Primal Health Challenge Week 3 Results

Congratulations to everyone who is participating in the Primal Challenge. If you have any questions or would like to connect with other challenge participants hit us up with a comment.

Here is a brief synopsis of our more vocal challenge particpants’ results for week 3 followed by their own full accounts:

Nkem: Stayed the course with nutrition. Work got in the way of exercise. 2 lbs lost for a total of 14.5 lbs over the course of 3 weeks! Energy levels are back to normal.

Alexandra: Stood up to peer pressure. Got sucked into eating a mystery egg bake that was more bake than egg. Indulged in planned Sensible Vices. Gave IF a try. Does not crave sweets, feels satisfied with less food, and feels more in tune with her body.

Posted By: Aaron

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The Prison Workout

The Prison Workout. New idea? Nah. It’s been around as long as there has been anyone locked up that is looking to stay in shape. Still compelling? Absolutely. Here is MDA’s take on why we think it is worth another look, along with our own variations on this classic routine.

Why We Can Appreciate the Prison Workout:

1. Unlimited time

You have no excuses. You can’t fall back on the most often used excuse to not get in shape.

2. Limited space

You don’t get to decide whether you should go to the basketball court, to the gym, to the tennis court, to the park, ride your bike, play ultimate Frisbee with friends etc. etc. because you don’t have a choice. Your options are limited. But this is a good thing. You don’t get bogged down with endless decision-making. You’ll be working out while Joe Schmo is still deciding what to do.

Posted By: Aaron

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High Fat and Healthy: The Maasai Keep on Walking

Reader Peter emailed this new study today after he saw a discussion in which I was participating on Rusty’s site (fitnessblackbook.com) regarding the Maasai diet. Investigators in this new study suggested that one reason that the Maasai (African nomadic cattle farmers) have lower rates of heart disease, despite a high fat diet, is the amount of low-level aerobic activity they do on a daily basis. Many of you will recognize this as rule #2 of the Primal Blueprint, “Move around a lot at a slow pace.” Seems the Maasai take that to the extreme, burning 2500 calories a day in excess of their basal metabolic rate by walking. The fact that they have a fairly low carbohydrate intake simply reaffirms that most of their energy demands are coming from the high amount of animal fat in their diets – and that at low level aerobic activity carbs are simply not necessary. Don’t think that doesn’t mean they can’t sprint occasionally or lift heavy things though (Blueprint’s 3 and 4), because we know they are able to produce enough glycogen each day from this same high-fat, moderate protein diet to fuel those all-out short bursts.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Primal Health Challenge Week 2 Results

Ok. I admit that this post has a ton of information. But instead of editing or paraphrasing any reader’s results (that just wouldn’t be fair!) I’ve included it all. Pick a participant or two and read them as case studies. This is just a small sample of the people that are taking the challenge (we receive inspiring emails everyday) – those that are kind enough to send in their weekly updates for your enjoyment and edification. So take a look, share your thoughts, help fellow participants through the challenge and/or hit me and other Apples up with a question in the comment board.

Posted By: Aaron

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Unrestricted Low-Carb Diet Wins Hands Down

The New England Journal of Medicine has just come out with perhaps the most definitive comparison of low-fat, Mediterranean and low-carb diets ever, and the findings dovetail very nicely with what we’ve been discussing here recently about the merits of the Primal Blueprint. I think it also addresses some of the concerns shared about the so-called “restrictiveness” of my PB plan.

This study looked at over 300 people who followed their assigned diets strictly for two years, making this one of the longest diet studies in recent history. The bottom line was that the low-carb diet was hands-down the most impressive at improving health in all areas. Those on the low-carb plan lost more weight, experienced a greater reduction in the dangerous C-reactive protein, lowered their triglycerides, raised their HDL cholesterol and dropped their A1C more than those on either the Mediterranean or the low-fat diets, although the Mediterranean was a close second most of the time. Of course, for those who read MDA religiously, you’ll be interested to hear that the low-fat diet was “restricted” to only 1500 calories per day for women and 1800 for men, as was the Mediterranean diet, but the low-carb diet was “unrestricted”, meaning those participants could eat all they wanted of non-carb foods (fat and protein, people). They started out at only 20 grams carbs a day for two months, then eased up to 120 grams a day maintenance at the end. Compliance was fairly high, too: of the 109 people assigned to the low-carb plan, 85 finished the entire two years.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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