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I pride myself on making the Primal Blueprint an easy-to-follow lifestyle. If you were just starting out, I could give you a one-page handout with the 10 Primal Blueprint Laws, the PB Food Pyramid, and the PB Fitness Pyramid, and it would be pretty easy for you to get the gist of everything we’re trying to do here. 

That said, once you get past the basics, sometimes things get a little murky. Like with honey.

See, as a general rule, I am against the consumption of refined sugars, especially sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Check out my definitive post on the subject to understand why. But what about the preeminent unrefined natural sweetener, the rich amber nectar that’s been available to humans from the very start (albeit protected by barbed, flying suicide stingers)?¹ 

People have been using honey for thousands of years not only as a culinary ingredient but also for its supposed medicinal properties. Must we eschew honey simply because it is sweet, even if it has numerous (potential) benefits? Are some of the harmful effects of the sugar mitigated by the presence of bioactive compounds?

Personally, I enjoy some honey now and then. Let’s find out if you’ll come down on the pro-honey or anti-honey side of the debate after reviewing some evidence.

Is Honey Good for You?

I get asked this from time to time, and I always respond, “Define ‘good.’” 

Better, and more interesting, questions are:

• Does honey have any beneficial effects that make it worth consuming?
• Is honey better for you than other sweeteners?
• Is honey a “health food” that you should make a concerted effort to include in your diet?

I’ll save you time by telling you that I think the answers are probably, maybe, and probably not, respectively. If you want more detail, keep reading.

Types of Honey

Before getting into the question of benefits, you must understand that there are many different types of honey. The attributes of any particular batch —flavor, color, consistency, and nutrient and antioxidant profile—depend on what plants the honeybees pollinated. There’s buckwheat honey, wildflower honey, clover honey, and tupelo honey, to name a few. Don’t forget about the darling of the alt-health world, manuka honey, which comes from bees in Australia and New Zealand that pollinate the Leptospermum scoparium bush. (Fun fact: Australia and New Zealand are locked in a heated battle over whether Australian-sourced manuka honey is the real deal.²) Honey aficionados will want to seek out the rare purple honey and black honey varieties, which, as the names suggest, do not have the characteristic golden hue. 

Beyond the assorted varieties, the honey you pick up at your local grocery store or farmer’s market may be raw or refined. Raw honey is only lightly strained to remove debris, typically. It will still contain small pieces of honeycomb as well as bee propolis (aka “bee glue”), pollen, and royal jelly. Propolis and royal jelly are prized in their own right for their supposed health benefits.³ Raw honey often looks cloudy or crystallized. 

In contrast, honey not labeled as raw has almost certainly undergone additional filtration plus pasteurization, which can remove or destroy the very compounds that make honey so desirable.⁴ Worse, the inexpensive honey you find at the store may not be pure honey at all but a mix of other sweet, viscous liquids like rice syrup or high-fructose corn syrup. Gross. 

All things being equal, I’m always partial to less processed versions of any food. I want access to all the compounds that nature included, and honey is no exception. I also opt for darker honey because it is typically higher in bioactive compounds and has greater antioxidant activity.^{5 6} It also tastes better, if you ask me. 

Potential Health Benefits of Honey

I’m hesitant to make any sweeping claims about the health benefits of honey because there are so many types. Also, honeybees don’t exactly have strict manufacturing standards. The characteristics of a given batch of honey vary based on region, season, and probably other factors I’m not aware of. 

That said, there’s quite a lot of evidence that honey and its constituents have antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, and immune-boosting properties, to name a few.⁷ However, if you’re hoping for something specific, you can’t necessarily grab any jar off the shelf and expect it to deliver the desired effects. ⁸ You’re going to need to dig into the research yourself and see what types may or may not be the most helpful. 

Here, I’ll briefly cover some of the most common uses and purported benefits.

Honey for Sore Throat, Cough, and Respiratory Infections

When I was a kid, my mom would have me swallowing big glugs of honey at the first sign of a sore throat or tightness in my chest. I rarely get sick anymore, but when I do, one of the first signs I’m coming down with something is that I crave hot tea with honey.

It makes sense that honey would be able to knock out a sore throat thanks to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, but there aren’t a lot of studies to back up this folk wisdom. 

With regards to cough, the (limited) research suggests that my mom was on to something. A 2018 Cochrane review, which included nine randomized controlled trials and more than 1,000 study participants—all kids—concluded that honey seems to be equivalent to or better than standard pharmaceutical treatments. However, the authors noted that the majority of the studies only followed the patients for one night.⁹ 

Another meta-analysis of studies looking at upper respiratory tract infections in kids concluded, “Honey was superior to usual care… It provides a widely available and cheap alternative to antibiotics.”¹⁰ Good news for those of us who are leery about rushing to antibiotics at the first sign of illness. Even the CDC recommends using honey for chest colds with cough in adults and kids older than one.¹¹

I’ll stick with my honey tea next time my chest starts to feel tight, although I might try honey in coffee instead. One obscure study found that honey with coffee was more effective than honey or coffee alone and more effective than prednisone for alleviating coughs in adults following upper respiratory tract infections.¹²

Honey for Cancer

There’s quite a bit of promising data that suggests honey could be useful in fighting various forms of cancer. Much of the current research aims to understand how, exactly, honey exerts antitumor and cytotoxic (cell-killing) effects. Proposed mechanisms include reducing oxidative stress, preventing the proliferation of cancer cells, inhibiting cancer-causing genetic mutations, and promoting apoptosis (programmed cell death).^{13 14}

While the research is fascinating, almost all the relevant studies have been done in vitro, meaning that they looked at cancer cells in petri dishes. It remains to be seen how this might translate into actual cancer therapies in humans. How great would it be if we could just eat fistfuls of honey, Winnie the Pooh style, and solve the cancer epidemic? Alas, that’s too good to be true. Far more likely, scientists will isolate specific bioactive compounds within honey and find ways to harness their effects. 

Honey for Skincare

Honey turns out to be great for your skin. It can help with everything from diaper rash to dandruff to wrinkles, again thanks in large part to its anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties.¹⁵

Honey has long been used in dressings for burns, boils, surgical incisions, ulcers, and other types of skin afflictions. The consensus seems to be that while more research is needed,^{16 17} honey shows significant promise as a topical wound treatment. Honey produces hydrogen peroxide, which seems to account for much of its infection-fighting capability. Certain honeys are even effective against drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA.¹⁸ It seems to stimulate the immune system to speed up the natural healing process and helps the body’s own enzymes break down dead tissues around the wound that can lead to infection, a process known as autolytic debridement.¹⁹

You can get over-the-counter honey dressings—bandaids infused with honey, essentially—if you want to see what all the fuss is about for yourself.

(Local) Honey for Allergies

Any hayfever or seasonal allergy sufferer has heard that the best natural treatment is honey. But it has to be local honey, because you need the honeybees to have been collecting nectar from the same plants that are causing your sneezing and itchy eyes. So the logic goes anyway. It’s all very homeopathic, but does it work?

I found three studies that speak to this question, and the results are inconsistent:

• Forty individuals with allergic rhinitis (hayfever) took an antihistamine for four weeks along with a daily dose of either honey or honey-flavored corn syrup.²⁰ At the end of the four weeks, both groups’ symptoms had improved, but the group who ate the honey reported feeling significantly better four weeks after that. In other words, the positive effects seemed to persist only in the honey group. It’s worth noting, though, that the participants were consuming huge amounts of honey—1 gram per kilogram of bodyweight, which equates to more than three tablespoons per day for someone who weighs 150 pounds!
• In another study, 36 patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis took one tablespoon of unpasteurized, unfiltered local honey; filtered, pasteurized, non-local honey; or honey-flavored corn syrup.²¹ The study lasted for 30 weeks, but a third of the participants ended up dropping out, presumably because they couldn’t stand the sweet regimen. At the end of the study, neither honey group reported being any better off symptom-wise than the control group. 
• Finnish researchers recruited 44 people with birch pollen allergies.²² They all received unpasteurized, unfiltered local honey that either was or was not fortified with birch pollen. Over two months, both groups had more symptom-free days compared to a control group who got no honey. However, the pollen-enhanced group had significantly fewer total symptoms, and they were less likely to need antihistamines during the study period.

That’s hardly a slam dunk. The Finnish study is promising, but I’m not convinced that eating jars of honey for months at a time is a great trade-off for a modicum of allergy relief, especially if the outcome isn’t assured. 

What about the Fructose in Honey? Isn’t Fructose Bad for You?

Honey is 40 percent fructose and 30 percent glucose. The remaining 30 percent comprises water, pollen, and over a hundred other compounds, including enzymes, minerals, amino acids, and vitamins. Table sugar, which is sucrose, contains half fructose, half glucose, and none of the good stuff. So right off the bat, it doesn’t make much sense to uniquely worry about the fructose in honey.

That aside, the ancestral community has long accepted as fact that fructose is the most harmful form of sugar because of the way it is metabolized in the liver. Some folks—members of the carnivore community, in particular—are challenging that notion. They argue (correctly) that honey is an animal product that has long been a part of the human diet. It continues to be a staple for modern hunter-gatherers like the Hadza, who derive between 15 and 50 percent of their calories from honey—or, more precisely, honey and bee larvae. Yet the Hadza remain largely free of so-called diseases of civilization, including diseases linked to excess fructose consumption, such as metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.²³  

This gets into some thorny science (par for the course in the nutrition world), but when it comes to fructose, it seems the poison is in the dose and the delivery method. There’s no doubt in my mind that consuming large quantities of fructose, especially in the context of a high-sugar, hypercaloric diet, poses significant health risks. High-fructose corn syrup, especially beverages sweetened with HFCS, should be strictly avoided. Nothing about our evolutionary history has prepared our genes for large boluses of highly concentrated, liquid fructose.

I’m far less concerned about relatively small amounts of fructose consumed in the context of low-to-moderate-carb, eucaloric or hypocaloric Primal diets, where the fructose comes packaged in whole foods like fruit and honey. Presumably, you aren’t eating multiple tablespoons of honey at a time day in and day out (unless you’re Paul Saladino, maybe). 

I’m not saying anyone needs to consume honey (or fruit, for that matter). People who already struggle with metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes should be mindful of how much they’re eating.²⁴ (I should note here that some scientists believe that honey may actually be antidiabetic, though the jury is still out.²⁵) Likewise, anyone who suffers from fructose malabsorption and intolerance, which can lead to IBS-like symptoms,²⁶ should tread lightly with fruit and honey. 

The Verdict: Is Honey Good for You?

Let’s return to the three questions I posed at the beginning of this post:

Does honey have any beneficial effects that make it worth consuming?

Overall, I think the answer is yes, but with a significant caveat. 

Honey isn’t a panacea that is going to solve all the world’s major health problems. Still, honey (as well as bee propolis and royal jelly) is clearly anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial, and it seems to have various antitumor and anticancer properties. Another benefit I haven’t mentioned yet is that honey acts as a prebiotic, meaning it can promote gut health by stimulating the growth of beneficial microbes. ^{27 28}

While that’s all fantastic, I wouldn’t venture to make specific recommendations regarding what types of honey, or how much, might be optimal for you. That depends on your goals and your current metabolic health.

Is honey better for you than other sweeteners?

I’d say yes, particularly if we’re talking about honey compared to table sugar or pure glucose or fructose. 

Overall, honey doesn’t seem to have the same downsides as other sweeteners. For example, one set of studies compared the effects of honey, sham-honey (a mix of fructose and glucose), dextrose (which is just glucose), and sucrose on several health markers in various groups of people.²⁹ There’s a lot to wade through, but the gist is that honey performed well. Honey resulted in smaller blood glucose spikes (+14%) than dextrose (+53%). Sham honey increased triglycerides, while real honey lowered them (along with boosting HDL and lowering LDL). After fifteen days of honey feeding, CRP and LDL dropped. Overall, honey improved blood lipids, lowered inflammatory markers, and had minimal effect on blood glucose levels.

That said, it surely depends on the context. It’s safe to say that honey is better than table sugar across the board, especially, it seems, for diabetics.³⁰ However, someone trying to maintain a strict caloric deficit may prefer a low-calorie or noncaloric sweetener like stevia, monk fruit, or erythritol. By the same token, the carbohydrates in honey might offset any potential upsides for folks following a ketogenic diet.

Is honey a “health food” that you should make a concerted effort to include in your diet?

I’m not sure “should” is the right word here. I’ll continue to use honey as a home remedy for sore throats and coughs, and I’ll enjoy the occasional honey-sweetened dessert. But will I go out of my way to consume honey to ward off health problems or otherwise stay healthy? No, I don’t think the available evidence justifies that. 

Bottom line: Can you eat it? Sure. Should you eat it? It depends. There’s no doubt in my mind that honey is an ancestral food, meaning that our long-ago ancestors enjoyed honey when it was available. So if that’s the criteria you use to decide whether a particular food deserves a place in your kitchen, the answer is yes, go for it.

At the end of the day, I prefer to minimize my intake of all sweeteners, mostly because I choose to prioritize savory foods (mmm, steak). If you’re going to consume honey, which is fine in my book, go for the raw, unfiltered stuff, as dark as you can get. 

What do you think? Does honey fit into your way of eating? Is it Primal? Let me know what you think.

FAQs About Honey

Is honey allowed on a vegan diet? What about a carnivore diet?

This is a heated debate within both the vegan and carnivore communities. Many, but not all, vegans say no because harvesting honey potentially exploits or harms honeybees. Some carnivores do eat honey, arguing that it qualifies as an “animal product” since it is produced by bees. Most still do not. 

Can honey be organic?

The U.S. has no official standard for certifying honey as organic. Small-scale producers may label their honey as organic, but any certified organic honey must be imported. Nevertheless, in practice, it is difficult to impossible to ensure that honeybees are only collecting nectar from organic plants. 

Can you eat honey on a keto diet?

Ketogenic diets allow up to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. A teaspoon of honey only contains 6 grams of carbohydrates, and it seems to provoke a smaller blood glucose response than pure glucose.^{31 32} Therefore, honey can probably be enjoyed in moderation on keto.

Can I substitute honey for sugar in Primal, Paleo, or Keto recipes?

Yes, though you may need to adjust the recipe. Honey is sweeter than refined sugar, so start with half as much honey as sugar. In baked goods, you will also need to reduce the other liquids in the recipe and add baking soda to counteract honey’s natural acidity.

If you’re using honey in keto recipes, keep in mind that honey is not a low-calorie or low-carb sweetener. You’ll need to count those carbs toward your daily total, and even moderate amounts will add up quickly.

Is raw honey better for you than refined or processed honey?

Raw honey contains pollen, bee propolis, and royal jelly, which have a host of beneficial properties in their own right. Refined honey removes those compounds via filtration and pasteurization. Pasteurization may also damage enzymes and other components you want in your honey. Opt for raw whenever possible.

The post Is Honey a Safe(r) Sweetener? appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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For years now, all those who know me (including readers of the blog) have heard me talk about my daily “big-ass salad.” It’s been my lunch of choice for a couple of decades at least, and I don’t see that ever changing. Over the years I’ve adapted it to my personal tastes, nutritional experiments, and—lately—my keto practice.

Some people minimize vegetable intake when they’re eating keto. I’ve never found that necessary or beneficial. In fact, I highly recommend plenty of above-ground vegetables and even berries for an optimally varied, nutrient-dense keto diet. That’s my Primal take because personally I practice keto with an eye toward strategy, not restriction.

So, what about the fat? With fat comprising up to 75% of keto energy sourcing, you can bet we’re talking about more than lettuce. This salad is no side dish for sure. I get a large portion of my fat intake from it every day—keto weeks included. With a whole avocado, a generous chunk of Emmental cheese (my favorite cheese when I’m in ketosis), and a hefty (i.e. jaw-dropping) dose of my own PRIMAL KITCHEN® Caesar Dressing with all the rich goodness of avocado oil, I literally call this my fat bomb salad. See if it won’t make you a keto salad believer.

Ingredients:

• Lettuce (I prefer a mix of romaine and dark leafy greens.)
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Chopped Avocado
• Broccolini
• Shaved Emmental Cheese
• PRIMAL KITCHEN® Caesar Dressing

Instructions:

Toss together the cut vegetables with mixed greens. Shave my favorite cheese, Emmental, over the entire salad. Smother with PRIMAL KITCHEN® Caesar Dressing (no skimping allowed). Then enjoy.

The post Mark’s Big-Ass Keto Salad appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Most people find their way to the Primal Blueprint via food. They’re looking to start eating “right” and get healthy. Maybe they ask a few friends whose lifestyles they admire, or they Google a few buzzwords—low-carb, paleo, keto—and eventually make their way here. However they get here, I love the unbridled enthusiasm of someone on the precipice of change. They’re ready to listen and do whatever you advise. Just say the word. And when they ask where to begin, the word I say is: purge. 

Any good Primal transformation starts by eliminating the “big three” health offenders: grains, sugar, and industrialized seed oils (canola, corn, safflower, soybean, etc.). Get rid of the foods you no longer intend to eat to make room for the meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, nuts, seeds that comprise the Primal Blueprint Food Pyramid.

If you intend to start eating differently, you have set up your environment for success. This is habit change 101.

Want to stop eating so much sugar? Toss all the candy, ice cream, and whoopie pies, and stock up on protein-rich snacks and 85 percent dark chocolate instead.

Need to kick that soda habit? Say sayonara to the soda, buy some sparkling water, and stop taking the elevator at work that drops you off by the vending machines.

During our 21-day Primal Resets or Keto Month challenges, one of the very first things we ask participants to do is a pantry purge for this very reason. On the surface, it’s pretty simple: get rid of the big three, plus any products made with them. Except it’s not that simple. Nothing ever is. We always get a lot of questions about how, exactly, to undertake the pantry purge. Hence today’s post. I’m not going to cover what to purge when you clean out your pantry. This older post covers that in great detail. Today is about strategy and how to navigate the sometimes thorny complexities here.

First, Stop Buying Stuff You’ll Have to Throw Out Later

Let’s say you’re not quite ready to start eating Primally yet. You’re taking your time learning about the Primal Blueprint, or you’re waiting until January, your birthday, or after that vacation you have planned for next month. That’s fine. In the meantime, though, give your future self a leg up by buying fewer chips, frozen desserts, and cases of energy drinks starting now.

So often, people feel the need to go on a junk food bender (whatever that means to you) before “getting healthy.” That’s a self-sabotaging mentality that starts you off on the wrong foot. The implication is that you’re leaving the good life behind and jumping into something less desirable. I take exception to that. Primal eating isn’t boring, you shouldn’t feel deprived, and it’s certainly not a punishment. You don’t need to throw yourself whatever the food equivalent of a bachelor party is.

Resist the urge to go out on a bang, and save yourself some money by not filling your pantry with things you will have to purge when you’re ready to take the leap.

Go Big: The Ruthless Purge

In the past, I’ve advocated what I call the “ruthless purge.” That’s where you go into your kitchen with the biggest garbage bag you can find and throw out anything with grains, excess sugar, or seed and vegetable oils. Check the fridge, freezer, pantry, cupboards, and drawers. Don’t forget the spice rack. Read every label, and if something is even a little suspect, get rid of it (recycling any recyclable packaging, of course). Start your Primal reset with a totally clean slate.

Now, I still think this is a great way to start, but I’ve occasionally gotten some pushback on this strategy that I think is valid. Let me address those concerns one at a time.

“What if I can’t afford to replace all my food at once?”

In this case, a more gradual purge is in order. I’d still suggest tossing the worst offenders if you can. To me, that means things like:

• Non-Primal cooking oils: the big bottles of vegetable oil, canola oil, and so on
• Salad dressings and other condiments made with those oils
• Baking ingredients like bags of white flour, whole wheat flour, and sugar
• Desserts like ice cream, cookies, cakes, candy
• Conventional snacks from the chip and cracker aisles (the better-for-you alternatives made with almond, coconut, or cassava flour excepted)
• Sugary breakfast cereals

Especially for folks on a tight food budget, I’d never suggest tossing conventional eggs, meat, or produce. Yes, I personally choose grass-fed and organic when I can, but Primal is all about making the best possible choices given the options available to you. Conventional meat is always going to deliver many more benefits than marshmallow cereal.

As for the “borderline foods”—foods that aren’t strictly Primal but also aren’t the most un-Primal in the grand scheme of things—that depends on what you can afford. Maybe you eat through your existing supply of oatmeal, legumes, or rice but don’t buy more once they’re gone, at least for a while. If you suspect a particular food is triggering acute health problems, like your IBS flare-ups, for example, just get rid of it. It’s not worth it.

At the end of the day, I trust that you’re going to do the best you can. If that means eating up all the food you have in your kitchen, Primal-aligned or not, because you can’t afford to throw anything out, you won’t get any guff from me.

“I feel guilty wasting so much food.”

Food waste is a huge problem and something I try hard to be conscientious about in my own life and at Primal Kitchen. So what are you supposed to do if you don’t want to throw food in the trash, but you also don’t want to eat it? The obvious answers are to donate unopened items to your local food bank or shelter. Or, use those foods to make meals for others—think new parents, elderly neighbors, friends who are sick or are recovering from surgery—or for events like office parties where a baked pasta casserole or batch of cookies would be welcomed.

When I’ve suggested this in the past, though, some people have chimed in and argued that these approaches are problematic in their own right. Why, they ask, are those foods okay for other people if they’re not good enough for you? Doesn’t giving them to food pantries exacerbate the problem of lower-income folks having more access to hyper-processed, less nutritious food than they have to meat and produce? I see this point, but I also think the issue is far more complicated than that. Frankly, I see both sides and don’t have the definitive answer here. You’ll have to decide where you come down on this debate. (Feel free to hash it out in the comments). One compromise option might be to donate your toaster strudels and pasta along with canned fish, canned vegetables, and a monetary donation, which many food banks will use to buy perishable items.

You always have the option of doing the gradual purge described above. Ask yourself what feels like the lesser evil: eating foods you no longer want or throwing them away. It might be a hard choice. Remember this and use it as incentive to keep these items out of your kitchen in the future so you don’t have to go through this again.

“My partner/roommates/kids will be furious if I throw away their favorite food.”

“What if the people I live with aren’t on board with my new way of eating?” We get this question all the time during our Primal challenges*, and it’s a toughie.

First things first, don’t throw away their non-Primal favorites if they haven’t committed to going Primal with you. That will just breed conflict and resentment.

Still, it’s perfectly understandable if you want the cookies, potato chips, and soda out of sight and out of mind. Communication is vital here. Explain why you’re making the changes you’re making and what your housemates can do to support you. I’ve found the best strategy is to create kitchen zones. Let them have their foods, but keep them separate from yours, ideally in a specific cupboard that you don’t open.

You can’t force other people to go along with your Primal diet, no matter how much you want them to. Lead by example, and hopefully they’ll start to come around in time. In the meantime, keep your eyes on your own plate. (And no, it’s not easy. My colleague Erin Power has some more great tips for dealing with unsupportive partners.)

*Speaking of Primal challenges, watch this space for forthcoming announcements about our January plans!

That’s it from me. I’d love to hear about your experiences going Primal. When it came to diet, did you jump in with both feet or make gradual changes? Would you do it differently if you had to do it over?

The post How to Clean Out Your Kitchen and Go Primal appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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I had a 40-year career as a high school teacher. During my eight final years I served as the coordinator for the Performing Arts Magnet at Van Nuys High School. During that time my co-coordinator, Chris Hale, and I undertook a renovation of the high school auditorium and instituted a program that taught students how to set up sound and lighting for rock performances – a roadie academy if you will. The funding for that program came in the form of a state grant that provided 90% of the funds if a donor from private industry would come up with the other 10%. Somehow we managed to talk the Frank Zappa family trust into providing the 10%, and we were off to the races. As it turns out they were also willing to provide the instructor, Marque Coy, who had been Frank’s top roadie for two decades. 

I got to know Marque very well during the years we worked together. It turned out he had been on 27 world tours with a number of top names, including Robert Palmer and Nickleback. He had grown up in the industry and had a remarkable understanding of electricity and air, the two media he was to engineer wherever he had to set up equipment. Marque knew how to take care of expensive cables and cords so they would work perfectly every time and would last for years. He understood how sound (which is really vibrating air molecules) would be affected by the shape of a “house” (where the audience would sit). He knew how human bodies could change acoustics by the way they absorbed sound, and he knew the difference between the effects of curtains and padded seats versus wooden seats and wooden floors with no carpeting. He could figure out how to configure the speakers and wire them up so the whole rig didn’t blow up, and he knew how to set up Steve Vai’s guitar so the sound was just right. With a background as a classical pianist, Marque knew his music and how to make it sound the best to the people in the seats. Watching him work and instruct his students in our program was just fascinating.

It occurred to me that he and I did the same thing. He was a master engineer of air molecules and I was an engineer of human protoplasm. Marque understood air and how it behaved, and therefore he could alter its behavior so he could obtain the optimal results in a concert setting. In my coaching I needed to be able to understand how protoplasm would change its functional structure under properly applied stress to achieve optimal results on the competition platform. The point I wish to make here is, if you are coaching humans to achieve improved performance levels, you need to get to know as much as you can about how protoplasm works and functions, and how it can be re-engineered into a more efficient functional structure.

The title of this website is Breaking Muscle and we are all here for the purpose of improving muscular function. Muscle, however, is not an isolated tissue. It is impacted and reliant upon the functioning of the circulatory, skeletal, nervous, endocrine, and digestive systems at a significant level and to a lesser degree on the integumentary, excretory, and lymphatic systems. Anyone wishing to truly master the art and science of coaching needs to become familiar with how the human body responds to training, otherwise it is impossible to make wise decisions when analyzing training and applying modification that will result in even greater results.

In the physical education culture in this country we have a prolonged history of ignoring the science involved in physical training. Many coaches simply took the required anatomy and physiology courses in college and immediately ignored them because they couldn’t figure out how those disciplines could affect an athlete’s ability to throw a ball. Well, they do, especially if the goal is to throw it even further or more often with equal efficacy.

It is time for more and more coaches within the physical training community to realize that an understanding of the medium is the key to making continued progress with their athletes and to do so in the most efficient and safe manner. All too many are enamored of the surface and end results of training, but not the planning and structuring of training as based on sound physiological principles. If you are going to be a serious coach you need to learn the science, learn how to apply it and how to provide the best chances for your athletes to succeed.

The post Understanding the Medium: Coaching Lessons From a Rock ‘n’ Roll Roadie appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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As a new coach, leading a group fitness class can be an overwhelming experience. First there is the material to know, then there are the people with all their needs, questions, and personalities, and then you have space and equipment to manage. Amidst the requirement of being able to teach a movement, respond to inquiries, adjust for injuries, and keep everyone moving safely and having fun, sometimes the true core of coaching is lost.

Observing new coaches, what I most see lacking is intention. Recently while taking class from a novice coach, I asked her what her intention was in teaching a particular movement. Her reply was, that was the programming, so that was what she was teaching. Here’s what I think of that – you are not a coach if you are just showing up and following a list on a piece of paper. You are not a coach if you merely mime movements for me, press start on a stopwatch, or write my weights down in a manila folder.

There should never be a point at which during your coaching you cannot answer the question of why. Are you teaching things because that is what there is to teach or because there is a lesson inside of that exercise? As a CrossFit coach, are you simply running people through deadlifts and pull ups, occasionally cheering? As a rowing coach, are you just putting students through cardio intervals? Is it just a day to lift heavy in powerlifting? Or, is there something deeper – the lesson with which the students should walk away?

What Is Intention?

I think of intention in coaching as if I were writing an essay. If I wrote an essay I would have a thesis statement – something to tie my words together and be the underlying theme through all the paragraphs. Each paragraph would have a topic sentence relating to the thesis and identifying its individual purpose.

The intention is what I intend to teach today – what I intend for you to leave the classroom, in this case the gym, having learned. The paragraphs are the portions of the class – warm-up, mobility, workout, post-workout. Each portion of class has a purpose that relates to the bigger intention of the class. The sentences are the exercises that build the foundation for all of this to happen.

Create for yourself:

• Intention with each movement
• Intention with each portion of class
• Intention for the entire class

But I Didn’t Write the Workout

Not having written the programming is never a reason to lack intention. You may not have the identical intention as the person who wrote the programming, but you can still have an intention. It is like interpretations of music. The notes are on the page and each coach will have different nuances or emphasis, based on what they see in the notes. The pieces are the same; the delivery is slightly different.

Is it easier to create intention when you have written the programming? My answer is no. My answer is – it is easier to create intention when the programming is done well. At CrossFit LA the coaches took turns writing three week cycles of programming. More often than not, I was teaching a curriculum I had not written. The programming was thought out to such a level that it was never a problem to find intention in each other’s workouts.

What’s It Really Look Like?

So, what does this mean in practical terms? If I were handed programming for a class, I would construct these intentions for myself before walking into the classroom. For example, if I were given a workout to teach that contained handstands I would consider, what do I want to teach about the handstand? I might decide what I really want to talk about is the hollow position. I might put shoulder press into the warm-up so I could have people practice proper shoulder position, core tension, and hip position so they understand and practice what it means to be “hollow.” I might even declare right at the beginning of class, “Today our focus is going to be on the hollow position and where that shows up for us in various exercises.” Because as a student, if you know what it is you’re supposed to be learning, you might have better luck actually learning it, right? Think of it as verbal bold print.

Another example could be a day of rowing intervals. If I was handed programming that declared the workout would be four 1,000m sprints, I could decide the day is going to be about learning to hinge at the hip so students develop the proper hip swing in their rowing stroke. I could program good mornings in the warm-up or do toy soldiers as a dynamic stretch. We could practice excellent form on sit-ups. Or if I have more advanced students, I might decide the day is about strategizing a race and we would talk about the racing start, race pace, when to start sprinting it home, etc. and practice it on each of the four sprints.

What I would never do in either scenario is just verbally run through the technique, outline the workout, and then say go. A coach is not a timekeeper and a cheerleader. A good student of most any athletic endeavor can manage before long to get themselves from one end of a workout to another. They don’t need someone to say start and stop. They need someone to take their training to a deeper level. They need someone to guide them who understands the nuances of the movements, the purpose of the workout, and the intention of the practice. A coach is someone who provides that for them and who at any given moment can answer the question why.

The post So You Think You’re a Coach? – Coaching with Intention appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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I’ve been studying diet and fat loss for over twenty years. I’ve experimented with “fat burner” supplements like the ECA stack. I’ve also tried everything from low fat to low carb to intermittent fasting with varying levels of success.

Here’s one thing I’ve noticed: all successful diets have three things in common, each starting with the letter “C.”

I hope this short post will help you cut through some of the hype about losing fat. What I’m about to share isn’t new—it’s just my simple way of expressing some basic things about diet and fat loss.

1. Calories

Yes, you guessed it—all successful diets are based upon a negative calorie balance. You must use more calories than you consume in order to lose fat. Everything else is secondary.

A few years ago, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University decided to try to lose weight on a “Twinkie diet.” Two-thirds of his caloric intake came from junk food (snack cakes, etc.), but he made sure to eat about 1,800 calories a day (about 800 less than the usual intake for a man his age). As a result, he lost 27 pounds. What may surprise some is the fact that other markers of health (blood lipids, etc.) improved.

I’m not suggesting you go on a junk food diet. But the story proves an important point: the number of meals you eat, the supplements you take, and even the types of food are not as important as the overall calorie balance, as far as fat loss goes.

Here’s a general guideline for daily calorie consumption:

• 10-12 calories x body weight (lbs) = weight loss
• 15 calories x body weight (lbs) = maintenance level calories
• 16-17 calories x body weight (lbs) = weight gain

You will have to adjust these numbers to your particular situation (such as activity level), but this will give you a good starting place.

2. Compliance

The second characteristic of effective fat loss is compliance. In other words, you have to find a diet plan that you can stick to long enough to see the desired results.

I know some trainees who regularly eat six meals a day. But most of them are competitive bodybuilders, trainers, or professional fitness models. Their lives (and salaries) revolve around their physiques, so it makes sense for them to invest a great deal of time into meal planning. Frequent meals are not necessarily better, so you don’t have to eat this way to get lean. This is good news for people like me. I’m not interested in preparing that much food (and even spending that much time eating) on a daily basis.

I would encourage you to experiment and find something that works for you, remembering that you can’t escape the first “C” (calories). Choose a strategy that you can implement day after day, week after week, and the most enjoyable or least “painful” for your specific situation.

3. Carbs

This third C is not nearly as important as the first two. Having said that, here’s something I’ve noticed: most people who get really lean do so by manipulating their carbohydrate intake. Notice I said, “manipulate,” not necessarily “eliminate.”

Eating low or zero carbs can help optimize your hormones for burning fat. Here’s how it works: your muscles and liver contain glycogen (glucose in the muscles), which is used for fuel. Going without carbs will lower glycogen levels, encouraging your body to use fat as its fuel source. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the short version.

Most effective diets manipulate the effect of carbohydrates in one or more ways:

• Lowering overall caloric intake from carbohydrates and increasing the percentage of calories from protein and fat.
• The trainee eats most of his/her carbohydrates immediately before and/or after training.
• The trainee goes long periods without eating carbs, then refills glycogen stores over the period of one or two days.
• Carbohydrates are exclusively eaten in the final meal (or meals) each day.
• Carbohydrates are “cycled”—a set number of low carb days followed by a set number of days at a higher carb consumption.

Don’t Over Complicate It

Fat loss isn’t really that complicated. Follow the simple principles I have shared and you’ll have a much better chance at achieving the level of leanness you desire.

The post The 3 Indisputable Components of Fat Loss appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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This is my new gym. I recommend the dark roast coffee and the cheese danish:

This is my new gym. I recommend the dark roast coffee and the cheese danish:

Well, I was HOPING this was my new gym considering that the mobile app GymPactallows you to tag any building as a gym. From there on out, whenever you “check in” to the gym with your mobile phone and stay in that geo-monitored location for more than thirty minutes, you get paid.

That’s right, you get paid to “workout.”

Unfortunately (or fortunately), GymPact didn’t fall for my ruse of making my local diner my gym. Just like I had imagined in my habit building article:

Wouldn’t it be cool if a gym paid YOU to workout. We would all be super-sculpted athletes and gyms would be bankrupt. Alas, we aren’t and they aren’t.

Alright. So the thought experiment is a reality. Why aren’t we hearing more about this phenomenal startup that recently teamed up with my favorite running app, Runkeeper? Lets take a look at why the app works, and why it doesn’t.

How GymPact Works

GymPact’s sign up process is pretty efficient. I opted for the online sign up, as opposed to the mobile version since I still find typing on a smartphone tedious. GymPact on the other hand, REALLY wants you to go mobile. So much so, that they made their desktop signup look like an iPhone interface.

You begin by setting your pact or, how many days you will be committing to going to the gym. The default 3 days a week will earn you $2.10 a week if you fulfill your pact. Rewards range from $0.50 to $0.75 per workout.

On the next page, you setup your wager. Missing a workout dings you a default $5. That’s a lot more than $.50 isn’t it? Not fair you say? Well, as my fifth grade teacher used to say, “Life’s a bitch and then you die.” Public schooling is awesome and so is this reward punishment ratio. More on that later.

The following steps consists of connecting your Facebook account, and entering your credit card info so you can get rewarded or dinged. If you’re concerned about giving your credit card info to a startup, you’re smart about having pause. However the service is PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliantso I wouldn’t sweat it. You’ll becharged a penny to verify your credit card.

The Proof’s In the Database

Your first task as a GymPact participant is to tag your gym. They claim that their gym database consists of 40,000 gyms. My local diner wasn’t in the database, despite calling it “Mau’s Crossfit.” There’s an idiot and a CrossFit gym born everyday, but GymPact is no idiot and a diner is no gym. At least not without some verification. I really thought I had found a crack in their system until I received this email about twenty minutes after checking in:

Hi Mauricio Balvanera,

We’re sorry – we took a look at your gym Mau’s Crossfit could not yet verify it.

Because of GPS verification, we cannot count home, apartment or office gyms. It is also difficult for us to verify new facilities, smaller/niche facilities and facilities with less web presence.

If you think there’s been a mistake, simply send the name, website, address and phone number of your gym to corrections@gym-pact.com for us to take a second look! Until then, the workouts you’ve done here will not count toward your Pact.

Cheers,

The GymPact Team

My cheese danish wasn’t as tasty anymore. I wasn’t alone in my subversive approach. Their now removed youtube demo video was chalk full of commenters attempting to game the system.

Why GymPact Works

Game designers frequently study the delicate balance of reward/punishment systems. As do economists. As do sports psychologists. There is a human nature incentive system that makes GymPact’s concept a no brainer. But just as Game designers and economists tweak the system on an ongoing basis in order to balance the game, you may need to do a bit of your own rebalancing as well.

But don’t tweak it too much. Try that $5 to $.50 combination. The one step forward, ten steps back system will make you fight hard to take those tiny steps. I actually find it analogous to how our own bodies reacts to inconsistent or inefficient training.

GymPact claims to have a ninety-percent effective rate. This may or may not be an inflated marketing marker, but the fact that the app forces you to at the very least be at the gym, will more than likely make you, well, workout.

Why GymPact Doesn’t Work

After my cheese danish incident, I figured out an alternative way to game the system with thehelp of friends in low places. There’s no need to publish the hack, but the point is, the system is flawed in a manner that impacts the whole system. The successful payout pool effectively comes from a unsuccessful dinged pool.

I don’t want to imply that people’s first reaction will be to attempt to hack the system, but anyone who relies on monetary compensation as their primary reward for workout, will probably fall into that category. And this bring us to the most important flaw in the system.

Why do you workout? I immediately thought of Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire. Watch it later because it’s a rabbit hole of awesome. But the basic premise is that great people have success because the “Why” of their goal, overshadows the “What” and “How.” If you workout because you’re looking forward to the monetary payout, you WILL fail. Not might. You will. If you workout because you want to be healthy and happier, well now we’re getting somewhere.

Monetary payouts could act as a secondary motivational tool, but it shouldn’t be your primary drive, and thus, GymPact needs to be more than a payout machine to succeed.

So Should I Use GymPact?

Yes. It’s not a perfect system, but the social checkins help tremendously and RunKeeper integration is a huge update.All runs, (as well as walks and bike rides) that are tracked by RunKeeper’s GPS will count as a workout. That is as long as you do:

• Minimum 1/2 miles distance.
• Minimum of 30 minutes of activity in which your pace is above two miles per hour (but slower than driving!). If in doubt, an extra 5 minutes of walking, running, or biking never hurts.
• Maximum 3 hours long.

The app is currently free on iOS only but there’s an Android version coming soon. The cheese danish is sold separately.

The post Tech Review: Gympact – The Benefits and Pitfalls of Getting Paid to Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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Ordering apparel for your gym should be fun. Cool gear should be a way to bring the community together and put some extra money in your pocket. But time and again, I see gym owners give up on the process or avoid it because of the stress and confusion involved.

I see this because I run a custom apparel business myself. I’ve seen the mistakes most people are prone to making. So, here are my recommended strategies to avoid the headaches and just get down to what matters – bringing your community together.

Too Many Options and Styles

Did you know that people actually buy less when they have more options? If you’re curious about why choice is demotivating to clients and consumers, check out the Columbia Jam Study. Basically, the study focused on a jam-tasting booth set up inside a popular grocery chain. On different weekends, they tested the following:

• On one Saturday, the booth would have 24 different jams to choose from.
• On the following Saturday, the booth would have only six different jams.

It turned out that the booth with fewer choices sold more jars of jam. This has been tested over and over again with various products in different studies.

So where exactly do pitfalls occur in your gym apparel order? Well for one, clients don’t have time to think about what color shirt they want. They just want someone to show them the best option, not all the options. So, yes, you probably designed a shirt that works across ten different colors, but that doesn’t mean you should take advantage of it and have all those shirts made.

We often have people come to us wanting every color shirt we offer. We try to talk them out of it, but sometimes people just ignore our advice. Then, when they reorder, they will tell us, “I sold out of X color, but I have a whole box of Y color still left!” In these situations, groupthink or herd mentality takes over. If five to six people start buying the blue shirt, everyone wants a blue shirt and you’re stuck with the box of red shirts. When it doubt, keep it simple.

Many owners believe that ordering different styles is the golden ticket to making sales. But just because one person wants a V-neck doesn’t mean you should accommodate that one person. Gym owners tend to get out of hand, wanting six different women’s cuts. Just offer one women’s t-shirt, one women’s tank, one men’s t-shirt, and one men’s tank. Keep everything simple.

Too Many Cooks in The Kitchen

You’re a busy gym owner. You don’t have time to coordinate the apparel order, but you know you need one. You put the office manager in charge of the order. In turn, he or she asks his or her friends for help, in turn these friends ask the rest of the gym for help.

You essentially turned your profit making opportunity into a three-ring circus by inviting outsiders into some pseudo-committee decision-making process. Keep the apparel order between you and a few trusted advisors. Sure, ask for feedback from outsiders, but if this is for your profit and branding, you should have final say.

Not Having Clear Branding

Are you the type of owner who just isn’t satisfied with the branding of your gym? You’ve tried different logos and typefaces and nothing just seems to stick with you? Well the secret is that’s the problem. You need to stick with one logo and branding message.

Think about all the big brands you see on an everyday basis, from Apple to Rogue Fitness. All of their branding is the exact same from day one. You don’t see Apple rolling out a new logo every year for every new product launch. Successful businesses stick with their branding through good times and tough times. Find some type of branding that demonstrates what you and your business are all about and stick with it.

No Preorder

You decided to go ahead and order tanks on behalf of the women’s group training class because you think you know their sizing. Or you “don’t have time to take a preorder” so you just ordered twenty of every size.

Wrong move! Again, this goes back to a profit making opportunity. Take the time, carefully organize the pre-order, and eliminate excess inventory headaches.

Delaying the Sale of Shirts

We know you’re slammed with time commitments. We deal with it on a daily basis, too. However, by delaying your apparel order, you are potentially leaving hundreds of dollars per month on the table. Apparel sales are one of the most passive income streams you can have at your business.

To wrap things up, before stressing yourself out on your next apparel order, take a minute to get organized, eliminate the noise, and remember the central reasons why you wanted shirts to begin with.

Photo 1 courtesy ofJorge Huerta Photography.

Photos 2 & 3 courtesy ofShutterstock.

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Click Here to Apply to Be a Beta-Tester

After three years of bringing you the best information on training, nutrition, and healthy lifestyles, Breaking Muscle is now going to be bringing you even more information – in eBook form!

This fall we are officially launching our eBook publishing, but before we can do that, we need your help. We are looking for beta-testers to try out our first eBook programs that will be available.

What You Need to Know to Become a Beta-Tester

Minimal experience is required, but dedication is extremely important. In exchange for your participation, you will be coached and supported on top of receiving great programming.

We’re counting on your feedback.

We are looking for healthy, active individuals to complete twelve-week programs in the following disciplines:

• Kettlebell training for women
• Bodyweight training for men and women
• Pregnancy workouts with kettlebells
• Pregnancy bodyweight workouts

What’s required of you:

• Before-and-after photos and measurements.
• Regular journaling/reporting of your results and experiences.
• A twelve-week time commitment of no more than three workouts per week and no more than sixty minutes per day. (There will be additional, optional yoga and recovery workouts, as well.)

A limited number of beta-tester slots are available for each program.

To apply for your free programming and coaching, please take our short survey. (It will take you only two or three minutes!)

Click Here to Apply to Be a Beta-Tester

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For an in-depth description of the beginner workouts and the movements contained in them from their creator, Bret Hamilton, have a look at his article on getting started with this 12-week program.

Getting Started with the Beginner Workouts

If you are just starting out and are unfamiliar with the movements included in this cycle, please refer to the instructional videos included and make sure you understand the techniques involved and have access to the proper equipment and space.

Tracking your progress is invaluable in achieving the results you desire. It will aid you on your journey and help you make sure you’re using a load that is challenging enough to help you improve, but not so challenging that you’re risking burnout or injury.

The program is designed to be performed three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday would be ideal.It will help to build strength, improve coordination and flexibility, and also improve anaerobic endurance.

The total number of sets and/or reps will generally get smaller as the program moves forward, meaning it is designed to transition from strength-endurance focused to pure strength over the twelve week period.

Week 2

1. Movement Prep: Consider this the passive warm up. Lots of soft tissue stuff that incorporates foam rollers and/or roller stick tools to break up adhesions and bring some blood flow to the muscles.

2. Activation: The part of the workout that fires up the vestibular system. These drills are excellent for motor control and coordination.

• Crocodile breathing x10 breaths
• Creeping X-lift practice with a ball on your back

3. Intensification: During this phase of the workout, you will perform a “core-focused” drill that promotes developing total body tension for short, intense bursts. Your core temperature will rise and you will be ready for skill building.

• Farmer hold with DB, plate, or KB 3x :10
• Rotational stability plank x10 per side, :02 hold

4. Skill Building: This is the strength training portion of the session. It is referred to as skill building because an emphasis is put on the quality of the reps, not the quantity. There are typically two groups of three exercises. Perform each group of three as a circuit, one after the other. Rotate through the number of sets prescribed, then move on to the second group of three exercises before continuing to the next section of the workout.

Monday: 2X15 reps each

Friday: 3X10 reps each

• Pushup
• KB deadlift
• 1/2 kneeling hip flexor stretch with dowel x10
• KB goblet squat (level 1)
• DB bent-over row
• Side-lying windmill on foam roller

5. Metabolic Conditioning: Here you will improve your anaerobic fitness levels by performing a high intensity interval session for approximately five minutes. Overall time is kept to five minutes, with the work and rest ratios becoming more challenging as your fitness improves.

Monday: speed squats, 6 rounds of work :15, rest :30

Wednesday:18-23 minutes of walking/jogging at 6/10 intensity level

Friday: speed squats, 7 rounds of work :15, rest :30

6. Cool Down: During the cool down, you will perform similar drills to the “Activation” section, except here they will function as total body resets. The drills included will help to bring down the heart rate gradually as well as recirculate blood after a high intensity finisher.

• Cross crawls x10
• Segmental rolls x3
• Rocking x10
• Foam roll as needed

Feel free to include any extra stretching and/or foam rolling you feel is needed after completing this section. Make sure to eat some kind of protein rich food/shake within 30-60 minutes to accelerate your recovery.

If it is your desire to participate in this program, make it a point to stick with it for its entirety, without mixing and matching workouts from other training programs. Make use of the tracking tool provided. It will be invaluable in keeping tabs on your progress.

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