overground running.

Still, is this a problem? Plenty of people use treadmills everyday seemingly without any major issues.

Even though a human body can technically perform many novel movements without apparent harm, be wary of altered movement patterns that persist. Consider the carpal tunnel from using a mouse and keyboard that develops over the course of many years. Consider the weakened glutes, tight calves, and tight hip flexors office workers often have. You can sit in a chair for a day, week, or even months on end and feel completely fine. It’s the sitting for years and decades that get to and prevent us from being able to squat comfortably or engage our glutes. I’m similarly suspicious of treadmill running, particularly with the subtle but significant kinematic changes observed. And because treadmill running is higher intensity than clicking a mouse or sitting at your desk, the negative effects — if they exist — likely accumulate much faster.

4. Treadmills don’t engage the posterior chain as much as running outside.

Runners typically generate the majority of their power with their posterior chains: the glutes and the hamstrings. It’s the hip extension, powered by the glutes and hamstrings, that propels the runner across the terrain. Since treadmill running cuts way back on peak hip extension, instead favoring hip flexion, the already sorely underdeveloped (from sitting and office work and generally sedentary living) posterior chain receives even less attention. Why engage the glute to bring your leg back and your body forward if the tread belt does it for you?

5. Treadmills are “easier.”

Running at the same speed on the treadmill requires less energy expenditure than running at the same speed outside. Seeing as how treadmill running feels harder, we think we’re working harder than we actually are. Less work and fewer results despite greater (perceived) effort? No thanks.

If you like to run on treadmills, there are some things you can do to mitigate any downsides.

Set an incline. This makes treadmill running a little more similar to road running by engaging more posterior chain. And one study found that treadmill running with a 1% grade effectively recreated the energetic cost of flat ground running.

Try self-powered manual treadmills. These are decent substitutes for ground running. They’re a little more posterior chain intensive than normal running, since you’re actually moving the mill.

Take breaks from the treadmill. Don’t run exclusively on the machine. Get outside for some runs, and be sure to throw in posterior chain strength work (Romanian deadlifts, kettlebell swings, hill sprints).

Listen to music, podcasts and/or audio books. On the few occasions that I go for a “run” these days, I always choose an interesting locale. The beach, the mountains, a new city (when traveling). Running in interesting environments becomes its own reward, and I never find I need a pair of headphones whisking me away to another place. The setting is its own entertainment. But a treadmill is stationary, usually in a gym. There’s not much going on worth watching, hearing, or smelling, and this is a big reason why treadmill runners rate their experiences as less satisfying and pleasurable; there’s neither intrinsic nor extrinsic value. So strap on a set of headphones (or earbuds), subscribe to a podcast or two, and give yourself more satisfaction and enjoyment each time you run.

Sprint. Some research (PDF) finds that the kinematic differences between treadmill running and overground running, while substantial, disappear at speeds higher than 6 m/s (13.4 mph). Sprinting just makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Again: I don’t mean to bash treadmills. They can certainly be helpful, and many successful athletes use them in their training. But very few of the top people are using treadmills exclusively. For any endurance athlete, the majority of the work is done on the road.

Enough from me. Let’s hear from you folks.

Do you use the treadmill? Does any of today’s post ring true to your experience? What differences do you notice between treadmill and road running?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

The Power of Your Food Dollars

First off, let’s make no mistake. Americans are still binging on junk food. No one is declaring the end of fast food. Financial trends show as much, as does a casual look around. That said, there’s plenty to suggest that we find ourselves at an interesting junction these days when it comes to the food economy.

We’re seeing big packaged food giants, who lost four billion dollars of the market share last year, initiate “healthy” or sustainable changes they hope will drive consumers back to their product lines. Several fast food chains are doing the same. It’s all part of a “Big Food versus Granola Startup” movement, as described by a recent Fortune Magazine analysis of the food industry, a review that highlights the increasing role of health goals and smaller sourcing as well as questions the ability of large food companies to maintain their market share, particularly without heeding the alternative writing on the wall.

Following decades of momentum toward increasing convenience, artificial additives, and industrial farming, pushback movements are gaining ground and building awareness around food quality and farming practices in the public consciousness. The result? We’re witnessing an expansion of markets (and their suppliers) for organically raised produce and naturally raised (e.g. pastured, grass-fed) livestock and for less heavily processed alternatives for other kinds of food products and restaurant offerings. (Hooray!)

The last few months have seen a slew of corporate announcements. Chipotle is going GMO-free (not in terms of animal feed, however). Tyson will no longer use poultry that’s been raised with human antibiotics. McDonalds has committed to the same phase-out, which fits given Tyson is a supplier for the fast-food chain. The fast-food giant also agreed to stop using milk from cows treated with the rbST hormone. Panera Bread won’t be using artificial ingredients in their menu. Likewise, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell are reportedly going “all natural,” removing artificial ingredients from their line-ups. Dunkin’ Donuts has agreed to discontinue use of titanium dioxide in its powdered donuts. (Sorry to anyone who’s eaten one – ever.)

On down the list…Nestle is discontinuing the use of artificial flavors and coloring, a move that impacts the processing of 250 products. Hershey, for its part, followed up with a pledge to cut many artificial ingredients in its formulations. Pepsi is dumping aspartame (and replacing it with sucralose). Coca-Cola has eliminated brominated vegetable oil, which, by the way, is used as a flame retardant. After being besieged by a major campaign that spanned social media, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese will not longer include artificial coloring in its U.S. products and will use the natural coloring agents it uses for European versions.

Sure, it’s stating the obvious when I say that most people who read this blog aren’t exactly these companies’ biggest fans and loyal customers. I can’t remember the last time I had soda. Hershey? I do enjoy some quality high cocoa content dark chocolate now, but I’ve found much, much better, thank you. Fast food – not on the radar screen anymore.

Still, the general trend here intrigues me. Big Food is scrambling to shift their product ingredients in a healthier direction – not to mention buy out genuinely natural and organic brands to diversify their lines and maximize their profits.

As Fortune magazine’s insider discussions with food execs demonstrated, companies are concerned about the growing trends toward “shopping the perimeter” and preferring labels with fewer ingredients. Some 64% of people surveyed through a Fortune Magazine-Survey Monkey partnership were very concerned about pesticides. Fifty-six percent were concerned about hormones, and 52% were concerned about the use of antibiotics in livestock. A whopping 85% believed GMO products should be labelled. This doesn’t bode well for many in the industry.

Consumers, it seems, aren’t only more health conscious but more experimental in their health related choices. The top label claims to draw consumers to new products between 2011-2015 were gluten-free and organic. All but obsolete are “diet” and “low fat” labels. Even the concept of diet has changed in the population as a whole, with over 36% of survey respondents saying they’ve tried a low carb diet (and another 6.5% citing their experience with the paleo diet). As the head of Nestle’s U.S. business observed the interest of consumers to experiment with “new of trends ‘is at its highest level, probably, ever.’”

Big Food switching out some ingredients – no, it’s not like the world is going Primal. We’re a long way from healthy, but there’s some reason to appreciate the news. I like a game that’s up for grabs, and the more players the better in my mind. Sure, the biggest dollars are still going toward the biggest companies, but I agree there’s a different energy these days. The old rules (like the old labels) are falling by the wayside. Trends are shifting faster than large corporations can neatly manage. The public, as bad as many of their choices are, in some ways knows more or at least wonders about what they think they know. The older CW messages are slowly falling away, and many consumers are looking for new rules and are open to new shopping sources.

Once upon a time, Whole Foods was a specialty store that few had heard about let alone shopped in. These days, they’re struggling against the competition from big companies’ organic lines as well as increasing co-op, farmer’s market, direct-to-consumer options – not to mention the online healthy warehouse newcomer Thrive Market. The landscape is changing, and consumer interests are driving those changes at a faster pace and in novel directions.

You may have nothing to do with certain companies or whole sectors of the food industry as a result of your Primal choices or personal values. Many people in the Primal community I know shop solely from small local suppliers (or grow/raise/hunt their own), which means they’ve cut themselves entirely (or almost entirely) out from the reach of large food corporations. No matter what companies or growers we support, the fact is, where we put our dollars has an impact. When a large number of us steer our money away from certain businesses or kinds of products and begin to support others, it has an even greater effect.

We’re not only making a choice for ourselves and our families, but we’re helping to shift the trajectory of the food industry as a whole. Each of us matters in this equation, but imagine the subtle but very tangible and gradually transformative power of the full Primal community – and the greater movement of ancestral health/eating. We’re helping decide which businesses stay open, which will grow and which will be forced to change. What starts as a commitment to ourselves becomes an influence on greater economic and societal forces. Our dollars help determine the future of food in this country.

What message or action do you hope your purchases support? How have you (by word or example) influenced others’ food choices or shopping routines? Share your thoughts, and have a great week, everyone.

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

Dear Mark: Nutrient Deficiencies and Fatigue, Anxiety, CLA Supplements, and Plant-Derived Oils

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’m answering four questions from readers. First up, are there any specific nutrient deficiencies that can contribute to fatigue? Which minerals and vitamins should you shore up when experiencing malaise? Next, what’s the deal with anxiety? Does it serve an evolutionary purpose, or is it just a pathological condition? Third, is there a place for conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation in a healthy diet and lifestyle? I dig into the studies to help you decide. And finally, what plant-derived oils beside just avocado oil are good to use when staying Primal?

Let’s go:

Dear Mark,

First of all I’d like to thank you for your, I’d say, independent public service beneficial to all of us searching for a way to improve our lives. I’ve been Primal for 1.5 years, however, I’ve got a question about a possible connection between chronic sleep deprivation and nutrition.

The story goes like this. I was experiencing a stressful life period four and half years ago which resulted in chronic sleep deprivation and possibly some sort of depression. As a nice bonus, I was experiencing anxiety attacks in some situations (especially before and while eating). Sleep improved (though not 100%), anxiety went mostly away along with the improved sleep and after skipping breakfast (resulting in more steady energy levels). However, I can still feel the effects of the sleep deprivation a lot, especially after a bad night sleep. E.g., I can feel effects of even 15 or 30 minutes shorter night sleep the whole following day. Though I know that sleep deprivation is impossible to out-eat, I wonder if there is any link between chronic sleep deprivation (or its consequences) and some specific nutritional deficiency preventing getting rid of the resulting exhaustion.

Thank you, cheers!

Martin

Well, there are certainly nutrient deficiencies that can cause general malaise, fatigue, or lack of energy. If you’re starting from a deficit in any of these nutrients, it’s quite possible and probable that sleep deprivation will hit you harder than it would had you been replete in them. What nutrients am I talking about and how can you make sure you’re eating enough?

Iron: Iron forms the backbone of the red blood cells that deliver oxygen to the various cells, organs, tissues (including muscle), and systems throughout your body. Since your body needs a steady supply of oxygen to function, iron deficiency can result in lower energy production and crippling fatigue. A hallmark sign of iron deficiency anemia is constant fatigue. Best sources include liver (chicken liver being higher in iron than most others), red meat, and meat in general.

Iodine: Without iodine, you can’t produce thyroid hormone. Thyroid hormone is the driver of metabolic rate, and if you’re hypothyroid (low in thyroid hormone), you’re lagging. Best sources include seaweed (especially kelp/kombu) and eggs.

Selenium: Selenium is required to convert “inactive” thyroid hormone to the “active” form — the form that “does stuff.” Best sources include wild salmon, Brazil nuts, shellfish, and kidneys.

Magnesium: We need ample magnesium to produce ATP, the body’s energy currency. Anytime we burn fat, glucose, or ketones for energy, the “energy” being produced comes in the form of ATP. Inadequate magnesium leads to lower levels of intracellular ATP, meaning cells can’t perform at their optimal in the face of lower magnesium. Best sources include almonds, spinach, chard, and good mineral water (Gerolsteiner is one of my favorites, but just check the labels for mg/L; European markets often have good options).

Vitamin B12: Pretty much all the B vitamins figure into energy production and deficiencies can cause fatigue, but B12 is the most prominent, common cause of fatigue. Best sources include organ meats and red meat in general.

Every nutrient is important, and it’s not inconceivable that some obscure mineral or vitamin deficiency could contribute to fatigue, but those are the major ones you should eliminate from contention before looking deeper.

Dear Mark,

I just got back from a trip to the grocery store, and it got me wondering: Is there some inherent stress associated with being around a lot of strangers? I know our ancestors came into contact with people they did not know, but it couldn’t have been to the extent that we experience today, both in terms of frequency and quantity of strangers.

I know I am stressed out by being around lots of people I don’t know, but I don’t know if that’s because of our evolutionary past or my own personal temperament (which I know does play a role in my stress). Has anyone ever looked at this?

Thanks!

Brooke

Anxiety isn’t an aberration, an inherent pathology. In a “wild” environment, anxiety promotes safety. Anxious people (or mice, or rabbits, or any other animal) are cautious and live longer than carefree, careless people when things want to eat you and other people want to take your stuff and possibly inflict grievous harm upon you.

Today? Anxiety remains, but it doesn’t serve the same purpose. The world is generally safe. Pockets of violence, crime, and danger certainly exist, but the average reader of this blog doesn’t have to fend for his or her life on a daily basis. That’s a good thing. Unfortunately, it also means that anxiety rears up at in opportune times: in the grocery store surrounded by strangers, at a party where you don’t know anyone, during a job interview, when trying to muster up the gumption to go talk to the pretty girl.

Some geneticists term this the “warriors versus worriers” dichotomy. Depending on which gene allele a person has, they either respond favorably (warrior) or unfavorably (worrier) to stress. Worriers tend toward more anxiety, but they’re better at tasks requiring memory and planning. Warriors do better in acutely stressful situations, but they may be more likely to suffer from schizophrenia.

Your personal temperament may very well be inextricably linked to your evolutionary past (and your genetics). Take solace in the fact that you’re not “broken.” Your temperament was, and is, needed. You complement the more impulsive. We need both the brash and the thoughtful.

Confused, request your opinion on CLA. Have read several benefits of CLA supplementation, other sources say data inconclusive. Recently watched a Utube Video with Greg Glassman on nutrition and athletic performance and I think he said avoid it. I very much value your opinion on all subjects of health and fitness and would like your take on CLA.

Thanks,

Steve

There are two isomers of CLA: t10, c12 and c9, t11. The c9, t11 form of CLA is what we find most abundantly in grass-fed dairy and animal fat, formed as the result of grass fermentation in the rumens of cows, sheep, bison, and other edible ruminants. In fact, c9, t11 CLA  accounts for between 80-95% of the CLA in ruminant and dairy fat, with t10, c12 showing up in only trace amounts; supplemental CLA usually runs about 50/50 with the two isomers.

Why don’t supplement makers produce CLA supplements with more c9, t11 to be closer to “natural” proportions?

Because t10, c12 is better at burning body fat and preventing fat gain than c9, t11. In one in vitro study, t10, c12 inhibited lipogenesis, or (something analogous to) body fat creation, while c9, t11 did not. It also showed promise as a promoter of lean mass versus fat mass in humans. For what it’s worth, t10, c12 can also inhibit the growth of human colon cancer cells in vitro, while c9, t11 has no effect. Makes CLA supplements look pretty good, right?

No. Things change when you look beyond the effects on fat loss. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Healthy humans taking trans-10, cis-12 CLA supplements had increased triglycerides, LDL-HDL ratios, and total cholesterol-HDL ratios when compared to patients taking supplements based on cis-9, trans-11. In both wild-type and lab mice, the t10, c12 isomer stimulated mammary tumor growth, while c9, t11 isomers had a neutral effect.

When you examine parameters other than just body fat, CLA loses a head-to-head match with safflower oil. The diabetics who used safflower oil saw improved insulin sensitivity, higher HDL, and lower markers of inflammation compared to the diabetics who used CLA supplements. Like most of its ilk, the CLA supplement was 50% trans-10, cis-12 and 50% cis-9, trans-11, far different from the CLA you’d get from grass-fed butter or pastured lamb steaks. And two other studies using t10, c12 and c9, t11 at a 50:50 ratio also had similarly negative results, with one showing worsened metabolic syndrome and another showing increased c-reactive protein and insulin resistance.

Another study found that while t10, c12 supplementation decreased fat mass, it also raised LDL, lowered HDL, and overall worsened the cholesterol profile, as well as increased insulin resistance, blood glucose levels, and insulin. C9, t11, on the other hand, improved lipid metabolism overall. And compared to olive oil in another study, CLA supplementation reduced limb fat but worsened endothelial function and failed to reduce abdominal or liver fat.

Speaking of livers, mice fed t10, c12-enhanced diets experienced reductions in liver fatty acid oxidation and liver detoxification enzymes. In short, t10, c12 CLA gave mice fatty liver and reduced the liver’s ability to do its job. It had similar effects on hamster livers.

What about CLA supplements compared to “CLA-enhanced” dairy products, which are really just dairy products from animals raised on pasture? In post menopausal women, high t10, c12 CLA supplementation increased inflammatory markers and lipid peroxidation when compared to CLA “supplementation” with milk (containing, remember, mostly c9, t11). Meanwhile, feeding CLA-enhanced ghee (natural CLA isomer composition) improved liver health compared to low-CLA or soybean oil feeding in rats.

Are you noticing a pattern? Again and again, supplemental CLA seems protective or beneficial when you only consider fat loss or gain, but when you consider more than just weight loss negative effects appear. You might burn some body fat, but you’ll also become insulin resistant. You might stave off body fat gain, but your liver gets fatter. I’m a big supporter of intelligent supplementation, but in my opinion, CLA supplementation doesn’t qualify.

The right CLA supplement employing the right isomers in grass-fed ruminant-fat proportions could be helpful, but I haven’t seen any out there that fit the description. I think you’d be better served simply eating grass-fed, full-fat dairy (butter, cheese) and meat.

Hi Mark,

My question is what vegetable oils are not derived from seeds?

I read on Avocado Oil’s Wikipedia page that it is, “… one of few edible oils not derived from seeds…”. I was wondering about other such oils given that one of the objectives of the Primal way seems to be either reducing and eliminating seeds or treating seeds through process of soaking and fermentation.

Love your articles and links.

Cheers,

Rama

If by vegetable oils, you mean “plant-derived oil,” there are a few good ones that qualify as Primal-approved.

Olive oil: Everyone loves good olive oil. It’s heat-stable (contrary to popular belief), it’s high in healthy monounsaturated fat (which, again, everyone agrees is good), and it tastes really, really good if you get a good oil. No reason not to have a bottle of extra virgin olive oil on hand. Just make sure it’s really olive oil.

Red palm oil: The best natural source of broad-spectrum tocotrienols, red palm oil is an extremely worthy fat to have. Plus, since most red palm oil comes from West Africa, it doesn’t suffer from the sustainability and orangutan-killing problems of its refined version.

Coconut oil: You know about coconut oil by now. It’s a Primal darling.

Tigernut oil: Tigernuts are kind of new on the scene. Well, they’re actually really, really old, with some evidence suggesting that they formed a major part of the early African hominid diet. But as far as the ancestral health community goes, tigernuts are new. They’re neither nuts nor fruits. They are fatty tubers rich in resistant starch and fiber and flavor. And the oil is fairly similar in composition to olive oil.

Any of the nut oils also qualify, though those are closer to seed oils in fatty acid composition than the oils listed above.

That’s it for today, everyone. Thanks for reading and be sure to help out down below in the comment seciton with any additional input you might have.