The Primal Kitchen Podcast

The most basic advice I can give about hiking is to go find a natural space and walk around. That’s it. It’s not sexy or particularly exciting, but it’s good enough. I do have some additional thoughts, though. If you want to get deeper, if you want to “upgrade” or “hack” your hiking, you’ll find today’s post useful. I’m going to offer some ideas on how to get the most out of your forays into wilderness. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Brad Kearns chats with Ryan Hurst, GMB Fitness Founder and the action man behind the wildly popular GMB Fitness online bodyweight exercise program. A former martial artist and longtime resident of Japan, Ryan brings a gentle, evolved approach to fitness that is beautifully evident in this interesting interview. Expand your perspective about fitness and goal-setting with Ryan's gentle touch. Ask your body what it has to deliver each day and don't push beyond what you are capable of on that day--patience and discipline will get you from wound tight to doing the splits in only a year. In sharp contrast to a “get-shredded-at-all-costs” message that dominates much of the fitness world, the GMB method appeals to a broad audience of people who want to overcome the challenges of getting older, expand their mobility and prevent injury, and experience physical autonomy and freedom in their daily lives. Check out GMB’s free bodyweight exercise circuit to find out more about the featured ‘assessments’ in the interview -  like the Bear, Monkey, and Frogger. The interview concludes on some fun, interesting tangents like the cultural differences between USA and Japan. In conclusion, Ryan reminds us to move more each day, do little things to improve health, and strive to improve a bit each day instead of be a hero and crush occasional brutal workouts.

What’s motivating you right now? How do you feel yourself settling into the practices you’ve adopted since the first day? Even if you’ve experienced some wavering (that’s no reason to abandon the venture, you know), what brings you back to the center of your intention? How do you reclaim the moment? Reclaim the moment…. A rather powerful concept. It reminds us that—at any time—we can realign ourselves with the now. Moving our attention from the past (regret) or the future (pessimism, anxiety), we claim the potential of the present. We apply ourselves mindfully. In possessing the moment, we achieve self-possession. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Some people don’t need any help finding physical challenges. They naturally and intuitively figure out ways to engage physically with the world and test their prowess. But that’s not everyone, or else we’d see people sprinting down the street, hurdling park benches, climbing flagpoles, and swinging from tree branch to tree branch. It’d be a cool world, to be sure. It’s just not the one we live in. In this world, where physical challenges are usually optional, we have to go looking for them. What are some fitness challenges to try? I’ve got 11. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Brad Kearns welcomes back one of the most popular guests from the old days! Dr. Cate has been hard at work preparing the launch of her revised and updated bestseller Deep Nutrition, originally published in 2008 and relaunching a 512-page masterpiece in 2017. Cate gives you the straight scoop on her favorite topics, particularly the disastrous misinformation about dietary fats that has been entrenched in conventional wisdom for decades. Cate details why "natural fats" are so critical to human health, and how refined high polyunsaturated vegetable oils are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually. They disrupt normal cellular function immediately upon ingestion, increase oxidative stress throughout the body, and damage brain function in particular; this is the #1 disease catalyst in modern life, an underlying factor in every chronic disease study. Cate outs conventional wisdom as conducting a massive experiment to "feed modern humans the cheapest possible food and see what will happen." She outs researcher Ancel Keys as the dude who drove us toward bad fats and away from healthy fats ("he knew he was wrong too!," laments Cate). Speaking of losing weight, refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils are more likely to be stored and less likely to be burned than natural fats. In summary, here's how to save your life and optimize your health: Ditch refined high polyunsaturated vegetable oils (watch out when dining out; most restaurant food--fast food to fine dining--is soaked in these gnarly oils); eat more natural fats (eggs, meat, cheese, coconut products, olives/olive oil, avocados/avocado oil, etc.).

A big reason most people never stick to a serious exercise routine is that the benefits most people are interested in take a while to appear. Fat loss, muscle gain, boosts to strength, speed, and stamina—these physical manifestations of training adherence can take weeks and even months to show. That’s plenty of time for folks to give up, convinced exercise is just not for them. I get it. I do. But that’s not a valid excuse for not exercising. You know it’s important, you know what the benefits are, and I’m not going to sugarcoat things: training is not optional. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

I’m a type A personality, so setting and attaining goals comes naturally to me. I desire a thing, determine the steps necessary to attain it, and follow through. It’s how I work best. Thanks to some timely comments from my decidedly un-type-A wife, Carrie, I’ve realized something: much of my advice is unwittingly geared toward people with similar inclinations. But that doesn’t describe everyone. What about the rest of you? What about the slow burners and dreamers? The free spirits? When it comes to achieving a vision, what characterizes and organizes your process from desire to attainment? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Transitioning to the Primal Blueprint way of eating should be simple. There’s no need to invent the wheel at every meal. That said, it does likely mean shifting some of your routine in the kitchen. If you’re used to processed food, enjoy getting your hands a little messier. If you’re used to take-out, capitalize on the chance to use your creative skills. (Don’t worry, you’ve got an abundance of recipes and cookbooks right at your fingertips.) That said, all Primal cooks—beginners to old-timers—can make life easier with a few select tactics. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Not every challenge has to be massive. Not every action item needs to take you to the promised land of optimal health and body composition. Sometimes, you just want a writer you trust to devise a list of potential little mini-challenges, short self-experiments, and approachable action items. This is that list. Browse it. Jump around. See what resonates. Then get moving, and make them happen. I’m partial to 1, 5, 9, 13, 19, 20, 22, 26, and 30. But I’m sure whichever you choose will help you succeed this year. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Brad Kearns welcomes back one of the most popular guests from the old days! Dr. Cate has been hard at work preparing the launch of her revised and updated bestseller DEEP NUTRITION originally published in 2008 and relaunching a 512-page masterpiece in 2017. Cate gives you the straight scoop on her favorite topics, particularly the disastrous misinformation about dietary fats that has been entrenched in conventional wisdom for decades. Cate details why "natural fats" are so critical to human health, and how refined high polyunsaturated vegetable oils are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually. They disrupt normal cellular function immediately upon ingestion, increase oxidative stress throughout the body, and damage brain function in particular; this is the #1 disease catalyst in modern life, an underlying factor in every chronic disease study. Cate outs conventional wisdom as conducting a massive experiment to "feed modern humans the cheapest possible food and see what will happen." She outs researcher Ancel Keys as the dude who drove us toward bad fats and away from healthy fats ("he knew he was wrong too!," laments Cate). Speaking of losing weight, refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils are more likely to be stored and less likely to be burned than natural fats. In summary, here's how to save your life and optimize your health: Ditch refined high polyunsaturated vegetable oils (watch out when dining out; most restaurant food--fast food to fine dining--is soaked in these gnarly oils); eat more natural fats (eggs, meat, cheese, coconut products, olives/olive oil, avocados/avocado oil, etc.).