Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Sisson. I’m 63 years young. I live and work in Malibu, California. In a past life I was a professional marathoner and triathlete. Now my life goal is to help 100 million people get healthy. I started this blog in 2006 to empower people to take full responsibility for their own health and enjoyment of life by investigating, discussing, and critically rethinking everything we’ve assumed to be true about health and wellness...
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Research of the Week
In a recent study, higher maternal intakes of omega-6 PUFA made for fatter babies, while the opposite was true of omega-3s.
Move over, intermittent fasting. Melanoma researchers are finding that intermittent dosing with anti-tumor drugs is more effective at beating back drug-resistant malignant tumors.
Interesting Blog Posts
Seth Roberts discloses some of the often-undisclosed risks of common medical procedures and treatments.
Among adults in seventeen other wealthy nations, America’s are the unhealthiest, a new study reveals. Our men may have the lowest health expectancies and our women may have the second lowest, but hey, at least we have the greatest health care system known to man!
Everything Else
One of the more epic wellness sales that I’ve ever seen is in full swing: Primal Toad’s Toadally Primal Wellness Bundle. For just $39, you get 33 e-books valued at $479 for a 92% savings. The sale ends tomorrow.
That Darkened Cities link is amazing–coming from the country I always wished for better night skies when I moved to the city (first NY, then LA, now Chi). But be careful what you wish for: when the Northridge earthquake of ’94 woke us up from our slumber in Venice Beach, all the lights were knocked out–eerie but beautiful.
I propose a ban on all outdoor artificial light sources, including windows, brighter than 3 candelas per square meter, and on outdoor illumination brighter than 1*10^-3 lux (lumens per square meter).* This shall only apply to artificial lighting and to light sources whose primary purpose is to provide light. Fires whose express and sole purpose is warmth and/or recreation and/or cooking are exempt.
*starlight is 5*10^-5 lux, and a candela is the light output of a candle
Edit: This ban shall only be in force between civil twilight and civil dawn.
Failing that, I propose a national “blackout night”, during which non-essential light usage is strongly discouraged, just so that people can see what it looks like. It could be promoted as a green initiative, too.
Failing that, I might move to northern Canada, Alaska, central Africa, central Australia, Greenland, or the south Pacific. Then again, maybe not.
“Our men may have the lowest health expectancies and our women may have the second lowest, but hey, at least we have the greatest health care system known to man!”
‘false dichotomy’ refers to falsely perceiving or claiming that two options are mutually exclusive and that they are the only options.
Perhaps you mean oxymoron, paradox, or cognitive dissonance?
“Great” is a relative metric, but Americans do have the highest life expectancies when you remove fatal accidents from the numbers, which suggests that our healthcare system is quite exceptional at keeping us alive, especially when considering how unhealthy the average American is.
That’s an interesting link about getting up from the floor. I was just reading about that the other day! Maybe that’s one reason Asians tend to be healthier- dont they frequently eat at very low tables while siting on the floor?
And that bundle looks great! It took me forever yesterday to download all the Ebooks, but I think it will be worth it (:
Alyssa, which “Asians” are you talking about? There are quite a few. To your point though, in Korea folks tend to eat meals on the floor with small tables. Many restaurants are this way as well, although they are becoming more and more westernized. I am always embarrassed at how inflexible I am compared to my Korean friends when I visit.
On another note of westernization of the country, when I was in Korea two years ago there was a burger joint advertisong that their meals were “nutritionally balanced” as if the traditional Korean diet was not. I was appalled. Incidentally obesity is on the rise in Korea and several other southeast Asian countries as they further introduce US restaurants. Quite sad really
The Japanese used to spend something like 80% of their lives on the floor. Sadly, since WWII, more and more have adopted Western-style habits, including sitting on chairs and sofas. Many younger Japanese can’t sit properly, or for any length of time, in the formal “seiza” kneeling position. Sad.
Thanks for the melanoma link. I started paleo six months ago when a metastases was found in my liver and I partially credit my diet with the fact that it grew very slowly and didn’t multiply until treatment was possible last week. Many thanks for daily inspiration, Mark.
I took advantage of the deal. Wow, what a shed load of information! It has exposed me to a whole new bunch (for me, anyway) of different paleo/primal writers. This will keep me going for ages.
Thanks for putting together the package, Toad!
Couldn’t one argue that general health is more or less independent of health care and has more to do with lifestyle(isn’t that what this blog presupposes?), so that if Americans actually do have similar health outcomes or not drastically worse, then maybe it says next to NOTHING about our healthcare?
In fact there has been a lot of work showing that having health insurance (thus better healthcare) has about zero affect among similarly situated people in the US.
I just read the link. I have a feeling that when you control for race most of those differences shrink quite a bit. The US starts off with a pretty big disadvantage regardless of healthcare.
Could one imagine that if US health outcomes were better than other countries, defenders of our system would point to it?
Of course they would. But out outcomes are worse. And if were going to throw out outcomes (because, you know, black people) what criteria are we going to us. Cost? Ooops, seems like were screwed there too. Better throw that out.
I find it suspicious that an L.A.Times article about a study about American health statistics would mention gun use and “American culture, and the high value it places on individualism and personal autonomy,” especially after I saw who backed the study. And isn’t this the same L.A.Times that contributed to the failure of Prop. 37 in CA? Media, schmedia, indeed.
Gun use was cited because part of the health study was about injuries and homicides. Turns out they’re significant statistics. Not sure what your suspicious of–the National Academies Press Committee on Population?
I loved this one, too! I’ve been thinking about springing for a Japanese style dining room table for a different touch of dining experience. Besides being close to the ground and using floor cushions as “chairs,” I find them to be stunningly elegant as well. Here’s what I’m thinking of: http://bit.ly/13sY4ks Beautiful, no?
Darn! I thought the recipe would be for balut. Now THAT would be primal – you eat them when you find them, and I doubt that Grok knew or cared about candling the eggs to see what was inside! (They may have learned about floating them though, as eggs will float when rotten.)
I used to do that. Maybe somewhere there’s still a picture of me as a kid on my back on the floor with my work beside me and my cat lying across my neck.
I’ve had some dealings with cats lately. Close to when I started this “camping trip” back in October I was staying in a rectangular concrete cave that sloped slightly and with a sewage drain on one side. The other side was dry so that’s where I slept and kept my stuff. A cat came to visit me a few times at night and would rub against me, lie down next to me, and wake me up by pawing my head but wouldn’t let me pet it. Sometimes it would walk up the sewer pipe until it was engulfed in darkness and then it would come back. I went back one day after spending the night at a friend’s house and there was a stiff dead cat on the lower half of my sleeping bag. I think it was the same one that was visiting me. I couldn’t be sure how it died. One of its eyes was a bit sunken in. Initially I thought it may have been hit by a car and then put on my sleeping bag by someone with a sick sense of humour but I think it might have just laid down and died and had its brain shrink overnight, thus drawing in the eye. I covered it with the other half of the sleeping bag but the next day the sleeping bag and cat had been moved off the edge of the concrete and into the river.
My new spot is frequented by cats. One of them let me pick it up and bring it back to the building but it won’t stay inside. I opened a can of tuna, mashed some with a stick, and squatted as the cat ate it and then mashed up the rest that was underneath.
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your web site offered us with valuable info to work on.
You’ve done an impressive job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
SUBSCRIBE
Quick favor: if you bought a copy of 
That Darkened Cities link is amazing–coming from the country I always wished for better night skies when I moved to the city (first NY, then LA, now Chi). But be careful what you wish for: when the Northridge earthquake of ’94 woke us up from our slumber in Venice Beach, all the lights were knocked out–eerie but beautiful.
I propose a ban on all outdoor artificial light sources, including windows, brighter than 3 candelas per square meter, and on outdoor illumination brighter than 1*10^-3 lux (lumens per square meter).* This shall only apply to artificial lighting and to light sources whose primary purpose is to provide light. Fires whose express and sole purpose is warmth and/or recreation and/or cooking are exempt.
*starlight is 5*10^-5 lux, and a candela is the light output of a candle
Edit: This ban shall only be in force between civil twilight and civil dawn.
Failing that, I propose a national “blackout night”, during which non-essential light usage is strongly discouraged, just so that people can see what it looks like. It could be promoted as a green initiative, too.
Failing that, I might move to northern Canada, Alaska, central Africa, central Australia, Greenland, or the south Pacific. Then again, maybe not.
“at least we have the greatest health care system known to man!” – sorry, you definitely don’t. over here in Europe the system is much, much better.
Ummm, I think that was some tongue-in-cheek on Mark’s part, einstein 🙂
“Our men may have the lowest health expectancies and our women may have the second lowest, but hey, at least we have the greatest health care system known to man!”
False Dichotomy.
‘false dichotomy’ refers to falsely perceiving or claiming that two options are mutually exclusive and that they are the only options.
Perhaps you mean oxymoron, paradox, or cognitive dissonance?
You forgot cheeky humor, oye.
“Great” is a relative metric, but Americans do have the highest life expectancies when you remove fatal accidents from the numbers, which suggests that our healthcare system is quite exceptional at keeping us alive, especially when considering how unhealthy the average American is.
Best comment of the week to date!
That’s an interesting link about getting up from the floor. I was just reading about that the other day! Maybe that’s one reason Asians tend to be healthier- dont they frequently eat at very low tables while siting on the floor?
And that bundle looks great! It took me forever yesterday to download all the Ebooks, but I think it will be worth it (:
Alyssa, which “Asians” are you talking about? There are quite a few. To your point though, in Korea folks tend to eat meals on the floor with small tables. Many restaurants are this way as well, although they are becoming more and more westernized. I am always embarrassed at how inflexible I am compared to my Korean friends when I visit.
On another note of westernization of the country, when I was in Korea two years ago there was a burger joint advertisong that their meals were “nutritionally balanced” as if the traditional Korean diet was not. I was appalled. Incidentally obesity is on the rise in Korea and several other southeast Asian countries as they further introduce US restaurants. Quite sad really
That would probably be Japanese, not Asians in general. :p
The Japanese used to spend something like 80% of their lives on the floor. Sadly, since WWII, more and more have adopted Western-style habits, including sitting on chairs and sofas. Many younger Japanese can’t sit properly, or for any length of time, in the formal “seiza” kneeling position. Sad.
Thanks for the melanoma link. I started paleo six months ago when a metastases was found in my liver and I partially credit my diet with the fact that it grew very slowly and didn’t multiply until treatment was possible last week. Many thanks for daily inspiration, Mark.
LOL, who valued those ebooks at $479?
The value is simply the total price that they all sell at individually. With 33 ebooks, it comes out to $14.51 per ebook.
Even if you think the value is HALF that, it’s a hell of a deal.
I took advantage of the deal. Wow, what a shed load of information! It has exposed me to a whole new bunch (for me, anyway) of different paleo/primal writers. This will keep me going for ages.
Thanks for putting together the package, Toad!
You’re welcome and thank YOU for being part of something that has been beyond anything I could ver imagine.
They should be valued at FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, that is how much value I feel I received from them.
My mind is BLOWN AWAY by the information, my cranium is in shreds, I do not have control of my cranium.
Ah ha! Thanks for making me laugh out loud today Joe 🙂
I am very happy that Mark did not link the soda study. Then the whole rant and rave of correlation verse causation would have started.
Couldn’t one argue that general health is more or less independent of health care and has more to do with lifestyle(isn’t that what this blog presupposes?), so that if Americans actually do have similar health outcomes or not drastically worse, then maybe it says next to NOTHING about our healthcare?
In fact there has been a lot of work showing that having health insurance (thus better healthcare) has about zero affect among similarly situated people in the US.
I just read the link. I have a feeling that when you control for race most of those differences shrink quite a bit. The US starts off with a pretty big disadvantage regardless of healthcare.
Could one imagine that if US health outcomes were better than other countries, defenders of our system would point to it?
Of course they would. But out outcomes are worse. And if were going to throw out outcomes (because, you know, black people) what criteria are we going to us. Cost? Ooops, seems like were screwed there too. Better throw that out.
I find it suspicious that an L.A.Times article about a study about American health statistics would mention gun use and “American culture, and the high value it places on individualism and personal autonomy,” especially after I saw who backed the study. And isn’t this the same L.A.Times that contributed to the failure of Prop. 37 in CA? Media, schmedia, indeed.
Gun use was cited because part of the health study was about injuries and homicides. Turns out they’re significant statistics. Not sure what your suspicious of–the National Academies Press Committee on Population?
Love the article about floor living. Maybe I should go a week without sitting on my couch!
I loved this one, too! I’ve been thinking about springing for a Japanese style dining room table for a different touch of dining experience. Besides being close to the ground and using floor cushions as “chairs,” I find them to be stunningly elegant as well. Here’s what I’m thinking of: http://bit.ly/13sY4ks Beautiful, no?
Beautiful, yes! Great idea.
That is beautiful! Actually, my coffee table looks somewhat like that!
Darn! I thought the recipe would be for balut. Now THAT would be primal – you eat them when you find them, and I doubt that Grok knew or cared about candling the eggs to see what was inside! (They may have learned about floating them though, as eggs will float when rotten.)
I’ll pass on the granola recipe.
+1
I love to lay on the floor to do homework.
I used to do that. Maybe somewhere there’s still a picture of me as a kid on my back on the floor with my work beside me and my cat lying across my neck.
Bring back Dr Zander’s modern gym equipment I say. I’d love a Gymnasticon for the home.
The rutabaga hashbrowns look awesome!
I’ve had some dealings with cats lately. Close to when I started this “camping trip” back in October I was staying in a rectangular concrete cave that sloped slightly and with a sewage drain on one side. The other side was dry so that’s where I slept and kept my stuff. A cat came to visit me a few times at night and would rub against me, lie down next to me, and wake me up by pawing my head but wouldn’t let me pet it. Sometimes it would walk up the sewer pipe until it was engulfed in darkness and then it would come back. I went back one day after spending the night at a friend’s house and there was a stiff dead cat on the lower half of my sleeping bag. I think it was the same one that was visiting me. I couldn’t be sure how it died. One of its eyes was a bit sunken in. Initially I thought it may have been hit by a car and then put on my sleeping bag by someone with a sick sense of humour but I think it might have just laid down and died and had its brain shrink overnight, thus drawing in the eye. I covered it with the other half of the sleeping bag but the next day the sleeping bag and cat had been moved off the edge of the concrete and into the river.
My new spot is frequented by cats. One of them let me pick it up and bring it back to the building but it won’t stay inside. I opened a can of tuna, mashed some with a stick, and squatted as the cat ate it and then mashed up the rest that was underneath.
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your web site offered us with valuable info to work on.
You’ve done an impressive job and our entire community will be grateful to you.