It’s Monday, which means it’s time for another round of “Dear Mark” questions. Now that I’m no longer doing Workouts of the Week, maybe I’ll have time to get to more questions than before. For now, I’ll play it by ear and see how things go. Today, we have a question from a coconut oil-intolerant reader wondering if whole coconut, which he can consume, is just as healthy as the oil. Another reader suffers from plantar fasciitis, which flared up after going barefooting, and wants help fixing it. I also field a question about drinking seawater for the minerals, which, believe it or not, I’ve considered in the past (but a better solution popped up, thankfully). And finally, I try to help a reader with a bottomless pit for a stomach.

Is eating the whole coconut as beneficial as eating the oil? I have candida and I’ve read that coconut oil […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

It’s an undeniable fact that homemade recipes usually don’t taste exactly the same as a store-bought version of the same food. This is most clearly the case with processed foods, which are especially hard to re-create exactly in a home kitchen. This is a good thing – do you really want your kitchen pantry stocked with ingredients like soybean oil, phosphoric acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium phosphate and the most mysterious ingredient of all, “artificial flavors”? These ingredients are only half of what you would need to make Ranch dressing that tastes exactly like it was poured from a shelf-stable bottle.
Ranch dressing is a much-loved condiment, one that many people remember fondly after they stop eating processed foods. But honestly, is the odd way that bottled Ranch dressing coats your tongue and the weird, metallic aftertaste something you really, truly miss?

If the answer is no, but you still find yourself […]

Original post by Worker Bee

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

Mark,
Thank you so much for e-mailing me back! I’d love to share my story! I find that even though people are constantly asking me how I lost so much weight, they tune me out immediately when I try to answer.

Believe it or not, my story starts with a car accident. I fell asleep at the wheel, and I realized that I had a problem. I had been much more tired than usual, my decrease in cognitive ability was affecting my grades, I was “throwing things” or […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Ever since Mark linked to that Men’s Health feature by Christopher McDougall on Erwan Le Corre and his MovNat system a few years ago, I’ve been interested in it. I saw the videos of a barefoot, shirtless Erwan lithely moving from rock to rock, climbing cliffs, leaping from high places, sprinting, diving, and moving fallen trees. His interview describing the plight of the “zoo human” and what to do about it really resonated with me, so I began trying to work MovNat-esque training into my life. It seemed like a good fit. Outdoorsy stuff has always been my thing, and I’ve never been one to avoid dirt. I didn’t make natural movement a huge priority, instead focusing more on weights, but I always kept it in my thoughts and played around with it whenever the opportunity arose.

When the opportunity to attend a one-day workshop arose, I jumped on it. It was […]

Original post by Worker Bee

Early last month I had the pleasure to interview John Post of team Gypsies. He and two other Primal dudes were dominating the ABC reality adventure show Expedition Impossible. Well, as many of you may know, the show is coming to an end… tonight! Here a few words from Eric Bach (the other brown headed, mustachioed, purple wearing, gypsy dude). Tune in, donate, vote and Grok on!
Well, today is the day; the final test of three men with mustaches. Tonight at 9pm on ABC, you can watch the final chapter of Expedition Impossible unfold. There are still 4 teams left and despite our 8 victories going into this stage it is still anyone’s game. Make sure that you tune in, throw on some purple, and sip on some fine cognac (although not necessarily Primal, we say screw it…get your lips wet).

Being on a reality show is an interesting experience. Before […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Meet the MegaJoule
It’s a unit of energy, like the calorie. The megajoule (MJ) is equal to one million (106) joules, or about 240 Calories (I’m rounding a bit)
So here’s why I think the Joule is valuable – smaller numbers.
The MJ may help simplify everything to do with dieting.
We give average dietary suggestions that men aim for roughly 10 MJ per day, and women aim for 8 MJ.
Foods would list MJ per serving and MJ per container to the nearest 0.5 MJ (so not only would you know that a ‘serving’ of Haagan Dazs has 1 MJ, the amount you’re probably going to eat – the container – has 4 MJ)
So a typical candy bar would be 1 MJ, most of the StarBucks Blended drinks would be around 1 MJ, with some being as low as .5, and some being as high as 2.
A McDonalds Angus with Bacon and Cheese with […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

This is a special guest post from Denise Minger (thank you, Denise!). When fear-inducing news headlines hit the papers (and airwaves and iPads…) –  High-Fat Diet Linked to Breast Cancer, Eating Whole Grains Will Help You Live Longer, Fish Oil Linked to Prostate Cancer – she’s the person to go to for an honest and entertaining critique of the research. In the last week I’ve received an untold number of emails from inquiring Mark’s Daily Apple readers about this latest health news “bombshell”. So, naturally, Denise…
It’s that time again. Your inbox is filling up with emails from your low-fat friends. Your mom left four voicemails ordering you to throw away your bacon now (and clean your room while you’re at it). Your diet-savvy coworker left a Yahoo! News article on your desk, weighted in place with a muffin. This just in: High-fat diets cause diabetes—and researchers have proof, doggonit!

At least, […]

Original post by Worker Bee

Over the past few years, leading paleo spokesperson Robb Wolf and I have forged a great Internet friendship. Suffice to say, we think a lot alike and exchange ideas often. Yet, we hadn’t actually met in person until two weeks ago when Robb and his beautiful wife Nicki came out to Malibu to spend an evening with Carrie and me. We had a fabulous time, great dinner and talked at length about the future of Primal/paleo/ancestral health. One of the topics was how to blend this information in a way that the various “brands” can be mutually supportive in the interest of everyone winning (and, of course, world peace). That’s sort of what the Ancestral Health Symposium was created to do. However, we still get a lot of people on Mark’s Daily Apple who wonder about the differences between Primal and paleo eating styles, so I thought I’d put together […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

“Winter is coming.” (Albeit, a Malibu winter, which is closer to a somewhat mild spring in other parts of the country, so I can’t really complain; I just wanted to use that quote contextually.) Yep, I’ve been catching up on “Game of Thrones.” Dang fine show, but now the long slow agonizing wait for the second season commences. Anyone else watch?
Anyway, it’s Monday, which means it’s time for another round of Dear Mark questions and answers. I field one from an ecologist soon to be working out of Nicaragua and worried about making dietary concessions and balancing Primal eating with cultural faux pas. Next, I discuss nitric oxide supplementation, and whether there’s a better way than taking it direct. Finally, I explain how one determines the chronic cardio-ness of an activity.
Let’s go.

Hi Mark
I’m in the process of switching over to a Primal [Blueprint] diet, and I have a question that […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Is it possible not to be seduced by the gorgeous displays of tomatoes dominating farmers’ markets during the summer? Their bright colors and unique shapes just make you want to reach out and give one or two a squeeze.
Summer is the time to enjoy juicy, sweetly acidic, full-flavored tomatoes. Before you know it, colder weather strikes and the sexy tomatoes of summer are replaced by bland  “tomatoes” with no personality whatsoever.

Although it’s tempting to be seduced by looks alone, it’s best to to keep your wits about you when buying tomatoes and focus on what really matters. A brightly or deeply colored tomato always seems to promise amazing flavor, but color isn’t always a real indicator of what the tomato will taste like. The word “heirloom” can also be misleading. Heirloom tomatoes are often delicious, but the word “heirloom” doesn’t guarantee much these days except that you’ll be paying top […]

Original post by Mark Sisson