Mark Sisson's Blog, page 308

Sticking It Out and Becoming Healthier Every Year

Announcement: 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. Now, on to yet another inspiring Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a fellow Mark’s Daily Apple reader. Thank you for reading!

Hi Mark,

I’ve been waiting for the right time to share my story and feel that now is that time. I didn’t feel ready to share until my health was up to a level which I think is primal-worthy. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect as I’m not a super-disciplined person, but I’m happy and full of energy!

I grew up in a typical South African home with high-fibre cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and meat, starch and vegetables for supper. At least I had a good dose of veggies and meat at supper. I was a mostly healthy child but began to struggle with health issues in my early twenties. I developed irritable bowel syndrome and hated the effects when I went to my day job. The doctors said they couldn’t do anything for me – it was all stress related. The symptoms didn’t go away and continued right into my thirties and through three pregnancies. As a young adult, I did try to live healthier by exercising regularly and eating more fruit and vegetables. I noticed that bread didn’t work well for me so I thought it was the yeast. I cut out yeast products and then mostly wheat but continued to eat rye, maize (corn) and lots of rice and potatoes. On top of that, I ignorantly continued to eat vegetable oils and low fat products.

Every decade I went up a dress size. By my early forties, I was beginning to dislike the way I looked. The negative effects happening inside my body were gradual but deadly. I sincerely believe that if I had not found out about the primal/paleo diet at the time, I would have become very sick. In my early forties, I developed hypothyroidism and went on chronic life-long medication.

My weekly symptoms were this: I wouldn’t go to the toilet for 3-5 days, sometimes longer. Then I would go and suffer horrible diarrhoea and cramps, reducing me to a shivering mess afterwards. I struggled to fall asleep at night because of indigestion and nausea. I couldn’t understand it because I ate lots of whole foods.

My sister-in-law told my husband and I about this low-carb, high-fat diet she was following as advised by very controversial sport nutritionist, Tim Noakes, who has received terrible negative attention in the South African media. Curious, I listened to her but thought she was doing something really crazy and risky for her health. The lady who advised her explained the diet to me and told me to look at Mark’s Daily Apple. She belonged to the church I was attending at the time. I noticed that she and her family had lost a significant amount of weight. My first question to her was, “What about fibre? I need fibre.” With my chronic constipation, I was seriously concerned the diet would make me more sick. But I was desperate to lose weight so I gave it a bash.

The first few weeks I experienced carb flu and didn’t feel good, but the first thing I noticed was my ankle-swelling went down. Then the weight started dropping off. The first year of primal was hard for me. The extra work in the kitchen and the roller coaster ride of my health made me doubt my decision many times. The only thing that kept me going was the way my body was changing. I liked the way I looked and I did feel more energetic. My digestive health got worse before it got better. I upped my fat content and that helped – coconut oil, ghee and butter help keep me regular as well as shredded coconut and fruit like apples. But this didn’t happen straight away. It’s been a long road in that regard but when I compare myself to what I was three years ago, I’m overflowing with gratitude. I shudder to think what was happening inside my colon all those years and what could have happened if I’d continued to eat wrong.

I’ve also gone through some experiments with dairy. I decided to stop dairy completely because of digestive problems. I noticed the problems didn’t go away and I actually put on weight. Dairy, especially butter and yoghurt works well for me. I can’t have too much milk but I always go full-fat. It’s very challenging to eat organic or grass-fed here in South Africa. I can’t even access the food sometimes, and if I can, it’s way too expensive. Sometimes, I have to eat a bit of rice or potato because protein is so expensive and I’m hungry. So yes, I’m maybe not as lean as I could be, but my health and energy levels are wonderful. I can do many tasks during the day and keep going. My thyroid levels have gone up. I’m still on medication but the lowest dosage.

As far as exercise goes, I’ve noticed I don’t need to push myself in cardio excessively anymore to keep slim. I push weights and do ballet and yoga plus go for brisk walks. It all works well for me.

I’ve recently had an operation and am astounded at how fast I healed and gained my strength. I attribute that to the Primal Blueprint diet.

My story is one of slow healing and health gain. Yes, I felt vastly improved when I first started the Primal Blueprint diet but the years long negative effects of eating wrong took nearly two years to heal. I hope I can encourage those who may be struggling to stick it out and wonder if it really is working. Yes, it is. It may just take some time for your body to heal when it’s been sick for so long.

Now to just convince my kids and relatives that it’s the way to go.

Thank you, Mark. It was through reading your website with all the scientific info plus all the wonderful life-changing testimonies that helped me keep going.

Regards,

Kathy

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Why You Should Book a Massage Today

I often get emails asking for my opinion about bodywork. While I’m not necessarily one to easily dismiss any treatment conventional wisdom would devalue, I also approach this arena with some healthy skepticism. The question becomes what’s effective and what’s simply “woo-woo,” to use a somehow unmatchable term. I’ll leave much of that specific discussion to you all today, but I did want to examine one modality that has more research behind it than most, even if that body of studies is still somewhat patchy. Most people have had a massage sometime in their lives. We certainly have our own opinions about its impact. Unless we were truly unlucky, most of us likely came away with a pretty good impression. Many of us have gone back many times since with perhaps a sizable financial and personal investment in the therapy – maybe even with a specific therapist. (It’s funny how people guard the availability of their favorite massage provider even as they clearly want to extol their endless virtues.) Our personal anecdotes aside, what does existing science say about the benefits of massage? For what conditions/circumstances is it especially effective? Can it benefit healthy as well as ill people? Let’s take a look.

A review of massage related studies claims the therapy appears to result in lower cortisol levels and higher dopamine and serotonin measures across many studies with different types of subject groups. Research related to the impact of massage on blood pressure has in some cases shown significant results. Not surprisingly, massage appears to be effective for low back pain, chronic neck pain and knee pain that is the result of osteoarthritis. In terms of exercise science, studies (while somewhat mixed) generally show that massage is helpful for muscle recovery. As little as ten minutes of massage, as one study indicates, can curtail inflammation and encourage the growth of new mitochondria.

Study results are mixed when it comes to ascertaining recommendations for frequency. A biweekly massage protocol in one study resulted in higher measures of oxytocin and lower levels of both arginine-vasopressin and adrenal corticotropin hormone (ACTH) when compared to a weekly protocol. However, the subjects who received biweekly treatment also demonstrated measures suggesting a higher production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. It’s unclear how many ancillary factors could be at play, but clearly more studies are needed to further explain this picture.

Still other research looks at the psychological and pain related benefits of massage. One study examined the effect of massage on a group of grieving relatives who had recently lost loved ones. Subjects shared that the massage times were a great consolation and source of both energy and rest during the transition. Not surprisingly, the comforting effects of massage work with other kinds of pain and distress. Massage appears to significantly reduce depressive symptoms and in another study have immediate impact on advanced cancer patients’ perception of pain as well as mood. Patients recovering from surgery respond better to a combination of massage and pain medication than they do to medication alone. It’s interesting how this archive study noted that massage used to be regular protocol following surgeries but is limited now with the shifts in hospital efficiency protocols.

Children, not surprisingly, seem to respond significantly to the therapy in a variety of circumstances. From pre-term babies who gain more weight with regular massage to children who experience less nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy with massage, the therapy can offer clear physical advantages. Finally, research measuring the impact of massage on infants’ melatonin secretion even indicates that parents can use massage to help coordinate their babies’ circadian cycles with environmental cues. Why don’t we see this nugget in more infant care books?

All this said, what’s the take home message?

If I ever become ill with any of the aforementioned conditions for which massage apparently offers therapeutic benefit, would I take advantage of massage? Of course! If I’m healthy now with no presently manifesting conditions and am cognizant that research is scant regarding full and confirmed benefits for healthy individuals, would I take advantage of massage – and consider it an act of health rather than indulgence? Darn straight.

Sometimes we don’t need a mountain of randomized, controlled research to tell us what has the natural power to fill our well or enhance our well-being. You see, I’m a big believer in the basics of health – you know, those things like a solid, primal eating strategy, lots of Grok style exercise, quality sleep, and ample sun. That said, I think every choice we make around our well-being matters. To use the bank account metaphor here, I’m going to make as many deposits (and as few withdrawals) as possible. Every choice to feel good naturally is a deposit. While the research on play and outdoor time and massage might be in its relative infancy, I personally think there’s a decent enough scientific paper trail to support what already makes good Primal sense. I’ll never get a definitive measure for the cumulative impact of every massage I’ve received, but I can tell you every single one felt life-giving at the time. However major or modest a shift it made physiologically, each offered a ripple effect that continued days if not a couple of weeks past the event. Sometimes it was better sleep, more emotional resilience, additional patience, better (mental and physical) flexibility or just a happier outlook. My wife tells me I’m more laid back and agreeable – that much nicer to be around – after a massage. Maybe that point alone is the ultimate Primal logic.

Do you invest in massage or other kinds of bodywork? What do you feel it’s added to your health or well-being? Share your thoughts or stories about what massage can do for general wellness or particular health issues you’ve dealt with. Thanks for reading, everyone.

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The Best Exercise There Is, Hands Down

Throw reality out the window for a second and entertain a hypothetical. Imagine you can only do one exercise for the rest of your life. If you had to choose a single exercise to do for the rest of your life, right here today, what would it be? It’s a popular question with a divergent set of answers depending on who’s being asked, and for the most part I see where everyone’s coming from.

If you ask the AARP, it’s the plank, which is easy on the joints, involves every body part, strengthens the core which can help prevent falls, is very safe for seniors (the intended audience of AARP), and you can do them anywhere without equipment. I have no fault with the plank.

If you ask the NY Times to ask various experts, it’s the squat, or maybe the burpee, or maybe sprinting uphill. These are all exercises that stress the entire body, that can be performed with high intensity to elicit the highest possible training effect in the least amount of time. You could do a lot worse than squatting, doing burpees, or sprinting.

If you were to ask Mark Rippetoe, I’d imagine you’d hear “the low-bar back squat” because it supposedly elicits the greatest hormonal response, builds oft-neglected posterior chain strength, makes your entire body stronger, and simply “makes a man outta ya.”

If you ask Rich Froning (top CrossFit athlete), it’s the barbell thruster, a fairly simple to learn “two in one” exercise combining a squat with an overhead press.

If you ask Charles Poliquin, it’s the snatch grip deadlift done on a platform, which increases the range of motion over the regular deadlift and builds overall strength and size better than any other exercise he’s seen.

Those are good candidates. A person could get and stay very strong, fit, fast, and healthy doing any one of those exercises for perpetuity, even to the exclusion of all others. But a thruster isn’t the best exercise there is, hands down. Nor are squats (of any kind), deadlifts (of any kind), or planks. Sprints are cool, but they aren’t the best.

The single best exercise there is, hands down, is the one you’ll do.

If I were giving a talk, this is where I’d pause until the eye-rolling, scoffing, and guffawing stopped. Go on, I know you’re thinking it. “The best exercise is the one you’ll stick with!” is a cheesy, cliche answer that you’ve heard a thousand times before.

But it’s true. By the most objective definition, the most effective exercise is the one you’ll do. Because heavy squats are fantastic for strength, unless you don’t do them. Because sprinting makes you lean and fast, unless you’re not sprinting. The same is true for everything. It only works if you do it.

One reason is consistency: adherence begets success. You don’t get stronger or fitter or leaner because of a single workout. You get stronger or fitter or leaner because of the cumulative effect of many, many workouts done on a consistent basis. Search the literature for research on exercise adherence and you won’t find much about the “benefits of exercise adherence” because the benefits are accepted as basic law. They’re implicit. You will instead find dozens of studies that seek to figure out the best way to promote adherence in various populations, because adherence is the most important factor in an exercise program’s effectiveness.

The key is figuring out which exercise you’ll actually do. And I don’t need scientific references for the notion that you’re more likely to do a physical activity that you actually enjoy doing. It’s a fundamental law of nature.

To me, the reason doing something you like is the best exercise isn’t only because it’ll promote consistency in your workouts. It’s also because doing things that you legitimately enjoy doing benefit you in other ways. This is called voluntary exercise – physical activity in which you willingly and readily engage. Certain animal studies confirm that voluntary exercise is more beneficial than forced exercise:

In mice with colitis, forced treadmill running exacerbates intestinal inflammation enough to kill the mice; voluntary running attenuates it and keeps them alive.
In a rodent model of Alzheimer’s disease, voluntary exercise was superior to forced exercise at reducing plaque deposition and memory impairment.

While some research has found forced exercise to be more beneficial in certain conditions like Parkinson’s disease, that’s probably because those conditions are inhibiting or preventing any meaningful amount of voluntary exercise. A mouse with Parkinson’s disease isn’t going to use the treadmill much at all unless you force him to. He needs forced exercise because voluntary exercise isn’t good enough due to his condition. In healthy people, though, without physiological impairments that directly impede the initiation of voluntary movement, doing exercise that you legitimately enjoy doing will be more beneficial.

Consequently, what many people do “voluntarily” for exercise looks pretty forced to me. Forcing a hamster to run on its wheel for a couple hours by using the threat of electric zaps isn’t so different from willing yourself to the gym, the influence of those break room donuts on your waistline hanging over your head. Most animals (and certainly not lab rats) can’t and won’t perform unpleasant tasks unless they absolutely have to; they won’t decide to do them because “it’s good for them.” Humans however can act as authoritative enforcers looming over their meat bodies, directly overriding the natural inclinations for the “greater good” of the organism.

When you’re summoning the willpower to grimace your way through a miserable workout routine, you’re not doing “voluntary exercise.”

When you dread your workout and feel physically ill at the prospect of going to the gym, you’re not doing voluntary exercise.

When you either love what you’re doing or feel a powerful calling to it – even if it’s physically grueling and not exactly “pleasurable” – you are doing voluntary exercise and the benefits will likely be greater than if the reverse were true.

I submit my non-peer reviewed N=1 experiment: when I started doing what I actually enjoyed, like playing Ultimate, going on hikes, stand-up paddling, running the occasional sprint, and lifting weights for about an hour a week, my health, fitness, strength, and body composition improved immensely. This jibes with the current research showing that finding an activity you enjoy doing and doing it consistently likely promotes adherence to other forms of general physical activity, too.

There’s just something about fully committing to an activity with every fiber of your being that elevates it above other activities and even makes it more effective.

You see this in the Olympic weight lifter that lives and bleeds for the sport, who’s really only at home and at peace with a cloud of gym chalk dust swirling around his head. You see it in the dancer making the immaterial material, the basketball player pulling off impossible moves even she didn’t see coming to weave through the lane, and the cyclist reaching the summit just as the sun comes up. You see it in  the bodybuilder who can trigger and engage specific muscle fibers by angling the weights a little differently and who likens the post-workout pump to really good sex. And you see it in the elderly but sprightly woman you see walking her elderly but sprightly dog every morning, noon, and night like clockwork by your house.

Would the cyclist be better off in a spin class doing intervals set to Lady Gaga songs (that happens, right?)?

Should the bodybuilder lay off the isolation exercises and focus on “real strength”?

Would I be better off doing CrossFit instead of playing Ultimate on the weekend?

No. These are people doing their thing. These are people who have chosen wisely, who’ve found it. And it doesn’t matter what it looks like, or what it involves, as long as you’re doing the thing. Even if, according to gym lore or the latest research, the exercise isn’t quite as “effective” as another one.

Of course, this is a hypothetical. A thought experiment to help you take stock of your fitness life. Are you currently mired in an involuntary workout routine that you read about on a legitimate training blog? If so, consider switching gears. Try something else, something fun, something you’ve always wanted to do or maybe once did but for various reasons (“growing up”?) stopped doing. Try it for a month and deemphasize your previous routine. Find your thing.

Once you do find it, you won’t look back.

Thanks for reading, everyone. What do you think?

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The Incredible Future of Weight Loss Technology

It’s an exciting time to be alive. I remember reading Douglas Adams and trying to imagine what it’d be like to have all the universe’s knowledge in the palm of your hand – and now almost everyone carries a supercomputer around in their pocket that puts the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to shame. Robotics is getting scarily lifelike, the Singularity draws near if you ask the right people, and Google’s self-driving cars should hit the market in the next decade. Sure, we don’t have hoverboards, flying cars, or android bounty hunters yet, but we’re doing all right. I fully expect to reside inside a VR simulacrum of my design before 2030.

You know what jazzes me up the most, though? The incredible future of weight loss technology. Being an industry “insider,” if you will, I’m privy to all the “interesting” stuff coming down the pipeline. And let me tell you: it will blow your mind. Allow me to give a few hints at what’s coming in the next 10-15 years. Three of them are fake, five are real. Can you guess which is which?

Caffeine-Infused Tights

Every woman out there knows how hard it can be to shed those pesky pounds hanging around on the hips and thighs. Squats and deadlifts don’t do it (they just make you all bulky and overly muscular!). Dieting doesn’t seem to help, either. What you need is a topical substance that increases metabolism and melts away body fat on contact.

When you slip on a pair of Caffeine Tights, the microcapsules of high-potency caffeine woven in between every fiber begin secreting the fat-burning stimulant directly into your skin. Need to squeeze into that wedding dress? Go for a jog, or better yet a sprint followed by an hour in the sauna – the increased heat will speed up the caffeine release and burn up to two inches in a 24-hour period!

Vibra-Fork with Sensorimotor Technology

Eating enough to reach satiety, but not too much, is hard. Forks are literally designed to streamline the delivery of food into our gaping maws. A flick of the wrist and before we know it we’ve got 50 calories down the hatch. The average person can probably manage around 20 forkfuls per minute – far too many for our overworked satiety mechanisms to keep up with. We end up eating far more food than we actually need (or even want, on a physiological level) as a result. The fork is tricky. It cannot be trusted.

So what’s the alternative? Switch to chopsticks, toothpicks, or quarter teaspoons? Remain present as you eat and actively regulate the forkful-per-minute (FPM) rate?

Don’t be silly. In the future, the Vibra-Fork with Sensorimotor Technology will monitor your forking habits in real time and begin vibrating if it exceeds 10 FPM. You can try to ignore the vibrations to maintain your gluttonous pursuits, but the vibrations intensify if you don’t reduce FPM. After-market mods will boost the vigor of the vibrations enough to actually dislodge the food from your fork, administer electric shocks to the sensitive nerves located along your fingers, or secrete bitter taste compounds into the forked food.

Cookie Collar

Cookies are the perfect fusion of sweet and crispy, taste and texture, nostalgia and flavor – which is why they’re the downfall of many a diet plan. But really? Cookies are just emblematic of a larger problem: the collective failure of our willpower. You may not know this, but willpower is a finite resource. We can’t just summon it out of nothing. Every time we decide against that slice of cake, that handful of chips, that crispy gooey salty chocolatey cookie, we dip into our willpower stores. Eventually, inevitably, they run out. And that’s when you find yourself ears deep in a gallon container of cookie dough ice cream wondering how you even got there. What if you could remove the need for personal willpower altogether? What if you could outsource your willpower to a third party?

With the Cookie Collar, you can do exactly that. A couple years ago, I discussed twelve tools a person could use to keep themselves accountable to their health goals and regimens. None of them used actual physical pain as a motivator, though, and that’s where the Cookie Collar comes in. Like an electric shock dog collar, the Cookie Collar trains you to stop eating bad food by giving you a painful jolt. There are two models:

The entry level Cookie Collar requires a “trainer” – an actual person who will monitor your eating habits and administer jolts when necessary. It’s smartphone compatible and comes with a camera, so your trainer can keep tabs on you from afar.

The premium Cookie Collar interfaces with your hypothalamus so that when the automatic response to “eat that cookie” comes down the pipe, the Collar sends a jolt before you can decide to follow through. Earlier models interfaced with the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain where conscious decisions are made, but that wasn’t good enough. We need to inhibit that automatic response if we want to train a person to truly stop eating cookies (or whatever food) and preserve willpower, and Cookie Collar does just that.

Plastic Tongue Mesh

A lot of people claim that overeating is the primary cause of weight gain. I’ll go one step further: eating in the general is the cause and we quite frankly should stop doing it. It is way too easy to put food into your mouth, chew, produce a bunch of saliva rich in digestive enzymes, and swallow. The entire process takes less than ten seconds and self-perpetuates, leading inevitably to obesity.

What if you could just stop eating altogether?

In the future, you’ll be able to do just that. Specialized doctors will implant postage stamp-sized plastic mesh on the surface of your tongue, making the act of eating extremely painful. If you feel you need nutrients, you can insert a feed tube that bypasses the mouth altogether or slurp down specially-formulated high-protein, high-vitamin c, low-calorie, natural mineral-based smoothies that satisfy all caloric, macronutrient, and micronutrient requirements.

Tongue Lamination

What’s the problem with food – the one sensory attribute that makes us salivate it and crave it and overeat it? Flavor. Food simply tastes way too good for us to be trusted with intact tongues replete with working taste receptors. Sure, a few of us can handle flavors without ballooning, but the vast majority of the population cannot.

Tongue Lamination solves this problem with a thin plastic film that coats your tongue. Just place the plastic on your tongue, close your mouth, wait 30 seconds while the plastic melts and shrink wraps around your tongue, and your taste buds will rendered ineffective for a full 24 hours. Without flavor, food loses its luster, and overeating becomes a thing of the past. Look for it at your local big-box store in the near future.

Dinnerware with Fatphobic AI

Forget exercise, reducing carbohydrates, and eliminating sugar. The most time-tested, reliable way to lose weight is subjecting yourself to ample levels of shame and guilt. Unfortunately, it’s tough to get an actual friend or relative to berate you into fat loss. Maybe they’re too nice or you’re too sensitive. Either way, you run the risk of tarnishing an important relationship.

The way research into artificial intelligence has been developing, future AI will actually be able to feel and express complex human emotions, like love, lust, joy, desire, and even hate. A team of scientists are hoping to capitalize on the latter, having developed a prototype for a fatphobic AI with extreme disdain for overweight people bordering on revulsion. It’s a few years away from commercial release, but they plan on producing a line of fatphobic dinnerware housing a hyperintelligent AI who simply cannot stand to be in the same room as your tubby self and lets you know every time you eat just how disgusting you look and ashamed you should feel.

Transmogrifying Food Spray

Eating healthy is hard. Fresh, healthy food is expensive, spoils easily, and most importantly tastes terrible. It’s nearly impossible to enjoy a healthy dinner of raw broccoli, boiled spinach, whole wheat bread, and plain pasta when you’ve got delicious but unhealthy food breathing down your neck. Anyone but the most stalwart of dieters would be hard pressed to make the right choice in that situation.

What if you could make healthy, disgusting foods taste like some of your favorite foods without sacrificing the health benefits? With the upcoming Transmogrification Food Spray, you can transform the flavors with a single spray. Plain pasta becomes cheesy pasta. Celery becomes bacon. Plain chewing gum becomes a never-ending chocolate truffle that you can chew all day long, totally forgoing eating altogether!

Fat-Selective Necrotizing Fasciitis

You’ve probably heard of “flesh eating bacteria disease.”  The real name is necrotizing fasciitis, and it describes a deterioration of the subcutaneous tissues (mostly fat) and underlying fascia (connective sheath surrounding the muscles) due to bacterial infection. Until recently, there were two recognized types of necrotizing fasciitis: Type 1 NF, which is polymicrobial, meaning multiple bacteria are responsible; and Type 2 NF, which is monomicrobial, meaning a single strain is responsible. Both are life threatening, if it’s not caught early enough and treated with a massive round of antibiotic therapy.

Scientists are beginning to cultivate a third type of necrotizing fasciitis that selectively and exclusively degrades adipose tissue – body fat. In rodent studies, application of the proprietary bacterial strain Staphylococcus adiposus has turned obese, diabetic mice into lean, healthy mice within a few weeks with no negative side effects. The only “unwanted” effect is body fat leakage through the pores, but that’s not all bad; one scientist reported that the necrotized mouse adipose tissue is secreted pre-rendered and makes a great cooking fat with a high smoke point.

Guess what, guys: the future is now. Some of the ridiculous, seemingly far-fetched products and weight loss methods described above exist in some form or another. Want caffeine-infused tights? Wear the Skinkiss. Want a dinner plate that makes you feel bad about your belly? Grab the Smart Plate. Feel like making the act of eating so physically painful that you simply stop doing it? You can actually have a piece of plastic mesh installed on your tongue. The Flavor Spray promises to transform foods without affecting caloric intake and the HAPIfork lets you know when you’re eating too quickly.

So, how’d you do? Did you guess which ones were completely made up and which had at least some basis in reality? Scary, isn’t it?

Thanks for reading, all, and let me hear what you think they’ll think up next!

P.S. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that “doctor” is doing in that cheesy futuristic stock photo above.

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Dear Mark: Cruciferous Vegetables and Hypothyroidism, Sprint Frequency, Protein Sources for Orthodox Lent, and Saunas

For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I discuss the connection – if one even exists – between cruciferous vegetables (and their goitrogens) and thyroid function. A theoretical interaction exists, but should this impact your decision to eat steamed broccoli? Next, I explain why I recommend one, maybe two days of sprinting a week, in contrast to the exercise studies that often use 3 or 4 days/week sprinting programs to great success. Then, I give a few tips for a person wondering about getting sufficient sources of Primal protein while on an Orthodox Lent fast. And finally, I explore the potential health effects of saunas.

Let’s go:

I read a report on kale and other cruciferous vegetables causing hypothyroidism if eaten too often.

I believe in moderation but this is the first time I’ve heard this. Can you touch on this subject?

Here’s the article.

Thanks, Mark.

Stephen

I almost hesitate to discuss this, because I don’t want people worrying about their broccoli intake or experiencing anxiety whenever kale is served. Yes, cruciferous vegetables, which include kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy, among others, do contain compounds known as goitrogens. Goitrogens reduce the amount of iodine absorbed by our thyroid glands, and at really high levels can actually prevent iodine from being incorporated into thyroid hormone altogether. Animal studies have shown that large doses of cruciferous vegetables like cabbage can interfere with thyroid function.

Here’s the thing, though. Cruciferous vegetables are only a problem when they’re:

Consumed in ridiculous amounts - like the lady who put herself in a hypothyroid-induced coma from eating kilos of raw bok choy every day, or the rats who ate a 33% cabbage diet.
Consumed raw - cooking deactivates many of the goitrogens in cruciferous vegetables. Steaming reduces goitrogen content by around 30%, boiling and keeping the water by 65%, and boiling and dumping the water by 90%.
Consumed by people who don’t eat any iodine - eating sufficient iodine provides a buffer against the goitrogen effects of cruciferous vegetables; as long as you eat sea vegetables, pastured egg yolks, and seafood, you should be getting enough.
Consumed by people with established thyroid problems - people with hypothyroidism are more susceptible to goitrogenic foods (but that doesn’t mean you should avoid them; just don’t go overboard).

So, a raw vegan juicing several kilos of raw Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale on a daily basis might have thyroid problems (in addition to fascinating bowel habits), while a Primal eater having a side of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage with a steak a few times a week will be just fine. Even a raw kale salad now and then is fine (but probably not a pound’s worth every day). One study looked at the effects of raw broccoli sprouts, which are extremely rich in the goitrogenic compounds people are worrying about, on thyroid health in humans and reported no abnormal findings. Don’t worry too much about cruciferous vegetables. They’re good for you and only harmful in ridiculous situations where most reasonable people will never find themselves.

One quick note: Pregnant women early on in the pregnancy – when thyroid function is most important and thyroid hormone requirements are especially high – may be more sensitive to goitrogens. This usually coincides with taste aversions, so eating too many goitrogenic vegetables is usually hard to do. But it’s worth keeping in mind.

Hi there

Okay. I’m curious. Most of the studies I’ve read (some of which Mark quoted in his most recent article) put HIIT and Tabata training at approx. 3 – 4 sessions/times a week. Mark advocates to sprint “once in a while”, or once a week in his PB Fitness Book (as per the fitness logbook). So… is sprinting 3-4 times a week too much? would it be less effective and closer to a “chronic cardio” type deal? All the gains from the studies I’ve read are from individuals participating 3-4 times a week for about 12 to 16 weeks.

Thanks!

Tasha

Great question. The thing about those studies is that in order to exclude any confounding variables, they generally forbid participants from engaging in other exercises. So in a HIIT study, you’ll just do HIIT and nothing else on the side. You won’t lift weights, or go on hikes, or walk 10,000 steps a day. You’ll be focusing on HIIT and HIIT alone so as to isolate the effects of the experimental condition. The absence of other training coupled with the total dedication to the program allows adequate recovery.

If you weren’t doing anything else (like the study participants), I’d say you could get away with three or four sprinting or HIIT days a week. I think, though, that optimal fitness is achieved through a more well-rounded approach that includes lifting heavy things, play, lots of slow moving, and sprinting (or HIIT). All those activities require recovery time. We can and do learn from fitness studies, but in reality we can’t just take what studies do wholesale. We would fail, or be required to sleep twelve hours a day, or eat 5000 calories.

Another factor to consider: many of these studies use students because they tend to have more free time than working adults. More free time also means more recovery time and (usually) less psychological stress that impacts workout recovery. They’re arguably a better way to study the effects of a training program in otherwise “pristine” people without lots of confounding lifestyle factors.

With regards to sprinting in particular, I usually dedicate an entire day to it. If I do workout in addition, I treat sprinting like a really grueling lower body workout day. I’ll sometimes lift the same day as sprinting, but I’ll mostly stick to upper body lifts like pullups, dips, or pushups.

I had a question I have not seen answered. I am an Anglican who has adopted some Orthodox practices. In the old church tradition there are fasting and abstinence seasons and days. Lent is the longest and the tradition is to abstain from meat, oils, and dairy for 40 days plus weekends while reducing meals. Food is to be simply cooked or eaten raw if possible.

This does not easily fit with the Primal Blueprint. Any suggestions about what to do during those times? I plan on using tempeh as a protein source but lentils are also an option. It will be hard to keep carbs down without eating a lot tempeh and Natto during the time. Is seitan a solution?

John

Tempeh is a “pretty good” vegetarian source of protein. Yeah, it’s soy, but fermented soy, and the fermentation process reduces phytic acid and deactivates the lectins.

Natto is also advised. Those who can get past the interesting texture, difficult odor, and curious taste to reach the numerous health benefits (including a whopping dose of vitamin K2) are often pleased they made the effort.

And as far as legumes go, lentils are probably the best and least offensive option. They’re pretty digestible after about 8 hours of soaking and they’re decently nutritious.

As far as I know, shellfish are still allowed during Orthodox Lent, right. If that’s the case, go for those guys. Mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops, lobster, crab, and oysters can easily take care of any animal protein needs. It might be a bit more expensive than you’re used to, but you can’t go wrong with shellfish, some of the most nutrient-dense foods around.

I would skip seitan. It’s basically a block of pure gluten. I suppose it’d be okay if you’re totally free of gluten intolerance or sensitivity, but it’s more common than many people assume and I wouldn’t want to tempt fate and find out the hard way.

Are eggs allowed? If so, eat some of those.

What else can John eat, readers? Maybe some alternative protein powders? If you can’t do whey, look into some “complete” (meaning a full amino acid profile has been attained by blending different plant protein sources) vegan protein powders for the time being.

Hi Mark, keep it up. You are doing God’s work, and have been a blessing in my life.

Wondering what your thoughts were on the idea of “cleansing” and also steam/sauna. Is there a primal way of looking at these? Health benefits?

Peace,

Rev. Josh

I’m always curious about those near-universal human traditions with extensive histories. People generally don’t just do stuff for the heck of it. You dig deep enough and you can usually find a kernel of truth there, some health benefit at least partially confirming the tradition’s efficacy.

The sauna is definitely a near-universal human tradition. In the Americas, there are the sweat lodges of North America and the temazcals of Central America. Scandinavia is known for its saunas, particularly Finland. Russia has the banya, Turkey the hamam, and ancient Rome the laconium. People from all over the world have been enjoying the heat for thousands of years, but are there actual, documented benefits to sweating it out in a sauna?

Muscle recovery: Steam saunas appear to improve muscle recovery following exercise to exhaustive failure.

Stress reduction: Most people intuitively know that saunas are relaxing, but they legitimately reduce cortisol over the long term. The sauna experience itself acts as an acute stressor, however, spiking cortisol and heart rate and adrenal hormones – but only for a short time.

Toxin clearance: Contrary to what cynics might give as a knee-jerk response to any question involving the word “toxins,” it appears that there might be something to the idea of “sweating out the toxins in a sauna”:

Sweat (along with blood, urine, and probably tears) contains bioaccumulated toxins. BPA shows up in sweat, even when it doesn’t show up in the blood or urine. Same goes for certain phthalate compounds and their metabolites.
Sweat has been shown to contain arsenic and lead in exposed individuals.
In one case report, repeated use of a sauna normalized mercury levels in a person with elevated concentrations.
Police officers with chronic illnesses related to high exposure to methamphetamine production chemicals experienced significant improvement after sauna therapy.

Any downsides?

Male fertility: Saunas are hot, and heat can negatively impact male fertility. One trial found that sauna usage impaired spermatogenesis in men with normal fertility. This effect was transient and reversible, however.

Heart trouble: People who’ve recently had heart attacks, or who have unstable angina pectoris or severe aortic stenosis may want to avoid saunas.

Exposure to carbon monoxide: Wood-fired steam baths, like some temezcals in Latin America, can produce massive amounts of carbon monoxide, a known toxin.

For the most part, saunas are safe, and they may be extremely good for you. Even if you “just” enjoy them after a hard workout or as a way to relax, I’d say there’s definitely something to them. The health benefits of relaxation and pleasure-seeking are not to be understated.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading!

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Weekend Link Love

Episode #7 of The Primal Blueprint Podcast is now live. In it I discuss the Primal Blueprint fitness paradigm – what it is, how to integrate it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Speaking of the podcast, soon I’ll be answering your questions in podcasts. Click the blue “Submit a Question” button in the sidebar to leave me a voicemail.

If you’re convenient to Newark, Delaware, don’t miss the Primal Blueprint Seminar coming to your area on Feb. 27.

Research of the Week

Among patients with IBS, eating bread, pasta, and crackers made from ancient kamut wheat resulted in lower inflammatory markers and less bloating, fatigue, and stomach pain than eating the same foods made with modern wheat. Is ancient wheat healthy? Or just better than modern wheat?

Regarding ancient/modern wheat, a new research paper emerges (PDF): “Gluten and wheat intolerance today: are modern wheat strains involved?”

A new study shows that jazz musicians trading fours use the same neural syntactical circuitry as people engaged in conversation. I imagine Jack Kerouac would agree with this research.

Interesting Blog Posts

Dr. Mike Eades just posted a fantastically thorough review of Denise Minger’s Death by Food Pyramid.

Lots of bad things happen to you when you don’t get enough sleep.

Eat lots of plants, sure, but be very careful about going full-on vegetarian or vegan.

Media, Schmedia

According to new research, Internet trolls really are terrible people.

“The glass was painful, but it didn’t do any real damage. With dog mess, I just wipe my feet on grass and then wash them at a tap.” One woman’s experience not wearing shoes for the past few years in urban Britain.

Everything Else

PrimalPalate.com just launched a Primal/paleo recipe website and app. Definitely worth a look, particularly the new myKitchen feature..

A new method of testing can detect gluten in food at concentrations of just 1 ppm.

Are residual traces of the common herbicide Roundup found throughout the food supply the true cause of gluten intolerance and celiac disease (PDF)?

Sad: almost no one likes going to work (worldwide). What about you?

Good luck charms can reduce anemia.

Are we meant to be sexual omnivores?

Gout may be an evolutionary tradeoff for the ability to efficiently turn fructose into fat.

Recipe Corner

Have you ever had Ukrainian borscht? You probably should. Now go make some.
The annoying planning, set-up, and clean-up that a party requires are worth it if you get to eat these paleo party meatballs.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Feb 24 – Mar 2)

The Snowball Effect: How Small Changes Can Have a Big Impact – Every big idea, movement, paradigm shift starts with a small step forward.
Co-Feeding: How to Get Your Family Involved with Healthy Food – A few tips on making food preparation and acquisition a family event.

Comment of the Week

Green bananas are readily available at most gas stations, and speaking of that… most green bananas ARE gas stations. My sons affectionately refer to them as ‘rocket fuel’ in reference to their highly entertaining ability to induce mach 3 level farts. I’d try them out on a weekend before having your first one Monday morning before work and having to hide in the file room all day.

- Not much more to say about this comment. Just going to leave it here.

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Crispy and Creamy Avocado Fries

Avocado fries have that tempting combination of a crispy outer layer, creamy middle and addictive fried flavor. Made with nothing more than avocado, coconut, egg, salt and spices, it’s a pure and healthful snack or salad topping loaded with beneficial fatty acids.

Before you scarf down an entire plateful, keep in mind that a little bit of avocado goes a long way. The good news is that avocado fries are both rich and filling so a small portion is plenty satisfying. This simple recipe gives avocado fries a Southwest flair, adding cumin and chili powder to the mix. You could take this theme a little further by adding finely chopped cilantro to the coating and finishing them with a squirt of fresh lime.

One last thing: Don’t make this recipe unless you have a bottle of hot sauce in the fridge. It adds the extra kick that sends avocado fries over the top.

Servings: 1 to 2

Time in the Kitchen: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

For every 1 avocado, you’ll need:

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (2.5 ml)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (1.2 ml)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (2.5 ml)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (30 g)
1/4 cup or so coconut flour (30 g)
1 egg, whisked
Coconut oil for frying

Instructions:

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Slice the avocado into 8 wedges and remove the peel.

Sprinkle the wedges with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, making sure to lightly coat all sides.

In a food processor, blend the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, cumin and chili powder with the coconut flakes until the coconut flakes are finely chopped.

Near the stove set up an assembly line of 3 bowls, 1 for egg, 1 for coconut flour and 1 for the coconut flakes.

Coat each wedge of avocado in egg, coconut flour, back into the egg and then coconut flakes.

Heat a thin layer of coconut oil in a deep pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the coconut wedges. Fry for about 1 minute or less on the first side, or until nicely browned. Use a fork (or the combination of a fork and spoon) to turn the wedges as they brown until all sides are crispy. If the oil starts to smoke, turn down the heat.

Serve avocado fries immediately with hot sauce or mayo spiked with hot sauce.

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Performance Up! Inflammation Down!: Professional Baseball Pitcher Goes Primal and Sees Immediate Results

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!

Dear Mark,

My name is Greg and I am a 25 year old professional pitcher in the Marlins Organization. People don’t often associate professional athletes with poor health, but I was constantly considered a “bad-bodied left-handed pitcher.” The tag was placed on me and I accepted it. Just never wanted to change since it hadn’t affected my performance on the mound (or so I thought). This story really starts more in my high school years.

I was a mindless eater constantly shoving down granola bars, rice, pasta, etc.. I was always a little pudgy, never fat (by American Standards) but definitely not skinny either. When I was in high school, I was given medication for acne (Acutane) and in college I was diagnosed with depression (funny how that happens) and was on the medication for a while until I finally decided one day I would stop. My mood was always up and down and I found every day a chore to wake up. I was constantly sore and in pain. At one point I thought I was bipolar as well. As a pitcher I was blessed with the ability to throw from the left side (a commodity in baseball). That meant appearance wasn’t that important to my game, just performance (I had no idea they would go hand in hand). I had surgery my freshman year of college on my elbow (wonder why) and after that, I ballooned up to a dismal 220 pounds at 5’10″ (that is the definition of obese). I was still capable of pitching at an extremely high level even though I had become extremely injury prone (gee I wonder why…) and as I found out, the early stages of Type 2 diabesity (my fasting glucose was 95!!!). After having a fairly good college career I was picked up by the Marlins in the 18th round and pitched well my first two seasons with them.

I was constantly trying to manage my weight and would do so not by dieting, but by logging hour after hour on the dreaded elliptical thinking that burning off what I ate was the solution to weight loss. In the end, it just made me more sore and I saw minimal (if any) results. This year, I got hurt in spring training and spent the first part of the year on the disabled list. After I had got off the disabled list, I still didn’t feel right. It was in the bullpen in Fort Myers that one of my teammates mentioned a diet book written by Tim Ferriss; it sparked my interest. He told me that in no way was this style of living sustainable in-season, because “primal food” availability was a huge issue which would make it difficult (I found out later this was a cop-out). I was determined. We stopped at a local shopping mall and I picked up the book and immediately started reading. Within the first 20 pages, I became a believer in his system.

I was still eating legumes as a carb source. I had cut out all processed foods, and “complex carbs” (except legumes of course). This was a big step for me (it was like I was addicted). Within two weeks in the middle of the supposed “dog days” of July, my pain had gone away. Elbow inflammation was constant for me. I was taking 2-3 anti-inflammatory pills per day just to get by. The dosage went from 2 to 1 til finally I wasn’t taking any before games.

Whenever we stopped, I would always walk to the nearest grocery store (sometimes it wasn’t so near), usually a Publix, grab a container of spinach, some sort of nut butter, nuts, a bag of jerky or cans of tuna, and I would be good to go for our short road trip. When fast food restaurants were our only options I wouldn’t eat (I was doing IF before I knew what it was!), or I would order my burgers without buns with extra lettuce or an egg white McMuffin, hold the muffin. Paleo didn’t have to be perfect for me. I considered myself an excellent hunter gatherer given my circumstances. Despite the weird looks I got from my teammates I was doing quite well. It certainly was difficult to get through Minor League life without eating granola bars, wonder bread and soy infused potato chips, but I managed through.

The pounds started evaporating off of me. I traded in my size 40 baseball pants for a size 34, and by the end of the season they were starting to fit very baggy. More than that, I saw incredible strength gains and my recovery post workout was unbelievable. My next day soreness was pretty much gone. After a while, I noticed my mood had become level, no sugar highs or extreme lows and I was thinking clearer on the mound – a great asset to have when having to troubleshoot what pitch to throw. I just felt more pensive on the mound and felt more in control mentally than I ever have.

In early August, I started reading your blog and cruised right through The Primal Blueprint and I finally cut out the beans (the definitive guide put a definitive ending to that!!). Immediately I noticed my skin cleared up and I saw an amazing difference in my skin clarity. By the end of the season, I had got my weight down to 195 pounds (not bad for starting the year at 211) all while living on a bus and in hotels around Florida, cutting down my inflammation and getting stronger by the day. In a time when the heat of Florida makes people feel run down and weak, I was getting stronger. This was a huge step for me and it lasted throughout the year. I wanted to try to get a date for you on when I started the paleo diet, so I went to the minor league baseball website and found it was in July in Fort Myers. I know this because that was the last time I gave up a run all season… I had pitched two months of scoreless baseball and the one thing I changed was my style of eating (maybe it does affect performance – could it be a coincidence?).

I haven’t been doing this diet for as long as most people who post on here, but I look back and I am merely a shell of myself. I still have a small layer left that I want to get rid of. I went from a tight fitting size 40 to a 33.5 waist (let’s just say I bought a couple belts). I know that if I continue to eat this way over the long haul it will be gone. I have lost another 5 pounds since the end of the season, almost effortlessly, and I look forward to continuing this lifestyle throughout my career and throughout my life after these kinds of results. I think it would be really really dumb of me to quit! I will do blood work this month and can’t wait to see how many numbers have changed since last year. My fasting glucose was 95… I am sure that’ll change!

I am sure that I will give up a run next year; probably a lot more than a run. It is part of the game. But I know that I may have increased my shelf life in this game and definitely in life. I went from a 25 year old who looked like he was 50 to a 25 year old who looks like he is 20! I’ve only been paleo/Primal for 5 months and have already seen unbelievable results. I am looking to shake that tag “bad-bodied left-handed pitcher” even sooner. I thought I would keep the Primal Blueprint diet my little secret, so I could have an edge on everyone, but I think it is important for everyone to know just how beneficial this could be at improving their lives.

Greg

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How to Design a Successful Personal Retreat

Announcement: PrimalCon Vacation Tulum is nine days away and we have just two rooms remaining at the resort for this event! This really is your last chance to escape the frigid North American or European continent and indulge in a 5-star vacation with an amazing group of around 160 Primal enthusiasts and expert presenters at this luxurious resort. Check on the amazing details! When you find some good flights, call us at 888-774-6259 to make sure you can grab one of the last rooms!

A few years ago I did a post on The Restorative Power of a Personal Retreat. To this day, it’s one of the “lifestyle” posts I get the most feedback on. At the time I wrote it, I was gaining my own vision into this practice – first through hearing the experiences of friends and acquaintances, doing some research and later pursuing some intentional retreating myself. Beyond the basics of everyday health, I’ve found taking these retreats to be one of the most influential practices for my well-being. It’s a rare time when I can recalibrate my senses and listen to what thoughts come up in the midst of some quiet and solitude – whether creative or personal. Every once in a while, I’ll still get a personal email about that post or have people come up to me at an event and talk about it. They share their own retreat experiences or their own interest in the idea, asking how (or where) to get started. In the interest of their inquiries, I thought I’d revisit the topic and offer a how-to primer for those interested in making personal retreats part of their Primal journey.

I’ve certainly traveled on my own many times in the past, but there’s a serious difference between the experience of personal retreat and solo trip. I still take my own trips on occasion and enjoy them, but they’re more for entertainment and leisure purposes. I’m there to try a certain activity or explore a certain city or terrain. A retreat, on the other hand, is intentional in more of self-exploratory way. The concept invites us to live differently and think more openly for a time. Although many people travel to a retreat site, the experience really isn’t so much about a change in setting. In fact, sometimes it can be a great experience to retreat while staying home. What ultimately shifts in a retreat is our perspective. We put ourselves in different alignment with the world around us for a time, using the chance for some inner silence or soul searching – an intention likely akin to the vision quests and other ritualized seclusions practiced in traditional societies. The result can be something profoundly intuitive, uniquely restorative and personally sacred.

So, what exactly goes into a retreat? Because group retreats – which in their own ways are incredible experiences (e.g. PrimalCon) – can be so varied, I’m going to focus on personal retreats here. What are the considerations? What are the possibilities? What are some basic suggestions for framing the experience? Let’s dive in.

The Logistics – Budget, Place and Time

It probably goes without saying that these considerations, while hardly the most important elements, might practically speaking be among the first things you decide. When you’re short on cash, doing a retreat from home might be a good option if you can manage it with your living situation – and level of personal distractibility. I know several people who do at-home retreats (usually over a weekend) on a regular basis. As for getting some solitude, maybe your partner has a weekend trip out of town coming up, or the kids could enjoy a couple days with close relatives. Otherwise, house sitting for a friend or heading out on a camping trip can be good choices. (Personally, my best retreats have been in total, nature bound isolation – just the tent, my dog and I.) If you only have time for a full day’s retreat but not an overnight, you can sidestep any lodging costs or household rearrangement and spend the day at an area park/nature reserve, community meditation center and/or other close and quiet destination.

If you have even a modest budget you can allocate for the experience, this opens up several possibilities. You’ll find retreat centers all over the States (and abroad). I haven’t ever come across a comprehensive listing, but if you Google your state/region and retreat center (or meditation center), you can usually come up with a decent listing. Most centers allow you to do an “individual retreat option,” which means you can choose to be on your own for the time and do your own thing or you can at least on certain occasions join the community for a fully or partially guided retreat. Even if you opt for an individual retreat, you can often participate in community activities like morning or evening meditation time, an evening fire or meals. In fact, we welcome this behavior at PrimalCons, encouraging attendees to pick and choose the degree to which they want to be involved with the ongoing activities.

Some centers are traditionally religious oriented, while others describe themselves as spiritual but ecumenical without practices that explicitly highlight any particular faith. Some are elaborate and pricey with all manner of amenities, but plenty others are simple and relatively inexpensive at $30-$60 a night. Once in a while you’ll even find a center that operates “by donation.” If you’re unsure about trying an actual retreat center but aren’t up for the full camping experience, try renting a cabin or home for as many nights as you can afford time and budget-wise.

Overall, I’d suggest going for as long as you can, but if you’re just giving it a first shot, a weekend might be a good time span for that initial experience. Wherever you choose, commit to seeing the location with new eyes. Bring an open mind that can view the setting as a holding space for your intentions.

Your Intention – Themes, Resources and Support

Oftentimes, we’re drawn to the concept of retreat because on some level we know we need the space from everyday life to sit with a personal situation. Maybe we’re going through a significant life passage or processing a transition. We might find ourselves feeling adrift in life, unsure what’s next or just overwhelmed and out of touch with our own experience. We can use these thoughts to discern an intention for the retreat. It’s not about creating some kind of academic project or laser focus. It’s simply about asking ourselves what life question or situation or emotion needs to air in the silence and space of a retreat. What do we struggle to process in the chaos and clamor of daily life that we can bring to this time “away” from the routine? What wants to come up and rise to the surface? In a retreat, we can let it.

Some people find it helpful to identify a theme that feels relevant to their situation and interests. Again, it’s not about designing a project or agenda. It’s simply a thought to let rest in the center of your experience. (No, that phrase isn’t my own as you can probably guess, but you’ll pardon me if I can’t remember who exactly used it once in a conversation.) In my own language, I’d suggest what will come of an intention or theme will come of it. Don’t overthink it. Some themes could include traversing a life passage, making an important decision, envisioning a new sense of well-being in life, tapping into inner creativity, reconnecting to a spiritual path, grieving, reconciling to change, opening to new possibilities, catching up to your life or just taking stock.

It’s true that a retreat should be relaxing and restorative, even as you bring a “problem” or question to it. It’s not about forcing solutions or analyzing anything. It will be about staying open. That said, you can bring some things with you that might be meaningful to your time. Perhaps it’s a book or set of meditations you’ve been saving to try. Come prepared for anything. Bring some Primal food, a journal, a sketchpad, a camera, even a talisman or token of sorts if that’s your thing. Alternatively, you might find something intriguing on your retreat itself. I’m not into the metaphysical let alone the occult, but I do have a river stone I often bring with me. I found it on one of my first retreats, and something about it struck me. Hanging onto it felt like kind of a Primal thing to do, and so I did.

Beyond what you yourself decide to use, keep in mind that some retreat or meditation centers offer retreat “guides” who can work with you on everything from introducing you to the practice of retreating to clarifying your intention for your visit, showing you the areas and resources available at the center to acting as a mentor when during the process or at salient points of your retreat for check-ins. Even if you’re doing a retreat from home, maybe you have a friend-mentor you feel you could call on if you feel you want to at any point.

Your Plan – Preparation, Structure and Transitions

You know, for most trips I throw stuff in a bag the morning of, and I go. For retreats, however, I’d suggest being a little more mindful. Again, you might appreciate having put thought into bringing a few extra things that you later feel moved to use. It’s also about beginning the retreat in an appropriate mindset, however. A manic rush will take a while to work out of your system. Don’t set yourself up. Prepare and pack the night before.

As you begin the retreat – even and maybe especially if you’re at home – do something to mark the beginning of the retreat. Come up with a ritual ahead of time that you’d like to do. Light a candle. Do a short meditation sit. Read a certain poem or passage. Maybe it’s taking a bubble bath at home or going for a trail run close to the your campsite and then sitting to quiet yourself. Observe and create the transition from “normal” life to the retreat experience.

While an individual retreat needn’t and probably shouldn’t be subject to an uncompromising clock, it’s good to design some structure to your time. Have a plan at least for what you want a day to look like to ensure you use your time thoughtfully and intentionally. A retreat should restore, but it’s not really about relaxing the same way as a beach vacation is. Set a loose schedule. Decide what’s important to you. If you’re at a center, incorporate the resources and activities there as you see fit. If you’re at home, you have access to all kinds of materials and activities. What would feel relevant and filling?

I’d of course recommend plenty of movement as you can imagine. Enjoy the invitation to do something different – something at once solitary and thrilling. Maybe it’s renting a kayak for a few hours. Maybe it’s a series of long walks in an area park or over the retreat center’s grounds. Maybe it’s a session of stand-up paddling in the ocean – one of my favorites. Otherwise, you can make some time for meditating, reading, creating, journaling, or other activity that feels like it fits the mood. Spend as much time outdoors as you can. Making a fire, when that option is available, can feel significant. Some people choose to get some body work done during a retreat as part of the “release” or self-care aspect of their experience. There are no rules. Come up with the activities and rituals that make sense to you.

Finally, when your retreat time is coming to an end, bookend the experience with a closing practice. Use the chance to take stock of what happened, what thoughts came up, what shifted – in your body or mind. What are you leaving with? Don’t rush home or jump back into the routine. Give yourself some time and leisure. In the moment, I imagine many of us naturally think we don’t necessarily want to go back. Something about the retreat experience and mentality – what we find and what we allow in ourselves feels too good to let go. That in itself is justification enough for a retreat – and reflection that can inform how we might live our lives differently when we come back to them.

Thanks for reading today, everyone. Have you tried a personal retreat? Is it regular practice for you or maybe a goal to try? What considerations have you found helpful in making your retreat experience satisfying and meaningful?

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We Don’t Know What Constitutes a True Paleo Diet

Critics often lambast the Primal Blueprint and other ancestral/paleo ways of eating for what they see as fatal flaws:

First, that we don’t know what our ancestors were truly eating.

Second, that there wasn’t just one paleo diet.

Third, that even if we could know exactly what our ancestors were eating, it doesn’t mean those foods were the ideal foods; they were trying to eat whatever was available, not whatever was most nutritious or synergistic with their genome.

Before I address these, I want to make an important point. The anthropological record provides a framework for further examination of nutritional science; it does not prescribe a diet. It gives us somewhere to start so we’re not flailing blind men dropped off in the middle of a strange city. That is why we’re interested in what early man ate (and didn’t eat).

It may surprise you to know that I think the first argument is absolutely right. We don’t know exactly what our ancestors were eating. There are no pleistocene food journal entries scrawled on a cave wall someplace, and many of the primary sources we can access – phytoliths (which indicate the presence of vegetal material) and stable carbon/nitrogen isotopes (which indicate the source of dietary protein) – require analysis and interpretation, thus becoming secondary sources. If you thought food frequency questionnaires were unreliable, try figuring out if the phytoliths found on Neanderthal dentition originated from the direct consumption of plants or the consumption of fermenting plant inside a recently hunted animal’s stomach, or whether the isotope analysis of African hominins from a few million years ago indicate diets high in grass seeds or diets high in grass seed-eating herbivores.

However, we absolutely do know what early humans did not eat:

Industrial seed oils high enough in linoleic acid to crowd omega-3 out of their tissues.
A diet where refined sugar made up either 17% or 15% of the total caloric intake.

We know these things because these foods either didn’t exist until the late 1880s (seed oils like corn) or only graduated from expensive luxury item to widely-used staple food in the 1700s (white sugar).

As to the second argument, of course there is no one true ancestral diet with a strictly curated, specific list of dietary DOs and DON’Ts. Humans have managed to populate every barely hospitable nook and cranny of this planet. If living things grow, slither, crawl, flap, swim, or otherwise reside there, we will set up shop in order to eat them.

However, patterns do emerge. First, there’s the aforementioned total absences – seed oils, sugar – plus a dearth of cultivated grains. Wild versions of grains existed (after all, the first agriculturalists needed something to domesticate), but there’s little evidence to suggest they were major parts of most early human diets.

Second, there’s animal consumption. We just love eating sentient, mobile organisms. There’s never been a traditionally vegetarian culture, and every hunter-gatherer population ever studied consumes animals (PDF).

Third, there’s plant consumption. Plants are trickier than animals because they keep fighting back after you’ve killed (and sometimes cooked) them.

There are other patterns, which I’ll discuss in future posts.

The third argument is a common one, and it takes many forms. The one I get a lot is that early man was a desperate scavenger, just barely skating by and eking out a diet of diseased rodents, chitinous bugs, tree bark, and lichen. Since he didn’t “know any better” and was just eating what he could without regard for nutrients, what early man ate shouldn’t inform our dietary choices. Well, it’s a specious argument. Whether our ancestors were dumb brutes stumbling through life without ever considering what they ate (they weren’t) or unaccredited ethnobotanists with intricate knowledge of medicinal, toxic, and nutritious plants and animals (they probably were) doesn’t matter in the slightest.

Let’s say that natural selection adapts an organism to a given environment by selecting for an advantageous trait. What if the environment shifts, as they do, and the trait the original environment selected no longer works the same way? This is an evolutionary mismatch. It can happen with any environmental shift, like a change in diet.

Mismatches between an organism and its environment are core concepts in evolutionary biology. They aren’t controversial. In fact, evolution requires evolutionary mismatches, because mismatches represent selective pressures on an organism that lead to adaptations (which of course lead to more mismatches, and so on).

It’s easy to see how diet fits in: if environment shapes an organism’s evolution (via natural selection and evolutionary mismatch), and diet represents an aspect of the environment, then diet (in addition to many other environmental factors) must affect how an organism develops. I don’t see how you can argue against that. You can argue that this specific food was or wasn’t part of the ancestral dietary environment, or that Grok had no idea what he was doing, but you can’t argue against the relevance of the ancestral dietary environment.

There were no “ideal foods“? Okay. That’s not the point. I’m just establishing that there were simply “dietary patterns that shaped the metabolisms, nutritional requirements, endocrine systems, and brains of the walking, talking, loving, pondering collectives of cells and microbes we call ourselves.”

I don’t know about you, but it seems like examining these dietary patterns might offer helpful clues for modern humans currently embroiled in a classic case of evolutionary mismatch. Mismatches are very interesting when you’re a detached academic observing the trajectory of another species, but on the ground level, to the organism experiencing it, mismatches lead to diseases, pain, and suffering. They’re awful.

Luckily, there’s evidence that dietary changes are relevant. When zookeepers noticed the gorillas were getting diabetes and heart disease on scientifically-formulated gorilla chow, they said, “Hey, let’s try providing a diet approximating the one these great apes might eat in the wild. I’m thinking leafy greens, alfalfa, green beans, and tree branches.” The gorillas thrived. So did the grizzlies and the elephants when placed on diets that approximate (rather than replicate) their wild diets.

Are we so different?

In future posts, I’ll explore some of the evidence for what we do know about our ancestors’ diets. For now, let’s agree that whatever early humans did (or didn’t) eat is important to consider, yeah?

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