And now for another round of Monday Musings…

Let’s Talk Sh**
Poop is the new probiotic. Doctors have been using fecal transplants as a “last resort,” mostly to treat the rising scourge of Clostridium difficile, a gut bug that affects about 250,000 Americans every year and proves extremely resistant to antibiotics. Shooting a fecal extract from healthy people into the C. diff-ridden colons of the affected has a 95% success rate. Some docs are pushing for the last resort to be the go-to move. I can’t argue with that.
But gut health isn’t just about acute infection. It’s also about basic metabolic health. A study showed that sterile mice receiving a fecal transplant from obese mice gained more weight than sterile mice who received transplants from lean mice. And most recently, a Dutch pilot study gave 18 obese males with pronounced metabolic syndrome fecal transplants from lean individuals. They did not lose weight, but […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Stay tuned for another round of Monday Musings, posted later today.

2 cycles of:
100 Foot Car Push
100 Foot Car Pull

How-to:
Warmup: 30 second Grok Squat.
Equipment: Automobile, driver/navigator (optional, but recommended)
Pushing and/or dragging heavy things along the ground are favorite Homo sapien pastimes. Carcasses that were too cumbersome to carry had to be dragged, to camp or to a more favorable butchering spot. The ancients may not have had the wheel until the late Neolithic, but they still had to move ridiculously large stones from time to time; the careful placement of wooden planks and the pushing/pulling efforts of multiple strong men accomplished this task. Tug of war has well-defined Indian roots in the 12 century AD, but strong man competitions pitting one man’s push/pull strength against another’s have likely been occurring for tens of thousands of years. Think sumo. Think football. We […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

A roast is a beautiful thing. With very little work on your part, a roast can easily feed a large group of people and more often than not, provide leftovers for the next day. Roasts can be casual and budget friendly, like a good ‘ol pot roast, or you can step it up a notch for upcoming holiday dinners by roasting something a little different, like bison.
Although similar in flavor to beef, bison is often described as having a sweeter, richer flavor that needs only minimal seasoning to enhance it. When cooked rare or medium rare, bison has a delicate texture that is less stringy and chewy than beef can be. Bison rump, chuck or round roasts are the least expensive, but also the least tender cuts and are best cooked for hours in a slow cooker. We all love comfort food from a Crock Pot, but when the holidays […]

Original post by Worker Bee

I need no more proof that we are victims of advertising then the envy I feel whenever I see people driving nice cars.
I do not need a nice car, it won’t help me in any way. It won’t help with my goals or even my dreams…but the advertising does effect me.  I do ’see’ the prestige involved in owning a nice car every time I pull up beside one at a stop sign.
This is an example of nothing other than the power of advertising, and it’s just as strong in the food industry as it is in the car industry.
Now, you might expect me to get on my soap box and start telling you to accept responsibility for your current weight.
But, that wouldn’t be entirely fair of me.
Because before you can accept responsibility, you do need to recognize who the villain is.
And I believe we are being taken advantage […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

During this year’s 30-Day Challenge I put a call out for Primal Blueprint Success Stories. Dozens upon dozens were sent in. If you’re looking for a bit of insight into how others have transitioned to the PB and how it has changed their lives, or could just use a little inspiration to end the week on, read Michael Wilson’s Primal Blueprint real life story below and be on the lookout for more success stories in coming weeks.
In July 2005, at just eighteen years old I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. At first I suffered just a few sharp sternum pangs, but a couple of months later this spread to my lower back. I was prescribed Diclofenac to ease the pain. Unfortunately over time both the pain and subsequent medication increased. In July 2010 I was suffering from pain in my sternum, lower back, upper back, right shoulder, wrists, feet, heels […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Or “Top Ten Diet Myths Debunked”. That would have fit almost as well. Ok, so in retrospect, I think I screwed up on the title. Many myths just happened to be connected to intermittent fasting (meal frequency, breakfast skipping, etc.). Well, live and learn.
November 4th Addendum: Section added at the end of the article.
Everyone who learns about nutrition through the usual channels, be it fitness magazines, mainstream diet books and forums, gets cursed with the prevailing belief system of what constitutes a good diet.
Though specific dietary recommendations vary slightly depending on who you listen to, there are many common denominators and “rules” that you are told you must adhere to. Call it broscience, incompetence or ignorance, same thing. We’ve all been there and we’ve all followed these rules. Led like sheep, not knowing better. Trusting that those we listen to knew what they were talking about. While these dietary myths […]

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

Vibram, Vivo Barefoot, Softstar, and the other shoe companies making an honest attempt at creating a viable shoe alternative aren’t the only entities capitalizing off the nascent barefoot trend sweeping the nation (and I’m not referring to podiatrists, as much as they like to claim barefoot running will create thousands of new patients). Several shoemakers have taken the barefoot ball and run the opposite direction – down the path of more shoe and more meddling into how the foot works – claiming to have improved upon the near-perfection of the naked human foot with (get this) bulky odd-looking shoes that weigh more than traditional running shoes.
Foremost is MBT, or Masai Barefoot Technology. MBT makes the “anti-shoe,” which is actually an unsteady, unstable shoe with a squishy, conspicuous “rocker” sole. The sole appears to be about 2 or 3 inches thick, and the instability is actually a feature. Yes, the most […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

So Madonna's Gym empire, Hard Candy Fitness, is launching in Mexico City on November 29th (a little less than a month from now). Yep, this lady is right up there with Oprah when it comes to being ambitious. I think it is cool she is doing this. The funny thing is that I just heard about this yesterday and figured it would make for an entertaining topic to discuss. Some of the places where I have seen this announced were pretty critical. I actually think that the gym industry has HUGE room for improvement and my hope is that Madonna's gyms will be a step forward.

[This is a recent Dolce & Gabanna ad that Madonna was featured in. She is 52 and looks closer to 32. She is doing something right.]
Read more on Madonna's Gym, "Hard Candy Fitness", Coming to a City Near You?…

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Original post by admin

 
For those of you looking to strengthen your abs using “unconventional” style workouts, then exercise ball ab workouts are the way to go. The reason exercise ball workouts are so good is because by their very nature, all exercises done with the ball require core strength, including your abs. The second reason that the ball is so good is because it puts less strain on your back, allowing you to push your body harder and to avoid injury.

It’s also a nice change of pace from typical workouts and can be a lot of fun. I remember when I personally started doing push ups on the exercise ball. There wasn’t any real reason I added it to my exercise routine other than it was an enjoyable change of pace and I liked watching the core “balance” of my body improve (i.e. not falling off the ball!).
Before I go on to discuss […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

Speculation on ancestral lifespan is fun and potentially illuminating, but I think examining living, albeit imperfect, examples of modern hunter-gatherers offers greater insight. Sure, the environment has changed, wild food sources have shrunk in diversity and availability, and modern civilization has encroached and meddled and disrupted, but the few remaining hunter-gatherer populations exhibiting relatively untouched traditional lifestyles represent the most promising window into what life actually looked like and how long it lasted for our ancestors. Luckily, a couple of researchers – Gurven and Kaplan – had the bright idea to look at ethnographic studies on actual, living HG populations and analyze the available data on actual lifespan and mortality therein. They found some interesting stuff.

This study (PDF) has been floating around for a while. Readers have sent it to me on several occasions, and I believe it’s been mentioned in other bits of the online ether (blog comments, etc). […]

Original post by Mark Sisson