Mark's Daily Apple

Dear Mark: What is Creatine?

Over the years, more than a couple readers have asked about creatine and whether or not it has a place in the Primal Blueprint. People may be tempted to lump it in with anabolic steroids or other chemical enhancers, but they would be conferring guilt by association. To clarify, creatine is a naturally occurring substance involved in ATP energy production. All vertebrates have it, and most of us get a good chunk of our creatine from eating said vertebrates. Red meat in particular – beef, lamb, and bison – contains the highest levels of dietary creatine (interestingly enough, human vegetarians – unlike their ungulate counterparts – generally have far less creatine in their muscles than meat eaters). The rest of the creatine we get is biosynthesized internally from three amino acids (some of which are also derived from diet): arginine, glycine, and methionine.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

28

The “Grok Crawl”

One of the more underappreciated developmental milestones in an infant’s life is the act of crawling. First words, walking, reading – these get all the attention, but it’s crawling that helps kids develop the important upper and lower body strength that will serve as a foundation for later activity and basic movement. Some pull and push with their arms while scooting along with their knees. Others crawl with their elbows like soldiers slogging through a battlefield. Whatever their methods, when compared to kids who skipped crawling and went straight to walking, early crawlers seem to have better motor skills. They understand bilateral coordination (using the arms and legs in reciprocal movements), they have a better sense of depth perception, and all that time spent on their hands gives crawlers better grasping strength.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

22

80/20 Principle

For anyone who’s ever adopted a new diet plan for weight loss or overall health, it’s a familiar nightmare. The backdrop varies (an all you can eat buffet, holiday party, dark and silent kitchen in the middle of the night), but the suspense is universal. The temptation, a mental struggle, the cautious scanning of the room. A subliminal background track climbs in crescendo. You give into the slightest slip, a minor indiscretion, really, and suddenly there you are, dropping through a trap door, plummeting down a dark, cavernous shoot, screaming in terror, only to fall into a sorry heap of shame at the fiery center of the earth (or other subconscious setting for doom or disgrace).

Posted By: Worker Bee

53

Unleash Your Inner Grok

Even though we, as Primal enthusiasts, do acknowledge his presence by eating his food, doing his exercises, and minimizing the kind of artificial stress he rarely experienced, something seems absent from our relationship with Grok. We pay attention to his counsel when it comes to nutrition and biology and fitness – but is something lost in the translation between his past and our present? It’s almost like we’re tourists on some grand expedition: temporal-anthro-eco-nutro tourists who visit the Edenic past and, indeed, adopt its way of life and follow its precepts to a tee with resounding success and inimitable results. But in the end, we remain tourists. We aren’t yet truly going Primal.

Posted By: Worker Bee

25

Top 10 Ways the New MDA is Going to Help You Succeed

Mark’s Daily Apple is your road map to success. Here are the top 10 ways (yes, there are more than 10!) Mark’s Daily Apple is going to help you succeed in all of your health and fitness goals. Take advantage of them all and you’ll be like Grok in no time.

Daily articles

Our bread and butter (or is it “apples and almond butter”?), the daily article will remain the primary focus of the site as we encourage, inspire, and inform you with the latest scientific releases, Primal recipes, workout tips – plus, we’ll be expanding our Definitive Guide series to encompass a whole host of contentious topics.

PB 101 Page

A great resource for those just starting with the Blueprint, the PB 101 page distills all pertinent information into an organized, concise collection of article links, lists, and advice. If anyone’s got questions about your weird eating habits, just send them to the PB 101 page.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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