Mark's Daily Apple

Weekend Link Love

Do prisoners deserve a Primal diet? The Food Renegade covers a developing story about Illinois inmates battling to get more meat and less soy in their prisons.

New York did it, now it’s L.A.’s turn… The Los Angeles Times features the barefoot revolution in three new articles:

• Their Vibrams expose
• Tips on Barefoot running
• And how runners are baring their soles (it’s a pun!)

And if Vibrams aren’t your think, here’s something to add to your close-to-barefoot footwear arsenal: Soft Star Shoes.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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How to Strengthen Your (Bare, Flat) Feet

About 20% of adults have flat feet. A small subset of the population suffers from hereditary flat foot, but most of it is developed. Very few of us are actually born with flat foot. In this post I’ll explore what you can do to avoid flat feet in the first place, and if you already have them whether it is possible to reverse the damage.

Since publishing blog posts on ditching shoes, alternatives to going barefoot, and others I now receive regular reader emails like this one:

Posted By: Mark Sisson

109

Choose Your Booze: A Guide to Healthy Drinking

It’s the question every Primal adherent faces: how does alcohol fit into a low carb lifestyle? Maybe you’re out with friends, bravely resisting the assorted chips and fried concoctions in the center of the table. You don’t mind waiting patiently for the steak and salad you conscientiously selected, but must you be relegated to the likes of club soda and tap water? What would happen exactly if you ordered, well, a “drink-drink”? A nice glass of red wine perhaps? Hmmm…maybe that’s too much to ask at a place where onion blooms are a specialty…. A mixed drink? You begin reminiscing about those great sidecars your best friendused to make. Maybe a shot? That’s simple enough, isn’t it? How about those memories? Well, maybe we’ll fast forward through those recollections. Beer? Beer belly. What about a light beer? They’re low in carbs, right? Whatever the case, you presume there’s no Guinness in your future tonight. Or? Sigh. Now you really need something. What’s a Primal type to do when it comes to a simple social drink?

Posted By: Worker Bee

107

You Might Want to Sit Down for This

Or maybe you don’t. It turns out that sitting in a chair – that time honored tradition we commonly associate with rest, relaxation, and recuperation (don’t forget mind-numbing work, too!) – is actually bad for us. At least, the way we approach sitting is health harmful. The occasional dalliance with a straight-backed office chair probably isn’t a problem, but when we spend most of our waking life sitting (or, even worse, slumping over) in a chair, we invite disaster. Such sedentarism is a real problem, and a recent one. Grok certainly wasn’t bound to a desk. He may have had more off time than we do (if modern hunter-gatherers are any indication), but he didn’t spend it subjecting his body to extended bouts of unnatural contortions. And there’s the other big difference: the way we sit is completely unnatural. Instead of sprawling out, hands behind our heads, legs outstretched, we moderns “relax” in a chair – a piece of furniture with which we have relatively new relations.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

71

Weekend Link Love

Nikki Young, author of The Paleo Cookbook (I’ve got a copy, and I use it frequently), was interviewed over at Fitness Spotlight this week. Read what she has to say. Then check out her pumpkin and chicken curry recipe at the bottom of the post.

Here’s a quick bodyweight exercise from Conditioning Research: The oblique side raise.

The New York Times talks probiotics. How helpful are they, really?

You may remember Grok Star Sterling and his incredible transformation. He’s got his own blog now, aptly named Sterling Advice. Check it out!

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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