Marks Daily Apple
Serving up health and fitness insights (daily, of course) with a side of irreverence.

Mark's Daily Apple

16 Apr

6 More Tea Ingredients That Can Help You Unwind, Relax and Chill Out

tea2Last week, I made the case for the inclusion of chill-out, relaxing, and otherwise anti-stress teas and herbs, particularly for the stress-wracked among us (and who doesn’t deal with significant amounts of stress?). Several readers on the last post made the comment that, while effective, these tea ingredients don’t necessarily please the palate. I believe one even used “feet” to describe the flavor and aroma of valerian tea. That may be true, but I’d argue that when your sanity, your testosterone:cortisol ratio, and your mental well-being are on the line, pharmacological efficacy of a particular herb supersedes any concerns regarding its flavor. Stress kills, and, well, we want to live – and live well.

With that said, let’s look at a few more options. With any luck, you’ll find at least a couple that you can stomach and perhaps even enjoy.

Keep reading…

15 Apr

Insider Recap: PrimalCon Oxnard 2013

primalcon2013 320x240 1In case you missed it, PrimalCon Oxnard 2013 took place this last weekend. This recap of the festivities was written by Mark’s Daily Apple team member and PrimalCon attendee Erik Cisler.

It was supposed to be sunny all weekend. That’s what weather.com kept telling us in the days leading up to PrimalCon Oxnard 2013. Sure, it was windy and kinda cold, but we were confident things would clear up. And then Friday morning, the attendees huddled together to hear Mark give the opening address of the weekend under a grey sky. “Don’t worry, guys. The sun will come.” Technically, it did. Right after lunch, it popped out and the grey dematerialized. It wasn’t exactly warm, but at least we had sun.

Keep reading…

14 Apr

Weekend Link Love

chain 1Rich Food, Poor Food has hit select Costcos! To commemorate it – and to let Costco know it would behoove them to carry it everywhere - we’re putting on a raffle. Buy a copy from Costco (or any other online or brick-and-mortar store), send in your receipt, and be entered to win some cool prizes.

Research of the Week

The connection between obesity and altitude.

Want the blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and blood lipid-related benefits of “cardio” without, well, the tedium and downsides of running? Walking works just as well.

Keep reading…

13 Apr

10 Tips for Making the Best Coconut Butter Ever

CoconutButter2

Servings: 1 to 2 cups

Time in the Kitchen: 10 to 20 minutes

You don’t need a recipe for coconut butter. After all, coconut butter only contains one ingredient: coconut. And to make coconut butter, you only do one thing: blend. What you do need, are these 10 no-fail tips for making the best coconut butter ever.

Tip #1: Buy unsweetened, dried coconut, either shredded or flakes. The flakes often turn into a smoother butter than shredded coconut does. Do not use desiccated, sweetened, reduced fat or fresh coconut.

Tip #2: Both a food processor and a high-powdered blender (like a Vitamix) can make coconut butter.

Keep reading…

12 Apr

I Cannot Believe the Way My Body Has Changed

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

real life stories stories 1 2Today’s is a special edition of Primal Blueprint Real Life Stories. Last year, I put out a call for people to make a public commitment to going Primal in 2012. Over 500 Mark’s Daily Apple readers joined the “Success Story in the Making” challenge, submitting their personal goals, before photos, and updates throughout the year. At the beginning of this year, I reached out to the participants to see how they were doing, and the results were impressive. While it’s an ongoing journey for many of them (all of us!), the stories were familiar: weight lost, energy gained, illness overcome. Some of the participants were gracious enough to share their stories for an eBook I’ve put together. You can get it for free as a newsletter subscriber (see the details below). The following story from 26 year old Ganeesha is one of the inspiring stories included in the eBook.

Keep reading…

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