It’s Time to “Get Real”
Dear readers, it’s time to get real.
I realize that most of you probably don’t think you need a lecture. You may not need any further motivation. You’re eating good, whole foods, getting daily exercise, and things are going well. For the most part, Grok gazes upon you with twinkling, approving eyes. But what of newcomers? What of the average doughy citizen happily bumbling along in blissful ignorance, unaware that his or her dietary habits and devotion to Conventional Wisdom might actually be counterproductive to those goals implicit in all forms of life, great or small? Survival, contentedness, and prosperity. Surely he deserves a harsh check of reality.
And even Grok stumbles. Even the most zealous adherents of the Primal Blueprint falter, or even relapse. Maybe they start taking advantage of the office snack stash on a regular basis. A few Twix can’t hurt, right? (Every day? Yeah, they can.) Or maybe they swing by the drive-thru because they put off grocery shopping that week. (Enjoy your microwaved pseudo-meat product flanked by enriched flour patties and plastic cheese.) Hell, even I’ve made that split-second decision – half-out the door, bedecked in workout gear, mind dreading the pain to come – to put off exercise for momentary comfort.
There’s nothing wrong with the occasional foray into our old ways, especially if the situation necessitates it (starving on a business trip in some far-off town with nothing but fast food joints open, or taking a day off to rest an overworked body). Just be wary of man’s unique ability to justify anything. We’ll eat vegetables chips and swear they’re healthy. We’ll order a light Frappucino and convince ourselves it’s cool (never mind that sugary sweet syrup concoction coating your mouth afterward). Call it self-delusion, cognitive dissonance, or just plain lying to yourself – we all do it, we’re great at it, it’s a coping mechanism, but it’s ultimately harmful and impedes progress in the Primal Blueprint. Because once we justify and rationalize a counterproductive behavior, we’re all the more likely to continue said behavior.
“Just one more day…”
“Just this once…”
“Last time. Promise…”
Sound familiar? When you’re promising stuff to yourself and convincing yourself that the lies you’re spewing are to be trusted (and falling for it!)… it’s time to GET REAL.
Consider this, then, a wake-up call. (If you’re diligent and secure, exempt yourself – but even then, you’d be selling yourself short. There’s always room for improvement. Thinking otherwise leads to stagnation.) A wake up call to the beginners, a wake up call to our most loyal readers. Let’s even consider it a wake up call to me, Mark, to get and stay serious about eating right and working out correctly. Following the direction of our evolutionary genetics is a beautifully simple endeavor, but it takes diligence and dedication nonetheless.
Are you prepared to re-up on the Primal Blueprint? If so, these should help you maintain composure and stay the course.
Get Real Meat
Eat real, actual meat. You want a slab of beef untouched by preservatives, by antibiotics, by hormones, and by soy feed. You want a whole roasted chicken so you can crack open the bones and suck the marrow. Eat clean, wild fish and pick out the rib bones. Most importantly, don’t try to fool yourself into thinking that greasy little Slim Jim you picked up at the gas station on the way home from work that oozes slimy nitrites with every bite is real meat. Nor are, for that matter, the treated cold cuts, the bargain bin bacon that miraculously survives for months in your fridge, and that pepperoni you pick off your spouse’s pizza. Get real meat, folks.
Get Real Vegetables
Don’t eat corn (on the cob, popped, or otherwise prepared – it’s actually a grain!), potatoes (although sweet potatoes and yams are decent in moderation), vegetable tempura (don’t let that flaky, crispy batter fool you), or veggie chips (the chubby vegetarian’s best friend). And President Reagan may have once proclaimed it a vegetable, but ketchup is definitely not a good choice – it’s loaded with so much corn syrup, sodium, and other pseudo-foods that the tomato can scarcely be detected. Instead, load up on the stuff that you know to be good. Broccoli, greens of all kinds, cauliflower (mash it up for a superior potato substitute), carrots (hold the cake), peppers, tomatoes (real ones), squash, and eggplant (among numerous others) work quite well.
Get Real Fruit
And get realistic amounts of it. Fruit was a luxury for Grok, a seasonal delicacy. He wasn’t slurping sherbet-based smoothies every morning, nor was he munching on apples engineered for maximum sugar content. When you eat fruit try to stick to organic. Rather than drink juice or smoothies (albeit, a better choice), try to eat whole fruits. They’ll fill you up faster. Also go easy on the dried fruit; it’s great in a pinch and on hikes (mixed with nuts), but you’ll fill up on sugar before you notice it because it’s so concentrated. As always, berries are best.
Get Real Nuts
Lose the peanuts, the candy-coated almonds, the caramel-fudge-encrusted macadamia nuts, those clusters of candy and nuts masquerading as healthy snacks (they may have exotic spices like anise and cayenne, but they’re still covered in a fine sheen of syrup). Eat real nuts and seeds instead: almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin, sunflower, hemp. And please – do not eat those dried crispy soybeans.
Get Real Fat
Though that header could be easily misconstrued, what I mean is that you need to get real sources of good fat in your diet. Avoid the processed, hydrogenated (partially or totally), trans garbage. You should be eating real animal fat (lard, tallow), olive oil and fats from avocados, eggs, nuts, seeds, and good cuts of meat (eat that crispy chicken skin!). If you’ve bought into the widespread ridiculous fear of fat in favor of artificial vegetable oils, margarines, and other disgusting lab creations, you need to get real.
Get Real About Grains
CW likes to tout grains as “the staff of life” – the foundation for the human diet. Deep down, you know better. You know that the best alternative to grains is eating real food our bodies were designed to eat. Meat, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, and fats are highly superior to grains, and they don’t require loads of processing, heating, pressing, fermenting, soaking, or any other tampering just to be digestible. Get real about the Primal Blueprint, stay off the grains for a few months, and you’ll forget all about your former masters.
Get Real Workouts
The success and effectiveness of your workout depends on the enthusiasm with which it’s assailed. Don’t half ass your sprint day at 60% intensity when you know you need to be going 100%. Don’t show up at the gym when you’re supposed to max your squat if you’re not serious about it. Use these days for rest, play or some low level aerobic activity (think long walks/hikes or an easy bike ride) instead and you’ll still be perfectly Primal. Then, when you’re ready, regroup and give it your all. Otherwise, malaise or even injury can easily set in. Get real about what you’re up for, then do it! Oh, and if you’re counting your walk out to your mailbox and back as your workout of the day you seriously need to get real.
Get Real About Your Goals
First of all, get some real goals. Get out a piece of paper (or blog, or Word doc, whatever) and figure out what you’re working toward. Be honest with yourself, and don’t expect the impossible. I am a strong believer in one’s ability to control their gene expression, reprogram their body, and become a healthier individual, but you aren’t going to sprout a few more inches no matter how many reps you do or vegetables you eat.
That said, never sell yourself short. Push yourself to the limit, and don’t use common excuses – “most of my family is slightly overweight” or “my dad never was really that muscular” or “I’m too old to start over” – to avoid making changes in your life. Your ability to seize control of your life, your body, and your health is real. You just have to do it. Ewald (Otto’s identical twin) did.
I hope all of this wasn’t too harsh. Chalk it up to a little tough love follow-up to yesterday’s “Excuses” post. I think it’s important to have a call to action every now and then. And it’s not like I told you something you didn’t know. You know these are the keys to living a long, healthy life. You know eating the right food and getting daily exercise will pay dividends – today, tomorrow, and in thirty years. Don’t relegate yourself to a future of walkers, brittle bones, sagging guts (and spirits), and doctor visits, all because it was easier to delude yourself and take the easy route. Instead, get real about your abilities, about your goals, about your lifestyle, and about your body.
Good luck!
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
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This reminds me of a quote from a song:
To change the world, start with one step. However small, the first is hardest of all. Once you get to your gate, you’ll be walking tall.
People just need to make the decision to do it an then take massive action towards their goals. If one can’t motivate themselves, no one else and nothing else can do it for them.
Motivation is an interesting thing. I have found that people’s excitement and dedication comes and goes during the first few weeks, but once they start seeing the obvious benefits of eating real food and notice clear improvements in front of the mirror, their success becomes self-motivating. And after they get used to eating the way we were all built to eat, it becomes hard to imagine ever eating any other way!
I’ve already gotten real meats, real veggies, real fruits, and certainly real nuts, but I’m having some trouble with the real workouts. I decided to let the gym membership lapse and start with more outdoor Primal exercise, but without the regimental structure of the gym, I find it hard to create/stick/to a goal when the playing field is…just an empty playing field.
go crossfit!!! get workout ideas from http://www.crossfit.com or the one i go to http://www.crossfitmalmo.se (swedish but you can still get info about workouts). Ideal is to find a crossfit-gym, i did and it’s done wonders for me,no more excuses, just go there and do it. Good luck!
Oooh this was PERFECT timing! I am a newbie and I made some tuiles a couple days ago, and ate some prepared ones. Not THAT bad but then the next day I at 2 snickerdoodles. Guess what?!
1. I looked in the mirror and looked bloated as hell! Seriously?! It can make THAT big of a difference? Apparently so.
2. I am craving more sweets. If I dont have them, I dont crave them. When I do have them… wham! The cravings are back. Im doing better today though, thanks goodness.
Now a Q for Mark: Not gonna lie, dairy is my weakness. I have just started drinking raw milk and yogurt so at least its a little better. Is it simply the lactose/ milk sugars we need to avoid?
I could really have used an online face-slap fo the cookies. So no, not too harsh.
I’m relatively new to your blog, so you may have already addressed this in a previous post. But are you saying that saturated fat does not contribute to arterial and heart disease?
Not all saturated fats are created equal, medium chain fatty acids are actually very healthy. And No, dietary saturated fats and cholesterols has virtually no bearing on heart disease or arterial calcifications. In contrast the rise in polyunsaturated fats in margerines and vegetable oils has become the culprit. The link below is a good place to start your research.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/80/5/1102
he is saying that. read his definitive guide to saturated fat to find out why.
If I may say, you seem kind of agressive with pushing people to accomplish their fitness goals. Most people are not going to do it! Most people are going to succumb to pie and ice cream sooner or later. One of my father’s good friends has read all of the literature pushing a Paleo-type diet and believes in it, but always succumbs to the pastries his family sends him. He is corpulent, yet has all the knowledge of how to be studly and healthy, as do most people.
JE – I fully recognize that people are going to make small compromises here and there and that there is room for this in a healthy lifestyle. Check out these posts:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sensible-vices/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sensible-vices-round-2/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/art-of-compromise/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chocolate-and-wine/
Sorry if I came across as “aggressive”. That wasn’t my intention. As I said, a little tough love was closer to what I meant to achieve with this post. Sometimes people just need a little strong worded encouragement to get them to take action. I know I do.
And yes, I agree, it isn’t just about knowledge. People can be informed to the hilt, but if they don’t act on it it is worthless to them. I hope this type of post and others can not only instruct but motivate and inspire as well.
Shawn-
Check out these posts and then let me know if you have any additional questions:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-the-difference-between-primal-and-paleo/
Tara – Welcome to MDA and the comment boards! Here are a few relevant posts to your question. Hopefully it helps!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/sweets-carbs-cheese-probiotics/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-cheese-healthy/
I do have to say a little harsh. As a person running almost 100% primal for quite a while now, I am cool with it but that would have scared me off if I was a newcomer! I am pretty darn confident that I am doing well in all of the areas you list though.
The SoG
I am a relatively newcomer and I don’t think it was harsh… maybe its because I grew up with “tough love.” Coddling doesn’t always get the point across. Thanks for the reminder/motivation/love Mark!
Long time reader here, and I don’t think it was harsh at all. Although the “It’s Time To Get Real” is a little to Dr. Phil, I enjoyed reading this. Keep up the good work Mark.
Hey mark, this was a great post. I have a question. In all your recommendations about nuts, you have not really recommended cashew nuts. Your favorites seem to be almonds and walnuts; and pecans, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds have got a mention here too.
Is it a matter of taste that you don’t like cashews. Or are there compelling health reasons to avoid them, as there are for peanuts? I am curious, because I enjoy mixing cashews into my nut consumption, but am willing to cut them out if there is a good reason for it. It would be part of ‘Getting real’ I suppose
Thanks,
Apurva
Don’t forget Coconut as a source of ‘Real Fat’!
Oh, one more thing? How come there is no word on ‘getting real’ about Intermittent Fasting? There is plenty of scope for ‘cheating’ with it!
Apurva
Mark, that was just the kick I needed. I would take it one step further – as I look at my ENTIRE life – all the crap we “cheat” on. New pair of shoes I can’t afford? There’s a credit card! Too busy to cook? There’s the frozen pizza that’s quick and easy! Cutting corners is so easy, but the price to pay at the end seems huge to me and not the way I want to live. You help remind me of personal responsibility and being true to myself and my ultimate goals. Thanks!
They can read and study and practise all they want, but for some people, there are certain things that they won’t succeed in until they have their enlightenment, the moment when everything suddenly clicks.
I’ve been reading and practising Art Devany’s EF for over a year, and synthesizing it with Mark’s PB for about 9 months, and in the beginning I had great results. I figured I understood just about everything there was to understand, and I was finally on the path to the body I’ve always wanted.
But about 4 months ago I noticed a slowdown in my fat loss and muscle growth. I was doing everything right: heavy lifting twice a week, sprinting, lots of walking, and eating like a paleolithic superstar. Except for the candy binge once a week. Bread and other grain products were never a problem for me to give up, but the sweets were. Hey, they say occasional indulgences are fine, right?
To a point. After reading an article (maybe it was posted here, I don’t remember) about how the effects of sugar can continue to affect gene expression for as long as two weeks, it all clicked for me, and now, for the first time, I’ve gone over two weeks without a speck of sugar (not even balsamic vinegar) outside ONE daily piece of fruit and maybe some berries, and I can see the fat starting to disappear again.
Remembering my own experiences and feelings, coupled with watching my family’s eating habits, I realized on a deep, personal level that sugar is a drug, plain and simple, and I’m a recovering addict, and you don’t ever reward an addict with a dose of the poison.
It’s really remarkable how much easier it is to give up these bad habits once you understand the concepts deeply and viscerally, not just scholastically. Now when people ask me about this lifestyle, and if they can still have the foods they love once in a while, I will tell them they will get some good results, but they won’t succeed until they eliminate all the behaviour that got them overweight in the first place.
This post is over-long already but I do have a question: what is the difference between grains and the seeds you recommend eating?
Thanks!
Nice response Evan – Black or white, with no grey area.
I was reading an article on flouride (a lethal neuro-toxin)in toothpaste and drinking water. What I want to know is, who decides how much flouride is “acceptable” before it becomes toxic?
Like any toxin, sugar included, I’d rather have zero thanks.
I’m a (fairly) new reader and I didn’t think it was scary at all. I think a lot of times when someone is just starting out on a diet, they can grind to a halt trying to figure out the “perfect” plan and the “right” way to do it, when what they really need is to nut up and jump in with both feet. I know that’s always been my excuse. “This is good, but it’s not ideal. I’d better stop and find the perfect plan.” If I’d just done 50% perfect instead of trying to figure out how to get 100%, I’d probably weigh 50% of what I do now, instead of 100%!
Easy to realize, harder to do … sigh. I need to Get Real.
I never liked slim jim’s, but read the ingredients on them once. I forget if its the first, or second ingredient, but regardless, it was “mechanically separated chicken parts”.
Disgusting.
Ryan – If you don’t like the sound of “mechanically separated chicken parts” you’re going to want to avoid this Saturday’s post.
Could I get a little Reality Therapy for my diet pepsi issue? It’s the last holdout for me.
TrailGrrl
Oh, I wish I had read this before lunch. It may have stopped me. Could you see me eating a filet-o-fish and fries all the way from Grok’s den in So Cal? I knew better and did it anyway, rationalizing that I hadn’t had fast food in 2 months.
Thanks for the “reminder,” which was not considered harsh by my standards, just a “reality check.” Moving onward now with clean eating once again.
I had to get real today!
Damn lounge at work was FULL of Dunkin’ Donuts!
AACCKK.
I conquered the sugary beast, by avoiding the lounge at ALL costs and when in there be sure to have my own snacks in hand!
Thanks for the gut check.
Speaking of keeping it real… xxx and xxx sound bad enough, but I just read this today at Popular Science:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4301621.html?page=3
“Flavor changing additives, developed by New Jersey-based Salvona Technologies, contain nanospheres encapsulated in larger microspheres. When the microspheres burst, one flavor is released. The rupture of the nanospheres, some time later, releases another flavor, creating a taste experience that changes over time.”
Mmmmm… nanospheres and microspheres.
Ooops, thoses xxx’s were supposed to be those chemicals they use in processing HFCS!
Thanks for the “tough love”. I get real meats, veggies,fruits and fats, but I love my grains and getting real about exercise is a major effort for me. I appreciate the “swift kick in the pants” to get me motivated to get real about some of the other issues in my life.
The real deal here is habit. I’ve eaten so well for over 2 years now its just habit. I couldn’t eat badly if I tried!
This isn’t a lecture. This is a slap in the face. Wow! I need to get on my game and get real!
It’s not harsh, it’s Primal. Get Real, Eat Real.
Awesome. That is all.
Coincidentally, today is max squat, press, and deadlift for me!
I don’t think this is harsh…it is the truth. I have been eating more and more primal over the past couple years, and I feel better now then I ever did ( even 13 weeks pregnant!). Once in awhile when I slip up, because of social situations, I feel extremely bloated, tired and a bit cranky the next day. In the past one little slip up would have led me down a downward spiral of eating poorly, but now, I can snap back very quickly…because my body craves what is good for me. It is exciting to see this transition take place.
I liked it. I love a man that can keep me accountable!
It was also a neat reminder to me of how far I have come as I am able to say that I have adopted each point that your article makes. A couple years ago it would have been a depressing article about how far I have yet to go.
Thanks for paving the road.
I’ve been Crossfitting for a tad over a year, and been eating seriously Primal since July, I got into the real meats in August but have backed off since around mid fall. It was a case of laziness as the real meat is sold at a different grocery store then my main Veggie mart. I’ve been settling for the run of the mill Hormone induced beef and this post kicked my behind back in gear and I signed up for a Meat CSA. If anyone in the boston area is interested, I went with this one, convenient and affordable. http://stillmansfarm.com/meatcsa.html