Forging Your Own Genetic Destiny

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Learn more about the Primal Lifestyle by visiting the Primal Blueprint 101 page. Thanks for visiting!

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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Off-Label Cosmetic Prescriptions

Last month we brought you news (and humble perspective) on the pharmaceutical industry’s off-label marketing practices. Just a couple weeks after the fact, what before our wondering eyes should appear? News that a glaucoma drug (Lumigan) was just approved by the FDA for off-label use as an eyelash enhancer. Call us suckers, we know, but we couldn’t resist taking the bite. Finding new uses for existing poor selling drugs has become a cottage industry. Reminds me of the old SNL skit, “Shimmer. It’s a dessert topping AND a floor wax!”

Posted By: Worker Bee

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In Vino Veritas (and Health?)

With the holiday season upon us, we thought it might be helpful to perform some healthy rationalizations for our alcohol consumption. Yay!

Now, obviously, people have been getting intoxicated for many millennia (animals will seek out fermenting fruit, too, so it’s not an “unnatural” desire by any means), and that includes our beloved Grok. Neither a teetotaler nor a raging drunk, Grok probably limited his consumption to very rare occasions: namely, whenever he happened across a stash of fermenting fruit. See, all evidence suggests that the purposeful production of alcoholic beverages didn’t begin until around 10,000 BC – pretty much in line with our estimations of the advent of agriculture. Indeed, the process of purposeful fermentation could be said to run against Primal ideals – our commitment to fresh, whole foods, free of artificial additives or manmade machinations – especially nowadays, with enormous industrial factories dedicated to churning out millions of gallons of beer and liquor. That said, fermentation itself is a wholly natural occurrence; beer factories and whiskey mills simply exploit and amplify the process.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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