Yesterday I mentioned that sea vegetables are a great source of iodine. “But what is iodine?” many emailers asked. Well, dear friends, iodine is elemental. Let’s take a trip through the land of iodine to learn what it is, what it does for the human body and whether you should make an effort to get more iodine in your diet.
What is Iodine?
Iodine is a highly water-soluble trace element that’s rare in the earth’s crust, but fairly prevalent in its seas. Our bodies require it, for several reasons. Our thyroid glands use it to make thyroid hormones (T3 molecular weight is 59% iodine; T4 molecular weight, 65%), and a severe deficiency can manifest in the development of goiter, which is the thyroid gland swelling up in an attempt to keep up the pace of iodine uptake from the blood and thyroid hormone production. Lovely stuff, eh? Other common symptoms of iodine […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

About 160,000 years ago the human diet expanded to include seafood. Early humans became coastal dwellers at least that long ago, and ever since then we’ve been inextricably linked to the sea. The sea contains our most reliable source (when we aren’t dining on the brains of ruminants) of the all-important, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. And then there’s the edible sea vegetation. I’ve written briefly about it before, but edible seaweed seems to be lacking from most folks’ diets, even those eating an otherwise complete Primal diet. For those in Western countries, the only seaweed they’ll happen across on a regular basis comes stuffed with rice and raw fish. It’s not a modern staple, unless you’re in Asia, and it simply isn’t on most people’s radars. It should be, though.

Pretty much every culture with coastal access throughout history made culinary use of sea vegetation. The Japanese and other Asian […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Obviously, I love the concept, but I’m more than a little curious as to where they got their facts and figures from.
Either way, I thought I’d share, if for nothing more than a discussion point (hit me up on twitter while the blog is being re-worked)
BP
*graph from www.anti-aging-guide.com

//

Original post by Brad Pilon

The human endocrine system exists in a state of delicate balance. None of its constituents function in a vacuum, and trying to explain every hormonal interrelationship would take volumes, but one statement is fairly safe to make: one hormone affects another. Secreting one often inhibits the next, which in turn sets off an entirely different chain reaction of hormonal secretions, inhibitions, and syntheses. I almost feel like trying to micromanage your entire endocrine system is tedious and counterproductive (and probably impossible to do effectively). I much prefer to simply eat right, exercise smart, get good sleep, normalize stress, and take advantage of simple lifestyle hacks. Still, it doesn’t hurt to understand some of the major hormonal players, especially one as widely maligned by the strength and fitness community as estrogen.

When people talk about estrogen, people are usually referring to estradiol, which is the major form of estrogen in both men […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Time for another Leangains success story. I have a whole bunch of these lying around. People keep sending me reports of exceptional results after having implemented my methods. That’s just awesome. Check out the free guide to the Leangains approach if you haven’t already.
This success story is actually from an old client of mine, but I didn’t know that until I decided to touch base a few weeks ago.
Marcus got in contact with me in early 2008 and did a month of consulting, but it wasn’t until a year later, as his 30th birtday drew close, he decided to get really serious and fully implement the things I taught him. Check out his results and story below.
How to solve the 30-year old crisis
“I’ve been training most of my life and when I was younger, staying in shape was easy. Since I stayed active and loved training, I never really […]

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

<p>The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training/circuit training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we'll use sprints as an example here.</p>
<p>Sprint as hard as you can for <strong>20 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Walk for <strong>10 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Repeat 7 more times for a total of <strong>8 sets</strong>.</p>
<p>So what you have is a total of <strong>4 minutes of workout time</strong>.</p>
<p>Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I'll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work.</p>
<p>Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. They did a study […]

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

I just found this disclaimer at the bottom of a weight loss supplement ad:
This product does no replace the need to eat a sensible, balanced diet, and to get regular physical activity. It is not a weight control product. It is important to maintain proper hydration. This product contains a powerful thermogenic ingredient – do not exceed recommended serving.

The supplement industry and the FTC need to ‘get it together’
Having an ad for a product obviously targeted at weight loss (technically it wasn’t actually claiming to be a ‘lose fat fast’ kind of a product; more a ‘burn more calories’ type), followed by a warning saying it’s not a weight loss product is confusing and mundane.
I think I’m going to put a warning on Eat Stop Eat.
This is a weight loss product. If followed properly you will lose weight. It IS a replacement for what most people THINK is eating sensibly. […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

So I am extremely excited to introduce you to a whole new view of training and a paradigm shift when it comes to being fit. I know some of you reading this will have heard of Scott Sonnon, but I bet you haven't read too many interviews with the guy. The reason for this is that he is one of the premier special forces trainers in the world right now. He is in serious demand right now, training counter-terrorism unit, Navy SEALS, police forces, SWAT teams, etc. He spent 6 years traveling all around Russia and masterminded with former USSR Olympic Coaches and trainers of Russian Special Forces. He took this cutting-edge research and improved upon it during those 6 years and has been introducing it to the U.S. These days, everyone wants to pick his brain when it comes to fitness and conditioning. He doesn't have a whole heck […]

Original post by admin

I’ve received the question numerous times, and last month several readers raised the issue in my “Ask Me Anything” post. For all the innumerable benefits of the Primal diet, there are a handful of situations that oblige a few modest accommodations. In the past I’ve suggested Primally-minded adaptations for endurance athletes. Today I’ll take up the question of nursing. Do the long-term, intensive demands of breastfeeding require modification of the typical Primal diet? What special considerations are there for nursing mothers? And what about specific scenarios readers have mentioned: ketones, reflux, ammonia-scented urine? There’s a lot of Primal ground to cover today, so let’s jump right in. But first a reminder that I’m not a doctor and that everything on this site should be viewed as my opinion and not medical advice.

First, a little background. Nature made the nursing process extremely efficient, which is great for baby and potentially not […]

Original post by Mark Sisson