I roughly remember my first HIIT cardio workout. I had read an article in Muscle Media 2000, written by Shawn Phillips (in 1993 I think) describing a way to do cardio to burn fat like crazy.

Original post by admin

“People from Africa, Asia, and Latin America eat lots of grains and manage to stay skinny, so what’s the deal?”
You know this line of questioning. We’ve all heard it. We’ve probably all pondered it. It may have even stumped a few of you, left you stuttering and stammering for a quick explanation. But by the time you think of a reply (if you even have one), the moment has passed and they have “won” the argument. A briefly open mind was now closed.
But let’s be honest: it’s a valid question, and a tough one at that. We can’t just avoid the tough questions. So let’s take this head on.

Like always, the answer is multifaceted. Health is not reliant on a single feature. It’s not just diet, it’s exercise, stress, sleep, family, community, genetics, infectious burden. Within diet, it’s not just what is eaten, but also what isn’t eaten. It’s how […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

It’s great to have a mentor, especially someone who has already experienced things you are about to experience.
When it comes to weight loss, talking with people who have successfully lost weight and kept the weight off can give you some powerful insights, and as such is something I highly recommend…with one caveat.
In experimental observation you can say THAT something occurred, but you cannot say WHY it occurred.
So people who have undergone weight loss can tell you exactly what happened, but an all to common mistake (especially in the online world) is assuming WHY it happened.
So if a person says “I did X and I lost weight” it is a true and accurate statement.
If they say “I did X and I lost weight because I manipulated my Adiponectin levels”…well unless adiponectin levels were measured, this is an assumption only and my or may not be true.
Just something to remember when you […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

What do you know about cumin? Cumin seeds are pungent, potent little things with the ability to significantly change the trajectory of a dish. They are featured prominently in Mexican, Mediterranean, Indian, Middle Eastern, and certain Chinese cuisines. Back in the Middle Ages, cumin was one of the most popular – and most accessible – condiments for the spice-crazy Europeans, and stories tell of soldiers going off to war with loaves of cumin bread in their satchels for good luck. Cumin originated in the Mediterranean, and it was used extensively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Persians, and just about everyone in that region. It is not to be confused with caraway, which is actually called “cumin” in multiple European languages. They are somewhat similar in taste and appearance, but cumin is spicier and, in my opinion, tastier.

As is usually the case with spices that have been in […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Another Monday means another set of questions from my dear readers. I covered Ramadan already, so this week, I’m covering whether eating kosher makes eating Primal harder or easier, including what to watch out for and what to replace it with. I give my thoughts on nail-strengthening dietary strategies (and give bone broth a much-deserved plug) and explore whether tea seed oil is actually worth using (hint: it’s not exactly like those industrially-processed seed oils we hate around here). Finally, a reader unwittingly stumbles upon an extremely effective workout strategy, simply by trying to be more “Grok-like.”
Let’s go.

Dear Mark,
Now that you have addressed how to handle Ramadan, I was hoping you would give the limitations of keeping kosher a stab! My dietary restrictions influence my food choices (ie, no shellfish, no butter/dairy when eating meat/chicken, and obviously no pork/bacon), and I am wondering how to still meet the Primal [Blueprint] […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

On being average
I can certainly see the appeal of being average
In North America, ‘average’ is overweight and in-debt.
Eating more than you need too, and spending more than you can afford.
In the short term, fat and in-debt looks very entertaining
Eat what you want, spend what you want, and when in doubt…just remortgage the house to buy more…EVERYTHING
If you don’t care about the future it seems so simple
(Let’s ignore the fact that this hyper-consumerism is probably just a guise to cover up a lack of enjoyment of the little things in life…)
But here’s the problem – Even the very fat and are living longer now. Much longer.
Thanks to a combination of healthcare, pharma and living standards if you are under 50 right now, you need both your financial plan and your health plan need to be able to ‘protect’ you to at least the age of 100.
(I even think the people under […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

There are certain people (and we’re eagerly awaiting comments from you all) who think that cooking meat on a gas grill isn’t “real” grilling. Personally, we’re a little more lenient and admit there are times when the instant and easily controlled heat of a gas grill suites us just fine. We do agree, however, that if you always cook on a gas grill you haven’t truly experienced what separates grilling from all other cooking methods.
Meat cooked over charcoal (or regular wood) has a smoky flavor that simply cannot be achieved by cooking over a gas flame or in an oven. It’s not that gas grilled meat doesn’t taste good, it just doesn’t have that subtle but addictive smokiness that complements pretty much any type of meat so well. People who claim that meat cooked on a gas grill has a smoky flavor are often mistaking “burnt” for “smoky” – a […]

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!

Dear Mark, Carrie, and Bees,
This letter is long overdue, but the recent article you posted on the Weekend Link Love made me want to share my experience with a Primal lifestyle and PCOS.
I was an active and skinny kid, generally healthy except for some seasonal allergies and a tendency to pick up every single cold that went through school. My family attributed it to a crowded public school, and I took all kinds of immune-supporting herbs that seemed to help for a while. Add to that, […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

We’ve talked about Devin Saylor’s Outer Banks Paddle Boarding School before. It”s a lot of fun, and its a great way to workout when it’s hot out. Classes are flexible and the teacher’s a great guy and all around super athlete. And since it’s been so hot,  our assistant Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor  Leo Saraceni decided to work off some of the extra weight he put on when his mom came to visit with a watery workout. 
So Leo packed up the wifey and rolled out to the beach with Devin for his first ever experience with Stand Up Paddling on the Outer Banks. It was a beautiful day on the beach, and Leo was looking forward to this new workout. And as anyone who has already taken the class can tell you, it was a fun, yet physically challenging experience. Leo came home and jotted down some notes on his […]

Original post by knuckleup

“Just go barefoot.”
How many times have you heard that from the dude with big calves, wide feet, and soles like supple calf skin? (Hmm, that came out weirder than I imagined.) Or maybe you’re that guy, and you’ve said it. Heck, I’ve probably said something to that effect before. It’s a casual recommendation that we long-term barefooters toss around… but maybe we shouldn’t. (Heresy!) Okay – bear with me, here. Everyone agrees that shoelessness is the foot’s natural state, and that getting to a place where you can enjoy that natural state is ideal. Natural isn’t always synonymous with good, but in the case of the human foot – a sensitive, capable, highly mobile appendage packed with innumerable nerve endings, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and fascia that responds and reacts to the environment as you walk and/or run – natural is almost certainly desirable. The human foot is pretty amazing, […]

Original post by Mark Sisson