Mark Sisson's Blog, page 305

My Story of Paleo and Personality 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!

Is it heretical in a sense to dare say that one’s personality could change to such an extent that one can shift from introvert to extrovert? Did I simply fall prey to the American ideal of extraversion which judges and belittles introverts? Am I simply an introvert who learned to put on a strong extroverted front for the world? These doubts run through my mind all the time when I experience myself these days as discontinuous from the person I was before finding paleo. My story is different than the majority of, still inspiring, people who have lost weight and made great progress towards many physical ailments. My story is physical too, but much more psychological. It begs the inquiry of how much the personality can change once the body and nervous system are functioning optimally.

As I grew into late childhood and early adolescence, I became extremely socially anxious and introverted. I remember simply not feeling right much of the time on top of this growing social anxiety. I remember some amorphous gut problems improved when I ceased drinking milk in second grade because my father had done the same at the time. But this did little to curb an extreme introversion and anxiety that grew and grew until I felt completely enfolded inside myself, as if there was a wall between myself and others in conversation. I talked in a very monotone fashion, giving people one word answers or grunts. I made my teachers insane by seeming to be a brilliant thinker but doing as little as possible to pass each class and never studying. I seriously did not care about grades. School didn’t seem to address the fact that I didn’t feel right. To sum up my adolescence, it was difficult and unrewarding.

When I hit young adulthood I began to open out of the shell I felt I was in and attempted everything I could to counter my personality. I went far away to college, partied and had a brief period of heavy drinking and other things. All of which only made things worse. Then I worked for the emergency services as an EMT and then a paramedic. This was extremely difficult, as I had to learn to pry myself with force outside of my inner world to be of service to the outer world, but I persevered and little by little began to become that “external person” that I always wished I could be.

Now I have heard of many introverted types who seemed to be more at peace with themselves and eventually find their niche in life that fits their personality. This was never me. I never felt like myself. There was always this sense that I had this dormant vitality that I was after but could never get at. It tormented me throughout my 20s that I could not find the energy and vitality for life that I felt was my birthright.

Two other developments occurred in my young adulthood. First, I became interested in weightlifting, fitness and nutrition. It’s too much to get into but I towed the line of lower fat, especially super low saturated and anything animal fats since I was about 18 to 28. I have always been skinny with a lean and pretty ripped body of which I was never happy with because I wanted more mass. In quick summation, I am forever grateful for the ancestral health fitness paradigm for changing the way a truly fit and healthy male is seen, as opposed to the unrealistically large bodybuilder ideal. I have been cured of a poisonous body image brought on by the mainstream gym culture.

The second thing I found was an interest in self-help and psychology. I ate up everything I could on ways of changing oneself. In 2007 I had an interesting peak experience which led me toward the meditative and contemplative world as well as the psychological. I researched and practiced everything I could on eastern and western approaches to change. I had many shifts and changes, but to my dismay my health began to take a downward turn in my early to mid 20s.

I began experiencing these debilitating “fatigue spells” as I would describe them. It was like being hit by a tsunami of a brain fog and feeling like I was drowning underwater for up to a third of my day at times. It truly felt like being poisoned. My mind couldn’t function, even when I was working with patients in emergency situations. I felt severely anxious, and it felt like my personality would contract inwards and I had no resources to deal with anyone or anything. Everything felt like an irritation. I played with health a little bit, but not enough. I was eating nothing but lean meats, veggies, whole grains and the like. My fats consisted of peanut butter, mayonnaise, and canola oil. I felt bloated and fatigued after just about every meal.

By the end of this, I went to see a gastroenterologist who said that I may have had intestinal overgrowth and wanted to scope me. PPIs did absolutely nothing.

Just before this, I had a partner on the ambulance who put on Fatheads at random on Netflix. Like so many others I was floored by the lipid hypothesis and went on a saturated fats binge, before ever beginning paleo at all.

Many people have noted feeling more energy and a sense of well-being on whole foods diets, but it hit me like a sledgehammer. I felt this heat go through my entire body. I became what would be called in psyche jargon: “subclinically hypomanic.”  I was up for several days without feeling tired. It felt like every nerve in my body was firing at maximum. Every excitatory neurotransmitter seemed to be potentiated: serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and so on. This occurred just before a trip to Maui. On my flight back I bought Robb’s book and later Sisson’s and slowly became fully paleo. I didn’t do a 30 day. I slowly worked into it over a summer. The more I cut out wheat, dairy (I’ve never liked dairy anyways), and legumes the more I felt this immense sense of energy and vitality. I also need to note that I worked on fixing my sleep and I shifted my exercise routine to be more along the lines of Mark Sisson’s recommendations.

This was 2.5 years ago and all I can say is that I feel that my nervous system has been reborn since that time. The first thing I noticed was a need to move all the time. I have always been fidgety but it became difficult to sit in one place. I was in grad school at the time and used to imagine hunting with a spear while sitting in lectures. I think that this level of energy was so new that I did not know what to do with it or how to express it.

I wanted to engage and socialize with everyone. Although extremely independent, something I have mistaken for introversion, I truly began to become more and more energized by engagement and challenge. My mind was sharpened and I became outspoken and had to learn how to temper myself to be more likeable.

THIS WAS MY MISISNG VITALITY!! This was what I was always looking for! I recall these days that before this change, I simply did not have the resources to develop and deal with the stresses of adolescent life. There were many emotional and psychological issues I had on top of this, but I’m very curious to know how I could have handled other issues if I had developed with a functioning gut and nervous system.

I can now explore what made me think I was fundamentally an introvert, or in adulthood: an ambivert. When I have gone too far off paleo, such as when having much sugar, wheat, or dairy, I feel this inner sense of contracting inwards. I feel depressed and don’t want to deal with others or the world. I just want to sit at home and watch Netflix. It’s like a state of dysphoria that comes over me, and it is accompanied 100% of the time by my gut being bloated and that familiar and dreaded brain fog.

When I’m fully functioning I’m like a big ADHD kid. The average person cannot keep up with me. My mind is quick but scattered, but can focus when I need to. I’m now generally fun loving and optimistic.

The last part of my story involves how I had to shift away from my older self to this new version of me in process. I had built up many self-images of myself over the years which had to come down completely. Some things have been a struggle, as I chose a new career path several years before this change based on my old self and now I have to scramble to find something that truly works for this version of me. There were limiting ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that I had to see through. There were things I was doing and not doing that I have had to take a long look at. It is as if I am slowly learning who I truly am and have never truly been myself. How can we truly be the person our genetics and existential situation predispose us to be if our entire system is poisoned, limited? I’ve been driving a car with the parking brake on for 28 years and suddenly it has been taken off. Part of me feels only 2.5 years old and is thus a seed that is slowly germinating as I realize who I am truly meant to be.

Dave

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From Introvert to Extrovert: My Story of Paleo and Personality 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!

Is it heretical in a sense to dare say that one’s personality could change to such an extent that one can shift from introvert to extrovert? Did I simply fall prey to the American ideal of extraversion which judges and belittles introverts? Am I simply an introvert who learned to put on a strong extroverted front for the world? These doubts run through my mind all the time when I experience myself these days as discontinuous from the person I was before finding paleo. My story is different than the majority of, still inspiring, people who have lost weight and made great progress towards many physical ailments. My story is physical too, but much more psychological. It begs the inquiry of how much the personality can change once the body and nervous system are functioning optimally.

As I grew into late childhood and early adolescence, I became extremely socially anxious and introverted. I remember simply not feeling right much of the time on top of this growing social anxiety. I remember some amorphous gut problems improved when I ceased drinking milk in second grade because my father had done the same at the time. But this did little to curb an extreme introversion and anxiety that grew and grew until I felt completely enfolded inside myself, as if there was a wall between myself and others in conversation. I talked in a very monotone fashion, giving people one word answers or grunts. I made my teachers insane by seeming to be a brilliant thinker but doing as little as possible to pass each class and never studying. I seriously did not care about grades. School didn’t seem to address the fact that I didn’t feel right. To sum up my adolescence, it was difficult and unrewarding.

When I hit young adulthood I began to open out of the shell I felt I was in and attempted everything I could to counter my personality. I went far away to college, partied and had a brief period of heavy drinking and other things. All of which only made things worse. Then I worked for the emergency services as an EMT and then a paramedic. This was extremely difficult, as I had to learn to pry myself with force outside of my inner world to be of service to the outer world, but I persevered and little by little began to become that “external person” that I always wished I could be.

Now I have heard of many introverted types who seemed to be more at peace with themselves and eventually find their niche in life that fits their personality. This was never me. I never felt like myself. There was always this sense that I had this dormant vitality that I was after but could never get at. It tormented me throughout my 20s that I could not find the energy and vitality for life that I felt was my birthright.

Two other developments occurred in my young adulthood. First, I became interested in weightlifting, fitness and nutrition. It’s too much to get into but I towed the line of lower fat, especially super low saturated and anything animal fats since I was about 18 to 28. I have always been skinny with a lean and pretty ripped body of which I was never happy with because I wanted more mass. In quick summation, I am forever grateful for the ancestral health fitness paradigm for changing the way a truly fit and healthy male is seen, as opposed to the unrealistically large bodybuilder ideal. I have been cured of a poisonous body image brought on by the mainstream gym culture.

The second thing I found was an interest in self-help and psychology. I ate up everything I could on ways of changing oneself. In 2007 I had an interesting peak experience which led me toward the meditative and contemplative world as well as the psychological. I researched and practiced everything I could on eastern and western approaches to change. I had many shifts and changes, but to my dismay my health began to take a downward turn in my early to mid 20s.

I began experiencing these debilitating “fatigue spells” as I would describe them. It was like being hit by a tsunami of a brain fog and feeling like I was drowning underwater for up to a third of my day at times. It truly felt like being poisoned. My mind couldn’t function, even when I was working with patients in emergency situations. I felt severely anxious, and it felt like my personality would contract inwards and I had no resources to deal with anyone or anything. Everything felt like an irritation. I played with health a little bit, but not enough. I was eating nothing but lean meats, veggies, whole grains and the like. My fats consisted of peanut butter, mayonnaise, and canola oil. I felt bloated and fatigued after just about every meal.

By the end of this, I went to see a gastroenterologist who said that I may have had intestinal overgrowth and wanted to scope me. PPIs did absolutely nothing.

Just before this, I had a partner on the ambulance who put on Fatheads at random on Netflix. Like so many others I was floored by the lipid hypothesis and went on a saturated fats binge, before ever beginning paleo at all.

Many people have noted feeling more energy and a sense of well-being on whole foods diets, but it hit me like a sledgehammer. I felt this heat go through my entire body. I became what would be called in psyche jargon: “subclinically hypomanic.”  I was up for several days without feeling tired. It felt like every nerve in my body was firing at maximum. Every excitatory neurotransmitter seemed to be potentiated: serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and so on. This occurred just before a trip to Maui. On my flight back I bought Robb’s book and later Sisson’s and slowly became fully paleo. I didn’t do a 30 day. I slowly worked into it over a summer. The more I cut out wheat, dairy (I’ve never liked dairy anyways), and legumes the more I felt this immense sense of energy and vitality. I also need to note that I worked on fixing my sleep and I shifted my exercise routine to be more along the lines of Mark Sisson’s recommendations.

This was 2.5 years ago and all I can say is that I feel that my nervous system has been reborn since that time. The first thing I noticed was a need to move all the time. I have always been fidgety but it became difficult to sit in one place. I was in grad school at the time and used to imagine hunting with a spear while sitting in lectures. I think that this level of energy was so new that I did not know what to do with it or how to express it.

I wanted to engage and socialize with everyone. Although extremely independent, something I have mistaken for introversion, I truly began to become more and more energized by engagement and challenge. My mind was sharpened and I became outspoken and had to learn how to temper myself to be more likeable.

THIS WAS MY MISISNG VITALITY!! This was what I was always looking for! I recall these days that before this change, I simply did not have the resources to develop and deal with the stresses of adolescent life. There were many emotional and psychological issues I had on top of this, but I’m very curious to know how I could have handled other issues if I had developed with a functioning gut and nervous system.

I can now explore what made me think I was fundamentally an introvert, or in adulthood: an ambivert. When I have gone too far off paleo, such as when having much sugar, wheat, or dairy, I feel this inner sense of contracting inwards. I feel depressed and don’t want to deal with others or the world. I just want to sit at home and watch Netflix. It’s like a state of dysphoria that comes over me, and it is accompanied 100% of the time by my gut being bloated and that familiar and dreaded brain fog.

When I’m fully functioning I’m like a big ADHD kid. The average person cannot keep up with me. My mind is quick but scattered, but can focus when I need to. I’m now generally fun loving and optimistic.

The last part of my story involves how I had to shift away from my older self to this new version of me in process. I had built up many self-images of myself over the years which had to come down completely. Some things have been a struggle, as I chose a new career path several years before this change based on my old self and now I have to scramble to find something that truly works for this version of me. There were limiting ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that I had to see through. There were things I was doing and not doing that I have had to take a long look at. It is as if I am slowly learning who I truly am and have never truly been myself. How can we truly be the person our genetics and existential situation predispose us to be if our entire system is poisoned, limited? I’ve been driving a car with the parking brake on for 28 years and suddenly it has been taken off. Part of me feels only 2.5 years old and is thus a seed that is slowly germinating as I realize who I am truly meant to be.

Dave

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Cultivating Health During Crisis

So often we associate the two together – health and crisis. You can’t blame us really. The headlines brim with the concept weekly. Newscasts run their stock video of obese or frail forms walking down a city street. I have something else in mind here, however – inspired by some friends and readers who I’ve talked to lately. Their stories run a gamut of scenarios from cancer diagnoses to divorce, personal loss to geographic moves to name just a few. The underlying commonality of them all, of course, is major life challenge and/or transition. Upheaval of this magnitude has a way of knocking us out of our orbits. Emotionally disoriented and fatigued, we can feel out of sync, stuck in an oddly passive or at least awkward pattern. Life can feel like it’s happening around us. Even our routines can feel foreign as we navigate days with an unusual detachment. So often we talk about crisis as something solved outside ourselves. We turn ourselves over to a team of physicians and specialists in a health crisis. In times of loss or transition, we access resources, including – again – professionals. While I wholeheartedly believe in availing oneself of every benefit possible, I think something else critical gets lost in shuffle. How do we care for ourselves during crisis?

If you stopped people on the street and asked them, for example, what would get them through a divorce, you’d get a lot of references to Ben & Jerry’s. If you asked about how they would take care of themselves if they lost a loved one, I think you’d get a lot of blank stares. (Do any of us really know before it happens?) If it was a question of job loss or unexpected relocation, I think a lot of people would poo-poo it altogether. Get over it and get back on the horse kind of thing. That’s fine and well until you consider, for example, that research has linked job loss with a surge in serious physical and mental health risk. According to one study, losing your job can put a person at an over 80% higher risk of serious, stress-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes or arthritis. The fact is, from a physiological and psychological perspective, transition often equals trauma, regardless of how our intellects would like to see it.

Reflecting on the aforementioned stories of friends and readers, I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to cultivate health in the face of acute stress. So often we talk about the impact of everyday, run-of-the-mill stress and calmly assure folks that sitting in traffic activates the same hormonal response that legitimate evolutionary challenges elicited. Even on a low grade level, these effects layer themselves over time and wreak major havoc over the long term. We need to learn to “manage” those everyday influences and learn to put it all in perspective. But what about living with the real deal – the undeniable pain of losing a spouse, of watching a child go through cancer treatment, of seeing your whole life and the lives of your children upended by divorce? Where’s the guidance beyond the pat “time heals all wounds” suggestion? What would Grok and his kin do during their own variations of these events?

The resources that people I talked to found were of the most vague nature possible. “Eat a balanced diet, exercise daily and talk to your doctor if symptoms of depression worsen or persist beyond a few weeks.” I know I have my surly side, but is that even worth the paper it’s printed on? Is it just me imagining Grok picking up a rock and hurling it at the person who would say this? While we don’t live with the same communal narratives or customary rituals that may have governed crises and transition in traditional society, we can be thoughtful about what our basic needs and responses are in these scenarios and make choices that address the elementally – primally – human character. I hope those of you who have been through these situations and can suggest relevant groups, books, web communities/sites, and personal tips will offer them in the comment section, but let me lay out a some primally inspired thoughts on caring for yourself and cultivating health in the face of acute stress. Some points will speak more to medical issues and others to personal crisis. In both cases, modern “efficiency” thinking can lose sight of what is inherently human.

Follow the basics – but retool them as necessary.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the basic principles of primal health. The fact is, they matter at least tenfold when you’re undergoing intensive, long-term stress. Crisis can suck us into a powerful undertow of fatigue and inertia. The same routine might not be possible, but in that case revise your fitness efforts instead of relinquish them outright. Keep up with low-level movement, and find something more relaxing like at home body weight exercises if the gym becomes too overwhelming. When it comes to diet, avoid the sugar-serotonin trap. Stay the course with a Primal eating plan, but simplify it as need be. If there are only a handful of things you can make yourself eat, do those. Incorporate a natural fat- and protein-rich shake, and keep up with (or upgrade) a nutritional supplement if you’re not able to eat as diverse a diet. Likewise, try to avoid muffling the physiological messages your body wants to send with the likes of caffeine, alcohol, etc. Emotional stress, for example, takes a physical toll and will tire you out. Medical treatments can do the same. When we buy into the message that we should be able to fulfill all of our normal responsibilities while processing our current crisis, we’re setting ourselves up for a bigger malfunction down the road. Forget the enticement to load up on caffeine to make it through each day. Go easy on medications that encourage skating over deeper issues that should be addressed or that offer a false sense of physical ability or ease. I’m not suggesting making yourself suffer needlessly or refusing anything that can genuinely help move through a difficult time, but I think artificial means allow us to deny our needs in many cases – needs that will eventually catch up with us, be it ample sleep or psychological processing.

Counter the medicalized sensation.

I’ve known a lot of people who have gone through invasive or otherwise grueling procedures and treatments only to say the hardest thing to shake wasn’t the physical effects but the mental sensation of being a medical specimen. It’s not the fault of any physician or specialist per se. Everyone is doing his/her job, which tends to be pretty technically focused in the modern medical arena. We can in many respects be grateful for their expertise. That said, these people’s experiences are fully legitimate responses. The “medicalized” feeling, as one friend put it, was the most traumatic part of her illness. What effectively counters this varies for everyone, but recognizing it (if it’s part of your experience) is a step. While Grok may not have had any deft surgeons on hand, there is something to the myths and healing cultures of traditional societies that preserve a psychic “intactness.” I’m not suggesting anyone forgo modern medical know-how to go chase down a medicine man, but understanding that standard medical practice isn’t going to meet all your needs at this time can be freeing. Take advantage of support groups, relevant readings/writing, art or music therapy (sometimes offered at hospitals) and the support of a therapist.

Give yourself the gift of a retreat.

Let’s face it. When you’re sick or grieving, sometimes others’ constant checking in (as generous-hearted as it is) can wear on you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get away. A friend of mine took an especially long retreat after her mother died many years ago. It was the biggest help to her and the catalyst for healing, as she puts it. Don’t think about what others in your life will think or how much they’ll worry. As long as there’s no medical reason you shouldn’t, give yourself the time away to reflect in peace on your experience or to escape it entirely. The point isn’t so much where you go but that you have the time to yourself and use it intentionally for your well-being. Furthermore, don’t stop at one. Make it a regular part of your routine even if it can only be for a day at a time.

Spend as much time in nature as possible.

The psychological as well as physiological benefits of nature speak for themselves, but they may have deeper impact when we’re most vulnerable. The mental and physical pain involved in crises can keep us locked into ourselves and our stories. Giving yourself time in wilderness outside of the realm of human distraction puts you in the center of something that can dwarf your experience. For many people, this offers the ultimate – and sometimes only – substantial release.

Prioritize sensory experience.

Following emotionally traumatic events or experiences, some people experience issues with sensory integration. They may be hypersensitive to sensory stimulation like noise, bright lights or crowds. Others experience a “flatness” that can feel impenetrable. Consider investing in pleasant sensory experience with everything from time in water (e.g. hot baths, swimming/floating) or a sauna, massage and other therapeutic body work/spa treatment, music, and hours in calm, visually pleasing environments.

Consider meditation or other centering and restorative practices.

Crisis – whether it’s our direct experience or being a primary caretaker for one who’s in crisis (e.g. parent of a child with life-threatening or other serious condition, caretaker to a spouse with significant illness or disability) so easily co-opts our minds and can overtake our thinking every waking moment. Meditative practices help us counter this surge. Yet, we have to embrace times when we can detach from the experience. Even in the midst of crisis, we’re still living an overarching life and not a single event. While we often can’t find much comfort in the thought of the future, being in a particular moment exactly as it is can be freeing. Maybe it’s sitting (or breathing) with and accepting the dark feelings sometimes, but it can also be asking yourself “Is the worst happening right now in this moment?” You’re not having surgery in every moment. You’re not in a court of law in the present moment. When we can make the choice to come back to what is happening at this particular moment in time (even if it’s a few minutes), we can get out of the traumatized feeling and into sensory reality again. The more time we spend there, the more sanity and healing – inward and outward – we’ll find.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. I’ll be interested in reading the thoughts you have on cultivating well-being during acutely stressful times. Share your experiences and thoughts. Have a great week, everybody.

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The Definitive Guide to Resistant Starch

A few years back, I briefly covered a throwaway Yahoo! article about how “carbs will make you lose weight” because so many readers had emailed about it. It turned out that the “carbs” in the article were resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate that our digestive enzymes cannot break down. I’ll admit now, with regret, that I didn’t look as deeply into the matter as I might have. I didn’t dismiss resistant starch, but I did downplay its importance, characterizing it as “just another type of prebiotic” – important but not necessary so long as you were eating other fermentable fibers. While technically true, we’re fast learning that resistant starch may be a special type of prebiotic with a special place in the human diet.

Before I go any further, though, a series of hat tips to Richard Nikoley, Tatertot Tim, and Dr. BG, whose early and ongoing research into the benefits, real-world implications, and clinical applications of resistant starch have proved to be a real asset for the ancestral health community. Oh, and I even hear tell that they’re writing a book on the subject. Interesting…

In subsequent Dear Mark articles, I’ve since given resistant starch a closer, more substantial look, and today I’m going to give it the definitive guide treatment.

What Is Resistant Starch?

When you think about “starch,” what comes to mind?

Glucose. Carbs. Elevated blood sugar. Insulin spikes. Glycogen repletion. Basically, we think about starch that we (meaning our host cells) can digest, absorb, and metabolize as glucose (for better or worse).

Officially, resistant starch is “the sum of starch and products of starch degradation not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy individuals.” Instead of being cleaved in twain by our enzymes and absorbed as glucose, resistant starch (RS) travels unscathed through the small intestine into the colon, where colonic gut flora metabolize it into short chain fatty acids. Thus, it’s resistant to digestion by the host.

There are four types of resistant starch:

RS Type 1 – Starch bound by indigestible plant cell walls; found in beans, grains, and seeds.

RS Type 2 – Starch that is intrinsically indigestible in the raw state due to its high amylose content; found in potatoes, bananas, plantains, type 2 RS becomes accessible upon heating.

RS Type 3 – Retrograded starch; when some starches have been cooked, cooling them (fridge or freezer) changes the structure and makes it more resistant to digestion; found in cooked and cooled potatoes, grains, and beans.

RS Type 4 – Industrial resistant starch; type 4 RS doesn’t occur naturally and has been chemically modified; commonly found in “hi-maize resistant starch.”

It’s almost certain that different RS types have somewhat different effects on our gut flora, but the specifics have yet to be fully elucidated. In general, RS (of any type) acts fairly similarly across the various types.

Where Do We Get It?

We can get RS from food. The richest food sources are raw potatoes, green bananas, plantains, cooked-and-cooled potatoes, cooked-and-cooled-rice, parboiled rice, and cooked-and-cooled legumes.

We can get RS from supplementary isolated starch sources. The best sources are raw potato starch, plantain flour, green banana flour, and cassava/tapioca starch. Raw (not sprouted) mung beans are a good source of RS, so mung bean starch (commonly available in Asian grocers) will probably work, too.

The most reliable way to get lots of RS, fast, is with raw potato starch. There are about 8 grams of RS in a tablespoon of the most popular brand: Bob’s Red Mill Unmodified Potato Starch. It’s also available at Whole Foods.

For an exhaustive compendium of RS sources, check out this PDF from Free the Animal.

What Does It Do for Us?

Like any other organism, gut bacteria require sustenance. They need to eat, and certain food sources are better than others. In essence, RS is top-shelf food for your gut bugs. That’s the basic – and most important – function of RS.

What Are the Health Benefits of Consuming RS?
What does the research say?

Preferentially feeds “good” bacteria responsible for butyrate production. It even promotes greater butyrate production than other prebiotics. Since the resident gut flora produce the butyrate, and everyone has different levels of the different flora, the degree of butyrate production varies according to the individual, but resistant starch consistently results in lots of butyrate across nearly every subject who consumes it. Butyrate is crucial because it’s the prime energy source of our colonic cells (almost as if they’re designed for steady exposure to butyrate!), and it may be responsible for most of the other RS-related benefits.

Improves insulin sensitivity. Sure enough, it improves insulin sensitivity, even in people with metabolic syndrome.

Improves the integrity and function of the gut. Resistant starch basically increases colonic hypertrophy, making it more robust and improving its functionality. It also inhibits endotoxin from getting into circulation and reduces leaky gut, which could have positive ramifications on allergies and autoimmune conditions.

Lowers the blood glucose response to food. One reason some people avoid even minimal amounts of carbohydrate is the blood glucose response; theirs is too high. Resistant starch lowers the postprandial blood glucose spike. This reduction may also extend to subsequent meals.

Reduces fasting blood sugar. This is one of the most commonly mentioned benefits of RS, and the research seems to back it up.

Increases satiety. In a recent human study, a large dose of resistant starch increased satiety and decreased subsequent food intake.

May preferentially bind to and expel “bad” bacteria. This is only preliminary, but there’s evidence that resistant starch may actually treat small intestinal bacterial overgrowth by “flushing” the pathogenic bacteria out in the feces. It’s also been found to be an effective treatment for cholera when added to the rehydration formula given to patients; the cholera bacteria attach themselves to the RS granules almost immediately for expulsion.

Enhances magnesium absorption. Probably because it improves gut function and integrity, resistant starch increases dietary magnesium absorption.

What do user anecdotes say?

Improves body composition. I’ve heard reports of lowered body fat and increased lean mass after supplementing with or increasing dietary intake of RS. Seeing as how RS consumption promotes increased fat oxidation after meals, this appears to be possible or even likely.

Improves thyroid function. Many RS supplementers have noted increases in body temperature, a rough indicator of thyroid function.

Improves sleep, conferring the ability to hold and direct (in real time) private viewings of vivid movie-esque dreams throughout the night. I’ve noticed this too and suspect it has something to do with increased GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) from the increased butyrate. Another possibility is that resistant starch is feeding serotonin-producing gut bacteria, and the serotonin is being converted to melatonin when darkness falls.

Increases mental calm. Many people report feeling very “zen” after increasing RS intake, with reductions in anxiety and perceived stress. The latest science indicates that our gut flora can impact our brain, and specific probiotics are being explored as anti-anxiety agents, so these reports may very well have some merit.

Are There Any Downsides?

For all the success stories, the message boards are also rife with negative reactions to RS. They take it, maybe too much to start, and get gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea or constipation, a sense of “blockage,” headaches, and even heartburn. I think RS supplementation may be a good measuring stick for the health of your gut. Folks with good gut function tend to respond positively, while people with compromised guts respond poorly. The gas, bloating, cramps and everything else are indicators that your gut needs work. But it’s not the “fault” of resistant starch, per se.

What to do if you’re one of the unlucky ones? You’ve got a few options:

You could skip it altogether. I think this is unwise, personally, because the role of fermentable fibers, including RS, in the evolution of the human gut biome/immune system has been monumental and frankly irreplaceable. There’s a lot of potential there and we’d be remiss to ignore it.

You could incorporate probiotics. You need the guys that eat the RS to get the benefits of consuming RS. And sure, you have gut flora – we all do, for the most part, except after colonic sterilization before a colonoscopy or a massive round of antibiotics, maybe – but you don’t have the right kinds. Probiotics, especially the soil-based ones (the kind we’d be exposed to if we worked outside, got our hands dirty, and generally lived a human existence closer to that of our ancient ancestors), really seem to mesh well with resistant starch.

You should reduce the dose. Some people can jump in with a full 20-30 grams of RS and have no issues. Others need to ramp things up more gradually. Start with a teaspoon of your refined RS source, or even half a teaspoon, and get acclimated to that before you increase the dose.

You could eat your RS in food form. Potato starch and other supplementary forms of RS are great because they’re easy and reliable, but it’s also a fairly novel way to consume RS. You might be better off eating half a green banana instead of a tablespoon of potato starch.

My Experience

The first time I tried potato starch, I got a lot of gas. Not the end of the world, and I realize gas is a natural product of fermentation, just unpleasant. It died down after a few days, but it was only after I added in some of my Primal Flora probiotic that I started seeing the oft-cited benefits: better sleep, vivid dreams, a more “even keel.”

Now, I do potato starch intermittently. I’m very suspicious of eating anything on a daily basis. I tend to cycle foods, supplements, exercises, everything. Gas production goes up every time I re-start the potato starch, but not unpleasantly so and it subsides relatively quickly, especially when I take the probiotics.

So there’s a learning curve to RS. It’s not a cure all, but neither is anything else. It’s merely an important, arguably necessary piece of a very large, very complex puzzle.

Resistant starch is vitally important for gut (and thus overall) health, but it’s not the only thing we need. It’s likely that other forms of fermentable fiber (prebiotics) act synergistically with RS.

Hey, it’s almost like eating actual food with its broad and varied range of bioactive compounds, polyphenols, fibers, resistant starches, vitamins, and minerals tends to have the best effects on our gut biome! You can certainly enhance the picture with isolated refined resistant starches and fibers like unmodified potato starch, but they can’t replace what our bodies really expect: the food.

Let me know what you think, and I hope you find this guide useful.

What’s your experience been with resistant starch? Good, bad, neutral? Let’s hear all about it!

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Why Squatting Is So Important (plus Tips on How to Do It Right)

Just as we should eat the foods our bodies were designed to eat, we should move our bodies the way they were meant to move and impose the stressors they were meant to bear. That means squatting, and squatting often. Our hips flex, knees bend, and ankles dorsiflex so that we can rest comfortably in a squat position.

Okay, but isn’t the squat a bit outdated? Why not just use a chair?

You’ve probably heard how modern processed foods use refined sugar, salt, and seed oils to hijack our natural desires for fruits, animal fat, and animal meat. They exploit our wiring and provide hyper-stimulation to our senses, prompting massive overconsumption; some refer to this as “Food Reward.” In a similar vein, chairs hijack our anthropometry, which was designed for squatting. Just look at yourself in a chair:

Your knees are flexed – same as in a squat.
Your hip is in flexion – same as in a squat.
Your spine is neutral (unless you’re slumping, which many of us do) – same as in a squat.

Chair sitting is attractive and easy because it doesn’t challenge the way our joints work. It doesn’t place us in unnatural positions. It’s easy to slip into. It hews to our anthropometry. It provides support, so we don’t even have to do or lift anything or worry about engaging our glutes.

I call it “Repose Reward,” and it’s obviously a concerted effort by the chair industry (Big Sit) to keep us dependent on their evil, addictive products! (Please understand I’m mostly kidding.)

The good side of all this is that if you can sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground, you can (with some work) squat. It might be hard, because your muscles will actually have to work to maintain the load, and it might take some finagling since some of your joints will feel a little tight, but the position is possible. You just have to learn to support the load.

That’s one big reason to squat – it helps counteract all that sitting we do and lets us tap into a very Primal, very essential mode of repose. But there are many other reasons to squat, too. Let’s explore:

Squatting makes you stronger.

Pound for pound, squatting is the best bang for your buck strength exercise, hitting many different muscle groups along the way. The obvious ones targeted are the prime movers – the quads, hamstrings, and glutes – but the trunk musculature must stabilize the torso and maintain a neutral spine, all while supporting the load and acting as a fleshy lever. All in all, the squat is a complicated movement that forces the body’s parts to work and grow stronger together as a single unit.

Squatting makes you faster.

Tons of studies confirm that the stronger your squat, the faster you can run. It’s probably not just a “people who are strong and can squat a lot tend to also be faster” kind of thing because research shows that adding weight to an athlete’s squat during the season directly translates to faster sprint speeds.

Squatting makes you jump higher.

It’s no surprise that training your body to stand up tall from a squatting position with extra weight on your back would also improve your ability to keep going past merely standing, also known as jumping. And even though you wouldn’t jump from a deep squat position in real life, training the deep squat (full range of motion) position improves the vertical leap more than regular squatting.

Squatting improves bone mineral density in all age groups.

A recent study found that supervised (by an experienced trainer) weighted squats can help postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia improve their bone mineral density in the spine and neck by 2.9% and 4.9%, respectively (in addition to boosting their strength levels by over 150%). That’s huge. Now, imagine the strength of a lifetime squatter’s bones.

Squatting is even beneficial for endurance athletes.

Many endurance enthusiasts have the idea that squatting and other forms of resistance training will make them “bulky” and slow them down, but this simply isn’t the case. When they include resistance training in their regimen, marathoners improve their running economy. And even though their quads do plenty of work on the bike already, endurance cyclists improve their efficiency on the bike when they include heavy “hip flexion” strength training in their program. Reviews of resistance training in endurance runners and road cyclists confirm these results. Another benefit: every endurance athlete benefits from a stronger core.

Things to think about when squatting:

Squat however’s comfortable for you. You should definitely try to improve your positioning, but you shouldn’t force your body into positions it simply isn’t prepared to reach just so you can attain the “ideal squat.” That might mean you squat with a narrow stance. Or a wider stance. Or maybe your toes are pointing straight forward. Maybe they’re externally rotated a bit. However, if your feet are rotated outward, make sure your arches don’t collapse.

Focus on range of motion, rather than load. Provided you can maintain good technique (don’t sacrifice your form just to get low), squatting deeper with a lighter load is better for the knees, producing greater muscular and tendon adaptations, than squatting more shallowly with a heavier load. In fact, squatting deep with good technique can actually protect your lower extremities from injury.

Avoid knee wraps to boost the amount of weight you can handle, unless you’re a competing powerlifter for whom every extra pound on the bar counts. A recent study suggests that wearing them changes the mechanics of the back squat, alters the targeted musculature, and compromises the integrity of the knee joint.

Single leg squat variations work well. Even though online lifting message boards make it sound impossible to get strong without squatting, single leg squat variations like split squats and lunges are effective replacements that target the same lower body muscles and even result in similarly systemic hormonal responses. One of my employees with a history of knee issues can do fairly heavy lunges of all sorts without any problem, but weighted squats are iffy. I on the other hand never really had an issue with squats, while lunges sometimes gave me problems. It all varies. Do what works.

Body weight squats are good enough, too. Weighted squats will get you strong, no doubt, but it’s not the only way. A recent study out of Japan found that an eight-week program of 100 body weight squats (or “body mass squats,” as they say in the study) each day increased lean mass, vertical jump, and knee muscle strength while lowering body fat in teenage boys. Body weight squats are also incredibly energy intensive, far more than previously assumed, making them a great tool for metabolic conditioning.

Squatting doesn’t have to be exercise. These days, I think of the squat as more of a mobility promoter than anything. In fact, if you can relax in the squat position and use it as a position of repose on a daily basis, your weighted squat performance will improve. Most of the research cited in this post refers to squat exercises, but that’s about all there is in the literature.

Remember that squatting can take many forms. It’s not just young ripped dudes lifting heavy and leaving chalky slap prints on each other’s backs. Squatting is:

Holding onto a post or a doorframe in front of you for support as you squat.
Standing up from a chair.
Lowering yourself to the toilet – instead of doing a semi-controlled fall.
Doing three sets of 5 reps at twice bodyweight.
Squatting down to examine an interesting bug on the ground.
Laboriously working your way down into a full squat, grimacing all the while as you push out on your inner thighs to make way for your lumbering body.
Grandpa doing quarter squats while holding grandma’s hand for support.

It all counts. It all helps. It’s all (variations on) a squat.

At this point in my life, I don’t even do weighted free weight squats, except for some air squats with a weight vest on. I don’t back squat or front squat. I sit in the Grok squat as much as I can, just to stay loose and mobile, but for lower body strength work with the minimum amount of risk I like the leg press and the hack squat machine. So don’t think this post is about squatting a lot of weight. Or any weight. For the vast majority of the squatting world, squatting is a way to pick stuff off the floor, wait for the train, go to the bathroom, or catch up with their friends. For them – and for you, should you choose to pursue the squat – squatting is a basic act of humanity, of movement, of utility. To squat is to be.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Now go squat!

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Dear Mark: Aloe Vera for Leaky Gut, One Meal a Day, and Glyphosate and Celiac Disease

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, we’ve got a three-parter. First I discuss the effect of aloe vera on gut function. Is there evidence that it’s a panacea for intestinal permeability, as so often is claimed? Next, I help an extremely active reader who’s considering switching to one meal a day to lose the last few stubborn pounds of body fat figure out what his next move should be. And finally, I explore the evidence for a connection between the herbicide glyphosate and celiac disease.

Let’s go:

I have been reading a lot about Aloe Vera juice and the claim that it’s a “miracle” potion for helping with curing leaky gut. Do you have an opinion about using this as a method for helping to heal the gut? There is also some research out there claiming that aloe juice has caused tumors in lab rats so I’m not sure what to believe.

Thanks so much for the input.

Gregg

Aloe vera has traditionally been used to alleviate, soothe, and even speed up the healing time of burns on the skin (PDF). I’ve heard these claims about aloe vera as well, but never thought to look into it. The proposed mechanism I’ve seen is that aloe vera heals leaky gut the same way it heals damaged skin on the surface, almost as if swallowed aloe vera coats the intestine and starts the healing process.

Except “leaky gut” generally doesn’t involve mechanical damage to your intestines, but rather miscommunication on the cellular level. In actual leaky gut, the tight junctions that govern the passage of compounds from the gut into the bloodstream are allowing proteins and other substances through the gut lining and into your bloodstream that otherwise would not be granted passage.

With that in mind, does aloe vera help leaky gut? There’s actually evidence that aloe vera increases the leakiness of the tight junctions in your gut. Rather than keep them closed, they open them up. Some researchers are even exploring the use of aloe vera as a way to increase drug absorption via this exact mechanism.

That’s not to say aloe is useless for gut issues. It’s a powerful stimulant laxative, meaning it induces colonic contractions, increases fluid absorption in the colon, and can improve short term bouts of constipation. But it’s not a final solution, or a long term one. Long term usage of stimulant laxatives can lead to cathartic colon, a condition involving damaged colonic musculature and disrupted neuromuscular connections between the colon and brain.

If you’re going to use aloe vera for gut issues, I would suggest using it sparingly and infrequently. Consider a recent study where rats who got whole leaf aloe vera extract in their water every day for 13 weeks developed colonic tumors (both benign and malignant) more frequently than rats who did not receive aloe vera. The researchers concluded that aloe vera is an “intestinal irritant.” Irritants can be helpful hormetic stressors that improve resistance against disease when applied infrequently. When they’re applied chronically, they become agents of disease themselves. Just realize that aloe is medicine, not food.

Honestly? I don’t see how it’ll help leaky gut (and I can see how it might actually cause it or make the condition worse), but lots of people seem to swear by it. Who knows? If you try, be careful with it.

Who I am – Just turned 28, male, 170 cm tall and weight about 90 kg. I train CrossFit everyday, 5 days a week, sometimes 6 times a week. I cycle around 10k everyday and work as a cleaner and as a cook which demand of me to be standing up, moving around, and lifting stuff.

My question – To get what I want, do you think it’s a good idea to do a single meal a day, everyday. Keeping it below 2000 calories. Low carb as possible (10-30g) and with paleo ingredients only.

Fasting is easy. Controlling the amount of food I eat, not so much.

I know it’s been said that counting calories is bad but not if you’re eating paleo. This way I reckon thermodynamics do apply since you’re eliminating (controlling) hormonal response from the equation.

It might sound like I want to cover a lot, I just want to get it over with. Get the fat content I want, better my results at the gym, and be healthy before I turn 30. Everyday I move more weight than my peers in the form of fat and still keep up with them. If I loose it I’ll be able to keep with the top players.

Motivation and drive are not an issue. I just need to know this path will take me there. I realize we should tailor our diets but as a general approach, do you think it’ll work?

Thanks heaps.

Gus C

You’ve got a lot on your plate. CrossFit 5-6 times a week, 10k on the bike daily, and an active, demanding job (working a kitchen is no joke!).

Fasting can definitely speed up fat loss, and it’s a great way to inadvertently control the amount of calories you take in. Lots of people who have trouble controlling their food intake find that intermittent fasting is the most painless way to do it. So yes, it can work.

However, before you switch to one-meal-a-day, you might try making a few changes to your routine.

Here’s what I’d do:

Even though you might love it, reduce your CrossFit intake. Instead of five or six days a week, try three. Going hard every day doesn’t allow you any recovery time. Your cortisol levels are probably permanently elevated, giving you little to no let-up. Cortisol, as you may know, is heavily implicated in the storage and retention of belly fat – often the most annoyingly-persistent fat for us guys. Your performance will increase due to the recovery time, your stress levels will go down, and I strongly suspect that you will begin burning more body fat (even though you’re using fewer calories on the reduced schedule).

Cycling 10 kilometers, or six miles, isn’t much. That’s your slow movement for the day, as long as you aren’t out there sprinting between stop lights and climbing hills the entire time. I say stick with the easy cycling.

Your job is your job. You can’t do much about being on your feet all day.

Try a full dinner to dinner fast once or twice a week. So, eat dinner 8 PM on Monday and don’t eat again until 8 PM on Tuesday. Do that twice each week.

Or try what I do – a truncated eating window. I generally eat from around 1 PM to 7 PM. At this point, it’s ingrained. I don’t think about it, I just do it. And if I do get hungry, I’ll eat. I just don’t get hungry outside of the window.

Some people thrive on a single meal every day, but most do not. You have a demanding life and a very physically active existence, and I’d wager that you’d do better on a slightly different schedule. Feel free to try the one meal a day thing, but be prepared to switch it up if things don’t work. Whatever eating strategy you choose, cutting two CrossFit days will probably be the real game changer.

Mark,

I was wondering if you had been following any of Stephanie Seneff’s recent…well, not sure whether to call them “findings”, but not sure if they’re totally invalid either. Just read this interview with her and was curious about your take on it.

Greg

I’ve seen that paper and even linked to it in a past Weekend Link Love. Seneff’s idea is certainly interesting, and I’ve always been more concerned by the massive amounts of Roundup used on GMO crops than the GMO crops themselves. There’s a lot to unpack in the paper, more than I have time for on Dear Mark, so I’ll just focus on what looks to be the most compelling part: the effect of Roundup/glyphosate on gut bacteria.

Let’s look at a few lines of evidence:

Children with celiac disease have fewer enterococcus, lactobacillus, and bifobacterum bacteria than children without celiac. That’s a a pretty standard finding – celiac disease is characterized in part by dysfunctional microbiomes.
Interestingly, a recent paper showed that those very same bacterial species that are reduced in celiac disease - lactobacillus, enterococcus, and bifidobacterium - are the ones most susceptible to glyphosate, while the pathogenic bacteria like salmonella and clostridium botulinium (responsible for botulism) are highly resistant to glyphosate (PDF).
Furthermore, glyphosate also inhibits the anti-pathogenic activity of enterococcus bacteria. One of the reasons why “beneficial bacteria” are so beneficial is that they tend to keep the pathogens at bay, and glyphosate directly interferes with it.

Even if glyphosate proves to be safe for human cells, it appears to affect the bacterial cells that outnumber our own cells, power our immune system, regulate our digestive function, and affect our brains. They count, too. Research is scant, but that’s only because the microbiome is a relatively recent concern for most. What research does exist suggests that the microbiome may be vulnerable to otherwise-safe glyphosate residues, and this alteration of the microbiome may increase gluten reactivity. It’s certainly worth further study, don’t you think?

In the meantime, I’m going to kindly excuse myself from the massively uncontrolled trial being conducted on a mostly unsuspecting population. Just to, you know, be safe. How about you?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Be sure to send in your questions, comments, and concerns, and I’ll do my best to address them in the blog or on the podcast!

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Weekend Link Love

Both The Primal Connection (Amazon, Audible, iTunes) and The Primal Blueprint (Amazon, Audible, iTunes) are now available in audiobook form. If you’ve been reading MDA for awhile but have yet to read the definitive texts that expand upon the message, these audiobooks are a great way to get caught up in a few hours.

Episode #11 of The Primal Blueprint Podcast is now live. I answer your questions and give a quick recap of PrimalCon Vacation Tulum. If you haven’t already subscribed on iTunes, do so now and you’ll never miss an episode.

Research of the Week

In addition to being a source of healthy fats and polyphenols, dark chocolate also provides benefits by acting as a prebiotic, feeding good gut bacteria, and spurring the creation of anti-inflammatory fermentation products.

Three all-nighters a week may cause brain damage (in rodents).

A low-starch, low-sugar diet supplemented with resistant starch improved metabolic health in zoo gorillas.

The ubiquity of “extreme skeletal structures” and lower limb “robusticity” among Neandertal and homo sapiens fossil remains indicate a daily activity load for our ancestors that exceeded the habits of modern elite athletes.

Eating lots of animal protein appears to be protective against cognitive, physical, and social decline in the elderly.

Oh, and the more muscle you have, the longer you’ll live.

Archaeologists recently found the earliest known case of cancer in humans – an Egyptian from 3000 years ago.

Interesting Blog Posts

Suppversity breaks down the anti-arthritic effects of small amounts of virgin coconut oil, plus other benefits.

Is mineral water an underrated supplement?

Media, Schmedia

Wireless power is coming soon. You have to wonder if it will cause any health issues, though.

Saturated fat has been exonerated (again), but you wouldn’t know it from reading this garbled “article” full of contradictory statements and misplaced value judgments. Did a robot write this?

Everything Else

Worried about inhibition of your melatonin production at night due to light? A biotech firm has just released a new “Melatonin Production Factor” for eyewear that promises to predict how long you can safely use electronics at night without seriously compromising your sleep.

Is (certain) farmed salmon getting healthier and more sustainable?

A fascinating interview with a cancer researcher about sugar, fructose, and cancer.

It’s a story as old as time. We engineer corn to poison a predatory worm. The predatory worm evolves to resist the poison and thrive on the engineered corn.

I’m not sure I trust this.

How a playground that resembles a hobo encampment is changing kids’ lives for the better in Wales, and what it says about the prevailing parenting methods.

Recipe Corner

This orange chicken is way better – and healthier – than the stuff you’re probably used to eating out of so-greasy-they’re-translucent Chinese food containers.
If you’ve been searching for a way to eat more “alternative” cuts, start with oxtail slow cooker soup.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Mar 24 – Mar 30)

Why Health Integrity Matters, or The Power of Being Honest With Yourself  – It all comes down to whether or not we accept responsibility for our own health.
Primal Abroad: Food Adventures from Around the World – What happens when Primal adventurers travel off the beaten path and have to sample the local cuisines?

Comment of the Week

I think I’ll sign my next question to MDA as “Marque” and see if it gets answered… 

- You shouldn’t have said anything and just done it!

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Homemade Beet and Berry Jello

Whether it’s a treat for your kids or a way to satisfy your own craving for retro dessert, making homemade jello is a fun experiment. The recipe couldn’t be easier – add 1 tablespoon of unflavored, powdered gelatin to 1 cup cold liquid then stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and chill until firm. The experimental part comes in when we start talking about flavor.

One hundred percent fruit juice is the easiest option to use as a cold liquid, and offers plenty of different flavors, but watch out for the sugar. Get a little experimental by blending in tea to cut down on the sugar level. Herbal teas can add intriguing, and kid friendly, flavor. Or, you can get really experimental and blend up some beets and berries until you have a slightly sweet, bright-hued juice full of antioxidants, folate, vitamin C, and potassium and turn that into homemade jello.

Beet and berry jello is lightly sweet with just a hint of earthiness from the beets and lots of fruity, berry flavor. Put a generous dollop of unsweetened, whipped cream or coconut cream on top and you’ll have a fun, full-fledged dessert.

A word about unflavored, powdered gelatin: Ideally, the best way to add gelatin to your diet is through bone broth and gelatin-rich cuts of meat. However, powdered gelatin is really convenient and can be added to just about anything, not just homemade jello. Add it to soup broth, stews and smoothies or make salmon mousse. What else? Share your ideas in the comment board!

Servings: 2

Time in the Kitchen: 15 minutes, plus 2+ hours to chill

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized or a few small raw beets, peeled (about 1/4 pound/113 g of beets)
1/2 cup berries, fresh or frozen (50 g)
Optional: slice of apple or mango for more sweetness
1/2 cup cold water (120 ml)
1 tablespoon unflavored, powdered gelatin (15 ml)
1/3 cup boiling water (80 ml)

Instructions:

In a high-powered blender, blend beets, berries, other optional fruit, ice cubes and water until smooth. Adjust the flavor to your liking, adding more berries or a squirt of lemon.

For jello with a smoother, lighter texture pour the juice through a fine mesh strainer so it isn’t quite as thick and the berry seeds are gone. You should end up with 1 cup (240 ml) of juice.

Pour the juice into a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin evenly on top. Let set for a few minutes, until the white powder has dissolved and become clear. Stir well then slowly add the boiling water and mix until the gelatin dissolves completely.

Pour the liquid into your container of choice. Optional: Add pieces of fresh fruit to the liquid.

Refrigerate until the jello is firm, at least 2 hours. Eat plain or top with whipped (coconut) cream.

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No Longer Terminally Ill

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

Hi Mark,

I’ve had serious kidney disease all my life, although I was not diagnosed until I was 26 years old. My kidneys never grew properly due to reflux nephropathy and I developed another disease inside the kidney (FSGS) which was diagnosed as terminal in 2011. Along the way I had developed thyroid issues, Type II diabetes, and asthma. I was on medication to reduce high blood pressure as this is very dangerous for kidney patients, and I had also started statins to reduce cholesterol and as a common preventative drug for renal patients! The side effects of all these medications were getting very hard to live with! I felt like I rattled (filled with tablets) if I moved and this was distressing. I used to be a sailing instructor at an outdoor pursuits centre. I was used to being fit and active, and now a 2km walk was a real struggle.

Living with kidney disease was all I had known, but as I got older the pain and the severe infections had me hospitalised about once a month or more often, and alongside a preventative antibiotic, I was also receiving massive doses of strong ABs intravenously at least ten times a year. I didn’t feel that good, to be honest. And I was large: 125 kgs (275 lbs).

At 46 I had my left kidney out as it was seen as causing these horrific infections. The operation went badly with the surgeon starting off keyhole, missing my stunted, mal-formed kidney and trying to remove my pancreas, meanwhile cutting an artery to my spleen and having to cut a 40 cm cut to get it all fixed. I had nine blood transfusions in the first three days after surgery. I was in hospital for a month and initially it was unsure if I would survive.

When I returned home it took about a year to recover, although I didn’t have as many infections. That was 2010. By 2011 I received news that my right kidney was dying and to go home and make a bucket list. Fortunately my family and I are fairly content and having been fairly adventurous most of our lives had only a few “big” things left that could be done giving my failing health. One of those was a trip to the US to see family and friends (including Mickey Mouse) and a rail trip from Omaha to San Francisco. We had a great time that summer (for us) of 2011/12.

In mid 2013 I was progressively worse (as expected) and diagnosed with liver disease also. IT WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME. I REFUSED to live with liver disease. On top of everything else it was too much!

I got busy. First I cut the statins against medical advice and that took care of all the rashes, severe dandruff and eczema I had developed. I started eating a grapefruit a day and that took my cholesterol down enough for my doctor to be very happy.

Next I cut out wheat – that took care of the diarrhoea and to some extent the night sweats. I lost a bit of weight, which was a nice bonus.

Finally I cut out all processed food – I called it going clean… but then I found your website and I got serious. Since August 2, 2013, we have been Primal and by October 10 my kidney doctor was so excited that I was more and more well that he said he couldn’t see dialysis being necessary in the next two years, maybe ever… in fact he thought I might live to be old! He cut my BP medication half, cut out my kidney meds and stated that I no longer was diabetic and cut out that med too. Yehaa!

The liver disease took a little longer to clear – I was expecting six more weeks but by November 14 it too was gone and all the results were in the normal stage. Dead smack bang normal! It was such a delight. Since the beginning I have lost a total of 35 kgs (77 lbs) and am back to walking/running 4+ hours a week, lifting heavy things (my body) 4×10 minutes a week and sprinting once a week for 10 minutes. I exercise when I feel like it. I eat what I want – I just make sure I want good, basic, Primal food.

Over the years I have had a lot of people praying for me and I can say that God has been very good to me. The biggest result has been the attitude of my family. My husband is so excited that I am not only no longer terminally ill but fit and active again, which is nice, but OUR KIDS have really changed. They used to “look after” me and now I am enjoying looking after them. I knew things had really changed when my teenage daughter said, “Now, Mum, not only will you be here to make my wedding dress, but you can meet my children.”

Marg

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When All You Want to Do Is Sit on the Couch

We all have days when our motivation is less than sprightly. We stayed up too late the previous night. We’ve had a busy week with work or family duties. We’re worn out after trying some new fitness experiments. The snow and cold are getting on our nerves. There are plenty of good reasons to take a day off from exercising. An overabundance of physical or mental stress, after all, can deplete us without adequate recovery. Plus, some days we just want to wallow in some abject, Grok-style leisure. As healthy hominids, we’re entitled, yes? All this said, what about the times when a day on the couch becomes a couple weeks – or couple months? What if we’ve, in fact, spent much of our lives on the couch (or office chair, driver’s seat, etc.) and are trying to make our way out of the sedentary trap? If this kind of chronic inactivity describes your lifestyle of late, consider this post for you.

Maybe some of you can’t quite identify with this problem. You’re ready to fidget your way out of your own skin if you’re so much as laid up for a single day. You enjoy the gym or all manner of outdoor endeavor. Nonetheless, I’d venture to say many readers can connect with this feeling or at least know someone who clearly does. Some people are simply comfortable not moving. Maybe they were athletes once upon a time but got rerouted by a sit-down job years ago. Maybe they always took an interest in more cerebral activities and never really tapped into the gratification of anything particularly physical. It happens – especially in our culture these days. Never before has it been so easy not to move, and never has there been so many sedentary activities and occupations that are, indeed, genuinely enjoyable enough to take up an entire day when you let them.

Yet you know this sedentary existence is draining the life out of you. It’s robbing you of vitality in the present and the chance for full vigor, mobility and longevity in the future. You know it’s time to change, but what do you do with the crushing lethargy and lack of motivation? Let me throw out some modest proposals to the chronically inert.

Harness the power of boredom.

For some people, this might be a necessary first step. Give your T.V. and tech toys to a friend for at least a full week (if not month). Get rid of any and all distractions (even if they’re treasured hobbies) for a strategic length of time. The break (and lack of related tools) will force you to find a new way to spend your time. Eventually, you’ll probably at least leave the house. This at least opens up new possibilities.

Get real about the logistics.

So, you don’t want to get off the couch. Does this mean you don’t want to get off the couch at all or you don’t want to get off the couch at 8:00 p.m. at night after a long day when you finally get the kids to bed? Seriously, not a lot of people in those circumstances want to go work out then. The problem in this scenario probably isn’t you as much as the unrealistic timing. You have a right to be exhausted at 8:00 p.m. By all means, spend an hour of quality time with your partner and then go to bed if you need to. What I wouldn’t suggest doing is keeping it parked in the recliner for another three hours only to feel exhausted again the next morning and continue the endless cycle. (Remember that definition of insanity – doing the same thing time and again expecting different results?)

If evening doesn’t work for you, scratch it off the list of available times and find a time to get moving that does work. Maybe if you hit the hay by 9:30, you’ll actually be okay getting up early to work out in the morning. Hit the gym, work out at home or outdoors in the early morning hours. Alternatively, get up early to go into work early and flex the time to make for a longer lunch hour (bonus: a midday walk/run means plenty of peak sunlight) or an early departure at the end of the day, which may allow for a pre-dinner workout. It’s possible that keeping a saner sleep schedule might allow you to make better use of your evening. A good night’s sleep every night might mean you have the energy to take the dog for a run at 8:00 or to do some bodyweight exercises before relaxing in preparation for bedtime. On weekends, set a hard and fast schedule rather than let the day’s random social calendar dictate things. Some people find it easier to get their workout in early and then offer their families the rest of the day.

Speed date YouTube fitness demonstrations.

There are millions of fitness videos on the Internet, many of them good, many worthless and some downright comical (sometimes purposefully so). Commit 15 minutes a day to “speed date” three sites (that’s a mere 5 minutes each). Do everything the person demonstrates. Remember, you’re only committed to 5 minutes if it’s too hard or too crazy. You’ll be gaining movement and maybe some interesting conversation fodder.

Make an active bucket list.

What would you do if you could? A 5K run? A 10K charity walk? Climb a certain mountain you visited once as a child? Hike the perimeter of your city or county? Canoe a certain river? Bike across an area of your state? Make the list and then set some smaller but appealing goals to lead up to the greater, bolder challenges. Let yourself walk the first 5K. Set your sites on biking or hiking a nearby nature reserve. Take a canoe or kayak around the perimeter of an area lake. Consider what would be genuinely fun. What would bring euphoria to your life? Commit to one “bucket list” item (small or big) every week, and document every accomplishment.

Round up some accountability.

For some people, finding an exercise partner is enough. The comfort of a friendship feels safe and encouraging. When you’re just trying to get moving at all, getting out for a daily walk with a friend can feel like genuine quality time. You’ll crave the socialization and support, which will make you want to get off your duff and do it each day. Be aware, however, that many (if not most) friends aren’t going to necessarily be your best long-term bet for making serious progress.

This could also mean hiring a trainer who is going to understand where you’re at and who will work creatively with you – but who won’t accept excuses. Sure, you pay that person for a service, but most trainers I know don’t enjoy taking clients who aren’t interested in putting in the work. Not only does it make for boring, frustrating sessions, but they recognize their clients are walking (and talking) advertisements for them. A client who makes good use of the service will always be the better investment of their time. This said, good trainers want all their clients to succeed. They enjoy working with people and are passionate about seeing people through major transformations. If you can’t seem to talk yourself out of your excuses, their no-nonsense approach might just get you in line.

Revise your definition of exercise.

It kills me how many people have this crazy dichotomy going in their minds that says you’re either training for an Iron Man or you’re not (doing anything). How does this persist? Come up with what a fun active life looks like to you. If you’re 62 and want to take ballet or horseback riding lessons, do it. If you’d find it fun to join a basketball league or a hiking Meetup, go ahead. Bike to work. Do yoga in your living room. Take up synchronized swimming. Go skiing. Guess what? It all counts. Think back to all the ways you moved as a child. Start there and find your inner Primal athlete. Go for fun and passion first. You’ll be surprised where it goes once you get involved and stick with it.

Experiment with how low – or bizarre – you can set this bar.

Challenge yourself to how much pathetically feeble or totally “unorthodox” style movement you can work into your daily life. Stretch. Seriously, just get up and stretch. Do ten minutes of something – anything. Set you alarm and do 10 jumping jacks 5 times a day. Walk up a flight of stairs at work once an hour. On the more creative side of things, play Twister with your kids (or partner) or hide and seek with the dog. Roll with them on the floor. Roll down a hill (and climb back up to repeat 20 times). Play karate even if you have don’t have the slightest idea what you’re doing. Wash your car. Wash your mother’s car. Wash your dog. (If you have a large dog, this may be no easy feat.) Dig a hole in the backyard – even if you have no purpose for it. Paint a closet door. Join a Pedal Pub on a Saturday. (Of course, don’t expect that beer to do you any Primal favors, but it’s a means of movement.) Throw a tennis ball against the side of your house a hundred times trying to not let it hit the ground. Juggle while walking. Speed walk through the grocery store on peak weekend hours until you’re asked to leave. Pull a wagon of rocks or other sundry items through the neighborhood. You get the idea.

Do some service.

See if altruism can spur some motivation. While you’re out and about in the neighborhood, rake the leaves off your street’s sewers. Go pick up garbage for a half an hour. Help clear spring trails at a state or regional park. Join one of the organizations that does painting and other home renovation work for people in need. Mow your neighbor’s lawn for the heck of it. Split firewood for someone. If your community or another human being just isn’t inspiration enough, commit the time to an animal in need of some exercise and companionship. Obviously, if you have your own, give him/her the best treat possible and head outside for walks, runs, chase and ball throwing. Maybe your neighbors just had a baby or just got put on the late shift for work. Offer to take their dog for a daily walk. Volunteer at the local animal shelter as a dog walker. Let’s face it: many of us would do for an animal what we wouldn’t do for ourselves. If it gets you moving, it doesn’t matter. No one’s judging.

Ask what you have psychologically invested in being unhealthy.

I’ve written a fair amount about this recently – the influence of self-perpetuated stories and personal identity. The fact is, some of us have it out for ourselves psychologically speaking. Defeat is integrated into our inner dialogue. Limitation stews at the base of our minds. Unearth these influences, see them for what they are (with professional support if necessary or desired) and let them go. Set up a circular file in your mind or a literal burning bowl in your backyard and release them from your consciousness. For every thought you give up, do ten “active” actions and visualize them as ten nails going in that self-defeating idea’s coffin. Now walk – or sprint – away like a boss.

Now it’s your turn. What advice do you have for those who are dealing with making the first moves off the couch and into an active life? Do you identify? What’s worked for you – or not worked? Share your thought and strategies, and thanks for reading, everybody.

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