Have you ever wondered what would happen if we took all weight loss myths to their true reality?
Well, let’s do it now…
Is it true that Ice water boosts metabolism?
Yes.
But how does this apply to us in reality?
Since drinking 50o ml of water at 3 degrees increases metabolic rate by roughly 3.5 Calories over 90 minutes*…
You would have to drink 500 ml of Ice Cold Water 14 times per day  (every 90 minutes all day, all night) to burn an extra 50 Calories
(This is assuming that the effect remains the same each time)
Do this for about 70 days and you’ve theoretically burned an extra pound of fat.
(Again, assuming that the effect remains the same after multiple days of repeat exposure)

70 days! For a HIGHLY theoretical 1 pound of fat!

I don’t know about you, but to me these weight loss myths aren’t nearly as sexy when we take them down to […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Muscle is a large part of your body mass, but it’s contribution to your metabolic rate is greatly over exaggerated in the health and fitness industry.
It is a very important contribution, because outside of exercise it’s one of the only things you can control, but it is exaggerated.
Just like you can’t out exercise a bad diet, you can’t out muscle it either.
(The black is bone, the yellow is body fat, the red is muscle, the blue is the rest of your lean mass…organs etc)
BP

*Heymsfield SB, et al. Body-size dependence of resting energy expenditure canbe attributed to non-energetic homogeneity of fat-free mass. American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. 282:E132-E138; 2002

//

Original post by Brad Pilon

By numerous accounts, this spring has been the most brutal in years for seasonal allergy sufferers. (Do I see some nodding heads out there?) As much as everyone looks forward to spring, some folks grit their teeth for several weeks or live on a steady dose of allergy pills. I always get questions this time of year from folks who are looking for ways to get through spring a little happier and maybe less medicated. Here’s one such email from reader Joyce….
Dear Mark,
I’m from the Upper Midwest where spring came early this year. No complaining about that, mind you – we earn our warm season! I’ve always had problems in spring, but this year I’ve been in really bad shape (like everybody what I hear). I’m relatively new to your site, and I’m slowly adopting elements of the Primal Blueprint. So far, it’s been going great! It’s got me […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Hello, everyone! This is the editor of Mark’s Daily Apple, Aaron Fox, reporting from the field. Check back throughout the day for text, photo and (maybe, fingers crossed) video updates.
7:14 am: Recharging for the big day ahead of us

7:50 am: Energizing gentle movement session with Angelo

8:04 am: Group beach hike

Stay tuned for updates!
Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox
Related posts:

Live Blogging from PrimalCon 2010 – Day 1
Barefoot Ted Speaking at PrimalCon 2010
Announcement: PrimalCon 2010 and The Primal Blueprint Cookbook Offer

//

Original post by Worker Bee

Hello, everyone! This is the editor of Mark’s Daily Apple, Aaron Fox. Mark has his hands full today, so I’ll be reporting from the field. Check back throughout the day for text, photo and (maybe, fingers crossed) video updates.
7:53 am: There’s a buzz in the air as the inaugural PrimalCon kicks off in beautiful Oxnard, California. Attendees are trickling in. Grok On! shirts have been sighted.
8:00 am: Primal peoples meet and greet at registration

8:01 am: Getting hooked up with a Primal gift bag

8:16 am: Heading out to the beach park for sprint and lifting sessions

8:24 am: Chatting with Mark

8:27 am: PrimalCon event coordinator extraordinaire, Brad Kearns, sporting a slick PrimalCon shirt

8:32 am: PrimalCon attendees unite!

8:32 am: US Olympic team runner, Michael Stember, begins his sprinting instruction session

8:33 am: Philippe Til instructing on proper lifting form

8:55 am: Run like Grok!

12:10 pm: Ocean Plunge! A little cold water therapy does a […]

Original post by Worker Bee

You have got to try this! I just got the email of a great Fudge dessert from Mike Geary. Ohhhh this is going to be gooooood!

Ideas for lower-calorie, reduced sugar desserts
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

Today, I have one of my most famous delicious Lean-Body desserts or snacks that always helps to satisfy my sweet tooth while at the same time giving you TONS of quality nutrition.

It’s my own special version of a healthy peanut-butter-fudge! We could even call it “superfood-fudge”. Everybody RAVES about this recipe, and people that try it almost always can’t believe that this could be healthy — because it tastes so damn good!
In fact, there are NO refined sugars or artificial sweeteners in this fudge recipe, so it is MUCH lower in sugar than any fudge you would ever find at any store. Plus, I make this recipe jam-packed with nutrient-dense additions to satisfy your body’s need for micronutrients, but also satisfy your sweet tooth!
If you don’t like (or can’t eat) nuts or peanut butter, you can simply leave out those ingredients and make a chocolate-only version. Pay attention, because there are specific ingredients that make this a LOT healthier for you than typical fudge.

I will say that this dessert / snack is not low-calorie per se, but it is loaded with quality healthy fats, protein, LOTS of antioxidants, and is relatively low in sugar and total carbohydrates (compared with typical fudge or other desserts), while also containing a decent dose of fiber.
Overall, it’s a great snack or dessert that helps curb your appetite, fuel your muscles, loads you up on protective antioxidants, and quells that sweet tooth that often makes you overeat on refined sweets.

Geary’s Lean-Body Chocolate Peanut Butter “SuperFood” Fudge Recipe:
· 3/4 cup organic coconut milk (NOT the watered down “light” version which just replaces some of the healthy coconut fat with water…use the real full-fat version)
· 1 bar (3-5 oz. bar works well) of bakers unsweetened chocolate – 100% cacao content (if you can’t find 100% cacao bakers chocolate, look for at least 70-80% cocoa content on the label of any dark chocolate bar – to minimize sugar content)
· 4-5 tablespoons of peanut butter or your favorite nut butter (almond butter, cashew butter, pecan butter, and/or macadamia butter, etc)
· 3/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries or goji berries (optional)
· 1/2 cup whole raw almonds or other nuts (optional)
· 1/4 cup raw chopped pecans (optional)
· 1 scoop, about 25 gms of your favorite protein powder (I used my favorite high quality Prograde Protein)
· 3 Tbsp chia seeds, hemp seeds, and/or flax seeds (optional, but adds crazy amounts of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants…plus a nutty taste)
· 2 Tbsp rice bran (usually only available at health food stores)
· 2 Tbsp whole oats or oat bran
· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
· A little natural stevia powder to sweeten (add a small amount to achieve the sweetness you prefer)
· add a small touch of real maple syrup if you want a more “blended” sweetness flavor (keep the amount small to keep sugar content low)
Note on coconut milk: don’t be afraid of the fats in this… coconut fat is mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) that are more readily used for energy and also contain a special fat called Lauric Acid, which is extremely healthy and supports the immune system.
Start by adding the coconut milk (cans of organic coconut milk are available at most health food stores and possibly even your grocery store) and vanilla extract to a small saucepan on VERY low heat — the lowest heat setting. Break up the extra dark chocolate bar into chunks and add into pot. Add the nut butters and the stevia, and continuously stir until it all melts together into a smooth mixture.
Then add the raisins, nuts, seeds, protein powder, oat bran, and rice bran and stir until fully blended. If the mixture becomes too thick or dry consistency, just add a small amount more coconut milk. If the mixtures seems too wet, keep in mind that it will solidify a good bit once it goes in the fridge.
Spoon/pour the fudge mixture onto some waxed paper in a dish and place in the fridge until it cools and solidifies together (3-4 hours). Cut into squares once firm and place in a closed container or cover with foil in fridge to prevent it from drying out.

See what I mean? Your mouth watering yet?

Enjoy and remember its not always what you eat but how much of it you eat… so live and bask in Fudge… but only a little!

Here’s a post from Joe Wilkes on some of the everyday sweeteners we eat and why the big companies keep cranking them out for us to consume.

Interesting read and should make you aware of just how much sugar you are really eating.

6 Foods with Hidden Sugar

By Joe Wilkes

The average American eats approximately 1,500 pounds of food
every year. Of that, 160 pounds are primarily sugar. Of course, sugar
is delicious, and I know I’m happier for its existence, but of all the
things we consume, it has the least nutritive value. In fact, except
for the energy in its calories, there’s not much to recommend about
sugar. It’s a prime source of empty calories, and for those of us who
are trying to lose weight, sugar’s the first thing we should start
trimming from our diets. But here’s the problem—despite our best
intentions to remove excess sugar from our diet, the food industry has
found more and more devious ways of slipping us the sweet stuff.
Whether the food industry calls sugar by another name or adds it to
foods we never thought would have needed it, our sweet tooth is
constantly being bombarded. Fortunately, with stricter labeling laws,
we have a fighting chance at cutting back on sugar.

Why does the food industry want to fill us so full of sugar?

It’s basically the same as any other industry. For the oil
industry to make more money, it needs us to use more of its product by
driving more miles. The food industry needs us to use more of its
product by eating more calories. The problem is that the American food
industry is already producing around 3,900 calories per person per day,
which is way more than we need. One solution to this surplus is to sell
the food cheaply overseas, which the industry does. The other solution
is for Americans to eat more calories. And sugar and its corn-sweetener
brethren are great calorie delivery systems, as they pack a huge
caloric punch without causing much satiety or feeling of fullness. Most
people would probably stop eating steak after they reached 1,000
calories, because they’d be stuffed, but after you drank 1,000 calories
from your Big Gulp^®
cup, there’d still be room for dinner. The other reason the industry
pushes sugar so hard is that it’s cheap to produce, and the cheaper the
calorie, the larger the profit margin.

Sugar in labels—hiding in plain sight.

One
of the best ways to disguise the amount of sugar in a product is
something the government already requires—printing the information in
grams. Most Americans only have the foggiest idea of how much a gram
is, because we’re unaccustomed to the metric system. So when we pick up
a can of soda that contains 40 grams of sugar, we pretty much shrug our
shoulders and pop the top. And that attitude is all right with the soda
industry! But what if the label said that it contained over 10
teaspoons of sugar? If you saw someone ladling 10 teaspoons of sugar
into their morning coffee, you’d think they were crazy, but that’s how
much people consume in a typical 12-ounce can. A 64-ounce fountain
drink you’d get at a movie theater or a convenience store contains more
than 53 teaspoons of sugar—almost two cups! Naturally, people would
probably think twice if the nutritional information on products was
given in measurements that were meaningful to them. But until our
heavily food industry–subsidized government decides to change its
policy, it’s a metric world, we just live in it. But we can take note
that four grams equals one teaspoon. So when you check out the label,
divide the grams of sugar by four, and that’s how many teaspoons you’re
consuming.

Sugar, by any other name, would taste just as sweet.

Another
strategy the sugar pushers use to get us to consume more calories is to
rename the offending ingredient. We know to stay away from sugar, but
how about molasses, honey, sorghum, corn syrup, high fructose corn
syrup (HCFS), glucose, fructose, lactose, dextrose, sucrose, galactose,
maltose, or concentrated juices like grape or apple? Another path to
profit that the food industry has discovered is that instead of
harvesting relatively more expensive sugar cane and beets, they can
produce sweeteners in a laboratory more cheaply and with just as many
calories as beet and cane sugar. And with some sweeteners, especially
the popular HCFS, it is believed that your body will be less likely to
reach satiety than with sugar, so you can consume more. Mo’ calories,
mo’ money. Another advantage to these doses of -oses is that, aside
from the fact that many people won’t guess they’re just different forms
of sugar, they can be spread out in the ingredient list required by
law, so it won’t be as obvious that what you’re consuming is pretty
much all sugar. When you look at a list of ingredients on a product,
the manufacturer is required to list them in order of amount, from
highest to lowest. So they can bury a quarter cup of fructose, a
quarter cup of sucrose, a quarter cup of dextrose, and a quarter cup of
corn syrup in the middle of the list, so you won’t be as likely to
notice that when you add them all up, the main ingredient in the
product is sugar.

Hide and seek. You’re it.

So, if you’re like me, you may have sworn off soda except for
special occasions, and turned the candy bowl into an unsalted-almond
bowl. No more sugar, no more problems. Except for this problem—the food
industry has cleverly snuck its sugars into products where we never
would have thought to look for sugar. It’s good for the manufacturer.
It jacks up the calorie load, can enhance the product’s appearance
(high fructose corn syrup gives hamburger buns their golden glow), and
can keep our sugar jones simmering at a low boil, in case we ever
decide to go back to the real thing. Here are some types of products
whose labels could bear more scrutiny.

1. Spaghetti sauce. A half cup of store-bought sauce can
   contain as many as three teaspoons of corn syrup or sugar. While some
   of the naturally occurring sugar in tomatoes and other vegetables will
   show up on the nutrition label, most of the sugar is added. Look for
   brands that don’t include sugar or its aliases or make your own from
   fresh or canned tomatoes.
2. Ketchup. Ketchup can be 20 percent sugar or more.
   Not to mention that you’ll get 7 percent of your daily sodium allowance
   in one tablespoon. Look for low-salt, no-sugar brands, or make your
   own, using pureed carrots to add flavor and texture to the tomatoes.
3. Reduced-fat cookies. Most brands of cookies now offer a
   reduced-fat version of their product. Nabisco^®
   even offers its own line of low-fat treats, Snackwell’s^®.
   But while you’re patting yourself on the back for choosing the low-fat
   option, check the label. The sneaky food manufacturers did take out the
   fat, but they replaced it with, you guessed it, sugar. Many times, the
   reduced-fat cookie is only slightly less caloric than the one you want
   to eat. And because there’s no fat to make you feel full, you’ll be
   tempted to eat more “guilt-free” cookies. And just because there’s less
   fat, it doesn’t mean you’ll be less fat. Fat doesn’t make you fat.
   Calories make you fat.
4. Low-fat salad dressing. As with low-fat cookies, manufacturers
   have taken the fat out of the dressing, but they’ve added extra salt
   and sugar to make up for it. Check the label to make sure you’re not
   replacing heart-healthy olive oil with diabetes-causing sugar—because
   that’s not really a “healthy choice.” Your best bet? Make your own
   vinaigrettes using a small amount of olive oil, a tasty gourmet vinegar
   or fresh lemon juice, and some fresh herbs.
5. Bread. Most processed breads can contain a good
   bit of sugar or corn syrup. As always, check the ingredient label, and
   consider getting your bread at a real bakery or a farmers’ market—it’s
   the best idea since, well, you know.
6. Fast food. Needless to say, fast food is generally
   not good for you. But even if you’re staying away from the sodas and
   the shakes, everything from the burgers to the fries to the salads is a
   potential place to hide sugar. Check out the ingredients carefully at
   your favorite restaurant. You may be getting more than you bargained
   for.

Thanks to Joe for this article and insight.

So in conclusion “READ THE LABEL” that’s the best advise of the day.

Live lean, train hard,

-Darrin Walton

Warrior Fit Body Solution

Have you seen Morrison Butler around lately? Notice that crazy looking cut down his arm? Here’s where he got it. Warning, this video will probably make you wince.

Did you HEAR it break? That was crazy! And then he just walked off like a total bad ass, with not one, but TWO bones broken in his forearm! Nice job, Morrison!
This all went down at Mission Submission 1.5 in Elizabeth City. When Morrison passed his opponent’s guard, the kid set up a move called a Bicep Slicer. It’s called a Bicep Slicer; bet that’s a little worse than a Charlie Horse.

This is what happened to Morrison's arm. Both bones broke.

A Bicep Slicer is a painful move (no, really?)  that super extends the nerves in the bicep and the forearm, but it’s not intended to break any bones. No submission in MMA is intended to break bones – they are aimed at joints […]

Original post by knuckleup

What is in a story about personal health and wellness? We all have them; every one of us. Yours might be about your relationship with food, or about your body image, or about weight loss, or about overcoming illness or injury. If you’ve read my book you’re familiar with mine. I was a cardio junkie who swallowed the Conventional Wisdom-bait, hook, line and sinker for many years, paid the price, and then rebuilt my life using the powerful principles described in The Primal Blueprint. Whatever the theme, though, one thing can be certain. Health is a journey. It has its ups and downs, struggles and achievements, moments of dramatic change, plateaus and periods of homeostasis. Health is not static. And this is a good thing! It means that at any time we have the opportunity to reverse course and begin sending our genes the right signals for positive expression.
Last week […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

 
In my last article, I spoke a little bit about how the United States military has completely changed their training program to focus more on practical fitness and fat loss. I also mentioned that the Israeli Defense Forces has been doing this kind of fat loss specific training for OVER 60 years with great success. And lastly, I told you that I would let you know one of the reasons that I haven’t been actively blogging here for a few months…
Well, you’re going to get the answer to why I haven’t been active here for a few months now. And let me tell you that you will be EXTREMELY impressed!
Since I started blogging, I have encountered a fair amount of fitness and fat loss programs, and I have NEVER found something that I was really happy with to the point where I could comfortably tell my readers, “this can really […]

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