Mark Sisson's Blog, page 287

Cuban “Mojo” Chicken

Biting into mojo roasted chicken is like tasting a bright sunny day. The flavors of orange and lime – both the juice and zest – dominate, infusing flavor into the chicken and swirling into an irresistible sauce. This is a meal for a day when you crave more flavor in your life. Why eat the same old plain roasted chicken when you can eat mojo chicken instead?

The sauce makes itself while the chicken roasts, the citrus juice and chicken drippings swirling into a rich, slightly sweet, and savory sauce spiked with plenty of garlic. The chicken is surrounded by onion and lots of colorful bell peppers, making it a one-pot meal.

Roasting a whole chicken in this Cuban-inspired marinade is a great way to go, but you could just as easily use the marinade for chicken pieces or a whole pork roast.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 1 hour to marinate, plus 1 1/2 hours to prep and cook

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
1 orange, zest and juice
2 limes, zest and juice
10 garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (7 ml)
1 teaspoon cumin (5 ml)
4 tablespoons coconut or olive oil, divided (60 ml)
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 pounds baby bell peppers, quartered, (900 g) or 3 large bell peppers, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth (120 ml)
Fresh oregano or cilantro for garnish

Instructions:

To make marinade, combine orange zest and juice, lime zest and juice, garlic, salt, cumin and 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of oil in a blender. Blend until garlic cloves are finely chopped.

Truss the chicken (tie the legs together). Put the chicken in a large Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over it. Seal the bag and marinate the chicken at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, turning the bag several times to coat all parts of the chicken.

Preheat oven to 450 °F (232 °C).

In a large Dutch oven or other ovenproof pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of oil on the stove. Add the onion and sauté until soft and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the peppers, sauté a minute or two more, and then add the broth.

Put the chicken in the Dutch oven, breasts down. Pour the marinade into the pot as well.

Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over and turn the heat down to 400 °F (204 °C). Continue to roast, breast side up, 35 to 45 minutes more until the chicken is browned on top and a thermometer inserted in a thigh reads 165 °F (74 °C).

Let the chicken rest and cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing into it.

Garnish with fresh oregano or cilantro.

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Inspired by Robin Williams: A Different Kind of Success Story

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 your typical Friday transformation story. There are no photographs, even though there has been substantial weight loss, increased energy, improved cognition and happiness in my Primal Blueprint journey. This is a different kind of story. The death of Robin Williams is what prompted me to write this.

The part of my story that is relevant to this community starts twenty years ago in San Francisco during the month of August. Having financial difficulties that were putting a strain on my marriage, I started to deliver food at night for various restaurants throughout the city. I was in my thirties, a vegetarian for approximately three years, and not sure of what I wanted to be when I grew up. My wife and I worked from home and cooked all the time to feed the beast, so to speak. The food was great but we always wanted more a short time later. We ate lots of whole grains, veggies, beans and tofu. It was all organic, so of course it was healthy. I used to get up and run three miles a day and was pretty thin. This all may have appeared well and good—but I was losing my mind.

One evening I had to pick up and deliver some Indian food to a beautiful home. And to my surprise, none other than Robin Williams answered the door. That’s huge, right? How often does anyone get to go inside the home of a movie star and get to talk to them? Into the kitchen I went, making small talk along the way while his wife talked with friends. I unpacked the food, got paid and left with a sweet tip and a memory that should have been joyous. But instead, in the moments that followed the delivery, I went looking for a pay phone (if you’re too young to know what a pay phone is, go ask an old geezer), called my wife, and cried while telling her that I just came from Robin Williams’ house feeling like the biggest loser that ever lived. You see, he was famous and he had stuff—lots and lots of stuff. Can you imagine comparing yourself with a movie star and using his status as a means to determine your own self-worth? This is a tall mountain to climb for most folks, and also completely ridiculous. But I was not in my right mind.

My wife at the time eventually left our marriage and my life, but not after enduring months where I had become a sobbing mess filled with constant thoughts of suicide. I was in a black hole from where there was no escape. I was picking fights with my wife daily. Life had become unbearable. I was unbearable. I didn’t understand any of it. Prior to this time, I had always been, if not completely joyful most of the time, at least sane. I had been living with the love of my life, eating the healthiest foods around and getting plenty of exercise and rest. All the books we read confirmed we were doing it right. It was only after my wife left that I went to a counselor to talk it out, crying non-stop for the first three sessions. Fun stuff. But something else happened during this time. I had started to mainline McDonalds and Burger King hamburgers. To help cope with my sorrow and depression, I skipped over drugs and alcohol and went right for food. At the time I just chalked it up to wanting comfort foods. My vegetarian days had ended and I was clueless as to why that was so (although I’m sure many of Mark’s Daily Apple readers are connecting the dots right now, which I could have never done back then.) After some time my depression lifted, which I naturally associated with the therapy sessions. I was still sad that my marriage had ended, scared and not sure of the future, but I wanted to have a future. That was different.

But as the years passed by I gained a considerable amount of weight—enough that folks were calling me “Big Guy.” I would think, “When did I become big guy?” But there I was—at 5’6” and 220 lbs. I was indeed a big guy. I wanted to take some weight off but I was also of a mindset that life was short and there was a place for doughnuts, candy, cookies, chips and soda. The reality was, however, that I had just given up. I tried every way to lose weight, even trying vegetarianism once again. But it was short-lived. I was still clueless of the effects that not eating meat had on me in the past. All I knew was that I was skinny back then. I still wasn’t connecting the dots. But to borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, Field of Dreams, “The universe opens up to show us what is possible.” And it seemed that for no other reason, the dots slowly started to connect for me after a chance encounter with my ex-wife.

By some fluke we started to talk (really talk) by email at first, and then by phone. This was after seventeen years of being apart. We were then separated by 2,500 miles. She too had gained a significant amount of weight and had tried everything to fix it. She was reading about paleo and describing it to me, to which my initial reaction was, “that sounds great if you’re looking to have a heart attack.” But as I read more, I finally ordered The Primal Blueprint after checking out Mark’s Daily Apple. Everything seemed to make so much sense, but, then again, so did the books I read on eating a vegetarian lifestyle twenty years prior. I remember having the thought that I was going to trust “one more idiot” (sorry Mark) in my life and start eating primal. But as anyone who has taken this journey can attest to, it can completely change your life. Weight loss was just icing on the cake. My energy skyrocketed, my whole outlook on life took a decidedly positive turn, and I even believe I became a smarter person as a result. Try explaining that to your friends. I usually start by saying, “I know this may sound crazy but…”

So now we come to the part of the story that inspired me to write about my story of transformation: the day I read about Robin Williams’ death. I was extremely saddened by the news and couldn’t help but think back to my encounter with him all those years ago and the state of mind I found myself in then. A piece of his story that stuck out in particular for me was that Robin had become a vegetarian in 2009 after having heart surgery. I’m not saying that had anything to do with his death, but it made me reflect on my own journey and wonder.

I’m convinced that all those years ago I was literally starving—my brain most of all. Back then no one ever asked me what I was eating. It was not even on the radar. I don’t believe it’s much different today. We usually don’t appreciate how the foods we eat affect every aspect of our lives (nor the foods we skip). But I do now. The folks reading this story who have taken this journey know very well, too.

So I’d like to thank Mark and Mark’s Daily Apple. Thank you. Without developing a messiah complex, I hope in your quiet moments you reflect on how much good you have done by telling your own story and by sharing all the information you do on a daily basis.

I am happy. I feel grateful for my life and the friends and family that are a part of it. I get to come home after a day’s work now and see my (former) ex-wife’s smiling face. Yup, you heard right. After seventeen years and 2,500 miles of distance between us, we figured we owed it to Mark’s Daily Apple to give it another try. But seriously though, while we were both trying to discover a path back to our own health, we discovered a path back to each other. At times it feels surreal and at others it feels like it was yesterday—a better yesterday. We’re both a bit older, a little worn around the edges, and together we’re filling in the footprints that had been missing in each of our lives. It’s indescribable to have your best friend sitting across from you while having dinner and trying to imagine a different life.

Thanks to the people who are members of this community—this community that helped change my life. Sometimes the universe really does open up to show us what is possible.

Rest in peace Robin Williams. You gave us so much.

Jeff

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How Exercise Makes Us Feel

How did you feel after your last workout? (Apply as many adjectives as fit the occasion.) Now think about how others perceive exercise. Let’s say you stop a random hundred people on the street and ask them how exercise makes/would make them feel. I’m going to guess you’d get an interesting cross-section of answers, likely slanted toward the negative (mostly from people who don’t regularly exercise, but – hey – that’s just MY guess, right?). Call me cynical, but when many people think about exercise, I think their minds go directly to pain, soreness, sweat, and the general unpleasantness of it all. That’s unfortunate to say the least. I’m not going to claim that my most intensive workouts don’t leave me tired or even slightly sore (genuine pain is something different). Nonetheless, I get way too much out of my Primal exercise to feel it’s something to be “endured” – or even avoided. This brings me to those other answers – the ones more likely from folks who exercise on a regular basis (whether their workouts involve gym time, outdoor play, an active hobby or something else). What else does exercise make us feel – in the moment, after the workout and later once the results start showing?

Let’s just jump right in, shall we?

The Release

A friend of Carrie’s described it this way: “I walk out the door and leave all the day’s stress – the work pressures, the kids’ whining, the messy kitchen, the school paperwork. As I walk faster and quickly begin to run, it’s like shedding layers of weight and moving into flight.” I love that observation. When we’re in our bodies, we have a better chance of being in the present. We get a break from neurotic worry and obsessive planning that can drive too many of our waking hours. (If we find ourselves still mired in self-talk during workouts, we either need to find something more intense or figure out a way to truly play. It’s thankfully difficult to make a mental shopping list while playing a game of Ultimate.)

When we strip exercise of “obligation,” we can appreciate the opportunities it gives us to live differently for a time. When we start to see our workouts as the break we look forward to – or a seamless part of enjoying life and socialization – instead of a personal task to cram in, something essential opens. It’s a threshold I would see my clients cross (and one I rediscovered for myself when fitness again became personal rather than primarily professional). In my opinion, the best rewards – both physical and psychological – come past that threshold.

The Pride

It doesn’t matter in the moment whether you skipped five workouts before this one. Right now you’re moving, and (barring a serious penchant for self-flagellation) there’s a real gratification to this fact that cancels out the rest. You’re lapping everyone who’s at home sitting on the couch. This matters. And the sense of accomplishment only grows with time. Each additional mile run, every better race time, each increase in poundage lifted boosts the feeling. It’s not just a fitness increase. It’s a victory over our perceived limitations as well as a win for discipline and self-management.

The “High”

We work for it, to be sure, but it can feel like a peak experience when it does. At times, I’d say, it puts me at the very center of being, which is kind of a Zen take on what is really an activation of the body’s endorphin release and endocannabinoid system. (PDF) (Whose attention perked up at the mention of cannabinoid?) The fact is, when we’re exercising, we’re shifting all kinds of biochemical gears (everything from neurotransmitter levels, BDNF release and endocannabinoid engagement) because the body perceives our efforts as a physical stress and responds with natural pain-relieving strategies. In longer duration, high intensity activity, the response (whether a primary cause of the endorphin or the endocannabinoid system) can impact emotion as well as physical sensation. Those who have felt the full-on high won’t forget it.

The Clarity

When I’m stuck on something – a work issue, writer’s block, a personal question – moving is about the only thing that makes sense. My best ideas come when I’m biking or walking – or just after a good workout. While my focus during lifting or sprinting is definitely on the action itself, other less intense activities allow me to wander mentally. (It’s like being able to view a star out of the corner of your eye but missing it when you’re searching for it head on.) The result, as research illuminates, is a surprisingly unconscious productivity.

If we’re talking about the post-workout window, it doesn’t matter what I did for exercise. My mind is again firing on all cylinders. Of course, there’s real physical sense to this phenomenon. Exercise literally and figuratively gets “the blood flowing” to our brains. It stimulates the processes that support new neuronal growth and connections as well as brain plasticity and better recall. It’s the kind of thing that makes you re-envision how you should spend that afternoon break.

The Confidence

There’s a certain self-assurance that comes from improving and pushing yourself physically. You know you’re taking responsibility for your health, but it’s something else, too. I think it’s owning your own power as a physical being. I’ve seen thousands of people – clients and readers (hello, success stories!) who said getting fit led to a major emotional and even social transformation in their lives. Likewise, it goes the other way. Over the years I’ve worked with a number of people who have overcome personal crises and come to me for advice saying “I want the outside to be as strong as I feel on the inside now.” Either way, the connection is the same. Physical resilience goes hand-in-hand with self-possession.

The Calm

I call this the “good exhaustion.” It’s in large part the sedative aspect of the runner’s high chemical cascade. Once we’re not moving anymore and there’s no “pain” to alleviate, we’re left for a while with the tail end of feel-good chemicals and can just bask in the contentment. For myself, I think the calm also comes from the sensation that my muscles have been used and stretched. I’ve lived my animal purpose for the day. A neighbor who walks her dog several times a day said once, “A good dog is a tired dog.” I’d add happy dog – and hominid to that.

The Energy

Sure, we’re riding the surge right after a workout, but I’m also thinking of the growing constancy of energy when exercise becomes a regular habit. Perhaps it’s the better sleep we enjoy or maybe the memory of feeling so energized during the workout itself. Or maybe it’s something more. University of Georgia researchers found exercise substantially reduced the fatigue symptoms of sedentary subjects all while it increased their energy (20% according to their estimates). It turns out it doesn’t take much. The low-level cardio folks actually experienced more of a reduction in fatigue (65%) than those who did more intense work (49%).

The Sexiness

Admit it: you feel better about your body after you work out. (Why do we ever feel guilty about this – like it’s a secret we have to keep under wraps?) It’s part of the energy surge but something “more.” Feeling good naked continually develops over time, with research suggesting our body image can change within mere weeks. However, I think it can begin to shift the moment we let it. Few things – other than sex itself, have the power to put us back in our bodies in quite the same way as exercise. All of the aforementioned benefits come together – the sense of energy, power, release, the high – and converge to make us feel more alive, impassioned and maybe even virile. You might end gym time sweaty and fatigued, but after a shower you might find yourself walking differently and “working” that workout. No?

Well, I’d say the short-term discomfort pales in comparison to exercise’s bigger benefits. (Am I wrong?) How does exercise make YOU feel? Any of the above? Something not on the list? Thanks for reading, everybody, and have a good end to your week.

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12 Signs You Need to Eat More Protein

Protein is an essential macronutrient. We can’t make it. We can pull it from our structural tissues – our muscles, our tendons, our organs – if we’re in dire need of amino acids, but that’s not a healthy long term strategy. For all intents and purposes, we need to consume protein to stay healthy, fit, happy, and long-lived. But we need to consume the right amount at the right times. And since I’ve already talked about how much protein certain populations should be eating on a general basis, shown you how to identify when you need more carbs, and explained how to tell if you need more fat, today’s post will cover 12 situations, symptoms, and signs that indicate a direct need for more dietary protein.

Let’s jump right in:

You’re older than you used to be.

For years, the elderly have been told not to expect anything from their bodies but decay and decrepitude. They can lift weights if they want, but they’re not going to get very strong and if anything they’ll just improve “tone” and “balance.” Well, that’s nonsense. The elderly absolutely can get stronger and even build muscle and improve their bone mineral density by lifting heavy things. Maybe not as easily as a 22 year old. Maybe not as much as when they were younger. But they can do it. There’s just one caveat: they need more protein than their younger counterparts.

The elderly aren’t as efficient at processing protein. To maintain nitrogen balance or tip the scales toward lean mass accrual, an older person is going to need more protein than a younger person – all else being equal. That goes for resistance training oldsters, puttering around the garden oldsters, and taking an hour to walk around the block oldsters. More protein is better than less.

You’re always hungry.

Of all the macronutrients, protein is the most satiating, and high-protein diets (which are usually also low-carb) consistently result in the greatest inadvertent reduction in calories. You don’t consciously stop eating. You’re not fighting your desire for food. You simply don’t want it. That’s the perfect antidote to insatiable hunger.

Just try it. Make a point to add an extra 20 grams of protein each meal. A few ounces of steak here, a chicken leg there, a piece of salmon, a few eggs. You’ll be fuller, faster.

So if your stomach resembles a bottomless pit, try increasing your protein intake.

You’re cutting calories.

Traditional calorie-restricted dieting certainly can help you lose body weight, but it also causes the loss of lean muscle mass. That explains why so many people who simply reduce calories to lose weight end up skinny-fat. Luckily, increasing the amount of protein you eat can offset some of the muscle loss caused by calorie restriction:

In weightlifters, a low-carb hypocaloric diet with 2x the RDA for protein resulted in greater nitrogen balance than a high-carb hypocaloric diet with RDA protein.
In women, a low-calorie, high-protein diet was better than a conventional high-carb, low-fat diet at promoting lean mass retention, even in the absence of exercise.

If you’re reducing calorie intake, you’d better increase the absolute amount of protein you’re eating. As an added bonus, the satiety from increasing protein will make the cutting of calories – an infamously onerous task – much easier.

You’re lifting heavy things.

Lifting heavy things changes how your body processes protein. On the one hand, resistance training makes you more efficient at protein utilization so that you actually need less protein to maintain your muscle mass. If maintenance is your goal, you probably don’t need extra protein.

However, resistance training also pushes your anabolic ceiling higher so that you can leverage higher protein intakes into more muscle mass and greater strength gains. The more protein available, the greater the response.

You’re exclusively eating plant protein.

For the most part, plant proteins are less efficient than animal proteins. They’re often missing essential amino acids. And in the case of something like soy protein, it’s just not as effective as an animal protein like whey:

Following resistance training, soy protein blunts testosterone production in men.
In both the young and the elderly, whey promotes greater muscle protein synthesis than soy protein.
Compared to milk, soy protein results in less hypertrophy following resistance training.
Women who consume animal protein have greater muscle mass than female vegetarians.

The easiest thing would be to add a whey protein supplement or start eating pastured eggs from happy hens (or raise your own to ensure their quality of life), but if you’re not going to do that at least increase your overall protein intake to make up for the inefficiencies of plant protein.

You’re engaged in chronic cardio.

As much as I caution against chronic cardio, people are still going to do it. I stuck with it for many years, even long after I’d realized the damage it was doing, because I was addicted to the rush of competing. So I get it.

If you insist on endurance training, you’re going to need more protein to stave off the loss of muscle. Even though you’re not necessarily eating less food when you exercise – maybe more, if anything – your caloric expenditure is greater and the net result is a negative calorie balance. A higher protein intake can stave off the lean mass losses associated with negative calorie balances, whether they stem from lower calorie intakes or higher expenditures.

You’re craving meat.

A lot of people get mixed up trying to interpret cravings because in our modern food environment, real nutrient deficiencies often masquerade as cravings for junk food. Sometimes, though, a craving is correct. And animal research suggests that a specific appetite for protein exists in mammals. When mice are protein deficient, they tend to seek out protein-rich foods and ignore protein-poor foods. I know when I haven’t had a good piece of meat in awhile, or I’ve just finished a heavy lifting session, I get a primal (small “p”) urge for it. I’ll almost salivate at the smell of a cooking steak.

So if you’re craving meat, give into it. Don’t ignore the craving. It’s probably right. There’s really no mistaking a desire for a delicious slab of animal flesh.

You’re eating lots of muscle meat.

Wait. What? The consumption of a potent source of animal protein raises the requirements of protein? How does that work?

Muscle meat is a rich source of methionine, the amino acid that the life extension crowd is always railing against as carcinogenic, inflammatory, and anti-longevity. They’re onto something, but there’s evidence to suggest that you don’t need to eliminate, or even reduce your methionine/muscle meat intake as long as you balance it out with another type of animal protein: gelatin.

Found in bones, connective tissues, gristle, cuts of meat like oxtail, neck, and shank, or gelatin supplements, gelatin is a protein composed primarily of amino acids like glycine and proline. Animal studies show that “methionine toxicity” can be countered by glycine supplementation. In fact, one of the primary mechanisms of methionine toxicity is glycine depletion. My favorite way to balance out methionine and glycine is to supplement with oxtail stew.

You’ve got achy joints.

In the previous post about fat requirements, I explained how my first response to achy joints is to increase my omega-3 consumption because that quickly curtails inflammation. But if that doesn’t work – and even if it does – I then turn to gelatin. Gelatin is connective tissue; it’s made of the stuff we use to repair and build our own cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and fascia. A few studies indicate that eating gelatin can improve joint pain:

A novel collagen type II supplement (a fancy gelatin supplement) improved pain, range of motion, and stiffness in women with severe joint pain and patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

You’re on bed rest.

Bed rest eats at lean muscle mass. It makes sense from your body’s point of view; since you aren’t using it, you don’t really need it. Placing individual limbs on bed rest also has the same effect. Wearing a cast on your arm and preventing it from performing simple, everyday contractions will initiate the atrophy process within days. In effect, unused muscle on bed rest becomes less responsive to protein/amino acids, or “protein resistant.” The answer is not to throw up your hands (if you can even move them) and give up. The answer is to increase your protein intake to mitigate the inefficiency.

Increasing protein during bed rest will slow down (but not completely halt) the breakdown of lean mass and improve muscle function.

You’re experiencing chronic stress.

Stress hormones are catabolic; they increase muscle and tissue protein breakdown. If you’re experiencing an acute stressor, like a tough workout, this catabolism is normal and necessary and gives way to anabolism. That’s how we get stronger, faster, fitter, and more capable. But if that stress becomes chronic, and the stress hormones are perpetually elevated, the balance tips toward muscle catabolism. Until you’re able to get a handle on the stress, eating more protein should mitigate the damage and might even reduce the stress itself.

You’re coming off surgery, recovering from burns, or trying to heal a wound (or all three).

Traumatic damage to your tissues requires more protein to make the necessary repairs and recovery.

In wound patients, protein deficiency is common and impairs the healing process. Wounded rats placed on protein-free diets also take far longer to heal than wounded rats eating protein-replete diets.

After surgery, which is pretty much a controlled wounding, protein intake is probably the most crucial aspect of the patient’s nutrition and subsequent recovery. Many doctors even recommend that surgical patients take whey protein isolate for a couple days after a procedure.

After a severe burn, your metabolism goes into hyperdrive. Stress hormones and inflammation skyrocket, leading to accelerated tissue breakdown, lean mass reduction, and overall body weight reduction. To counter this, “early and continuous” high-protein enteral feeding has become part of standard care for severe burn victims. Adult burn victims need at least 1.5 g/kg bodyweight; kids need up to 2.5 g/kg.

Most research focuses on the importance of protein intake after severe injuries, burns, and surgeries, but the same principles should hold true for recovery from minor stuff. This is also a good time to increase your gelatin/collagen intake, as those are the primary proteins used to rebuild new skin and gelatin is also a good source of arginine, an amino acid that promotes wound healing.

There you have it, folks: 12 signs, situations, and symptoms that indicate you should probably be eating more protein. I hope they’re helpful!

Which of these signs ring true? Are there any I’ve missed? Let’s hear about it in the comment section.

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.

Rajio Taiso: Why You Should Start Doing Light Morning Workouts

In the early 1920s, MetLife Insurance sponsored daily 15 minute calisthenics programs to be broadcast over the radio to American audiences in an effort to make them healthier and fitter. It didn’t catch on here, but visiting Japanese officials loved the idea enough to bring it back to Japan. To commemorate the coronation of Emperor Hirohito in 1928, Japanese public radio began daily broadcasts of rajio taiso, or “radio calisthenics.” Every morning Japanese citizens, young and old, would gather to perform a short circuit of dynamic stretches, joint mobility drills, and bodyweight exercises in time to broadcasted piano music. Participation has dropped off in recent years, but even today about 20% of the Japanese population (and three quarters of elementary school students) still does the daily routine, which has remained unchanged for almost a century.

The actual routine is about what you’d expect: lots of arm circles, bending over, squats, toe touching. Constant movement, none of it very intense. If you live in an area with a large Asian/Asian-American population, particularly Chinese or Japanese, you’ve probably seen the older folks walking around in the morning swinging their arms, clapping, or doing light circuit routines with each other in parks. Maybe even a little tai-chi. This is very similar to rajio taiso, and it seems quite popular in many Asian countries. China and Vietnam have their own traditions of morning workouts.

What makes rajio taiso and other similar traditions so interesting and useful?

It fosters a culture of physical activity. CrossFit and other similar programs also foster a healthy fitness culture and community, but it’s not available to everyone. Not everyone wants to pay a couple hundred bucks a month or hoist barbells. But everyone can do ten to fifteen minutes of light, moderate movement to start the day and see real benefits that should promote further activity.

It’s better than nothing (which is what many people do). I’m just being honest here, folks. Some people won’t ever work out or even walk around the block if they can help it. A quick little warmup in the morning that gets the blood flowing and heart rate up is better than doing absolutely nothing.

It employs dynamic, rather than static stretching. It’s unclear whether static stretching is useful or not and, for many types of exercises, it’s probably counterproductive. Rajio taiso stretching is almost entirely dynamic. You’re moving through full ranges of motion as you would when exercising, not pausing in extension for as long as you can stand the pain. Most athletes (recreational or professional alike) would benefit far more from dynamic stretches.

There aren’t many formal studies on rajio taiso. A Pubmed search for “radio calisthenics” and related terms comes up empty. The rates of degenerative diseases caused by physical inactivity, however, are much lower in Japan and neighboring countries with a tradition of morning calisthenics.

In the United States, for example, about 37% of adults 20+ have prediabetes (impaired glucose tolerance and/or elevated blood markers) and 12.3% have full-on diagnosed type 2 diabetes (PDF). In Japan, 13.5% of the population has either impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes.
Rates of impaired functional capacity – the inability to take care of oneself and perform normal everyday tasks – are much higher in American seniors than Japanese seniors.

This doesn’t prove anything, but it hints at the benefits of a culture where physical activity is integrated into everyday life. And it’s certainly intriguing. I’ve always admired the spryness of the elderly Asian folks I see exercising in parks or squatting to grab a choice bunch of broccoli at the farmer’s markets. I run with a fairly fit crowd of oldsters, so I’m no stranger to able-bodied elderly. But comparing the average Japanese senior citizen to the average age-matched American senior citizen? It’s no contest. What if these early morning workout traditions are a big reason for the difference?

So for the past week, I’ve given the rajio taiso routine a trial run using these two videos (part 1 and part 2). I’m quite impressed. Here’s what I found:

My joints felt warm the rest of the day. Whenever I’d go to do my actual “real” workout, I felt warmed up and ready to go – even if it was a late afternoon workout. The warmth persisted.

My heart rate was mildly elevated. This wasn’t a CrossFit WOD, nor was it trying to be. It was a pleasant way to get your body moving in the morning.

It didn’t wear me out. The rajio taiso never impacted my performance in subsequent workouts. I wasn’t fatigued, nor had I lost the motivation to work out.

It took ten minutes, max. The important thing was just setting aside the brief chunk of time to do it. For me, it was while my coffee was brewing. I’d stand barefoot in the backyard on the grass (still wet and cold from dew) and do the routine, then have my coffee. Painless and it’s not like I had anything else going on.

It energized me. Maybe it was standing in the damp cool grass first thing after waking. Maybe it was the coffee I had immediately after. But these rajio taiso routines got my blood flowing and my brain working well. It felt right.

My buddy and PrimalCon presenter Angelo dela Cruz has been telling me about the innumerable benefits of daily morning movement sessions – his particular version is called VitaMoves, which I strongly recommend – for so long that I felt I had to give it a shot. I’ve flirted with the morning movement session, but never daily, and never for a week straight.

Now that I have, I’m a convert. I’m not sure I’ll stick with this particular routine exclusively – that rajio taiso piano piece gets a little grating, after all, and I’d like to try some new moves – but I’ll definitely be doing morning movement sessions.

If you’re interested in trying morning movement sessions or light workouts, you don’t have to follow rajio taiso. You could try out the aforementioned VitaMoves or even Winnie the Pooh’s morning routine. But doing something, even just a few sets of air squats and pushups to get your body moving when you wake up will make a big difference. Let me know how it works out for you guys.

Thanks for reading! What’s your morning movement routine?

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: Your Primal Blueprint Expert Certification Questions Answered

Greetings, everyone. I hope you are enjoying your fast-closing window summer. I just got back from an awesome week of hiking in Aspen and taxing my cardio system. Even now that I’m back down at sea level, my head is still in the clouds due to my incredible excitement about the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification. The response to our August 27th launch has been amazing. We quickly passed the 100 person registration mark last week, and have been inundated with tons of questions. Hence, I’m taking this post to answer some of the most common questions that have come through, so that all of us can understand what this new direction is all about. That’s right, the “Cert” kicks off a new direction, one that I think the movement must head in. While I’m happy to be a thought leader for Primal living, I realize that in order to continue making headway against conventional wisdom and unhealthy modern society, we need multiples more impassioned experts to spread the word.

Getting certified is about empowerment and self-improvement so that you can make a difference in the world. For a trainer or life coach, it’s an obvious enhancement to your professional offering. But interestingly, a fair portion of our early registrants are simply primal enthusiasts who want to take their education and their commitment to the next level. Let’s review some questions and of course, feel free to contact us if with further questions or clarifications. I’ll carefully monitor the comments of this post to provide quick answers, and also we are ready and waiting on email, live chat and phone lines (888-774-6259 or 310-317-4414 for international).

Can I participate in this program outside of the USA?

A ton of people have asked this, and the answer is a huge YES! In fact, we’ve had students already register from Australia in droves, more from all over Europe, and even Pakistan, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Hong Kong are represented in our student roster. Everything is online for your access anywhere on the globe (well, anywhere with an Internet connection!), and we’ll even ship your graduation kit of goodies internationally. The cert program is perfect for folks living abroad who might not be able to pop into a PrimalCon weekend, a Paleo f(x), Ancestral Health Symposium, or other grand USA event very easily.

I am a newly ACE (American Council on Exercise) certified personal trainer from IL/MO. I have two specific questions. According to scope of practice for ACE certified personal trainers, I am only able to provide nutritional information to clients that follow USDA guidelines. Would this certification allow me to expand my ability to provide nutritional advice based upon Primal Blueprint principles? Also, is this certification able to be counted as continuing education for major personal training certification institutions (like ACE)? Thank you for all you do!

Seth

The program seems great! The Paleo lifestyle is truly one to be sought and practiced. My biggest concern is completing a program that is accredited or approved by an accredited school. Do you think this status is as meaningful today as it has been in years past? Thanks for your input!

Sarah

Hi, Sarah and Seth. Seth, don’t get me started on ACE! Okay, you got me started on ACE… I’m pleased to take this public opportunity to inform everyone that ACE quickly and unequivocally denied our application for CEU credits with just a perfunctory review of our massive educational content. Denial was on the grounds of—horrors—our dietary advice conflicted with USDA recommendations. I’m glad we invested our $500 non-refundable application fee to learn that! I also wonder if the folks at ACE caught the national headline story, first published in the NY Times last week, that eating fat is good for you and can help you lose weight.

We are in the application process and very likely to get CEU accreditation from NASM, the National Academy of Sports Medicine. They are a leading provider of certification for personal trainers. Details forthcoming on that end.

However, my priority for the cert program, and all of our future educational offerings, is that we create our own Primal/paleo certification body. Here, Primal Blueprint Certified Experts will sit atop their very own mountain without apology or watering down to adhere to some other professional association’s guidelines. Hopefully someday our Certified Experts might develop their own programming and apply for Primal Blueprint Certified Expert CEU credits! But rest assured, even as our educational offerings grow, we will never revoke your Certified Expert status or require an annual fee at some future date.

All this said, I realize that trainers and other licensed professionals are compelled to obtain CEUs each year, and that budget concerns make it important for educational investments to qualify toward CEU requirements. Particularly with international students, we are happy to apply on your behalf for CEU credits with certain favored institutions if the certification bodies seem reasonable and respectful of the Primal Blueprint philosophy. We are already doing so in Australia thanks to prompting from students there. We look forward to hearing from students and potential students about which governing bodies are the most valued for CEU accreditation.

I lost 50 pounds two years ago and live the 90/10 rule now. I’m coaching others to their own wellness journey too, and I host wellness workshops all over SF. I do these efforts for free, and am still waitressing and have two kids. Are there any scholarships available for the new certification course?

K.J.

Hi, K.J. I very much like how you customized the percentage rule to your own specs! It’s the 90/10 rule for K.J.! As I’ve mentioned previously, I get a little miffed when people misinterpret the spirit of my 80 percent rule by using it as an excuse for a wavering commitment. Just reading your brief letter, I can tell that you’ve done a couple of my favorite things: transformed your health and your body by living Primally; and taken responsibility for your behavior and your circumstances with your honest evaluation of a current 90/10 Primal alignment! I hereby challenge others to take their 80/20 and raise it up to 90/10 like KJ!

Back to your question, we offer discounts to full-time students who provide verification, and we offer payment plans to make course registration friendly to your budget. If you would like to discuss your personal situation and budgetary concerns with us further, please call or email and we’ll do everything we can to help you.

Assuming one passes the course and goes on to implement the material in a business, is there a follow-up or support network that can be tapped in the future if any clients ask questions which we’re incapable of answering? Thanks!

Alison

Hi Alison, that’s a great question. We have so many grand ambitions for our educational programming that I’m restraining myself from spewing them forth right now until they actually come to life. Honestly, the entire team has been really focused on simply executing a successful launch of this ambitious program. We indeed are in development with a number of support programs for Certified Experts. For the immediate needs of you and other certified experts, please email or call us at 888-774-6259 and we’ll provide a quick answer for anything you are stumped on. Actually, I love doing this and so does my staff!

Hi, I was wondering if the Primal Expert Cert covered exercise programming? Does it cover just principles or will it show you how to implement programs for clients? Thank you.

Jason

Jason, the answer to your question is “does it ever!” Readers of the Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation Program book understand that Key Concepts #7 and #8 relate to exercise philosophy—why exercise doesn’t really correlate with fat reduction and why it’s so important for fitness, health, and anti-aging benefits to conduct brief, intense workouts with a proper balance of stress and rest. Action Item #4 details practical application of workouts and programming for moving frequently, lifting heavy things and sprinting.

The fun thing about the cert was being able to pick up where The Primal Blueprint and the 21-Day Transformation books left off. After you receive a detailed education on the principles and philosophy of Primal Blueprint Fitness in the Key Concepts section, Action Item #4 in the cert (aka Module #12) covers actual workouts and exercises. There are details about correct technique for sprinting and cycling, how to properly warm up and dynamic stretch, how to design a workout with numerous specific step-by-step examples for fitness enthusiasts of all levels in a variety of activities (full impact, low-impact, and no-impact), and much more. I just checked and Module #12 alone contains about 9,000 words of content. It’s robust and tightly focused. You’ll emerge full of ideas for you and your clients.

Hi, I would LOVE to do the certification and have been waiting for its release date for months! I just had a couple of questions: I would like to choose the 4 monthly payment plan option for registration. Will I still get immediate access to all the content? I live in the UK and need to select a shipping method. What is the shipping method for? Is it for the binder, books etc? I look forward to starting the course! Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Vanessa

Vanessa, you get immediate access to all course materials as soon as you register, even if you select the four-month payment plan. We’ll choose the best shipping method for the materials kit you receive at graduation and cover the cost as part of your registration, even if you are international. The “Choose Shipping Method” you see is just a default field in our shopping cart. You can ignore it for your cert registration. Shipping is free when you order the cert product. We give our customers shipping options for other products.

I noticed in one of the FAQs you wrote that early students reported taking between 25 and 50 hours to complete the course. That’s a pretty broad range and I’m just curious as to how long you think the course might take. I’m pretty well Primally-read and a decent student overall. Thanks.

Stu

Tough question. Thank you, Stu! There is a lot of material to cover in the course and the exams are rigorous. It’s conceivable that a real all-star could breeze through the material, succeed on the tests and be done with the coursework in less than 20 hours. A more deliberate student or one who is less informed and comfortable with Primal principles starting the course could easily exceed 60 hours all told by the time the final test is passed. We’ve already seen some students rush a bit too quickly through exams, receive a below-passing grade, and have to engage in back and forth short answer with our staff in order to advance through the modules.

I also want to remind you that the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification is not just an online course with exams. It’s a complete program with a robust library of multimedia educational materials for you to enjoy. On the multimedia educational materials download portal, we have 15 hours of audio books, 4 hours of video presentations, and five more PDF books to read. These hours of content is not even counting the 13-module online course and examination material.

Take your time and enjoy the course! There is no rush to pass in haste and potentially compromise your educational enjoyment. I’m telling the same thing to my son Kyle in college, even as I—gulp—swallow these tuition invoices. He’s a goal-directed kid moving at a good clip through his coursework, but it’s important to remind students that they have the rest of their lives to work, and only a brief opportunity to enjoy all that university study and college life has to offer.

I am interested in the PB Certification program, just can’t start it before I finish my post-diploma studies in Nutrition and Diet here in Warsaw, Poland. Would the option be still open in Feb/March 2015?

Sincerely,

Radoslaw

Radoslaw, glad to connect with a Primal enthusiast in Poland! Yes, we will be here for you when you are ready. February 2015 will be here before you know it so good luck with your other endeavors in the meanwhile.

I am interested in your certification program. I live in Europe – is there any considerations or different terms to your offer for candidates outside of the USA?

Robin

How does the course differ for overseas students?

Donna

Hi, Robin. Hi, Donna. (Told ya we get a ton of inquiries from international folks! Although I gotta say, “Donna” and “Robin” sound kinda Californian to me…). A special term we have for participants outside the USA is that you are awesome! We are so gratified at the fantastic international response to the program. We’ve already had our first request for an international materials kit shipment from a speedy graduate. Oh, one thing: We offer USA graduates an option to select a few extra books for their materials kit to give to clients, but international shipments are limited to one of each book from the list. If you want more books, we’ll happily ship them to you for a small fee that helps to partially cover the added cost of shipping.

Hey, I live in Denmark and want to take the “Cert program”. Will I be able to sell Primal Blueprint supplements from my country?

Jesper

Hi Jesper, part of the Certified Expert benefits package is wholesale pricing on all Primal Blueprint products, including our nutritional supplements. We’ll ship you whatever products you like, but minimum quantities apply to wholesale products orders, as do international shipping rates. Furthermore, you may have some import restrictions in your specific country when it comes to importing and selling quantities of consumable products. Check with authorities on your end.

Hi, I am very interested in getting certified. Are there any additional fees/extra fees for taking the exams? Or are the examination fees included in the price?

Looking forward hearing from you.

Claudia

Hi Claudia, this is a comprehensive program where your registration includes the coursework, the exams, the multimedia educational materials, and your Certified Expert completion kit shipment.

I have not yet purchased any materials through your site, however, I’m hooked on the blog (a recent discovery!), and the certification training piqued my interest immediately. Is purchasing other pre-existing reading material necessary to complete or make the most of this course? Would you say the majority of the insight and details found in your other published books is also found in the course (or are any of the books included in the course offerings)?

Erin

Erin, great question! Look, you are starting with a clean slate so it’s a no-brainer to register for the certification program, as you receive five of my books (The Primal Blueprint, 21-Day Transformation, The Primal Connection, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook, and Quick & Easy Meals), three audio books, two video presentations, and the online course material, which goes into much more detail than the books do on the Primal Blueprint philosophy and the practical application of Primal principles to transform you or your clients’ health.

I really want to do this, but it is really really expensive.

Kathryn

Hi, Kathryn. Thanks for being direct! As a businessman, I am constantly wrestling with the dilemma of producing the absolute highest quality products with producing affordable products that people will buy. With so much free information available on the Internet these days (where everyone is an expert, eh?), I decided—three years ago now—that the Primal/paleo/evolutionary health movement needed a proper certification program for the most passionate enthusiasts. I envisioned a program that was detailed, scientifically validated, but also easy to understand and complete for non-scientific types. I believe this course represents the best opportunity to become an expert in our realm of diet, exercise, and healthy living, and a fantastic opportunity to invest in yourself, your health, and your future. I spent a lot of effort carefully conveying my thoughts on this matter in the program information page’s “Message From Mark”.

Back to your budget concerns, I just made a special exemption for an impassioned student who wanted to extend out even beyond the four-month schedule to an eight month schedule of paying a hundred bucks a month toward registration. I can’t bear to turn any potential student away who is interested and willing to make the commitment to the program, but part of that commitment is a financial investment on your end. This shows you’re serious and perhaps in some cases willing to make sacrifices elsewhere in your disposable income behavior. I encourage you to email or call us at 888-774-6259 directly to discuss your budget concerns.

Hi Mark! I am very interested in Primal Certification. I have been Primal for almost 2 years and it has transformed my life. The most obvious benefits were health-related in the beginning, but I am continually amazed by its cascade effect and how it has provoked change in countless other areas of my life. I feel that sharing this with others and encouraging them on their Primal journeys could be the next step for me and I am currently brainstorming about how I could make this a reality and what form this would take. If you have any thoughts or ideas, I would greatly appreciate them. In the meantime, I will continue to consider taking the Primal Cert plunge. Many thanks for all you do…Grok on!

Kathryn

A “cascade effect”! That is really well said, Kathryn! Hey, another part of your note is interesting where you say, “continue to consider taking the Primal Cert plunge”. That’s cool. I’m a deliberate decision maker myself. And while I’ve spent a good amount of time during this post enthusiastically promoting the program, the best time to register is when the time is right for you. I certainly hope you have all the information you need to make an informed decision, and we will be here ready for you when you are ready to take the plunge!

I’m really interested. The problem is that I feel I have the education already. This cert would challenge me and I’m sure that it would be very credible. Thank you for keeping me in the emails. I just don’t know if it would be very recognized. I still need to weigh the pros and cons.

Thank you much, still on the fence,

Nick

Hey, another “fence-post”? Ha! We’ve heard several similar comments from really devoted Primal enthusiasts. One quote that really stuck with me was when our PrimalCon leader and early cert graduate Chris Adams said, “I’ve been deep into the paleo/primal lifestyle for several years, but studying the course material has me excited to make even more changes and tweaks that strengthen my commitment to primal living.”

Now, Chris is a very sharp guy. He’s been to eight consecutive PrimalCons. He’s a highly trained firefighter and EMT by profession in Arizona, and he’s a fitness freak who can run a 64-second 400-meter time despite carrying 222 pounds of solid muscle. When I first met Chris, his face was flushed—not from him being excited to finally meet Mark the Daily Apple guy in person—but because he had just returned to an upright position after effortlessly rattling off a bunch of handstand pushups against a palm tree at PrimalCon I back in 2010.

I was like, “Wow, who’s this dude?” Anyway, the guy knows his stuff and walks his talk! In fact, Chris knows his stuff so well that he (and his partner, the equally amazing Tina Leaman, trapeze artist/voice-over actress/massage therapist/PrimalCon staff queen) made some outstanding contributions to broaden the scope of certain elements of the online course and refine numerous test questions to strike a great balance between challenging and fair. Anyway Nick, maybe you should talk to Chris and Tina as you weigh the pros and cons. Contact us and we’ll put you in touch with him.

Hi Mark, as a chiropractor, we require continuing education credits to maintain our license. Approximately how many hours are estimated to complete the program? Is a syllabus available for me to send to our association outlining the content? Also, as a professional speaker I am always looking for new audiences. Once certified, is there a pool of potential audiences or referral network within the Sisson Primal world? Looking forward to the program.

Thanks,

Doug

Hi, Doug. I would absolutely love to make some headway into the world of chiropractic. As a group, chiropractors’ commitment to continuing education and to exploring new information and treatment modalities, seems to be unparalleled. Contact us directly if you would like some engagement with your association regarding CEU accreditation. As detailed in the program overview page, we welcome those interested in public speaking to align with us to schedule and deliver the Primal Blueprint Transformation Seminar in your area. There’s a great opportunity here, but of course you have to be a go-getter. No one has gone out and got quite as successfully as our very first certified expert, Mike DiLandro. Check out what he’s done with his Primal Transformation seminar and other promotional efforts at PaleoMikeD.com.

Hi, I am very interested in doing this course. Could you tell me:

1. Approximately how long each module takes?

2. Is there a start date and finish date?

3. Can I download the module content onto my iPad so it is transportable?

Thank you and Regards,

Patrice

Hi, Patrice. The modules take around 2-5 hours each, assuming you pass the first exam. See my earlier, more detailed answer about time estimates.

The start date and finish date is entirely up to you. It’s a self-paced program. The online course material has a bookmark feature so you can pickup where you left off each time you exit and re-enter the course.

The online course modules require an Internet connection. However you can download each of the multimedia educational materials (eBooks, audio books, and video instruction) and have unlimited access to them, even offline. Of course you can also stream these materials online.

Hello, I’m interested in the expert program but I’m unsure if it could meet my goals. I’m a psychotherapist and I’m currently working to add life coaching to my practice. I’m interested in this particular certification because I want to be able to coach individuals (maybe do seminars) in the primal lifestyle without getting sued. I’m not about to become a nutritionist as I’m more committed to the therapy/coaching world.

Does this certification in any way help a person to be able to become a health coach in the primal blueprint paradigm?

Thank you,

David

Hi, David. Sounds like an exciting ambition to blend your psychotherapy practice with life and nutrition coaching. While I cannot dispense legal advice to you about “not getting sued”, I will offer the educated guess that when you are practicing psychotherapy, you are adhering to certain guidelines and have certain protections. When you are giving a lecture about nutrition, you are outside the scope of a formal session with a patient in the framework of your professional license to practice psychotherapy. Dr. Alessandra Wall, a psychotherapist and CrossFit instructor in San Diego, presents at PrimalCon under such circumstances.

The cert sounds like an excellent fit for you, as there is clearly significant crossover between general lifestyle practices and psychological health. In fact, the final module of the online course, Module 13 – Slow Life Down, goes into extensive detail about stress management, work/life balance, and other matters related to overall well-being. It’s so important to the course, and the overall success of Primal Blueprint living, that it’s around twice as long as the average module. You will really enjoy it. Thanks for your question and good luck with your ambitions.

Well, thanks for reading everyone. I look forward to your comments! Current students, chime and tell your friends about your experience to date. And remember to visit the Certification course information page for a complete description of the components and benefits of participating in the program.

Weekend Link Love – Edition 312

For Episode 34 of The Primal Blueprint Podcast, we hung out with Dr. Cate Shanahan to discuss the shortcomings of traditional family practice medical care, the research indicating that most heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels, and which blood tests are absolutely essential for monitoring health.

Research of the Week

Although lowering the brightness and holding the device at least a foot from your face can “reduce” the impact of smartphone usage on melatonin and sleep, the impact is not zero.

Kids who took omega-3 supplements showed reduced behavior problems.

Sitting shortens telomeres, while standing maintains their length.

Wine is good for your cardiovascular health, but only if you exercise.

Interesting Blog Posts

Coffee naps are more effective than either alone.

How low blood sugar can make you irrationally hungry, provided it’s low enough.

Media, Schmedia

When we move, we seed our new habitats with a particular “bacterial aura.”

National Geographic posted a decent article on ancestral diets with a few of the typical “red meat will give you cancer and heart disease” canards. Gorgeous photos, though.

Everything Else

If you can, give a bit to help support something that’s increasingly rare and precious in this world: an all-grass dairy farm producing delicious butter, buttermilk, and ricotta cheese.

A nice essay on the importance of free play for kids, including a short “how-to” guide for hesitant parents.

And now for the previous entry’s mirror opposite: an Australian school has banned cartwheels, handstands, and any other “gymnastic move” (does that include somersaults, an essential tool in any respectable kid’s arsenal?).

James Nestor makes a very strong case for free diving in natural bodies of water (even if it’s just to get your face briefly wet).

How the concept of time has evolved.

Grow a tiny forest anywhere.

Recipe Corner

This is an excellent (maybe the best) all-purpose barbecue sauce to keep around the house.
That sauce probably goes really well with these paleo grilled pork chops and sweet potato wedges.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Sept 7 – Sept 13)

How-To: Standup and Mobile Workstations – A quick look into how we work and stay active at the Primal Blueprint offices.
Dear Mark: What’s the Deal with Fiber? – So wait, is fiber bad for us and our sex lives?

Comment of the Week

“And not necessarily in a tantric, creepy guru with an open shirt, hairy chest, long greasy hair, and extensive selection of oils kind of way.”

Um, maybe I’M creepy, but I’d kinda like to meet this guy… 

- Nope, not creepy. We all wanna meet him.

Smoked Sea Salt

Smoked sea salt adds a gentle, smoky flavor to anything you sprinkle it on. Meat, seafood, cooked vegetables or even salad…it’s all more delicious when finished with smoked salt. You’ve probably seen smoked sea salt in gourmet food stores but the truth is, it’s nothing fancy. You can make a batch of smoked sea salt right now simply using your charcoal grill.

Light the lump charcoal, cover it with soaked wood chips and set a foil pan filled with sea salt on the grill grates. Cover the grill and let the smoke work its magic on the salt for an hour. That’s pretty much it. Smoked salt keeps forever in a glass jar, in the unlikely event that you don’t go through it much faster. Do keep in mind that just a pinch of sea salt punches up the flavor of food a lot, so there’s no need to be heavy handed. But there’s also no need to be fearful of salt.

Unrefined sea salt contains important minerals – sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Plus, salt makes food more satisfying, which is a good thing. Especially when you’re sprinkling smoked sea salt on grilled broccoli, or kale salad or a grass fed steak.

Servings: 1 cup smoked sea salt

Time in the Kitchen: 1 hour for smoking

Ingredients and Equipment:

1 cup sea salt (300 g)
2 cups/large handfuls wood chips (hickory, apple, cedar)
Charcoal grill
Lump/natural hardwood charcoal
11×9 foil pan or smaller if you’re making less smoked salt (28 cm x 23 cm)
8×4 foil loaf pan (20 cm x 10 cm)

Instructions:

Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes then drain.

Prepare charcoal grill for indirect grilling. Meaning, heat your coals then put all the hot coals on one side of the grill and leave the other side empty so it can be the cool side.

Scatter the wood chips over the coals.

If the charcoal is too hot when you put the pan of salt on the grill, your salt will get burned not just smoked. With the lid on, the ideal temp for the grill is between 250 °F and 350 °F (121 °C to 177 °C). If your grill doesn’t have a thermometer, you can stick one through the vent on the lid for a fairly accurate reading. Other indicators that the grill is too hot: smoke will be pouring, not just wafting, out of the vent on the lid and the salt will immediately turn brown.

If the grill seems too hot, fill the 8×4 loaf pan with cold water and set it over the hot side of the grill.

Spread salt in the 11×9 inch pan. Place the pan on the cool side of the grill.

Cover the grill, making sure the vents are open and the lid vent is over the salt, not the charcoal side.

Smoke the salt for 1 hour. Shake the pan once or twice during the hour to make sure the salt is evenly flavored and colored.

Cool the salt. Stored in a sealed glass jar, the salt will keep indefinitely.

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

Going Primal Banished My Rosacea and Chronic IBS Symptoms

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!

It’s only when I look back on my progress that I’m really in awe of what going Primal has done for me. Since the age of 13, I have battled with severe Rosacea acne and chronic IBS. After consulting with a dermatologist and gastroenterologist, it was decided that the two were linked. My hormones were going crazy, I was getting teased at school big time, and because of it I was getting a nervous stomach every morning before class. The two issues got so bad that I was put on Accutane (a heavy duty acne medication) and stomach meds to help control my symptoms. Not once did either doctor suggest that my diet was the cause of all my troubles. In fact, on two separate occasions I asked my dermatologist if my sugar binges were causing my acne, and she vehemently denied it.

My metabolism had always been fast, so I found no immediate problem with surviving on Little Debbie snacks and root beer. I could eat an entire box of donuts in the span of a few hours. I never ate vegetables or fruit, and I turned my nose up at anything related to “real” foods. I was perfectly happy eating fast food every day. What made matters worse was that I never became overweight. Instead, my cholesterol and triglycerides were through the roof (in high school!) and my face was a walking neon red sign screaming that my body needed to detox itself from all the processed stuff I was shoving into it.

I suffered from severe low self-esteem and eventually turned to substance abuse to smother my emotions. Putting all those chemicals into my body just made my symptoms worse, and as a result I really lost myself. Years later I was able to overcome those emotional problems, but my diet still mirrored a person living a chaotic life. I would have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, coffee multiple times throughout the day, and a sandwich or pasta for later meals, which were accompanied by a Redbull to lift me up from the continuous carb crashes. And then, of course, there was dessert—always a dessert! I was on the rollercoaster of sugar and gluten, but I didn’t know it.

In late 2010, my friend started getting into unconventional health wisdom and told me about the effects that sugar and grains have on the body. I began researching sites and stumbled across Mark’s Daily Apple. I trusted the Success Stories that I read and I intuitively knew that the information in the health articles was exactly what I was looking for. I decided to take the plunge, and after only four full days of no sugar or grains (along with withdrawals) I was amazed at the difference. My face wasn’t oily, red, and broken out anymore! For the first time, my digestion was on track. It felt like a miracle—seriously! I had no idea my face could even look like that. I don’t even know how to describe the feeling of looking in the mirror for the first time without makeup and liking what I saw.

My 4 day experiment sold me on going Primal. I devoured The Primal Blueprint. I totally purged my kitchen of anything with ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce. It was a pretty huge shift from eating frozen dinners every night to cooking my own meals. But I learned to love it, and after almost a year of playing around in the kitchen, I decided to share my Primal recipes with the world on my website, South Beach Primal. That was 2 years ago. I’d love to say that my rosacea has been totally cured, but that’s just not the case. I’ve learned that acid-forming foods (e.g. grains and sugar) as well as foods that cause flushing (e.g. spicy foods and hot coffee) will make my rosacea flare up. But the periods between these flare-ups have become longer. My IBS has become manageable and only acts up when I treat myself to too many Paleo treats. I’ve learned so much about my body these past 3 years. I’m beyond grateful for finding my fellow ancestral health supporters online.

I’m not perfect 100% of the time, but I’m a totally different person from the nutrient-deficient girl I used to be. My mood swings are more in tune with the natural rhythm of my body. I’ve even gotten into a great exercise routine that works for me. Biking is my main mode of transportation here on the beach, but I’ve also fallen in love with yoga and weight lifting. I can honestly say that I am in the best shape of my entire life—and I still weigh exactly the same! It just goes to show that the scale doesn’t matter. It’s how I feel on the inside that makes the difference. Eating healthy last week won’t keep me healthy today. Every single day I need to work on myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s quite the struggle, but it’s well worth it.

In addition to my website, you can follow my journey on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Thanks for reading, Grok on!

Rachel

Going Primal Banished My Rosasea and Chronic IBS Symptoms

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!

It’s only when I look back on my progress that I’m really in awe of what going Primal has done for me. Since the age of 13, I have battled with severe Rosacea acne and chronic IBS. After consulting with a dermatologist and gastroenterologist, it was decided that the two were linked. My hormones were going crazy, I was getting teased at school big time, and because of it I was getting a nervous stomach every morning before class. The two issues got so bad that I was put on Accutane (a heavy duty acne medication) and stomach meds to help control my symptoms. Not once did either doctor suggest that my diet was the cause of all my troubles. In fact, on two separate occasions I asked my dermatologist if my sugar binges were causing my acne, and she vehemently denied it.

My metabolism had always been fast, so I found no immediate problem with surviving on Little Debbie snacks and root beer. I could eat an entire box of donuts in the span of a few hours. I never ate vegetables or fruit, and I turned my nose up at anything related to “real” foods. I was perfectly happy eating fast food every day. What made matters worse was that I never became overweight. Instead, my cholesterol and triglycerides were through the roof (in high school!) and my face was a walking neon red sign screaming that my body needed to detox itself from all the processed stuff I was shoving into it.

I suffered from severe low self-esteem and eventually turned to substance abuse to smother my emotions. Putting all those chemicals into my body just made my symptoms worse, and as a result I really lost myself. Years later I was able to overcome those emotional problems, but my diet still mirrored a person living a chaotic life. I would have cinnamon rolls for breakfast, coffee multiple times throughout the day, and a sandwich or pasta for later meals, which were accompanied by a Redbull to lift me up from the continuous carb crashes. And then, of course, there was dessert—always a dessert! I was on the rollercoaster of sugar and gluten, but I didn’t know it.

In late 2010, my friend started getting into unconventional health wisdom and told me about the effects that sugar and grains have on the body. I began researching sites and stumbled across Mark’s Daily Apple. I trusted the Success Stories that I read and I intuitively knew that the information in the health articles was exactly what I was looking for. I decided to take the plunge, and after only four full days of no sugar or grains (along with withdrawals) I was amazed at the difference. My face wasn’t oily, red, and broken out anymore! For the first time, my digestion was on track. It felt like a miracle—seriously! I had no idea my face could even look like that. I don’t even know how to describe the feeling of looking in the mirror for the first time without makeup and liking what I saw.

My 4 day experiment sold me on going Primal. I devoured The Primal Blueprint. I totally purged my kitchen of anything with ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce. It was a pretty huge shift from eating frozen dinners every night to cooking my own meals. But I learned to love it, and after almost a year of playing around in the kitchen, I decided to share my Primal recipes with the world on my website, South Beach Primal. That was 2 years ago. I’d love to say that my rosacea has been totally cured, but that’s just not the case. I’ve learned that acid-forming foods (e.g. grains and sugar) as well as foods that cause flushing (e.g. spicy foods and hot coffee) will make my rosacea flare up. But the periods between these flare-ups have become longer. My IBS has become manageable and only acts up when I treat myself to too many Paleo treats. I’ve learned so much about my body these past 3 years. I’m beyond grateful for finding my fellow ancestral health supporters online.

I’m not perfect 100% of the time, but I’m a totally different person from the nutrient-deficient girl I used to be. My mood swings are more in tune with the natural rhythm of my body. I’ve even gotten into a great exercise routine that works for me. Biking is my main mode of transportation here on the beach, but I’ve also fallen in love with yoga and weight lifting. I can honestly say that I am in the best shape of my entire life—and I still weigh exactly the same! It just goes to show that the scale doesn’t matter. It’s how I feel on the inside that makes the difference. Eating healthy last week won’t keep me healthy today. Every single day I need to work on myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s quite the struggle, but it’s well worth it.