Mark Sisson's Blog, page 302

For the First Time in My 24 Years of Life, I Am Happy

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

I’ve wanted to submit a success story for quite some time now, but I wasn’t sure if I should. After all, I’m still very much a work in progress.

My life didn’t start so differently than most other kids born in the late 80s – the era of low-fat. We always had a plentiful supply of margarine, and no one batted an eye when I put the box of Lucky Charms cereal in the shopping cart. PopTarts were my absolute favorite food, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was my staple lunch. My weight as a kid was always on the high end of normal, but it was still normal, so no one said a word when I polished off whole baguettes as “snacks.”

This story is about much more than weight, because for the first time in my 24 years of life I am happy. I am not in pain. I don’t have days where I feel like I want to end it all. I’m not angry with people. I feel energized. I don’t need ADHD medication anymore.

Starting around the time I was nine or ten, I used to get the worst stomachaches. My mom assumed it was a dairy issue and never thought about it any further. She never made any attempt to remedy the situation further than handing me a heating pad. These stomachaches were so bad I’d have to miss school some days. I would sit crunched over crying just assuming this was normal.

Summers were the best. There was a swimming pool in our townhouse association and I spent nearly everyday swimming, but I was ALWAYS sunburned. Several times I blistered over, even if I wore sunscreen. I once got sunburn on a cloudy day in February standing outside for only 30 minutes. I live in Chicago. That’s nearly impossible. (Hello, inflammation!)

Things started getting worse. In addition to the massive stomachaches, I started to get rashes on a daily basis. Then came the itchy hives. My parents took me to the doctor and she drew blood for an allergy test. We got the results back, and were informed that I only had one true allergy, but the data isn’t always reliable. It also showed somewhere close to 30 “sensitivities.” My parents tried to do the rotation diet my doctor gave us, but I was 13… not exactly the most cooperative age. The only thing that stuck was that I liked the super sweet soy milk better than cow’s milk. So the rashes and hives continued.

My teen years were a mess of acne medications and depression. I came dangerously close to suicide more than a handful of times. Rainy days would have me in tears with a razor in my hand. Of course I was depressed. When my body needed nutrients the most, I was eating Pop Tarts, adding sugar to my Rice Krispies in soy milk and avoiding the sun. I wish my parents knew the effects the food they chose to keep in the house had on me.

Things continued like this through high school, and the depression reached an all time high. I decided to go vegetarian because I saw some misguided animal cruelty propaganda. Then my dad passed away when I was 17. I was not a happy teenager, and I certainly wasn’t healthy. The stomachaches evolved into nearly twice daily diarrhea by this point, and my new favorite foods were “chicken” nuggets and breadsticks. I hated gym class. I couldn’t finish a mile in under 15 minutes. My knees ached. Climbing a single staircase left me winded. I failed most of the mandatory physical assessments. But still, I wasn’t overweight, so no one really thought food could be a problem.

I went to college, and I got worse. Unlimited cafeteria pizza, pasta and dessert do that! I also naturally started drinking. I was packing on the pounds at an alarming rate. The freshman 15 was no match for my freshman 40.

My stomach problems worsened still. The diarrhea was up to three times a day with the most crippling pain. It’s best described as a tiny monster clawing through my intestines.

I dropped out after only a year and in a moment of absolute total frustration I cried to my mom about how I couldn’t concentrate. Everything was always foggy. She took me to the doctor. He prescribed Ritalin.

We finally arrive two years later when I was 22. I was carrying around 185 lbs on my 5’3″ frame. I was miserable. I was angry all the time. I was ready to end my life. Something needed to change, and it was just one totally innocent comment from my boyfriend’s mom that set things in motion. “I try not to drink orange juice. It has too many carbs and I can’t keep my weight down.”

Hmm. Carbs.

So in October of 2012 I went on the Atkins diet. I lost 25 lbs the first month! (I should say that I was already eating meat again. Said boyfriend brought me back to the dark side with the most DELICIOUS chicken quesadilla when we were in college.) One thing lead to another, and in my low-carb quest I stumbled upon MDA.

My life was changed forever. Immediately my moods were better. My skin cleared up. I threw away my Ritalin. The weight kept melting off. I wasn’t even exercising! It was amazing. By August of the next year I was the slimmest I had ever remembered being. 120 lbs felt a lot better on my 5’3″ frame than 180 ever did. No more achy knees. No more foggy brain. Most importantly – no more thoughts of suicide! It took another year for my stomach to solve itself (and diligent probiotics!) but I don’t ever have digestive issues anymore unless I slip up.

That isn’t the best part yet. The best part is helping the people I love to change their lives too. Remember that boyfriend? We got married. His parents are avid Primal enthusiasts now too. My mother in law is a nurse, and she preaches The Primal Blueprint to her coworkers and patients. (And anyone who will listen. And even people who don’t listen. Really she just can’t stop talking about it!)

My husband and I now have a baby Grokette! I’m eight months postpartum, and even though my body is still clinging onto an extra 15 lbs (necessary for breastfeeding, I assume), I am still 100% dedicated. I’ve started working out for the first time in my life, and after even only a month my body is changing yet again.

[image error]

This photo is of me at my highest weight, only months before I started changing my diet. (Black shirt and jeans)

[image error]

This was taken only 9 months after starting my Primal journey.

[image error]

This last one was taken in October of 2013, my lowest weight ever (Maybe not coincidentally the month before conceiving! Good health means good fertility.)

Everything about my health is awesome now and it’s all your fault, Mark! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You quite literally saved my life. ♥

Cherice

Get the 7-Day Course on the Primal Blueprint Fundamentals for Lifelong Health Delivered to Your Inbox for FREE

How to Get “Unstuck”

I’m thinking today about the experience of feeling “stuck.” (I hear this a lot from folks who write me about getting started with the Primal Blueprint.) In this situation, you know (generally) what to do. Maybe you even feel like you have the drive, the motivation to do it, but the car just isn’t shifting into gear. When you’ve tried all the basic tricks – structuring your goal with a succession of “low threshold” changes to create small wins (e.g. getting outside for a walk every day), linking new behaviors to existing practices and schedules (e.g. setting your supplements next to your morning coffee mug each night), making your contingency script (e.g. If I’m tempted by this, I’ll do x), then maybe the issue is deeper than any of these tactics can reach. Being stuck implies more than needing additional recipes, strategies or other day-to-day tools in the box. Being stuck suggests the need for some degree of seismic shift in thinking or living. For some people, they feel stuck in bad habits. Others put it in terms of being stuck in a personal rut. Whatever the language, they’re held by a heavy sense of inertia that doesn’t quite make logical sense. They feel deflated, exhausted, overwhelmed, alone when they’ve easily done far more complicated things in their lives than this. It’s like they can’t get out of the starting gate – or they can’t get back up after a “fall” a ways into the journey. No amount of intricate strategizing or self-criticism does any good. What do you do in this situation? What’s possible when you feel like you’ve covered all the bases but are getting nowhere? I know many readers will offer their wisdom, but let me throw out some ideas for those who struggle to gain any sense of momentum.

Change Up Your Environment

Some folks say we can only handle so much change at once and advise keeping everything else in your life exactly the same if you’re trying to adopt a different diet or add exercise to your routine. That might make sense for some people, but I would be inclined to take a different approach, and I’ve found it to be true for many people I’ve worked with on lifestyle changes. Anyone who’s quit smoking or drinking or any other addictive habit can tell you associations are triggers. If you associate coffee with cigarettes, every time you have coffee you will think of cigarettes and probably crave one more strongly. If every Friday you’ve gone to lunch with friends and have celebrated the end of the week with huge, carb-filled restaurant meals, going out to lunch with that same crew on Friday is likely going to challenge your best intentions more so than a solo breakfast at home.

So, do whatever you can to just shake up life for a while. Get up earlier or later. Add or subtract something from your morning (or nightly) routine. Shower at the gym instead of home. Flex your work schedule to allow for a longer a.m. or noon workout/walk or to leave early and save the extra 20-30 minutes you would’ve blown sitting in traffic. Shop for your food at a different store to avoid the same aisle-induced temptations. Use a new set of dishes for your new healthy meals. Opt out of certain social gatherings that are most likely to trigger old patterns. The point is to get yourself out of autopilot mode while you’re trying to make a meaningful change. Stirring up your daily/weekly routine can subject you to fewer triggers, and just keep you on your toes. You’ll go through the day more conscious of your choices instead of simply reacting to the old cues or stumbling along – too often back into the behaviors you’re trying to leave behind.

Question Your Schedule and Choices

Lose the excuses or, harder still, legitimate reasons you don’t have time to work out or make proper meals. At some point, you can’t blame everyone for what you’re unwilling to change. Living a Primal life is simple, but I don’t promise it’s entirely convenient in the fast-forward, modern sense of immediate gratification – have it all, do it all. At a certain level, I think the very concept goes against basic well-being. There’s an ancestral absurdity to it. Can you imagine Grok and his kin watching many of us scurry around working 60 hours a week, commuting an hour each way, shuttling kids 20 miles to hockey practices and fitting in multiple volunteer roles, yard work, bills and all manner of other logistical and social errands? Seriously. At some point we all have to have the talk with ourselves. Does the life I’m living have room for the life I want? It’s not the easiest question to face. The answer might leave us unglued, but maybe that’s a good thing in the grand scheme – in the “when it’s all said and done” after you’ve made the harrowing changes your answer obliges. There’s no formula here, which can make it that much more complex. I choose the balance that makes sense to me – as I apply my interpretation of the Primal philosophy to my life. The basic question itself, however, applies to all of us at some point in our lives.

Start Over

I got talking to a woman at a conference once about health and transformation. She explained she’d been going through a long and difficult divorce process. The experience had changed her entire life and health in totally unexpected ways. Years ago she’d been in pretty good shape with a solid enough diet and regular running and spin classes. Then the bottom fell out. Over the next few months of stress, she began having major sleep disturbances and hormonal issues, including a Hashimoto’s diagnosis and adrenal fatigue. She was a mess, she said. Then, as she explained, she gave up any hope of recreating the life and habits she’d had.

Instead, she decided to start over and commit to a year of as much self-care as she could put together. She overhauled her budget and started investing in what made her feel good. She stopped doing overtime. She got massages (even if all she could afford that month was a 10-minute “sample” at a health fair). She ate what made her feel calm but energetic, which meant better quality food and less, if any, grains, coffee and sugar. She cooked in such a way that her meals felt indulgent. She spent more time on low level cardio and a few months in took up slower, gentler strength training approaches – mostly strength focused yoga routines and and barre classes. She bowed out of social situations and relationships that didn’t fit her new vision of life. She made few if any social commitments but let herself decide on the spur of the moment what she was up for. She took long baths, went for more hikes and gave herself more time for leisure reading. She went to bed early.

Within a year her hormones had normalized. Although never overweight, she’d lost abdominal fat and gained muscle mass. She hadn’t slept better in years. Above all, she was happier with her life and, as she put it, felt more vibrant. Although she hadn’t chosen the circumstances, she let them change her entire outlook for the better. She used it to redefine what she deserved and wanted from life and health. For some folks, it goes this way. It takes something dramatic to wake us up, but once we’re awake, we’re never the same. The idea is to let circumstances act on us, to be open to something bigger. Maybe the changes you want are or need to be part of a more substantial shift in life. Embrace that, and you might suddenly find yourself happily unstuck. Get in the flow of your own life – whatever you want to call it.

Ask for More

I’m all for individual responsibility, but that doesn’t mean eschewing support. People who feel they have to do everything in life alone solely by their own willpower make life harder than it needs to be – and probably a lot less satisfying. Support is always there for us – from some source – no matter what. We might find ourselves barking up the wrong tree occasionally, but it simply means we need to look elsewhere. Too often people want to remake their lives and think that their old support systems “should” be enough, “should” rise to their occasion, “should”  know what they need. (Hint: “should” is generally a self-defeating word.) Once in a while, they are, particularly if we approach them differently. Most often, however, they aren’t. If we want to expand ourselves in new directions, the onus is ultimately on us (not them) to get what we need. That includes support. There are no points in life for martyrdom.

I knew a guy who a few years ago decided it was time to kick obesity to the curb. He started out low-carbing before he found The Primal Blueprint. He wasn’t much of a creative cook but wanted to inspire himself to expand his repertoire. So, he started hosting Friday night potlucks at his house. He went all out inviting people – friends, neighbors, acquaintances, friends of friends. He made one dish himself and asked others to bring something to share – with one condition: it had to be low carb food (later it shifted more toward PB style). He was a graphic designer by day, and he used his skills to make wacky invitations and “advertisements” for every event. His guests never knew what to expect. He gave a theme to each gathering, decorated and even made a Facebook page for it. Every week he got a great meal (with plenty of leftovers) and several recipes that he knew he liked – all with no boring effort or major expense on his part. Over time, he even organized “virtual” potlucks on the Facebook page where everyone showed themselves eating dinner (you can imagine the humorous photos that resulted). Many friends and acquaintances eventually told him that those events began to change the way they ate. It was a win-win all around – because one guy decided to throw some parties.

Get Honest About Your Intentions

Take the temperature on a few basic things: your motivation, your worthiness. Yes, you read that right. Are you worthy of a big, substantial, beneficial change – or are you more comfortable feeling weak and slightly unhealthy and not quite living a fulfilling life? I’m completely serious here. The fact is, some people are more comfortable waiting for a better life than they are embracing it. Perhaps that describes all of us at the beginning of the process, but I’ve seen many people over the years self-sabotage their processes because they were (deep down) afraid to be genuinely happy or vibrantly healthy or in charge of their lives. I’m not trying to out anyone here, but I want to also say that if you identify with any of those points you shouldn’t be ashamed. Trust me, the best thing you can do is realize the truth.

Bear with me, but first consider this. Forget a year-long resolution. Some people can do it, and maybe you’ll be one of them down the road, but this is now. Don’t think what you or your life would look like twelve months from now. Don’t imagine eating perfectly or even 80% for a year or a month or a week. Heck, don’t even imagine eating Primal for dinner. That’s a few hours from now, and you’ll decide that then. Promise yourself absolutely nothing for the future. Yes, do the work of shopping with Primal eating in mind. Lay out your gym clothes. Set up a meditation corner. Have a brochure and map of area parks you could visit for some nature time. Set your alarm to go to bed at a reasonable hour. That’s called showing up for possibility. But don’t make a decision about what you will actually do until then.

The thing is this about feeling stuck: Too many people look too far ahead and psyche themselves out. Tomorrow will exist when it’s ready. The same with the next day and next week and next month, yada, yada, yada. You don’t need to feel like you can make the decision to eat, move or live Primal all month or all week because it won’t be you making that choice then. It will be you with the added reflection and experience of the previous days and weeks. The person you are tomorrow will decide what you will do tomorrow. You can’t know what you’ll be capable of then. You aren’t responsible for knowing what you’ll be capable of then. You’re only responsible for right now – for the next food you put in your mouth, the next walk you take, the next message you tell yourself, the next decision you make for how you’ll live your life this hour. That’s it. Decide nothing. Promise nothing. Expect nothing. But show up for this one hour and then for the next one day by day – and see where it all goes.

Thank for reading, everyone. Have you found yourself stuck at some point in the journey? Anyone feeling this way now? What approach have you taken? If you consider yourself unstuck now, what shifted and how? I’d love to hear your experiences.

Get the 7-Day Course on the Primal Blueprint Fundamentals for Lifelong Health Delivered to Your Inbox for FREE

7 Things You Had No Idea Gut Bacteria Could Do

If you’re a regular Mark’s Daily Apple reader, you probably have at least a generally accurate if somewhat vague notion of the important functions performed by our gut bacteria. They’re a “big part” of our immune systems. They “improve digestion” and “eat the fibers and resistant starches” that our host enzymes cannot digest. Yeah, gut bacteria are hot right now. Everyone’s talking about them. And, since our host cells are famously outnumbered by our gut bacteria, 10 to 1, we need to be apprised of all that they do.

We don’t know everything yet – and we probably never will – but here are some of the most interesting and unexpected functions of our gut bacteria:

They learn from each other.

Bacteria are simple, straightforward organisms. They don’t have all the hangups that we mammals do, all the middle men and physiological bureaucracy between “us” and outside information. Bacteria can directly exchange genetic material – defense mechanisms, enzymatic functions, and other characteristics – from other bacteria they come into contact with in the gut. They’re very quick learners operating on an entirely different time scale.

One example: in most Japanese people, certain strains of gut bacteria have picked up the genes for seaweed digestion from the bacteria found on seaweed. The seaweed bacteria itself didn’t colonize the Japanese guts; only the genetic material transferred. Other groups whose gut bacteria weren’t exposed to the seaweed-digesting strains and never picked up the relevant genes have more trouble digesting the seaweed polysaccharides.

They improve our bone mineral density.

Feeding fermentable fibers to our gut bacteria isn’t just about the short chain fatty acids they produce in response. It’s also about the improved bone health, which occurs through numerous gut bacteria-mediated mechanisms: “increased solubility and absorption of minerals because of increased bacterial production of short-chain fatty acids from prebiotic fermentation; the enlargement of the absorption surface by lactate and butyrate; increased expression of calcium-binding proteins; improvement of gut health; degradation of mineral complexing phytic acid; release of bone-modulating factors such as phytoestrogens from foods; stabilization of the intestinal flora and ecology, also in the presence of antibiotics; stabilization of the intestinal mucus; and impact of modulating growth factors such as polyamines.”

They nullify anti-nutrients.

Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient found in seeds, grains, legumes, nuts, and many other foods. It binds to and prevents the absorption of various minerals, and high phytic acid diets have the potential to cause nutrient deficiencies. Unless you have the right gut flora.

Certain gut flora can actually turn phytic acid into inositol, preventing mineral-binding and releasing a nutrient involved in mood regulation and insulin sensitivity. The more phytate-rich foods you eat, the better your gut bacteria get at breaking it down (they learn, remember?).

There’s also evidence that the right gut flora can reduce the allergenicity of gluten and dairy proteins.

They manufacture vitamins.

When gut bacteria consume substrates, they produce various metabolites, the most famous of which are the short chain fatty acids butyrate, acetate, and propionate. But they also produce vitamins in the process, particularly vitamin K and the B-vitamins. According to Dr. Art Ayers, an optimally-outfitted human gut biome given sufficient dietary substrates can manufacture all the vitamins a person requires.

It seems Vitamin K2, that sweet little variant of vitamin K we love so much, can also be made in the gut. There’s very little direct evidence of this, but broad spectrum antibiotic usage leads to lower levels of vitamin K2 in the human liver. What we do make in the gut can absolutely be absorbed and utilized.

They form a large physical barrier against pathogens.

Bacteria are made of matter, even though they’re invisible to the naked eye. They take up physical space on the gut lining. They plug holes, fill nooks. They cross arms and stand together, steadfast against encroaching pathogens seeking residence. Sheer brute force is one of, if not the most primary immune function of our gut bacteria.

They represent a “second brain.”

The enteric nervous system, found in the gut, has more neurons than the spinal column or central nervous system. Long thought to be only concerned with directing digestive contractions, the enteric nervous system has a direct conduit to the brain: the vagus nerve, 90% of whose fibers are dedicated to communication from the gut to the brain. If you’ve ever gotten butterflies in your stomach from young love or anxiety (or both), or felt like you knew something “in your gut,” that may have been your gut brain relaying the message to your, um, brain brain.

Here’s where the bacteria come in: gut flora produce a ton of neurotransmitters, about 95% of our serotonin and half of our dopamine. Imagine if those voices in our head that seem to originate elsewhere are the result of your gut bacteria coming to a consensus position and delivering it via a chemical slurry of neurotransmitter secretions directly up to your brain? After all, the thoughts we have, the desire we feel, and the words we form come from chemical chatter between neurons. It’s possible that the brain can’t tell where the chatter originates, from “us” or the gut flora. Is there even an “us”? Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe “us” is closer to the truth than “me.”

They can make us depressed, anxious, obsessive-compulsive, and even autistic.

Researchers have long noticed that people with disorders “of the mind,” like depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and autism, tend to also have gastrointestinal issues. It’s becoming clear that these aren’t chance correlations. The emergence of the gut-brain axis, the knowledge that gut bacteria manufacture neurotransmitters, and direct clinical evidence (albeit mostly with non-human animals) suggests that the gut bacteria disturbances are mediating the disorders. We see this in:

OCD – An emergent hypothesis is that obsessive compulsive disorder is caused by disturbances to the gut biome. In an animal model of OCD, the probiotic L. rhamnosus GG attenuates the symptoms.
Autism – Treating mouse models of autism with the commensal bacterium B. fragilis restores the integrity of the gut and reduces symptoms, while altering the microbiota to resemble that of autistic mice can trigger symptoms directly.
Anxiety and depression – Gut bacteria interact with neural pathways involved in anxiety. Replacing the gut bacteria of anxious mice with gut bacteria from fearless mice makes them less anxious, while giving bold mice bacteria from anxious mice makes them more anxious. In human subjects, a probiotic supplement (containing L. helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175) reduced measures of anxiety and depression.

Gut bacteria help determine the nutrient content of our meals. They mediate our subjective interpretation of everyday life and our interpersonal dealings with others. They’re constantly learning new things and defending us from interlopers and communicating with and perhaps even telling us what to think and how to act. It’s almost overwhelming to even imagine.

Hopefully you’re beginning to understand why the gut biome is shaping up to be the biggest health story of the century and why we ignore it at our peril.

Thanks for reading, everyone. What’s the most surprising thing gut bacteria can do, in your opinion?

Like This Blog Post? Dig Deeper with Primal Blueprint Books and Learn How You Can Reprogram Your Genes to Become Leaner, Stronger and Healthier

The Dark Side of Dark Chocolate

I love dark chocolate. You love dark chocolate. Everyone but the most soulless, coldhearted, and puppy-hating among us love dark chocolate. And I hesitated even writing this post because the scientific evidence that dark chocolate offers numerous health benefits when consumed in moderation is substantial and, in my opinion, undeniable. However, there is a “dark side” to dark chocolate. That doesn’t mean dark chocolate is “bad,” just that nothing in this life is binary. Like any other healthy food we eat, there are caveats and limitations. Things to keep in mind.

So let’s take a look at some of the murkier aspects of dark chocolate to see if there’s anything we would be better of being aware of.

It’s food, not manna from the gods with magical properties and negative calories.

As healthy as it (or any food) might be, and as many unique polyphenols and hepatoprotective fatty acids and reactive oxygen species-scavenging abilities it might have, dark chocolate still contains calories. It’s still energy-dense candy that will make you gain weight if you eat too much of it. 100 grams of dark chocolate has over 500 calories, give or take and depending on sugar content. That’s a solid meal that some people are treating like a free supplement.

How much is too much? That depends on what you do with the rest of your day. If you’re really active and/or account for chocolate in your overall food intake, you can eat a bit more. But a little bit goes a long way. That’s exactly why I suggest (and personally prefer) the high-cacao chocolates – you get more bang for your buck and don’t need (or want) so much. A square, maybe two squares, maybe three or four of the 85%+ dark chocolate provides plenty of benefits and any more is frankly unpalatable. Studies showing the cardiovascular and blood flow benefits of chocolate use anything from 6.3 grams to 100 grams of chocolate, with most falling somewhere in the middle. This is potent stuff and you don’t really need a lot of it.

Not all chocolate is created equal.

I probably don’t have to say this, but any chocolate with less than 85% cacao is veering dangerously close to Hershey’s territory. The dark chocolate you eat should be bitter. It should bite back. It should last ten or fifteen seconds in your mouth before melting. Again, not all chocolate is created equal.

It might be addictive.

Scientists aren’t sure what’s responsible for the “addiction,” but people definitely crave chocolate. It’s the most commonly craved food in most studies on the topic.

But why?

It’s probably a combination of the sugar, the psychoactive compounds in cocoa (caffeine, theobromine, anandamide, and dozens of others yet to be quantified and qualified), the texture, and the high calorie content that make chocolate such an attractive food. Who doesn’t like sweet, energy-dense, delicious, mood-altering food?

Eating too much, even of a good thing like chocolate, can have negative metabolic effects that counteract the beneficial ones.

It can contain mycotoxins.

Mycotoxins are, well, toxins produced by mold. Aflatoxin-producing molds are endemic in the tropics and frequently show up in commodity crops like coffee, corn, peanuts, and cacao. Of cocoa products, dark chocolate is the most likely to have mycotoxins, while low-cocoa chocolates like white chocolate have very little to none. Is it a problem?

I think it depends. Certain people seem especially sensitive to mycotoxins. Take Dave Asprey of the Bulletproof Executive, who really harps on the mycotoxin issue and gets a lot of flack for it from people who think he’s exaggerating. It’s clear that he’s sensitive to them while others are not. Mycotoxins clearly do exist in some samples of dark chocolate, though rarely exceeding levels generally recognized to be safe. They’re not imaginary. Do I worry about them? Not personally, because I haven’t noticed any negative symptoms, they’re not present in every piece of dark chocolate, and when they are present it rarely exceeds the safety limit (which, again, might be too high for some individuals).

If dark chocolate is giving you symptoms of mycotoxin toxicity, or any negative symptoms for that matter, you shouldn’t eat it.

Cocoa flavanols are excellent, but there is no way to know the flavanol content of a particular bar.

Eating dark chocolate with a higher percentage of cacao (85% and up) is a good start, but any two given bars, even if they’re from the same batch with identical cacao content, will have different levels of flavanols. That’s a natural consequence of consuming real, whole food. The nutrient content of two members of the same plant species will differ from one to another, as mother nature doesn’t deal with beakers and microgram scales when she’s doling out the micronutrients and producing polyphenols.

But it does mean that your favorite dark chocolate that tastes so good and so smooth that you can’t believe it’s chock full of antioxidants might not be so healthy. Cocoa flavanols are generally quite bitter, so bitterness is a rough barometer for antioxidant content.

It contains a substance “related to amphetamine.”

In just about every scary anti-cocoa article I’ve read, the author makes a big deal about a chocolate alkaloid called phenethylamine (PEA). What is PEA? PEA is in the same chemical family as amphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy), mescaline (found in peyote), and all sorts of illicit substances, but it’s also a human neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation, and we endogenously manufacture psychoactive amounts of PEA in our own bodies on a regular basis. Does this mean our central nervous systems are basically meth labs? No. PEA is an important neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood and can trigger the release of dopamine and norepinephrine. Some have even called it the “love hormone.”

Besides, oral PEA isn’t active unless you inhibit monoamine oxidase, the enzyme that breaks it down and prevents it from reaching the brain. If you want to get the stimulatory and other psychoactive, potentially negative effects of PEA, you have to take a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) along with it. In fact, since depressed people have lower levels of PEA and related metabolites, concurrent PEA and MAOI supplementation has been shown to improve mood and have anti-depressant qualities. Chocolate also improves mood, although via polyphenol action, not PEA. Perhaps depressed people who tend to eat more chocolate are actually (and successfully) trying to self-medicate.

Are we chocolate-eaters safe from PEA, then? A recent study posits a connection between chocolate, PEA, and Parkinson’s disease, and in vitro research suggests a mechanism for PEA-induced neurodegeneration. But they’re talking about endogenous PEA – the kind that’s made in the body and gets to the brain – not chocolate-derived PEA. And another study found that PEA levels are depressed in patients with Parkinson’s disease, so there’s no clear answer either way.

It can cause migraines.

One of the more commonly reported migraine triggers is dark chocolate, with the caffeine, phenethylamine, and/or tyramine content getting the blame. Caffeine is present in greater amounts in many other foods, like coffee and tea – although many caffeine abstainers could be unaware of the caffeine in chocolate and thus susceptible to it. PEA is a minor part of chocolate that isn’t even orally active, while tyramine is found in greater amounts in cheese, aged meats, and other cured or fermented items.

But one trial found that among frequent migraine and other headache sufferers, dark chocolate was no more a trigger than carob. An earlier double blind study in people who reported having migraines after consuming chocolate also found that chocolate was not the cause. One theory is that whatever is causing the migraine also causes the desire for and subsequent consumption of chocolate.

Still, a migraine is nothing to be trifled with, and I find it hard to believe that everyone reporting chocolate as a trigger is “just mistaken” or “lying to themselves.” I don’t discount personal, direct experience as readily as some. Don’t eat chocolate if it triggers migraines.

It supports child slavery, depending on the source.

A disconcertingly large portion of the cacao grown on the Ivory Coast of West Africa is handled by child laborers, often indentured against their will. Slaves, essentially.

Child slavery/labor doesn’t affect the nutrient content of the chocolate, but I find it does leave a bad taste in the mouth. Some would counter that it’s difficult to find any food with purely ethical origins. That may be true. Agriculture can be a dirty business. Still, it’s good to make better choices when we can and when we know that an ethical problem exists. Spending a little extra or being more discerning in your choice of chocolate may not bring about world peace or end suffering, but it does make a small difference. It’s better than nothing. And hey, the producers that pay attention to labor ethics tend to also pay attention to the quality of their chocolate.

Here’s a list of companies that get their chocolate from ethical farms. And here’s another list. These aren’t exhaustive, but they get you started. You can also look for “Fair Trade” on the label.

In lieu of a “Fair Trade”-type stamp on the package, get chocolate made from cacao grown in South or Central America, since child labor/slavery isn’t an issue in those regions.

All that said, do I still recommend the regular if moderate consumption of dark chocolate? Yes. I was worried about the coming chocolate shortage disrupting the steady flow of my “brown gold” if you people kept buying up all the chocolate. Potential problems exist, but none of them are so monumental that you should fear the stuff. Obviously, if dark chocolate gives you migraines, triggers binges, or makes you feel awful and gain belly fat, don’t eat it. But if you’re enjoying your dark chocolate and your health is good and you’re pleased with the effect it has on your body weight, go for it.

Just remember that dark chocolate is ultimately candy – a high quality treat with specific health benefits that you should savor and enjoy in moderate doses, not gorge on as if it were a meal.

Thanks for reading, everyone. What are your thoughts? Is dark chocolate overrated as a health food?

Join Mark Sisson and Friends at the Mohonk Mountain House this June 5-8! Get Your Tickets for PrimalCon New York Today and Finally Meet Your Tribe!

Dear Mark: Why Hyperglycemia Is Bad and Those Stubborn Final Pounds

Today we’ve got a fairly short one with just two questions and answers. First, I tackle a big topic: the specific effects of hyperglycemia on the body. That hyperglycemia is bad for us is implicit, but it’s important to understand why it’s so dangerous. Today, I give a brief but detailed overview of the negative effects of chronic high blood sugar. Next, Carrie gives a female reader a few thoughts on how to (and whether to) lose the last few stubborn pounds. Her unique advice involves sprinting, reframing, rethinking, and restating.

Hi Mark,

I know it’s too much to ask, but having browsed the internet and your site thoroughly about it, I just cannot get a satisfying answer to how (biochemically) high blood sugar does its damage to the body. How is it toxic? I know about AGEs and how it damages blood vessels, but even in scientific articles there’s no – again satisfying – answer as to HOW? How is coma the body’s response to too much high blood sugar? How it gives you migraines? How it reduces healing abilities? etc, etc, etc.

Maybe I’m not good at searching this or I don’t have access to the proper medical journals, but I was just wondering if you could enlighten us about this topic in a deeper way.

Thanks and regards from Colombia.

Oscar

Great question.

Most cell types, when faced with systemic hyperglycemia, have mechanisms in place to regulate the passage of glucose through their membranes. They can avoid hyperglycemic toxicity by keeping excess sugar out. Other cell types, namely pancreatic beta-cells, neurons, and the cells lining the blood and lymphatic vessels, do not have these mechanisms. In the presence of high blood sugar, they’re unable to keep excess sugar out. It’s to these three types of cells that hyperglycemia is especially dangerous.

Unfortunately, these are all pretty important cells.

What happens when too much glucose makes it into one of these cells?

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation is a normal byproduct of glucose metabolism by the cell’s mitochondria. If the stream of glucose into the cell is unregulated, bad things begin to happen: excessive ROS, a mediator of increased oxidative stress; depletion of glutathione, the prime antioxidant in our bodies; advanced glycation endproduct (AGE) formation; and activation of protein kinase C, a family of enzymes involved in many diabetes-related complications. It’s messy stuff.

How does this play out in the specific cell types that are susceptible and what does it mean for you?

Pancreatic beta-cells: These cells are responsible for secreting insulin in response to blood glucose. They essentially are the first line of defense against hyperglycemia. If maintained for too long or too often, hyperglycemia inhibits the ability of pancreatic beta-cells to do their job. For instance, type 2 diabetics have reduced pancreatic beta-cell mass; smaller cells have lower functionality. Mitochondrial ROS (often caused by hyperglycemia) also reduce the insulin secreted by the cells, thereby reducing their ability to deal with the hyperglycemia and compounding the initial problem.

Neurons: The brain’s unique affinity for glucose makes its glucose receptor-laden neuronal cells susceptible to hyperglycemia. It simply soaks up glucose, and if there’s excessive amounts floating around, problems arise. Hyperglycemia is consistently linked to cognitive impairment, causes the shrinking of neurons and the inducement of spatial memory loss, and induces neuronal oxidative stress. It also impairs the production of nitric oxide, which is involved in the hippocampus’ regulation of food intake.

Endothelial cells: Flow mediated dilation (FMD) is the measure of a blood vessels ability to dilate in response to increased flow demands. Under normal conditions, the endothelial cells release nitric oxide, a vasodilator, in response to increased shear stress. Under hyperglycemic conditions, nitric oxide release is inhibited and FMD reduced. A decreased FMD strongly predicts cardiovascular events (PDF) and may cause atherosclerosis (PDF).

Thanks again for the question. While saying “Chronic hyperglycemia is bad for you” is true enough, it’s more helpful to know exactly why it’s bad.

Now, let’s hear from Carrie:

My husband and I have been eating Primal for about 6 months now and he has lost 50 pounds. Although I feel much better and have more energy, I hit a plateau after 3 months and have only lost 20 pounds. My husband has reached his ideal weight and I still would like to lose another 20 pounds. We are living a primal lifestyle and exercising regularly and I am wondering if you can offer any advice around how I can lose the last 20 pounds? Is there anything else I can do?

One of the first things I suggest to women who have hit a plateau is to incorporate sprints into their workouts: 2 times a week, running full speed in intervals or 6-10 sprints for 30 seconds with a minute of rest in between. Cycling sprints work, too. You can also run up hills instead of on flat ground. Doing it on the beach will be harder and you’ll go slower but hit your butt and thighs differently than on flat ground. Women are naturally better at burning fat in response to exercise, so sprints are an ideal, time-efficient way to do that. It wasn’t until I started incorporating sprints that I truly reached my ideal body composition.

If you are over 40 you should have your hormone levels checked to make sure you are not perimenopausal and that your hormones are balanced. Where are you carrying the excess weight? If it is around your belly, this could be a sign that you need hormonal balancing. Visit a medical professional that specializes in women’s health. I myself had the best results with low doses of hormone replacements, but more “natural” methods are also worth a shot and can be exhausted beforehand.

Once you have addressed both of these “physical” issues, ask yourself some important questions.

How can you have a healthy relationship with where your body is now? Figure out what it would take to make peace with your body. Is it holding you back from doing anything, physically, that you’d like to be doing? Does it truly reduce your quality of life in a meaningful, tangible way? Are you healthy, happy (when not thinking about your last few pounds), and generally living life in a vibrant manner? Maybe you are content and just haven’t realized it yet.

What if this is your body’s ideal weight? Remember that women naturally carry more body fat and distribute it differently than men. We make babies with our body fat, and the hips, butt, and thighs are supposed to have a bit more bounce than the rest of the body. It’s totally normal to have it there and a sign that you’re healthy!

Personally, I also like to set intentions around my goals – things and thoughts and abstractions I would like to create and make manifest. They somehow seem more real when I do this. And if they seem real enough that I start acting like they are, aren’t they real? For all intents and purposes, I’d say that they are.

Here’s an example:

“I am making healthy conscious food choices, effortlessly reaching my ideal lean(er) bodyweight, and loving my healthy, limber, strong, fit body.”

I say these things to myself with powerful intention as I’m saying them, almost like a meditation where the focus is on the breath itself. Only here, you’re focusing on the words – how they sound, what they mean, what they mean to you. This isn’t a woo-woo, mystical attempt to “create your own reality.” It’s just a powerful way to establish and ingrain resolve.

Write your intentions down. Say them out loud. Be very specific and clear. It might feel funny saying/writing these usually abstract thoughts that only play out in your head, but it makes them real and attainable. And oftentimes you’ll find that the things you thought you were worried about aren’t even worth it. That you’re happy after all!

Good luck and don’t hesitate to write back with more questions.

That’s it for this week, folks. Thanks for reading and keep the questions coming!

Get the 7-Day Course on the Primal Blueprint Fundamentals for Lifelong Health Delivered to Your Inbox for FREE

Announcement: The Primal Life Kit Is on Sale Now!

If you’ve been hanging with me for a while, you’ve probably noticed I’m always encouraging my readers to explore new research, new recipes, and new regimens to lift their Primal journey past plateaus and to the next level. I’ve found a great resource for both the Primal newbie looking to activate his hunter-gatherer roots and the Primal connoisseur looking to expand her Primal knowledge. Put together by our friends at PaleoPlan.com, the Primal Life Kit is a compilation of all the ancestral tools you need to cook, eat, workout, and live Primally.

There’s a total of 49 products and 14 discounts in the Primal Life bundle. They’ve got 21 paleo cookbooks full of mouthwatering, gluten-free recipes, 2 meal plans, and even an online cooking club. Did I mention the 3 fitness programs…informational eBooks on topics like autoimmunity, inflammation, and going paleo on a budget…and 14 discounts on products like Primal Life organics and the best paleo-designed supplements?

Here’s a quick snapshot of the entire package:

21 Paleo and Primal Recipe & Meal Planning eBooks ($221 Value)
4 Autoimmune and Inflammation eBooks ($150 Value)
6 Informational/How-To eBooks ($75 Value)
3 research papers by Dr. Loren Cordain ($15 Value)
1 Online cooking club subscription ($39 Value)
2 Success Stories eBooks ($31 Value)
2 Kids and Paleo eBooks ($21 Value)
3 Fitness Programs ($67 Value)
2 Paleo Challenges ($44 Value)<
2 Meal Plans ($69 Value)
2 Online Magazine Subscriptions ($36 Value)
1 Bonus Video about Eating on the Road
14 Discounts ($757+ Value)

Perhaps what makes this bundle so unbelievable is the price. For this week ONLY, it’s going for $39–that’s with an original retail value of $1500. That’s over 97% off the retail value!

I can personally attest to the quality of products included. In fact, I’ve contributed a couple items myself. First there’s Primal Blueprint’s latest eBook Primal Blueprint Success Stories: Real Life Transformations. I put together this eBook to share uplifting stories of health transformation and personal triumph to inspire you whenever you hit a slump in your Primal endeavors. If you enjoy the success story blog posts published on Mark’s Daily Apple each Friday, you’ll love this eBook. And the only place to get this eBook is in the Primal Life Kit.

Inspiration is one part of the puzzle, implementation is another. Which is why I also contributed a coupon that will give you the first month of the Primal Blueprint Meal Plan (a monthly retail value of $9.99) for just 1 cent. That’s 1 cent for a new meal plan and shopping list delivered to your inbox every week. We’re talking all the grocery lists, meal plans, and recipes you need to start eating Primal today–and every day–for a month.

The Primal Life Kit links the best of our ancestral past with our modern world, providing all resources in digital (PDF) format so you can read on your computer or eReader. It’s a limited time offer, folks! Just this week from April 21-28th. Accelerate your Primal learning and living curve! Cheers to sharing and growing in the Primal community together!

Get Your Primal Life Kit Before the Offer Ends on April 28th!

Weekend Link Love

I am about halfway through the writing of Primal Endurance, a breakthrough book that will change the way we look at endurance training and competition. The main emphasis is on low-carb and/or ketogenic diets and training strategies. I am looking for Success Stories that exemplify this approach. If you compete in any event and have had success training and racing on a low-carb or ketogenic diet, I would love to hear details and maybe even feature your story in the book. Please submit your story here. Thanks!

Episode #15 of The Primal Blueprint Podcast is now live. It’s another great reader question roundup.

A new Paleo documentary – “We Love Paleo” – is in production. Donate to the cause and see the important message disseminated.

Southern California pastured chicken and lamb outfit Primal Pastures wants to implement a low-cost, large-scale method for pastured poultry farming that could eliminate the need for industrial battery farms. To support them, follow the link, click “Like,” and hit “Vote.”

Research of the Week

Dairy fat intake is associated with better insulin sensitivity, less liver fat, and increased glucose tolerance.

A low-carb diet bests a moderate-carb diet in people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

Popular joint supplement glucosamine extends lifespan in mice by “mimicking a low-carb diet.”

Snacking increases liver and belly fat more than eating big meals, even when overall caloric intake is the same.

Interesting Blog Posts

This two year case study on the effects of minimalist running shoes on arch height, heel alignment, and toe orientation (duck feet) is extremely convincing – particularly the before and after photos.

The effect of circadian rhythm disruption on physical and mental health is confusing and difficult to parse, but it’s still probably best to go lights out at night.

Media, Schmedia

More and more people are using “elimination diets” that look awfully familiar to uncover and even treat food sensitivities.

The gut biomes of Hadza hunter-gatherers look wildly different from those of modern Italians. The Hadza show high levels of strains thought to be pathogenic and low levels of strains thought to be beneficial without having any of the associated health problems. Big differences exist between Hadza men and women, too, with the tuber-gathering (and snacking) women showing greater levels of fiber-digesting gut flora.

There may be problems with the Hadza gut study, though, since “the team stored their Hadza stool samples in alcohol, which can seriously affect the proportions of different species found within them.”

Everything Else

There’s a new kind of attention deficit disorder called “sluggish cognitive tempo,” characterized by “lethargy, daydreaming, and slow mental processing.” Critics are rightly skeptical. It sounds (at first glance) like they’re talking about restless kids who’d rather be moving their bodies and exploring the world than sitting in a chair.

Would you try Korea’s smelliest fish - rotted skate?

This 13 year-old Mongolian eagle huntress is pretty awesome.

Now that’s what I call BPA-free.

This is bound to turn out well.

Recipe Corner

If you’ve never had loco moco, make it using this recipe. If you have had loco moco, you know how good it is and should try this recipe anyway.
Indian cuisine rarely (if ever) calls for pork, but that doesn’t stop this paleo pork vindaloo from being incredible.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Apr 20 – Apr 26)

How Much Protein Should You Be Eating? – How much protein do various populations really need?
11 Small Wins to Help You Kick Start Your Primal Life – We say start small with small wins, but what do those really look like?

Comment of the Week

The saying is actually “pore over”–the verb “to pore” means to study or read closely. (In this case, the old ladies are studying the pile.)
So it’s misspelled, but Mark’s usage is correct.

- Actually, the old ladies were figuratively holding metaphorical pitchers full of their ancient wisdom, which was poured over the piles. Ah, who am I kidding? You’re right.

Get the 7-Day Course on the Primal Blueprint Fundamentals for Lifelong Health Delivered to Your Inbox for FREE

Grilled Broccoli and Shrimp Salad

After grilling broccoli once, you’re going to wonder why you’ve never thought of cooking it this way before. Charred and crispy around the edges, tender with just a little bit of crunch, grilling brings out the best in broccoli. Toss grilled broccoli in a big bowl with lime and chili grilled shrimp and you’ve got one amazing salad.

Grilled broccoli doesn’t taste all that much different than broccoli roasted in a high-heat oven, but it cooks faster. The bright green color and a bit of crunch remain intact. Plus, who wants to crank the oven to 450 ºF in the summer?

Brassicas such as broccoli, and other sulfur-rich vegetables, have potent and beneficial organosulfur compounds. The more ways you can find to eat and enjoy them, the better. If shrimp isn’t your thing, then pair this broccoli with grilled lime and chili marinated wild salmon or a big, juicy steak.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound raw shrimp, shelled (450 g)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (divided) extra virgin olive oil (80 ml + 15 ml)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (60 ml)
2 teaspoons chili powder (10 ml)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 heads of broccoli, cut into large florets
Salt

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the olive oil, plus the lime juice, chili powder and garlic. Add the shrimp and stir well to cover with the marinade. Lighlty salt the shrimp and let it marinate while you prepare the broccoli and heat the grill. When you’re ready to grill, thread the shrimp on skewers.

Heat a grill to medium high heat.

Put the broccoli florets in a large bowl. Drizzle the remaining 1/3 cup (80 ml) of olive oil over the broccoli and use your hands to toss the broccoli so it’s evenly and thoroughly coated in olive oil and a few pinches of salt. If the broccoli seems dry, add more olive oil.

Grill the broccoli florets for 8 to 12 minutes, so the tips are nicely charred. Keep an eye on it, turning the florets as necessary so they don’t get too crispy.

When the broccoli is off the grill, then grill the shrimp skewers for 2 minutes on each side.

In a large bowl, toss together the shrimp and broccoli. Squeeze fresh lime juice on top.

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

Failure Isn’t a Setback, It’s a Catalyst for Change

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!

Growing up in Orange County I was always active. As a kid I was always at the beach, on my bike, or on my skateboard. Summers I’d be outdoors from sunup to sundown and usually hot and sweaty from all the activity. My family didn’t have a lot of money so unlike a lot of my peers I grew up without an Atari, Nintendo, Sega, or Gameboy. When we went on drives, I actually looked out the windows and observed the world around me. I was always tan and can’t remember ever being overweight. In high school I ran cross country and track. I didn’t set any records, but I was always in the top percentages. I ran Mt. SAC all four years of high school and I remember my senior year it was raining so bad that it was shoe-sucking-mud the entire 5K. Add a few obstacles into the equation and you had the equivalent of a Marine Corps Mud Run. There were no records set that day by anyone, but I did manage to finish the race first, only because I had spent the previous 3 months running sand dunes. I thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors. All through high school and until I was about 23 I’d hike Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead and the famous Bridge to Nowhere outside of Asuza. I was either hiking or backpacking at least one weekend a month for many, many years.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was blessed with a fast metabolism. In a nutshell, I could eat whatever I wanted when ever I wanted and it seemed to have no affect on me. Soda, beer, Starbucks, steaks, fried foods… if I saw it, I ate it. Within two years of high school I was into my current career in the IT field. The one new thing this brought to my life was sitting on my butt for 8-12 hours a day, though I was active enough that this didn’t have much affect on me. Around age 23 I discovered billiards and started spending hours and hours playing nine ball. Sure I was standing a lot, but it’s still pretty inactive and I drank a lot of beer when I wasn’t shooting. Downtime was no longer hikes and camping but instead a few hours of playing pool. I got married to the most beautiful woman on earth at 25 and shortly after things started to change, though so gradually I didn’t really notice. But suffice it to say that lots of sitting on my butt at work combined with lots of cuddling during movies combined with date nights combined with less outdoorsy activities combined with a standard diet of Starbucks, Hamburger Helper, and Tyson’s frozen dinners started to take their toll.

Eventually we moved to Florida. My IT career continued as did my being sedentary most of the day. The family’s eating habits remained the same. My metabolism started to slow down and my outdoorsy activities became fewer and fewer. Add a few kids into the mix and some restless nights and things took their toll. Yet somehow I remained oblivious. In my mind, I was still an 18 year old. In June of 2010 I got the itch to head outdoors. There’s a really great section of the Florida Trail that goes through the middle of the Ocala National Forest. I planned out a 7 day trip: 3 days in, 1 day to chill, and 3 days back out. I planned for this trip for about 2 months including buying a bunch of new backpacking gear. In August I headed out. The goal was to go about 12 miles per day (2 miles per hour, 6 hours a day with plenty of time for breaks, to make camp, etc). I made it 5 miles into the first day and couldn’t go any farther. I made camp, ate, and slept for probably 12 hours straight. I was hot and had no energy. The next day I pushed on but only made another 2-3 miles before I had to stop and make camp. My body literally would not go any farther. I decided to hike out the next day and I couldn’t even do that. Halfway through I had to stop, pitch my tent to get out of the sun and sleep for 2-3 hours before I could continue on. I got home that night… 4 days early… with my tail tucked between my legs and making excuses about bad weather to my family. In hindsight, there were a few problems: heat, humidity, me, and my pack weight. I’m 6’ 2’’ and have the build of being more towards the thin side. From age 17-25 I was always in the 170-180 lbs range (thin, sometimes cut, but not very muscular). When I set out on the failed trip I was 245 lbs, horribly out of shape and packing a 65 lbs pack (including food and water). Humidity was high and the temps were in the 90s and I was simply not conditioned for that kind of exertion in those kinds of conditions.

But I refused to let this failure be a setback. Instead it became a catalyst for change. I refused to let my own weight and lack of physical fitness to keep me from something I enjoyed so much. Plus, I had two daughters that were getting old enough for hikes and such and I didn’t want them to miss out because I was fat. In an age of RSS feeds and iPhones and instant news and updates and digital everything there’s something so refreshing about the outdoors and I wanted our family to enjoy that together.

Changing out my backpacking gear was the easy part. With a bit of money and some googling, I was able to get it to a base weight of 25-28 lbs not including food and water. With food and water, I can do a 3-5 day trip with 35 lbs or less on my back. Quite the savings in weight from my old 65 lb pack weight.

Changing me was a bit more difficult of a process. Through some googling I discovered a concept called “fat packing” wherein people use a multi-day backpacking trip as a tool to reset their metabolism and encourage fat burning. From the forums there I found Mark’s Daily Apple. In hindsight, I didn’t realize how bad I’d allowed myself to become. A typical day for me looked like this: wake up at the last possible minute after snoozing for at least 30 minutes… shower and head to work… stop at Starbucks for a sugar and caffeine loaded drink… commute for 45 minutes… sit on my butt all morning working… at lunch either go back to Starbucks for another sugar and caffeine filled drink and maybe a pastry or down a 20 oz soda and bag of chips from the vending machine… keep sitting on my butt… around 3 pm drink another 20 oz soda and another bag of chips while still sitting on my butt… off at 5 pm and commute for 45 minutes… home around 6 pm for a late dinner of Hamburger Helper or something similarly high in processed carbs and fats… eat two overly large servings… sit and watch some TV… have an overly large dessert and lay in bed watching TV… eventually fall asleep around midnite or 1 am… toss and turn from heartburn… pop a Tums… sleep til 7 am or so and snooze for 30 minutes… then repeat day after day. Weekends were about the same only I slept in later, stayed up later, and typically ate out for a huge brunch and something similar for dinner. All this repeated day after day, week after week pushed me from being tall and skinny and 180 lbs to tall and fat at 245 lbs.

At this point I knew about MDA, but I hadn’t really given it much of a read. Instead I relied on my “conventional wisdom”. I decided a change was needed and I made that change starting in January of 2011. For the first week I did nothing but evaluate. I got the LoseIt app for my iPhone and tracked everything I ate and drank for one week. I knew I wasn’t eating right, but what I learned shocked me. I was consuming between 5000-6000 calories a day and 80% of it was from dinner and dessert all between 6-11 pm and immediately before bed. I made three immediate changes: 1) I started walking daily, 2) I started eating three meals a day, and 3) I started eating lots more fruits and veggies and *healthful* grains. I was not eating Primally. I was eating according to CW, but the changes worked (at least initially). I calculated that I needed 2800-3000 calories a day to survive, so I restricted myself to 2200-2400 calories per day for the first six months. Another big change I made was to change the *focus* of my meal. Instead of meat being the main course and everything else a side dish, I made veggies the meal and everything else a side. For example, instead of a 12 oz steak with a side salad, I had a big salad as my main entree with meat on top; think chicken caesar salad or a “beef and blue” salad. I ate lots of grains… oatmeal for breakfast, whole grain bread, etc. And a lot of what I ate was still processed or low quality, but it was still a change. For the walking I started with just a mile and added about ½ mile a week.

After 3-4 months things were a lot different. I was eating oatmeal and berries and bananas for breakfast and a salad for lunch. My wife was on board and started making dinners that didn’t come in a box (roasted whole chickens, fish, made-from-home meals). I was walking 3-4 miles a night. The one thing that never changed was Starbucks. I continued consuming the sugar and caffeine laden drinks once or twice a day. But with all the other changes including calorie restrictions, walking, and eating three times a day I was down 25 lbs. About this time I started jogging. It was simple at first… just ¼ mile. I’d walk for 1 mile, jog for ¼ mile, then walk the rest for a total of 4 miles. Every week or so I’d add another ¼ mile, but keep it at 4 miles total. By December of 2011 I was down to 195 lbs (50 lbs in 11 months), running 3-4 miles a day 3-4 days a week and walking 4 miles the other days. My wife and daughters were walking with me most of the time and we enjoyed a few local hikes. Unfortunately, I had also plateaued. I had gone as far as conventional wisdom could take me.

In February of 2012 two things changed: 1) I discovered The Primal Blueprint (and started reading articles on MDA) and 2) we moved to North Carolina which put me back in a place with mountains and trails similar to what I had enjoyed in the mountains of California (only without all the smog). In all honestly, Florida was just too hot and humid to really enjoy a good hike, not to mention it was flat. I read The Primal Blueprint twice and realized I was doing a lot right, but still missing quite a few things. Don’t get me wrong… the conventional wisdom had its benefits, but I realized it was probably more of the walking and running and calorie changes than it was the foods I was eating. I was still around 195 lbs and still had a ring of fat around my belly. I was definitely more in shape, but I also had lots of gas, restless sleep, and frequent colds and flus. Exercise-wise I had more endurance, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be and while I had burned a lot of fat, I hadn’t built much muscle.

So starting around June or so of 2012 I decided to go fully Primal (well close anyway… I still indulge on some cravings here or there). The first thing I did was to change my running. I didn’t want to veer into chronic cardio. I now run 10-15 miles a week, 2-3 times a week, but never for more than 45 minutes at a time and always at a slow pace. I added in a full set of body weight exercises (pushups, pullups, bicycle crunches, back-ups, dips). About nine months ago I added in other resistance training (lifting heavy things) and sprints. I pretty much dropped all grains including the rice and oatmeal I’d been eating almost daily (I still cheat with the occasional cookie or brownie or brown rice pasta). I upped my calories back to normal. Some days I consume as few as 2000, but if I eat 3000 in a day I don’t sweat it. I eat my body weight in grams of protein a day (roughly 180-220 grams per day) and I get my protein from all sources: beef, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, pea and rice protein powders, etc. (Just a note on the protein powders: I discovered through trial and error that I am allergic to both casein and whey as well as lactose intolerant. I’m good with cheese and yogurt, but not much else. I mix the pea and rice powders to get a full amino acid profile). I typically fast once a week and try to restrict my evening meals such that I there’s at least 12 hours between my last meal and my morning exercise. I’ve long had a desire to put on some muscle, so I do eat 5-6 meals a day, but over the course of a day I’m getting around 200 grams of protein, 70-100g grams of carbs, and 120-150 grams of fats. Over time the Starbucks finally went away. I still have coffee daily, but now it’s Americanos or iced coffees or homemade coffee with coconut oil. At one point, I actually dropped down to 173 lbs (very thin for me), but having increased my proteins and fats and calories I’m up to 182 lbs and I know it’s all muscle as my body fat percentage continues to drop. I also make it a point to fight being sedentary these days. When I’m at work I take a 3-5 minute break every hour and stretch and walk up and down three flights of stairs.

In the end the changes have paid off in more ways than I can count. I no longer have restless sleep. I haven’t had a cold or flu in over 18 months (this is my second flu season where everyone I know got it except for me). I have energy throughout the day (no more post lunch carb-crash induced naps). I feel great. My skin looks better. I can see muscle growth in my arms and thighs. I have veins bulging that I’ve never seen before (not even in high school). But best of all, the changes have paid off with regards to my love of the outdoors. Late last September my oldest daughter and I did a local hike that had us going up a ridgeline with 3500 feet of elevation change in a little over 2 miles of distance. I had about 20 lbs of gear with me, but we both literally flew up the trail. We weren’t winded at all. In all we did 8 miles up and down eating primal snacks all along the way. Then, this past November a group of guy friends decided to do a section of the AT the week before Thanksgiving. This time I had 4 5lbs of gear including food and water. But if felt like nothing. We covered about 12 miles a day and 3 summits including Mt Rogers (highest peak in Va.). On all three summits I was able to go non-stop straight up the mountain and not be winded at the top. Most of the other guys either lagged severely behind or made it just behind me, but severely winded and needing to rest. This then led to “how’d you do that” and my turning them on to eating and living Primally and MDA. Weather permitting we have another trip coming up in three weeks and plans to do overnight hiking and camping (no car camping for us) at least once a month from March through October.

But perhaps the biggest improvement is being seen in my wife. For as long as I’ve known her she’s had a sweet tooth and has always griped about gas and bloating and this pain or that one. For the last two years or so I’ve been trying to encourage her to give Primal a try. She’s seen the changes in me and it encourages her. Her heart is there, but the willpower isn’t always there, especially when she starts craving sweets. It’s hard to give up what you love. She has definitely gone full bore into rejecting processed foods. Most of what she eats now is unprocessed, whole foods. If it’s a processed food (example: peanut butter), then she goes for as few ingredients as possible. She’s reading labels now and making better choices in regards to her hair care and skin products as well. But there’s still the sweet tooth and a love of grains. But with these come the inevitable gas and bloating and discomfort. Recently she’s been learning more and more about the damaging effects of grains and excessive carbs and sugar. She has switched to a primarily gluten free diet and is already feeling the benefits. She’s definitely on her way and each little change she makes has a benefit to her. She’s not a fan of backpacking like I am (she prefers not carrying a pack and having access to a real toilet), but she’s definitely up for hiking and camping which brings the whole family together and let’s us enjoy the outdoors and the lack of cellular reception and nature around us.

James

Join Mark Sisson and Friends at the Mohonk Mountain House this June 5-8! Get Your Tickets for PrimalCon New York Today and Finally Meet Your Tribe!

You Are What You (Think You) Eat

Last week’s post on marketing took me in an interesting turn this week. I stumbled on an article on NPR highlighting a past but very provocative study that I’ve been toying with for a couple of days now. Having spent years researching the placebo effect, Alia Crum, a clinical psychologist and researcher for Columbia Business School, was intrigued by the possibility that food could also be subject to certain physical placebo-generated outcomes. She wondered if our beliefs about a food or drink could influence the effects it physically elicited in us. After all, if what we believed about a sugar pill could make a measurable difference in our physiological functioning, why would a food product be any different? And on that note, weren’t we all being constantly fed (pardon the pun) elaborate messages about the food we bought? Did the variety of labels and claims somehow weave themselves in our mental fabric enough to not only impact our consumer behavior but maybe our body’s responses themselves?

She put her inkling to the test by setting up an experiment in which participants all drank the same 300 calorie French Vanilla shake, with one group believing they were drinking a 620 calorie decadent “Indulgence” shake and the other group operating under the impression that they were enjoying a “Sensishake” with a mere 140 calories and no fat or added sugar. The result confirmed Crum’s hunch. Those who were given the “Indulgence” labelled shakes reported greater satiety, but the bigger news was to come.

While the “Sensishake” group showed relatively stable ghrelin response (a key hunger-stimulating hormone), the “Indulgence” group demonstrated a dramatic drop in ghrelin – about three times the drop as those who thought they were drinking a low-calorie shake. In other words, those who thought they had enjoyed a rich, calorie-dense treat showed the hormonal response associated with doing just that, whereas the subjects who thought they had consumed a low-calorie shake (in the truth the same shake) responded hormonally as if they had, indeed, only had a lower calorie snack. What’s up with this?

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind when I read about this was a placebo-focused study done in housekeepers related to exercise. Essentially, the researchers (one of whom was Alia Crum, it turns out) assembled a cohort of hotel housekeepers who performed the same amount of work each day for their jobs but did little to no other exercise. The researchers, Crum (then a student) and Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer split the women into two groups for the study. They told one group that their work constituted more than the Surgeon General’s recommended daily activity and broke down the timing and physical effort of their work tasks. The control group didn’t receive any message related to exercise or exertion. A month later when they checked back, the women who’d received the encouraging messages about their daily physical efforts reported no change in their activity levels but showed rather significant physical changes. They’d lost on average two pounds each and lowered their systolic blood pressure by ten points. Again, nothing substantial had changed in their behavior. You could argue they put a little more elbow grease into their cleaning routines, but nothing about their duties or outside exercise was different. Another point for the power of mentality apparently.

The whole premise had me intrigued. What else was out there to demonstrate the physiological impact of believing what we were eating/doing was healthier/less healthy than it actually was. What could amplify good impacts? What would ameliorate negative choices? In particular, I’d hoped to dig up more on the nutrition front. What other hormonal effects had been measured in correlation with certain messaging in a study setting? Unfortunately, my search came up relatively dry on the physiological front, but I did get to read some interesting perspective on the sociological and emotional associations and their potential “placebo” effects. I’d recommend this article on “placebo analogies in diet and food culture.” (You can view the full article as a PDF.) Clearly, our food intake and perceived satiety hinge greatly on how our food is prepared (e.g. home-cooked), how it’s presented (e.g small plate/big plate), how it’s eaten (e.g. big utensils, in a group, while watching T.V.). How very Sam-I-am…

Beyond all this, however, I think of the power of mindset as what must be the subtle and (so far) under-researched physiological impact of our assumptions about the foods we eat. What does a chocolate donut do to us? Well, we pretty well know that in general. However, what if we ate that chocolate donut with full caution-to-the-wind, basking-in-luxury abandon versus if we ate it beleaguered by shame and self-recrimination? I’m not going to suggest that a person who eats total junk food all their lives with a carefree attitude is going to have a better chance at health and longevity as the person who has a good Primal eating strategy. That said, I still think attitude matters. A happy, casual mentality will act to blunt some of the bad impacts of an unhealthy lifestyle, whereas an angry, hostile or fearful mindset will blunt the positive effects of the healthiest choices. The obvious choice is to try to harness the potential of both positives – healthy living with positive thinking.

Ironically, I think this message can have special resonance or importance in a health-focused community like ours. There’s talk lately about whether the paleo world encourages or contributes to orthorexia, the clinically defined obsession with dietary purity. Truthfully, I don’t think this obsession stems from any food philosophy or that paleo thinking feeds it more than other dietary approaches do. That said, I do believe in the mental breathing room of the 80/20 Principle keeps dietary life in perspective. As most people share with me, it’s not so much the practice of the ratio and giving themselves exactly that 20% but more the chance to make choices outside the daily basics without feeling like they’ve failed.

Likewise, it’s why I’ve said time and again that I don’t believe in guilt – certainly not when it comes to a food or exercise choice anyway. No one has ever gotten healthier by feeling worse about themselves. Beating ourselves with an emotional stick won’t result in any positive change and will only block our ability to give ourselves wholly to the present choice of how we want to live in this moment. In that regard, it’s better to eat the stupid donut and move on than to perseverate for hours or even days over having taken a single bite. When it comes to the power of negative thinking and messages about our food, guilt in particular can have a very real impact. Research has shown that feeling guilty genuinely makes us feel heavier and makes physical exertion feel more difficult. Why bother with it at all? Do what you will and simply own your choices as well as their known impact.

When it comes to the positive side of this placebo equation, I think it can get really interesting. If we’re told a shake is indulgent, and that suggestion can spark a hormonal response to that effect, we can harness that power by filling our days with positive messages about what we choose to eat. Do we allow ourselves to feel deprived because we’re not raiding the candy dish at work like others do, or do we believe that our food is the most luxurious and satisfying out there? Some years ago, much was made (for a rather brief blip of time) about a luxury-focused diet, an approach that encouraged people to steer their food consumption toward smaller portions of the best, most luxurious quality of food they could afford. While it didn’t exactly do much to encourage ideal eating, it did raise a good point. If we feel like our food is an indulgence, we’ll enjoy it more, and placebo research backs up the idea that we tend to enjoy things more based on perceived expense.

How about keeping some paleo food porn in your work area? Maybe it’s just a paleo magazine or cookbook in your desk drawer or at home in your kitchen. (Yes, I clearly believe in the power of a good old-fashioned cookbook as well as online recipes.) Being part of communities (online or physical) that celebrate the same food choices for the sake of enjoyment as well as health underscore the message that your food is an indulgence to be savored. Cultivating a mindset that sees food not just as a health strategy but as a deeply meaningful, richly layered experience to be relished will undoubtedly lower your body’s stress and shame response – and increase your daily dose of pleasure. (Grok would approve.)

I’m curious about what you all think of this. What intrigues you in this? What do your instincts, experience or other reading tell you? I hope you’ll share your thoughts and enjoy the end of your week. Thanks for reading.

Join Mark Sisson and Friends at the Mohonk Mountain House this June 5-8! Get Your Tickets for PrimalCon New York Today and Finally Meet Your Tribe!