Yerba mate (YERB-ah mah-TAY). Ever heard of it? It is an herb with a storied history as an alternative to traditional teas for the inhabitants of its native South America. I’ve received numerous emails recently asking about its properties and its role in the Primal Blueprint eating plan. Let’s dive straight in.
Yerba mate tea is prepared by steeping the dried leaves and twigs of the mate plant in hot water (not boiling water, which can make the tea bitter). It has an herbal, almost grassy, taste, with some varieties somewhat reminiscent of certain types of green tea. Traditionally, yerba mate is drunk communally from a hollow gourd with a metal straw, but a coffee mug works just as well (you know, for when your gourd is in the dishwasher). Like many teas and coffees, yerba mate is imbued with an impressive amount of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Learning about the various types of aquaculture setups is interesting and useful, but we’re ultimately interested in whether they can produce safe, nutritious, affordable seafood. Wild seafood can be pricey, unavailable, and of questionable merit or sustainability. Certain wild species are definitely worth pursuing – Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, to name a few – but there are environmental (overfishing, collateral damage to other important species, structural damage to the marine environment) and health (accumulation of heavy metals like lead and mercury, polychlorinated biphenyl/PCB, dioxin) issues that the conscious fish eater must stay abreast of. Healthy and safe farmed seafood, then, would be a welcome alternative, if it’s out there.
Okay. Let’s get down to it.
Which farmed seafood is safe to eat? Is there anything like grass-fed beef or pastured chicken available in scales or shells?

Shellfish
As a whole, farmed shellfish, when compared to wild shellfish, are very good bets for the […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

I like instant results.  It’s not that I’m impatient, I just like knowing when something is working as quickly as possible.
This is probably why I like Eat Stop Eat so much, in as little as a day you can drop anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds.
Awesome.
But it’s this need for quick results that has kept me from experimenting with some age-old workout principles, that have always made a lot of sense to me.
So if you have the patience… These may be some highly effective Ideas:
1) Down the rack
This one is fairly simple. We’ll use Squats as our example exercise.
Set the safety’s in a power rack to about 1/4 squat level. Work up to doing lock outs with a weight you can barely handle for 3 reps.
Every week, lower the safety pins by one hole…and then work up to the same weight, once you can do more  3 or more, […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Wow, Gary Farrow is on a roll! We’ve talked about his accomplishments in recent jiu jitsu tournaments, where he’s medaled each time. And on April 30th, he took it to the next level in his first amateur fight! And as we all knew he would, Gary came home victorious!
Gary Farrow FTW!

Gary’s fight was held at the Omni in VA Beach, and was sponsored by Frank Lipoli. Gary’s opponent was Scott Cox, who had a record of 2-3 and now, thanks to Gary, is 2-4.
Gary’s been training hard, as always, and it showed in this fight. The match was slated to be threee three-minute rounds. Scott came out hard with a fierce stand up game that no one was expecting and Gary ended up on the ground after a strong blow to the head. But unbeknownst to Scoot, the ground is Gary’s home. After a brief struggle where Gary clearly showed […]

Original post by knuckleup

I know what many of you are already thinking: where do I sign up? Let’s face it: we organize much of our lifestyles contrary to CW specifically to live healthier and feel better. When it’s check up time, however, we find ourselves back in foreign territory. If it’s just an annual ritual, we can grit our teeth through the usual advice and make the best of it. On the other hand, if we’re receiving care for on ongoing condition and using the Primal Blueprint to get on top of our health – or if we’re just looking for more from our health care – it’s harder to skirt the Primal issue. Some practitioners will listen and offer gentle, cautionary advice. Others will agree to give your approach “a chance” before going back to their prescribed route. A few will unfortunately fly off the handle and tell you they will need […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Today’s question comes from Ola and regards CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid. What is CLA? CLA is the “good” trans-fat that occurs naturally in meat and dairy, especially from grass-fed animals. In the stomach of ruminants like cows, sheep, or goats, millions upon millions of bacteria help the animal digest its food. They also help convert dietary linoleic fatty acids into saturated fatty acids. Well, that conversion takes several steps, and one of the steps is the creation of CLA, some of which never gets fully saturated and instead shows up in the animal’s body and milk fat. 28 different CLA isomers, or structural arrangements of the molecules, appear in CLA-rich animal fat. It’s very complex and quite different from trans-fat created by partially hydrogenating vegetable oils. Those lab-created trans-fats have definite negative metabolic and health effects, while the panoply of various CLA isomers from grass-fed dairy and meat seem […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Complete 5 cycles:
7 Single-Leg Crossbody Deadlifts (each leg)
20 Meter Single-Leg Hops (each leg)
50 Meter Single-Shoulder Weighted Carry (switch shoulders halfway through)
30-second Single-Arm/Leg Plank (each side)

How-to:
Warmup: 30 second Grok Squat, ten air squats, and lateral, forward, and backward leg swings (10 each leg).
Life is not a well-stocked weight room. It doesn’t hew to your specifications. It catches you off guard, and it rarely allows you enough advance warning to set up in the perfect position and take your sweet time. As such, it’s helpful to train for asymmetrical situations – when we can’t quite grasp the barbell with both hands, or perhaps when there’s no barbell at all.
Today, you’ll need some equipment, but not much: two reasonably heavy objects. One must be graspable with one hand and light enough to be single-leg deadlifted, while the other should be heavy enough so that, when it’s placed on one shoulder, you have to […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

We love the tangy and fresh flavor of kefir, a fermented beverage often described as drinkable yogurt. However, those of you who aren’t as fond of kefir might say that describing it as “tangy” is a little too kind.  What, you wonder, is there possibly to like about what is essentially a glass of thick, sour milk?
Loads of healthy gut flora, for one. Probiotics have numerous health benefits and eating fermented foods like kefir is a great way to make sure you’re getting enough. But we’re not here to tell you that you should plug your nose and chug kefir just because it’s good for you. We’re here to tell you that after you try homemade coconut milk kefir, you’re going to chug it because it tastes really good. Unlike kefir made from cows’ milk, coconut milk kefir doesn’t have a strong fermented, sour flavor. It is pleasantly tangy, but […]

Original post by Worker Bee

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another dose of Primal Blueprint inspiration. Today, Michelle Ford, a PrimalCon 2011 attendee, shares a story that many of you can probably relate to – one of sugar dependence and Chronic Cardio. Ultimately, Michelle was able to break out of this vicious cycle. Learn from her real life story, and share your words of encouragement and gratitude in the comment board. Grok on!

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 you send them in. Thanks for reading!

–
Dear Mark and Carrie,
First of all, I want to thank you both for an amazing weekend at PrimalCon. You both are amazing in your attitude towards life, and I really admire you. You both have […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

So as if Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Matt Costa’s Psychoca-err…Boot Camp weren’t enough options for fitness on the Outer Banks, we’re now offering another way to keep you motivated to stay in shape. Devin Saylor is starting the first Outer Banks Paddle Board School’s classes next week!
Paddle Boarding = Fun
Devin has been offering individual instructional classes for a while, but now he’ll be offering a full beginner’s level course. It’s a great way to learn to paddle board without having to pay an instructor an arm and a leg for private lessons. Everyone who’s gone has loved it, and it is a fun way to get in shape. There will be two camps: one in the AM and one in the PM.

The Break Down:

It’s a six day beginner’s course.
May 11 & 12, 17 & 18 and 23 & 24
Classes are about 90 minutes
AM camp is at 8:30, PM camp […]

Original post by knuckleup