Mark Sisson's Blog, page 58

12 Ways to Boost Your Serotonin

Serotonin is a funny one.

Although the prevailing sentiment is that we want to “increase serotonin,” it’s not that simple. There’s no indication that more serotonin is necessarily better in every situation, or even generally. The link between serotonin and “happiness” or “mood” isn’t so clear-cut as the experts would have you believe, either. So while I am going to tell you how to “boost” serotonin levels because serotonin is a vital neurotransmitter, I plan on sticking to foods, supplements, and behaviors that promote physiological levels of serotonin. Boosting serotonin beyond what the body is designed for may not help you, and it may have unpleasant and unwanted effects.

Is Serotonin a Mood Booster?

Yes and no. For evidence, I submit two items. The first is clinical research and the second is pure anecdote, albeit personal anecdote.

Everyone has heard of SSRIs, or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. The most common form of antidepressants, their purported mode of action is to reduce the re-absorption of serotonin by neurons which increases the circulating concentration of serotonin in the brain. They increase brain levels of serotonin so it’s able to act longer. The evidence in favor of SSRIs in treating depression is mixed. Not everyone benefits, and it often takes several months to take effect. But they do help some people.

In recent years, depression studies have pitted SSRIs against another drug—tianeptine—that does the opposite: increases the absorption of serotonin by neurons and decreases the concentration of serotonin the brain. If the “serotonin=happy” hypothesis is correct, tianeptine shouldn’t improve depression. It should worsen it. But that’s not what happens. Both tianeptine, which lowers brain serotonin, and SSRIs, which increase it, have been shown to improve depression symptoms in patients with clinical depression. If anything, tianeptine might even be more effective.1

This doesn’t mean that serotonin has nothing to do with depression, or that it’s bad for depression. It just means that the story is a little more complicated than we thought.

Now the anecdote. Back when I was doing some research for a new probiotic supplement, I tried one that had been shown to increase serotonin levels: B. infantis. This is how I do things usually. Most all my products are created to solve a problem in my own life. I figure that if something appeals to me or fixes an issue affecting me, it will help others too. So this time, I added the powder to a smoothie and down the hatch it went. About half an hour later, I got the distinct sense of what I can only describe as emotional numbness. There was just this big blank emptiness in my heart and mind. I felt robotic, except I was a robot who had memories of what it was like to feel. It was a very uncanny, unnerving feeling that I don’t ever want to feel again.

Maybe the dosage was too high. Maybe I shouldn’t have been taking a probiotic strain meant for human infants (B. infantis is present in infant guts and breast milk). Maybe if my baseline levels of serotonin were lower, the probiotic would have helped. But that’s not the point of all this—it’s that boosting serotonin isn’t necessarily good for mood and happiness.

What Does Serotonin Do?

Serotonin facilitates communication between neurons, making it a major regulator of mood, learning, memory, and sexual desire. 2 Adequate levels of serotonin help us deal with stress, while chronic stress can deplete serotonin. As the precursor to melatonin, serotonin also has a powerful effect on sleep and circadian rhythm.

The underrecognized effect of serotonin on the brain’s ability to learn may explain why increasing serotonin levels through SSRIs can help depression patients.3 We usually think of learning in the context of knowledge or skill acquisition—learning a language, learning calculus, memorizing state capitals—but it also applies to mood acquisition. We aren’t happy just because. We are happy because we experience positive stimuli and the resultant good mood is reinforcing our continued pursuit of said positive stimuli. The good mood is how we learn, and we learn with the help of serotonin. And because we’ve learned to associate good moods with positive stimuli, the effect sustains itself. Depression alleviated. Meanwhile, in a low-serotonin state, a patient can experience positive stimuli without learning that it’s actually positive. They never make the connection. Or, rather, they never feel the connection.

Low brain serotonin is also linked to increased rumination—getting stuck on the same thoughts or thought patterns—another manifestation of decreased connectivity between neurons in the brain. Thoughts don’t “flow”; they get stuck.

Although we mainly think of serotonin as a neurotransmitter acting on the brain, our guts are the biggest producers of serotonin. About 90% of the serotonin in our bodies is produced in the gut, where it helps trigger the contractions that push food through the GI tract and initiates nausea and vomiting (when necessary).4 Gut serotonin may also travel to the brain via the vagus nerve, the “highway” that allows our gut to interface with our brain.

Serotonin also has other peripheral effects. For instance, it plays a role in bone formation and maintenance, with brain serotonin maintaining bone formation and gut serotonin inhibiting it.

How to Increase Serotonin

While you don’t necessarily want to boost serotonin to supernatural levels, it’s quite clear that low brain serotonin can have some unwanted effects. How do you make sure you’re making enough serotonin in your brain to enable optimal neuronal communication and melatonin synthesis, minimize rumination, and improve mood?

Eat tryptophan foods
Get plenty of natural light
Get sun or take vitamin D
Eat seafood or take omega-3s
Spend time in nature
Eat some carbs
Take curcumin
Move
Drink coffee
Get a massage
Get your micronutrients
Take tryptophan on an empty stomach

Eat Tryptophan Foods

We often forget that “thoughts” and “feelings” aren’t just ephemera floating around inside our heads without a material representative. Every thought, feeling, emotion, or mood we experience is a physical thing made of matter. We don’t just “feel better.” To feel better, we manufacture serotonin using an amino acid called tryptophan as the precursor.

Whether it’s turkey, eggs, dairy, beef, lamb, chicken, or fish, animal protein is a reliable source of tryptophan. Studies show that whey protein and egg protein both acutely increase tryptophan availability in the brain.56

Get Plenty of Natural Light

Sunlight is a direct trigger of serotonin synthesis. The brighter the sunlight, the higher the serotonin production.7 This may explain seasonal affective disorder, where depression spikes during colder, darker months. It may also explain why sun exposure increases cognitive function in both depressed and healthy subjects, or why bright light exposure prevents bad moods after tryptophan depletion.89

Without light, you can’t convert tryptophan into serotonin.

Bright light doesn’t imply full blaring sunlight. Going outside on a cloudy, late autumn day will expose you to far more bright, natural light than you’ll experience sitting inside with the lights on. I’d guess the main reason winter is worse for serotonin is that people are less likely to go outside and brave the bad weather.

Get your light as early as possible. A 10-15 minute walk just after sunrise (no sunglasses; bathe in the light) sets the tone for the day.

Get Sun or Take Vitamin D

Vitamin D—which we synthesize from UVB exposure—allows the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin.10

I recommend getting most of your vitamin D from the sun. It’s better regulated that way, and you get the added benefit of lots of natural light. If you need or want to supplement (probably a good idea for most people during the colder seasons when sun exposure is low), look for a high potency formula. Here’s what I take.

Eat Seafood or Take Omega-3s

Not only does seafood provide ample amounts of the amino acid tryptophan, the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in marine fat increase serotonin production in the brain and improve serotonin transport across neurons.11

You might take cod liver oil or eat the actual livers, as that provides both vitamin D (for increased tryptophan conversion) and long-chain omega-3s. However, a good daily dose of omega-3 supplementation through high potency, pharmaceutical-grade fish oil works fine, too, for those who get ample vitamin D otherwise.

Spend Time in Nature

I’ve written about forest bathing in the past for its ability to lower stress hormones, improve mood, reduce blood sugar levels, and even increase natural killer cell activity, a marker of anti-cancer ability.

Don’t Avoid Carbs Entirely

Carbs spike insulin, which shuttles amino acids out of the blood and into cells. This leaves tryptophan as the dominant amino acid in the bloodstream, because it’s bound to albumin and inaccessible to insulin. When amino acids compete for conversion into neurotransmitters, tryptophan wins, and serotonin rises, because no one else shows up.

Many readers of this blog prefer lower-carb diets. I’m the same. If you feel like your serotonin levels need a boost, consider increasing carb intake a little. Just one meal containing carbohydrates should get enough tryptophan into your brain for conversion into serotonin.

Take Curcumin

Turmeric has emerged in recent years as a powerful antidepressant, in many cases equalling or even surpassing the effects of prescription antidepressants.12 Turns out that turmeric (or curcumin, rather) increases brain serotonin levels in a dose-dependent matter.13

So maybe you need curcumin, the isolated polyphenol found in turmeric, to really affect depression. Maybe your chicken tikka masala isn’t replacing your SSRI. But absent outright depression or serotonin-based mood disorders, cooking with turmeric should help regulate normal serotonin levels.

Move

Exercise increases serotonin via two pathways. First, the activation of motor neurons increases the firing rate of serotonin neurons, thus boosting the synthesis and release of serotonin. Second, exercise consistently elevates tryptophan levels in the brain, even for hours after the session.14 This is probably why going for a walk or grabbing a quick workout is a surefire way to beat ruminating thoughts.

Drink Coffee

Generic alternative health gurus will tell you caffeine depletes serotonin. It sounds right, doesn’t it? What they won’t say is that caffeine has actually been shown to increase brain serotonin, at least in rats.15  It also makes the brain more sensitive to the effects of serotonin. Personally, I’m drinking my coffee.

Get a Massage

Conventional experts will say “massage just feels good.” Well, yeah. That’s the point. Getting a massage boosts serotonin by 28%.16

Get Your Micronutrients

This should really be standard advice for any health issue. Many problems go away when we eat more micronutrients—vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients—because micronutrients are essential to fundamental physiological processes and pathways. It’s a safe bet that all of us are at least mildly deficient in a handful of important nutrients—like B6, which regulates serotonin synthesis.17

One study found that a food-based multivitamin/multimineral supplement drink called Lavita increased tryptophan and serotonin levels in healthy subjects. While that product does purport to offer a boost in many micronutrients, a solid Primal diet with quality meats and good, varied vegetable intake should provide the same nutrient base. Of course, many of us choose a comprehensive multivitamin/multimineral supplement as well.

Take Tryptophan on an Empty Stomach

Taking tryptophan on an empty stomach eliminates the competition for brain uptake with other amino acids you’d encounter when eating tryptophan-rich foods, allowing tryptophan to flood the brain and trigger serotonin synthesis.

That’s what I have for today, folks. Thanks for stopping by. Share your thoughts and questions on the comment board, and have a good week.

References https://www.biopsychiatry.com/tianeptine-vssri.htmhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26805875https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7214430/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11051338/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837296https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18648776https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12480364/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728098/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17582745https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24558199https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150225094109.htmhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27723543https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23035031https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2419509https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-4887.1988.tb05366.x/abstracthttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16162447https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15479988

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How to Stay Level During Uncertain Times

Humans are hardwired to crave certainty. Psychologists argue that it’s an innate need, programmed into our biology and reinforced through evolution.1 Understanding our environment allows us to predict, with some degree of accuracy, what will happen in the future. From an ancestral perspective, certainty allows us, theoretically, to avoid danger, reap desired rewards, and ensure survival.

The need for certainty is a central tenet of psychology. Human development is all about testing and forming theories about the environment, from toddlers throwing objects and learning about physics, to young children acquiring theory of mind, to adolescents pushing social boundaries. Even our language reflects this. Consider how many words we have around the concepts of agency, self-determination, personal freedom, and free will, especially in more individualistic societies.

At its crux, the need for certainty reflects a desire to control and master the environment. We assert control through our choices, whether that’s deciding what to eat for breakfast, opting for the highway or surface streets on our commute, or choosing whom to marry. Every decision, from mundane to life-altering, depends on our ability to weigh the odds of getting a favorable outcome. We can only do that if our world is predictable, at least to a degree.

Consequences of Uncertainty

When faced with ambiguous or uncertain circumstances, brain regions associated with fear and vigilance light up.2 3 Subjectively, uncertainty may result in freezing or shutting down, excessive negative emotions, worry about the future, or worsening of certain mental health conditions.4 When it persists, uncertainty becomes a form of chronic stress. I don’t have to tell you how that erodes every dimension of health. It also sucks up valuable mental resources as our brain seeks to resolve the uncertainty.

That’s bad news in times like these. The usual advice applies: practice self-care, gratitude, mindfulness, radical acceptance. But coping with times like these isn’t a matter of mere self-care, not in the way the term gets thrown around. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of bubble baths, chamomile tea, and gentle movement. When it comes to self-care, those are the basics, the bare minimum of kindness we should all be showing ourselves regularly. They’re important, but when our sense of certainty and control have been upended, it takes more than the basics.

Allow Yourself to Feel Your Feelings…

Uncertainty and lack of control have real consequences for our psychological and physical health. Suppressing emotions, denying how challenging the situation is, or engaging in self-recrimination only compounds the problem.

Especially now, when everyone is in the same boat, it’s tempting to downplay our feelings. There’s no need to compare your suffering to others’. There’s always someone who has it worse than you, but that doesn’t mean your feelings are valid. On the contrary, if you’re struggling right now, your feelings are absolutely valid. Your fundamental needs aren’t being met, and you may be dealing with legitimate fears about safety and wellbeing. Many of us are experiencing some form of ambiguous loss, as our ability to engage in “normal life” has been stripped.

…But Avoid Spiraling

It’s one thing to process how hard the current situation is. It’s another to give in to catastrophic thinking.

This is where self-compassion, gratitude, and acceptance practices can help. Together, they allow you to recognize your suffering (to use self-compassion language) while also keeping some perspective. You might also work on both-and thinking, which is a coping strategy from the ambiguous loss literature. Both-and statements acknowledge that multiple, even seemingly contradictory, things can be true simultaneously. Examples might include, “I can feel grief and despair, and also hope,” or “I am less productive than I used to be, and I’m also continuing to make progress.” (More on that shortly.)

When feelings feel too big or too hard, it’s helpful to process them with someone else. Remember, therapy is self-care. One positive outcome of the pandemic is that it’s easier than ever to access mental health services from the privacy of your home.

Melt stress away with Adaptogenic Calm

Lean on Other People…

Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity, trauma, or stress—bending but not breaking, ideally becoming better adapted to face difficult situations in the future. One fundamental source of resilience is having others upon whom you can rely, people who will share your burden and help you get through difficult times.

This doesn’t mean you have to have a large circle of close friends and acquaintances. Rather, it means fostering meaningful and supportive relationships with individuals and/or belonging to groups that provide similar benefits. These might be religious affiliations, volunteer organizations, support groups, or even your workplace.

Of course, this only works if you are willing to reach out. It can be as simple as showing up for a Zoom happy hour with friends, but also don’t be afraid to request more. In my experience, people want to help. They’re just waiting to be asked.

…And Find Ways to Be There for Others

The flip side of this is allowing other people to lean on you. When things feel out of control, being there for others helps you heal, too, by creating positive energy and purpose.

There are lots of ways to be prosocial. Pick up the phone and call someone. Take one small task off a coworker’s plate, or write them a note of appreciation. Donate money or time to an organization working to affect positive change. Write a letter to your congressperson. Send a care package. The act of giving can actually create energy, so long as you’re careful to balance it with filling your own bucket.

Expect Less of Yourself…

How many think pieces have been written over the past six months giving us permission to be less productive than normal? I guess not enough, because I see lots of people continuing to beat themselves up for struggling at working, being less strict with their exercise routines, and letting their houses be messy.

Clearly, we underestimate how much uncertainty in and of itself drains our mental resources. While we may be over the initial shock of the pandemic—though the hits of 2020 keep on coming—the uncertainty and lack of control remain. Give yourself grace. Allow yourself to rest. Reevaluate your standards for “success.” Say no where you can.

…But Keep Getting Things Done

It’s all well and good to say you should lower your expectations and say no to things, but what about the things you have to get done? Jobs, parenting, and caregiver responsibilities can’t simply be tossed aside. While I do support the idea that it’s ok to do less right now, sometimes you need to buck up and take a step forward (mental health crises excluded).

Action, any action, can be self-reinforcing because you’re exerting control again. Maybe it’s checking the easiest task off your to-do list, taking one small step towards completing a project, or doing five minutes of exercise. Just keep the ball rolling. Do NOT focus on the ways in which your effort or performance is less than what it used to be, but rather that you’re still making an effort in the first place.

Maintain a Focus on Health

Emotional eating, drinking, and laying on the couch all day are completely understandable responses to times like these, but ultimately, they compound the stress. You know how much better you feel when you maintain some semblance of healthy eating, movement, and sleep, or conversely, how crummy it feels when you let it all slide. By and large, these are variables that you can control even when everything else feels like it’s gone to hell.

Again, I’d encourage you to reassess your standards of success here, adjusting to your current reality. It’s ok if you don’t have the wherewithal to make elaborate dinners or train for a 50k. Resist the temptation to let the pendulum swing completely in the other direction, though.  Think of each meal as one small act of productivity and each walk as an accomplishment.

Be in Nature

Few things are as inherently healing and soothing as spending time in nature. Research into the practice of forest bathing documents all sorts of benefits from, essentially, going into the forest (or even just a park) and being mindful. A recent study found that taking “awe walks,” which are simply outdoor walks in which you have the specific intention of experiencing awe, lead older adults to experience more positive emotions and less distress.5

Everything feels worse when you don’t even step outside for days at a time, and that’s easy to do nowadays. You also get the secondary benefits of unplugging. We all need a break from the news cycle and partisan social media posts.

Hang in There

These strategies aren’t just about weathering the current storm. Becoming adept at using them means you’ll also be more resilient in the future. As trite as it may be, hard times can also be times of growth. Knowing this won’t change the unpleasant realities of the current situation, nor protect you from future hardships. Neither does succumbing to the temptation to hide under a weighted blanket until all this is over.

If you’ve ever driven on ice, you know that if your car starts to spin out, you have to steer into it. It does no good to slam on your breaks, jerk the wheel in the other direction, or close your eyes and pretend your car isn’t doing a 360. Instead, hold the wheel steady and slowly regain control. The same goes here. Ultimately, keeping it together boils down to controlling the things you can control and holding it together long enough to weather the storm.

References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944661/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301008217300369https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13415-016-0443-2https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00243/fullhttps://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Femo0000876

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How to Thicken Sauce Without Flour: Low Carb, Keto, and Gluten Free Sauce Thickeners

 

Dear Mark,

I’m trying to stay strictly primal/paleo, but I always run into problems when I need to thicken sauces or soups. I grew up learning to use flour/cornstarch like everyone else, but is there a good low-carb/primal alternative?

Thanks,

Raul

I received this email a while ago, but it wasn’t the first. A number of readers have expressed their confusion when it comes to thickening sauces, gravies, or soups without using traditional floury methods. The question of thickening sauces is one of the hurdles I face every time I put up a recipe post – it’s become a bit of an internal struggle (as seen with last week’s beef and broccoli stir fry recipe, in which I hesitatingly called for a teaspoon of flour as a thickener) because while adding a bit of flour or cornstarch to a larger recipe may not drastically impact the carb count, it does complicate the consistently Primal message I try to convey. This post, I hope, will resolve that struggle.

There are plenty of ways to thicken a sauce without resorting to refined starches. In fact, thickening a sauce using Primal methods can produce a richer, more satisfying meal.

Carbs in Cornstarch

There are 7g of carbs in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Since you only use a tablespoon or two in a whole recipe that serves four or more people, cornstarch won’t send your carb count through the roof.

A lot of people who follow paleo, Primal, or keto will want to avoid corn and its derivatives because of its naturally-occurring sugar and starch, and because it is not a nutrient-dense food.

Make a Reduction

The most rewarding way to thicken a sauce is by reduction. Indeed, learning how to reduce a sauce is important for any cook – home or professional. It’s quite simple, actually, but it’s an integral step in the thickening of any sauce or soup (whether you keep it Primal or use starches). Reduce the moisture content of a potential sauce by simmering over low heat and letting evaporation take over. The water goes, but the flavors stay. If you reduce too much, be prepared for incredibly potent flavors. Adding fats toward the end of the reduction process can complete the thickening process (more later).

Add Fat

Ah, the epic battle between fats and carbohydrates rages on. Fats can make effective thickeners, especially butter and especially with reductions. Say you’ve just seared a garlic-and-shallot-studded steak in your cast-iron pan. See those browned bits and bubbles of delicious beef fat and juices left behind? Keep the heat low and add some red wine. Scrape the good stuff off the bottom and let the wine reduce Toward the end, add a pat of cold butter and whisk it all together until smooth and creamy and viscous. Drizzle over your finished steak and veggies.

Heavy cream works well, too, especially for white sauces and soups. Again, the key is reduce, reduce, reduce.

Rendered duck, bacon, beef, or chicken fat can act like butter, if you want to avoid dairy altogether or add a different flavor profile. Just make sure you add the fat towards the end in its solid (cold) state.

Gluten Free Roux

A roux is a sauce starter or thickener that involves whisking flour into a pan containing heated fat. I’ve found that arrowroot flour is a great substitute for flour in most, if not all applications that call for a roux.

Here’s my favorite turkey gravy recipe that uses arrowroot.

Can you make a roux with almond flour?

Almonds do not have any starch, and starch is what adds structure to the cooking liquid. So, almond flour will not make a good roux.

Keto Roux

If you want a gravy-like consistency but you don’t want the carbs of arrowroot or cassava, opt for recipes that use a small amount of xanthan gum.

Pureed Veggies

Adding a few scoops of pureed vegetables is another option, especially to thicken soups. Almost any acceptably Primal veggie will work: squash, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, or mushrooms, just to name a few. Simply steam or soften the vegetables and then throw them in a food processor or otherwise pulverize them. Canned tomato paste works well, too. If you’re already cooking a vegetable-filled stew or soup for hours, this might happen on its own as the veggies break down and add density to the broth.

Primal Flours

You already know how much we love almond meal around here, and the other nut meals/flours can work as sauce thickeners. Unlike traditional flours, these don’t really clump when added directly to a sauce, but they can add flavors you might not expect or really want in your sauce, so be careful. You can also use nut butters – a little bit goes a long way.

I’ve heard good things about defatted coconut flour. Never used it myself, but it is an effectively low-carb (high in fiber, though). Anyone tried coconut flour?

Vegetable Gums

Vegetable gums sound a bit unappetizing, but they’re used in a lot of Asian cooking. Essentially pure fiber that absorbs moisture to form a gel, the most popular of the vegetable gums are xanthan gum and guar gum. Sprinkle over sauces while whisking to thicken, but be cautious – a little bit goes a long, long way, and too much will make your sauce “gummy” and “gooey” rather than creamy.

Vegetable gums can be a bit tricky to use properly, but there are products that make it easier. I’m interested to hear what your favorites are if you’ve used them.

Is Xanthan Gum Keto?

There are 7g of carbs per tablespoon of xanthan gum. A little bit goes a long way, and most recipes call for a tiny amount of xanthan gum – a pinch or a fraction of a teaspoon or less. Therefore, xanthan gum can be considered keto and works well as a thickener.

Some people experience gastrointestinal symptoms with gums like xanthan gum. Experiment for yourself and see how you feel.

Conclusion

I’d say reduction is the most purely Primal way to thicken a sauce, but it’s not exactly the quickest or the easiest. It remains my favorite (excepting, of course, the fact that I haven’t tried the gums) because it produces the richest flavors and textures, especially with some sort of animal fat as a thickener. The nut flours work well enough, but the resultant textures will never completely compare to those of traditional flour thickeners; nuts are just too coarse and non-absorbent. Vegetable purees are delicious, nutritious thickeners, but they have limited use (mainly in soups and stews). As for the vegetable gums, I suppose these are technically PB-friendly – they come from natural sources and they’re definitely low-carb – but I’m not sure I’d want to rely on them completely, and I’m skeptical of “low-carb”packaging. Of course, I plan on trying them at some point, and I’d love to hear your experiences with them.

Oh, and for the broccoli beef recipe? I think a vegetable gum would be your best bet. I don’t know how well butter or cream would compliment the flavors, and I doubt nut flours would blend seamlessly into the sauce; with this one, you’re just going for texture alone, and the gums would probably achieve that without compromising flavor or cooking time.

Further Reading

Guide to Fats and Oils

8 Primal-friendly Flours

Keto Bread Recipe

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Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Liver Appetizer Recipe

Today’s recipe is courtesy of Ashleigh van Houten, nutrition journalist, public speaker, certified health coach, and self-proclaimed muscle nerd. Ashleigh recently released her new organ meats cookbook, It Takes Guts, available in stores now!

Liver is a superfood that’s packed with pre-formed nutrients like vitamin A, zinc, folate, and more, which are important nutrients to get for everyone, and especially people who are experimenting with a carnivore diet.

Understandably, a lot of people find it intimidating. Even if you didn’t grow up with it, liver is a food that is easy to learn to love. You just need the right recipes to make it happen.

This appetizer is a delicious way to introduce liver into your life. Wrap anything in prosciutto and it’ll be a crowd-pleaser! Here, the rich, creamy sweetness of chicken livers pairs really well with crispy, salty prosciutto. (You can use thin-sliced bacon, too.) You definitely want to eat this delicious and protein-packed appetizer immediately, as soon as the livers come out of the skillet.

Serves: 6 appetizers

Time in the kitchen: 1 hour to soak livers, then 15 minutes active time

Prosciutto-wrapped Chicken Liver Recipe
Ingredients

6 whole chicken livers, split into 2 lobes each (12 pieces total), cleaned (see instructions)
Ground black pepper 12 slices prosciutto
Fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs, for garnish

Special Equipment

2 (9-inch) wood skewers, soaked in water for 1 hour

Instructions

To clean all animal livers, first rinse them in cold water, then trim any white connective tissue or membranes with a sharp paring knife. Soak them for one hour in cold water with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or a pinch of salt.

Pat the livers dry with a paper towel. Lightly season with pepper.

Using 1 strip of prosciutto per lobe, wrap the strips tightly around the liver pieces so that they are entirely covered.

Using the skewers to hold the prosciutto in place, insert the prosciutto-wrapped livers onto the skewers, 6 per skewer.

Preheat a barbecue grill to medium heat, or preheat a grill pan on the stovetop over medium heat.

Grill the skewers, turning them every few minutes, until the prosciutto is crispy and the liver is just cooked through, about 7 minutes. Serve hot with a garnish of

fresh thyme or rosemary.

NOTE: If you have leftovers, store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, throw them back in a skillet over medium heat with some butter until re-crisped, about 3 minutes.

 

Ashleigh VanHouten is a health and nutrition journalist, public speaker, certified health coach, and self-proclaimed muscle nerd. She has written for Paleo Magazine for more than eight years, along with a number of other health publications. She hosts the Muscle Maven Radio podcast, which has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times, where she’s interviewed some of the biggest names in health and wellness, including Mark Sisson, Dave Asprey, and Steph Gaudreau. She’s also worked with other top-rated health-related podcasts, such as Barbell Shrugged, Muscle Intelligence, and Paleo Magazine Radio. Combining her formal education and professional experience in marketing and communications with her passion for healthy eating, exercise, and learning, Ashleigh works in a consulting role for a number of professionals in the health and wellness world, working alongside individuals like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Ben Pakulski, and Elle Russ. Find recipes like these in her new cookbook, It Takes Guts, available in stores now! Find out more at ashleighvanhouten.com.

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Weekly Link Love — Edition 106

Research of the Week

COVID has improved the sleep of teens.

Wearing blue light-blocking glasses at night improves next-day productivity.

Psychedelics may improve color vision.

Pregnant mothers with higher vitamin D levels give birth to kids with higher intelligence at age 4-6.

Type 2 diabetics who use metformin have lower rates of dementia and slower cognitive decline.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 454: Selina Gray: Host Elle Russ welcomes Selina Gray, a CPA who decided to change her relationship to money and become a Financial Empowerment Mentor.

Primal Health Coach Radio Episode 83: Laura and Erin chat with Dr. Ashley Beckman about the power of holistically mapping out your health.

Media, Schmedia

UK researchers call for a “climate tax” on meat.

Barrels of DDT are stashed off the LA coast, and they’re leaking.

Interesting Blog Posts

A good overview of the ancient dog study I mentioned last week.

Was there a 100,000 year war between humans and Neanderthals?

Social Notes

On living for something bigger than yourself, even if you don’t know what that something is.

This is the true productivity hack.

Everything Else

I sat down with Daniel Scrivner for a great chat on his Outliers podcast.

Eat eggs (again).

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

The more things change…: 3000 year-old Mesopotamian tablets document the earliest known case of PTSD.

I am surprised: A vegan conference has agreed to screen Sacred Cow.

This is helpful: A new method for cooking rice that reduces arsenic levels.

Sometimes you can go back home: Paleo diet improves MS symptoms.

I am not surprised: The fitter you are, the lower your risk of severe COVID.

Question I’m Asking

How are you treating yourself these days?

Recipe Corner

Roast some Brussels sprouts and bacon in the air fryer (or oven). Bacon makes sprouts taste better, sprouts reduce any theoretical harm from consuming crispy meat.
Recipe and a mission for you: make this Dutch oven chicken outside over open fire or charcoal.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 30 – Nov 6)

Dear Mark: Why “Game Changers” Isn’t Worth My Time and Sugar Addiction – Still isn’t worth it.
The Definitive Guide to Inflammation – What is it?

Comment of the Week

“Rural life may not be a panacea, but it might be more credible if the people interviewed actually went to rural places. It’s soooo People of NYC to think of Burlington VT (a small city) as downright wilderness. Or Albany NY (the capital of the state). Or Beacon NY (about an hours drive north of NYC). Or even Whitefish MT, which is basically a vacationland ski resort for city people.

You do not need the city to live well. As an actual rural person by choice, I’ve hardly noticed there is a pandemic. I’m outside most of the day. I don’t have problems with remote learning with my kids because I was already homeschooling. I don’t have to get into “farm shape” because I already have a garden and raise animals. I was never going to run out of meat because I buy it (100% pastured beef and pork) from a farmer down the road at almost the same cost as the grocery store. I’m not learning to work from home, because we’ve already been doing that for over a decade.

What COVID-from-afar has made me really puzzle over is how many people apparently hate being in their own homes, can’t do enough for themselves, and, much as I am reluctant to say it, don’t want to spend time with their kids or families. They’d rather go to the office and ship them off to state run daycare. I’m puzzled by people who don’t think it should be their job to educate their kids or provide any food for themselves whatsoever.

I live an hour from two major east coast cities, where I can drive to any time I want. Is it a panacea? Yeah maybe it is, especially if we’re comparing it to these few confused NYC people.”

-Well said, Jim!

The post Weekly Link Love — Edition 106 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Ask a Health Coach: Is Snacking Okay?

Hey folks! Erin Power is back for another round of Ask a Health Coach. This week she’ll be answering questions about beating the 3pm slump, what to eat when you’re hungry all the time, and strategies for speeding up a slow metabolism. Comment below with more questions or head over to the Mark’s Daily Apple Facebook Group.

Pete asked:

“I get so sleepy in the afternoons. In fact, sometimes, I actually have to take a nap. What can I snack on to beat my daily 3pm slump?”

Feeling a dip in energy mid-afternoon is so common, a lot of offices actually have a nap room. They also have boatloads of processed snacks, sugary coffee drinks, and vending machines to help you perk back up after your carb-laden lunch.

But just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it’s normal. Sure, you could be having a reaction to what you ate for lunch. Some food choices trigger a blood sugar spike and crash (think pasta, pizza, giant subs, a handful of candy).1 If this is the case with you, I have a better solution than doling out energy-boosting snack ideas…or napping.

The lowest hanging fruit here is to manage your post-lunch sleepiness by swapping refined carbs for satiating and blood sugar stabilizing protein and fat. Maybe a Big Ass Salad or some leftover roasted chicken and veggies with butter. Even a handful of mixed nuts is better than a sandwich.
It’s not always food related though. You have a natural drop in energy as part of human circadian biology. And it comes, you guessed it, about mid-afternoon. Knowing that your body has a built-in lull that happens around 3pm, the best thing you can do is anticipate it and plan accordingly. That means don’t schedule any overly draining tasks during that time. Instead, practice a little self-care and schedule in 15 minutes of stretching, walking outside, or listening to energizing music.
Another possibility for your slump is mental drain. Even if your workday isn’t overly stressful, everything else in the world is right now, so again, cut yourself some slack and pay attention to how drained you feel on a daily basis. It could just be that by 3pm your brain (and your central nervous system) are so tapped that it signals a reset (i.e. you to take a nap). To avoid burnout, I like productivity apps like Focus Keeper. This one’s based on the Pomodoro Technique and breaks your day into 25-minute focus sessions, followed by 5-minute breaks.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that you’re not breathing. And by “not breathing” I mean, you’re taking small shallow breaths that rob your brain of oxygen. Chances are you spend most of your day hunched over your computer, which compromises your breathing and your energy flow. Next time you feel that midday lull, think about the last time you took a good, deep breath, then sit up straight and take six slow deep breaths.

Test out any of these tips and my guess is you’ll feel better fairly quickly, no snack required.

Valerie asked:

“I’ve lost 40 pounds following the Primal Blueprint and have about 5 more to go. The problem is, I feel hungry all the time, so I either eat or try and white knuckle it! How do I tame my hunger?”

You’re not alone here Valerie. This is one of the most common challenges I hear from my clients. “I would have done better this week, but I was SO HUNGRY!” Common diet culture says you should eat healthy meals and snacks every 2-3 hours if you want to keep your blood sugar stable and keep hunger at bay.

My opinion? You shouldn’t have to feed your body every 3 hours to do either of those things. You also shouldn’t fear hunger. We’ve all been led to believe that hunger is bad — that it’s the one thing that stands between you and your weight loss goals.

Here’s the deal though. Hunger is actually a loving, protective signal from your miraculous body. It’s one of your most primitive survival mechanisms. It’s how your body makes sure you’re fueled sufficiently so that you can function properly.

The clients I work with claim to feel hungry “all the time”, which to me, indicates that they’re out of touch with their body. Sometimes it starts as a kid — if you’ve been told to finish your plate, regardless of whether or not you were hungry. And sometimes it’s in the ultra-processed foods you eat which unapologetically mess with your hormones. Certain foods inhibit your ability to recognize when you’re full — they literally confuse your brain into thinking you need to eat more.2

Sugar-free or “diet” foods aren’t any better. In fact, this study proved that sugar substitutes, although calorie-free, adversely affected the metabolism of participants, causing them to eat more.3Even a can of diet soda can increase your appetite because your brain thinks you’re getting something sweet, but your body never receives the energy it’s expecting.

My solution? Step one, ditch any processed or diet foods you’re consuming. That means ones labeled “healthy” or “low carb” or “low fat.” Step two, sit with your hunger next time you feel it and know that you’re okay. I promise you that you won’t starve. Even if you had zero pounds to lose, you’d still have access to thousands of calories in stored energy.

Feeling as if your only choices are to succumb to hunger and *fail* or really punish yourself and diet harder, aren’t good choices if you ask me. Work on trusting your body’s signals instead of fearing them.

Suzanne asked:

“Now that I’m in my 40’s, I can’t even eat a few fun-sized candy bars without seeing it on the scale in the morning. Any tricks for speeding up my metabolism?”

Chances are you could eat whatever you wanted as a kid. Fun-sized candy bars, heck, even a few full-sized candy bars wouldn’t impact your weight or your mood or mental clarity for that matter. As you mentioned, age has made it harder to indulge when you feel like it, and potentially a “slow metabolism” is to blame.

For those who don’t know, your metabolism is the system of the body that decides how fuel is used and has implications for weight management, energy, and more. The uneducated will tell you that the extra five pounds around your mid-section (or your brain fog, or blah feeling) is just a sign of getting older. They’ll say that because of your age, your metabolism has just naturally slowed down.

That is absolute BS in my book. I believe that over time, your metabolism does “forget” to effectively put fuel to use — and seems to just start storing it instead of burning it. But you can help your body remember by making some simple changes to what you eat and how you move.

The goal here is to become metabolically flexible. That means your metabolism gets to a place where it can effortlessly switch between burning carbs and burning fat — leaving more room for a few treats now and then. All those people who can “eat whatever they want”? Those people have excellent metabolic flexibility.

So how do you get metabolically flexible? Start by exercising. And not in a chronic cardio sort of way. Go for a daily walk, try some speed intervals, or add a weight training session here and there. Not only does this help you burn fat, it increases mitochondrial biogenesis, a key factor in reversing age-related loss of insulin resistance.4

Next up, get fat adapted. For a period of time, choose foods that are unprocessed and higher in protein and healthy fats. While you’re at it, cut out all snacks. Honestly, if you’re eating satiating foods, you won’t need them. While this might seem opposite of what you want right now (to eat candy without gaining weight), it will eventually allow you to indulge without the same consequences to your waistline.

Got thoughts on snacking? Metabolic function? Hunger pains? Share them in the comments below.

References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907653/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15111494/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

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Keto and Primal Snacks for Busy Mom Life

Before I had kids, I thought I’d be that mom who cooks and bakes endlessly with her kids. After all, I enjoy being in the kitchen, so why wouldn’t I want my sweet offspring by my side as I lovingly prepare meals for the family.

Ah, to be that young and idealistic again. Every year we get busier and more pressed for time, and—in my experience, at least—cooking with your kids makes everything take three to eleven times longer. Gone are my ideas of being Betty-Crocker-meets-Mary-Poppins in the kitchen. I have new priorities now:

I need to be time-efficient.
I want to feed myself and my kids nutritious foods.
I refuse to prepare separate meals or snacks for kids and adults.
My kids should learn their way around the kitchen, which means giving them age-appropriate tasks.

Most days we manage dinner together, but the rest of the day is a whirlwind. Snacking is something of a contentious topic in the ancestral community. Sincere kudos if your family can stick to set meal times with perhaps one planned snack interlude. Realistically, though, snacking happens here. Rather than fight it, I try to have quick, healthy options that check my four boxes above.

These are some of my top picks. Add yours in the comments section.

Instantly download your free Guide to Cooking Fats and Oils

Dips & Spreads

Veggies with ranch dressing. Use raw vegetables like celery, carrots, snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and mini sweet bell peppers, or leftover roasted asparagus or Brussels sprouts. To make a thicker dip, mix the ranch with sour cream to get the consistency you want.

Frozen chicken skewers (I get mine at Costco) dipped in barbecue sauce or a quick peanut sauce. This one uses tahini, or you can use almond butter instead.

Guacamole with raw vegetables or pork rinds. To uplevel the experience, try this recipe for Bacon Guacamole with Cheddar Chips.

Apples, pears, or celery with nut butter.

Hummus with veggies. Classic hummus is easy to make or buy pre-made if you eat chickpeas, but you can also make delicious legume-free versions like this Roasted Cauliflower & Macadamia Nut Hummus.

How kids can help:

Wash and cut raw vegetables and fruit with supervision and depending on age.
Pour dipping sauces into ramekins.
Smash avocados for guacamole.
Run the food processor for hummus.
Arrange the food on plates.

Stuff You Can Eat with Toothpicks

Cubed melon wrapped in prosciutto.

Caprese skewers: cherry tomato + pearl mozzarella + basil leaf. Optional Italian or balsamic dressing to dip.

Meatballs, like these kid-approved Teriyaki Meatballs.

Steak “salad” bites. Leftover cubed steak topped with a few leaves of baby spinach and cheddar or blue cheese. Dip in BBQ sauce or dressing of choice. For the grown-ups, add Quick Pickled Onions.

How kids can help:

Cube melon or steak.
Wrap prosciutto around melon.
Assist with cooking meatballs. The steps are easy enough for even young kids, supervised.
Assemble the skewers.
Pour dipping sauces into ramekins.

Charcuterie Plates

Charcuterie plates are just meat, crackers, cheese, produce —stuff you eat every day, but it’s the presentation that counts. There’s a reason the charcuterie plates were trending all over social media this year. Artfully piling a bunch of food on a platter or cutting board feels fancy and abundant. The nice thing about charcuterie plates is that you can put them out, and everyone can help themselves to the parts they like. It’s a great way to introduce new foods in a non-pressuring way.

All you need is any combination of the following:

Crunchy stuff: grain-free crackers, cheese crisps, pork rinds.
Cheese: any kind, sliced or cubed.
Meats: cured meats, smoked salmon, sliced leftover steak or chicken.
Nuts.
Vegetables: any raw, pickled, or roasted.
Fruits: olives, berries, cubed melon, grapes, apples, pears, persimmons, figs, dried fruits.
Dips: guacamole, chutney, etc.

How kids can help:

Slice/cut cheese.
Wash and cut vegetables and fruit.
Spoon dips into ramekins.
Arrange food on platter.

NOTE: You can also adapt this idea into bento boxes. Have your kids help you fill compartments with these same types of ingredients. Put them in the fridge to grab for snacks or on-the-go mini-meals throughout the week.

Greek Yogurt Parfaits & Smoothie Bowls

These are filling options that older kids can make themselves—really more a small meal than a snack. All you need is Greek yogurt, protein or collagen powder if making smoothies, and toppings. Some of our favorites are:

Grain-free granola
Hemp or chia seeds
Cacao nibs
Shredded coconut
Fresh or frozen berries
Pomegranate seeds

How kids can help:

Assist with making homemade granola.
Putting ingredients in the blender and pushing the buttons.
Adding toppings.

Prepare-ahead Options

With a little bit of work at the beginning of the week, you can stock your fridge with feel-good snacks to which your kids can help themselves.

Egg muffins, customized with whatever ingredients each family member prefers.
Hard-boiled eggs.
Chia pudding.
Primal-friendly muffins, either sweet like these Keto Blueberry Muffins or savory like these Bacon & Cheddar Keto Muffins.
Paleo pancakes or waffles can be frozen then heated up in a toaster oven or microwave. Add protein powder to the batter for extra protein.

How kids can help:

Chop vegetables for egg muffins.
Assemble and stir chia pudding, and put lids on jars.
Stir muffin and pancake batter.
Crack eggs.

Ready in Less Than A Minute

Sliced meat wrapped around string cheese
Can of sardines, optionally mashed with avocado. Maybe a hard sell for older kids, but you’d be surprised how younger kids will gobble them up.
Jerky, pemmican.
Primal kitchen keto bars.
Handful of nuts + dark chocolate.
Half an avocado with Tajín or everything bagel seasoning.
Pickles.

The post Keto and Primal Snacks for Busy Mom Life appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Don’t Jog, It’s Too Dangerous: Part 2

Dr. DeVany’s title quote has haunted me for years; I typically ponder the significance of this deadpan assertion during my morning jog. “Come on, this can’t be dangerous, can it?” I assert that my morning jog helps me enjoy nature, clear my mind for the impending busy day in front of a screen or microphone, and seemingly contributes to both my fitness base and my health.

But only if I go slow!  

That is the revelation I have come to appreciate over decades of devoted endurance training. Walking is perhaps most health and longevity promoting activity of them all, the ultimate human experience of life and planet that our genes require daily for healthy functioning. This is especially true as you age. A UCLA study of the elderly revealed that walking more than 4,000 steps a day makes for a thicker hippocampus, faster information processing, and improved executive function.

How to Render Beef Tallow

I almost never hear of people cooking with beef tallow, even in Primal circles. I hear about lard, duck fat, ghee, butter, olive oil, and avocado oil, but rarely tallow. Hey, those are all great, delicious fats, and they deserve their prestige, but I like sticking up for the little guy. I like an underdog. In this case, of course, the little guy comes courtesy of a big cloven-hoofed ungulate.

Another reason to try tallow: those of you experimenting with the carnivore diet will want to mix up your cooking fats here and there. Each one has a different nutritional profile.

Here’s how to do it.

 

Instantly download your quick reference Guide to Cooking Fats and Oils

How to Render Beef Tallow

To render beef tallow, you need to get your hands on some raw beef fat.

It’s called suet, and the best stuff for rendering is going to be solid and firm. Most suet comes from the tissue surrounding the kidneys and the loins, but any hard beef fat will do. What I did was buy steak and roast trimmings from a butcher. Grass-fed and grass-finished is best, but if you can’t find that, look for clean, organic meat. It should be inexpensive. If you can find a good butcher that deals with grass-fed meat, I’d imagine buying the fat trimmings is still fairly inexpensive and completely worth the extra effort.

I don’t know whether my batch was suet or not (I suspect there was at least a bit, judging from the thick, hard pieces that felt like cold butter when you sliced into them), and it did look a little ragged and hastily thrown together, but it was still fat. I wasn’t going to let a little uncertainty slow me down, for I was armed with the knowledge that fat can always be rendered.

Instructions

 

Using a chef’s knife, trim off any leftover tissue (it will be red or hard) and cut the fat into cubes. I’d read tons of contradictory information about particle size, with some recipes calling for larger, 1-inch cubes and others claiming finely diced or shredded fat got the best yield. When I rendered pre-shredded buffalo kidney fat, I went for shredded. So this time, I opted for cubes so I can test both ways. Shredding and cubing both work just fine.

 

So, after trimming the fat completely and removing all attached muscle meat and bloody tissue (this step is crucial, because meat and blood will only burn and ruin the purity of your tallow), I ended up with small cubes. Tiny bits of red are fine. You’ll end up straining later.

 

Dry rendering vs. wet rendering method

Here, I could choose to dry-render over the stove in a high quality pot, or do a wet-render and get the potentially purest tallow by boiling and then separating fat from water. I’d read about several different ways to render fat, but I chose two that seemed to make the most sense. The wet-render sounded tempting, if a bit messy and time-consuming, but I eventually passed on it. I settled on doing the traditional dry-render over super low heat on the stove top. I used enameled cast-iron pots and about a pound of cubed fat in each.

 

Stove top dry render method

The stove top fat started rendering almost right away, even with just a tiny flicker of a flame doing the heating. After about 20 minutes, the first sign of “cracklins”began to show: light brown shriveled up pieces of (former) fat bubbling around inside the newly rendered fat. I was initially worried that I was going too fast too soon, but that wasn’t the case. The cracklins were great, and they never burned. The fat remained pure and clear.

 

I used a fine mesh strainer and it was completely sufficient. The result was pure, delicious tallow that turned white in the fridge and was easy to scoop. If you look really closely, you can see some specks at the bottom of the jars, but you’d really have to look for them.

 

From my experience, both methods work equally well. If you like stay in the kitchen and tend to your dishes, go with the stove top method. As long as you keep an eye on it and keep the fat from sticking to the bottom, your fat will render much faster this way. If you want to go do other stuff while it renders, use the oven method. Other than keeping the heat low and occasionally popping in for a quick stir and scrape, you can pretty much set the clock and forget about the rendering.

Anyone ever use the wet-render method? Got any tips for my next batch of tallow? Let me know!

The post How to Render Beef Tallow appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Weekly Link Love – Edition 105

Research of the Week

Ramadan fasting appears to lower cancer markers and improve metabolic health (albeit from baseline, not compared to a control group).

The genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs.

Exercising and eating better improve physical and cognitive health in Air Force airmen.

Baka hunter-gatherers of Cameroon use at least 88 plant species for food or medicine.

Among the Turkana, being born in an urban area predicts poor adult health.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 454: Ede Fox: Host Elle Russ welcomes Ede Fox to talk about the black carnivore community.

Primal Health Coach Radio Episode 82: Laura and Erin chat with Lois Weinblatt about the power of visioning.

Media, Schmedia

In one study, more than 80% of those hospitalized for COVID-19 were deficient in vitamin D.

Rural life is not a panacea.

Interesting Blog Posts

Very interesting case study of type 2 diabetes remission and cure.

The push to restore caribou herds for indigenous Canadians.

Social Notes

Tsar Nicholas II certainly didn’t skip back day.

Tell me more about this “mismatch theory.”

Stunning.

Everything Else

I love old studies.

“…we find evidence that marriage duration is inversely associated with spending on the engagement ring and wedding ceremony.”

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Of course there is: Insufficient evidence to recommend low-sodium diets.

I am surprised: Nutritionists call for USDA to lift limit on saturated fat intake.

Is anyone surprised?: CRISPR gene editing of human embryos is not without risk.

Funny how that works: Low-carb diets high in meat lower serum uric acid.

Important question: Why does strength training improve endurance performance?

Question I’m Asking

Is the tide turning on saturated fat, salt, and other related bugaboos?

Recipe Corner

Garlic mashed cauliflower “potatoes” are really just so good.
Fascinating idea: cauliflower alfredo.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 23 – Oct 29)

Archetypal Resting Positions: A Video Guide – How to relax like Grok.
Is Keto Insomnia a Common Problem? – Well, is it?

Comment of the Week

“‘Could cold water trigger shrinkages’ was 100% intentional, and I love it.”

-Whatever do you mean, Nathan?

The post Weekly Link Love – Edition 105 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.