I feel compelled to give back to your organization (Primal Blueprint/Mark’s Daily Apple) as it has it has a profound impact on my life. I hope my story will motivate others to consider taking the steps to lead to a longer and more fulfilling life.

Like many others, a slow deterioration of my health led me to seek out a sustainable approach to a healthier life. My goal was not just to be alive at 85…it was to thrive and enjoy an active life.

I never would have imagined that I would be dealing with health/weight issues as I was cruising through life counterbalancing poor eating habits with an active lifestyle that included long distance running (40-50 miles/week, marathon races, etc.) for 20+ years.

When I hit my late twenties, my weight started to creep up given my increasingly sedentary lifestyle. That’s when I started to practice crash conventional diets to bring my weight down. The funny thing was that I never had a problem losing the weight as I am a focused, goal oriented person. I would psych my mind up to put my body into deprivation mode for 2 months and the pounds would come off quickly. Unfortunately, I would hit my goal and then return back to the toxic eating habits and the weight would come back stronger than it came off.

I turned 52 last year and had undergone one too many yo-yo diet experiences based upon many of the conventional dieting techniques. My weight loss/gain swings started at 20 pounds and soon got to 40 pounds. This occurred at least 7 times over a 15 year period. As a result of my weight management issues, I slowly developed “middle age health issues” such as gastric reflux, sleep apnea and other GI disorders. These disorders were treated mostly through prescription drugs. After going to a GI doctor, and hearing that I was at risk of losing my gall bladder, I was shocked into reality. I wasn’t ready to enter a phase in my life where I would slowly lose functionality of my body and increase my dependence on prescription drugs to slow down my body’s deterioration.  This would not get me to my “Thrive at 85” goal.

At the same time, my skeletal structure was showing wear and tear from the years of pounding it endured through long distance running. I thought I was in great shape being a marathon runner but I realized I was totally out of balance with very low core strength. I develop chronic issues with my back and knees that resulted in “outages” that immobilized me for periods of time. These outages made me miserable as I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed.

After the gall bladder incident, my wife had encouraged me to read materials on the Paleo Lifestyle. After reading The Primal Blueprint and subscribing to Mark’s Daily Apple, it became so clear that the approach I was taking to managing my health (yo-yo dieting and cardio obsession) didn’t make any sense. I realized that my body was not intended to eat the foods I was eating or to endure the pounding it was taking. The logic in the blueprint and the daily articles made sense and inspired not only me…but my wife as well.

The only question was whether I would be able to make the huge transformation in eating habits. The staple of my diet was based mostly on grains and I would get this maddening sweet craving after dinner that was usually satisfied with junk desserts. The change appeared intimidating at first. I was shocked how easy it was, after just 2 weeks, to get a great feeling of satisfaction from eating healthy, high fat foods. I lost 50 pounds during the first 7 months of Primal and, most importantly, my weight has been stable for almost a year!

I also have been getting into lifting weights and core strengthening for the first time in my life. I have not had an outage in over 1 1/2 years and feel a lot stronger.

But…there are so many other more impactful benefits that come from the Primal lifestyle, including having much more energy, being able to handle stress and having fewer mood swings.

The key was that my wife and I took the journey together. We never turned back. I transformed from a stressed out, carb loving, and cardio extremist into someone who truly enjoys all aspects of the Primal lifestyle (diet, exercise, sleep, etc.). It has been a game changer for us. Besides the weight management, we have loved the wonderful feeling of well-being that we experience now. In addition, taking this Primal journey together has really strengthened our marriage. The success stories and articles we have read on Mark’s Daily Apple have been an inspiration to my wife and I, and I felt compelled to give back to the Primal community and the people who may be considering it.

Dave D.
Gaithersburg, Maryland

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