Mark's Daily Apple

Dear Mark: Muscle Building and Carbs

Dear Mark,

I am a loyal Daily Apple reader who’s just begun a full-scale primal + IF + HIIT lifestyle. My only worry is that of muscle loss or impeded muscle growth. As a friend of multiple muscle builders, I’ve been told that carbohydrates are necessary for that muscle growth. While I’m not about to go back to my high-carb ways, I am willing to make an exception for post-lifting meals (within an hour window). I’ve heard this is the optimal time for carb-intake as your muscles are depleted of glycogen stores. I am wondering if you could shed light on this. Is this method actually effective for muscle growth? If so, how many carbs should I consume, and of what kind? And finally, will making this one compromise induce inflammation or impede fat loss?

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Healthy Halloween!

We thought we’d take on the ultimate challenge this week: how to make Halloween somewhat healthy instead of horrifically unwholesome. Yes, Halloween, that spastic stroll through Candy Land, the annual Willie Wonka nightmare of sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Does it really need to be this way, we ask? According to the conventional practice and the cooking/hospitality expertise of figures like Food Network’s Sandra Lee, yes. But then, Ms. Lee’s occasion cooking is always enough to send viewer’s blood sugar levels through the roof. (Seriously, are we wrong?)

Posted By: Worker Bee

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The Many Faces of the Sugar Monster

Our major qualm with high fructose corn syrup is its overwhelming ubiquity in processed food – which accounts for a significant portion of the average American’s daily diet. While we may not fall prey to the lure of excessive packaging and convenience offered by processed food, far too many people – about whose health we also care – rely on it. Plus, the fact that the stuff is so brazen about its sugar content (”high fructose”?) just rubs us the wrong way. Honesty is good, we suppose, but the fact remains that drinking soda or eating candy nowadays is like freebasing fructose.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Son of Grok’s Primal Pizza Recipe

I was at the gym yesterday when a fellow weightlifter and I got to talking about diet (for lack of a better word) and nutrition. He listened intently, interested in the philosophical foundation upon which the Primal eating plan is based. At the end of the conversation he had the same response I get from many people new to the Primal Blueprint. It started off with “I could never…” and ended with admiration in my ability to be so diligent about what I put in my body. It seems that most people get hung up on a couple things they think (and maybe they’re right) they could never “give up”. For some people it’s tortilla chips or ice cream. For others it’s fast food or pizza.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Dear Mark: Glycogen

Dear Mark,

I’m trying to understand how glucose that’s created by proteins and fats is used and stored. Is that ~200g of glycogen stored in the muscles to be used for exercise, or is it stored in the liver and used to fuel the brain and “day-to-day” functions? Also, if muscle glycogen is depleted, will ingested carbohydrates be used first to replenish muscle glycogen and then to fuel other daily functions, or are they used the other way around? I’d like to be able to use ketones to fuel my daily activity, but still have enough muscle glycogen stores to fuel intense exercise.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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