Mark Sisson's Blog, page 63

Weekly Link Love — Edition 98

Research of the Week

People with amnesia often gain weight because they forget they’ve already eaten.

Caffeine makes alcohol more rewarding.

Taller people have stronger testosterone responses to exercise.

Despite widespread dairy consumption, Bronze Age Europeans had relatively low frequency of lactase persistence.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 444: Ashleigh VanHouten: Host Elle Russ welcomes Ashleigh VanHouten back to the podcast.

Episode 445: Dude Spellings: Host Brad Kearns welcomes Dude Spellings back to talk about micro-workouts, calorie compensation, blue light and melatonin.

Primal Health Coach Radio Episode 75: Laura and Erin chat with Stacey Claxton about learning from your body.

Media, Schmedia

Female python lays 7 eggs despite no male contact for twenty years.

Could face masks be a quick-and-dirty COVID vaccine?

Interesting Blog Posts

Have we unwittingly discovered the biggest productivity hack of the century?

Is motivation the answer?

Social Notes

VR pasture for Moscow cows.

Everything Else

More people are grinding their teeth.

A nice treatise on walking.

Post-hurricane mosquito clouds are killing livestock.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Podcast I loved doing: Health Theory with Tom Bilyeu. We talked about living awesome.

Interesting article: We know how to prevent massive wildfires.

Imagine that: Indigenous cattle are a viable path to economic and nutritional self-sufficiency in South Africa.

What to say when someone proposes that kids and adults avoid animal foods to stave off chronic disease: NO.

Another senseless tragedy: Vegan parents starve baby with homemade formula.

Question I’m Asking

Should veganism be illegal for children?

Recipe Corner

Spicy Thai chicken zoodles.
South African bobotie.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Sep 5 – Sep 11)

Menopause, Part 2: Psychological Well-Being  – How to approach the mental side.
How My Fitness Routine Has Evolved  – What I was doing different a year ago.

Comment of the Week

“The only free lunch is the cheese in the trap.”

-Good one, Fritz.

The post Weekly Link Love — Edition 98 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Ask a Health Coach: Is Eating Healthy Even Worth It?

Hey, folks. If you’ve ever wondered if watching what you eat is really worth it, you’ll want to check out today’s post. PHCI Coaching Director, Erin Power is here answering your questions about managing macros, weighing the pros and cons of meal prep, and the value of paying more for your food. We love getting your questions, so keep them coming in the comments below or head over to our Mark’s Daily Apple Facebook Group.

Debbie asked:

“I don’t know what to eat anymore. I was following a strict macro split of 56% fat, 28% protein, and 16% carbs, but I’m worried that my protein is too high. My goals are to maintain my weight, build muscle, and control my blood sugar since I am pre-diabetic. I know higher protein isn’t good for diabetes as it converts to glucose and then you get an insulin dump and gain weight. Can you point me in the right direction?”

Feels stressful doesn’t it? All the measuring, weighting, counting, and adding — just to get your macros to line up and reach some magical equation that you’ve decided will make everything work out perfectly. Don’t get me wrong, I love that you’re committed to doing what you can to prevent diabetes and reverse your current diagnosis (I wish more people followed your lead here), but I have a hunch it’s sort of ruling your life right now. And it doesn’t have to.

There’s so much great information out there. Unfortunately, that makes it easy to get overwhelmed. Personally, I’ve always hated the fussy factor. That’s why my philosophy is “keep it simple.”

My advice is to ditch the food scale (as well as grains, sugars, and industrialized oils) and focus on eating real foods in the form of vegetables, low sugar fruits, animal proteins, and healthy fats. Start with a protein-forward breakfast like eggs and bacon and eat when you’re hungry, not when your macro-tracking app says you need to squeeze in ten more grams of protein.

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Sure, some people thrive on adding up their macros. They get a sense of control out of knowing exactly how much protein, fat, and carbohydrates they’re consuming. But if it’s causing you more stress, you’re actually working against your goals of inhibiting an insulin response.

Both physical and emotional stress1 can create changes in blood sugar, regardless of what you eat. The stress from constantly tracking and worrying about your macros causes your body to release cortisol and adrenaline, so it can access stored glucose because it thinks you’re in danger. In ancestral terms, your body thinks you’re being chased by a predator, so it pumps extra energy into your bloodstream.

If you’re not actually converting that glucose into energy, you’ll get a buildup of sugar in your bloodstream, and you’ll dump more insulin. Keep that up and you’ll be on the fast track to weight gain and a full-on diabetes diagnosis.

Okay, now to answer the other part of your question about muscle-building. Sure, protein helps increase muscle mass but you actually need to incorporate strength training if you want to see a real difference. It’s just one of the reasons “lift heavy things” is one of the cornerstones of the Primal Blueprint. When you put more stress (in this case, good stress) on your muscles, you create muscle fiber tears, which, once repaired, cause an increase in size and strength. Keep in mind that “heavy” is relative. Even bodyweight exercises like pushups, planks, pullups, and squats done two to three times a week will help you put on muscle.

JoAnn asked:

“Now that school has started again, I’m finding I have even less time to prep meals and snacks. What are good healthy convenience foods I can stock up on?”

Time management is a tough one this time of year. Especially when you’re busy working, parenting, and homeschooling all day. I get it though, it isn’t super convenient to sit down every week and plan out what you’re going to eat, then shop for ingredients, then prep those ingredients and create meals for you and your family.

It’s much easier to buy pre-packaged foods that go from the microwave to your mouth in two minutes flat. It’s easier to buy the giant Costco-size bag of popcorn and “healthy” chips. Don’t get me wrong, there are actually a few brands that go out of their way to use clean, minimally processed ingredients, but sadly, most of them don’t.

Most convenience foods are loaded with artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives – even the brands that have “low sugar” and “no trans fats” written right there on the front of the label. Problem is, although they’re hyped as healthy, these foods are full of ingredients your body doesn’t recognize, which can make you feel foggy, achy, cause you gain weight, and make you want to fall asleep before the kids finish their homework.

Which begs me to ask the question, what’s easier, hard boiling a dozen eggs or carrying around 15 extra pounds? Is throwing a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster more or less convenient than struggling to keep your eyes open after 7pm? Are those peanut butter crackers for when you’re feeling “snacky” worth the price of having chronically sore joints from systemic inflammation?

You say you don’t have time to prep foods. However, my guess is you also don’t have time to be sick, achy, or overweight. So, be smart about it. Following the hashtag #easypaleo on Instagram is a great place to start. Collect recipes that are healthy and easy to make, then stock your kitchen with staples like:

Frozen veggies and meat
Coconut milk
Ghee
Coconut aminos
Nut butters
Nuts and seeds
Eggs
Coconut and almond flour

Robert asked:

“In an effort to cut down on our grocery bill, my wife and I are thinking about buying conventional meat and produce. Is it really worth it to spend more for products labeled organic and grass-fed or is it all just marketing?”

Since the pandemic started, the cost of groceries has skyrocketed2 with meat prices jumping as high as 20%, eggs increasing 10%, and fresh veggies going up 4%.Buy the organic, grass-fed, and pasture-raised versions and those costs will be even higher.

So, is it worth it? I’ll break it down for you.

I have clients that only buy organic. I also have clients that, for financial reasons, have to go the conventional route. The thing is, in general, when you buy organic (or grass-fed beef in this case), you’re limiting your exposure to synthetic additives. Other than that, there’s no conclusive evidence that eating this way is better or healthier for you.

But we’re not really talking about nutrition here. We’re talking about produce covered in pesticides and fertilizers. Factory-farmed animals housed in poor conditions and fed grains pumped full of antibiotics. The main issue here is the impact these foods have on your overall health – not to mention the health of our planet.3

Ever heard the phrase, pay for it now or pay for it later? Sure, it can be costly to eat this way. It can also be costly to manage chronic gastrointestinal, neurological, endocrine, and respiratory conditions for the rest of your life.

So, whether or not it’s worth it to spend more is totally up to you Robert. My advice is to buy local or organic fruits and veggies when you can, especially ones that have been proven to contain higher levels of pesticides, like strawberries, spinach, apples, potatoes, cherries, and peaches. Same goes for beef and poultry. If you can, get in touch with a local butcher. There’s a good chance they can get you a better cut of meat at a more affordable price than you’d find at the grocery store.

What do you think? Have you found that it’s worth it to eat healthy? Tell me about it in the comments below.

References https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2010/05/low-calorie-dieting-increases-cortisol.htmlhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/business/grocery-prices-rising/index.htmlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4947579/

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All About the Liver, and How to Support Your Favorite Detoxification Organ

The liver is incredible. Most people think of it as a filter, but filters are physical barriers that accumulate junk and have to be cleaned. The liver isn’t a filter. It’s a chemical processing plant. Rather than sit there, passively receiving, filtering out, and storing undesirable compounds, the liver encounters toxic chemicals and attempts to metabolize them into less-toxic metabolites that we can handle.

It oxidizes the toxins, preparing them for further modification
It converts the toxins to a less-toxic, water-soluble version that’s easier to excrete
It excretes the toxins through feces or urine

Bam. It’s an elegant process, provided everything is working well back there. And it’s not the only process it controls.

The liver is the primary site of cholesterol synthesis and disposal. It creates cholesterol as needed and converts excess into bile salts for removal via the bile duct. The liver also plays a huge role in the burning of fat for energy, the storage of vitamin A, the metabolism of hormones, and the regulation of blood sugar. If you enjoy burning ketones, you can thank the liver because that’s where they’re produced.

The liver supports full-body health, in other words. If it isn’t working correctly, nothing is. Everything starts to fall apart.

How do we support the liver?

It’s not one thing we do. It’s many things. It’s nutrition, supplementation, lifestyle, sleep — everything. It’s also the things we don’t do. The stakes are high, you see. Whenever there’s a grand overarching orchestrator regulating dozens of different processes in the body, you must protect it from multiple angles. A lot can go wrong. Or right, depending on how you look at it.

Since the liver is “hidden away” and you can’t really “feel” it, you may not give it too much thought. When you’re overweight, you know it. When your fitness is suffering, you consciously experience it. When your liver is overburdened or suffering, you don’t necessarily know it. That’s where doing the right things for the sake of doing them comes in handy.

So, what should you do to maintain pristine liver health?

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11 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Liver

Liver health depends on steps you take toward a healthy lifestyle, and equally as important, the things you refrain from doing. Here are some things you can to to contribute to lifelong liver health:

Reduce linoleic acid intake
Reduce refined carb intake
Reduce alcohol intake
Stop overeating, and lose weight
Practice time-restricted eating
Eat fatty fish and get omega-3s
Eat egg yolks and other choline sources
Take NAC
Take whey protein
Regularly deplete your liver glycogen
Get good, regular sleep

Reduce Linoleic Acid Intake

When a patient can’t eat, they get something called parenteral nutrition — a direct infusion of nutrients into the gut. The classic parenteral nutrition consists of an emulsion of olive oil and soybean oil. It’s very rich in linoleic acid and typically leads to elevated liver enzymes and fatty liver. That’s right: the medical establishment for whatever reason just accepts that people receiving parenteral nutrition have a high chance of developing fatty liver disease.

Okay, but what’s happening here? Is it really causal? Yes. The more linoleic acid you eat, the more oxidized metabolites of linoleic acid show up in your body. The more oxidized metabolites of linoleic acid you have, the higher your risk of fatty liver. These toxic metabolites of LA are actually full-fledged biomarkers of liver injury.1

The bottom line: your liver prefers smart fats like avocado oil, butter, lard, fatty fish, and olive oil over industrial seed oils.

Reduce Refined Carb Intake

The real danger of refined carbs is that they tend to be nutrient-poor. They’re basically just pure starch (or sugar). All the energy, none of the micronutrients required to metabolize that energy.

Your liver works hard to convert carbs into glucose that your body can use. When you don’t use the glucose in your blood, it gets stored in the liver and skeletal muscle as glycogen, and if you have excess after that, it gets stored as body fat. With refined carbs, it’s easy to get there.

Studies show that carb overfeeding, especially with fructose, can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,2 which affects how efficiently your liver works.

Of course, the combo of high linoleic acid and high refined carbohydrate is just about the worst thing possible.

Reduce Alcohol Intake

To detox alcohol, the liver converts it into the metabolite acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is far more toxic than ethanol itself, so the body then releases acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione to break down the acetaldehyde. If you stick to just a few drinks and space them out accordingly, your body’s natural antioxidant enzyme production can keep up. If you start binging, though, glutathione stores become overwhelmed and the liver must produce more. Meanwhile, acetaldehyde, which is between 10-30 times more toxic than ethanol, accrues in your body.3

Here’s where dosage matters. The more you drink in a given allotment of time, the higher the liver burden. Your liver doesn’t metabolize ethanol all at once. It’s an ongoing physical process. It takes time, and glutathione. Glutathione is also a physical material. You need more substrate, like glycine and cysteine, to produce it. Without enough glutathione (and there’s never enough if you drink too much), your liver will incur damage and develop fat.

If you’re going to drink, do so sparingly, choose healthier drinks, and practice good hangover prevention hygiene. High linoleic acid intake, for example, mixes terribly with alcohol; a much better choice is something saturated like beef fat or cocoa butter.

Stop Overeating, and Lose Weight

The number one risk factor for getting a fatty liver with impaired function is gaining excess body fat. Don’t get fat. If you are fat, lose it. Losing weight is the number one risk factor for losing a fatty liver.

Figure out what type of diet helps you eat normal amounts, and then go follow that diet. For most of my readers, it’s a low-carb Primal or keto approach. For others, it’s full-on carnivore. And yes, there are some for whom a moderate or even high carb diet works best. Whatever satiates you is the one that will improve your liver function.

Overeating fat especially can be bad, because the extra fat doesn’t need to waste any extra steps becoming available to your liver.

Practice Time-restricted Eating

In mice fed a typical soybean oil-fructose-based lab diet, the “high-fat” kind that reliably plumps up their livers, switching to a shortened eating window eliminates the metabolic fallout. They don’t get fat, they don’t get insulin resistant, and, most importantly, they don’t get fatty or dysfunctional liver.4

Eat Fatty Fish and Get Omega-3s

If you offset some of that olive oil and soybean oil with a blend of medium triglycerides and fish oil, liver enzymes may drop and overall integrity of the liver may improve.5 Amazing how that works.

Fish oil isn’t the only option. In fact, eating actual seafood is ideal because in addition to the omega-3s it also provides micronutrients and macronutrients that enhance liver function. If you’re not a fish eater, supplements can fill in the gaps.

Eat Yolks and Other Choline Sources

Choline protects against fatty liver by providing the backbone for VLDL—the particle the liver uses to transport fat out  into the body. Without adequate choline, you can’t make enough VLDL for transport and the fat tends to accumulate in the liver.

Egg yolks are the best source of choline.

Take NAC

In patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, taking NAC every day for three months improved liver enzyme levels and overall liver function.6 Taking it with vitamin C may be even more effective.

NAC is well-known for boosting levels of glutathione, the primary antioxidant used by the liver to metabolize toxins and protect itself.

Take Whey Protein

Obese women with fatty liver who took 60 grams of whey protein per day reduced their liver fat by almost 21%.7

Whey boosts glutathione levels and provides methionine, which the body can convert to choline when deficient.

Try Vanilla Coconut Primal Fuel, made with whey protein

Regularly Deplete Your Liver Glycogen

De novo lipogenesis, or the creation of fat from carbohydrate, is a hallmark of fatty liver disease.8 When liver glycogen is full, it becomes far more likely that your liver will turn any subsequent carbohydrate it encounters into fat for storage. If you keep liver glycogen low, or regularly deplete it, you can avoid de novo lipogenesis because there’s usually a place to store the glucose.

Furthermore, keeping liver glycogen low increases fat utilization from all over the body, including the liver.9 A few of my favorite ways to deplete glycogen:

Train hard. I like HIIT, higher volume lifting, and sprints. Or my personal favorite: Ultimate Frisbee. Not all at once.
Fast. Fasting is a reliable way to burn through available liver glycogen.
Reduce carbs. Going low-carb or keto is a reliable, if slightly slower way to burn through your liver glycogen.

Get Good, Regular Sleep

Certain molecules responsible for clearing liver fat operate according to a circadian schedule.10 If you don’t get to sleep at a normal, consistent time, your rhythm is disrupted and the molecules can’t do their jobs.

If you hadn’t already noticed, these are good health practices in general. We keep running into this phenomenon, don’t we?

What’s good for the liver is good for the brain is good for the cardiovascular system is good for your performance in the gym is good for the mirror.

It makes things easier and harder.

You know what to do.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Do you have any other recommendations for liver health? Which of these do you follow?

References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4578804/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4405421/#:~:text=This%20study%20suggests%20that%20human,patients%20with%20obesity%20(48).http://www.springerlink.com/content/w307w62037125v33/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413112001891https://journals.lww.com/ejanaesthesiology/Fulltext/2009/12000/Hepatocellular_integrity_after_parenteral.17.aspxhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22308119/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21288612/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24316260/https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3316https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/uops-mwt030311.php

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Why Am I Waking Up at 3am?

Whenever I write about sleep, I hear from a chorus of people who struggle to sleep through the night. Anecdotally, it seems a far more common complaint than difficulty falling asleep in the first place.

These complaints are one of three types:

People who have trouble falling asleep
People who sleep fitfully, waking multiple times throughout the night
Those who reliably wake once, around the same time most nights

Understandably, this is a hugely vexing problem. Poor quality sleep is a serious health concern. Not to mention, sleeping badly feels simply awful. When the alarm goes off after a night of tossing and turning, the next day is sure to be a slog. String several days like that together, and it’s hard to function at all.

I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and assert that waking up in the middle of the night isn’t always the problem we make it out to be. For some people, nighttime wakings are actually something to embrace. As always, context is everything.

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What Causes You to Wake Up In the Middle of the Night?

One of the most frustrating things about nighttime waking is that there are so many possible causes. Sometimes the solution is as simple as practicing good sleep hygiene. Other times, medical help is in order. Still other times, the solution is something different entirely.

Transitioning to Lighter Sleep Stages

Sleep isn’t a uniform state of unconsciousness you slip into when it becomes dark and, theoretically, ride until morning. It’s a dynamic process that goes in waves—or more precisely, cycles—throughout the night.

There are four (or five, depending on how you slice it) stages of sleep:

Stage 1: light sleep, occurs right after falling asleep
Stage 2: deeper sleep
Slow-wave sleep (SWS): deepest sleep, a.k.a. Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep
REM: lighter sleep where our more interesting dreams occur (although we can also dream in non-REM phases1)

A single sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes, during which you move from light sleep, through stage 2, into deep SWS, and back up to REM. Then down you go again, then back up, ideally at least four of five times per night.

Your sleep is also roughly broken into two phases over the course of a whole night. In the first half, you spend relatively more time in SWS. The second half is characterized by a higher proportion of REM sleep.

What does this have to do with nighttime waking?

One possible explanation is that as you transition into lighter sleep — either within a single sleep cycle, or as you move from the first to the second phase—aches, pains, and small annoyances are more likely to wake you up. These can include medical issues like chronic pain, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or GERD. Soreness from the day’s hard workout, noise or light from your environment, hunger, thirst, or being too hot or cold might rouse you from your slumber.

If you’re waking up multiple times at night, chances are that you’re experiencing physical discomfort that you’re not able to sleep through. Sometimes it’s obvious, but not always.

Was It Something You Ate Or Drank?

While individual studies have linked sleep quality to diet and macronutrient intake (high versus low carb, for example), they are mostly small and the results inconclusive.2 Still, you might be able to look at your diet and identify a likely culprit. For example, if your sleep problems started after going carnivore or adding intermittent fasting, that’s an obvious place to start.

A food log can help you spot patterns, such as whether eating certain foods at dinner tends to correlate with poorer sleep. Alcohol and caffeine are big sleep disruptors as well, though you surely know that.

If you’re frequently waking up to pee, you might be overhydrating, especially in the evening. More seriously, it can be a symptom of diabetes or bladder, prostate, kidney, adrenal, or heart problems. Getting up once or twice to pee probably isn’t cause for alarm. It’s worth seeing a doctor if you’re getting several times or urinating much more at night than during the day.

Melt your stress away with Adaptogenic Calm

What to Do About Nighttime Waking
First things first, pick the low-hanging fruit

I’m talking good sleep hygiene practices. Things like:

Sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room.
Minimize exposure to artificial lights after the sun sets. Use blue-light blocking glasses, and turn on night mode on your devices.
Watch your alcohol and caffeine consumption, especially later in the day.
Go to bed around the same time each night.

If applicable, experiment with your diet and food timing

Depending on your current diet, some experiments you might try include:

If you’re ultra-low-carb, try increasing your carb intake for a few weeks.
Try loading more of your carbs into your evening meal.
Make sure your protein intake isn’t too low.3
Try eating your last meal earlier if you’re waking up with indigestion, or later if you’re waking up hungry.

Try a teaspoon of raw honey before bed

One hypothesis is that you’re waking up in the middle of the night because your brain gets hungry for glucose eight hours after your last meal. The honey provides some carbs to get you through.

There’s no concrete evidence for honey as a sleep aid, but plenty of people swear by this remedy. I’m not sure it’s likely to be more effective than eating a serving of complex carbs at dinner. That said, even for low-carbers, I don’t think there’s any harm in trying.

I’ll note, though, that fasting studies don’t show a link to sleep disturbances.4 That calls the “starving brain” hypothesis into question, but I suspect there’s an important nuance here. Individuals who can comfortably do longer fasts are almost certainly also fat-adapted and, at least during the fast, producing ketones to fuel their brains. Metabolically, they’re in a very different place from a carb-dependent person who struggles to make it through the night.

Consider napping

If you’re unable to get enough high-quality sleep at night, you might prefer to adjust your sleep schedule entirely. Instead, aim for a shorter nighttime sleep period, say five or six hours, paired with an afternoon nap. This is another variant of biphasic sleeping.

Years ago, I wrote a post on how to conduct just this type of experiment. Check it out and see if it might work for you. It’s unconventional in this day and age, but I know people who thrive on this schedule.

Finally, don’t hesitate to seek medical help

Sleep issues are a symptom of many diverse health issues, including hyperthyroidism, anxiety, depression, and, as previously mentioned, diabetes, heart disease, and others. Your doctor may want to test you for sleep apnea.

The Case of Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are a common cause of nighttime waking for women of a certain age. If you endure nighttime flashes, you’re probably familiar with the standard advice:

Sleep in a cool room
Use moisture-wicking pajamas and sheets
Try acupuncture or other mind-body therapies
Add supplements like folic acid, or herbs like black cohosh or chasteberry
Investigate hormone-replacement therapy

Unfortunately, as I’ve learned from my wife Carrie’s and many friends’ experiences, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I do think acupuncture is a potentially helpful, underutilized tool. Mostly, though, it’s just a combo of trial-and-error plus time that seems to get most women through this phase.

Getting Back to Sleep

In the meantime, while you get to the root of the issue, here are some tips for getting back to sleep:

Take care of pressing needs. Get up and pee, get a drink of water, or adjust the thermostat. There’s no point in trying to power through the discomfort that woke you up in the first place. Just fix it.
Keep artificial lights and screens off. Use small nightlights to light your path to the bathroom if necessary, and wear your orange-tinted glasses.
Do a calm activity such as reading by candlelight, deep breathing exercises, or sketching or writing in your journal.
Most of all, don’t stress! Fretting is likely to keep you awake for much longer than simply accepting the fact that you are awake and lying peacefully in bed.

Are You Fighting Something You Should Be Embracing?

I’ve long believed that humans naturally tend to be biphasic sleepers. The idea that we should be passed out for a solid eight hours per night is a social construct not firmly rooted in our sleep biology.

Historian Roger Ekirch argues, rather convincingly I think, that before the advent of artificial light, humans across geographical locations and social strata slept in two chunks during the night. The first, usually just called “first sleep,” or sometimes “dead sleep,” comprised the first four or so hours. “Second sleep” went until dawn. In between, people would enjoy an hour, or perhaps two or three hours, of mid-night activities such as praying and meditating, reading and writing, having sex, and even visiting neighbors. This was seen as completely normal, even welcome.5

Anthropological evidence confirms that some modern-day hunter-gatherers around the world likewise engage in biphasic sleeping.6 Also, in one small experiment, seven adults lived in a controlled environment with 14 hours of darkness per night. Over the course of four weeks, their sleep and hormone secretions slowly and naturally became biphasic.7

Scholars argue that biphasic sleep confers an evolutionary advantage.8 If some individuals fall asleep earlier and some later, and most people are awake for an hour or two in the middle of the night, someone in the group is always up. That person can tend the fire and watch for danger. In fact, the waking hour was sometimes called the “sentinel” hour. According to Ekirch, it was often referred to as simply the “watch.”

Are You a Biphasic Sleeper, or Do You Have a Sleep Problem?

Waking up multiple times per night, such that you rarely feel truly rested, is a problem. However, we shouldn’t rush to pathologize a single nighttime waking. That might just be your natural sleep pattern. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be better off aiming for biphasic sleep either. Even if you wake reliably at the same time each night, sometimes a full bladder is just a full bladder.

The litmus test is how you feel. With a biphasic schedule, the intervening waking period should be pleasant. Your mind should feel calm and alert, if perhaps a bit dreamy. Anecdotally, many famous writers, artists, and sculptors have adhered to a biphasic schedule, believing that creativity and flow are enhanced during the mid-night hours.

Of course, you can’t tap into how you feel if waking is causing you a ton of angst. Remind yourself that waking can be normal, not dysfunctional. I know this can be easier said than done, especially if you’re sleep deprived. The thing about biphasic sleeping is that you’re still supposed to get the eight hours of nightly sleep you need, give or take. That means you have to spend nine or ten hours in bed. How many people do that nowadays?

See if you can commit to at least a couple weeks of sufficient time in bed. Push away your previous (mis)conceptions about what a “good” night of sleep is “supposed” to look like. Try to welcome rather than fight the mid-night waking. Be open to what comes next.

References https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4545https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3700250/https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/7/5/938/4616727https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/106/2/343/64370https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/39/3/715/2454050https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10607034https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2017.0967

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Keto Egg Wrap with Collard Greens Recipe, 3 Ways

Keto egg wraps are a keto dieter’s best friend. You can fill them with your favorite taco or burrito fillings, or make a satisfying sandwich wrap without racking up tasteless carbs from a tortilla. Fill and roll to your heart’s content, just like you would any wrap.

Here, you’ll prepare the egg omelette for this collard wrap in a similar fashion to how we prepared the egg “tortilla” in the Keto Burrito. The collard greens add a nice crunch and help the wrap hold together a little better than egg alone.

How to Roll Like a Pro

When folding up your wrap, orient your piece of parchment like a diamond with a point facing you. Build the collard wrap in the center of the parchment and then place the toppings and fillings on top. Carefully fold the parchment point closest to you up and over the collards and fillings. Continue to roll and tuck in the sides of the wrap as you go.

Keto Egg Wrap with Collard Greens Recipe, 3 Ways

Serves: 1

Time in the kitchen: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Egg Wrap Base:

6 collard green leaves
Avocado oil spray
1 Tbsp. avocado oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp. water
Salt and pepper

Veggie Egg Wrap Option:

1/2 Tbsp. avocado oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
¼ cup sliced shallots
½ Tbsp. mayo of choice (we like Primal Kitchen® Pesto Mayo)

Spicy Egg Wrap Option:

1-2 slices pepper jack cheese
1 Tbsp. spicy BBQ sauce or spicy ketchup 
Sliced jalapeños

Buffalo Egg Wrap Option:

1 chicken sausage, cooked and sliced down the middle
1 Tbsp. buffalo sauce

Directions

To make the eggs, spray your seasoned cast iron pan with avocado oil spray. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place the pan in the oven for 10-12 minutes to heat up.

In a bowl, combine 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon of water with a pinch of salt and pepper and whisk together with a fork.

Once the pan is quite hot, place the hot pan on your stovetop and heat over medium-high heat. Swirl 1/2 tablespoon of avocado oil in it and then quickly add the egg mixture to the pan and spread it out if necessary with a rubber spatula. As the edges of the egg begin to set, tilt the pan slightly while pulling up the egg from the edges with a spatula. This will allow the raw egg in the middle to fill the spaces in the pan so it can set.

Allow the egg to cook until it is almost set, continuing to periodically run the spatula under the edges of the egg. Using your spatula and hand, carefully flip the egg over and allow it to cook for another 15-30 seconds. Remove the omelette from the pan.

For the veggie option, heat the avocado oil in the pan. Once hot, add the sliced shallots. Sauté for about 2 minutes, or until soft. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are tender. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

To assemble the wrap, cut a square of parchment paper and orient it in a diamond shape so that the point of the paper is facing towards you. Arrange 3 pieces of collard greens next to one another vertically, and then the other 3 pieces of collards next to one another horizontally across the first layer of leaves. Place the egg on top and then the toppings based on whatever option you choose above.

Carefully pull up the piece of parchment towards you and begin rolling up the collard and egg wrap, tucking the sides in as you go. When you finish wrapping, carefully slice the wrap in half. Gently pull back the parchment as you begin to eat the wrap and enjoy!

 

 

 

Nutrition Info (for 1 basic collard and egg wrap):

Calories: 343

Fat: 27g

Total Carbs: 6g

Net Carbs: 2g

Protein: 21g

The post Keto Egg Wrap with Collard Greens Recipe, 3 Ways appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Weekly Link Love – Edition 97

Research of the Week

A bodybuilding supplement reduces frailty and extends lifespan in mice.

Honey bee venom shows efficacy against cancer cells.

Beard prevalence predicts intra-sexual competition among men.

Exercise promotes general stress resilience.

Selenium deficiency is a major factor in cardiomyopathy.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 443: Dallas Hartwig: Host Elle Russ welcomes Dallas Hartwig, who wants you to live in tune with the seasons.

Primal Health Coach Radio Episode 74: Laura and Erin chat with Laura Poburan about cultivating your intuition.

Media, Schmedia

Walking isn’t enough.

Interesting Blog Posts

Vitamin D nearly abolishes the risk of ICU admittance in COVID-19.

Ancient Briton home decor.

Social Notes

What do you want from me?

Embrace flexibility.

Everything Else

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine wants to get rid of daylight savings time.

I want a singing dog.

The Lost Colony of Roanoke wasn’t actually lost. Turns out the English settlers left the settlement to join the natives (to find ourselves, maaaan).

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I agree with all of this: Longevity advice from a Japanese doctor who lived to 105.

Research I found interesting: Fat is the main source of glucose in fasting.

Cool study: Highly-purified fish oil reduces atherosclerosis.

Sadly I’m not surprised: Plastics and other endocrine disrupting-agents could increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

You love to see it: California dairies are on their way to climate neutrality.

Question I’m Asking

Should we get rid of daylight savings time?

Recipe Corner

Nyama choma—Kenyan grilled meat.
Taco dip which you can easily turn into a taco salad. Lose the beans if you’re not into them.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Aug 29 – Sep 4)

Life in the Sanitized Bubble (or Why Probiotics Are so Important)  – Too much of a good thing.
Dear Mark: Health Effects of Neutering, Grain Free Dog Diets, Ideal Dog Diet  – I answer a few of your burning questions about dogs.

Comment of the Week

“I recently decided to imagine myself as a Teflon duck that stress slides off the back of.”

-Nice visual, joel.

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Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and GERD: Symptoms, Causes and Remedies

Burping, disrupted sleep, abdominal pain, nausea, even vomiting and choking … if you’ve experienced these symptoms, you’re likely suffering from chronic acid reflux, also commonly known at GERD.

You’re not alone. Roughly 25%-30% of Americans experience GERD-related heartburn multiple times a week.1. One Norweigen study surmises that acid reflux is 50% more common than 10 years ago.2I personally suffered bouts of GERD and acid reflux during and even after my endurance training years, and my symptoms persisted until I finally gave up grains once and for all.

More debilitating than average, occasional heartburn, GERD symptoms chip away at your daily quality of life, and if left unattended, can even eventually lead to esophageal cancer 3. GERD and acid reflux are becoming more prevalent 4, and supposed ‘miracle’ pills are more pervasive than ever: from TUMS and Pepcid to prescription medications, the market is flooded with treatment options. How did a condition usually associated with late-stage pregnancy and over indulgence become an epidemic?

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What is GERD, or Acid Reflux? Are They the Same Thing?

Reflux, more commonly known as ‘heartburn,’ occurs when stomach acid moves backwards into the esophagus, sometimes as a result of the esophageal sphincter (the muscle that connects the stomach and esophagus) malfunctioning. 5 GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease, is a recurring, severe form of acid reflux. 6

Acid Reflux and GERD Symptoms

People who suffer from acid reflux and GERD tend to experience some combination of these symptoms regularly:

Chest pain or burning sensation in your chest
Regurgitation or even vomiting
Coughing
Stomach pain/discomfort
Nausea
Bad breath
Tooth decay
Respiratory problems7

What Causes Heartburn and Acid Reflux?

There are many contributing factors to heartburn and acid reflux, and depending on who you talk to, the causes will vary. Some blame foods that cause acid reflux, citing tomatoes, garlic, mint, chocolate, vinegar, and alcohol as “food triggers.”8

According to some doctors, the physiological causes are diverse: sliding hiatus hernia, low lower esophageal sphincter pressure, a relaxation of the lower sphincter, the acid pocket, obesity, among others.9 Other factors, like obesity, genetics, pregnancy, and even stress can allegedly also generate the symptoms of acid reflux and GERD.10

There is also a correlation between NSAID (think: aspirin and ibuprofen) and GERD – which might account for the many athletes and trainers who I know who rely on pain relief from medication, and then struggle with acid reflux 11.

Some even notice the connection between higher levels of estrogen and GERD symptoms, perhaps why it was long associated with pregnant women 12 With so many factors contributing to the causes of GERD, it’s easier to understand why so many suffer. However, the physical response to GERD and the treatment don’t quite connect. While the problem is rising acid, most medications treat excess acid, which doesn’t address the weakened esophageal sphincter, and might make one wonder, are these ‘wonder medications’ just treating the symptoms, and not the actual problem?

How to Stop Heartburn: the Most Common Acid Reflux Treatments

So what helps heartburn and acid reflux? Is there such a thing as acid reflux relief? Over the counter antacids like TUMS and Pepcid are often a short term solution, and it’s possible you’ve even heard about the recall of major drug, Zantac, and its link increasing risk of cancers.13 The most commonly prescribed acid reflux medication is a proton pump inhibitor, or a PPI.14

Most conventional doctors will treat GERD or acid reflux by prescribing one of the PPIs and recommending lifestyle changes (such as avoiding “food triggers”). Consistent symptoms usually result in further evaluations of the esophagus through endoscopies.

15 However, if you talk to folks who’ve been struggling with GERD and acid reflux for a while, you’ll learn PPIs have a bad reputation. Long term use is linked to higher risk of infections 16 and weaker bone integrity. Some even believe PPIs can cause kidney diseases, heart attacks, and dementia.17

Because PPIs reduce stomach acid, long term usage or incorrect dosage might cause a swing in the other direction – too little stomach acid, which can actually make symptoms worse. 18

Are there other remedies besides medication?

If chronic discomfort or long term side effects of PPIs don’t entice you, there are other options. Since doctors and patients are becoming more aware of the various side effects of antacids and proton pump inhibitors, there’s been an increased interest in non-medical therapies and remedies.19

For generations, doctors, healers, and patients have searched for natural remedies for acid reflux. For example, in ancient Persian culture, it was believed herbs might act as an acid reflux remedy – and given the enduring prevalence of this theory, there might be some evidence that it’s effective. 20 Some people use teas and natural products meant to combat morning sickness because they contain similar herbs.

Home remedies for reflux

People have used the following remedies for GERD and reflux, with varying results:

Apple cider vinegar, diluted in water, before meals
Digestive bitters before meals
Small amounts of baking soda mixed with water (Careful, this could make low stomach acid even lower.)
Betaine HCl, to increase stomach acid (Another one to be careful with. This only works if your reflux symptoms are caused by low stomach acid. It can make matters worse if you have too much stomach acid.)
Avoiding eating or snacking late in the evening
Avoiding lying down after eating or snacking
Stress management
Probiotics, which may be part of a complete digestive system balancing regimen

Getting to the source of the problem is most effective, so work with your doctor to see what steps to take.

Acid reflux diet

The most common advice is be aware of what acid reflux and GERD foods to avoid. In general, the data on food and diet related to GERD and acid reflux symptoms can be sparse and conflicting, however, there is promising data that your diet can help protect against symptoms.21 In one study, researchers found that patients studied with GERD and acid reflux tended to have multiple food intolerances as well, suggesting that maybe acid reflux dietary modification could have a positive effect on symptoms.22

Could low-carb be the answer? One small study points to lowering carb intake as a means for relief. 23 Certainly there are folks who’ve found success, and you can read their stories right here 24. If the underlying problem is a malfunctioning esophageal sphincter, we have to look at healing the system, not the acid (which is an important part of our body’s processes). I recommend Dr. Norman Robillard’s book, “Heartburn Cured: the Low Carb Miracle,” where he suggests that our high-carb diets are to blame. Our bodies are unable to properly breakdown the carbohydrates, creating gas in the upper digestive system, triggering the reflux.

Action Steps for GERD and Acid Reflux

How do we begin to heal the system, and not just the symptoms? Here are some things you can experiment with and see how you feel:

Repopulate your gut with probiotics and good bacteria
Eat low-carb
Try omega-3s as a step toward addressing inflammation

Have you overcome GERD or acid reflux? I’d love to hear how others have tackled this and what has worked for you.

References https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb44.pdfhttps://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/239665#1https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29132520/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26053301/https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/gerd-reflux.htmlhttps://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heartburn/expert-answers/heartburn-gerd/faq-20057894https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heartburn/expert-answers/heartburn-gerd/faq-20057894[ref][ref]https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/acid-reflux-ger-gerd-adults/symptoms-causeshttps://gi.org/patientnews/food-triggers-play-key-role-in-acid-reflux-expert-says/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26053301/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28251844/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28232473/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31788039/https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ranitidine-zantac-recall-expanded-many-questions-remain-2020040218044https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29132520/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28827081/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18924330/https://digestivehealthinstitute.org/2014/09/12/gerd-standard-treatments-ineffective/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24310148/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28427116/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29032757/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28521699/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28884564/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16871438/https://www.marksdailyapple.com/gerd-sufferers-rejoice/

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Raw Food Diet for Dogs: a Primal Feeding Practice

Dogs, like people, are animals. The dietary requirements of dogs, like the dietary requirements of people, are subject to the forces of natural selection. Just like Big Macs and French fries and white bread aren’t optimal food for humans, kibble isn’t optimal food for dogs.

If you accept that biologically-appropriate diets exist for humans, and those diets should be informed by evolutionary history and anthropology, then you must accept that dog diets deserve the same treatment.

One leading brand of kibble has listed as ingredients:

Chicken
Corn meal
Sorghum
Chicken by-product meal
Beet pulp
Natural flavor
Flaxseed
Egg product
Chicken fat
Caramel color
Vitamins
Minerals
Carrot
Choline
Fiber

You know, this isn’t even that “bad” on paper. It looks like a decent list of ingredients if you were putting together shelf-stable MRE for pure survival to sock away in a bunker somewhere. It could be a lot worse—it could be full of plant protein, soybean oil, wheat, and other junk a dog has no business eating. But it’s clearly substandard. These are dogs we’re talking about. Canines. Descendants of wolves. Man’s best friend. “Not that bad” isn’t good enough.

And although that dog will probably get by eating standard kibble—after all, millions of dogs do, just like millions of humans “get by” eating the Standard American junk food diet—he or she won’t thrive.

How does a dog thrive?

Assuming you’re providing daily exercise, lots of chest scritches, love, and affection, and all the other pre-requisites, it is my opinion that a dog thrives eating a species-appropriate diet of raw meat, edible bones and connective tissue, organs, seafood, and supplemental foods.

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Why Raw Feeding is Best

Canines for the majority of their formative development consumed raw rather than cooked meat. It’s what they’re meant to eat. It’s what they love. And because dogs by and large have not had their food reward and appetites corrupted by the modern food system, you can trust that their cravings and predilections are representative of their physiological requirements.

Put a bowl of ground beef and beef liver in front of a dog and it’ll go for the liver first, every time.

Let a dog choose between beef marrow and corn oil and it’ll go for the marrow first, every time.

Dogs know.

Humans have been cooking meat for hundreds of thousands of years. We’ve developed innate antioxidant systems designed to detoxify the compounds formed during cooking. We can tolerate some level of heat-damaged fatty acids and cholesterol. We can handle some smoke (though inhaling it directly is still a bad idea).

Dogs have not. Dogs split off from wolves at most 30000 years ago. That’s time enough for a small amount of adaptation to cooked foods, but just like humans exhibit some level of adaptation to agricultural foods but do better on a Primal, ancestral way of eating, dogs still look, feel, and perform better on raw meat.

Ok, so how do you do it?

You follow a Prey Model diet.

It’d be great to feed whole animals to your dogs, but that’s tough for most people to pull off. The Prey Model allows you to construct a “whole animal” out of constituent parts. Here’s how it breaks down, roughly:

80% muscle meat and connective tissue
10% organs
10% edible bones

All those percentages are by weight.

A dog should eat between 1.5-3% of its ideal body weight in food per day. Older and more sedentary dogs can do the lower end, younger and more active dogs the higher end. If a dog needs to lose weight, drop the food volume a bit. If a dog needs to gain weight or isn’t as energetic as it should be, increase the food a bit. Every dog is different, so consider these guidelines, not laws.

If you’re feeding a puppy, you’ll want to feed between 5-10% of their bodyweight spread through 2-3 meals.

This is the model that makes the most intuitive sense to me because it’s how canines eat in the wild.

80% Muscle Meat

Muscle meat provides protein, fat, energy, vitamins and minerals. It’s the basis of the diet—the unsexy workhorse. Muscle meat includes:

Ground meat
Stew meat
Trim (random bits of meat)
Heart (actually an organ, but it doesn’t contain any micronutrients that need to be limited so you can treat it like muscle meat)
Poultry thighs and legs (also contain edible bone)

Favor ruminant meat over poultry meat, simply for the nutrient density and fatty acid composition (more saturated, less polyunsaturated).

10% Edible Bones

Edible bones provide calcium and micronutrients, keep their teeth clean, and provide a productive outlet for their chewing urges.

As a general rule, do not give your dog an edible bone he or she can swallow whole. It should be something the dog has to work for.

Bones must always be raw, or else they risk splintering and getting lodged in the throat. No cooked bones.

Poultry necks
Poultry backs
Poultry feet
Poultry wings
Fish heads
Ribs
Lamb or pork necks
Tails

If your dog is just learning to eat edible bones, monitor them as they eat. Be ready to leap in and prevent choking. Another way you can actually show a dog how to eat a bone properly is to gradually hand feed it, slowly revealing more of the bone once they’ve chewed the first part. Works well with turkey necks.

You can also give “recreational bones”: beef and pork feet, big beef joints, legs, marrow bones. These are bones that the dog can’t actually eat. They don’t contribute to the 10%. Just for chewing (and marrow and cartilage).

Connective Tissue

This provides collagen and glycine for the dog, helping to balance out the muscle meats in the diet and improve joint health and function, as well as sleep. I’ve also noticed that giving chicken feet for the nighttime meal leads to deeper sleep and more doggie dreaming. Connective tissue sources include:

Tendons
Cartilage
Trachea
Feet (which also count as bones)
Tails (also bones)
Ears

There is no strict connective tissue requirement, but it should be fed regularly or even daily for best outcomes.

10% Organs

Organs are the multivitamins of a dog’s raw diet. They are essential, but easy to overdo. Keep organ meat to 10% of the diet by weight, and feed as broad a variety as you can.

Liver (half of the organ meat you feed should be liver)
Kidney
Spleen
Brain
Glands
Testes

Seafood

A great source of omega-3s and minerals, seafood can usually be counted as muscle meat and sometimes as edible bones, depending on what you’re feeding.

Whole sardines
Whole mackerel
Salmon heads, fins, and frames

IMPORTANT NOTE ON SALMON: salmonids, which include salmon, trout, char, and a few others, can carry a deadly parasite that can kill dogs.1 Only salmonids from the Pacific Northwest (California, Oregon, and Washington) are potential carriers; as of now, Alaskan salmonids are not said to be carriers. Still, it’s a good idea to deep freeze any salmon for 2 weeks before feeding to eliminate potential parasites.

Supplemental Foods

These are foods that provide micronutrients more than calories. Feed regularly but don’t try to build an entire diet based off of them.

Eggs (or just egg yolks)—Eggs are good for dogs like they’re good for us; throw the entire thing, shell and all, into the blender for a handy calcium-rich snack
Kelp meal—Great source of iodine and other minerals
Bone meal/eggshell meal—If you’re having trouble incorporating or finding edible bones, you can add a teaspoon (3 grams) of bone or eggshell meal for every 1000 calories of muscle meat for adults and a tablespoon (10 grams) for every 1000 calories of muscle meat for puppies to maintain the proper calcium:phosphorus ratios
Oysters and mussels—Great sources of manganese, iron, zinc, and omega-3s; feeding frozen or canned is easiest and cheapest
Yogurt, kefir, or raw milk—Nice source of calcium and probiotics
Red palm oil—Nice source of vitamin E and CoQ10, a way to increase calories if you have a very active dog and very lean meat

Raw Feeding Tips

Heed the calcium:phosphorus ratio: You want a 1:1 to 2:1 ratio of calcium to phosphorus in the diet. In general, hitting that 80/10/10 ratio of meat/organs/bone will get you the right C:P ratio. Don’t neglect either ratio!

Minimum protein intake: A dog needs at least 1 gram of protein per ideal pound of bodyweight per day from muscle and organ meat (connective tissue protein is important but doesn’t count toward the total). So if you’ve got a big fat dog who’s trying to slim down, use the weight he should be to determine how much protein to feed. Going over the minimum protein intake is fine.

Fatty acid composition: Limit omega-6s. Favor ruminants like lamb and beef over higher-PUFA meats like poultry. The bulk of a dog’s dietary fat should come from saturated and monounsaturated animal fats, along with omega-3s from fatty fish and whatever omega-6s you get from incidentals. Sounds familiar, eh?

Try to remove some or all the visible fat and skin when feeding poultry to your dog. Most poultry these days is just loaded with linoleic acid and it adds up quickly.

Fasting: Adult dogs tolerate fasting very well. And although there aren’t any “long term clinical trials” on the safety and efficacy of fasting in dogs, I suspect it will make them healthier and possibly extend their lives.

Feed once a day, and don’t be afraid to skip a day or two from time to time. If your dog is very active or a working animal, two meals are a good option. But even in a working dog one big meal will usually do the trick.

Carbohydrates: They’re unnecessary in a dog’s diet. In studies where dogs are given ad libitum access to foods of different macronutrient ratios, they always minimize carbohydrate intake and emphasize fat and protein intake. The average “self selected” macro ratio of dogs was 30% protein, 63% fat, and 7% carbs.2 Note that all the food choices contained some carbohydrate, so it’s possible that dogs would choose not to eat any carbs if there were 100% carnivore options available.

What do I feed?

Let me say this: I don’t feed my dogs this way anymore. I researched this heavily back in the day, and even did it for awhile (and got great results, the dogs loved it!), but nowadays I simply don’t have the time to make it work. Too many days on the road means I’d be inconsistent with it and relying on someone else trying to do it. No go on that.

So what I do these days is feed Orijen. It’s a “kibble,” but it’s the best I’ve found. Loaded with a range of raw or gently-cooked meats and seafood and completely grain-free.

I also add some turkey or beef to the meal. For treats, I’ll give raw egg yolks, chicken feet, marrow bones, and dried minnows. Maybe a beef knuckle from time to time. Maybe some liver or the juice from a can of sardines.

So don’t think that just because I wrote this article you need to switch your dog over to a raw diet. I recommend exploring that option if it appeals to you, but it’s not necessary.

Do any of you feed your dogs a raw diet? If so, what model do you follow? If not, do you think you’ll give it a try?

Let me know down below!

References https://www.oregonvma.org/care-health/dogs/salmon-poisoning-diseasehttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29024089/

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Collagen Benefits for Your Bones, Heart, Sleep and More, Backed by Science

Great news: If you’re already using collagen peptides for your hair, skin, and nails, you’re likely getting a bunch of other whole-body benefits.

Clearly we humans are meant to consume a good amount of collagen. Our ancestors ate nose-to-tail, consuming skin and connective tissue, and boiling down bones to make broth. Gelatin and collagen would have been abundant in the human diet. They provide amino acids needed for a dizzying array of metabolic functions. The amino acids also serve as blocks for collagen in the body.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, providing structure and support for the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. Crucially, we need glycine from collagen to balance the lifespan-shortening effects of methionine in meat.1

Today I’m going to highlight some potential benefits that have nothing to do with skin, nails, or hair. I’ll say up front that I’m firmly on the pro-collagen train. I’ve noticed great results personally from taking it. That said, I’m not trying to make wild claims about collagen as a miracle supplement. These are areas of research I’m watching with interest. I hope to see more studies that help us understand when, why, and how collagen is most useful.

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A Quick Primer on Collagen

When you purchase collagen, you’ll get either collagen peptides or collagen hydrolysate. These terms are interchangeable. Gelatin and collagen peptides have the same amino acid profile, and they should confer the same benefits. The difference is the proteins in collagen have been broken down into smaller chains (peptides), so they are more easily absorbed.

There are at least 28 types of collagen. The collagen peptides you buy at the store are mostly types I and III unless they specify otherwise. I’m not going to talk about studies that focus on types you can’t readily get in supplement form (like type IV, which is potentially relevant for Alzheimer’s disease).

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at some potential benefits.

Sleep Better with Collagen

Collagen has a different amino acid profile than meat, and that’s important here. Specifically, collagen is rich in the amino acid glycine. Among its many functions in the body, glycine is known to improve sleep.2

Human studies show that just 3 grams of glycine taken before bed improves sleep quality and daytime alertness for individuals with chronic sleep issues,3 insomnia,4 and sleep restriction.5 It might work by enhancing serotonin production, which is needed to produce melatonin.6 Glycine also facilitates the drop in core body temperature that promotes a healthy sleep cycle.7 8

Sleep experts generally recommend taking 3 to 5 grams of glycine before bedtime. You can buy glycine supplements, but collagen is about one-third glycine. A heaping scoop of collagen peptides will net you those 3 grams of glycine, plus other important amino acids.

Collagen Benefits Your Muscles, Tendons, and Bones

When talking about body composition, we usually mean the amount of body fat and muscle mass an individual carries. What about the other stuff—the bones and connective tissue that give our body structure and allow us to move around? In fact, the entire musculoskeletal system benefits from the amino acids in collagen.

Collagen to Build Strength

Lots of people use whey or soy protein supplements to enhance the effects of resistance training and build muscle. Collagen, on the other hand, has been largely overlooked because it’s not a complete protein. In particular, it doesn’t contain the levels of BCAAs found in whey protein.

I think collagen deserves a second look, though. For one thing, the high amount of glycine plus alanine in collagen provide building blocks for creatine. Creatine boosts energy production in muscle cells, and it’s probably the most widely used supplement for increasing muscle mass.

Also, in a series of studies, elderly men with sarcopenia,9 healthy young men,10 and premenopausal women11 undertook 12 weeks of resistance training. Half the participants in each study supplemented with 15 grams of collagen post-workout. Across the board, the collagen + training groups gained more fat-free mass and strength compared to training alone. The older men and the women also lost more body fat.

However, when the researchers measured the young men’s type II muscle fibers, they found no differences between the collagen and no-collagen groups. That said, in an interesting follow-up using the same protocol, researchers also performed muscle biopsies. The collagen + training group saw upregulation of proteins and pathways associated with positive training adaptations in contractile muscle fibers.12

What does this mean? Collagen ups the effectiveness of resistance training. More research is needed to understand precisely how—whether it increases muscle synthesis, tendon integrity, both, and/or other. In any case, though, adding a couple scoops of collagen to your post-workout routine seems a worthy experiment.

Collagen for Your Connective Tissues and Joints

Speaking of tendons, there’s evidence that collagen supplementation helps strengthen and maintain connective tissue. Connective tissue is made up of collagen, so it’s not really a big surprise. I first become enamored with collagen after rehabbing a serious Achilles tendon injury. I’m convinced that my recovery was accelerated thanks to loading up on collagen peptides.

Studies back up my experience:

Animal studies using rats13 and rabbits14 show that feeding the animals glycine and collagen peptides, respectively, strengthens their Achilles tendons.
In humans, taking 15 grams of gelatin plus 50 mg of vitamin C before working out improves tendons’ performance by increasing collagen deposition and remodeling.15

Collagen likewise shores up your joints and reduces joint pain:

Men and women with chronic ankle instability took 5 grams of collagen or a placebo for six months. Those in the collagen group reported greater subjective stability and had fewer ankle injuries during the follow-up period.16
Male and female college athletes who supplemented with 10 grams of collagen hydrolysate for 24 weeks reported significantly less joint pain across various activities. The effects were particularly strong among participants with pre-existing knee arthralgia (pain).17
For osteoarthritis patients, a collagen supplement reduced pain scores and improved walking ability.18
In another study, adults over 50 with joint pain took a modest dose—1.2 g/day—of collagen for 6 months and reported less pain in the shoulder, arm, hand, and lumbar spine. There were no differences for knee or hip pain, though.19
Supplementing with collagen also shows promise for helping to regrow cartilage for folks with osteoarthritis.20

Collagen Builds Strong Bones

More than 90 percent of the organic matrix of bone is collagen, mostly type I.21 Scientists believe that collagen plays a central role in regulating the growth and maintenance of strong, healthy bones.22

It should come as no surprise, then, that collagen supplementation seems to improve bone health. This has been demonstrated repeatedly with rats.23 24 In humans, adding 5 grams of collagen peptides per day for 12 months increased bone mineral density in postmenopausal women at risk of osteoporosis.25

Another cool study compared female identical twins. In each pair, one sister’s typical diet contained significantly more of the amino acids alanine and glycine. The high-intake twins had better bone mineral density in their spines and forearms.26

Collagen for Heart Health

Many animal studies suggest that supplementing with collagen can improve cardiovascular health. Glycine, specifically, may be cardioprotective thanks to its known anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties.

In rats, administering glycine reduces blood triglycerides and blood pressure.27 28
Collagen tripeptides reduce the size of atherosclerotic plaques and improve cholesterol markers in rabbits with hypercholesterolemia.29
Collagen hydrolysate reduces blood pressure and reverses arterial damage in rats.30
In mice, it lowers total cholesterol, triglycerides, and pro-inflammatory cytokines. 31

All promising stuff, but what about for us?

In humans, low circulating glycine levels are associated with a greater risk of acute myocardial infarction.32
One study showed that healthy adults who took 16 grams of collagen daily for six months lowered their LDL-C/HDL-C ratio. They also had significantly fewer toxic advanced glycation end-products, a marker of atherosclerosis risk, in their bloodstreams at the end of the study.33
In another small study, 15 adults with mild hypertension lowered their blood pressure by taking 5.2 grams of collagen daily for 4 weeks.34 A follow-up found similar effects using a smaller dose of 2.9 grams per day.35
In contrast, a study of older adults did not find any effects for blood pressure, but taking 2.5 grams of collagen per day for 12 weeks did reduce arterial stiffness.36

Collagen for Diabetes?

It might sound like a stretch at first, but individuals with low glycine are at greater risk for developing diabetes,37 38 while high glycine is associated with normal blood sugar control.39 Glycine supplementation may improve insulin sensitivity.40 A handful of studies further show that glycine can reduce certain diabetic complications in rats and humans.41

I’ve yet to see good evidence that collagen can reverse the course of prediabetes or diabetes in humans, though. Something to watch for.

How to Incorporate More Collagen in Your Diet

First things first, if you’re only eating muscle meat and avoiding the rest of the animal—skin, organs, bones—you need to diversify. Turn those bones into collagen-rich broth. Throw in some chicken feet while you’re at it. Make chicken skin chips. And yes, you do get some collagen from meat, too, as well as eggs.

Collagen peptides can be derived from cows (bovine), chickens, or pigs (porcine). Marine peptides come from fish parts such as bones and scales. There’s really no such thing as vegetarian collagen, although researchers are working on engineering collagen from algae.

I usually use one or two scoops per day of collagen peptides or Collagen Fuel per day. That’s enough to cover my bases. If I’m healing from an injury, I’ll increase it and throw in some extra vitamin C for good measure. Vitamin C is needed for collagen synthesis, and I figure it can’t hurt.42

I’m interested in your experience. Did you start incorporating bone broth or collagen peptides in your routine and notice any unexpected benefits? What’s your favorite way to get collagen in your diet?

References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc6516426/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350494/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2006.00193.xhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22293292/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22529837/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21414089https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22293292/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4397399/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26353786/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6566878/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31010031/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31091754/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25156668/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16161767/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27852613/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5950747/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18416885/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29701488/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22500661/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21251991/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2577747/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871752/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23914839/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15490264/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5793325/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26334651/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15331379/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16444815/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25468425/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20170381/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20651463https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26722126/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5429168/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19202283/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23563560/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29447076https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26467133https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29094215https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31697702https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5855430/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3005481/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27852613/

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3 Basic Moves for a Whole-body Kettlebell Workout (with Video)

Back in the day, only the most hard core weightlifters used kettlebells. Now, everyone’s catching on to their effectiveness and versatility. With just 3-4 sizes of kettlebells stashed away behind your sofa, you can do a full-body resistance workout that you feel the next day.

The free weights at the gym are great, but you don’t always have time to get there. Or maybe your gym is still closed. Investing in a few kettlebells will give you the means to emulate some of the more savage strength-building movements that you get with an expensive trainer, without having to leave your house or cough up a membership fee. You can even incorporate kettlebells into your microworkout regime.

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Why Kettlebells?

Until about 10 years ago, mainstream fitness favored barbells and dumbbells over kettlebells. More recently, people started understanding the benefits of kettlebell workouts:

They work the body and mind. Because moves involve leverage and a little bit of balance to execute the moves, kettlebells engage several muscle groups at once, along with your concentration and coordination.
Versatility. Their size and maneuverability make kettlebells incredible versatile. Because they are relatively small but incredibly dense, almost any natural movement – twisting your body, raising your hands above your head, swinging your arms – can be enhanced and turned into a serious exercise with the addition of a kettlebell.
Portability. You can ramp up the intensity of a weekend hike by bringing along your kettlebells. Just think of yourself as a Primal huntsman stalking his prey with a skull-crushing rock, and you’ll be fine. Going out of town and need to maintain your exercise regimen? A couple nice-sized kettlebells on a road trip will take care of your fitness needs on the go and help you avoid paying outlandish single-use gym fees.
They’re awkward – in a good way. Unlike dumbbell moves, kettlebell exercises usually involve momentum. A kettlebell swings. Working out with something that swings and has momentum means working out your entire body – stabilizer and primary muscles alike – to account for the added movement.
Kettlebells feel Primal. The kettlebell is perhaps the most Primal piece of exercise equipment available. Its very appearance can be intimidating – a heavy metal ball with a handle. Using one tends to release the baser instincts that make for the best workouts.

3 Basic Kettlebell Exercises for a Full-body Workout

There are hundreds of kettlebell moves out there, and lots of combo moves to keep things interesting. Whether you’re just starting out or want to refine your kettlebell routine, here are three kettlebell exercises that everyone should know and be able to do well.

How to Do a Kettlebell Swing

The basic kettlebell exercise is the kettlebell swing.

To start, squat as low as you can. Maintain proper squat position – feet shoulder width apart, toes slightly out, slight curve in lower back, weight on your heels, chest out, shoulders back, eyes straight ahead – with the kettlebell resting between your legs.
Grab the bell and, as if in a deadlift, rise up while pushing your hips out. Drive the kettlebell up primarily with your lower body and core; your shoulders will help, of course, but they shouldn’t be the main agent of movement.
When you reach the top of the motion, actively pull the kettlebell down to the start position.

Tip: Try to resist pulling with your shoulders and instead actively engage your legs, hips, and stomach in the movement, and you’ll be able to handle higher weights sooner.

What Muscles Does a Kettlebell Swing Work?

Either performed with one or both hands, the kettlebell swing enlists your shoulders, core, and thighs. Such a compound movement leaves room for error, so be cautious of your form. Correct form is absolutely essential to avoid injury and maximize output.

Read next:

9 Worthy Alternatives to the Back Squat

Alternatives to Burpees for When You’re Tired of Doing Burpees

At-home No Equipment Arm Workout

How to Do a Clean and Press

These Olympic lifts aren’t only possible with a barbell; the kettlebell works as well. From the basic swing, you can transition into numerous other movements.

For the clean, start in the swing position. Still pushing with your hips and legs, swing the bell up while keeping your elbow in.
As the bell reaches your shoulder, dip your knees and get your elbow underneath the kettlebell. Hold it at your shoulder.
From the clean, you can move into the press. Simply push the kettlebell up over your head with your shoulder and slowly lower it.
Return to the squat/swing position and repeat.

Turkish Get Ups

Turkish get ups have long been a staple for Eastern European strongmen, and incorporating them into your workout will strengthen your body’s foundation and improve your core strength.  This is a fun one, but also a bit difficult to describe. For clarity’s sake, let’s use a specific hand.

Lie on your back while holding the kettlebell straight up in the air with your left hand. Keep your elbow locked and the kettlebell resting against your forearm. Keep the elbow locked throughout the exercise.
Prop yourself up on your right hand (obviously, not the one attached to the arm holding the kettlebell) while bringing your left foot toward your buttocks.
Put your right knee and left foot on the ground, so that you’re in a half-kneel.
Maintain the straight arm and stand up. Always keep your eyes on the kettlebell.

Any natural motion a Primal man might have made, from crushing animal thigh bones with a rock for the marrow, to hoisting up a prey’s carcass for transport, can be simulated with a kettleball. Have fun with it, and from here, branch out and find other moves to master.

What is your favorite kettlebell move or combo? Let me know in the comments below.

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