Mark's Daily Apple

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

We thought this might be a good time to check in with newer folks who have taken on the 2009 Primal Challenge. (With four weeks in, how’s everyone doing?)

But the truth is, the title has bearing for all of us. Old hat or not, a healthy lifestyle always encounters challenges at some point. External pressures – heavier work load, added family responsibilities, etc. – can suddenly shift the ground we thought was solid and stable. Internal factors – stress, injury, illness– can creep up on us and make us realize we’ve taken our motivation a little for granted lately.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Sensible Vices Round 3: Personal Day Spa

The decorations are down (or you’ve thought about it). The good china, big platters and gravy boats have found their way back to their usual cupboard spaces. The boxes are collapsed and in the recycling bins. Relatives have come and gone. Everyone in the family is finally getting back to their normal sleep schedules. The holidays have come and gone, and we find ourselves in the cold and relative seclusion of January. Many an author has talked about winter as a time to shore up, dig in, and hunker down. After the month long swirl of festivities, that doesn’t sound all bad, eh?

Posted By: Worker Bee

15

Post-Holiday Recovery

It’s two days after the big event. You’re just now waking up from the gastric coma. And, depending on how faithful you were to the Primal Blueprint throughout the week (a tall order, I know, especially for those of us who grew up eating carb-laden Thanksgivings), you’ll be recovering from varying levels of glycemic shock. Oh, sure, you tried to follow our Primal eating plans as best you could, but once the relatives started showing up bearing steaming trays of stuffing, flaky-crusted pies, and gallons of mashed potatoes… it all just sorta fell apart. That first tentative bite of cornbread dressing led to a second, and a third, and that’s where you lost control. Hey, I get it. We all get wistful for the food of yore, especially around the holidays.

Posted By: Worker Bee

16

Savoring the Holiday

Catalogs, store fliers, magazine articles, and recipe books presume to offer it: “All you need to make a perfect Thanksgiving!” By now most of us have the “stuff” that typically goes into Thanksgiving: the food, the festive napkins, the centerpiece, etc. We’ve unearthed the ginormous serving tray from the basement and dug out the carving set. We’ve taken down the box that holds Grandma Rose’s old gravy boat. And we’ve likely ironed out the logistics of the occasion: when guests will arrive, when the turkey will go into the oven, and who will bring what. We’ve straightened the house, cajoled the kids to make their bedrooms presentable, and maybe the more ambitious and organized among us have even made a dish or two ahead of time.

Posted By: Worker Bee

16

Grok Didn’t Take Supplements So Why Should I?

The Definitive Guide to Primal Supplementation

Disclaimer: I derive most of my income from selling supplements. We don’t talk too much about it here on MDA, but I get enough questions on this topic, that I felt it was time to explain exactly why I choose to manufacture and take certain supplements.

The main objective of following the Primal Blueprint is to extract the healthiest, happiest, longest and most productive life possible from our bodies – and to look and feel good in the process. Our 10,000-year-old Primal genes expect us to emulate the way our ancestors ate and moved; and the Primal Blueprint says we should do exactly as they expect. While there are many things we can do (or eat) today that very closely approximate what Grok did to trigger positive gene expression, there are also a number of obstacles that can thwart our attempts to be as Primal as possible. Artificial light prompts us to stay up too late and sleep too little. Electronic entertainment competes for our time when we should be out walking and basking in sunlight. We don’t always have access to ideal foods. We shower too much in water that’s too hot. We use medicines to mask our symptoms instead of allowing our bodies to deal directly with the problem. You get my point. It’s tough going full Primal today.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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