Mark Sisson's Blog, page 259

Weekend Link Love – Edition 351

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.

Speaking of which, Primal Kitchen™ Mayo is now available in Whole Foods markets across the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions and in New Seasons markets across the Pacific Northwest. If you haven’t tried it yet, go grab some in person!

Research of the Week

The composition of a child’s microbiome may affect his or her temperament.

The more HFCS-sweetened beverages a young adult drank, the more their cardiovascular risk factors worsened.

If you let ’em, chimps would cook. A series of studies shows that chimps prefer cooked to raw food, can gather and transport raw food in anticipation of cooking it, will relinquish control of raw food so that they can be cooked, and can conceptualize the transformation of raw foods into cooked ones.

Matched calorie for calorie with glucose, fructose produces greater weight gain, more inactivity, and increased body fat.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 70: Dr. David Perlmutter: Host Eli Rohde hangs out with Dr. David Perlmutter, author of NY Times bestseller Grain Brain and the just-released (and bestselling) Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain — For Life, to discuss just about everything there is to talk about the microbiome, including antibiotic usage, fecal transplants, probiotics, prebiotics, neurological health, diabetes, and even our emotional response. You don’t want to miss this one.

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.

Free Gift! Cooking Inspiration: 60+ Paleo Recipes (Plus a $1000 Shopping Spree Sweepstakes)
7 Old Wives’ Tales That Aren’t Utter Nonsense
The Myth of Perfect Conditions: 9 Common Excuses Used to Delay Exercise

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

Holding your breath in India (might be necessary to grow up without impaired health).

Naive busybodies without ranching experience are accusing a smalltime pasture-based rancher from upstate New York of animal abuse.

Media, Schmedia

So not only is there an eye microbiome, but wearing contact lenses affects it.

One potential reason for the overabundance of overabundant adipose tissue is the overabundance of food.

Everything Else

British health experts now recommend that office workers stand for at least two hours a day.

How reversing type 2 diabetes might just require ignoring the official guidelines.

Scientists just discovered a previously unknown pathway directly connecting the brain to the immune system. The discovery could have major implications for conditions like autism, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Melanoma rates have doubled over the past 30 years.

Previously assumed (by some) to become harmless, easily-excreted metabolites, consumed BPA may actually turn into a compound linked to increased body fat gain.

Do we have a paleo deficit disorder?

Recipe Corner

Since it’s starting to heat up around here, this watermelon coconut cooler is getting lots of play.
You should make these pan seared lamb loin chops with arugula mint pesto.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jun 9 – Jun 15)

An Open Letter to Kids and Teens (and Infant Prodigies) – Wherein I tell the youth of today that “it gets better” (especially if you make your life a little more Primal).
Do You Really Believe You Can Change? – Because you can, but you really have to know it.

Comment of the Week

I like my wife’s tale, but I would never call her old.

– Smart man!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

This is a guest post from Louise Hendon, the co-author of the Essential Paleo Cookbook and co-founder of PaleoMagazine.com. She used to hate cooking, but that changed when she started a Primal/Paleo lifestyle over five years ago and discovered how food could taste delicious without spending hours slaving in the kitchen.

And in this recipe, Louise shows us how just a few simple ingredients and 10 minutes of prep time can result in such a delicious and healthy snack.

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites:

1 large chicken breast, cut into small bites (approx. 22-27 pieces)
8-9 thin slices of bacon, cut into thirds

Garlic Mayo:

1/4 cup Primal Kitchen Mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch of salt
Dash of chili powder (optional)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 ºF and line a baking tray with aluminum foil.

Wrap each short bacon piece around each small chunk of chicken. Place the bacon wrapped chicken bites on the baking tray.  (Try to space them out so they’re not touching.)

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bacon turns crispy, turning the pieces after 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the garlic mayonnaise ingredients in a small bowl and use a fork to whisk it slightly.

Serve the bacon wrapped chicken bites with cocktail sticks and the garlic mayo.

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

From Beachbody Addict to Primal Convert

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!

Hi my name is Tori! Contrary to most stories on Mark’s Daily Apple, this isn’t a story about how I went Primal and lost 150 lbs. This is a story about how going even partially Primal opened my eyes as to what was really happening in my body.

I’ve been overweight pretty much for as long as I can remember. It started with snacking too much toward the end of elementary school and has carried through until today. And, like many overweight girls, I had self esteem issues about my weight… which I turned to food to comfort. For years, I tried most diets you can imagine, typically having great results for about three or so weeks and then hitting a plateau. It took me a long time to grow comfortable with my curves, and to accept the fact that I’m ‘built like an ox’ and will never be as thin as the models and actresses on TV. Accepting my body and the stress of an electrical engineering degree caused me to grow lax with my diet in college… a little too lax.

I yo-yoed several times, sometimes focusing on diet (i.e. Weight Watchers, where your reward for losing weight is eating less food – wait, what??), but mostly focusing on exercise. I became a Beachbody junkie, on and off. I would buy the latest DVD workout regimen with all of the hope and promise in my heart. I would try it and lose five pounds in the first week. Then two pounds the second week. Then half a pound the third week. Then gain a pound the fourth week.

Obviously, it was very frustrating. Even though I looked better each week, I could not get the scale to budge. Despite the fact that at 5’6”, I had a substantial 120 lbs of lean body mass, I could not seem to get below the 190 mark, no matter how much I tried.

Right around my junior year of college, I started having terrible IBS symptoms. I had terrible cramps, felt feverish, and had horrible nausea every morning, and there were times where I thought I was dying. I talked to my doctor (who I generally really like), but she had no magic pill to give me. “Try increasing your fiber and probiotics. Other than that, I have no advice, and IBS is for life.” I was devastated.

This happened in the middle of my Beachbody craze, and I jumped on the Shakeology bandwagon, thinking I was missing some kind of vitamin or superfood that would make my IBS go away. Sure enough, something about the balance of fiber and probiotics made the symptoms go away. I was taking it religiously, racking up large monthly expenses to maintain it. But I had to do it. It was the only thing that worked for me.

I went on like this for three years. Trying a Beachbody program (which I generally like, don’t get me wrong), having mediocre results, quitting, and then trying a new program with high hopes. During January of 2014, I started doing Focus T25, and I started a blog to record my progress. I was getting results, and I have to admit that I looked way better after completing the program. That being said, I had stalled out at 195 lbs. One reader of my blog commented that she started her day with full fat yogurt because the fat kept her full. I replied that that can’t possibly work because fat makes you fat (I was 23 and knew everything about everything). She pointed me to Mark’s Daily Apple.

Mark, in all of my reading things on the Internet, nothing has made more sense than those first few definitive guides I read about The Primal Blueprint. It made so much sense, and yet I was still so skeptical. How could walking be so much better than chronic cardio?

This was the spring of 2014, and it was gorgeous outside. Instead of working out one day, my workout buddy and I went for a walk. We enjoyed it so much, that we walked again the next day. And we walked all of the rest of that week.

That week, I lost more weight than any other week on that program.

I was convinced. In June, I gave up gluten, dairy, excess sugar, and went on a 90% Primal Blueprint diet. I was busy finishing my thesis, so I worked out when I could and focused on diet and sleep. I lost five pounds overnight due to inflammation disappearing, and I have never had to take Shakeology again. It turns out, I had developed a gluten sensitivity and had been masking it with Shakeology for FOUR years.

I’d like to say that going Primal cured everything, but it didn’t. My gut was so destroyed from my sensitivity that even though I was eating all of the right things, those foods weren’t being digested and were rotting in my gut. I’ve since met with a naturopathic doctor and they have helped me find supplements to help my digestion. The only times that I have truly felt great every day is when I have stuck to a low-carb, paleo diet. And, despite the fact that I am still trying to figure things out, I give credit to trying out paleo for giving me the confidence to take my health into my own hands.

I’m still a work in progress, and my next step is to try an autoimmune paleo protocol, to try to find additional hidden sensitivities that could be causing inflammation and other problems. I would never have guessed that food would play such a huge role in overall health. I had never guessed that walking could be so enjoyable and so effective at reducing stress. For the first time, I am confident that I have the power to change my health, without drugs, without gimmicks, without fear.

Thanks for reading, and Grok on!

Torrie

Free Gift! Cooking Inspiration: 60+ Paleo Recipes (Plus a $1000 Shopping Spree Sweepstakes)

I’ve got another free gift for you, and it’s a tasty one.

The Thrive Market Communal Table Cookbook is a brand new digital cookbook featuring more than 60 real-food recipes from the country’s top names in ancestral health and wellness: Chris Kresser, Robb Wolf, Michelle Tam and others, including me. Every recipe is primal approved and made with wholesome, affordable ingredients. And they have all been tested and perfected at Thrive Market headquarters in Los Angeles.

All you have to do to receive your free digital cookbook today is click this link and register for Thrive Market for free (no purchase required). And if you’ve already registered with Thrive Market, simply enter your username and password and then click to download the book right on the page. That’s it! This free gift and sweepstakes is only available from June 4th to June 10th, so you have a few days to nab your free cookbook.

Inside the cookbook, you’ll find:

Simple and delicious recipes from 14 of the most trusted names in health and wellness, including best-selling authors, the country’s leading physicians, and the most popular bloggers and education experts.

60+ paleo recipes for everything from breakfast smoothies, simple side dishes, protein-packed main courses and clean desserts.

Easy-to-follow instructions so simple even a novice cook can follow.

A helpful guide to saving money on essential paleo ingredients and pantry staples.

Here’s a sample of some of the recipes you’ll find inside:

Homemade Coconut Granola by Wellness Mama
Primal Egg Coffee by Nourished Kitchen
Blueberry and Macadamia Smoothie by Chris Kresser
Prosciutto-Wrapped Mini Frittata Muffins by Nom Nom Paleo
Tropical Turmeric Tonic by Dr. Junger
Tahini Tuna Salad by Mary Shenouda
Paleo Crab Cakes by Healing Gourmet
Slow Cooker Pork-Stuffed Peppers by Yours Truly


Paleo Hazelnut-Crusted Halibut by Chris Kresser
Roasted Spice Rubbed Chicken Thighs by JJ Virgin
Sweet Potato And Kale Coconut Curry Soup by Kitchen Confidential
Saffron Tomato Confit by What’s Gaby Cooking
Rosemary Citrus Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes by Robb Wolf
Coconut Butter Cups by Wellness Mama
Guilt-Free Chocolate Mousse by Dr. Mark Hyman
And dozens more…

In addition to getting the free eBook, when you register you are automatically entered to win a $1000 Thrive Market shopping spree giveaway. That’s equivalent to a jar of Primal Kitchen™ Mayo every month for 10 years. Or if you eat things other than Primal mayonnaise, a whole bunch of other paleo foods.

When you get the eBook, be sure to check out my favorites—you’ll find my recipe for Coconut Encrusted Chicken, and Crispy Carnitas Salad, among others in the cookbook—and let me know which ones have you mooing for more. I’m about to go cook me up some of Chris Kresser’s Roasted Hazelnuts with Garlic and Thyme. I’ll let you know what I think!

Get Your Copy of the Thrive Market Communal Cookbook for FREE and Be Entered to Win a $1000 Shopping Spree>>

7 Old Wives’ Tales That Aren’t Utter Nonsense

“Oh, that’s just an old wives’ tale” is an easy way to disarm and disregard someone else’s claims about health. But it’s also lazy and, sometimes, just plain misleading. So what if a particular claim comes from folk wisdom? Is it all nonsense? Are all old wives’ tales necessarily incorrect? As you’ll see down below, folk wisdom is sometimes just plain old wisdom. Many of these “stories” have a basis in fact. And many of us would be better off heeding some of these old wives’ tales.

So, which ones are actually couched in real wisdom? Which tales are being borne out by modern research? Let’s find out:

1. Smile. You’ll feel better.

Grandmothers everywhere are fond of telling their extended spawn to “just smile,” no matter how bad they’re feeling. This, grandmothers posit, will help you convert your sadness to happiness. Ridiculous, right? We smile because we’re happy. We frown because we’re sad. The facial expressions are inadvertent responses to emotional states. Smiling is great and all, but it necessarily follows the emotion. Forcing a smile will not force the emotion. Or will it?

There’s actually evidence showing that forcing yourself to smile when you’re feeling particularly frowny can make you feel better despite yourself.

In one early study, researchers gave pencils to people watching cartoons and told some of them to hold the pencils between their teeth to force a “smile.” The other group were made to frown. The group that held the pencils between their teeth rated the cartoons as funnier than the group that frowned.

Another study that used chopsticks to force smiles instead of pencils found that smiling during stressful situations can reduce the stress response. Participants who gave genuine smiles had even better stress responses, but the chopstick smilers were far better with stress than those instructed to hold neutral faces.

2. Honey cures a cough.

A spoonful of honey seems to be the “cure” for lots of things, but with loads of powerful narcotics available in the pharmacy, usually over the counter, why bother with bee secretions? These are drugs designed with coughs in mind, whereas honey is meant to feed bees. Surely dextromethorphan (DXM), a powerful antitussive with sedative and dissociative effects, is far more effective than bee food at quelling coughs. Let’s see.

In 2007, buckwheat honey went up against honey-flavored DXM to see which treatment helped kids with terrible nighttime coughs sleep best and cough less. Across the board, honey beat DXM. And in perhaps the most sensitive population around — parents of kids with nighttime coughs who just won’t sleep no matter how many stories you read to them nor how many nonsensical lullabies you cobble together on the spot — honey rated as far more effective than the narcotics.

Honey also beat both DXM and diphenhydramine (DPH) — another popular anti-cough drug — in a 2010 trial, improving the sleep quality of coughing children and their parents.

Most recently, a Cochrane review begrudgingly admitted that honey works better than DPH and about as well as DXM for symptomatic relief of nighttime cough. That’s pretty decent.

3. Chicken soup to cure a cold.

It used to be that a grandma’s immediate response to the onset of a sniffle, cough, sore throat, or other common cold foreshadowing was to brew up a big pot of chicken soup. Sure, it tasted good and there was just something comforting about curling up on the couch with a hot mug of brothy goodness, but was it actually helping our immune systems fight off the cold?

Yes:

Chicken soup has been shown, in an in vitro study, to inhibit the neutrophil migration that triggers the onset of common cold symptoms.
Glycine, the primary amino acid present in gelatin, can promote better and more restorative sleep (which is important for maintaining immune health and recovering from illness) and it counters the inflammatory load from excessive amounts of methionine in muscle meat.
Common chicken soup ingredients like garlic can also improve a person’s recovery from the common cold. Just make sure to wait five to ten minutes after chopping or crushing the garlic, as this maximizes formation of anti-inflammatory compounds.

4. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Crazy. Apples are just bags of fructose whose sole purpose is to fatten your liver, spike your triglycerides, and give you diabetes. They’re also full of dangerous fiber that feeds the nasties in your gut and gives you gas (and maybe even colon cancer). Why would anyone think that an apple could actually make you healthier, let alone an apple every single day? Surely that’s suicide.

Except that actual research on people who eat actual apples seems to vindicate the old adage.

An apple a day might just keep the oncologist away:

In vitro evidence shows that apple antioxidants have chemopreventive potential.
In animal models, apple extracts have protected against skin, breast, and colon cancer.
Human epidemiology suggests that a daily apple (not MDA, necessarily) might help protect against lung and colon cancer.

An apple a day might just keep the cardiologist away:

Apple polyphenols can improve blood lipids.
Apple polyphenols reduce blood pressure.
Apples reduce oxidized LDL, a likely causative factor in atherosclerosis.

An apple a day might keep the bariatric surgeon away, too. In a mouse model, apple polyphenols prevented diet-induced obesity by reducing fat cell growth and intestinal uptake of glucose while increasing the breakdown of existing fat cells.

An apple a day might keep the doctor away from the prescription pad. In a recent study, adults who ate apples every day were less likely to be taking prescription medicines.

5. When trying to place a bun in your old lady’s oven, avoid hot baths.

While I’m not sure those exact words in that exact order were ever uttered by an old wife, mother, or grandma, the idea that hot baths are bad for male fertility is a common one. It can get really hot down there and your boys are sensitive to heat.  If abnormally constrictive underwear and hot laptops can both heat up the area and impair sperm function, maybe submerging one’s nether regions in hot water can, too. You don’t want to cook your boys, do you?

Sure enough: hot baths are acutely inhibitory of sperm production, motility, and utility. Take a really hot bath and ditch the condoms!

Kidding about that last bit, by the way. You’d need to drink a liter of Mountain Dew for the yellow dye number 5 in addition to taking a hot bath to get reliable male birth control, of course.

6. Don’t go outside without a coat. You’ll catch cold!

Annoying prattle from well-meaning parents or truism that we should all heed?

Well, low body temperature can certainly impair the immune system, opening us up to infections and common colds; a drop in body temperature has been shown to increase a person’s susceptibility to catching a cold. If we’re outside in the cold without adequate protection for long enough to reduce our body temperature, we may very well get sick. A few lines of evidence make me think there’s something to the low body temp/low immunity/cold weather connection.

When hibernating, bears have a low body temperature and lower levels of circulating immune cells.
To prepare the immune systems of colon cancer patients for the shock of surgery, doctors induce hyperthermia.
Disgust is an effective upregulator of immunity and the increased immunity is regulated by an increase in body temperature.
Exercising impairs the immune system, and exercising in cold weather impairs the immune system even further.
The most basic response our immune system has to an infection is the fever — a rapid elevation in body temperature.

Going outside in the cold without a coat isn’t a surefire way to catch cold (and cold exposure is good for you in general), but there’s definitely a physiologically-relevant mechanism.

7. I can feel bad weather in my bones.

That old lady with the limp who claims she can predict the weather might be telling the truth because human joints contain sensory nerves called baro-receptors, which are highly attuned to fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, particularly the drops that occur when a rainstorm is about to touch down. It may not be true for everyone, though, as one review concluded that “pain in some individuals is more affected by the weather than others.”

So while it may not be the bones acting as barometers, some folks can definitely feel the weather in their joints.

That’s it for today, folks. Now let’s hear from you.

What did I miss? I’m pretty sure those old wives were telling the truth in other areas, too, so let me hear about it down below!

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 Myth of Perfect Conditions: 9 Common Excuses Used to Delay Exercise

It’s the Goldilocks Syndrome…. It’s too hot to exercise. It’s too cold. It’s too early. It’s too late. I’m too tired or busy or overweight or overwhelmed. When x, y, or z changes, things will be better, easier. That’s not long to wait, right? And, so, we talk ourselves into waiting and out of working toward fitness. All the while, we’re fully convinced we have the world’s most pragmatic mindset. What else could we do in such a situation? It’s just the way it has to be. Exercise just can’t happen under these circumstances. And so we give away our chance at vitality because we’re married to a set of conditions, which become – like it or not – our excuses.

Conditions…think about what conditions you put on your fitness. What gear do you feel you need to have before you’re going to take yourself seriously? What amount (and arrangement) of time are you convinced you have to have before you can commit to regular exercise? What do other people need to do or not do before you’re comfortable heading to the gym or just out for a long walk? What cosmic alignments need to perfectly synchronize for you to actually devote the better part of a weekend day to hitting the trails for an extended bike ride?

Maybe you used to be this way before the switch flipped and you claimed your vitality without having the practice of it be contingent upon the day’s mood, office culture and everyone else’s business. Maybe you realized the insanity of this approach but haven’t exactly gotten the hang out of making it happen anyway. Or perhaps you’re reading the screen with a sinking feeling that you’ve been outed, the curtain flung to the side revealing your choices aren’t as inevitable as you’d invested yourself in believing.

We’re a clever species – and sometimes never at our most impeccable when we’re trying to justify our way through the most self-sabotaging choices. The fact is, we could be waiting for the perfect conditions from now until the sun’s implosion. Or, maybe we’ll get lucky and what we hope will happen will actually happen. Then what?

If we haven’t cultivated the habit and self-control to stick with a routine (and sometimes a fitness routine can challenge even the most otherwise-regimen-focused individual), it won’t be as easy and simple as we think it will be. A rule of thumb I’ve discovered in the fitness business: Conditions don’t matter for success. Discipline does. Period. Aren’t we lucky that discipline thrives off of difficult conditions….

What are some of these ideal conditions, these unconscious expectations we have of ourselves, others and our environment that will finally “let” us move forward toward fitness goals? Let’s take a look.

1. One day I’ll have my own garage/home gym, and I’ll be able to work out every day.

This is where Primal thinking – as in caveman/cavewoman conditions – offers unmatched perspective. It’s a totally modern (and insane) notion that you need special equipment to move your body in a useful way. What, no one was fit before Bowflex/Nautilus/StairMaster was invented?

A lot of companies make a lot of money selling you this idea – that you require machines and props, and the more the better (or the more expensive, the better). It’s the myth of the perfect equipment – that somehow it can’t or won’t happen without gadgets and gear.

Sure, I love treadmill desks, rowing machines, the Versaclimber (more on that in a future post), and kettlebells (among a few other items) as much as the next person, but I could take them or leave them. I’ve been fit without them before and would be again. They’re convenient, but they’re unnecessary.

I’ll tell you the only two things you need to get fit: a body and some time – not nearly as much as you think. Which leads me to the next excuse…

2. One day I’ll have more time – e.g. when work slows down, when I find a new job, when I get a promotion, when the kids get out of diapers, when the kids start school, when the kids can drive themselves, when I don’t have x, y or z responsibility.

Can we all just agree that there will always – always, always, always – be something to fill your time. Stop telling yourself this will change or it will get easier. It won’t. Perfect timing? A mirage in the freaking desert. Decide right now to be done with that illusion once and for all. Your life will be better for it.

If you stand any chance of getting fit (or doing anything else of visionary importance to you), you must schedule it first.

Let’s break that down. Schedule it. That means set an actual time. First. That means it gets prioritized before anything else in your day. If this requires that you do it first thing in the morning, then do it. Carve this time into a marble calendar large enough to impress Nero.

If your exercise time comes and something comes up, change the exercise as needed, but don’t postpone. If you have to limit your routine to some body weight exercises and stair runs at the office on your way to a last minute meeting, do it. If you have to do kiddie yoga instead of your 30-minute CrossFit WOD because your child won’t go to sleep, do that. But keep your commitment.

3. One day I’ll have more energy for exercise.

Seriously. This is the perfect case of a dog chasing its tail. Waiting for more energy to do something that will give you more energy? Your vitality is waiting, but it’s not going to do the work for you.

Let me say I get it. Sometimes there are situations that knock us flat, and the fact of the matter is exercise feels like a remote possibility. Whether we’re bouncing back from serious injury or health/personal crisis, our energy or even abilities may be a fraction of what they’ve been.

That said, there is always something we can do. For those recovering from serious injury and illness, trained physical therapists and related specialists can give you an appropriate protocol. For those making their way through loss and other major transition/crisis, find new outlets, new routines, but keep moving. Maybe it means dropping your gym membership for a while and instead walking through area parks and reserves for the dual therapy of outdoor time and regular movement (not to mention the escape from noise and T.V. screens).

Do some kind of activity that hits the right pitch in terms of intensity and that doesn’t overwhelm the senses.

4. As soon as I lose a little weight/get a medical condition under control and movement gets easier, I’ll start exercising.

On a similar note, don’t put off beginning exercising because you’re waiting for it to get easier. Start where you’re at, and get some guidance from a knowledgeable and experienced fitness professional as well as your doctor about what’s appropriate and safe.

Again, adjust your perception of what exactly you’ll do for exercise, but don’t adjust your commitment to move.

5. As soon as I get my diet on track, I’ll work on fitness.

I totally get that people become overwhelmed when they make several changes simultaneously. So, here’s my suggestion.

Let yourself begin a few key changes simultaneously – changes that will actually support each other, but only focus on “mastering” one at a time if that helps. Hone a great Primal Blueprint diet with new recipes, new foods, new routines – knock yourself out cooking every meal in all the PB cookbooks, but also add some hiking time three days a week or some daily body weight exercises. One positive health change will actually help you adhere to other new behaviors/choices.

6. When I get enough money to afford a gym membership, that will be a good time to pick up a fitness routine. 

Don’t let money determine your health. Fitness requires pretty much no amount of money if you really look at it. Time and willingness, yes. Money, no.

If you just want to work out around other people, run, walk or bike around popular lakes or parks. If you want to to work out with other people, organize a group for yoga, CrossFit, or whatever activity interests you.

Some of the fittest people I know haven’t been in a gym for years – home, corporate or otherwise.

7. When winter/summer is over, I’ll have the motivation to get moving again.

How many people say this over the course of how many winters? Winter is like children and work – they never go away. Learn to work around it this year (those of you in the Southern Hemisphere right now), and you’ll never have to see this excuse again.

Take up a winter activity or two to keep the cabin fever at a manageable level, but be realistic if you realize you are an indoor person for a few months of the year. Be outside enough to get some sun, fresh air and mental break. The rest you can do inside. Gyms, climbing walls, indoor rinks, indoor tracks, your living room. It makes no difference.

I know this same experience applies to those who live in extremely hot areas. Again, if you need to live indoors for the most part during a few months of the year, accept it and make a plan with lots of options you can cycle through to prevent boredom.

8. I want to get my sleep under control before I take on anything else.

I sympathize with this one. It’s actually one I would say is legitimate. BUT – (You sensed that coming, right?) it’s a similar concept as waiting for energy.

Generally speaking, people with sleep issues are experiencing hormonal disruption and/or general health problems. You body desperately wants to return to homeostasis.

Lack of sleep will leave you crazier, more desperate and more run down than probably any deficiency – including inadequate movement and exercise.

That said, the faster you move as many elements back toward the body’s regular expectation (long-term fatigue or serious issues taken into account), the better chance you’ll have at sleeping longer and deeper.

See your decision to exercise as a complement and aid to your other sleep goal.

9. One day I’ll leave the city and will be able to run the trails or climb to my heart’s content.

That would be great, wouldn’t it? How about prepping for it now? You know, so you’ll be able to enjoy it when it happens.

Build up to it. Discern what you enjoy the most about that image and start working toward it today. Infuse your routine with elements of that ideal. Put it into practice now – in small steps. Find trails near you. Climb indoors and organize vacations and even weekends around those interests.

Have your dreams. Have your ideal, pie-in-the-sky visions for where (literally or figuratively) you want your fitness to go, but resist putting your fitness or your life on hold for that to happen.

What perfect conditions have you waited for, and what line of excuses begin to line up behind that expectation? Share your thoughts, and have a great week, everyone.

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Dear Mark: The Linoleic Acid Content of Phosphatidylserine, and Optimal Sleeping Position/Location

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, we’ve got a two-parter. First up, what’s the deal with phosphatidylserine, one of the (most crucial) ingredients in Primal Calm? It’s a derivative of linoleic acid-rich oil, so what’s it doing in one of my supplements? Find out if you need to worry about undue levels of linoleic acid from taking Primal Calm. Then, are there any benefits to sleeping on one’s back as opposed to on one’s side? And how about sleeping outdoors under the stars and being woken up by the birds — is there any reliable reason that would improve the quality of our sleep and help us wake up more energized?

Let’s find out:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for creating Primal Calm – I’ve recently started using it and believe that I’ve experienced a marked boost to my overall wellbeing as a result. Having thus become a believer in the benefits of Phosphatidylserine supplementation, I’ve decided to make it a permanent addition to my life, but one thing worries me – given that all the “affordable” forms of PS are derived from plant sources, won’t I be pumping Linoleic Acid directly into my brain, and, in a highly bio-available form at that? I’d be happy to boost my dosage of krill oil instead… if it had any appreciable amounts of PS, that is.

My stress is sky high at the moment, and it’s not going to let up for a long time, so I need every advantage I can get. But I don’t want to embark on long-term and high dosage of a supplement without knowing the risks. In your opinion, is the amount of PS – even, say, 450mg a day (i.e., from 3 doses of Primal Calm a day) – too small to be concerned about in regard to the fatty acid profile, even if it is entirely from plant sources? I try not to worry about every possible risk, but, you know, my brain is kinda important to me

Cheers,

Matthew

Whenever I make a product, I do it to address a deficit in my own life, diet, or coping capacity. Primal Calm was tailor made for the high stress individual, because, well, that’s me ten years ago. With the help of improved coping strategies, supplementation like Primal Calm, and a reconfiguring of my daily routines (I take less on my own shoulders and accept more help from my employees now), I’ve gotten stress and how I handle it to a manageable level. But back when I was developing Primal Calm? Man, oh man: I really, really needed it. I was a ball of stress. A successful and productive ball of stress, as balls of stress go, but it wasn’t pretty. The vast majority of my products are to meet a personal need. I see the things that I still struggle with and figure I’m not the only one. If I’m having trouble with stress, so are lots of others.

I’ve long been suspicious of the excessive amounts of linoleic in the modern diet and their contribution to oxidative stress, and if I thought a couple hundred milligrams of the stuff were going to be a problem, I wouldn’t have put PS in my daily stress response supplement. The amount of linoleic acid you’ll get from a PS supplement is negligible. So, it’s really nothing to worry about.

But let’s say the linoleic acid is a problem. How does the “threat” of linoleic acid intake stack up against the risk posed by chronic stress? I’m no fan of massive doses of LA. And the data that previously claimed to show cardiovascular benefits from replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils high in linoleic acid is crumbling under new evidence. If there is an inverse association between LA intake and heart disease, it’s probably the nuts, not the isolated seed oils. How about stress?

In a recent study, lifetime chronic stress burden was associated with cardiovascular disease among Latino Americans.
Stress can make you fat.
It’s a risk factor for IBD.
Stress can induce leaky gut.
It lowers insulin sensitivity.

I’d take the couple hundred milligrams of LA every time.

As for krill oil, it has phosphatidylcholine, a good and worthy nutrient in its own right, but its possible phosphatidylserine content has yet to be quantified or established. Take it as a good omega-3 supplement, by all means, just not as a replacement for PS.

Thanks for using Primal Calm, by the way. I’m glad it’s helping.

Hey Mark,

I was wondering what your thoughts are on sleeping position? I recently started sleeping on my back instead of on my side and I feel more refreshed in the morning. Is there anything to it or is it my imagination?

Also, I’ve started sleeping outside in a tent or on a cot about once a week. There’s just something exhilarating about waking up to the birds singing and other natural noises. Are there any health benefits?

Thanks!

Daniel

I’m unaware of any solid research into the health effects of sleeping in different positions. Whatever allows you to get the best, most uninterrupted sleep is probably “healthiest.” But I see a few issues with how most people sleep on their sides:

The shoulders: When you place the bulk of your weight on one shoulder, that shoulder tends to sag inward. This pulls your thoracic spine on that side into kyphosis (the rounded upper back we see in laptop warriors and high-frequency texters). And that happens all night long, with your bodyweight pressing down and establishing that shoulder position as the “norm.” Side sleeping can often aggravate or even predispose a person to shoulder injuries, and if you’ve got poor thoracic mobility and a strong tendency toward kyphosis of the shoulder blades, sleeping on either side will exaggerate the kyphosis of that side.

The lower back: When most people sleep on their sides, they form a severe S-shape by curling their lower back. Bending the legs is fine and totally normal, but since a lot of people have lost overall flexibility, bringing the legs up often means bending at the lower back to accommodate the stretch.

Sleeping on your back eliminates those issues, allowing a more neutral spine and symmetrical shoulder placement. In back sleeping, your posture is more “open,” for lack of a better word, and this may allow more “flow” (for even greater lack of a better word) through your tissues. Nobody likes being all hunched over and compressed, yet that’s what many side sleepers are doing for six to eight hours a night, every night.

Sleeping outside is the absolute best. And it’s really, really good for you.

A 2013 study found that going camping for a couple weeks fully restored a person’s circadian rhythm to its natural setting. Their internal biological clocks hewed to the solar cycle. Once darkness fell, biological nighttime ensued — exactly how it works in wild animals.

“Camping,” in this study, was quite strict. The camping trip eliminated all artificial light: flashlights, smartphones, no electric lanterns blaring out pure white light once the sun goes down. Only natural light was allowed: the sun, the stars, the moon, the campfire.

One fascinating finding was that while camping, the melatonin offset occurred 50 minutes prior to wakeup. During artificial light exposure, melatonin offset occurred 2 hours after wakeup. The melatonin offset marks the low point of circadian brain arousal; this meant that camping participants never actually experienced the morning brain sluggishness because they were sleeping when it happened, while participants in the artificial environment had to contend with sluggish brains two hours after getting up. Which scenario sounds like your normal morning? If your melatonin brain offset is occurring before you wake up, that may explain why you’re waking up so refreshed.

Those natural morning noises you mention, like bird song, can also be powerful entrainers of circadian rhythm in many animals. Sounds from a “large animal colony where there were many cats” entrain the circadian rhythms of isolated domestic cats, common house sparrows’ circadian locomotor rhythms are entrained by the playback of pre-recorded bird song, and when the master pacemaker is partially disabled in squirrel monkeys, the role of sound in circadian rhythm entrainment becomes more prominent.

What about people?

A 2004 study found that playing bird song to human subjects late at night in dim light (dim enough not to affect melatonin or circadian rhythm) phase-delayed their circadian rhythms. These delays were “comparable in direction and/or relative size to those produced by other nonphotic stimuli in humans, including exercise,” as well as those “produced by light.” Of course, it’s worth noting that “non-ecological” noises can produce similar phase shifts in other species, so the birdsong may not be completely necessary. Any loud noise might help.

But a Harley revving up in your neighbor’s garage at 6 AM certainly isn’t as pleasant to wake up to as a lilting nightingale’s call. Those people in the study were hearing bird calls in the middle of the night, exactly when you don’t want a circadian phase shift. But hearing bird song in the morning as sunlight streams through your tent might be just the ticket to a healthy, natural (which in this case absolutely means “good”) circadian rhythm in tune with the sun.

That’s it for today, everyone. Let’s hear from you:

Have you tried phosphatidylserine? Notice any benefits? How do you like to sleep? Back, stomach, side? And if anyone out there’s slept outdoors, has it helped?

Thanks for reading.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 350

My team and I have just release a new podcast: The Primal Endurance Podcast, on developing a healthy, balanced, primal-aligned approach to endurance training and racing. Leave a review on iTunes by the end of today and get a free copy of my latest eBook on living a barefoot-dominant lifestyle Amazing Feets! Learn all about the new podcast and the free eBook offer here.

The Ancestral Health Society of New Zealand is holding its first symposium on the shores of stunning Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand, and you do not want to miss it. I know I have lot of AUS/NZ readers out there, so buy your tickets today and get out to Queenstown October 23-25.

Tony Federico of Paleo Magazine Radio just did a Paleo f(x) recap episode featuring interviews with 17 presenters from the conference, including yours truly. Go give it a listen!

Research of the Week

Scientists figured out how to reverse aging in human cell lines by altering gene expression. The two genes involved regulate mitochondrial glycine production; glycine-rich bone broth is looking better and better, huh?

A paleo diet improves heart health markers way better than a diet based on traditional “heart-healthy” dietary recommendations (PDF).

Delaying clamping of the umbilical cord by just a few minutes may confer neurodevelopmental benefits lasting years.

In diabetics, eggs beat oatmeal for breakfast.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 69: Ted McDonald: Host Elle Russ talks to Ted McDonald, an entrepreneur, a yogi, an endurance athlete, and a personal trainer. Ted is a busy, fascinating, talented dude with a unique perspective on endurance training, yoga (he’s the yoga instructor for the Tour de France BMC team), low-carb eating, and how to make it all work together.

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.

What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self?
A Brilliant Way to Enjoy the Summer
How Does Ancient Wisdom Intersect with a Primal Perspective?
Introducing the Primal Endurance Podcast!

Interesting Blog Posts

It’s not just light. A healthy circadian rhythm depends on regular movement, too.

Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest were accomplished clam farmers.

Media, Schmedia

How lactase persistence may have given Western Europe an economic edge over the rest of the world.

Pressure from the United States made Europe relax pesticide safety standards.

Eating insects is good for the environment and all, but that’s not enough to get people to eat them.

Everything Else

Healthy fast food made using pastured meats and local produce served up by workers who make living wages? Thryve sounds pretty, pretty good.

An elementary school in San Rafael, CA, wants to outfit every child with a standing desk and serve as pilot program for the rest of the nation. Help them reach their goal.

Dogs can sense emotions, cancer, the past, the future, and “see” their surroundings using their sense of smell. Here’s how it works.

Daily Table, a new grocery store venture run by Trader Joe’s former boss, is set to wage war on food insecurity.

This Bronze Age woman from Denmark had a pretty wild life.

Got $22 and access to Ikea? Then you can build a standing desk.

Recipe Corner

Now this is how you make a burger bowl.
Not a fan of Bulletproof Coffee? Give Tim Ferriss’ morning tea a spin.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jun 2 – Jun 8)

A Quick Guide to Perfect Eggs: 22 Tips for Buying, Storing and Cooking a Primal Favorite – Everything you needed to know about eggs.
10 Healthy Morning Pick-Me-Ups That Aren’t Traditional Coffee or Tea — I love a good cup of coffee, but not everyone does. Here are ten alternatives.

Comment of the Week

Ha! There’s a car at my kids’ school with a magnet that says 0.1. The owner of the car says it really makes some runners mad but I thought it was hilarious.

– I like that.

Primal Mocktails

If it’s Saturday night and you want to kick back and relax without alcohol, but want something more celebratory than sparkling water, a Primal Mocktail is what you need. Primal Mocktails are non-alcoholic, low in sugar, refreshing, and fun to drink, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out when a pitcher of margaritas is passed around.

The real challenge when crafting a mocktail is keeping the sugar content in check. Look up a few recipes for non-alcoholic beverages and you’ll find a lot of fruit juice, a lot of melons and tropical fruit, and sweeteners like simple syrup and agave nectar. The three recipes below don’t rely on sugar for flavor. Instead, these Primal mocktails are made with intriguing flavor combinations, like cucumber and chamomile, ginger, cloves & lime, and fresh berries with apple cider vinegar and mint.

Because these drinks are a whole lot more than just sparkling water with a twist of lemon, they do require a little prep time. Plan ahead, so when Saturday night rolls around your drink mixers will be chilling in the fridge waiting for the party to start.

Cucumber Chamomile Cooler

Servings: 4

This mocktail is fantastic on a hot summer evening and with brunch on Sunday. The combination of cucumber and chamomile is super refreshing and sends your body into instant relaxation mode.



Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups chilled chamomile tea (350 ml)
1 orange, cut into wedges (optional)

Instructions:

Fill a blender with the cucumbers and chamomile tea. Blend on high until the cucumber is pureed. Pour through a fine mesh strainer, pushing down on the solids to release as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.

Serve the cucumber juice very chilled, over ice (extra points if you make another batch of chamomile tea and freeze it into ice cubes). Add a squeeze of orange if you like.

Spiced Ginger Fizz

Servings: 8 drinks

A non-alcoholic, low sugar version of a Dark ‘n’ Stormy, this recipe uses a blend of spices to imitate the sweet, spiced flavor of dark rum. The ginger brew will keep for a week in the fridge.

Ingredients:

4 oz. ginger, peeled, chopped (113 g)
1 tablespoon honey (15 ml)
¼ teaspoon allspice (2.5 ml)
5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 limes, juiced
Seltzer water

Instructions:

In a food processor, pulse ginger into a chunky paste. Bring ginger, honey, allspice, cloves, cinnamon stick and 3 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes. Strain into a glass jar. Let cool.

For each drink, mix 2 tablespoons/30 ml ginger brew with with 1 tablespoon/15 ml lime juice Serve over ice and top with seltzer water.

Tart and Tangy Berry Mocktail

Servings: 6 drinks

A simplified, lower sugar version of a “shrub” – an old-fashioned drink with a sweet and tangy infusion of fruit, vinegar and sugar. This recipe uses strawberries, but you can experiment with other berries as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups/10 ounces very ripe strawberries, hulled and quartered
½ cup raw apple cider vinegar (120 ml)
12 fresh mint leaves
Seltzer water

Instructions:

Combine the berries and vinegar in a shallow dish, so the berries are mostly covered with the vinegar. Squeeze and break up the berries with your hands, mashing them up and releasing juice. Cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours, stirring and mashing with a fork once or twice.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the solids to release the liquid. Discard the solids.

Put a couple mint leaves in the bottom of a glass. Add a few slices of strawberry and use a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon to press down gently on the berries and leaves, twisting the muddler to tear apart the leaves a little bit.

Add ice, 2 tablespoons/15 ml of the flavored vinegar and top with seltzer water.

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

I Feel Better, Look Better and My Whole Family Is Healthier!

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!

First off, I want to say thanks so much for all you do! The information you provide has been invaluable to my family’s journey into the Primal lifestyle! To start from the beginning:

My wife and I met in high school and began dating our senior year. I was a runt at 5’7″ and a whopping 135 lbs. I am not sure of my wife’s weight at the time but she was probably close to 125 lbs. I’ve always been the type to eat whatever I wanted, and as a teenager that was usually McDonalds a couple times a day, maybe a pizza for a snack or whatever other types of quick easy garbage I could afford as a teenager. All through high school I dealt with a little bit of depression that progressed into anxiety after graduation. I began to have panic attacks and was placed on a Paxil for both the depression and anxiety. Ultimately I gained about 55 pounds and ballooned up to 192 pounds in about a year, as weight gain is a side effect of the medication. Although my wife did not gain as much as I did, she also had weight that continued to climb (I won’t reveal her highest weight as I enjoying being alive).

In 2009/2010-ish, I heard about your website but thought the usual “that’s crazy” or “whoever would do that is an idiot!” My boss was on The Primal Blueprint diet for health reasons, not to lose weight, and he would try to explain it but I was too stubborn to listen. He finally showed me his blood work numbers and it made sense. But of course, being in my mid-twenties I said “but I’m young, I don’t have to worry about that stuff.”

In early 2010, I met a doctor who pushes the Primal/paleo diet very heavily, prior to medications, as a basis for health. I started to dig a little more and realized there might be something to it. Of course I ignored this and tried a SAD diet, resulting in about 10 pounds of fat loss to a weight of 182 pounds. I was doing chronic cardio and my knees were killing me everyday. I certainly became a runner but hated doing it, hated what I was eating…using a weight watchers app to reward myself for running for an hour a day. I did very little strength training and still drank too much alcohol on top of it.

During a 2009 pregnancy, my wife developed hypothyroidism and gestational diabetes that carried over into non-pregnant life. She attempted managing it on her own for about a year but it was too much. In early 2013, her doctor told her she had a couple of months to get her A1C and fasting glucose under control or she was going to be put on insulin shots. Now, we had to do this during the pregnancy so we knew the drill, but who the hell wants to take a shot three times a day! Enter Mark’s Daily Apple. We went on a pretty solid (75 %-ish) Primal Blueprint diet and both had about 20 pounds of fat loss without really doing anything. By her next appointment the doctor not only took insulin off the table, but took her off her two oral diabetes medications as well! She cured her diabetes by eating a paleo diet and small amounts of exercise. I am so proud of her!!!

I’ve found that 160 pounds or so is my 80/20 weight. I can maintain that without really trying as can my wife can do the same with her weight. In 2014 we started to add in HIIT training and CrossFit with even more weight loss. My lowest was about 153 pounds and about 14% body fat. I feel better, look better and (most importantly) my whole family is healthier! We don’t have to worry about diabetes anymore, we have started enjoying a slower lifestyle, we only have one TV in our house, we have no tablets like an iPad or anything like that, cable TV is gone and has been replaced with bike rides, hiking trails, and drinking wine after a long day of being Primal!

I’ve since changed my workout routine to more of an endurance type of training. Mainly doing bodyweight CrossFit style workouts with lots of running and usually a 20 pound weighted vest (I.E.: Running Angie w/vest: 100 pull ups, run 1 mile, 100 push ups, run 1 mile, 100 sit ups, run 1 mile, 100 squats, run 1 mile). It takes much longer and burns lots of glycogen but it has allowed me to take my training to the next level. I still enjoy the non-Primal things from time to time. I like fresh sourdough bread on occasion; I eat gluten-free oats a couple of times a week after an intense workout, and even the occasional beer or two (or three). But that’s what 80/20 is for, to maintain social situations without feeling guilty and to change things up as needed.

My whole family has benefited from the Primal lifestyle. Last year on vacation was the first time I wasn’t embarrassed to take off my shirt and the first time my wife has worn a bikini since right after high school! We are outside from April through November (I hate the cold!), we play and wrestle with our kids, and we aren’t staring at computer screens 24/7. It has been a great experience and I will never go back to the way we were. Thanks again for everything!

Brian