Primal Blueprint and Illness page

[PrimalWannabeGirl]

Dear Mark,

I am beginning to see three distinct populations emerging here at Mark's Daily Apple.

First, the population of (mostly) younger folks who are into fitness. These folks want to optimize their athletic performance. Sometimes they want to lean out, build muscle, or reach peak fitness.

Second, those who want to lose weight. These include a hefty (no pun!) number of women, but also some men, and this group tends to be a little older.

Then there are some folks here looking for help with DOCs (diseases of civilization): diabetes, inflammatory conditions, etc. There is an overlap between the overweight group and the sick group.

I am a member primarily of group 3. I am suffering from adrenal fatigue, overstress, arthritis, and as a consequence, obesity as well. Just three short years ago, I was a lean, fit athlete but I overtrained during a period of severe life stress, and I broke.

I would like to see some PB posts aimed at group 3: do we need any modifications of the PB? What can we do when we can't sprint or lift heavy things? How do we heal first, then build? (I'm of the belief that healing comes first, then weight loss, but I wonder what wisdom evolutionary medicine might hold for healing once you are ill.

Thanks for all you do for this community. It's much appreciated.

PWG

[jasonph]

I agree, and I think it'd be cool to see some posts focused on group one, because that's where I belong. But at the same time, we all have parents and siblings and such, so those posts very well may benefit us; we could use that information to tailor any presentation, public or private, of the PB and related lifestyle shifts. If that makes sense.

[Pandadude]

I know I'm kind of preaching him atm, but Robb Wolf touches on various cronic illnesses in his podcasts, you could try a search on his site. A lot of the illnesses are partly caused/worsened by inflammation, and affected people can benefit from an intervention, removing all possible dietary inflammatories. This means low carb, meat and veggies, a little fruit. No nightshades, no dairy (pastured butter/cream is probably ok), no nuts for a month, then experiment with adding them back in (if you want) one at a time and seeing how you respond.

[Gabriel121]

The Primal Blueprint also radically modifies the food pyramid, to one that is not controlled by government lobbyists. You eat lots of plants, good protein some fruit and minimal grains. Mark has also created an exercise pyramid that challenges conventional wisdom, one of the big points in this book is that most people over train thus diminishing the returns and even causing injury and harm. Check out the exercise pyramid for Mark's recommendations.

[mizski]

Gabriel 121 wrote: The Primal Blueprint also radically modifies the food pyramid, to one that is not controlled by government lobbyists. You eat lots of plants, good protein some fruit and minimal grains. Mark has also created an exercise pyramid that challenges conventional wisdom, one of the big points in this book is that most people over train thus diminishing the returns and even causing injury and harm. Check out the exercise pyramid for Mark's recommendations.

Please review the material of your targets before spamming. Thank you.

[Pandadude]

Isn't as little grain as possible the same as minimal grains? His guidelines aren't as strict with the 80/20 and thus actually allows for some grains.

[fitmom]

I know in the PB fitness e book there are a lot of modifications, and in the PB, he recommends "sprinting" as any exercise that puts your heart rate in the upper range....if it is walking faster for a few minutes, or walking in the pool, swimming a little faster...then that's your "sprint."

Good luck to you with your healing!

[jammies]

I would love to see a disease forum as well. I am definitely using this WOE to treat inflammation. I'm happy to be losing weight, but really am focused on treating my severe arthritis, fatigue, and vitamin D deficiency.

[peril]

For me, adopting this lifestyle has been my treatment. However, there are many ways of adopting PB and those of us with disease have to find a way appropriate to our health. For me, that meant a gradual series of diet and supplement changes while beginning a regime of daily moderate exercise (walking up to an hour per day at a brisk pace).

Having firmly established that routine, then read TPB, I began sprint sessions once a week. Later I started LHT workouts, adapting them to PBF when that was issued, although I've struggled more with this than other aspects of the programme.

At the same time, I keep researching my disease and inflammation and tweaking my regime as I learn.

One thing I have learned is that noone has all of the answers. There is no definitive guide to the human organism. You really do have to work it out for yourself