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The most important part of the workout isn’t the workout—it’s after. That’s when muscles grow, when you get stronger, when mitochondria replicate, when glycogen regenerates, when depleted cells rehydrate. It’s where the actual benefits of physical training occur. The workout is the stimulus, and the time after your workout is where your body adapts to the training. Your recovery methods make or break your training.

What’s the typical advice?

Eat, sleep, repeat.

This advice isn’t bad. It’s actually the foundation of workout recovery. Of course you have to eat food, sleep, and do the whole sequence consistently to get results in the gym. That goes without saying. But it’s the absolute bare minimum. There’s more you can do, and should do.

There’s also the possibility of doing too much. Of getting lost in the weeds. Of optimizing all the gadgets and hacks and supplements and forgetting about the foundational precepts of workout recovery methods: good food, good sleep, and consistency.

So today I’ll lay out everything I’ve learned about recovery methods over the last 40-50 years of training.

Food

Food comes first, both chronologically and in importance. Food provides the raw substrates your body needs to recover from and adapt to training: the macronutrients to provide structure and energy; the micronutrients to produce and activate the hormones, neurotransmitters, and other chemical messengers we use to make things happen in our bodies.

For about 2 hours after the workout, you have a “window” of opportunity for optimal distribution of nutrients:

• Your muscles are primed for dietary protein to lay down new tissue and begin repairing the damage done by the workout.
• Your muscles are primed to accept carbohydrates as glycogen (the form of carbohydrate stored in muscles and used for intense activities).
• Your entire body is insulin sensitive, so you can shuttle nutrients like protein and glycogen into muscle without needing as much insulin as you’d normally need.
• Your body has also triggered something called “insulin independent glucose transport,” which allows glycogen repletion without the use of insulin.

All in all, now’s the time to eat.

That said, the “window” isn’t closed forever after the two hour mark. Eating later will still improve recovery, replete glycogen, and so on. And a post workout fast (or abstention from food for a few hours) can actually increase growth hormone secretion. Whether this is physiologically relevant to workout recovery remains to be established, but it’s something you can play around with.

But the point is that food matters, maybe more than anything else. You need high quality Primal food and you need adequate amounts of it.

What I do:

Follow my hunger. If I’m ravenous after a training session, I eat right away. If I’m not, I hold off a bit. I trust the instinctual cravings of my subconscious to let me know what’s optimal in any given post workout period.

I aim for protein, first and foremost. 30-50 grams for the first meal, usually in the form of meat or seafood or eggs but sometimes whey.

Protein is my primary concern. I’ll eat whatever fat comes along for the ride, and if I’ve expended a lot of glycogen I might include some fruit or tuber. But personally, I’m not that worried about refilling my glycogen right away. I’m at the point in my life where I’m not destroying myself in the gym anymore, nor am I trying to compete the next day in some grueling event. “Refueling” isn’t my primary concern.

Cold Water Immersion

Cold water immersion done right after a workout can reduce soreness and muscle pain and get you back into competition more quickly, but it may impair strength and fitness gains.

How do you reconcile this?

If you absolutely need to get back into the gym or on the track on short notice, cold immersion will get you competing faster. The studies are clear:

• Cold water exposure restores muscle contractile function and reduces soreness following simulated collision sports (in this case, rugby).¹
• Both cold water immersion and hot/cold contrast therapy help restore force production following high intensity interval training.²
• Cold water immersion helps sprinters maintain their performance over the course of consecutive training days.³
• Cold water immersion helps basketball players recover from their games.⁴

This is why you see athletes getting into ice baths after games: so they can play again tomorrow. Makes sense for competition, but not training.

If you’re training for long term adaptations to your strength and cardiovascular fitness, cold immersion should not be done immediately post-workout. Doing so (within 10 minute after a training session) has been shown to reduce long term strength adaptations and even size gains by attenuating the normal post-workout rise in satellite cell number and activity of the kinases that control muscle hypertrophy.⁵

What I do:

Take a cool bath/shower or dip in the ocean the evening after a workout, or the next day. I don’t do it right after the workout. I don’t do it every time. I wait at least 5-6 hours for the acute inflammation of a training session to subside.

Sauna

If the post-workout effects of cold immersion are often undesirable, the post-workout sauna is a wholly positive force for workout recovery.

Post-workout sauna sessions improve endurance performance in runners.⁶ For three weeks, endurance runners sat in 89° C (+/- 2° C) humid saunas for 31 minutes following training sessions. This amounted to an average of 12.7 sauna sessions per runner. Relative to control (no sauna), sauna use increased time to exhaustion by 32%, plasma cell volume by 7.1%, and red cell volume by 3.2% (both plasma cell and red cell volume are markers of increased endurance performance).

Post-workout sauna use increases plasma volume in male cyclists.⁷ Following training sessions, cyclists sat in 87° C, 11% humidity saunas for 30 minutes. Just four sessions were sufficient to expand plasma volume. This is important because increasing plasma volume improves heat dissipation, thermoregulation, heart rate, and cardiac stroke volume during exercise.⁸

What I do:

Either use a dry sauna, an infra-red sauna, or take a hot bath or dip in the hot tub after my workout. I’m not a stickler for timing or heat medium (dry, wet, bath, IR). Whenever I can squeeze it in, I do it then.

And foam rolling just after the sauna while your muscles are warm feels incredible.

Walk

Walking is always a good idea. No matter your situation, go for a walk. At the worst, it doesn’t make anything worse and nothing changes (but you still got a walk in). And there’s a very good chance it improves whatever situation you’re dealing with. Same goes for workout recovery.

There’s a real epidemic of people who train hard in the gym a few times a week and then sit on their asses the rest of the week. They might even look strong or fit, but they’re leaving a lot of fitness on the table by not moving frequently at a slow pace. Resting doesn’t mean “being sedentary.” On the contrary, consistent low level movement helps stimulate lymph flow, which helps reduce and repair muscle damage and speed up both recovery and adaptations.

A post-workout walk will also burn many of the free fatty acids you just liberated during the workout. This can improve body fat loss, if you’re going for that.

What I do:

Immediately post workout, I like a brisk 15-20 minute walk to cool down and to get some gentle movement for the tissues I just stressed.

On the off days, I make sure to get a lengthy walk, or series of walks. Walk as much as you can, as often as you can, basically. Let’s call this strategy JFW—”Just F—ing Walk.”

Magnesium

The average person is already deficient in magnesium, and the severity and incidence rise the more you train. Sweating and exertion increases magnesium requirements by around 20%.⁹ Without adequate magnesium, you shortchange your ability to generate energy, build muscle, and recover from your workouts. It’s one of those minerals that acts as a precursor to hundreds of physiological processes in the body, including those relevant to the post-workout period.

What I do:

If I’m taking a hot bath, I’ll add some magnesium chloride flakes to the water. I also keep magnesium chloride oil (flakes dissolved in purified water in a spray bottle), which I apply generously to my skin—especially the areas of the body I just trained.

Sleep

As always, it’s not that sleep is magical. It’s that a lack of sleep is so totally destructive.

Poor sleep impairs exercise recovery primarily via two routes: by increasing cortisol, which reduces testosterone production and lowers muscle protein synthesis; and by disrupting slow wave sleep, the constructive stage of slumber where growth hormone secretion peaks, tissues heal and muscles rebuild.¹⁰ That’s probably why sleep deprivation has been linked to muscular atrophy and increased urinary excretion of nitrogen, and why the kind of cortisol excess caused by sleep deprivation reduces muscle strength.¹¹¹²¹³

Additionally, sleep loss can increase the risk of injuries by decreasing balance and postural control.¹⁴ If you trip and fall, or throw out your back due to poor technique, you won’t even have a workout to recover from.

What I do:

Get 8 hours a night, making sure to follow best practices for optimal sleep and circadian hygiene.

Stress

Stress is fungible. Psychological stress (“mental” stress, bills to pay, relationship issues, job you hate, commute you hate more) and physical stress (hard workout, lack of sleep, inadequate calorie intake) do not exist in separate categories, never to interact. They are additive. Stress is stress is stress. If you’ve just finished a hard workout, there is good evidence that psychological stress will make recovery go more slowly.

In one study, 31 undergrads were assessed for baseline mental stress levels using a battery of psychological tests, then engaged in a heavy lower body strength workout. At an hour post workout, students with high baseline stress levels had regained 38 percent of their leg strength, while students low baseline stress levels had regained 60 percent of their strength back.

Another study showed that tissue healing is impaired during times of stress. Students received puncture wounds to their mouths, and half went on vacation and the other half had exams. On average, the exam group took three days longer for their wounds to heal. Even though we aren’t talking about puncture wounds, the muscle recovery process operates along similar pathways.¹⁵

What I do:

Apart from regular anti-stress techniques, I also take Adaptogenic Calm, my own anti-stress supplement that I actually developed way back in the day to help elite endurance athletes recover from the stress of their (and our) training.

Consistency in training is crucial for stress management, as the beauty of training and recovering is that it makes you more resistant to other forms of stress (the fungibility goes both ways).

Sun

Sunlight improves workout recovery via several pathways.

• It boosts vitamin D, which is important for testosterone production and bone density—two key elements of the adaptation to training.
• It increases nitric oxide, which increases blood flow. More blood flow to your muscles and other tissues means better delivery of nutrients necessary for recovery.
• It lowers stress hormones, which are catabolic in nature and oppose the actions of testosterone.

One study in soccer players even found that increasing sunlight exposure led to increases in testosterone levels and sprint performance over the course of a season.¹⁶

What I do:

Train in the sunlight whenever possible. Although it’s never been formally studied to my knowledge, the combination is a potent one.

Now I’d love to hear from you:

How do you recover from your workouts?

How do you ensure you’re getting the most out of your training?

References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21716151
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21132438
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22752345
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935028
5. https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP270570#:~:text=Cold%20water%20immersion%20attenuated%20long%20term%20gains%20in,muscle%20up%20to%202%20days%20after%20strength%20exercise.
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16877041
7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25432420
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1798375
9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17172008/
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21550729
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22334180
12. https://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/19/5/313.abstract
13. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-1716.1993.tb09549.x/abstract
14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17932662
15. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/mental-stress-slows-post-workout-recovery/article4498106/
16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284423/

The post 8 Recovery Methods: What to Do After Your Workout appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Social proof is a powerful influencer. We’re wired to think whatever is common is normal and, therefore, can’t be all that bad. Pop-Tarts for breakfast? Why not?

Quit being such a buzzkill, Shane.

But a quick survey of history shows just how often following herd norms can lead the masses towards insane behaviors.

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Chances are, you’ve experienced intrusive thoughts. I’m talking about those odd or disturbing thoughts that pop into your head seemingly out of nowhere. Usually, they involve imagining yourself, just for a moment, doing something dangerous, harmful to others, or socially inappropriate. It’s not that you want or intend to do so, but you realize that you could stand up and yell obscenities in church, kiss a stranger on the bus, or ram your car into the car in front of you at the stoplight.

We don’t talk about intrusive thoughts all that much, probably because the content is often violent or sexual in nature. Yet, research suggests that intrusive thoughts are a near-universal human experience.¹ More often than not, people simply dismiss them because they’re so “out there.” A particular thought may make you pause long enough to ask yourself, “Whoa, where did that come from?!” but then you move on.

For some folks, though, intrusive thoughts become incredibly disruptive because they arise with great frequency, or because the person finds them so disturbing that they have a hard time letting them go. Sometimes both.

People who struggle with intrusive thoughts can become sidelined by shame, guilt, or anxiety. They worry that these thoughts reflect who they “really are” deep down. They believe that friends and loved ones will reject them if they knew. When the same intrusive thoughts run on a loop in their heads, they may fear that they are willing those bad things to happen or creating self-fulfilling prophecies.

Often, these individuals are reluctant to seeking help despite their profound distress. Intrusive thoughts are incredibly normal, but they shouldn’t interfere with your quality of life. While banishing them is easier said than done, some techniques show promise for helping people deal with unwanted thoughts and the angst they cause.

What Are Intrusive Thoughts?

Intrusive thoughts pop into your head unbidden, flooding your mind with upsetting content or imagery. You might suddenly picture yourself doing something you find abhorrent because it is violent, sexual in a way that you find unappealing, or just plain wrong according to your moral standards. Some intrusive thoughts involve memories of past traumatic events or incidents you’d rather forget. Others have to do with fears or phobias.

The thoughts themselves are disturbing enough on their own, but the follow-up can be worse if you start to ruminate on them:

• “What does this thought mean about me?”
• “What kind of person thinks these things?! I must be terrible.”
• “If I’m thinking about this, does it mean that I actually want to do it? That I will do it?”

Some people even worry that they have already committed those acts without remembering.

Anxiety and self-doubt become the bigger problem in many cases. (This isn’t necessarily true for folks who have PTSD or otherwise experience intrusive thoughts related to past trauma.) Most effective treatments for problematic intrusive thoughts focus on how you respond to them rather than the thoughts per se.

Common Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts tend to organize around common themes, such as:

• Harming yourself
• Intentionally or unintentionally harming others
• Sexual attraction or behavior
• Sacrilegious behaviors, sinning
• Getting sick
• Existential concerns²

If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or others, immediately call SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357). 

Importantly, the content of intrusive thoughts is ego-dystonic, meaning that it’s inconsistent with how you see yourself and your closely held values. For example, you might worry that you’re attracted to someone whom you wouldn’t consider an acceptable or desirable partner, even if others would. The thoughts and images you find disturbing might not bother someone else.

One of the most distressing things about intrusive thoughts is that they make people feel so isolated. Embarrassment and shame prevent people from talking about their intrust thoughts, so it’s easy to assume—incorrectly—that you’re the only one who has them. However, there are almost certainly other people out there who experience the same thoughts as you, no matter how bizarre they may seem to you. For instance, most new parents imagine harming their baby or fear that they will do so, despite a strong desire to keep their newborn safe.³ Despite how common it is, I don’t recall ever being asked or counseled about intrusive thoughts after having my babies, nor talking about it even with my closest friends.

What Causes Intrusive Thoughts?

Nobody knows exactly what causes intrusive thoughts, nor why some people seem to get stuck on them but not others.

One theory is that intrusive thoughts come from our brains “practicing” what we will do in dangerous or stressful situations. From a survival perspective, it behooves us to anticipate potential threats and avoid doing things that would get us kicked out of the social group. Intrusive thoughts may be your brain’s vigilance system turned up to haywire, imagining extreme situations in an attempt to circumvent them. Thus, although it feels counterintuitive, intrusive thoughts could be your brain’s misguided attempt to help you navigate the world.

Even if that’s true, it still doesn’t explain why intrusive thoughts disrupt some people’s lives tremendously while others experience them only infrequently. One possibility is that individuals who struggle with intrusive thoughts make less GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps suppress unwanted thoughts through mechanisms that aren’t fully understood.^{4 5}

Mental Health Disorders Associated with Intrusive Thoughts

Again, let me emphasize that intrusive thoughts are very normal. Most people, probably all people, have intrusive thoughts at least occasionally. Intrusive thoughts are not necessarily a sign that you have a specific mental health issue, any more than feeling very sad sometimes means you have clinical depression.

As with the sadness-depression spectrum, it’s a matter of degree—how frequently the thoughts occur and, in particular, how much distress they cause you. Intrusive thoughts that cause you significant distress or anxiety, or that otherwise detract from your day-to-day quality of life, might signal a bigger issue. That said, your intrusive thoughts don’t have to feel severe in order for you to seek help.

Certain mental health disorders are characterized by frequent intrusive thoughts. The obsessions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are types of intrusive thoughts. Compulsive behaviors attempt to mitigate the negative arousal they cause. People diagnosed with a subtype of OCD called “Pure Obsessional” or “Pure O” experience obsessive thoughts without stereotypical compulsive behaviors (though they might exhibit less obvious compulsions).⁶

Intrusive thoughts frequently occur with other anxiety and mood disorders as well, including:

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• PTSD
• Phobias, including social phobia
• Postpartum depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Eating disorders

How to Stop Intrusive Thoughts

Note: Before taking a particular course of action, consult your healthcare provider, especially if you have been diagnosed with (or suspect you have) a concurrent mental health condition. While the treatment options listed below are generally considered best practices, individual needs vary. For help finding services, contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357). 

Intrusive thoughts are outside our conscious control, so we can’t really stop them from happening. Sometimes, treating any associated mental health issues with targeted therapy and medications like SSRIs will alleviate intrusive thoughts. However, many people find that the thoughts return after stopping medication.

Although your instinct might be to try to push away intrusive thoughts, that rarely works. If “just don’t think about it” was an effective strategy, nobody would need treatment in the first place. Furthermore, psychologists widely agree that trying to shove down and ignore unwanted thoughts is actively counterproductive. Suppressing thoughts actually makes them more likely to stay in conscious awareness.⁷

Likewise, self-soothing actions like seeking reassurance that you’re a good person or compulsive behaviors in the case of OCD may provide short-term relief for the discomfort, but they aren’t effective long-term strategies. Plus, they can become debilitating in their own right.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Since there’s no good way to prevent intrusive thoughts altogether, the preferred treatment paradigms help people learn to live with their intrusive thoughts.

According to the Cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach, it’s not the intrusive thoughts that cause a person to suffer, it’s how they react. With CBT, people learn to change their responses—their thoughts about their thoughts—so they don’t cause as much distress. Over time, intrusive thoughts may become less frequent as they become less impactful.

One popular CBT technique is Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). With ERP, individuals are encouraged to face their fears head-on so they become desensitized to them. ERP has proven to be effective especially for OCD. However, it might be triggering for individuals with PTSD, which is why it’s important to work with a trained professional.

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion

Mindfulness practices teach us to observe our thoughts without becoming too wrapped up in them. Some people successfully use mindfulness meditation to separate themselves from their intrusive thoughts so that they aren’t so upsetting. In a similar vein, self-compassion exercises can help you process your intrusive thoughts without getting stuck in a cycle of self-recrimination.

A branch of CBT called Mindfulness-based Cognitive-behavioral Therapy aims to help people accept intrusive thoughts rather than being dragged down by them.⁸ Specific approaches that draw from mindfulness and CBT are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

Take Care of Your Overall Health

You might have already noticed that intrusive thoughts pop up more often when you are tired, stressed, or otherwise not taking very good care of yourself. That’s probably because your brain has fewer resources to keep unwanted thoughts at bay.⁹ Recognizing these patterns allows you to work on good self-care practices.

Thyroid imbalances—both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism—are also prevalent among folks with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental health issues associated with intrusive thoughts.^{10 11 12} Despite the well-known correlations, many doctors don’t screen people seeking mental health care for thyroid issues. Ask your doctor about getting your thyroid hormone levels checked.

Don’t Let Shame Prevent You from Seeking Help

Many people are reluctant to seek help because their thoughts feel so despicable. Surely if they tell anyone, the other person will think they’re horrible, right?

The likelihood that your intrusive thoughts are the worst, most socially unacceptable thoughts that have ever been thought by any human ever is exceedingly small. Even if they are, you still deserve to feel better. Any competent therapist should be able to listen without judgment. Frankly, they’ve probably heard it all before. If you somehow manage to come up with something new, it’s their job to listen and offer the help you need.

There are books and workbooks you can start to work through on your own if you’re not ready to talk to anyone yet. Online therapy could be another great option if face-to-face therapy feels too daunting.

If you take nothing else from this post, know that you are not alone. Intrusive thoughts do not make you a bad person. Thoughts are not actions, and thinking about something is very different from actually doing it. It might not be possible to stop intrusive thoughts, but with help, you can learn to live in peace, which you deserve.

Intrusive Thoughts FAQs

What are intrusive thoughts?

Intrusive thoughts are thoughts that pop into your head, seemingly from nowhere, that you find disturbing or distressing. Often, they are violent or sexual in nature, or they involve things you are afraid of. Some intrusive thoughts are memories of past experiences or trauma you’d rather not think about.

Are intrusive thoughts normal?

Yes! Nearly everybody experiences intrusive thoughts, at least occasionally. Intrusive thoughts are not a sign that anything is “wrong” with you, nor that you have a more serious mental health problem. However, if you find your intrusive thoughts upsetting, it’s a good idea to talk to a professional.

What causes intrusive thoughts?

One theory is that intrusive thoughts come from our brains “practicing” what we will do in dangerous or stressful situations. Intrusive thoughts are characteristic of anxiety and mood disorders, though it’s not clear whether they lead to or are caused by these disorders, or possibly both.

What are some common intrusive thoughts?

Intrusive thoughts tend to follow a few common themes: fear of hurting yourself or others; engaging in behaviors, including sexual behaviors, you deem undesirable or inappropriate; getting sick or contaminated; or existential concerns. It’s important to note that thinking about these things doesn’t mean you want to act on them.

How do I stop intrusive thoughts?

You can’t control the thoughts that pop into your head, but you can learn to manage your response to them using cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques. Psychopharmacological treatments might be useful in some cases. Take care of your overall health as well.

The post What Causes Intrusive Thoughts and How to Stop Them appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Recently, I noticed I had a bad habit of pulling out my phone every time I used the bathroom. It was automatic. I’d head to the urinal, aim, and scroll. After nearly dropping my phone into the bowl one day, I decided that this habit was a problem.

So, I made a rule: No looking at my phone while in the bathroom.

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This BBQ grilled salmon recipe makes a frequent appearance on my back patio all summer long. It’s easy, it’s quick start-to-finish, and you can’t beat a smoky BBQ sauce against a cool fruity salsa.

You’re just minutes away from a simple and delicious meal the entire family will enjoy! We topped this simple BBQ salmon with a peach and cucumber salsa, but you can use any type of topping you choose! To mix it up, brush the salmon with Hawaiian BBQ or Mango Jalapeno BBQ Sauce.

BBQ Salmon Recipe

Ingredients

Salmon

• 1 lb. wild sockeye salmon
• 1 tbsp. Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup Primal Kitchen BBQ Sauce

Peach Salsa

• 1 chopped peach
• 1 chopped medium cucumber
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• Optional: a squeeze of lime

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the peach, cucumber, red onion, and cilantro. Season with a sprinkle of salt and squeeze of lime. Set aside.

Slice your salmon into 4 sections.

In a small bowl, combine the avocado oil, paprika, garlic, salt, and pepper. Brush the oil mixture all over each of the salmon portions.

Preheat your grill to medium heat. Once the grill is hot, spray the salmon with avocado oil. Place the salmon on the grates skin side up. Grill for about 2-3 minutes, then flip over.

While the salmon is grilling skin side down, take half of the BBQ sauce and brush it on top of the salmon.

When the salmon reaches your desired doneness, carefully remove the salmon and brush additional sauce on top of the salmon. Top with the peach salsa and enjoy.

Print

BBQ Salmon Recipe, and How to Cook Salmon on the Grill

---

• 
  Author: Mark’s Daily Apple
• 
  Prep Time: 5
• 
  Cook Time: 6
• 
  Total Time: 11 minutes
• 
  Yield: 4 servings
• 
  Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Warm, smoky grilled BBQ salmon served with a cool peach and cucumber salsa

---

Ingredients

Salmon

1 lb. wild sockeye salmon

1 tbsp. Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 cup Primal Kitchen BBQ Sauce

Peach Salsa

1 chopped peach

1 chopped medium cucumber

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped red onion

Optional: squeeze of lime

---

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the peach, cucumber, red onion and cilantro. Season with a sprinkle of salt and squeeze of lime. Set aside.

Slice your salmon into 4 sections. In a small bowl, combine the avocado oil, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Brush the oil mixture all over each of the salmon portions.

Preheat your grill to medium heat. Once the grill is hot, spray the salmon with avocado oil. Place the salmon on the grates skin side up. Grill for about 2-3 minutes, then flip over. While the salmon is grilling skin side down, take half of the BBQ sauce and brush it on top of the salmon. When the salmon reaches your desired doneness, carefully remove the salmon and brush additional sauce on top of the salmon. Top with the peach salsa and enjoy.

• Category: Lunch, Dinner
• Method: Grilling
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
• Calories: 238.4
• Sugar: 5.4 g
• Sodium: 445.3 mg
• Fat: 11.9 g
• Saturated Fat: 1.6 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 7.9 g
• Fiber: 1.6 g
• Protein: 25.8 g
• Cholesterol: 72.6 mg
• Net Carbs: 6.17 g

Keywords: grilled salmon recipe, bbq salmon recipe, how to cook grilled salmon

BBQ Grilled Salmon FAQs

What temperature should you cook salmon at on the grill?

The ideal grilling temperature for salmon is 375 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

What should the internal temperature of salmon be when cooked?

The USDA says that the thickest part of fish and shellfish should be 145 degrees F. A lot of people like salmon a little less well done, and will instead aim for 110-125 degrees F.

How long do you have to grill salmon?

Salmon cooks quickly. Two to three minutes per side is all you need.

How do you cook salmon with skin?

If your salmon is skin-on, cook it first skin side up for two to three minutes. Then, flip to skin side down to finish cooking for another two to three minutes.

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Research of the Week

Fasting insulin levels predict non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, even in the absence of diabetes.

More magnesium, less hostility.

MCT oil improves cognitive function in elderly subjects.

Keto mice drink less alcohol.

The anti-epileptic potential of melatonin.

COVID changed brains even in those who weren’t infected.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 503: Brant Cortright, PhD: Host Elle Russ chats with Brant Cortright about what to do about the current mental heath epidemic.

Episode 503: Listener Q&A: Host Brad Kearns answers your questions.

Health Coach Radio: Emily Countryman had to take her brick and mortar coaching business digital, and fast.

Media, Schmedia

The artificial pancreas will be a boon to diabetics, a real medical miracle, but it’d be nice if people didn’t need those at all.

15th century Venetian glass beads found in the Americas.

Interesting Blog Posts

“Ancient humans ate starch in addition to meat” is not the groundbreaking assertion this article thinks it is, but it’s still an interesting read.

How to ask better questions.

Social Notes

No.

Everything Else

Common childhood infections go back at least 30k years.

Totally normal way to lose weight: chastity belt for your jaw.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Not surprised: “Veganism was the least stable dietary category.”

Interesting paper: “Harnessing the Power of Sex Differences”

What about 5 or 5.5 hours?: 6 hours of sleep isn’t enough deprivation to increase glucose intolerance in obese adults.

Interesting piece: How do Austin cyclists feel about sharing the bike lane with pizza delivery robots?

Incredible: Virta Health study shows great efficacy in reducing COVID severity in diabetic patients.

Question I’m Asking

What are you doing for Friday mayo day?

Recipe Corner

• Grilling also improves vegetables.
• Sometimes (most times) you just want a perfect pan-seared ribeye.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jun 26 – Jul 2)

• Measuring Ketones: What, When, Why, and How — All about ketones.
• The Definitive Guide to Cholesterol — All about cholesterol.

Comment of the Week

“Dear Mark,
I think the situation is just the same with too many things from our nowadays reality.
I can give you as examples lab results and can say that they have only a tiny value under very specific circumstances for the following reasons:
1. A huge portion of the tested “parameters” are actually protein-protein interactions, which are highly sensitive (as molecules and as interactions) and hence the results are almost meaningless. You need specific conditions, starting from drawing the blood, managing the vial, calibrating the equipment, using fresh analytes etc etc. All of these conditions are actually not met in “real life”. Nobody has the time for this, the money to invest for this etc.
2. “Reference ranges” do not reflect some kind of real “normal” state. They reflect the mass-seen state. The fact that these are the statistically predominating ranges for the mass-population that is considered healthy does not mean that the reflected status is of health. Reference ranges get “updated” regularly, as the mass-seen state of “health” is constantly changing towards the “sick direction”. This gets worse and worse each year.
3. Lab results reflect a fraction in time. They could have some meaning if you make all possible lab tests at a one and the same lab on a regular basis for at least 5 years (under the condition the lab doesn’t change the test methods used). So when you have the opportunity to compare your own data over years and make the parallell with the own condition over these years, then these lab results could have some significance.
4. Even science is not quite sure of the meaning and significance of quite a bit of the lab results. Not to mention medicine. It is not science in and of itself. It is supposed to be an applied science (applied biology), but nowadays it is not even this. It is simply the marketing department of BigPharma. But let’s leave this topic alone and focus on science and lab results. Let’s take thyroid hormones as example. We all know (those who have some content in the upper department of the body) that thyroid lab results can have all possible values and in most of the cases these do not correlate well with how the patient feels. This fact has a lot of explanations, we can discuss endocrinology, metabolism etc etc. But there is one more aspect and it is science. What science discovers is that there is thyroid resistance (similarly to insulin resistance), so you can be quite unwell and have “perfectly normal levels” of all thyroid hormones! However, medical practice is about 25 to 50 years behind current scientific discoveries, so no need to discuss further. It is stated that it is for himanity’s safety. We first need to be convinced practically that what science discovers is true and safe and only then apply it to human beings. Let’s ask ourselves then why are the current jabs applied only after minimal testing of few monts, even if they use methods of creation and ways of action on the human body that have never been tested by now in any way?!?!
That was a side note.
I am a PhD in molecular biology and immunology, a natural health supporter and a Bach Flower practitioner and trainer.”

-Great comment, Alexandra.

The post New and Noteworthy—What I Read This Week: Edition 136 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

Jamie Simmonds, 2019, the Third Fittest Woman on Earth, is an international CrossFit Games champion and ambassador for plant-based nutrition company Nuzest.

Formerly a gymnast and rugby player, Jamie made her name in the CrossFit competition scene in 2016 when she became a podium finisher with team CrossFit Yas.

read more

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

Jamie Simmonds, 2019, the Third Fittest Woman on Earth, is an international CrossFit Games champion and ambassador for plant-based nutrition company Nuzest.

Formerly a gymnast and rugby player, Jamie made her name in the CrossFit competition scene in 2016 when she became a podium finisher with team CrossFit Yas.

read more

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

I’m part of a generation who was at one time, bombarded with the virtues of breakfast being the holy grail of all meals. How many of you were convinced that if you didn’t start your day with a big ‘ol bowl whole-grain cereal accompanied by a side of OJ you’d be destined to fall asleep in glass or (gasp) your metabolism would slow down?

The issue of whether or not you should have breakfast is a huge source of conflict. You’ve got your conventional eat-within-two-hours-of-waking-up wisdom, dysfunctional metabolic conditioning that tells you to ignore your hunger cues — and starve yourself until you can’t take it any longer, and newer studies that say that it doesn’t matter when you eat as long as you just eat less.¹, ².

Breakfast is When You Break Your Fast

Historically, breakfast was a term used to describe your first meal of the day, no matter when that meal took place. Sometime around the 15th century, it became synonymous with the meal you consume shortly after waking up. And now, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people thriving with intermittent fasting, breakfast is returning to its first-meal-of-your-day roots.

Simply put, breakfast is how you break your fast.

Whether you have a planned eating window or your fast is just the hours that you’re asleep, the meal that answers the day’s first call of hunger is arguably the most important. Let me repeat that: your first hunger of the day is the most important. It’s your body’s first polite request for you to deliver substantial, supportive, and sustainable fuel to your body.

Somewhere between parental advice and diet culture influence, many of my own health coaching clients have been taught to answer their first hunger with a banana and piece of toast. Or an energy bar. Or a single hard-boiled egg. The problem is, when you start your day with one of these unsatisfying breakfasts, you’re doing yourself and your body a disservice, well, unless you’re cool with the rollercoaster of snack attacks, constant hunger, or needing to eat again in about an hour.

The Metabolic Benefits of Eating Breakfast

Breakfast is whenever you break your fast – it doesn’t have to be 6:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. or even noon. But there are metabolic benefits to consuming a significant meal earlier in the day. In this study, 93 overweight women between the ages of 30 and 57 were put into two isocaloric weight loss groups: one had their largest meal of the day at breakfast; the other had their largest meal at dinner. Over the course of 12 weeks, the group who consumed the most calories at breakfast lost two and a half times more weight than those who had a light breakfast — or skipped it altogether. They also had significantly reduced fasting glucose, insulin, ghrelin, and triglyceride levels. Apply this approach to your own life and within a few days you’ll start to notice:

• Your cravings disappear
• You’re not thinking about food 24/7
• You have more sustained energy
• You stop snacking all day
• You sleep better at night
• You’re not spiraling into guilt or shame because you binged once the sun went down

So having a satisfying, satiating, nutrient-dense, and calorically dense breakfast could be the key to optimal metabolic health. But how do you get out of the biggest-meal-of-the-day-at-night routine?

Breaking the Late-Night Eating Cycle

Often times, my clients will tell me they don’t feel hungry when they wake up. If that’s the case with you, I’d argue that you’ve trained yourself not to be hungry. Years of waking up, rushing to get ready for work, and not making time for a solid, sit-down breakfast has resulted in the belief that you don’t need to eat. (Side note: if you don’t eat ‘til dinner time and feel awesome, that’s great! This is for folks looking to make a change in their health, their hunger levels, and their relationship with food, and who feel like, perhaps, their meal timing could be their ace in the hole.)

To break the cycle, I typically have my clients eat a morning meal loaded with protein and fat — whether they’re hungry or not.³ I’m all for listening to your body’s cues, but most people are so disconnected from what their bodies are telling them already, and this is a great opportunity to retrain the mind and body to actually want a meal in the morning. Somewhat forcing the issue of breakfast is a means to an end; a tool to help bring hunger signaling back online. That, and, if you have an epic break fast meal, there is a greater chance that you will eat less as the day goes on. Pretty soon, once we’ve flipped that eating schedule on its head, many people do start feeling a slight grumble of hunger in the morning.

Remember there’s a difference between skipping (or skimping on) breakfast because you’re following conventional wisdom or you’re still feeling full from the previous night, and “skipping” it because your first meal falls a little later in the day.

How to Break Your Fast Epically

In my opinion, food isn’t just fuel. It should satiate hunger. It should be delicious and enjoyable. And it should support your metabolic needs for energy and vitality. If you want to break your fast in an epic way, you probably already know what to do, you just might need a nudge in the right direction.

1. Respect yourself enough to make time. I don’t love “grab-n-go” breakfasts, and I even question their necessity at times. When people tell me they’re too busy to make a nutrient-dense, supportive meal for themselves, all I hear is “I don’t value myself.”If you’ve decided that getting out the door is more important than appropriately feeding yourself, this is your chance to show yourself how much you respect the miracle that your body is. Not only that, consider the extra time you spend scouring the cabinets for snacks or thinking about what you’re going to eat (or not eat) next. What if you took that 15 or so minutes and tacked that on to the beginning of your day?
2. Prioritize protein and fat. Want to set yourself up for sustained energy between meals without fatigue, mood swings, and cravings? Break your fast with a combo of protein and good-for-you fats. And I’m not talking about a single egg and half a piece of bacon. You can do better than that. Filling your plate with a healthy portion of these miraculous macronutrients regulates the hunger hormone ghrelin, so you feel fuller for longer and keep cravings at bay. So, slide a pan of bacon into the oven, fry up a few eggs, and top it all off with some colorful veggies slathered in butter.
3. Reset your circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm affects everything — both cognitively and metabolically. When you have the habit of eating later at night and consequently, not eating during the day, you disrupt your natural body clock, which can lead to increased production of insulin, among other things.⁴There are two ways to reset your rhythm: a) eat a smaller meal at night so that you’re hungrier in the morning, or b) eat a larger meal for your first hunger of the day and you’ll naturally want less food at night.
4. Know that breakfast doesn’t have to look like breakfast. Eating “breakfast food” for breakfast is a construct that’s been spearheaded by cereal manufactures, created to make you believe your morning meal has to look, smell, and taste a certain way. There’s absolutely zero reason you can’t have leftover ribeye and asparagus or a Big Ass Salad for your first meal of the day. You’ve got your protein, your healthy fats, and vital nutrients to support your body for the long haul. What else do you need?

How Important is Breakfast?

Whether you consider it self-care or just taking ownership of the miraculous organism your body is, breakfast — the meal you break your fast with — is the most important meal of the day. There’s no better way to take the reins back from hunger, cravings, and chronic energy dips than by making time to front load your day with an epic protein and fat-forward meal.

What about you? Are you a breakfast eater? How do you answer your first hunger of the day?

The post I Believe Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.