Mark's Daily Apple

The Recession Diet

Over the last year we’ve brought you tips on keeping your primal diet in line with your budget. It’s been a tough year after all. First, gas prices (among other influences) sent food prices soaring, and lately we’ve all been living under the cloud of an economic downturn that seems to be settling in as comfortably as an unwelcome, clueless house guest.

But as the country shores up for hard times ahead, the “recession” analysis has found its way beyond the money section and into the lifestyle pages. According to some experts, the economic trend has done more than alter grocery shopping habits; it’s spawned a dietary drift worthy of pop cultural commentary and a classification all its own: the “recession diet.”

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Once, Twice, Three Times… Less Likely to Get a Cold

In the past, we’ve highlighted the importance of sleep in our lives as evidence mounts. A healthy amount of the stuff can help with memory, and a study showing that those who toss and turn to the tune of five or fewer hours of sleep per night have a higher incidence of “silent” heart disease suggests its importance in cardiovascular health. But it’s not like we needed science to tell us that getting plenty of sleep was good for us; the sluggish thoughts, rotten moods, and general uselessness we experience on inadequate sleep is our body’s way of telling us to sleep more and sleep better.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Forging Your Own Genetic Destiny

As you may know, at the core of the Primal Blueprint is gene expression – the idea that our genes can be “switched” on or off, or influenced into producing varying amounts of proteins based on environmental factors (like diet, exercise, and exposure to toxins). In fact, the Primal Blueprint is designed around maximizing positive expression and minimizing deleterious gene expression, the idea being that the best way to express our genes is by living like our Primal ancestors. Eating clean, whole foods, getting plenty of exercise, mental stimulation, and sleep – these are the ways Grok lived (if he was lucky), and these are the methods by which our genes are best influenced. And it’s not just conjecture. Time and time again, science (read: unbiased, unaffiliated observations on the human condition) has suggested precisely the same thing about environmental effects on the way our genes work.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Your Heart is Telling You to Sleep

A study in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that sleep is an integral ingredient for heart health.

For the study, researchers from the University of Chicago outfitted 495 healthy, middle-aged volunteers with actigraphs, a device worn on the wrist to measure movement and rest.

Accounting for some degree of movement during sleep time – hey, we’ve all been there with the tossing and turning! – the researchers determined that the study participants slept an average of 6 hours per night but spent about seven hours in bed, presumably waiting to fall asleep.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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The Power of Holiday Tradition

Sure, we believe in happy, healthy holidays. Why else would we (in the good company of other blogs, magazines, and newspapers) serve up “healthy” holiday tips: recipes, activities, etc. to make your Christmas, Hanukkah, solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, etc. more health conscious? We absolutely think that it’s worth offering healthy ideas that may spark a desired change for those who are looking for it. (The intent, at least in our suggestions, isn’t a full revision of holiday celebration but a presentation of possible options that may catch our readers’ interest. In other words: a bit of integration perhaps, but not a full out substitution. )

Posted By: Worker Bee

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