Trusting Authorities (or Not) Based on Appearance

Welcome Stumblers and all newcomers! If you want to lose weight, gain muscle, increase energy levels, reduce stress or just generally look and feel healthier you've come to the right place.

Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter for tips, advice and special insider-only information.

Learn more about the Primal Lifestyle by visiting the Primal Blueprint 101 page. Thanks for visiting!

Regina Benjamin, the United States’ 18th Surgeon General, is markedly overweight. She’s a highly trained physician who famously set up a medical clinic for Alabama’s poor hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, and she’s unquestionably knowledgeable and experienced, but she’s also overweight. Does this negatively impact her role as the public face of health? Does her weight detract from the message?

Or take countless nutrition experts that fit the mold of the dietitian featured in this video? She’s educated, has dozens of books on nutrition and healthy cooking under her belt and, at least on paper, looks like an authority of sorts. But her physique (saying nothing of her healthy eating tips) doesn’t exactly instill confidence in her recommendations (as readers noted in the forum).

On the other hand what about someone like Jillian Michaels? Strong shoulders. Check. Trim waistline and ripped abs. Check and check. She must be doing things right? Right?

Posted By: Mark Sisson

142

Dear Mark: Raw Eggs

A glassful of raw eggs incites mixed reactions for many of us. It’s routine for some and revulsion for others. Commonly associated with bodybuilders and boxers (the Rocky scene) who want to bulk up, a lot of folks who fit neither category include them on a regular basis for simple nutritional reasons. However, there’s more to the picture, as this reader’s email suggests.

Dear Mark,

I have searched the site to see if there is any pros/cons of eating raw eggs. I know in the past, CW says that eating raw eggs can create a biotin deficiency in our bodies. I like having a couple of raw eggs in my whey protein drink after a workout. Do you have any information that would be helpful in the use of raw eggs?

Posted By: Mark Sisson

64

Weekend Link Love

Whole Foods wants you to be a vegetarian. Jimmy Moore doesn’t. In his Whole FooLs piece, Jimmy rounds up responses from the low-carb community (including mine) on Whole Foods’ new push against meats and fats.

Many of you may remember Tom Greenwald’s popular forest sprinting video. Tom has a blog with some good thoughts on living Primal, check it out!

Half a bowl of soup? A third of a muffin? One eighth of a pop tart? Read the NY Times piece on the FDA cracking down on ridiculous serving sizes. (thanks, Ben!)

Posted By: Mark Sisson

12

Can Fried Food Be Healthy?

Fried food is regularly pummeled in the village square by CW because of the fat content. We Primal types know better of course. Although we eschew the carb-based foods (potatoes, donuts, corn chips, battered/breaded everything) that disgrace fry pans and deep fryers everywhere, we get along fine with the fat itself. I get a lot of questions from readers about frying foods – whether frying is a truly Primal practice and how frying can be done properly to avoid oxidation and retain nutrients. I know there are a lot of fried fans at MDA, and I hope they’ll share their tips as well.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

60

Protein Powders: How Do They Measure Up?

Last week’s whey protein post generated a ton of great questions. I’m going to try to get to as many as I can today, and I’ll include information on alternative protein powders at the end. As always, let me know if I miss anything and I’ll try to rectify that in the future.

What about oxidized cholesterol? Aren’t most whey protein concentrates exposed to significant amounts of heating that oxidizes the cholesterol?

Oxidized cholesterol is potentially dangerous. In fact, along with Ancel Keys’ fudging of the saturated fat intake data, it was the oxidized cholesterol-fed rabbit model that jumpstarted the crusade against fat and cholesterol. Undamaged dietary cholesterol wasn’t atherosclerotic; oxidized dietary cholesterol was the stuff that contributed to arterial plaque (feeding pure cholesterol to an obligate herbivore played a part, too) in the rabbit.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

45