My 20 Minute Curls! (and Halloween Pics!)

Hola Chicas,

Real quick--

I love the look of blow-outs but I never know what to do with my hair after... the idea of lightly wetting and/or adding product to my hair to create a streeeeetched twist-out or braid-out is cool (although I do cringe, after all the work it takes to stretch it), but the sets don't last long and product build-up happens FAST as hell.  Enter Caruso Rollers.  I've been experimenting with them for a couple of months now and they are my answer to fluffy, soft definition without added product or water... just a little steam!

Continue!>>>

To achieve this look I blew out my clean, damp hair using a little Aphogee Green Tea leave-in (also a heat protectant) and a blow dryer with a comb attachment.  I then set my hair on about 18 rollers (mostly medium, except for a few smalls in the back).  I left each roller on the steamer for 5 seconds (any longer and they get wet) and immediately rolled each medium-sized section.  I let them set (and cool) for 20 minutes and this is what you get! Curls that last for 2 days!!! You can pin curl at night if you like or re-set.  I absolutely love this look and adore that I don't need to keep adding more product! WIN. 

About to hit these DC streets (not really, we're probably gonna be in and around our apt building!) so The Red Queen can get her life. 

Later Gators, 

Nik

p.s. more pics--

 our first ever pumpkin carving experience! 

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Dear Mark: Social Contact and Neuroplasticity; Extra Protein and Muscle Gain

As you all know, one of my favorite parts of doing this blog is the constant, unyielding, uncompromising feedback I get from readers. When I make a mistake, or overlook a crucial piece of a puzzle, someone tells me where I went wrong or provides that missing piece. For today’s edition of Dear Mark, I’ll be addressing two emails from readers who took me to task for things I missed on this week’s posts.

The first comes from Simon, who had a great suggestion for increasing neuroplasticity. The second comes from Jen, who highlighted a new study shedding light on the effect of extra protein on muscle gains.

Let’s go:

Mark,

I really liked your post on neuroplasticity, but I think you may have missed a big one: socializing!

Simon

This makes sense on an intuitive level. When you’re alone, you control the environmental inputs. You can expose yourself to novel situations and inputs, but you’re the primary arbiter. It’s a curated experience.

Adding one, two, or several more big-brained hominids (or an entire party full of them) who can think and talk for themselves catapults you into new strata of novelty. Spending time with other members of the most intelligent species on earth can be intense.

You’re not reacting to a static novelty input, like a new route home or a beautiful piece of art you’ve never seen before. You’re responding to another living, breathing mind who challenges you.

You’re not analyzing a character in a novel or movie. You have to exercise empathy, to place yourself in another person’s shoes (and head) to maintain real communication.

Keeping up with other people requires mental agility. I’m thinking that has to induce some profound neuroplasticity. So, what does the research say?

We know that social isolation turns off genes related to neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus—at least in rodents.

Chronic social isolation also causes depressive-like symptoms while reducing neuroplasticity. 

We’ve all heard of oxytocin, the “love” hormone. Perhaps a more accurate description is “socializing” hormone. Hanging out with other people increases secretion of oxytocin partially to increase pleasure and promote socializing, actually triggering the release of endogenous cannabinoids. A good laugh with friends really can leave us feeling high as a kite.

But oxytocin also helps us tune into the emotional cues and body language others give off, determine friend from foe, and respond accordingly. In animals, it has also been shown to mediate certain types of neuroplasticity, particularly in instances of sensory deprivation. It’s almost like the body “knows” that socializing with other humans requires a nimble mind able to make new connections in the brain.

Great suggestion, Simon!

Hey Mark,

Any thoughts on this paper? Made me think of your post from the other day on lowering protein or not.

Jen

Here’s the paper. They took weightlifting novices—people who hadn’t lifted regularly for the past 2 years but who did regularly play team sports—split them up into a high-protein group (1.8 g/kg per day) and a normal-protein group (0.85 g/kg per day), and placed them on identical training regimens for 8 weeks.

They did bench press, shoulder press, lying shoulder extensions, seated rows, lat pull downs, and bicep hammer curls. They totally skipped leg day, in other words.

To hit 1.8 g/kg protein per day, the high-protein group used whey protein on top of their regular food. The normal-protein group got a non-caloric placebo drink.

Focusing on the latissimus dorsi (the “wings”), the researchers found that both groups experienced similar gains in size and strength. Extra protein had no effect on either.

Why the latissimus dorsi? For one, it hadn’t been studied much in this context, despite being the largest muscle in the human body. The second reason they chose it was “its relevance in many athletic gestures.” I can only assume they’re referring to the fist pump.

They also took a biopsy of the lats to analyze the effect the different protocols had on muscle fiber distribution. Normally, sticking with a resistance training program increases conversion of type 2x (super fast twitch, maximal force production, burns through energy) fibers into type 2A (fast twitch, less force production than 2x but more endurance). This indicates that your muscles are gaining metabolic efficiency. What once required super fast twitch fibers and maximal effort no longer does.

The high protein diet blunted the conversion, retaining more type 2x fibers. Is this good or bad?

It depends.

More 2x fibers mean greater capacity for truly explosive movements. These are useful for power sports, sprints, weight lifting, and other activities requiring all-out max efforts. If those are the types of activities you enjoy, eating a bit more protein may help retain them.

More 2A fibers mean a greater capacity for strength-endurance. You can still go hard and heavy, but you’ll last a bit longer. These are important for athletes who engage in strength-endurance activities like cycling.

Realize that these are probably very small differences. When you get down into the weeds like this, mucking around with fiber types, you’ll see marginal returns. It’s important to keep an eye on the big picture: Eating more than double the protein improved neither size nor strength.

Does this mean you should definitely eat 0.8g/kg protein per day? No. Like I said in last week’s post, experiment. Try going lower in protein, just to see if you can get away with it and save money (protein is expensive, especially the high-quality stuff) while preserving your performance and body composition. Maybe you can’t, and higher protein just works better. That’s fine too.

Just another thing to file away for later consideration.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!

The post Dear Mark: Social Contact and Neuroplasticity; Extra Protein and Muscle Gain appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

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How to Diffuse Natural Hair Without Heat Damage

 By Bri of Brirosecurly.com

There are four major steps to diffuse natural hair flawlessly and efficiently every time. Let’s start with what a diffuser actually is. A diffuser is an attachment added to your blow dryer. Normally this attachment is circular or bowl shaped, with tips. With the diffuser being circular, the heat covers more head space, adds volume, and preserves curls that are normally achieved the second day. Like any tool that uses heat, there are steps so that damage does not occur.

Continue!>>>


1. Complete your usual regimen

• Wash
• Condition
• Leave in conditioner
• Styling cream/gel

– Follow your normal routine, adding a diffuser doesn’t change the routine, it is simply an added step.

2. Heat protectant

Some naturalistas diffuse their hair without sectioning it. I however section my hair off so that the product is evenly distributed. Once in sections distribute heat protectant by spraying and raking the product through.

3. Diffuse on cool or low speed

No matter how long it takes (which isn’t long) please watch your heat settings. The last thing you want to do is cause heat damage. Although it will not occur instantly, due to the setup of the diffuser. Using high speed with high heat-- I advise against. My general rule of thumb is if you can smell burning hair, then you need to adjust your settings.

4. Hold head down to add volume



Once your sections are semi dry, hold your head down and diffuse. This step adds volume.
Personally I do not diffuse my roots completely dry. I leave the roots/scalp semi dry, so that it can air dry later throughout the day. If that method does not work for you experiment with drying the roots completely to see your results.

How do you diffuse your hair? How long does your method take?

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Try This Easy Protective Style for Maximum Length Retention!

source

by Ariane of BlackNaps.org

Loose twists are a versatile long term style that can help you retain more hair length. They require very little upkeep and look great on medium to long length natural hair. Love the look of locs but not too crazy about the commitment? This style is for you!

Continue!>>>


The Technique
Start with stretched and detangled hair. As you style work with your hair section by section. Be mindful of the fullness you desire, keeping the density of your hair in mind. For example, if you have low density hair (thin) and you want a more full look do more sections. Start off by either tightly twisting or braiding your root, then transition to loosely two strand twisting your hair and complete the plait you are working with by tightly two strand twisting down to your ends.

On Medium Length Hair



On Long Hair

No Limits.
What’s great about loose twists is that you are not limited to just wearing them one way. You can style your hair in a variety of ways without the risk of over manipulation and breakage that may come with other styles.


The Upkeep.
To maintain this style simply moisturize your hair and wrap your hair up at night. When you moisturize use water or a water based product and then seal the moisture in with an oil or butter. Make sure you give your ends some love when you moisturize to get the best length retention results.


Loose Twists are considered a low-manipulation style (minimum to no daily styling required). However, they can also be a protective style (styles in which your ends are tucked in) if you choose to wear them in buns or updos. Initially there is a time investment to install them, but they are easy to do even for beginners to styling. This long term style can be worn anywhere from 2 to 3 weeks, offering you convenience and the benefit of no surprises (bad hair days) when you wake up in the morning. Can’t beat that!

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Weekend Link Love– Edition 424

Research of the Week

High-protein diet causes remission from pre-diabetes to normal glucose tolerance; isocaloric high-carbohydrate diet does not.

Fasted morning exercise reduces 24-hour food intake and increases fat burning.

Natural birth prepares a newborn’s liver to metabolize fats.

Our understanding of ancient human history is still in flux.

Formula spiked with L. reuteri DSM 17938 makes the gut biomes of C-section babies resemble those of vaginally-born babies.

Converting cropland to intensively-grazed (by evil livestock, no less) pastureland “rapidly” increases soil carbon.

Men who work in the sun get less prostate cancer. Women who work in the sun get none.

How genes can predict optimal rep range.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 140: Gary Foresman, MD: Host Elle Russ chats with Dr. Foresman about general breast health.

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.

• Should You Eat Less Protein?
• 7 Primal Ways to Bridge the Parent Happiness Gap
• The Benefits of Caloric Efficiency (and 10 Ways to Achieve It)

Interesting Blog Posts

A good guide to keto rash.

Why movement isn’t enough.

Media, Schmedia

Earlier this month, Soylent had to recall their new food bars because they were making people sick. Now, Soylent’s pulling their flagship powder for the same reason.

Framing healthy eating as “rebellion” makes teens more likely to do it.

Everything Else

A bookstore in Cairo has a “scream room” where customers can vent their frustration at life, the universe, and everything.

Australian wine researchers are exploring ancient Aboriginal fermented beverages.

I’d love to see the nutrient profile of seaweed-fed meat and dairy.

Can consumer demand for camel milk revitalize India’s semi-nomadic camel herders?

I know what I’m eating for lunch today.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Video I’m watching: “Why We Get Sad: How Evolution Makes Sense of Emotional Disorders.” 

Product I’m excited about: Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing is finally real, and it’s spectacular. The team and I have been sucking down the various iterations of this stuff for the better part of a year, and now you can join the fun!

Tweet I’m pondering: “At Netflix, we are competing for our customers’ time, so our competitors include Snapchat, YouTube, sleep, etc.”

Podcast I can’t wait to listen to: Joe Rogan chats with Wim Hof, the Iceman. 

Turn of phrase I enjoyed: “Test-marketing new fears.”

Recipe Corner

• Cantonese crispy chicken thighs. Nom Nom Paleo’s stuff is always great.
• Beet hummus beats hummus.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Oct 30 – Nov 5)

• 5 Things You Learn Being a Primal Lifer – Wisdom only years in the trenches (and, maybe, this blog post) can reveal.
• Stop Saying No, Start Saying Yes! – Shift your frame of mind.

Comment of the Week

“My amygdala (lizard brain) makes me crave insets. No crickets around my house.”  

– There’s one way to avoid insecticides. Thanks, Nocona.

The post Weekend Link Love– Edition 424 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

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Tapioca Crepes

Tapioca crepes are a popular food in Brazil that just happens to also be Primal and paleo friendly. Made from tapioca flour, these crepes are naturally gluten-free. They have a completely neutral flavor that works with both sweet and savory fillings. Often eaten for breakfast or for a snack, the crepes can be filled with scrambled eggs, shredded meat, avocado and lox, roasted vegetables and pesto, fresh berries, or melted dark chocolate.

Basically, tapioca crepes are an edible container for just about anything.
These crepes are thin and light with a chewy texture and crispy edges. The technique for making the crepes can take a little practice to perfect, but it’s very straightforward: moistened tapioca flour is sifted into a dry, hot pan and in less than a minute, the flour melds together into a crepe. Spreading salted butter onto the crepe as soon as it comes out of the pan adds more flavor, for both sweet and savory fillings.

Tapioca flour, also called tapioca starch, is extracted from the root of the cassava plant. Tapioca flour is popular in Brazil partly because cassava is a native shrub that grows abundantly in South America (as opposed to wheat, which can be difficult to grow in parts of Brazil due to regional climate and poor soil quality)

Tapioca flour, however, is not the same as cassava flour. As noted above, tapioca flour is starch that is extracted from the cassava root. Cassava flour is made from the root itself after it’s peeled, dried, and ground. The two flours are not interchangeable in recipes.

Curious about what crepes made from cassava flour look and taste like? Enjoy these tapioca crepes first, then check back next week for a cassava flour recipe.

Servings: 4

Time in the Kitchen: 20 minutes

Ingredients 

• 1 cup tapioca flour (100 g)
• 1/4 cup water (approximately) (60 ml)

Tools

• Fine mesh strainer
• 8-inch/20 cm non-stick skillet

Recipe Note: Tapioca flour varies in its absorption capabilities, so the exact amount of water needed will vary depending on the brand of tapioca flour. Start with ¼ cup/60 ml water, and add more if needed. Water is not added to create runny batter, it’s used simply to hydrate the flour so that it’s moist enough to form clumps. If too much water is added, the tapioca flour will become simultaneously runny and sticky like glue. If this happens, add more flour until the texture is once again moist and clumpy, not runny.

Instructions

In a medium bowl, slowly drizzle the water into the tapioca flour while mixing with your fingers. Clumps will form that you can break up with your fingers, giving the flour the texture of streusel.

Using your fingers or a spoon, press the tapioca flour through a mesh strainer into a bowl. The texture of the tapioca flour will now be very delicate and light. (If the mesh strainer is too fine, it will be harder and more time consuming to press the flour through)

Heat an 8-inch/20 cm non-stick skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle a very thin, even layer of the tapioca flour into the pan. After about 30 seconds, the tapioca flour should be sticking together into a crepe that can be flipped. Flip it over, and cook the other side 30 seconds more.

Tapioca crepes taste best while still warm. Spread salted butter over one side, and wrap the crepe around the filling of your choice.

Filling Suggestions:

• Scrambled eggs
• Shredded or ground meat
• Roasted vegetables and pesto
• Lox and avocado
• Berries
• Coconut flakes
• Dark chocolate

 

The post Tapioca Crepes appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

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How to Make Your Hair Glow and Grow With Caffeine

IG @laatanyaa_

by Sabrina Perkins of SeriouslyNatural.org

When we think of caffeine we most think of coffee, tea or even soda. We also think of the negative effects they can have on our bodies and how we can cut down on our usage but just like anything else, there is two sides to a story.

Continue!>>>
Caffeine gets a bad rap and undeservingly so. Caffeine is believed to help prevent diseases like stroke and certain cancers and more than 80 percent of the United States adults consume caffeine every day in one form or another. Such a widely used ingredient has been recently found helpful in several ways and even for our hair follicles. Surprising for some, so let's explore exactly what caffeine and and how it helps our hair.

What Is Caffeine?
Considered the most widely consumed psychoactive substance worldwide, caffeine is a natural stimulant present in over 60 plant sand the main ingredient in coffee. Caffeine is the 'socially acceptable psychoactive drug' and in its purest form, caffeine is a white crystalline powder, extremely bitter and stimulates the central nervous system.

It seems the biggest concerns arise when consuming too much and according to the Mayo Clinic, consuming more than 500-600 mg a day can lead to irritability, nervousness, an upset stomach, and insomnia just to name a few. Despite the negative affects, it has been found helpful in protecting persons from Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia, lowering the risk of Parkinson’s and Type II Diabetes and can even fight depression.

Caffeine is amazing for hair in that is helps it to grow and even glow. Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from using it:

How Does Caffeine Make Hair Glow?
Caffeine must be applied directly to hair for this benefit (through coffee) which adds shine as well as depth to dark hair. Great for hair butters or conditioners to just add to them to increase hair's natural sheen or shine that many naturals complain their hair is lacking.

How Does Caffeine Make Hair Grow?
The biggest benefit caffeine brings to hair is to improve hair growth and structure. Caffeine stimulates and interacts with the hair follicles and even regulates hair growth so it can promote it and thwart hair loss. You can just keep drinking your morning cup of Joe to gain that benefit or you can take it a step further (like I do) and enlist in a coffee rinse from time to time.

The International Journal of Dermatology found that caffeine was a great simulator of the hair shaft and help hair grow faster by blocking the effects of DHT, a chemical known for damaging hair follicles. They even found that caffeine enhanced hair shaft elongation and prolonged anagen (growing phase) hair phase which is excellent as that phase naturally decreases as we age.

Caffeine is a good thing for our hair for sheen and growth and I love it for hair rinses and even scalp exfoliations. There are also some really popular products that harness the benefits of caffeine like OGX Anti-Hair Fallout Niacin3 & Caffeine Root Stimulator Spray and MARC ANTHONY Grow Long Caffeine Ginseng Conditioner. While not everyone can appreciate a heaping amount of coffee, consider the caffeine and what it can do to create a healthier environment for your hair.

Have you harnessed the power of caffeine for your hair?

CN Says:

Caffeine definitely minimizes excessive shedding for me. I've experienced the effects first hand and it only takes one or two rinses to see the results!  I prefer strong black tea rinses or I simply use black tea in my henna glosses.  

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Princess Boogie.

So in lieu of Halloween, Boogie's school had a Cultural Diversity Parade as a celebration of love and lineage.  I found a gorgeous Ankara style cape dress on Etsy and got it with an extra long train for #theDRAMA, of course! Gia felt like royalty and I got to practice my head-wrapping skills... haven't put them to use since South Africa when I was keeping both me and Ms. Tamron Hall, RIGHT--

continue!>>>

Here's a full length view of the train! Couldn't tell her nothin'... she strutted up and down that whole parade like a peacock!  

Be safe this weekend, ladies!!!!!!!

Later Gators, 

Nik 

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How I Lost over 100 Pounds—and Gained Strength, Stamina and Control

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. In fact, I have a contest going right now. So if you have a story to share, no matter how big or how small, you’ll be in the running to win a big prize. Read more here.

I was always fat. No, seriously. My whole life, I was fat. In middle school I was around 160-180 pounds. In high school I hit 250 pounds. At my heaviest, a few years after college, I was 330 pounds. I never liked how I looked or how I felt. I didn’t like that I would get exhausted easily. I didn’t like that I would get injured easily and be sore. I didn’t like that I could be basically danced around in sporting events because I was so big and clumsy that I couldn’t move. I didn’t like the constant bloated feeling. I didn’t like being dateless.

I occasionally tried to get away from my soda and fast food diet, eating the standard American “healthy” diet of low fat, low calorie, whole grain diet with heavy exercise, and would sometimes have short term positive results, but I would be constantly hungry, unsatisfied, and get injuries which would derail my progress. A few months later, the weight and poor eating habits were back.

To be fair, the start of my turn around was because my wife was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. She did a lot of research, read a lot of books and blogs, and we tried a variety of different foods before we found that eating essentially Primal/paleo was easiest for her stomach. We read your blog, the Primal Blueprint, (and other sources) and have been eating this way for about 3+ years now.

After that first few weeks of adjustment, it’s been amazing. I feel constantly great, and I never worry about portion control or calories. I just let my body tell me how much food I need. When coworkers bring in cakes or donuts, I can smell the sugar a room away, but don’t crave it. It usually smells like chemicals as much as sugar if that makes sense. Coworkers marvel at my change, and people whom I haven’t seen for years literally don’t recognize me.

The most difficult part of the change was the fact that cooking is an integral part of our life, and is, I guess, our biggest hobby at this point. We buy beef a quarter cow at a time (grass fed and finished of course) and pork a half-pig at a time (pastured). We cook most of our meals for the month over one incredibly long weekend, and freeze them to make weeknights easier. There are days when work stress makes the convenience of easily picked up drive-thru meals tempting, but the extra effort is worth it.

The Primal lifestyle has also affected the way I work out and train. I’m a 2nd degree blackbelt in taekwondo, and am known around the dojang as the guy with crazy stamina, strength and speed. I used to be known as the big guy who could kick hard with no balance, control, or stamina. For a while, to get in shape, I was going into the dojang on my own, jumping rope and doing all sorts of crazy extra work for 2-2.5 hours at a time. While my stamina did increase, I was often too physically drained for days, and sometimes my knees barked. Now when I train, though we focus a ton on fundamentals, (footwork, balance, basics) I see the training as fun or play. Cardio, footwork, and complex kicking drills are like dancing, and I often find myself smiling after a particularly challenging drill while others are panting. Trying something new is an exploration of balance and joint strength that I enjoy! I have even better stamina, even though I’ve cut out the crazy extra workouts.

I also wanted to start some strength training recently as I had never done a pull up. I could barely lift myself at all when hanging from a bar. I also struggled with pushups and core strength. After a lot of books and blogs, and influenced by the Primal lifestyle, I decided on basic bodyweight training because it emphasized natural human movements more closely connected with how the body evolved to function. My work consists of variations on pushups, pull ups, leg raises and squats, starting with simple, assisted versions, and increasing in difficulty as I build strength. The training doesn’t take long, and if my body is tired, I’ll work just once a week. If I’m feeling great, I’ll go twice. While others I know have constant injuries and inflamation problems from their weight lifting (and their grain intense diet I’m sure), I’m still injury free, and am happy to report that just this week, after about 10 months of consistent work, I completed my first three pull ups ever! I’m also moving towards one-legged squats, and am getting closer to good, perfect form pushups. As for core work, I started barely able to hold a plank for 20 seconds. As for now, well, I was playing basketball with some coworkers a couple of months ago, and a coworker injured his hand against my stomach when we both went for a rebound. I didn’t even feel it.

As for that weight, I’m now 200 pounds, which for my height, 6’3″, is great. The weight just kept sliding off with seemingly no effort. I’m in fantastic shape. I’m in my mid 30s, and I have no trouble competing against (and defeating) kids in their early 20s. I also have a sense of self control over my body that feels amazing. I’m no longer clumsy, but am graceful! I feel like I can do anything I put my mind towards, and the physical change has made me more confident, happy, and mentally resilient.

Grok on!!!

-T.C.

The post How I Lost over 100 Pounds—and Gained Strength, Stamina and Control appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

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True Intimacy

A guide to discussing sex and sexuality with your significant other

by: Laura Bradley

True intimacy is about getting to know and understand someone deeply. Learning about who our partner is sexually is part of that.

Our past experiences around sex contribute … Read the rest

The post True Intimacy appeared first on Steadfast Counselling.

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