Episode 128: Cassie Parks: Host Elle Russ chats with Cassie Parks about the law of attraction, the benefits of positive energy, the pitfalls of telling too many stories about yourself, the uselessness of worrying, and much much more.
Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.
Avid cyclist Chris Froome cut carbs and increased protein to lose body fat and increase his power-to-weight ratio. Oh, and also to win his third Tour de France in four years.
Berries are nature’s way of handing you the perfect dessert. Sweet and pleasurable to eat, berries also have some of the highest antioxidant ratings of all fruits.
A bowl of fresh, ripe berries is splendid, for sure, but this parfait made from layers of roasted berries and whipped cream is over-the-top deliciousness.
Roasting berries bring out their sweetness, a handy trick when berries aren’t quite as ripe as you’d like. The flavor of roasted berries is richer, tasting more like pie filling than fresh berries. Layered with whipped cream (made from either coconut milk or whipping cream), the roasted berries turn into a gorgeous, healthy and decadent-tasting dessert.
1 13.5 ounce can (400 ml) full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight, or 8 ounces (236 ml) heavy whipping cream
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450 °F/232 °C. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
If using strawberries, hull and quarter the berries.
In a large bowl combine the berries. Pour the maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla extract over the berries. Add a pinch of salt. Gently mix.
Spread the berries out evenly in one layer on the baking sheet.
Roast 25 minutes (do not stir).
While the berries are roasting, put a mixing bowl in the freezer to chill for 20 minutes or so.
If making coconut whipped cream, open the can of chilled coconut milk and scrape the solid coconut cream into the chilled mixing bowl, without disturbing the liquid. Save the liquid for another use, like smoothies.
Beat for about 2 minutes. If desired, add maple syrup or sugar to sweeten.
If using whipping cream, beat the cream in the chilled mixing bowl until it turns into whipped cream. If desired, add maple syrup or sugar to sweeten.
In clear glasses or bowl, layer the cooled berries and (coconut) whipped cream.
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!
First of all, I would like to thank you and your team for making Mark’s Daily Apple so easy to navigate, read and dive into on a daily basis. The introduction that I have received to The Primal Blueprint over the past few months has been extremely rewarding and I am very proud to call myself a member of the primal community.
My story is nowhere near as exciting as some of the members who have overcome health problems, debilitating injuries, illnesses and extreme weight loss results. My story is one of an average citizen, stuck in the rut of a society overloaded with convenience food, stagnant lifestyle choices and a government that has convinced the masses that their food guide is the final word on health.
My name is Carey and I am a 39 year old father of two and a husband to the most supportive woman a man could ask for. My motivation for changing my lifestyle came from two places: A 40th birthday that I did not want to have with the mental and physical condition that I was in, and from a close family member who designed their own ketogenic lifestyle plan.
Last year my wife and I were introduced to the paleo way of life. We gave it a shot, we kicked the tires, we test drove it, and inevitably we crashed into the ditch of “everyday life.” We gave it a good go. We definitely saw results. But the daily grind of alarm clocks and kids and commitments to the television/couch combo did us in. We didn’t exactly quit all together. We did try to make smart choices for ourselves and our kids. My brother in-law was a very good mentor with the gains and goals he made with his keto program. I did want those results, deep down. But unfortunately my tendency to give into bad habits took over most days. Toast and cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunches, rice and pasta for dinners. These became more of a routine than a choice. It was just too easy. But I finally decided that easy wasn’t what I wanted anymore.
When the clock struck 2016, the person that I saw in the mirror gave me a long hard stare and said, “Hey, are you ready for 40?” And I said, “Hell no!!” It was definitely time for me to light a fire under my feet. I honestly had the best intentions, just like every other resolution maker at New Years. January and February came and went, and so did a lot carbs from my diet. I was making better choices and trying my darnedest to stick to a paleo diet for myself and my family. The one thing I couldn’t overcome was my love of craft beer and late night television. I have been a admirer/junkie of craft brews for many years, I even started from scratch brewing my own at home. It was a rewarding hobby and still is for me. Even though today I am healthier and happier than I have been in years, I will never cut out my love for a cold, local, fresh beer. I feel no guilt working off those carbs.
In February I was browsing our local book store for paleo cookbooks and craft beer magazines, I stumbled upon The Primal Blueprint. I had heard Mark’s name come up a few times while discussing paleo topics and recipes I had found online, but nothing really clicked. After doing some more research, I came to find that this guy had a heck of a lot to say, and a way of getting his idea across like no one else I had heard before. I began watching his videos and subscribed to MDA. The real kicker for me was listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast that Mark did earlier in the year. I have since listened to it numerous times. Needless to say, The Primal Blueprint was the quickest read for me, and I am not a big book person. Eye opening is an understatement to describe how informative it was for me when I sat down to take it all in.
On March 1st, I walked into a gym and signed up for a membership. I weighed in at 232 lbs (now 200). With everything that I had learned in the past weeks, I was armed with an intense focus. It may have come across as arrogance at the time, but it was what I needed to fight hard against life’s push-backs. When people asked me what my plan was, I told them I was going Primal. People said that it’s not normal, you need all those carbs, how can you eat all that fat? I did not want to be normal. Normal was now extinct to me. I wanted to be a fat burner, not a carb-loader. I wanted to get my energy from what was inside me. Not from putting sugar and starches into my body. I was done getting my energy from wheat and grains and high fructose corn syrup.
I had already been doing a weekly bootcamp with a close friend of mine, but although I enjoyed it, I found myself loading up on carbs and sugars before class and just felt sluggish halfway through. Now when I go, I feel great! My diet is now on track. I eat lots of proteins, fats, and fruits and vegetables. My carb intake is under a 100 a day. No more cardboard for breakfast. No more late night bags of chips. Well, I do still cheat sometimes. I go to bed earlier at night and I am up at 5 am ready to go. A bullet proof coffee and I’m banging on the door at the gym at 5:30 am.
I am now fitter, happier and getting healthier day by day. I have my wife and family to thank, I have a great bootcamp family, I have a great gym family. And now I have a Primal community family. I talk to people on a daily basis that are still stuck in the conventional perception of what is healthy. I try not to get frustrated speaking to the naysayers. And I try to spend more time talking with people who are seriously interested in what I have done to turn my lifestyle Primal. No one is going to tell me that my choices are wrong. I now have the knowledge and wisdom to actually back up my choices, and I have Mark to thank for that.
Is your scalp always dry? Itchy? Do you suffer from dandruff? Then a DIY Pre-Shampoo treatment may be the answer! I suffer from dry scalp and dandruff. I try to find ways to help combat my scalp issues. As you know I have been protective styling all summer for weeks at a time, and my dandruff seems to be at bay until around about the 4th week. It’s important to take care of your scalp because healthy hair begins with a healthy scalp! Continue!>>>
By now you probably already know all about the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), and how amazing it is for your hair.
I am always researching ways to combat the issues that I have with my natural hair. I research everything! I always find new ways and things to share with you all, in hopes that it might help someone else going through a similar situation. Through research I found a great DIY Pre-Shampoo treatment for dry scalp that’s cost-effective, simple and can be done at home. This DIY treatment helps keep your dandruff at bay.
Here is what you will need:
-1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar (I use organic ACV w/mother)
-Equal Parts Water (or if it’s not too strong, you can use all ACV)
-Oil of your choice (I use tea tree oil)
Instructions:
-Mix well & Massage into scalp
-Cover hair for 30-45 minutes
-Rinse with warm water
-Shampoo hair
It’s that easy! If you try it out let me know.
Have you tried other DIY Pre-Shampoo Scalp Treatments?
from Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Care http://ift.tt/2aDHUQ7
When Melanie Askew left her job in human resources, she had no idea that education would transform her life. All she knew was that she hoped to make an impact in her community. But a massive pay cut and a leap of faith would lead Askew to do something that hasn’t been done before. This fall, the 20-something former teacher will launch Elan Academy in New Orleans. Like many millennials, she started with a career based on societal pressure before ultimately landing her dream job. Continue Reading!>>>
Askew’s initial goal wasn’t always to become a teacher. She had a breakthrough moment and realized her true calling. “Feeling the pressure to enter a lucrative field, I took a job in human resources. After interviewing candidates for jobs and seeing the long-term impact of not having a strong education, I took a $20,000 pay cut and became a teacher. I needed to get on the ground and make an impact. Money was no factor as children’s lives were at stake,” said Askew.
“I took a $20,000 pay cut and became a teacher.”
As a kid, Askew was bullied a lot in school. It was reading books that allowed her to keep focus and escape what was going on: Perpetual bullying and a father struggling with Lupus. “I transferred from one school to another because of perpetual bullying. Unfortunately, day one at the new school, the bullying continued. I’ve heard everything from, “You think you’re cute.” to being physically threatened and called every expletive in the book. It was tough to balance academics with the bullying.” But even after school, things would still remain difficult for Askew. “Riding the bus home was absolutely torture. I would get off the bus and come home and help my father who was slowly deteriorating from Lupus.” It was her father’s struggle that allowed Askew to realize just how fortunate she was to receive this type of quality education from elementary through high school in St. Louis. Her father would pass away during her 8th grade year. She would begin receiving monthly social security funding, money her mom would use to supplement tuition to attend a private college prep high school. “It hit me that no parent, should have to die for their child to attain a great education. My siblings and all students should have had the option to choose, the system should not choose it for them.”
In high school, she was very involved, participating in student council, track, cheerleading, FBLA, directing the gospel choir, and the yearbook club. Her life changing moment would happen shortly after she crossed the stage, earning her bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University. “A bitter sweet moment, my siblings were cheering for me yet they had not had the opportunity to graduate from college. I wondered what was so different about me. After much reflection, I came to the conclusion that the only difference was the timing of my father’s death.”
“It hit me that no parent, should have to die for their children to attain a great education.”
Melanie Askew is undoubtedly passionate about making a change through education. She would go on to earn a M.Ed. in Organizational Leadership program at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. A course taught by Dr. Donna Ford titled ‘Multicultural Diversity in American Education’ would change her life. Dr. Ford exposed her class to the inequities of the U.S. education system. “When I hear that one in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade fail to graduate from high school on time, four times the rate for children with proficient third-grade reading skills, I’m inspired to change the narrative. If you add poverty to the equation, students are about three times more likely to dropout or fail to graduate from high school than those who have never been poor. We can debate all day as to why this is the case. From systematic oppression, segregation in schools, or place blame on parents and teachers. Whatever the debate, one thing remains true, our students need to read on grade level by the third grade and that is possible.”
“I’m inspired to change the narrative.”
Like many who relocate to The Big Easy, they fall in love with the cities rich history and culture. “I have learned that the history of New Orleans is incredibly deep and the value is priceless. While teaching in the Achievement School District, a district modeled after the Recovery School District in New Orleans, I studied what was happening in the city.” Post Katrina has seen an enormous amount of non-profits and education programs flock to the city. But the city that everyone loves come Essence Fest and Mardi Gras has struggled for years with its education system.
NOLA has the highest percentage of students that attend private schools. Its educational climate is unlike any other city in the country. By age three, children in the poorest families have a vocabulary one third as large as their more affluent peers. Kindergarten vocabulary size predicts reading comprehension in the middle elementary years and orally tested vocabulary at the end of first grade predicts reading comprehension ten years later. Research shows that a classical background has a pragmatic impact on academic success. All students at Élan Academy will enter middle school with a strong classical foundation prepared to continue on a path of academic success, and going on to attend high-performing high schools that will lead them to college.
Families who seek vouchers or are unable to afford a private school education can enroll at Elan and receive the same caliber of education at no cost. We are classical in nature but are clearing the understanding that our students must have the 21st century skills to be successful. Therefore we include blended learning, computer program coding, and leadership development.
Élan Academy offers a unique option for parents as the only public, tuition-free, classical school for the 21st century available in New Orleans without the added cost of tuition. Élan Academy is place where parents can be sure their students are safe, valued, celebrated, and learn to become the next generation of leaders to access lives of opportunity. Élan Academy will provide an academically rigorous program that compels students to think deeply and critically about academics, teaches debate, Greek and Latin roots of words to ensure command of the English language. For more information about Elan Academy or to enroll, you can visit the school’s website at elanacademy.org.
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Mike "Orie" Mosley is a freelance writer/photographer and cultural advocate from St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Arts, Entertainment & Media Management from Columbia College Chicago and a Masters in Higher Education Administration from LSU. He is also the co-founder of music and culture website http://ift.tt/1QXC23X. In his spare time, he's probably listening to hip hop & neo soul music, hitting up brunch or caught up in deep conversations about Black music. You can follow him on Twitter @mike_orie or on Instagram @mikeorie
from Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Care http://ift.tt/2ahBrOi
Every day we’re barraged by “good ideas”—all the things we should be doing with our lives and could start doing today if we really cared enough. Too much advice can overwhelm us, and, more importantly, it can inflate the power of “should.” It can cement an insidious (and, in my experience, ineffective) framework in our minds. We risk framing every choice—from work to pleasure—as an obligation. Doing so burdens life with a constant sense of onus, constraint and deprivation—not exactly the stuff of grand motivation. In my experience, we aren’t in for much fun or long-term success with that brand of approach. Luckily, there’s a better way to talk to ourselves.
I’m not oblivious to the apparent irony here. Here I am offering a blog all about living a healthy life, and each day I offer information and strategies to that end. But there’s something to my very nature that still resists the authority of “should” (or authority in general) and prefers a framework of option and example. It makes for some interesting creative tension every day.
I guess you could say it’s why I often write more casually than authors of other health blogs and why I’m so blunt about self-interest. It’s maybe why I prioritize publishing others’ stories that highlight their appropriation of Primal and why I couch my whole interpretation and experience of health within a loose blueprint that I flagrantly encourage people to make their own. And it’s perhaps why I spend ample time here deliberately ferreting out the slippery psychological forces and individual nuances at work behind any endeavor to change one’s life or lifestyle. At the end of the day, I don’t ever want to be a dictator of “shoulds.”
And here’s why.
In all my years, I’ve never found “should” to be a very effective way to talk myself (or anyone else) into much of anything. When we say “should,” we’ve immediately sidestepped ownership of our own motivation. “Should” declares that outside influences are more important than our own desires. As logical as this assertion might be at times, at others it can set up a conflicting division between what we want for ourselves and what we’ll do instead. While we may be willing to do what we feel is expected of us by that external code or logic, we retain the excuse to hold it at arm’s length like yesterday’s forgotten lunch—an unappetizing serving of pressure with a side of guilt and resentment.
Just how does this inspire or incentivize?
For my part, I prefer to frame my choices through self-determination rather than external prescription. I prefer to enlarge my understanding of and commitment to healthy self-interest rather than abdicate my personal will. Because the language we use with ourselves (like the stories we tell ourselves) matters. How we frame our health-related intentions (e.g. weight loss, fitness, stress reduction, etc.) can—and likely will—affect our follow through.
Shifting the language we use to describe our behavioral goals and healthy visions can reinstate that sense of ownership. When we let go of the “I should” and instead stake the claim of “I choose,” something happens. We’re no longer playing in the vague grounds of consideration and critique. We’re saying yes—or no. There’s no chasm to get lost or procrastinate in. We do it or we don’t.
Even better, we can further frame the choice not as avoidance of an unwanted result but within a concrete desire we’re aiming for. For example, instead of “I should do X because [insert negative blah, blah, blah],” we entrain our brain toward personal commitment by saying “I choose to do X because I want [this, that and the other awesome thing] for myself.”
Let’s do some more comparing and contrasting.
On Primal Eating
“I should eat better because I’ll continue exacerbating my thyroid issues/diabetes/autoimmune issues/etc.”
versus
“I choose to eat better because I want to feel vibrant and energetic.”
“I should stop eating now, or it will just make me fatter.”
versus
“I’m choosing to stop eating now because I’m full and satisfied.”
“I should stop being so careless with what I grab for lunch.”
versus
“I choose to pack healthy lunches because being mindful of my food selection will help me reach my fat loss goal more quickly.”
On Getting Fit
“I should stop being so physically lazy.”
versus
“I choose to fit in some kind of exercise each day because my mood is so much lighter/I sleep better/I have more energy when I do.”
“I should start lifting weights. I know I’m weaker than I should be.”
versus
“I choose to lift heavy things three times a week because I enjoy challenging my limits and because I like feeling strong.”
On Embracing Other Elements of Primal Wellness
“I should take more breaks at work so I don’t screw up as much.”
versus
“I choose to take regular breaks at work because I’m more productive when I do.”
“I should get outside more because I know I’m missing out on vitamin D.”
versus
“I choose to spend an hour or more outside each day because I appreciate how it makes me feel relaxed and creative.”
“I should get myself to bed earlier and not deal with the chaotic mornings.”
versus
“I choose to go to bed at 10:00pm because I enjoy being rested and focused the next day.”
Do any of these examples ring true? How do they compare with the way you talk to yourself about your Primal intentions?
Whatever the area you’re working on enhancing in your life (e.g. Primal eating, fitness, weight loss, healing a health condition, stress management, etc.), the takeaway here is this: there’s force in the language we use with ourselves. Our words can determine the real mindset we bring to our goals. Do we simply agree that a good idea is another “should” that we guilt ourselves over, or do we make a personal claim for our health and well-being by saying we choose to pursue what we want for ourselves today? Our words direct our thinking, which in subtle or dramatic ways influences the action we take—not to mention the attitude we bring to that effort. In the end, we do better for ourselves and our goals by empowering our intentions.
How can you take a concern or goal you have for your health, let go of the obligation, and frame it as a positive, purposeful intention? Consider it today’s Primal challenge, and share your newly fashioned aim with folks in the comments below.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Have a great end to your week.
Over the years I have learned so much about natural hair and most of what I’ve learned has come from my own journey with my hair. After watching countless Youtube videos and educating myself on natural hair, I came to conclusion that there are 4 tips necessary for natural hair growth that are simple and easy. I wanted to keep this short, sweet, and to the point. Enjoy!
1. Deep Condition
You’ll be surprised on how many people miss this essential step during their hair cleansing process. Deep conditioning adds moisture and nourishes the hair after shampooing. It also helps the hair be soft and more manageable for styling. Every single time I wash my hair I deep condition whether it’s with heat or not. Deep conditioning with heat includes adding the product than sitting under the dryer for about 10-15 minutes. The heat helps the product fully saturate the hair and the outcome is amazing. When I don’t feel like pulling out the blow dryer which is most of the time I simply add the conditioner, comb the hair out to evenly distribute the product, and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Moisturize
Moisture is a huge step when it comes to growing out hair. Dried out hair causes damage and breakage. To top it off not keeping the hair moisturized just looks bad. There is so many moisturizers out there to use including oils but the key is to find the best one for your hair type. When applying moisture what works best for me is adding the product after conditioning the hair while the hair is still wet before styling.
IG: @itsmsjones_2u
3. Use As Little Heat As Possible
I had to learn this the hard way. When I first went natural I had no idea how to handle or style my hair therefor blow outs were my go to style for convenience. I soon came to the conclusion that applying all that heat slowly but surely was damaging my hair. When applying heat to the hair the saying ‘less is more’ does not only apply to fashion. Using little heat doesn’t only apply to flat ironing. When washing my hair I use warm water, water too hot is harsh. After styling I try to air dry if possible but if I do use the dryer I apply heat protection to my hair before styling and I use the middle temperate dial instead of the highest temperature.
4. Wear Protective Styles
Whether it’s Senegalese twist, box braids, or any kind of updo protective styles are the best! The key word is protect and that’s exactly what it does. These styles eliminate the need for heat, retain moisture, and just look freakin cute. I’m for protective styles mainly because I can get up and go and not have to worry about my hair. Convenience is what I look for but more than that if you want your hair to grow and be in it’s most healthiest state, protective styles are important during that process.
What have you learned about natural hair growth during your journey?
from Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Care http://ift.tt/2ah3ASK
Sometimes we end up limiting how often we wash our hair thinking that it will prevent dryness when we should actually be washing more frequently than we do. The signs that our hair is dying for a wash are not always so obvious, especially for the natural newbie.
How often natural hair needs to be washed varies from person to person. It depends on these factors:
-The amount of oil your scalp produces
-Your hair density and texture
-Hair porosity
-The styles you like to wear
-The length of your hair (shorter hair is no doubt easier to wash more frequently)
-The amount of hair products that you use and the way that your hair reacts to products (if you use lots of styling products you will definitely need to wash your hair more frequently than someone who uses hair styling products minimally).
The above factors contribute to the decision as to how often washing is best for you. Aside from your usual schedule there may be some indicators that you are not aware of that are signals that a wash day is in order:
-Your hair doesn’t seem to get moisturized no matter what you do or put on it.
-In the above case more than likely you have product buildup which is creating a barrier so that your hair cannot receive the moisture you are attempting to put into it. Try using a clarifying shampoo.
-Tangles in your hair are getting out of control.
-Difficulty managing and manipulating your hair (water helps in the elasticity department).
-Weighed down hair
-Your curl definition is lack luster
My personal experience
I will say that, in my personal experience, for me at least once a week is absolutely necessary. This is true because my hair tangles more and more as time goes by without washing it. So, in essence, the drier that my 3c hair gets, the more difficult it is to manage.
In order to decrease tangles, believe it or not, the best thing to do is to increase the hair’s moisture level by completely immersing it with water and washing it. Notice that I recommend complete immersion and thorough washing. To explain, when I began to stretch the time between washings by employing twist outs which require lightly misting hair with water for moisture I noticed an increase in the number of split ends that occurred.
My hair’s moisture level was too low for my hair to be manipulated. Translation? The lack of moisture contributed to dry hair that was disposed to tangling and that meant more knots than usual. That, in turn, meant more knotty and split ends being cut off with the scissors.
For all curly hair types, they DESPERATELY need moisture and lots of it.
So if you are experiencing lots of problems with managing your curls, consider washing your hair more frequently. The answer just might be as simple as that!
from Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Care http://ift.tt/2ateUuG
Coffee is serious business. We Americans drink about 400 million cups of it and spend several billion dollars on it each year. It’s the most popular drug on earth, and certainly the most socially acceptable. In many ways, coffee’s the closest thing we’ve got to a universal, daily ritual, as just about every morning, billions of people across the planet prostrate themselves before the holy, energy-giving legume. It also hails from the same place the earliest members of our species do: East Africa (Ethiopia, to be exact). That the most industrious animal ever to walk the planet and the psychoactive legume that fuels said industry both hail from the same place on earth is pure poetry.
Coffee’s also delicious. I’d say you’d have to pry my coffee from my cold, dead fingers, only the ensuing struggle would slosh it all onto the floor, and that would be such a waste.
Yet it’s also considered to be a vice, one of those substances that “everyone knows” is bad for you.
Is it?
Before I get into the evidence, let’s give the ending away early: it’s (probably) good for (most of) you. And yeah, I’m biased as hell. So what? It’s based on considerable evidence, and you likely share the same pro-coffee bias.
The majority of the evidence in favor of coffee consists of epidemiological studies—making observations of and gathering data from large populations. These cannot establish causation, but the trend is clear: it seems to be good for us.
Breast cancer: Consumption of caffeinated coffee, but not decaf, has a protective effect on postmenopausal breast cancer risk.
Colorectal cancer: Most research shows an inverse relationship between coffee drinking and colorectal cancer. Some research suggests a positive link, but the results are muddied by the fact that coffee drinkers were more likely to be smokers.
Diabetes: Increasing your coffee intake results in a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, even if it’s decaf.
Endothelial function: Coffee polyphenols improve endothelial function after glucose loading in men, ameliorate the endothelial dysfunction that normally follows a meal, and prevent the hyperglycemia associated with endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.
Gallstones: Among American men, coffee intake protects against symptomatic gallstone disease.
Inflammation: After abstaining from coffee for a month, habitual coffee drinkers were given 4 cups a day for the second month and 8 cups a day for the third. Markers of subclinical inflammation all dropped and HDL cholesterol increased with coffee consumption.
Liver cancer: Coffee has a protective relationship with liver cancer mediated by markers of liver damage and inflammation.
Oxidative stress: Women with higher caffeine intakes (via coffee and tea) show evidence of lower oxidative stress, less DNA damage, and a greater capacity for DNA repair.
Prostate cancer: Coffee consumption reduces risk of prostate cancer.
Stroke: Moderate coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of stroke. Even high coffee consumption (8 cups a day) appears slightly protective.
Sun damage: Coffee and its polyphenols are associated with protection against photoaging.
It becomes even more convincing when you realize that coffee isn’t a conventionally “healthy” beverage. There’s very little room to make the “healthy user bias” argument.
Potential disease and death avoidance is an important feature of coffee, to be sure, but what about the shorter-term benefits? Most people don’t drink coffee to “improve their postprandial hyperglycemic response.” They drink it because it makes them feel good and improves their performance.
And contrary to popular belief, coffee does not dehydrate you. Studies show no difference in hydration status between people drinking coffee, water, or other beverages. One measured fluid, electrolyte, and renal indices of hydration over eleven days of caffeine consumption in human subjects, finding that doses of up to 6 mg caffeine per kilogram of body weight had no effect on body mass, urine osmolality (urine concentration), urine specific gravity (concentration of excreted materials in urine), urine color, urine volume, sodium excretion, potassium secretion, creatinine content, blood urea nitrogen (forms when protein breaks down), and serum levels of sodium and potassium.
Coffee is the biggest dietary source of polyphenols
Maybe if goji berry tea shops were on every corner, every man, woman, and child ate acai bowls for breakfast, coffee wouldn’t be the biggest source of phytonutrients. Gram for gram, coffee ranks behind most berries. But in the real world, where most people drink several large cups of coffee each day, coffee is the the primary way we get our antioxidants. That’s true for Japan, Spain, Poland, and many other countries.
You Primal folks reading this over your Big Ass Salads full of colorful veggies and typing away with your turmeric-dusted fingers get the best of both worlds: the big load of coffee polyphenols plus the antioxidants found in all the other colorful produce the world has to offer.
True, there are some negative studies. Animal studies in particular are more likely to show negative results. But it’s important to realize that animals are not habitual coffee drinkers. Giving a group of lab mice a bunch of caffeinated coffee isn’t the same as giving it to humans who’ve been drinking it for years. Caffeine, like so many other plant compounds we hold in high regard, is a natural plant pesticide that certain plants (like coffee and tea) employ to ward off and even kill small predators. The bulk of the evidence suggests that humans have co-opted this “toxin” and made it healthy, hormetic input that, in the right doses, improves our health and well-being.
That said, not everyone should start a pot-a-day habit. Depending on several variables, coffee consumption has its downsides.
Coffee and sleep
Coffee has an obvious relationship with sleep: it counters it. The most common use of coffee is to stay awake. It can’t replace sleep over the long term, but in the short term it can mitigate the cognitive deficits. And studies indicate it can have a bad effect on sleep if consumed at the wrong time:
Studies show that coffee induces a modest but noticeable spike in cortisol that levels off as you become habituated to coffee. However, it may inhibit your ability to modulate existing cortisol levels. If you’re already stressed out, turning to the bean may make things worse and keep cortisol elevated.
Folks who drink coffee regularly probably don’t need to worry about cortisol, since their bodies have acclimated to it and no longer register coffee as a “stressor.”
Slow versus fast caffeine metabolizers
Caffeine is metabolized by a liver enzyme encoded by the CYP1A2 gene. If you have the CC variant of CYP1A2, you are a slow caffeine metabolizer. If you have the AC variant, you are a moderate metabolizer. And if you have the AA variant, you are a fast metabolizer of caffeine.
In slow and medium metabolizers, caffeine lasts longer in the blood and has a stronger effect. They’re the ones who get cracked out after a half cup of coffee, or can’t have caffeine after noon if they want to sleep that night. Fast metabolizers are the opposite. They process caffeine very efficiently, and it affects them less. These are the types who can have a quad espresso before bed and sleep like babies.
Is stronger, longer caffeine a good thing?
Caffeine isn’t an upper in the classical sense. Instead, caffeine acts by mimicking a compound called adenosine and binding to its receptors before the real thing can. Adenosine is a byproduct of neuronal activity. The more active your brain is, the more adenosine it produces. When adenosine levels get high enough, they bind to adenosine receptors and trigger sleepiness. By blocking adenosine, caffeine counters sleepiness and increases cognitive function, but it also inhibits another, more helpful effect of adenosine: vasodilation, or widening of blood vessels.
Consequently, slow caffeine metabolizers who drink a lot of coffee appear to have higher rates of diseases linked to poor vasodilation:
Try different brewing methods until you find one you love and don’t mind doing
I won’t debate the various brewing techniques. No one way is best, and everyone has their favorite method. But a new method that’s been taking the world by storm is cold brew. Try 12 ounces of coarsely-ground light roast beans (one of the “third wave” single origin fancy types featuring “laced with toasted cacao nibs” and “ribbons of nougat and hints of boysenberry” on the label) to 60 ounces of filtered water with a few splashes of Trace Mineral Drops. Sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours and filter through a French press. The result is an intense coffee concentrate, sort of a “cold espresso.” You can drink it straight up in small amounts with a dash of cream. But personally, if it’s colder out, I’m still a sucker for my dark roast brewed in a French press with a bit of pastured heavy cream and a teaspoon of sugar.
Don’t drink it first thing in the morning
Cortisol follows a circadian pattern. Right before you wake up, cortisol spikes to prepare you for the day. Right after you wake up, it spikes again, pushing you to the highest levels of the day. Drinking coffee when cortisol is high is somewhat redundant. Since you’re getting less of an effect from the coffee, you’re more likely to double up the dosage and therefore spike your tolerance. A better way is to wait about an hour after you wake up to have your first cup.
Drink coffee when you don’t need it
This seems counterintuitive, but bear with me.
Coffee works much better when you’re well-rested and those adenosine receptors are clean as a whistle. That’s when coffee truly shines. Rather than waking you up, it propels you forward to productivity, optimism, and greatness.
Coffee does help counter fatigue and sleep deprivation in a pinch, but it’s more of an equalizer than a booster. And it’s not a good long-term solution for lack of sleep. Nothing is, really, except more sleep.
Don’t worry too much about organic
Studies show that coffee processing destroys the vast majority of coffee pesticides. In one extremely reassuring study, washing the green coffee beans eliminated 15-58% of pesticides and roasting eliminated up to 99.8%. By the time they got around to brewing, none of the 12 studied pesticides were detectable.
Some people under certain contexts, or with certain genetic variants, shouldn’t drink as much coffee as the rest of us. And you probably shouldn’t drink coffee at night, or count on it to replace sleep. But all in all, coffee has some very cool effects.
It’s great for training.
It’s good for productivity and mood.
It contains a whopping dose of antioxidants.
It’s consistently associated with protection against a host of diseases and conditions.
Drink up!
What do you think, folks? Do you drink coffee? Is it nectar from the gods or bile from the underworld? Maybe both, depending on the day?
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my friend and business and training partner Brad Kearns for the upcoming Primal Endurance Online digital course (more about that later). It was more of a discussion, really, and we kept coming back to the same three elements for constructing any successful training program. I’m going to present them as they came to me—as bullet points, as tangentially related thoughts. Then I’ll expand on them from there.
Without further ado…
You don’t really need to train the heart to beat faster. The heart easily responds to exercise stress by elevating rate and stroke volume, even in an unfit person walking up the staircase! Anyone who’s ever had to speak in public knows that your heart rate jumps up to 150 BPM 10 minutes before its your turn with you doing anything overtly physical. The heart knows.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do hard stuff. You can train the heart to withstand greater demands and you can increase lung volume as well by doing very specific, strategically placed high intensity workouts (sprints, intervals, tempo runs). But when you train the heart “hard” you do it sporadically, not every day, not even more than once or twice a week. We used to think you trained the heart at high heart rates every day, or several days in a row, to get the cardio part dialed in. We know now what’s more important is focusing on the biochemistry and energy production at the level of the muscle cell. And to dial that in, we must engage in copious amounts of low-level aerobic activity at or below the 180-minus-age fat-burning heart rate zone to build more mitochondria. The more mitochondria you build at the muscle site, the more efficiently you produce energy, and the less you have to rely on your heart pumping faster and harder and in so doing risking all the fallout (high stress hormones, decreased immunity, burnout, injury, etc). With more available mitochondria turning fuel into energy, each pump is more efficient.
You don’t need to train the brain to suffer. The brain will be ready to suffer when it’s asked to. This is the fight or flight response after all.
Suffering is overrated.
We’re set up to respond to stressful situations with a flood of hormones that support and enable a suitable response. Those responses are hard wired in us, which is why you hear about the 130 pound mother lifting the back end of a station wagon off her kid, the man rushing into the burning building to save someone without thinking, the newbie conscript performing medal-worthy acts of bravery on the battlefield. They didn’t train for those specific situations. They rose to the occasion. Those responses don’t go away because we don’t train them three times a week.
And if you’re not competing, why suffer?
I get climbing Mt. Shasta with your pals on a long weekend. I understand running the ultra, or going for a deadlift PR, or doing a Spartan Race, or slipping on your own sweat on the final rep of the CrossFit WOD. Those quiet feats of elective heroism are important in a safe, sterile world that no longer demands we place ourselves in mortal danger just to survive. To feel human, to feel alive, we need to overcome obstacles, even if we have to erect them ourselves.
Just save the suffering for those heroic efforts. Save it for the race. Training shouldn’t cause suffering, only discomfort. Training shouldn’t simulate competition.
After you build the aerobic base, all that’s left is to train the muscles to perform the desired activity: run a fast 5k, a slower marathon, or perform well at the Crossfit Games.
First you build the aerobic base—or actively pursue it—and then you train your muscles for the desired activity.
As it turns out, skeletal muscle fiber physiology dictates this training approach. There are two primary types of muscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscles aren’t very exciting. They contract slowly, making them perfect for aerobic, everyday activities like walking, controlling your posture, standing up from a chair, gardening, shopping. Anything you do without being out of breath utilizes slow twitch fibers. Fast twitch muscles contract quickly and are used to perform high-intensity, explosive movements like sprinting, jumping, throwing, and lifting. Some of us have more fast twitch muscle fibers than others, while others trend toward slow twitch dominance, but the fact remains that everyone has and needs both types.
Slow twitch fibers recover faster than fast twitch fibers, which is why we should walk but not sprint every day, garden but not squat heavy every morning, and do housework but not run a 5k daily. This physiological reality—that sans external aids slow twitch fibers can handle more frequent utilization—underpins Primal Blueprint Fitness and Primal Endurance. A ton of slow easy movement (walks, hikes, light runs) interspersed with infrequent bursts of intense activity (strength training sessions, sprinting, CrossFit workouts, race-pace runs) really does get you stronger, fitter, and faster while allowing ample recovery for the muscle fibers used in each session.
Training those slow twitch fibers through aerobic base-building isn’t only for endurance athletes. When you build a base, your cardiovascular system will grow and adapt and become more efficient at shuttling blood and oxygen to your tissues, aiding in recovery and performance. Your muscle fibers will have more mitochondria willing and able to do their bidding, and any type of training becomes more fruitful, more productive, and easier with more cellular power plants at your disposal.
That’s why the aerobic base is so crucial: it builds those mitochondria that power your efforts and turn fat into fuel.
To get the aerobic base, you need to take it easy. Go slow and go long. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because people never believe me: make your long workouts longer and easier.
I can already sense the emails coming in: what about breakthrough workouts? According to the post I wrote on breakthrough workouts, there’s real value in pushing past the sticking point, in going harder, farther, and faster than you ever have before. Breakthrough workouts are extraordinary efforts that produce psychological and physical training effects, building mental and muscular toughness with lasting benefits for your performance.
But breakthrough workouts are few and far between by design. They only work when laid atop a foundation of regular, consistent training sessions.
But the pros, Sisson! The professionals aren’t taking it easy! They’re leaving it out on the track/in the weight room/on the court/etc every single day. Right? The pros do a lot of things wrong. They get away with it because they’re the pros. They often have superior genetics that allow quicker recovery and resistance to injury. They “know” their way is correct because it’s how everyone who came before them have always done it. They’ve also got their egos to contend with—the need to be tougher and put in more miles every week than the other guys. Doesn’t mean it’s optimal. There’s little doubt in my mind that the ultra-marathoners I know who insist on doing all-day hard runs every weekend in preparation for the Western States 100 (a 100 mile ultra run through the Sierras at the end of June that draws the best of the best) would be better off sleeping in and doing an easy longish jog 3/4 of the time.
I agree with Phil Maffetone, who thinks that the path to a 1:59 marathon will be a counterintuitive one: once the elites start training less and going easier, they’ll break the record. Ego is a mighty dragon.
It’s time to slay it.
So I’ll end with an ask. I want everyone to try something new and a little counterintuitive the next time they have a hard workout session:
Quit while you’re ahead. Cut it in half. Drop the weights. Don’t finish the WOD.
Keep up the intensity. Go hard. Just not for so long.
If you’re running hill sprints, don’t go till you puke. Leave a little in the tank.
If you’re doing a tempo run in preparation for a race, maintain the pace but cut the distance in half. Don’t run a facsimile of the race.
What you notice is that cutting your hard workouts short end up making them harder, more intense, and—wait for it—more effective. You lift heavier weights, and the reps feel more smooth. You run at race pace for thirty minutes instead of the hour you’d do otherwise, and you get the training effect without the cortisol cascade that impairs you for days afterward.
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I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my friend and business and training partner Brad Kearns for the upcoming 
