Warrior Fit Boot Camp Fitness Fun!

In my leptin series a few weeks ago, I hashed out how dietary choices direct leptin levels – as well as leptin sensitivity and leptin resistance. But there’s more to leptin processing than just the food we eat (or don’t eat). As it so happens, the environment in which we live – and the good or bad “stress” we experience in it – can have an overriding impact on leptin production. Researchers at Ohio State University injected a group of mice with cancer cells and followed their progress after dividing them into two groups. One lived in a larger and “enriched” community environment with various toys, hiding areas and exercise wheels. The other group lived in groups a quarter of the size in standard lab cages. What the scientists found might leave you scrutinizing your living quarters – or at least your social calendar.

The rats that lived in the enriched […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

For all the unchecked randomness in this world, there are at least some things you can count on. The sun always rises and it always gets dark, and that’s something life – all life – has learned to rely on. Our internal clocks, known as circadian rhythms, tend to match up with this established external cycle. In essentially all known forms of life, from the earliest cells and bacteria to plants and mammals, the circadian rhythm is characterized by a period of around 24 hours.
You might recall a previous MDA series on how blue light can affect our circadian rhythms, and what we can do to maintain normal, natural levels and timing of blue light exposure. Long story short – it turns out that our exposure to blue light is akin to exposure to daylight, and getting too much – or too little – at the wrong times can disrupt […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Some of you understood what I was trying to convey with last week’s persistence hunting post – a fun, playful exercise using an unwitting (if they’re witting you’re not doing it right) participant as a reference point for fueling your fractal movement patterns. Others got the wrong idea, and that’s probably my fault. I can see how language like “stalking,” “hunting,” and “following” (all part of the visualization aspect of the exercise) might raise a few eyebrows. The reality is that we live in a world where suspicion is the rule, not the exception, and anyone can agree that a weird dude in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt (where did people get this image exactly?) lurking behind trees in a near-vacant park at dusk and stealing sneaky glances at a solo female jogger would be pretty creepy.

Of course, that’s not what I’m suggesting at all. Few of us will ever […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Poultry: a Primal staple that complements any kind of fare any time of day (nothing like chicken hash for breakfast!). There’s more to poultry than chicken of course (more on that another time), but make no mistake: chickens these days aren’t created equal. Breeding, feeding and other poultry farming standards result in animals that scarcely resemble each other, let alone taste the same. To the Primal point, however: when it comes to judging a chicken’s nutritional profile, a little info can go a long way. Today’s item of business: choosing the best Primal chicken for the money.

As I’ve said many a time before, modern agricultural practices result in food that bears little resemblance to Grok’s dietary staples. Not only is it helpful to know the raising condition of the chicken you’ll eat (stress doesn’t make for tasty poultry), but the feed these birds receive in large part determines the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

I’ve been getting tons of questions relating to alcohol and fat loss lately. Happens every time summer rolls around. Outdoor parties, clubbing, vacations and the whole shebang. Alcohol is a key ingredient. What people want to know is basically how fattening alcohol is, how it affects protein synthesis, how to make it work with their diet, and what drinks to go for at the club.
I think this is very good topic to cover today, since we’re right in the middle of summer and all, because most people involved in the fitness and health game tend to miss out on a lot of fun due to avoiding alcohol. I know a lot of peeps who’d rather stay home and manage their diet than go out and have a few drinks. Sad, really, because it’s all for the wrong reasons. I don’t blame them though. Read the mags or listen to the […]

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

When Kerry Carlson submitted an offal recipe for the Primal Blueprint Reader-Created Cookbook Contest, the first words of the email were “don’t be afraid.”
In the interest of full disclosure, we have to admit we were just a tiny bit afraid. It’s not every day, after all, that we bring home beef tongue from the market. But once we reminded ourselves that tongue is simply another part of the animal, no different than eating beef ribs, shank, loin or brisket, our fear started to subside. It also helped that Kerry’s preparation method is incredibly simple. In fact, the most difficult part might be finding the beef tongue in the first place. Keep in mind that butchers will usually special order it for you and it’s found readily at most Hispanic markets (where it’s called lengua).

Once you bring your tongue home, be prepared for it to be bigger than you might expect. […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

I just switched from blogspot to a custom domain. For some reason all comments are gone and the tweet button reset to zero on all posts. This sucks, but I’m hoping it’ll be back to normal in 24-48 hrs (Will it? Let me know if you have any experience with this).
P.S. New article later today.

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Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

Fruit Makes You Fat.
Sugar Makes You Fat.
Carbs Makes You Fat.
Grains Make You Fat.
Aspartame Makes You Fat.
Fat Makes You Fat.
Animal Fat Makes You Fat.
Soy Makes You Fat.
Milk Makes You Fat.
Caffeine Makes You Fat.
Processed Foods Make You Fat.
Not Eating Enough Makes You Fat.
High Fructose Corn Syrup Makes You Fat.
Your Metabolism Makes You Fat.
Your Genetics Make You Fat.
Nuts Make You Fat.
Animal Protein Makes You Fat.
Chocolate Makes You Fat.
Hormones in Meat Make You Fat.
Sadly, in the world of weight loss, ‘eating too much’ rarely makes this list. Weird, I agree, but the simple answer is rarely the sexy answer.
So you really have two choices – You can try to fix every single one of these issues. Or, you can try eating less. However, if you go back and look at that list again, you realize by virtue of how extensive a list it is, you kind of end up at the same place.
The only […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

No claw-footed tub in the woods here. No Calgon fantasies for the frazzled mind or romantic shower under a waterfall. (Sorry to disappoint.) Think more science, less whimsy, but definite Primal roots. Forest bathing, as it has been dubbed, is actually a studied medical practice. In Japan, the research is spawning a whole new dimension of patient treatment called “forest therapy.”
Forests, like other wild settings, engage our senses in more subtle but evolutionarily familiar ways than our typical modern environments. Sounds in nature are quieter but more subtly layered. Our sight is more expansive. Our sense of touch, finer. Our smell, more acute. Surrounded by nature, our perception reorients to its default setting. As we’ve highlighted in the past, an increasing amount of research shows just how “natural” time in nature is for our physiological and psychological well-being. Exposure to green space offers protective factors against depression and anxiety and […]

Original post by Mark Sisson