Mark Sisson's Blog, page 39

Yerba Mate: Miracle Tea or Just Another Caffeine Kick?

Yerba mate (YERB-ah mah-TAY). Ever heard of it? It is an herb with a storied history as an alternative to traditional teas for the inhabitants of its native South America. I’ve received numerous emails recently asking about its properties and its role in the Primal Blueprint eating plan. Let’s dive straight in.

What is Yerba Mate?

Yerba mate tea is prepared by steeping the dried leaves and twigs of the mate plant in hot water (not boiling water, which can make the tea bitter). It has an herbal, almost grassy, taste, with some varieties somewhat reminiscent of certain types of green tea. Traditionally, yerba mate is drunk communally from a hollow gourd with a metal straw1, but a coffee mug works just as well (you know, for when your gourd is in the dishwasher).

Like many teas and coffees, yerba mate is imbued with an impressive amount of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins and vitamin C. Minerals include manganese, potassium, and zinc, and the antioxidants include quercetin2, theobromine3, and theophylline4, which all have notable health benefits.

The Benefits of Drinking Yerba Mate

The big draw for most yerba mate enthusiasts is the promise of a “clean” caffeine-like buzz, free of jitters and unpleasantness, which yerba mate is said to provide. Drinkers report being in control of their wakefulness; they can stay up for hours, alert and on their game, but sleep is always right around the corner – if they want it. Basically, yerba mate is supposed to give you energy without the negative side effects of a cup of coffee, making it a potential coffee alternative.

A common claim is that yerba mate is actually completely free of caffeine and that its stimulating effects come from a mysterious compound called mateine. Mateine, they say, is a stereoisomer5 of caffeine, thus giving it the stimulating qualities with none of the downfalls.

Mateine is actually caffeine6. It’s just a synonym, possibly derived from the word “mate” itself. In fact, the caffeine content of dry mate leaves is similar to that of dried coffee beans and tea leaves (though brewed yerba mate tends to have lower levels). How do we then explain away all the anecdotal evidence of jitter-free wakefulness?

Well, there’s more to yerba mate than just caffeine/mateine. Take theobromine, for example. Theobromine, best known for being the primary alkaloid in cacao and highly toxic to dogs, exerts a smoother, longer-lasting stimulatory effect. Whereas caffeine is a vasoconstrictor, theobromine is an effective vasodilator, relaxing the smooth muscle in blood vessels and allowing better blood flow.

They are present in varying amounts7 in each variety of yerba mate, some with caffeine/theobromine ratios of 10:1 and others with ratios of 2:1, and can actually lower blood pressure in hypertensive individuals. Pure caffeine has the tendency to increase blood pressure. It’s plausible, then, that various ratios of theobromine and caffeine have different effects paired together than either do alone.

 

The Downfalls of Drinking Yerba Mate

Still, the effect of caffeine on glucose tolerance and blood sugar control is somewhat troublesome. It can impair insulin sensitivity, even in healthy individuals. But is this actually a problem for healthy Primal eaters? Probably not, as long as you’re reasonable about your caffeine intake. Don’t live on a pot a day and avoid eating sugary baked goods with your coffee, and you’ll be fine.

And remember – yerba mate is not coffee, and it’s not just caffeine. In fact, yerba mate extract has been shown to restore insulin sensitivity in obese rats8. Even without that study, the yerba mate we drink has less caffeine than coffee, and about the same amount as most teas, which are linked with improved insulin sensitivity9 despite the caffeine content. The caffeine in yerba mate most likely isn’t an issue.

There’s also been some mildly troubling research into a possible link between yerba mate and certain cancers. Although this is purely epidemiological, researchers studying hot yerba mate drinkers in South America have noticed a positive correlation between hot mate intake and oral cancer10 in several studies. Similar correlations exist with other hot drinks11 too, though, so it could be a temperature issue.

Yerba mate intake has also been associated – however weakly – with increased incidence of bladder12, head and neck13, and esophageal cancers. Hot temperatures probably can’t explain all of this (if there is any causation going on), but this study might shed some light: researchers found high levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in multiple varieties of yerba mate, perhaps from processing of the raw mate leaves (higher than in cigarette smoke).14

Yerba Mate and Eating Primal

I don’t mean to scare you away from yerba mate. I’ve had it, and it’s a very pleasant, mildly stimulating beverage. The antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals are nothing to scoff at, and it certainly feels less taxing on the body than the daily pots of coffee most people rely on. Tim Ferriss credits it for helping him write15, and there are numerous other anecdotes from those that prefer it as a coffee substitute. And so, sneaky caffeine content and troubling cancer studies aside, I think yerba mate can be integrated into a healthy Primal eating strategy. Just don’t drink it scalding hot or by the liter (which appears to be an “excessive” dose). The occasional, even daily cup is probably fine and can be drank without breaking a fast.

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References https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZpou...

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Cozy Fall Recipes (Because We Just Can’t Wait)

Seems like everyone has been counting down the days until we can usher in crisp mornings, thick-woven socks in the evenings, and the fall treats and recipes that come with it all.

The weather is just starting to turn, so that’s our signal to go ahead and indulge in our favorite fall treats! These recipes give you a chance to enjoy your favorites without throwing yourself into a carb spiral.

Warm Bone Broth, Two Ways

 

We think of fall as PSL season, but sometimes you want something warm to sip that doesn’t taste like dessert. These bone broth variations are just the thing! Make your own broth or start with a store-bought base that you can customize to your liking. Here, we have warm-spiced ginger turmeric broth and a savory garlic herb broth, and they’re incredibly easy to make!

Get the recipe!

Low-carb Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread is a classic for the autumn breakfast table. Slice and serve with coffee or make it the star of a breakfast charcuterie board. Either way, you’ll enjoy the full pumpkin flavor without the sugar crash.

Get the recipe!

Apple Dump Cake

Apples taste their best in the fall, and once a year, they deserve to be showcased in a crumbly dessert topped with cool ice cream. Enjoy your apples this year in this easy apple dump cake.

Get the recipe!

Low-carb Mulled Wine

Cool nights mean soft blankets and something warm to sip. this low-carb warm mulled wine is the perfect night cap to head off the chill.

Get the recipe!

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New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week — Edition 145

Research of the Week

The genetic basis for rhythm.

Tennis is linked to longevity. Playing, not watching.

Neanderthal and Denisovan blood groups.

A 5 day water-only fast improved metabolic biomarkers in adults.

There is such a thing as too much free time.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 516: Dr. Stephanie Estima: Host Elle Russ chats with Dr. Stephanie Estima, a chiropractor specializing in metabolism and female physiology.

Episode 517: Leslie Klenke: Host Elle Russ chats with Leslie Klenke, a former colleague of mine and now a Life and Business Coach.

Episode 518: John V. Petrocelli: John returns to the podcast.

Health Coach Radio: Devin Burke on why poor sleep is the symptom, not the cause of your problems.

Media, Schmedia

The extensive health benefits of dog ownership.

Plant-based diets are a luxury of developed countries. They aren’t realistic for most populations.

Interesting Blog Posts

Want to reduce your hedonistic impulses? Move to the mountains.

Interesting blogs.

 

Social Notes

Go on adventures.

You can have it all.

Everything Else

Who among us hasn’t been “inspired by animals who breathe through their butts“?

Goeth used a standing desk.

Why are people leaving their jobs?

I wouldn’t mind a fish fin attached to my body.

Microdosing women.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Both are important: The definitions of “Primal.”

Interesting move: China limits kids to three hours of video games a week.

I’m always surprised by what birds can do: Ducks mimic human speech.

There’s a use for everything: The “peevolution.”

Reminder: Gut feelings are real.

Question I’m Asking

Which trait or appendage from an animal would you choose to have?

Recipe CornerChicken thighs are the best part of the bird, especially crispy ones.Thai curry really is the best curry.Time Capsule

One year ago (Sep 4 – Sep 10)

Why Am I Waking Up at 3am?— Why?All About the Liver, and How to Support Your Favorite Detoxification Organ— Everything you need to know.Comment of the Week

“Back in the Dark Ages, when I was in high school, the school got a trampoline. It was big but completely unenclosed and therefore dangerous. The first person to use it promptly bounced off onto the floor and broke her arm. The school overreacted by getting rid of it. Most of us never got a chance to try it. Probably instruction and equipment have both improved since then.”

-People growing up now don’t realize how wild school used to be, Skeezix.

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Overworked and Under Rested: The Real Reason You’re So Tired

Feeling tired all the time? You’re not alone. Turns out 60% of folks say they’re more exhausted now than they were in their pre-pandemic days. And sleep is only part of the equation.

We live in a high-achieving, chronically fatigued culture. One of the reasons being that we’re constantly bombarded by the message that productivity is the ultimate goal in life. We’re socially rewarded for crushing it whenever and wherever possible:

More reps at the gym…More calories torched…More emails sent…More to-dos to do…

You get the picture.

The Downside of Keeping Up

Even if you love what you do, the pressures to keep up with the modern world can leave you feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. As a health coach, I see this all the time. My clients come to me foggy and fatigued, falling asleep in front of the TV, snapping at their kids, and chronically over caffeinating. And the conventional recommendation to “get more sleep” just hasn’t cut it.

Signs you might be running on empty:

Lack of concentrationBeing easily agitatedConfusionCravingsCoping with food or alcoholAnxiety or depressionOverwhelm

According to physician, researcher, and author, Saundra Dalton-Smith, there’s a big difference between sleep and rest. She says, “If you’re waking up and still exhausted, the issue probably isn’t sleep.” And there are seven areas of rest we’re collectively not getting enough of:

Physical rest. This isn’t about getting to bed earlier; it’s about resting your body in a way that’s rejuvenating. Think yoga, stretching, deep breathing exercises, even napping.Mental rest. Your mind needs a break too, especially if you tend to chew on past conversations, plan for future what-ifs, or have trouble turning your brain off at night.Sensory rest. Computers, phones, group texts, notifications, notifications, alarms. It’s no surprise our senses (and our central nervous systems) are overtaxed.Creative rest. If you struggle during brainstorm sessions or couldn’t come up with a new idea to save your life, you’re probably overdue for a creative time out.Emotional rest. Keeping things bottled up, people-pleasing, or not being real about how you’re feeling can lead to emotional overload.Social rest. Some friends lift you up and some drag you down. Be aware of which relationships are fulfilling and which are exhausting.Spiritual rest. Feeling disconnected, lonely, or lacking purpose? Spiritual rest or connection might be what you’re lacking.

 

The True Power of Rest

As a society, we have a real problem with not being in “go mode” all the time. And I don’t just mean taking more days off work, although studies show that Americans have an average of nine unused vacation days per year. And on the days they do take off, workers admit to obsessively checking and responding to emails.

As a high achiever myself, I know how hard it is to shut things down . I am physically uncomfortable in the presence of low productivity or what I perceived in myself as laziness. But researchers agree that resting is far from unproductive. In fact, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the University of Southern California and her colleagues found that downtime is essential to a bunch of different mental processes.1 They discovered that when people rest, their minds wander and engage in a default mode of neural processing that’s suppressed when their attention is focused on the outside world. Evidence also suggests that this default mode is crucial for psychosocial mental processing — that means things like recalling memories, having a positive outlook on the future, and instilling a code of social ethics.

When your mind and body are at rest, it allows your brain to make sense of what it’s absorbed and provides insights on how to move forward in a calm, clear, and morally appropriate way.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston also found that rest can lead to genomic activity changes. In one study, they discovered that a specific method called the Relaxation Response, produced antioxidation and anti-inflammatory changes that reduced stress in the body, lowering heart rate, blood pressure, hypertension, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.2

7 Ways to Get the Rest You Need

Taking time off to recharge your batteries is something most trainers or health professionals won’t tell you. But if you want to get off the overworking, over-caffeinating, and under recovering rollercoaster for good, you’ll want to incorporate a few of these strategies into your routine.

Schedule short breaks. Regular breaks throughout the workday prevent screen overload and give your mind a much-needed mental and creative hiatus. Apps like Focus Keeper use the Pomodoro Technique, a proven time-management method that divides your day into 25-minute intervals with breaks in between.Remember to breathe. Most people don’t pay attention to how they breathe since it’s a completely automatic physiological process. That said, taking shallow breaths, or even holding your breath, sometimes called email apnea, can lead to confusion, fatigue, and brain fog because your brain isn’t getting the oxygen it needs to perform. Several times a day, stop what you’re doing to take a few conscious, slow breaths in and out.Get inspired. Can’t think of the last time something got you excited? Take time to find something that inspires you. Go for a walk in nature, make something with your hands, visit an art gallery, or read a book. Surrounding yourself with inspiration helps replenish your drained creative resources.Learn to say no. Committing to activities, invitations, and assignments you don’t have the bandwidth (or interest) for are going to tap you emotionally, physically, and mentally. Saying “no” isn’t rude or selfish. It shows that you have a deep respect for yourself and your time. People will always have requests. It’s up to you to determine if you accept them or not.Offload your feelings. That doesn’t mean venting for hours about the dude who cut you off in traffic, but our society’s tendency to bottle things up or say we’re ok when we’re not, doesn’t allow for emotional rest. Talk to someone you trust, whether it’s a good friend, a spouse, or a trained counselor, and keep those lines of communication open.Engage in something bigger than yourself. A meditation practice is a great place to start, but you might also consider getting involved with your community (either online or in real life), volunteering, or supporting a cause that’s important to you.Go have fun. Remember fun? Laughing is proven to decrease stress hormones and boost the immune system, so in addition to doing something good for your body, you’re giving it the mental, physical, and emotional rest it’s craving.3

 

Tired All the Time?

If you don’t want to be known as the friend (or coworker or parent) who’s always exhausted, take a sec to look at areas of your life where you could use some rest. Yes, sleep is part of the answer, and it’s important to a variety of metabolic functions, but tapping into your physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual restoration will give you the biggest return on investment. Curious if you could feel more rested? See what happens when you incorporate a few of these tips:

Schedule short breaksRemember to breatheGet inspiredLearn to say noOffload your feelingsEngage in something bigger than yourselfGo have fun

Are you overworked? Under rested? Tell me what works for you.

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The Benefits of Trampolining and Rebounding

Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around my neighbor’s trampoline. It was an unsafe, wide open, enormous monstrosity of a trampoline. There was no net (this was the 60s after all), the springs were exposed and really good at snagging errant body parts, and it was conveniently located right next to a 5 foot wall that we’d jump from. I mean, how could you not? It was right there.

You’d bounce for hours, you’d bounce till your calves were on fire. You’d spend hours trying to perfect the front flip, and then the back flip. You’d have death matches where you and another guy would fly at each other from opposite ends of the trampoline, colliding in mid air and trying to knock the other on his back. We called it jousting.

Thankfully, there were no catastrophic injuries. No concussions, no hyperextended knees, no torn ligaments. I can’t even recall a broken bone.

But never did we imagine the trampoline as a way to “exercise.” It was a place to play.

Turns out that, just like all the other fun stuff you do as kids like run around, wrestle, climb, ride bikes, jump, play games and sports, swim, and throw things, trampolining has become a legitimate form of exercise. Search Youtube and you’ll find hundreds of full-blown exercise routines and regimens using the trampoline. They call it “rebounding,” and it usually involves a small personal-sized trampoline, but it’s essentially bouncing on a trampoline.

Benefits of Trampoline Training and Rebounding

What are the benefits of trampoline training or rebounding?

Cardiovascular Fitness

In asthmatic patients, rebounding on a trampoline was compared to typical aerobic training. Both interventions improved fitness and cardiovascular health, but rebounding was even more effective, increasing exercise capacity (VO2max) and lung exhalation and inhalation capacity to a greater degree.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23717...

 

Low Intensity Enough for Everyone

Although all forms of exercise can be tailored to the individual’s capacity, some forms work better than others. You’re not going to have the 72 year old obese heart attack survivor doing high intensity CrossFit WODs. You’re not going to put the frail grandma on a heavy deadlift program. You might be able to work those populations up to more intense stuff, but you have to be careful and move slowly.

Rebounding on a trampoline offers a low-barrier to entry for almost everyone. It’s easy on the joints. It has “give.” It’s inviting. Some trampolines even have support posts you can hold onto until your balance catches up. You can put grandma or the heart attack survivor with bad knees on a trampoline and have them bounce in place. Their feet don’t even have to leave the ground and they’ll still derive benefit.

For instance, in older women with low bone density, a trampoline program helped them improve balance, strength, gait, and mobility. It reduced their fear of falling in every day life—they felt more stable overall. That’s no small feat.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31908...

Tissue Suppleness and Pliability

I’m a big believer in “like for like.” If you have liver issues, maybe you need some liver high in folate and choline. If you have joint issues, eat more collagen or bone broth made from animal joints. And if your tissues are stiff and non-compliant, perhaps bouncing on a supple, pliable surface with lots of give and tons of “flow” and “bounce” will help your tissues become more flowing, supple, and pliable.

In patients with diabetic neuropathy of the foot, rebounding on a mini-trampoline “wakes up” the foot, improving foot mobility, plantar pressure, and sensation.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28326...

Improved Metabolic Health

Trampolining or rebounding is exercise, and exercise improves metabolic health. What this goes to show is that you don’t have to grind it out on a treadmill while cable news blares at you. You can do what most people find to be pleasant and enjoyable and downright fun, like bouncing on a trampoline for 30 minutes three times a week, and see improvements in your lipid numbers, blood glucose control, insulin sensitivity, and waist circumference—even if you have type 2 diabetes.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28249... Even if you’re a type 2 diabetic in rural Nigeria.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26255...

Even if you have normal glucose control, a short session on the trampoline is an effective way to reduce blood sugar levels.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26853... A rebounding session could replace the “after meal walk for better blood sugar.”

Lymph Flow

Lymphatic fluid is the medium by which the body clears out waste, immune cells, toxins, and other unwanted ephemera. Its passive flow is relatively subtle, or even weak. To really clear lymph fluid, you need to move. Muscle contractions clear lymph fluid. Walking clears it. You know how sometimes you’ll see those Chinese grandmas walking in the park, swinging their arms, clapping themselves on the chest and shoulders? That’s a great way to stimulate the flow of lymphatic fluid through the body.

Another great way to do it is to bounce on a trampoline. Better yet, bounce on the trampoline and let your arms bounce around as they see fit. Do not control them. Let them go where they will.

Wakefulness

We have a small trampoline my wife loves to use. While I don’t really go on it for “exercise,” (I prefer full size trampolines, personally) I do like to use it to quickly energize myself. It’s a decent stand-in for my slackline, which I used to have up in the backyard in Malibu. If I ever hit a lull in the day, or felt “writer’s block” creeping up on me, I’d spend five to ten minutes on the slackline and be instantly energized and ready to go. The same thing happens with the trampoline. I bounce around for five to ten minutes and feel fantastic.

To really wake up and get moving, try breathing in, exhaling, holding your breath, and then bouncing on the trampoline until you get the urge to breathe. Best little energizer I’ve discovered as of late.

Calf Training

The problem with calf raises is you have to do them for hundreds of reps almost every day to see any results; the calves are notorious workhorses that can take a ton of punishment before changing or growing. That gets boring—at least to me. One of the most enjoyable ways to train your calves is to bounce on a trampoline, ideally a large one with your kids or grandkids (yeah, yeah, bouncing with kids can be dangerous, so be smart about it; this isn’t medical advice, by the way). You’ll be having so much fun that you don’t realize your calves are on fire.

There are few calf workouts as effective as a trampoline.

It’s Fun

You guys know this about me: I value play and sheer enjoyment of life as a virtue. In addition to creating a legacy and following a mission, enjoying the bounties of this plane of existence are why we exist. Fun is an intrinsic good. It justifies itself. That you get a great workout and improve your metabolic health, balance, tissue pliability, and calf and waist circumference are nice, too, of course.

Proper Rebounding

Despite the playful nature of rebounding and bouncing on a trampoline, there are tips and queues to keep in mind.

Stay upright when you bounce.

Don’t bounce hunched over at the lower back or breaking at the hips. This is not like jumping on flat, stable ground, where you absorb the impact with your glutes and hamstrings. On the trampoline, the surface absorbs the impact. Stay upright with extended hips and your tissues stacked on top of each other.

Go with the flow—don’t fight the trampoline.

People get injured when they try to fight against the trampoline. Instead of actually using the rebounding effect of the trampoline, they try to land on the trampoline like it was the ground and absorb the impact. Bad idea. Jump, land, and jump again as the trampoline throws you upward. Continue. It’s “rebound,” remember? Re-bound.

If you’re getting nervous because you’re jumping too high, just gradually decrease the height you jump. It’s much safer than stopping the bounce entirely.

Always center yourself.

Don’t let the bounce get away from you. Be deliberate about where you land and in which direction you’re going. Don’t land with your feet way out in front or in back of your center of gravity. That’s the stuff hyperextended knees are made of. Maintain that continuity along your body.

Vary your bounces.

You can simply bounce straight up and down, but I’d recommend you’ll get more out of the experience if you try different styles of bounces.

Bounce from left to right.

Do 180s and 360s.

Try a flip or two if you’re confident you can stick it.

Do jumping jacks.

Try single leg bounces.

Try just bouncing without even leaving the trampoline. It’s more of a “pump” action, and great on the quads.

Get creative and as long as you stay true to the three previous tips, you’ll be okay.

Pushups.

This is the hidden secret of the trampoline. Do pushups on it. Normal, everyday pushups become incredibly difficult on a trampoline. It’s not a bounce but I had to mention it.

That’s it for today, folks. Have you ever used a trampoline? Would you? Give these a shot and let me know what you think.

Take care, everyone.

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References https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23717762/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31908438/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28326159/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28249384/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26255814/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26853238/

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Mastic Gum: Science and Benefits

 

Dear Mark,

I was researching natural remedies for some dental problems I’ve been experiencing, and I came across the idea of chewing mastic gum. The more I looked into it, the more supposed benefits I discovered. I’m intrigued! Before I try it for myself, have you looked into mastic gum at all? What’s your take?

— Bill W.

Thanks for the question. Yes, I have looked into mastic gum, and there’s something to it. Looking back, I’m surprised I haven’t written about it already. A bunch of research suggests that mastic gum might help not only with oral health but also with a variety of other issues, including:

DyspepsiaUlcersDiabetesCancer

Mastic gum came back on my radar recently with the renewed interest in proper breathing, spurred by Wim Hof and the publication of books like James Nestor’s Breath. To make a long story short, modern humans’ facial anatomy has changed significantly since the advent of farming and grain-based diets. As food got mushier, jaws became weaker, faces narrower, and airways more constricted. The end result is that although humans evolved to breathe almost exclusively through their noses, many people chronically mouth breathe now, potentially contributing to a host of modern health problems.

Some folks are turning to mastic gum to help build up their masseter (chewing) muscles, the idea being that stronger masseters = wider jawline = improved airways and easier nasal breathing. Of course, eating plenty of steak and raw vegetables—foods that require a lot of chewing—would probably have the same effect…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

What is Mastic Gum?

Mastic gum comes from the resin of the mastic tree, native to the Mediterranean. The particular variety of mastic tree that produces the renowned gum grows on the Greek island of Chios, near Turkey – thus why mastic gum is sometimes referred to as CGM (Chios gum mastic) or, more poetically, the teardrops of Chios.

Chewing tree resin is nothing new for humans. In fact, one of my earliest posts on this blog highlighted a new-at-the-time announcement that archeologists had unearthed 5,000-year-old chewing gum at a dig in Finland. Since then, scientists have successfully extracted DNA from discarded wads of chewing gum from this time period and even older. Using state-of-the-art techniques, scientists have been able to analyze our neolithic ancestors’ oral microbiomes and even know what they were eating around the time they died.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... Very cool stuff.

Ancient Greeks used mastic gum, as well as oil derived from the gum, in cooking and medicine, for freshening breath, and as a digestive aid. The gum tastes bitter at first but mellows into a licorice-like flavor as you chew it. Some people enjoy it, others find it vile – like chewing on a pine cone, I’ve heard.

Today, mastic gum, essential oil, or supplements made from dried and ground resin are readily available. Validating what the ancient Greeks knew from experience, contemporary research has shown that mastic gum has antimicrobial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. It contains a host of beneficial compounds (terpenes, in particular), so it’s not really a surprise that it seems to have such wide-ranging effects.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25133... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22414...

 

Mastic Gum and Dental Health

Getting back to your question, Bill, the answer is yes. In addition to freshening breath, chewing mastic gum seems to improve oral health. More specifically, multiple studies show that chewing mastic gum for 5,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... 10,https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12747... or 15 minutes.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17029... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16343... reduces the levels of bacteria such as streptococci, lactobacilli, and prevotella, which are known to cause tooth decay. None of the researchers followed up with participants for long enough to see whether they developed fewer cavities or other issues in the future, unfortunately.

One small study also found that chewing mastic gum three times per day for 20 minutes over one week reduced plaque when compared to a placebo gum. Participants in this study were forbidden from brushing their teeth or doing any other oral hygiene, though.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12747...

The bottom line is, mastic gum probably has at least some dental health perks. There’s no harm in asking your dentist if it could help with your specific concern.

Other Benefits of Mastic Gum

Thanks to those aforementioned beneficial plant compounds, the health-promoting effects of mastic gum extend well beyond your mouth. More research is needed (a common refrain around these parts), but mastic gum shows promise for a variety of conditions including:

Ulcers

A study conducted back in 1984 found that people who took 1 gram of mastic powder every day for two weeks significantly improved ulcer symptoms and showed more signs of healing than counterparts in a placebo condition.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/63959... Since then, multiple lines of evidence suggest that mastic gum, and some of the individual components therein, can effectively combat H. pylori.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22949... (However, results here are mixed, with some studies showing no effect.) H. pylori bacteria are responsible for the vast majority of ulcers in both the stomach and small intestine.

Cancer

H. pylori is also a risk factor for developing stomach cancer, although there is no direct evidence that mastic gum is useful for prevention or treatment.

That said, a large number of studies have shown that mastic gum and mastic oil are cytotoxic (literally, “cell killing”) for cancer cells, including colon, lung, and pancreatic cancers and leukemia. Researchers have identified a number of pathways by which mastic compounds halt cancer proliferation by facilitating apoptosis.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22044... Thus far, this research has been confined to in vitro studies (studies using cells) and mouse studies, so it’s too soon to know whether mastic gum would fight cancer in humans. Still, it’s interesting.

Chron’s disease

Two small studies found that taking mastic supplements (2.2 grams per day for four weeks) reduced inflammatory cytokines in patients with active Chron’s disease.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18023...

High lipids, blood glucose, and insulin resistance

I’m lumping these together because that’s what the handful of available human studies have done:

Healthy Japanese men took 5 grams of mastic powder or a placebo each day for six months. Researchers also told half of the men in the mastic powder group to add brisk walks three times per week. Compared to the placebo group, all the men who took mastic powder had lower triglyceride levels after three months, but these differences disappeared by the six-month mark. However, after six months, both mastic powder groups had significantly lower insulin levels and HOMA-IR, a measure of insulin resistance.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... group of men and women aged 50 and above received either a high dose (5 grams a day for 18 months) or a low dose (less than one-seventh that amount for 12 months). Total cholesterol and LDL decreased over time in the high-dose group, but the effect was only significant in men.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17150... hundred fifty-six men and women with total cholesterol over 200 mg/dl to start were assigned to receive a placebo or one of three formulations of mastic gum. After eight weeks, participants in one of the mastic gum groups (but not the other two) had slightly lower total cholesterol. Their average fasting blood glucose also dropped by 4.5 mg/dl.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26311...

I know some of my readers won’t be interested in lowering cholesterol as a matter of course, and I’m with you on that. However, I’d venture to say that even most lipid hypothesis skeptics agree that oxidized LDL is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In that vein, one in vitro study compared how well different gums and resins for preventing LDL oxidation. All the substances tested were effective to a degree, but mastic gum offered the most protection.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12748...

Any Risks or Contraindications for Mastic Gum?

Mastic gum falls into the category of “things humans have been using for thousands of years but which haven’t been proven safe by modern standards.” The FDA doesn’t regulate it, but there’s also no evidence that it poses any hazards when used as directed. Do with that what you will.

One important thing to note is that the mastic tree is a member of the pistachio family. Anyone with a tree nut or other tree-related allergy should avoid mastic products until they check with their doctor.

Where To Buy Mastic Gum

As I said, mastic gum, oil, and capsules are readily available online and in some natural food stores. True mastic comes from Chios and is listed as a Product of Protected Designation of Origin by the EU, but imitation products still pop up. Unfortunately, it can be hard to discern what’s what, except perhaps by price. Real mastic isn’t cheap. The best you can do is look for assurances that the product comes from Chios, read reviews, and buy from a reputable retailer.

So what do you say? Are you interested in checking it out? Mastic remains a darling of some alternative health circles, although the clinical data is hardly overwhelming at this point. Try it if your goal is fresher breath, a stronger jaw, and possibly less indigestion. Don’t go replacing medicines for more serious ailments with mastic gum just yet. Still, there’s no reason not to ask your doctor about adding it to your current regimen if you’re curious.

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References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc6917805/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7545173/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25133901/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22414110/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4281189/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12747455/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17029554/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16343417/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12747455/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6395994/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22949590/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22044444/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4066008/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18023095/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6049696/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17150319/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26311707/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12748987/

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Ask a Health Coach: Sabotage and Eating Healthy in Social Situations

Now that the world is opening back up (well… in some places), we’re eating out more, going to more parties, and returning to a “new” new normal that sometimes leaves us (or our partners) struggling to find balance. In this week’s Ask a Health Coach, Erin is here to answer your questions about all this, plus much more. Got something to ask? Post your question in the comments or in our Mark’s Daily Apple Facebook group.

Maria asked:
“How do you handle social situations, specifically a party where no one is health minded? The host said to bring an appetizer and that’s it. We are also planning on staying overnight, so this may need to be part of my 80/20 plan. What can I do to mitigate the damage?”

The Primal Blueprint’s 80/20 philosophy means lots of things to a lot of different folks. For instance, you might interpret it as eating Primal 80% of the time and enjoying your favorite non-primal foods the other 20% — and this can be enacted in many ways, from every fifth day being an indulgent day; or one-fifth of every meal being a non-Primal treat food, etc. Or maybe you use that 20% for those times you’re out and about and decide it’s easier to go with the flow and have the bun (or the fries or the crème brulee). By the way, this is how I use it.

The Basics of the 80/20 Principle

In short, it’s less of a rule and more of a guideline around keeping you sane. It’s the recognition that life throws curveballs at you sometimes. And it’s the acknowledgement that you’ve decided to take responsibility for your overall health. Here’s what it’s not though:

It’s not an excuse to avoid standing up for what’s important to you (#boundaries)It’s not intended to make you feel like you’re some kind of “diet pariah” with strict and fussy rulesIt’s not set up to leaving you feeling guilt or shameIt’s certainly not something to stress about

If you already have a good idea what the scenario looks like, and you’re not interested in eating Standard American Diet fare for an entire weekend, here’s an idea: don’t.

 

What if You Felt Empowered Instead?

It’s possible to enjoy social situations and weekends away without worrying about what you’ll eat. It’s possible to feel confident instead of stressing out or already making plans to combat the aftermath. You’ve just got to have the right tools in your toolbox. Here are some of my favorites:

Get comfortable saying “no.” Many of my health coaching clients feel bad about passing up a dish that someone has made from scratch, but how liberating would it be to just say “no thanks” and then move on? Practice the art of declining an offer without feeling the need to justify your response.Bring your own food. You’re already bringing an appetizer, so why not bring more? Even if your friends aren’t health minded, I’m fairly confident no one’s going to turn their nose up at a plate of deviled eggs, beef kabobs, or a bowl of guac. Charcuterie boards are trending right now.Relax a little. Like I said, 80/20 is a guiding principle — one that goes way beyond just what you eat. Being successful is less about what you do over the course of one random weekend, and more about what you do over a week, month, or year.

 

Jackie asked:
“I really failed at keto. When I make the effort, I feel amazing, however I’ve totally fallen off the wagon. I’ve completely stopped trying and have put on nearly 14 pounds in the last few weeks. It’s the heaviest I’ve ever been. Do you think keto isn’t right for me?”

Sometimes folks just want me to just answer the darned question… but I can’t help myself; I need to go deeper.

What strikes me the most isn’t the fact that you’ve gained weight, or whether or not keto is right for you, it’s your internal dialogue. The way you talk to yourself (often called your inner critic), plays a huge role in how you live your life. If you’re constantly being told you’re a failure or that you’re not a *healthy* person, or that you’ll just gain the weight back anyway, it’s going to be that much more of a mental battle to change your ways.

You’re Born with a Negativity Bias

It’s also important to know that the brain is hardwired for negativity. Ever notice how bad reviews get more attention than good reviews? Or that criticisms have more of an impact than compliments? Psychologists call this the negativity bias, and basically it means that we tend to register negative experiences more quickly and feel them more deeply.1 That’s why past traumas can be so hard to overcome. Notice I say hard and not impossible.

It’s up to you — a health coach can also help you through this process — to reframe those negative, nagging thoughts into less destructive ones.

How to Reframe Your Thoughts

It doesn’t have to be all rainbows and kittens, especially if you’re not feeling it, but acknowledging these thoughts and choosing different ones is the first step to accepting where you are and carving out a clear path where you want to go.

Understand that your brain is trying to protect you. Its job is to keep you safe from the unknown. That’s why it keeps replaying the same soundtrack over and over again. Also: you don’t have negative thoughts, you have the habit of thinking negative thoughts. I realize this is a minor shift in language, but it has big implications on how open you are to letting go of things that no longer serve you.Take away your inner critic’s power. Feels like a daunting task, right? It’s easier than you think. Next time you have a thought that feels negative or like something a worry wart or bully would say, give that voice a name. Give it a silly voice too if you can. Personifying the thoughts that repeatedly pop into your mind starts to separate you from those thoughts and ultimately takes away the power they have over you.Challenge the negative thought. Look for proof that the thought isn’t true. Did you really fail at keto or did you have a stressful week (or year) and decide not to make time to plan appropriately? Or maybe you didn’t have your why totally dialed in. Regardless, find evidence to dismantle your negative thought. So, to bring it back: You say you “failed at keto” — is that really true? What if it weren’t true? What if the only thing you actually “failed” at was forgetting to have some protein thawed in the fridge, or clearing the corn chips out of the pantry?Embrace imperfection. As a recovering perfectionist, I can tell you first-hand that this strategy is crucial to reframing your thoughts. Honing your ability to accept your imperfections allows you to look at situations as feedback, not failure. Plus, it helps you stay on track because you’re not fussing over every little detail.

Remember, being healthy isn’t just about what you’re eating. It’s about your sleep, your stress levels, your activity, and your self-talk. It’s all important if you want to achieve health and happiness.

(As for whether keto is right for you, since folks really do just want me to answer the darned question… I think it’s pretty “right” for most humans, some of the time.)

 

Mary asked:
“I think my husband is a “sabotager.” We designated an account for food shopping, but he keeps dipping into our budget for other things, even though he knows I am trying to do this low starch and low sugar diet and require special items. How do I get him on my side?”

Ahh, the struggles of navigating self-improvement with a partner who’s not totally on board. One of the biggest challenges of eating a certain way is that not everyone in your household is going to be on the same page. Not only that, those people may begin to resent (and subsequently sabotage) you for taking steps to improve your health.

Like you’re noticing, maybe they spend money allotted for one thing on something else. Or they look at you sideways when you order your burger lettuce-wrapped. And while you’re probably not going to get him to ditch his processed food diet, you can lay the groundwork for having a more respectful relationship.

Get Clear on Expectations

The biggest source of conflict I see with my health coaching clients is the disconnect between what one person is doing and what they expect from their partner. The best advice I can give you is to have a well-rounded, fully two-sided conversation about what your food budget is meant to be spent on. For example, if your husband brings home cookies when you’re abstaining from sugar, you probably feel like he’s sabotaging your efforts. But what if the guy just likes cookies? It’s his budget too, and as much as the world would be better off taking processed food off the table, it’s not going to happen.

Frame this conversation as an agreement, rather than an expectation. Instead of telling your partner what you want or need from them, explain why it’s important to you and ask them if they’d be willing to come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial. For instance, maybe you co-create an agreement that says that treat foods like cookies are brought home from the store on specially-designated treat days (Treat Tuesday?), and the purchase of said treats doesn’t come out of the shared food budget. That puts some parameters around the treats, without foisting your health decisions on your unsuspecting life partner.

P.S. How to Save on Healthy Food

Another thing to keep in mind is that eating healthy — and that includes low carb and low sugar items — doesn’t necessarily have to cost more. In other words, you may not need to budget as much as you think. Sure, grass-fed beef costs more. And organic fruits and veggies cost more. But nutritious foods don’t always have to break the bank.

Skip the store and visit a local farmers market instead. Don’t have a market near you? Frozen fruits and veggies are a good option.Lean cuts of conventionally raised meats are a decent back-up if you can’t swing grass-fed.Watch out for the extras. You know, the biodynamic wine, the fancy dark chocolate, the artisan cheeses. They’re nice to have (and as a proud hedonist, I am a true fan!) but you don’t need them. If budgeting is (one of) the great obstacle(s) in your way, get clear on what you actually need in the fridge and pantry.

How about you? Do you agree? Disagree?

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What We Can Learn From Bodybuilders

In the Primal or “functional fitness” communities, I’ve noticed that bodybuilding gets a bad rap. The story goes that bodybuilders are only in it for the aesthetics. Or that their strength isn’t “real,” that they do too many isolation exercises that rarely occur in natural settings or sports for that matter.

And I get some of that. The average bodybuilder who only focuses on the appearance of his or her muscles is leaving a lot of function on the table. Bodybuilders are often not the paragons of athleticism as commonly conceived—running and jumping, general physical preparedness. Yet critics miss the fact that bodybuilding itself is a sport. It’s a complex undertaking that requires extreme discipline and the development of certain skills. It’s anything but easy. Like any community, there’s plenty to criticize about bodybuilding, but there’s also a lot to learn from it.

What can we learn from bodybuilders?

The importance of the mind-muscle connection.

A bodybuilder doesn’t just “lift” weights. A bodybuilder consciously “feels” every muscle cell contract. A bodybuilder focuses on the burn. A bodybuilder directs a significant portion of conscious brain activity toward fully experiencing the act of lifting the weight and contracting the muscle. According to bodybuilding lore, focusing on that mind-muscle connection makes you stronger, gives you better results, and triggers greater hypertrophy.

You don’t have to be a bodybuilder to utilize this concept. Hell, you don’t even have to lift weights to understand that fully engaging with the activity you’re doing can improve your results.

Finding joy in the journey while still having goals.

There’s a great line in “Pumping Iron” where Arnold Schwarzenegger compares the pump you get from lifting and feeling your muscles engorge with blood to sex. While I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, it does speak to the bodybuilder’s ability to find joy in the journey toward a goal. Each lift, each rep, each set is an opportunity for you to feel something beautiful: your muscles contracting and propelling a heavy weight through space and time, and then swelling with exertion. That doesn’t just apply to bodybuilding. It applies to everything in life. The best way to do anything is to enjoy both the journey and the goal.

Because the bodybuilder still has a goal off in the distance. The bodybuilder goes on this journey to reach a desired body fat level, or to hit a new PR, or to add inches to this or that body part. They’re not just messing around in the gym. There’s a goal and there’s the path to the goal, and both are celebrated and savored.

 

Extreme discipline and consistency.

Bodybuilding doesn’t work if you don’t. The minimum effective dose method of training is great for getting fit, staying strong, and looking good naked, but it probably won’t get you into the upper echelons of bodybuilding. To do that, you must train consistently and never waver from your vocation. You need extreme discipline—to eat right, to sleep right, to endure the long and frequent workouts.

Sure, the “lucky” among us seem to have good things drop in their laps all the time, simply by virtue of their existence. But in reality, the lucky are disciplined and consistent. By getting out there and putting in the work, by putting yourself in the position to discover opportunities or even by simply being open to possibility and potential, luck finds you. That’s been my experience. I don’t even think that’s it anything “mystical” or “magical.” More likely is that being open and consistent and discipline sensitizes your brain to the opportunities that are always out there, always surrounding you.

To keep carbs low if fats are high and vice versa.

Bodybuilders are masters of “dieting down,” of modifying their body fat levels to extract the most definition. They do this by manipulating their macronutrient intakes.

If carbs are low, fats are high. If carbs are high, fats are low. Keeping carbs high and fat low is a good method for boosting leptin, a hormone that controls appetite and energy expenditure and tends to drop rather low when losing weight. You see, body fat secretes leptin to suppress appetite (because energy stores are high) and increase energy expenditure (because you have energy available to use). Dieting reduces leptin, and while dietary fat has little to no effect on leptin secretion, carbs increase it. This is why the low-fat, higher-carb carb refeed can be an effective weight loss strategy for long-term keto dieters who’ve lost a lot of weight but have hit a weight loss stall: the addition of carb in the absence of dietary fat promotes leptin secretion and “kickstarts” the fat loss.

Protein is king for body composition.

When a bodybuilder is cutting, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is on a mass gain protocol, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is recovering from competition, protein is high. when a bodybuilder is doing a keto phase, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is doing a high-carb phase, protein is high. Protein is always high.

Fasted walks are a lifehack.

An old bodybuilder trick that I’ve been using for decades is the early morning fasted walk. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like: you go for a brisk walk of at least 30 minutes on an empty stomach. This serves to liberate and oxidize body fat, and it’s just a great way to start your day. Even the most carb-reliant people can handle an early morning fasted walk because it isn’t intense and it never even hints at requiring glycogen. Excellent for everyone, not just bodybuilders.

Apologies for using the word “lifehack” but I just had to do it.

Counting calories works if you’re honest and meticulous.

I don’t recommend that most people count calories to lose weight. But if you do it right, and you’re committed to it, it can work.

But a bodybuilder who counts calories counts calories. They weigh and measure everything that goes into their mouths. They are obsessive about it. And they often have the willpower to simply stop eating if they’re about to exceed their allotted caloric count. Also, they do many other things in addition to counting calories that contribute to their success, like tracking their macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrate). They count calories without claiming that every calorie has the same effect on body composition and metabolic rate.

Extremely low body fat levels are not sustainable.

Most people only ever see bodybuilders in their competition state: dehydrated, starving, sub-8% body fat. But walking around, your average bodybuilder is hydrated, well-fed, and closer to 12-15% body fat. Extremely low-body fat is not healthy, and it’s not sustainable. One study found that during competitions, bodybuilders who go from 14% to 4.5% body fat have low testosterone, high cortisol, and are stressed to the gills.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23412... Their strength decreases and their mood worsens. But once they recover and go back to 14% body fat, everything normalizes (except for strength, which takes six months to recover).

Most meaningful pursuits are also hard.

Bodybuilding is neither simple nor easy. It takes detailed planning and logistics—meals, schedules, training time, sleep, naps—all while leading an otherwise normal life (because most bodybuilders aren’t getting rich off it). It requires extreme physical effort—the actual lifting of the weights, the cardio, the overall enduring of pain and suffering. You might even argue that the effort it requires makes bodybuilding that much more meaningful.

As a heuristic, “meaningful pursuits tend to be hard” works quite well.

Having a child is an enormously meaningful pursuit, usually one the most important tasks you can take on. It’s also hard as hell.

Starting a business is meaningful—it can give you financial and temporal freedom. But man is it tough.

Humans appear to derive meaning out of difficult pursuits. Go back to the earliest days and the hardest things we could do—hunting large animals, taking down prey many times larger, stronger, and faster than us—were the most objectively meaningful (they gave us sustenance). I don’t think this has changed over the years.

Broscience is often vindicated by “legit” science.

Bodybuilders were doing carb refeeds before the science of leptin was mainstream.

Bodybuilders were taking fasted morning walks before IF became a legitimate avenue of scientific research.

Bodybuilders were running (and sharing the results of) n=1 self-experiments on concepts that took decades to gain mainstream recognition.

Just like pro sports teams are often light years ahead on injury recovery and advanced surgical techniques, bodybuilders often get the science right before “Science” legitimizes it.

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References https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23412685/

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Oil Cleansing: The Best Natural Skincare Technique You Haven’t Tried Yet

You care about what goes in your body, right? Read food labels? Avoid questionable ingredients? Invest in the best quality animal products and produce you can? Well then, it only makes sense to care about what goes on your body as well.

It’s easy to treat skin health like it’s somehow separate from overall health—as if the important stuff happens inside your body, and the skin just holds it all together. You may take steps to keep it looking youthful and prevent burning, but do you consider skin care part of your wellness routine? Perhaps not, unless skin conditions force you to think about it. Yet, skin is your largest organ. It’s a major gatekeeper of what does and does not enter your body. We know now that the skin hosts a living microbiome that not only protects skin health but also plays a role in systemic immunity and inflammation.

Mark has touched on safer skincare in the past, but today I’m offering up something a little different. What if I told you that you can use one product to clean and moisturize your skin and fry your eggs in the morning? It’s true.

Oil cleansing is nothing new in the natural beauty space. Heck, people were using oil to wash their faces and bodies thousands of years ago. More people have become interested in it in recent years because it is a staple of Korean skincare routines, which have exploded in popularity worldwide. (Maybe you’ve noticed how you can find sheet masks in practically every store now? Thank the influence of Korean skincare, or “K-beauty,” for that too.)

While oil cleansing can be as simple as washing your face with whatever cooking oil you have in the kitchen, there’s a little more to it than that. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

 

Oil Cleansing: What is It, and Why Should You Try It?

Very simply, oil cleansing takes advantage of the “like attracts like” principle of chemistry. When you wash your face, the goal is not only to remove dirt but also excess sebum and oil-based makeup, sunscreen, and environmental pollutants. Sebum is an oily or waxy substance secreted by sebaceous glands in your skin, especially on the face and scalp. It’s part of your skin’s natural defense system, but it can also build up on the skin, become trapped in follicles, and contribute to acne.

We all know oil and water repel each other, which means water is not the most effective way to remove oily substances from the skin. To combat this, the soap and cleansers you’ll find in the skincare aisle of the drugstore use surfactants and other ingredients that can irritate and dry out the skin. Oil cleansing works because the oil binds with the grime on your skin so you can wipe it away more easily.

For those with sensitive skin, the biggest benefit may be what oil doesn’t contain: parabens, sulfates, phthalates, dyes, fragrances, and other suspect ingredients. This is a plus for Primal folks, who like to be cognizant of what they’re putting on and in their bodies.

Although you can use oils to wash your entire body, the oil cleansing method generally refers to facial cleansing, so that’s what I’ll focus on here.

Is Oil Cleansing Right for Me?

Oil cleansing is perfect for:

People with sensitive skin who tend to react to store-bought cleansersDIYers who enjoy making their own skincare productsAnyone who wants to avoid certain ingredients due to health or safety concernsMinimalists who want to purchase the fewest products possible

Oil cleansing can work for every skin type, even oily skin. The trick is to find the particular oil or oil blend that works best for your skin. This may take some trial and error. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of different facial oils below.

Oil Cleansing Method Step-by-stepStart with dry skin. Rub about a teaspoon of facial oil onto your face. Don’t forget under your chin and around your jawline. Massage for at least 30 seconds, but one to two minutes is generally recommended, to release the sebum, dirt, and makeup from your skin.Use a washcloth or microfiber cloth to gently wipe away the oil. Some people prefer a dry cloth, by one dampened with warm or hot water seems to work better.Optionally, perform a second cleaning. (See the double cleansing method below.) This is especially useful if you wear a lot of makeup. You can do a second oil cleansing or follow up with a gentle cleanser. Now is also a perfect time to apply some more oil to your face and do some gua sha, and/or perform some face yoga.Finish with your preferred skin products. Many people report that they don’t need moisturizer or additional products after oil cleansing because their skin already feels so supple.

That’s it! You can use the oil cleansing method nightly if you want, though you might find that your skin prefers only every other night. In that case, see if you can get away with just warm water and a washcloth in between.

Note: When you first start oil cleansing, you might experience some redness, dryness, or oiliness. That’s pretty common when switching up your skincare routine, especially if you have sensitive skin to start. Stick with it. Give your skin a couple weeks to settle down before experimenting with different oils unless you have a serious reaction, in which case stop immediately.

Double Cleansing Method

With the double cleansing method, you follow up your oil cleansing with a second face wash using a water-based cleanser.

Double cleansing isn’t necessary by any means. In fact, it’s probably overkill for folks whose faces don’t get too grimy during the day. Try it if you wear heavy makeup or sunscreen, or if you spend a lot of time outdoors in places with less-than-optimal air quality.

For the ultimate in self-care, check out the renowned 10-step Korean skincare routine. It starts with a double cleanse, followed by eight (optional) steps to exfoliate, tone, nourish, and moisturize your skin.

Best Cleansing Oils

You can buy pre-made facial cleansing oils at various price points. Alternately, you can purchase one or more basic oils, usually at a lower cost, and make your own. Personally, I like to customize my skincare and experiment with different oils, so I do the latter.

To start, you’ll need one or more cleansing oils. To those core cleansing oils, you might add other oils with beneficial properties. I think of these as luxury or specialty ingredients because they’re often more expensive than your core oils. However, they can also be used as cleansing oils if your budget allows.

Finally, you might choose to add essential oils according to your skincare goals. (Essential oils aren’t actually oils, but that’s neither here nor there when it comes to oil cleansing.) This is completely optional. Make sure you’re diluting essential oils properly, as undiluted essential oils are usually too potent for topical applications. A good starting place for most essential oils is a 1 percent dilution, which is three drops of essential oil per tablespoon of cleansing oil, or six drops per fluid ounce.

Popular Facial Cleansing Oils

When choosing an oil, quality matters just as in cooking. Don’t just buy the cheapest oil you can find. Some popular facial oils are ones that Primal folks generally avoid, such as grapeseed. As a rule, if I don’t eat it, I also don’t put it on my skin.

The following are not complete lists but common oils that people like. There are many more you might try based on what you think will make your skin happy.

Cleansing oils:

Castor oil (only in combination with other oils – more on this below)Avocado oilOlive oilJojoba oilSweet almond oilApricot kernel oilSesame oil

Additional oil add-ins (can also be cleansing oils):

Argan oilCalendula oilRosehip oilTamanu oil

Essential oils:

Carrot seedFrankincenseLavenderLemon (use only under SPF or at night)Tea treeThymeCan You Use Coconut Oil for Oil Cleansing?

Want to start a ruckus? Go on a natural skincare forum and suggest that coconut oil is the best oil for your skin.

I’m slightly exaggerating, but for real, coconut oil is pretty controversial in the skincare world. Some people swear by it because it’s naturally antibacterial, not to mention readily available and affordable. It’s also comedogenic compared to the oils recommended above, meaning it can cause breakouts.

There’s no reason you can’t try it. I use coconut oil on my body but not on my face just in case.

Castor Oil Dos and Don’ts

People have been using castor oil cosmetically and medicinally for thousands of years, perhaps longer. An entire chapter was devoted to it in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text dating back more than three millennia.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27027...

It is one of the most popular oils for oil cleansing because it is moisturizing, antibacterial, acne-fighting, and super effective at breaking down other oils. Although it is generally regarded as safe for topical use, castor oil is too astringent on its own, so always dilute it with another cleansing oil. Castor oil shouldn’t comprise more than 50 percent of your cleansing oil blend. There are also concerns about safety and sustainability during the harvesting and refining process, so be sure to choose ethically harvested, hexane-free castor oil.

Castor oil can also induce labor.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28750... Pregnant individuals should never ingest castor oil without their doctor’s knowledge. To be safe, ask your doctor before using it topically.

How to Get Started with Oil Cleansing

Step one:

Pick a single oil or oil blend to start. If you don’t already have a preference, try a 50/50 mix of castor oil and another cleansing oil. My go-to oils are avocado oil or jojoba oil.

Don’t want to use castor oil? No problem. It’s not necessary by any means, and some people find that it dries out their skin anyway. Use one or two of the other cleansing oils instead.

Step two:

Start by incorporating oil cleansing into your nightly routine two or three times a week. Ideally, don’t use other cleansers in between. You’re trying to help balance your natural facial oils and allow your skin to adapt to oil cleansing. Simply wash your face with a washcloth and warm water.

Don’t add any other new products to your routine at this time. You want to be able to see how your skin reacts to the oils.

Step three:

Once your skin acclimates, optionally start to experiment with adding specialty or essential oils. Again, make only one change at a time to gauge your skin’s reaction, especially if it’s sensitive. Don’t do what I do and change it up every time on a whim.

Troubleshooting

What if your skin is still irritated after a few weeks of oil cleansing? First, try changing your cleansing oils. You could be having a mild allergic reaction, or the oil(s) you’ve chosen might not be a good fit for your skin type. Anecdotally, some people’s skin doesn’t do well with olive oil for some reason, and I already mentioned that coconut oil is iffy.

You might need to reduce the proportion of castor oil in your cleansing blend if your skin is becoming dry. On the flip side, if your skin seems to be getting oilier, increasing the amount of castor oil could help.

Remove any extra or essential oils you’ve added and focus on finding base oil(s) that work for your skin type.

Finally, you can try reducing the frequency of your oil cleansing down to just once or twice per week, then slowly build up from there if desired.

Ultimately, oil cleansing should be a relaxing addition to your skin-care routine that allows your skin’s natural beauty to radiate.

Oil Cleansing FAQsHow do you oil cleanse? What are the steps?

Start with dry skin. Rub about one teaspoon of cleansing oil all over your face. Massage it in for one to two minutes to release the oil and grime from your skin. Use a cloth (dry or dampened with warm or hot water) to remove the oil completely.

What oils should I use for oil cleansing?

Popular cleansing oils include castor oil, avocado oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, and sesame oil. Some folks also add argan oil, rosehip oil, or other beneficial facial oils. Coconut oil is not recommended due to its comedogenic properties.

How often should you oil cleanse?

People who regularly wear makeup or sunscreen on their skin or who live in environments with a lot of air pollution might want to oil cleanse every night. Other folks prefer to use oil cleansing as a deep cleaning treatment only a couple times per week.

Is oil cleansing good for oily skin? Dry skin? Combination skin?

Oil cleansing is appropriate for any skin type. Although it may seem counterintuitive, oil cleansing can actually be more beneficial for people with oily skin than washing their face with harsher cleansers. The trick is to find the cleansing oil or oil blend that works best for your skin.

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References https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27027749/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28750937/

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The Definitive Guide to Keto

I use my Los Angeles surroundings as a barometer for changes in the mainstream approach to health, and it holds up quite well. Silicon Valley can claim to be the cradle of technology, but L.A. is definitely the cradle of diet and fitness trends; and the latest is most definitely keto. At the local cafe where every species of Malibu fitness enthusiast gathers to gossip and fuel up, I’m seeing fewer gels and energy bars, and way more butter coffees and discarded packets of the new powdered ketone supplement products.

Sure enough, keto is entering into mainstream health consciousness everywhere. Google searches for “ketogenic diet” are at an all-time highhttps://trends.google.com/trends/expl.... The stream of keto-related email queries and comments I receive has seen a major uptick. Not long ago, a major publisher approached me with a keto book proposal, which I accepted. I dove headlong into a total immersion/participatory journalism experience where I walked my talk, and pricked my finger for blood tests enough times to get a little scar tissue going, for several months. The book is called The Keto Reset Diet and is available now. This is a comprehensive presentation to educate you on the science and benefits of ketone burning and to give you step-by-step guidance to go keto the right away, avoiding the common setbacks that happen when many adopt an ill-advised approach to something as delicate and rigorous as nutritional ketosis. You can order your copy from major retailers now.  We also filmed a comprehensive online multimedia educational course to give you a guided immersion experience that is available at ketoreset.com.

If you’re not quite ready to dive into the deep end of keto, read our beginner’s guide to keto.

Now for a Definitive Guide to Ketosis and the Keto Diet….

To understand ketogenic diets, you must understand the conditions that promote ketosis. And to do that, you must understand how our bodies beta-oxidize fatty acids for energy.

Fatty acids are broken down into acetyl-CoA.Acetyl-CoA combines with oxaloacetate.The acetyl-CoA/oxaloacetate duo starts the Krebs cycle.The Krebs cycle produces ATP, the body’s energy currency.Congratulations. You’ve just turned fat into energy.Where Does Ketosis Come In?

If the supply of acetyl-CoA exceeds the supply of oxaloacetate, the liver converts any excess acetyl-CoA into ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are an “alternative” energy source for the brain and body. 

Both carbohydrates and protein provide oxaloacetate to the liver, so both carbohydrates and protein can prevent ketone production or knock you out of ketosis. Carbohydrates also elevate insulin, which blocks the release of body fat and reduces the amount of fatty acids making their way to the liver for conversion into ketones. A ketogenic diet, then, is one that limits carbohydrate and, to a lesser extent, protein.

Ketosis occurs in certain instances without any dietary change at all:

Extreme physical exertion that depletes liver glycogen (total around 100 grams) and depletes around half of stored muscle glycogen (total around 400-500 grams) Fasting for significant time period (at least 24 hours for most people)Starvation or significant restriction in total calories for a signification time period

In all of these conditions, there’s a common ketogenic thread: liberation of body fat in excess of that which we can beta-oxidize. Any fat that isn’t beta-oxidized for energy will convert to ketones.

In one sense, ketosis is a stop-gap solution for situations where you’re burning huge amounts of body fat, like during a famine. Why would I want to mimic abject starvation if there’s all this food around?

Grocery stores are an evolutionary aberration. The constant drip of glucose into our blood is a modern luxury. For most of human history, if we wanted carbs, we had to climb a tree and extricate a bee’s nest, spend hours digging tubers, or wait around for the wild fruit to ripen. We are adapted to periods of low food availability, and, especially, low glucose availability.

Plus, humans are remarkably good at slipping into ketosis. Whereas for most other animals ketosis is difficult to achieve, a human will be mildly ketotic just waking up from a full night’s sleep. Heck, breastfed babies spend much of their time in ketosis despite drinking nutritionally balanced breastmilk. We’re clearly meant to produce and utilize ketones from time to time, and it’s safe to assume that mimicking this ancestral milieu provides adaptive benefits.

Let’s go over some of the major ones.

Adaptive Benefits of Ketosis

There are many benefits of ketosis and the keto diet, which makes it worthwhile to try for most people.

The Keto Diet for Treatment for Major Disease States

The ketogenic diet first emerged as a tool for clinicians to treat their patients with epilepsy. It was—and remains—the only thing with the consistent ability to prevent seizures. Whether it’s Thai kids with intractable epilepsyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27249..., Scandinavian kids with therapy-resistant epilepsyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25457..., or adults with refractory epilepsyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28179..., ketogenic diets just work.

Ketosis improves epilepsy via several mechanisms.

It increases conversionhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19049... of glutamate into glutamine into GABA, reducing neuronal excitability.

It increases antioxidant status in the neuronal mitochondria, improving their function.

It reduces free radical formation in neurons, a likely cause of seizureshttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti....

These effects on neuronal function and health, along with the ability of aging or degenerating brains to accept and utilize ketone bodies, also have implications for other brain conditions, like Parkinson’shttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25101..., Alzheimer’shttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26766..., bipolar disorderhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030..., and many psychiatric disordershttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030....

Ketogenic diets aren’t just beneficial for brain disorders, though.

A Spanish ketogenic diet (keto with wine, basically) cured people of the metabolic syndromehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21688... and improved health markers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Over 92% of subjects improved their liver health; 21% resolved it entirely.

In cancer patients, a keto diet preserves lean mass and causes fat losshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26946.... Many researchers are exploring the use of ketogenic diets in preventing and treating cancerhttps://nutritionandmetabolism.biomed..., although results are very preliminary.

The Keto Diet for Cognitive Function

Since ketosis can help with major brain disorders, many have wondered whether it can improve cognitive function in otherwise healthy people. Unfortunately, researchers haven’t studied the nootropic effects of ketogenic diets in healthy people—yet. They have looked at people with “milder” cognitive deficits, though, finding some promising effects.

In mild cognitive decline, a  ketogenic diet improves memoryhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21130....

In type 1 diabetics who experience reduced cognitive function when their blood sugar is low, increasing ketone production via medium chain triglycerides (found in coconut oil) restores ithttps://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org....

In adults with bad memory, adding ketones improves cognitionhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15123.... The higher the serum ketones, the better the scores.

In older adults, a very low-carb diet improves memoryhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21130.... Again, higher ketones predicts bigger improvements.

Anecdotes abound of people with intact cognitive function going on ketogenic diets and experiencing huge benefits to their mental performance. I’ve been experimenting with more protracted ketosis for some time now, and I can add my hat to the pile. What could be going on?

It may clear up brain foghttps://caloriesproper.com/ketosis-an..., that enemy of clear thinking, by clearing ammonia from the brain and upregulating conversion of glutamate into GABAhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22304....

It definitely increases brain energy production by increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain. More mitochondria, more energy production.

It tends to produce a sense of euphoria. If you can parlay that into productivity instead of getting caught up in the sensationhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/81959..., your mental output will increase. A cup of strong coffee helps here.

The Keto Diet for Physical Performance

Being keto-adapted has several advantages for anyone interested in physical performance.

It increases energy efficiency. At any given intensity, a keto-adapted athlete burns more fat and less glycogen than a sugar-burning athlete. Long-term elite keto athletes can burnhttps://www.metabolismjournal.com/art... up to 2.3 times more fat at peak oxidation and 59% more fat overall than non-keto athletes, and they do it at higher intensities. They remain in the predominantly fat-burning zone at 70% of VO2max, whereas non-keto athletes switch over from predominantly fat burning to a spike in sugar-burning at 54.9% VO2max.

It spares glycogen. Glycogen is high-octane fuel for intense efforts. We store it in the muscles and liver, but only about 2400 calories-worth—enough for a couple hours of intense activity at most. Once it’s gone, we have to carb up to replenish it. Keto-adaptation allows us to do more work using fat and ketones for fuel, thereby saving glycogen for when we really need it. Since even the leanest among us carry tens of thousands of calories of body fat, our energy stores become virtually limitless on a ketogenic diet.

It builds mitochondria. Mitochondria are the power plants of our cells, transforming incoming nutrients into ATP. The more mitochondria we have, the more energy we can utilize and extract from the food we eat—and the more performance we can wring out of our bodies. Ketosis places new demands on our mitochondria, who adapt to the new energy environment by increasing in number.

The Keto Diet for Fat Loss

Although keto is not a classical weight loss diet, it can certainly help a person lose body fat. After all, to generate ketones without eating ketogenic precursors, you have to liberate stored body fat.

But that’s not the main mechanism for ketogenic fat loss. Ketosis isn’t “magic”—it doesn’t melt body fat away. Instead, it works for many of the same reasons a standard low-carb Primal way of eating works: by reducing insulin, increasing mobilization of stored body fat, and decreasing appetite.

Ketosis suppressing appetitehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... may be the most important feature. The overriding drive to eat more food is the biggest impediment to weight loss, and it’s the reason why most diets fail. When people attempt to eat less food despite wanting more, they butt up against their own physiology. Few win that battle.

Ketogenic dieting avoids this issue altogether, suppressing the increase in hunger hormones that normally occurs after weight losshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23632....

Ketogenic diets are especially effective for massive weight loss. If you have a ton of weight to lose, aiming for ketosis could help you lose body fat. Again, not because of any inherent fat-burning quality of the ketones, but because in order to make ketones you must liberate stored body fat.

Many diets work in the short-term and fail in the long run. Weight loss isn’t worth anything if you can’t keep it off. Ketogenic diets appear to be good for long-term maintenance of weight losshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651..., at least compared to low-fat diets.

 

How to Do the Keto Diet Right

I’ll have more details in The Keto Reset Diet book, but there are right ways and wrong ways to do keto. What’s wrong or right is contextual, of course. It depends on several factors.

If you’re part of a small group that uses keto to keep seizures at bay, or treat serious neurological diseases, you’ll want to diligently maintain high blood ketone levels. That means sticking to very-low-carb (5-10% of calories) and low/moderate protein (10-15% of calories). But even then, modified ketogenic diets with slightly higher carbs and relaxed protein intakes are also effective against epilepsyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23679....

If you’re doing keto for general health or weight loss, you can handle more protein and still remain in ketosis. Protein will help stave off the muscle loss, and, because calories are reduced, you can handle a bit more protein without interfering with ketosis. An older ketogenic diet studyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/70008... in obese subjects shows that 50% protein diets are highly ketogenic as long as calories are kept low. And in another studyhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/68657..., subjects eating a weight-maintaining ketogenic diet ate up to 129 grams of protein without leaving ketosis (129 grams is fairly high).

If you’re trying to lose weight, artificially boosting ketones won’t accelerate the process. Higher ketones do not enhance fat loss, but they may indicate it’s taking place.

How to Make Keto Work

Ketogenic dieting is a big jump for some people. You’re literally switching over to a new metabolic substrate. That can take some getting used to. Make sure you are well-prepared with a Primal-aligned eating pattern in place for ideally several months before you ponder a journey into nutritional ketosis.

Make a minimum commitment to six weeks of nutritional ketosis. The first three weeks will be the most difficult as you transition to new fuel sources, but then you can expect breakthroughs. Some serious athletes may experience a temporary performance dip in the early weeks, but then will come back strong after 4 weeks and beyondhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/68657.... Once you get to the six-week mark, the metabolic machinery is in place, and it’s hard to reverse the adaptation. Extra mitochondria don’t just disappear.

Get plenty of electrolytes. You’ll want lots of sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Try 4.5 grams sodium (about 2 teaspoons of fine salt or a little under 3 teaspoons of kosher salt), 300-400 mg magnesium, and 1-2 grams of potassium each day on top of your normal food. Going keto really flushes out water weight, and tons of electrolytes leave with it.

Eat fat, but don’t be crazy about it. Just because a ketogenic diet is a high-fat diet doesn’t mean you should eat ungodly amounts of fat. Being ketogenic is more about not eating carbohydrates than it is eating as much fat as you possibly can.

Eating extra fat in the first 4-7 days can accelerate keto-adaptation by increasing AMPK signaling. Dial it down after.

Lift heavy things. A common criticism of ketogenic diets is that they cause loss of lean mass. This isn’t totally unfounded. If your ketogenic diet reduces appetite so much that you undereat, you might lose muscle. If you’re on a super-low-protein ketogenic diet, you might lose muscle. Lifting weights prevents these issues by sending an anabolic signal to your muscles and allowing the consumption of more protein without hampering ketosis. 

Do lots of low level aerobic activity. Walk, hike, jog, cycle, row. Keep things in the aerobic HR zone (under 180 minus age in heart beats per minute), and you’ll increase your utilization of body fat, which will speed up ketone production and adaptation.

Eat vegetables. The vast majority of vegetables are keto-friendly. Not only do they provide important micronutrients and phytonutrients, they provide negligible amounts of carbohydrates.

Eat berries. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries are all quite low in glycemic load and extremely high in phytonutrients. While eating a flat of strawberries isn’t very ketogenic, a large bowlful won’t knock you out.

Eat fiber. Many people on ketogenic diets tend to ignore or malign fiber. That’s a mistake. First, fiber doesn’t digest into glucose. It doesn’t “count.” Second, fiber feeds your gut biomehttps://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/..., providing fermentable substrate for your gut bacteria to turn into beneficial short chain fatty acids and to provide support to your immune system.

For a more in-depth look at what to eat, read my blog on what to eat when going keto.

How to Know if You’re Ketogenic

You can test your blood, urine, or breath ketones. There are drawbacks to each, and unless you have a medical condition necessitating a specific level of ketones, obsessive testing may be unnecessary/unwise/expensive. Forget the inexpensive urine strips, as they measure only what you excrete, not what you are making and burning.

Once you’re keto-adapted and naturally good at burning fat, the ketone measuring devices might not put up impressive numbers. That’s because, after weeks in ketosis, you have built enough metabolic machinery in your muscles that they run extremely well on free fatty acids and don’t require much additional fuel from glucose or ketones. 

You’re still making ketones, since your brain can’t run on fatty acids and needs them to offset the glucose that isn’t coming, but your muscles no longer require them. Many people who have been in long term ketosis can get by quite nicely on 20-30 net grams of carbs a day and might only show .4 or .7 millimolar ketones on a blood test, but they have plenty of energy from burning free fatty acids and maintain muscle mass on relatively fewer calories than when they were dependent on carbs. Few people understand this, but it’s a major benefit of keto-adaptation. You might even say that ketogenic diets are ultimately about becoming free fatty acid-adapted.

Instead of objective numbers, I prefer to go by symptoms and signs. Since you’re trying to divine what works best for you, relying on the subjective signs and symptoms you experience is perfectly legitimate. These include:

Reduced urge to snack: Being ketone-adapted means you’re less reliant on outside calories.

Steady energy: When I’m feeling full of relaxed energy, calm but not sleepy, I know I’m in ketosis.

You may have heard talk about the dreaded ketone breath, caused by the presence of the metabolite acetone (the breakdown product of the ketone bodies acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate). A sweet and fruity odor to your exhalations is a reliable indicator that you are in a state of ketosis, but it’s also a likely indicator that you are not yet super efficient at burning ketones. Don’t worry, that will come in short order.

So, are carbs out forever? What if you want to incorporate carbs for high intensity performance while maintaining the benefits of ketosis?

First of all, it may not make much of a difference if you’re just strength training. A series of recent studies looked at the effects of introducing carbs into a ketogenic diet in resistance trained adults, finding little to no benefithttps://caloriesproper.com/cyclical-k....

Carbs likely will help certain populations, namely CrossFitters, sprinters, and anyone else engaged in intense glycolytic work. But even then, being keto-adapted reduces the amount of glycogen you’ll use for a given intensity —so err on the side of fewer carbs and eat only as many as you actually earn.

There are two basic ways to construct a ketogenic diet that includes carbs: with one big weekly carb load (the classic CKD) or multiple smaller carb loads adjacent to training sessions (often called the targeted ketogenic diet, or TKD).

On a CKD, you spend the majority of the week and your workouts in ketosis and devote a day or a pair of days to eat lots of carbs. You might be ketogenic Monday through Friday, exercising all the while and capping the work week off with a really intense glycogen-depleting training session, then go high-carb, low-fat Saturday through Sunday to refill your depleted and newly-insulin sensitive muscle glycogen stores.

On a TKD, you spend the majority of your time in ketosis but selectively eat carbohydrate before, during, and/or after your workouts. Most people seem to benefit most from pre- and peri-workout carbs. These aren’t large carb loads — 15-30 grams of relatively fast-absorbing, simple carbs. If you don’t want to opt for dextrose or other powders, a baked potato works well.

Whatever option you choose, you’ll need to deplete glycogen if you want to include carbs in a ketogenic diet. As long as you have a glycogen debt, any carbs you eat will go toward restoring those glycogen stores and won’t interfere with ketone production.

Final Thoughts on The Keto Diet…

Also: Ketosis doesn’t have to be for life.

Going ketogenic can be refreshing. You’re not hungry like before. You’re euphoric. You have steady, even energy levels. Your brain works better. You’re leaner. You start thinking: Why not do this all the time?

A recent studyhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/journal... of long-term (5 years) ketogenic dieting in patients with glucose transporter 1 deficiency syndrome found no apparent downsides. Bone mineral density, which can be a problem for growing kids on long term ketogenic diets for epilepsy, was unaffected.

Yet, I’ll admit to being a bit leery of long-term, protracted ketosis in people who aren’t treating a medical condition. It just doesn’t seem necessary. After all, while humans are unique in our ability to slip into ketosis and there are clear evolutionary precedents for being in ketosis, Grok wasn’t starving all the time. He wasn’t living through famine after famine.

Not everyone needs to be on a ketogenic diet. Even fewer need to be on a ketogenic diet for life. But I do think that everyone should try it for a few or (even better) six weeks, build and install some new mitochondria, remain long enough to get really good at burning free fatty acids in your muscles, and then return to a ketogenic state on a regular basis to keep your capacities topped up. If you’re wondering what comes next, watch my YouTube video on what comes after The Keto Reset.

That’s it for me today. Have you recently tried keto, or are you hoping to? Maybe you’ve done it for a while. I’d love to hear your tips and questions. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week, everyone.

 

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References https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=ketogenic%20diethttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27249895/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25457511/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28179470/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19049594/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606551/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25101284/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26766547/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030231/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23030231/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21688989/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26946138/https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-7075-2-30#sec4https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21130529/https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/58/5/1237.fullhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15123336/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21130529/https://caloriesproper.com/ketosis-anti-brain-fog-neurotransmitters-dietary-protein-and-the-gut-microbiome/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22304712/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8195991/https://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495(15)00334-0/fulltexthttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4313585/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23632752/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651522/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23679058/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7000826/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6865776/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6865776/https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00311-8https://caloriesproper.com/cyclical-ketogenic-diet-and-carb-refeeds/https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/nutrition

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