Dear Mark: Considering Cookware

Hi Mark,

I couldn’t find any MDA posts that tackled the matter of cookware possibly leaching heavy metals and/or toxic chemicals into food. I’ve read that a porcelain/ceramic inside surface is the way to go, (thereby avoiding Teflon and metals), but good-quality examples like Le Creuset are darn expensive, and lesser-quality ones like Heuck look like camping gear to me.  Have you researched or concluded anything on this matter?  Is this a non-issue?

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Dear Mark: Another Reason to Stay Fit

Mark,

I really liked your post “This is why I Train.”  I’m still overweight and eat too many carbs, but I’m making progress.  I now work out a few times per week and have eaten more vegetables in the last two years than the previous thirty years combined.  Your blog has given me the best nutrition and fitness advice I’ve found anywhere on the internet, and it’s backed up with science, which is more than I can say for some of your competition.  Without voices like yours, the rest of us would be lost in a wilderness of misinformation.  Now, onto the important part of the email.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Dear Mark: Rapid Fire Edition

Hello, everyone! I thought I’d give this “Dear Mark” format a try again. I literally get dozens of emails every day from readers. I try to respond to every last one of them, and the best questions (or at least those I want to rant in response to) get reserved for Monday’s “Dear Mark” posts in which I usually go into a good deal of detail. But sometimes it’s fun to just publish half a dozen short Q&A’s at once. Hit me up with you questions and comments in the comment board. Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________

Hello,

How many pounds can you lose doing cardio?

I have been thinking about this for a while and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the subject.  Please help.  I really appreciate your help.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

41

Dear Mark: Hunger Pangs a Thing of the Past?

Dear Mark,

Since eating more fat and protein (while cutting down on the carbs), I seem to get fuller faster. Sometimes I won’t even finish my plate, which basically never happened before! I’m guessing it has something to do with eating more primal foods, and it makes sense from an anthropological standpoint (getting full on less food is advantageous in a survival sense)… but are there any science or lab studies that have actually examined this phenomenon?

Thanks,
Paul

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Dear Mark: Low-Carb Sauce Thickeners

Dear Mark,

I’m trying to stay strictly primal/paleo, but I always run into problems when I need to thicken sauces or soups. I grew up learning to use flour/cornstarch like everyone else, but is there a good low-carb/primal alternative?

Thanks,
Raul

I received this email a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t the first. A number of readers have expressed their confusion when it comes to thickening sauces, gravies, or soups without using traditional floury methods. The question of thickening sauces is one of the hurdles I face every time I put up a recipe post – it’s become a bit of an internal struggle (as seen with last week’s beef and broccoli stir fry recipe, in which I hesitatingly called for a teaspoon of flour as a thickener) because while adding a bit of flour or cornstarch to a larger recipe may not drastically impact the carb count, it does complicate the consistently Primal message I try to convey. This post, I hope, will resolve that struggle.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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