Yeah, and so thought the person who wrote The Vegetarian Myth, yet just because she didn’t have a ‘correct’ diet doesn’t mean it’s null and void for everyone else. Been vegetarian for years and recently into veganism, friends who have been vegetarian and vegan for years, even friends who been into raw food and fruit diets, as far as I know they didn’t and don’t have problems.
Another primal snack:
- Variety of raw nuts (from the bulk section or Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods/etc… don’t be afraid to mix your own)
- Add a small amount of raisins (I prefer golden) or dried dates or figs to taste
- Unsweetened coconut flakes (good luck finding them!)
This makes a nice trail mix… but to have a break from the usual, try this in a small bowl:
- 2 tbsp trailmix
- Just enough whole cream to moisten the mix
If you’re lactose-intolerant like me, take a lactase pill before eating it. This reminds me of a bowl of breakfast cereal … only 10 times more awesome. When I was a kid, I used to pour a little cream into my bowl of cereal to make it taste better… I’ve finally discovered how God meant breakfast cereal to be… only it doens’t involve any cereal. 
Clayton -
I think part of the issue here is that different people define “long-distance running” differently. Let me clear that, when I use that term, I’m not talking about running as fast as one can for long distances (several miles or more). Jogging for long distances also counts as “long-distance running” IMO.
With that in mind, let me also say that I don’t think our ancestors were strict “marathoners”. At one point in Mark’s article, he uses the phrase “run aggressively for long distances” - I’m in agreement with him here. What the literature calls “persistence hunting” is actually closer to (if not the same as) what Mark describes as “[tracking] and [stalking] an animal (using your superior intelligence) with walking, occasional jogging and a few sprints here and there”. That’s certainly the kind of thing I have in mind when I use term “persistence hunting”, and it’s also close to footage I’ve seen of African Bushmen who still do it.
Hunting is never blind. Persistence hunting could only be an effective predation strategy if it success ratio was sufficiently high to offset the energy expenditure. A smarter animal will (ceteris paribus) be more able to successfully track prey that have run off out of sight. Jogging and even just walking, when combined with skillful tracking, can apparently let persistence hunters catch up to their prey a good amount of the time. The prey animals will apparently only run far enough to avoid the immediate threat, and then rest.
Update: I’m down 11 pounds so far (215 this morning), looking better in the mirror (still have a ways to go to get to “LGN” status, however…). Note that I’ve engaged in only the most minimal exercise… casual walking, going up some flights of stairs a couple times a day and that’s about it. I’m taking it easy on the exercise side until I get my weight down a bit first… in the past, whenever I’ve jumped right into the exercise regimen, it’s always felt wrong, like I’m working way too hard … throwing around 220 pounds is a lot of work.
Last week, I had a run-in with carbs. I went for dinner with some work associates at a kebab restaurant that served this giant plate of rice with a few scraps of chicken on the side and called it “chicken kebab”. I ended up eating some of the rice. We went for drinks later but since it was a weeknight, I wasn’t in the mood for alcohol so I had a strawberry lemonade. Next morning, I woke with the worst, knife-in-the-gut hunger pangs. Until that morning, I’d been experiencing no hunger pangs despite significantly reduced calorie intake.
Anyway, it’s good to see some of Sisson’s claims confirmed. I just got the book (shipping took a while and then my apartment office didn’t give me notice it had arrived…) and I’ve started on chapter 1. I love Sisson’s life wisdom - he pointed out the problems with goal-setting, which is an idea I’ve only recently learned from studying Epicurus and now Buddhism. Setting challenging goals for yourself is all the rage nowadays. But what happens if you fail? Or, what happens if you succeed and realize the goal was trivial (which is why you succeeded)? Either way, you end up disappointed. If you had done exactly the same actions without setting a goal, you would have derived the same pleasures from the activity itself without the disappointment afterwards. Sisson mentions the ‘post-marathon blues’ which, as a professional marathoner, he probably knows a thing or two about.
@Autolykos: Well, I’ll read into the book and see what he has to say in more detail. The “persistence hunting” idea is used to rationalize ultra-long distance endurance running such as marathons and half-marathons as natural; these sorts of races clearly do not conform with ancestral human behavior. The marathon is named after a military exploit and it is my view that these sorts of ultra high-endurance sports are at least partly inspired by the military culture.
Clayton -
I agree with you there. Even so, humans apparently have better running endurance than any other animal of roughly similar size. The physical and physiological traits I mentioned (hairlessness, sweat glands all over, etc.) seem geared towards this.
Glad to hear you’re making progress!
I hope I’m not high jacking this thread, if I am I’ll start another. I’ve been looking into the Primal diet for awhile now but I’ve had problems identifying things I would eat. I’m a rather picky eater and some of the things suggested in the primal diet I’ve tried and not liked.
I know I’m probably going to be mocked for this but here goes. I regularly eat cereal for breakfast, I absolutely love pasta, sea food and cheese. I often go the lazy quick route in eating a few things from a frozen box, manly things like breaded tenderloins and pasta/pizza items. I know full well I’m eating poorly and would like to change that.
My main problem is that I’m picky with foods that obviously I dont have a taste for or based on texture of the food. I’ve ate egg whites but the spongy like texture turns me off. Meats like steaks, pork chops and others that are variations of that tough pulled stringy texture turn me off as well. Fat in meat is another problem all together for me.
I know that I probably sound deranged by all that but I wondered if anyone may have some suggestions within the primal diet that I could eat for breakfast (outside of bacon) and different meals of the day. I know I’ll probably never be able to go full primal because of my love for pasta, yet my goal is to trim out the insane amount of crabs I take in, while becoming healthier overall.
No one’s going to mock you… your diet is in line with mine about a month ago. As far as the pickiness, I think you have to think about re-wiring your own thought-processes about food. Of course these foods taste good but you’re probably not really understanding why they taste so good. I dare you to go through your fridge, freezer and cupboards and look at those favorite foods and find one that doesn’t have sugar (in one form or another) or HFCS or some corn syrup derivative in it. If that food tastes so good, why did they need to add sugar? Take the sugar out, and you have just another, rather mundane piece of food.
The same goes for starches and grains. Try finding any favorite food in the grocery store that doesn’t have one of grains, starch or sugar. You won’t find it. Yet we know these substances are all hell on your insulin levels, muck with your “gene expression” and cause continuous weight-gain unless you work your ass off on the treadmill for every bite you take.
So, the real issue isn’t just taste here, it’s tradeoffs. Are you OK wearing your body out on the treadmill so you can eat a few bits of sugar-filled, starch-filled, grain-based snack foods? Or (like most of us, including me a month ago) are you willing to just “let your body go” and eat what you like while not killing yourself on the treadmill?
Sure, I’m having problems with bacon right now because I just can’t find any that hasn’t been either pumped full of sodium or sugar. I’m going to look for a butcher shop to see if I can buy some natural, uncured bacon right from the butcher. Seems to be the only option at this point. Even the “natural foods” markets don’t have bacon that isn’t injected with either sodium or sugar or both.
I recommend you give prosciutto and fried eggs a try. The prosciutto is expensive as hell but if you have just one slice per breakfast it works out to around a dollar. Keep the yolk… that’s primal. Taking the yolk out is non-primal, it’s “modern”, “processed” eating. Put a dash of hot sauce and salt and pepper the eggs lightly to bring out the flavor without getting too much “egginess”. If you really can’t stand the egginess, then whisk the eggs and make yourself scrambled eggs.
You can also cruise Mark’s Daily Apple (google it) to get recipe ideas. His forums also have a recipes section.
Open your mind to the possiblity that your distaste for meats, fats and proteins has been conditioned; try giving yourself a chance to enjoy some really delicious high-fat cooking for a while and give your body a chance to “re-program” itself. You might find a long-lost taste for those kinds of foods returning to you.
Also note that the American preparations tend to be very bland and too staple-based. Don’t just grill up a steak and slap it on your plate and start chawing on it. Grill some veggies on the side, pat the steak down with dry-rub and let it stand before you begin grilling it… spend a couple extra dollars to get a really good steak that has some nice fat marbling in it (the fat melts during cooking and simply moistens and tenderizes the meat). Serve the steak with some butter-sauteed fresh green beans with pepper and a dash of salt on them. Skip the potatoes and give yourself a small leaf salad with grape tomatoes instead.
Everyone’s different and Mark’s system recognizes that. Personally, I’ve felt so much better since giving up the grain-based carbs completely that I recommend you give the 3-weeks system a try… it gives your body enough time to “re-program” itself from the carb-based to fat-based energy and a cold-turkey elimination of the carbs will ensure that you really get to feel the difference. If you’ve been eating a carb-heavy diet, you will feel some fogginess about 1 week into it but that will clear and then you’ll be fine. Instead of getting that hard-stop hunger signal if you don’t eat every so many hours, you’ll find that you can easily skip a meal any time you like without any major hunger pangs (you might feel a little tired or less energy but you can lie down and take a nap or go to bed early or whatever). This makes the intermittent fasting (IF) easy to do and really sheds the weight fast which in turn improves your overall feeling of health and wellness.
As far as the menu selection goes, try to work out a “survival menu” ahead of time… a list of menu items that you can prepare and are palatable enough to at least choke down so you don’t starve. Have plenty of nuts and (smaller amounts of) berries on hand to snack on and tide you over the hunger stretches, particularly in the first couple weeks. Later on, these just become an elective snack. This survival menu may feel a bit ascetic but just stake out 3 weeks on your calendar and imagine you’ve joined a monastery. It’s a new experience and something you’re doing as an experiment in the process of discovering your own conditions for well-being and happiness.
Clayton -
On another note, I just purchased The Primal Blueprint Cookbook and Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals from Amazon.
… Except I forgot to go through LRC to do it, d’oh!
If your going to try the primal diet will you also try a primal lifestyle?
Do you mean abandon civilization altogether? If so, then sorry, but I’m not that primal.
@F4M: Absolutely - it’s the whole package, that’s why Sisson calls it The Primal Blueprint. It’s about getting in touch with your primal self in the context of the modern world. The circumstances in which I was born are not up to me. But how I react to them is. I can either follow the herd and fall prey to all the maladies of the modern Western lifestyle, or I can break away and live my life in a way that conforms more closely to what my genes expect from the world. Mark has condensed it down to his “ten laws” of the primal blueprint.
Posting survivalism videos from YouTube on an Internet chat forum is not primal. Go outside and soak up some sunshine or chop some wood.
Clayton -
Posting survivalism videos from YouTube on an Internet chat forum is not primal. Go outside and soak up some sunshine or chop some wood.
What do you think I’m doing when I’m not online? I’m outside venturing into the woods. Even in the freezing cold nature is better then the cage of civ.
Tonight’s recipe:
1lb hamburger
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp onion powder
dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
fresh ground black pepper
2-3 tsp turmeric (optional)
Mix. Form 3-4 patties. Heat skillet with 2 tsp of lard. Sprinkle a dash of garlic powder or chopped garlic in the pan; wait until sizzling. Place the patties in the skillet and turn every 2-3 minutes until cooked through to preference.
Place a slice of pepper jack cheese on top, serve with side of green salad (carrots + radishes + ranch dressing). I wanted to make homemade ranch dressing with Greek yogurt but I’m out of dill weed.
Clayton -
Use Janitorial Supplies to help clean your office and US Made Chairs. To further help your documents from staying clean, use a Fellowes Laminating Machine to protect them.
http://www.30bananasaday.com/profiles/blogs/monsanto-list-of-gmo-foods-to
More reason to go on a return-to-nature diet. I still eat veggies produced from ag but once my gathering skills are better I’m going to start eating wild.
Hello I just want to add my experience to this thread.
I have been vegetarian for 4 years, and vegan for almost 3.
I’m currently working at a government agency that regulates sheep production in Canada(I was vegan before I started working here, but seeing what I have has made me more glad I don’t eat meat. Even officially organic meat is not actually organic. It was when organic certication was first brought out but since then it has slowly been erroded to allow for more medications and chemicals), people are always joking that I’m going to leak information to PETA, however they are mistaken. My primary reason for being vegan is to avoid the nasty chemicals which are present in meats.
Yes, I know chemicals are also in the fruits and vegetables we eat. However bioaccumulation causes toxins to be more present in animals the higher they are on the food chain. Thus you will find more toxins in a whale then Salmon, or the fish which a whale eats. Meaning if you eat the toxic vegetables that a cow was fed rather then the cow itself you will be ingesting less toxins.
Clayton had mentioned that eating a vegan diet may be over kill as it would take exteme disipline and self-suffering. In most cases this would be true. This life style just happend to find me rather then me seeking it out. My girlfriend was vegan before I met her and her father is one of the best chefs in town, in turn she is an amazing cook. Thus she was more then happy to cook for me, so becoming vegan actually took less effort then if I had cooked my own conventional food.
Man, I’ve totally fallen off the wagon. I’m back up to 217. It’s frustrating because food is the first thing to go out the window once life gets stressful and problems start coming up. I got to get back in the groove again. Thanks for bumping the thread, Philip.
Clayton -
Get up.
Dust off your knees.
Give it another go.
It was shortly after this thread began that I gave up the grains. The changes have been noticable. I have not felt this good in years.