pimg class=”alignright” title=”Akrasia” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/choices.jpg” alt=”choices” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Akrasia: it#8217;s the word of the day. It may be a 25¢ word, but it’s a concept with which we’re all familiar. Essentially, it’s acting against one’s own best interest. We’re not talking here about the noble, altruistic deeds that purposefully put others’ needs before our own. Akrasia encompasses that irrational, confounding state of mind in which we wittingly throw caution, reason, and consequences to the wind in order to pursue a choice we understand will be bad for us. In other words, we know better. In fact, we know pretty much exactly what repercussions will befall us. That chocolate donut in our hand, for example, will undoubtedly cause our IBS to flare up #8211; or have us bemoaning the paunch look later. Staying up late to watch one more episode of Breaking Bad will leave us comatose in tomorrow’s big meeting. Skipping [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Bzzzzz” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/honey-1.jpg” alt=”honey 1″ width=”320″ height=”235″ /I pride myself on making the a title=”Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/#axzz1lkYj7jza”Primal Blueprint/a an easy lifestyle to follow. If you were just starting out, you could easily read a few articles, do a a title=”Primal Blueprint 101″ href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/#axzz1lkYj7jza”couple hours of research/a, and start making positive changes to your diet, a title=”The Relationship Between Exercise and Inflammation (and What It Means for Your Workouts) Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-relationship-between-exercise-and-inflammation-and-what-it-means-for-your-workouts/#ixzz1lkYfc1hL” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-relationship-between-exercise-and-inflammation-and-what-it-means-for-your-workouts/”exercise/a routine, a title=”The Definitive Guide to Sleep” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-sleep/”sleep/a schedule, or daily life immediately. You could ditch a title=”Why Grains Are Unhealthy” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/”grains/a or replace some a title=”Dear Mark: Chronic Cardio” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio/”chronic cardio/a with a title=”Primal Strength Training for Women: Not So Different After All Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/strength-training-women/#ixzz1lkYBRpAk” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/strength-training-women/#axzz1lkY7GK00″weights/a or switch to a title=”The Differences Between Grass-Fed Beef and Grain-Fed Beef Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/#ixzz1lkYJccJD” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/”grass-fed meat/a, and even if you did nothing [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Onion and Garlic” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/onionandgarlic.jpg” alt=”onionandgarlic” width=”320″ height=”212″ /#8220;Be sure to eat your sulfur.#8221;/p
pWhen#8217;s the last time someone told you that? Except for the a title=”TEDxIowaCity — Dr. Terry Wahls — Minding Your Mitochondria” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc” target=”_blank”Wahls talk/a, probably never. My mother certainly didn#8217;t./p
pFew people even know much about sulfur besides the whole rotten egg, fire and brimstone thing. It#8217;s a mineral with a role in our physiology, but it doesn#8217;t showboat like the obscenely corporeal calcium, forming bones and teeth that you can literally feel and see. It won#8217;t immediately soothe your restless muscles or put you right to sleep, like magnesium. Unlike zinc, it doesn#8217;t figure prominently in the production of a sexy hormone like a title=”A Primal Primer: testosterone” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-increase-testosterone-naturally/”testosterone/a. And though you can take a title=”A Primal Primer: Iodine” href=”http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.marksdailyapple.com/iodine-deficiency/amp;sa=Uamp;ei=a9YwT5LAGOiisQLN_oDmBgamp;ved=0CAQQFjAAamp;client=internal-uds-cseamp;usg=AFQjCNG7T6fmTet-CDyN8uZtHXJWIuLLFg”iodine/a and get an instant reaction from your thyroid, taking sulfur doesn#8217;t produce anything tangible. In short, [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Technical Difficulties” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/technicaldifficulties.jpg” alt=”technicaldifficulties” width=”319″ height=”221″ /Boy, there#8217;s nothing more fun than waking up to a hacked website. What a way to start a day. In fact, I may have to work that into the Primal Blueprint laws. Law #11: Frequently Experience Site Outages Resulting in Mass Hysteria and Panic. All kidding aside, you may have noticed that Mark#8217;s Daily Apple was experiencing some technical difficulties today. It appears the site was hacked. While my team of technicians ensures that Mark#8217;s Daily Apple is running the most secure and up-to-date versions of WordPress (the blog platform MDA is built on) and associated software, hackers have a way of finding and exploiting previously unknown security vulnerabilities. Darn those hackers. Luckily, it appears everything is back to normal now. Thank you for your patience, and for your alerts to those of you that emailed me. Now back to our [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Yoga” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/yoga.jpg” alt=”yoga” width=”320″ height=”212″ /I#8217;m going to keep today#8217;s question and answer session rather brief. I#8217;ll be covering three topics: flexibility and mobility; carotenoderma, or the orange-ing of the skin following ingestion of carotenoid-containing foods; and whether matcha green tea from Japan poses any threat due to radioactive contamination. For the first, I discuss whether it#8217;s flexibility or mobility we want. Second, I explore whether getting orange skin from eating lots of carrots, a title=”A Visual Guide to Yams and Sweet Potatoes (plus How They Fit Into a Primal Eating Plan) Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/#ixzz1lAiXX6Jg” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/difference-yams-sweet-potatoes/#axzz1lAiSbYg9″sweet potatoes/a, and a title=”Smart Fuel: Acorn Squash” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/acorn-squash-health-benefits/#axzz1lAiaMMja”squash/a is something to worry about. And finally, I talk about drinking matcha from Japan in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear event./p
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blockquotepDear Mark,/p
pHow important is flexibility in achieving real fitness? Most of the yoga teachers I#8217;ve seen are flexible, lean and strong. They#8217;re [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Greens 2 Ways” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/greens2ways.jpg” alt=”greens2ways” width=”320″ height=”212″ /The world of greens is vast and sometimes overwhelming, including everything from the easily recognizable (spinach and lettuce) to the less well-known (tat soi and a title=”Purslane” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/purslane/”purslane/a). Somewhere in the middle are greens like kale, Swiss Chard, mustard, collard and dandelion that share not only rising popularity but also a similar flavor and texture. The great thing about these dark leafy greens, and also what can take some getting used to, is that they taste as if they were ripped from the earth only minutes before you bought them. Theses greens are deliciously earthy, wild, pungent and sturdy. The studies proving their a title=”Why You Should Eat Leafy Greens” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-you-should-eat-leafy-greens/”health benefits/a only confirm what your palate intuitively tells you when you’re chewing a mouthful of kale – this stuff is healthy./p
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pAs bold as they are, dark leafy greens are [...]

Original post by Worker Bee

div class=”breakout”
pIt’s Friday, everyone! And that means another a title=”Success Stories” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-story-summaries/”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story/a from a Mark#8217;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 a title=”Contact Me!” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-book/share-success-story/” target=”_self”here/a. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!/p
/div
pimg class=”alignright” title=”Primal Blueprint Real Life Story” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2009/real_life_stories_stories-1-2.jpg” alt=”real life stories stories 1 2″ width=”320″ height=”240″ //p
pOn Primal I#8217;ve gained about 10 pounds #8211; 10 pounds of muscle that is./p
pOver the two past years, I#8217;ve been trying to increase my strength and add muscle mass./p
pThe first year, even though I was lifting heavy weights, I didn#8217;t add much, if any, muscle. I was eating a low-fat, low carb diet (which was extremely flavorless and hard to maintain) and just got plain old [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Ginger Tea” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/gingertea.jpg” alt=”gingertea” width=”320″ height=”212″ /Maybe it was a raucous night out with too much to drink or an oddly tasting (now you know why) meat dish at a new restaurant. Perhaps you succumbed to the latest stomach bug #8211; care of your jamhanded preschooler. Or maybe you’re making your way through several weeks of intense morning sickness (nature’s rather cruel joke, isn’t it?). Whatever the case, you’ve been bent over the porcelain throne for the better part of the last few hours #8211; or stuck sitting on it. Alternatively, you’re in agony and wish to any and all forms of Providence that you could simply throw up already to get some relief. When the worst of the drama is over or you realize it’s probably not going to hit a crescendo, so to speak, you realize you feel weak and maybe a little shaky. It’s a [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Eating Rice” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/eatingrice.jpg” alt=”eatingrice” width=”319″ height=”281″ /How the Primal community loves the concept of a dietary paradox. How we eagerly point to its various manifestations as supportive evidence for our way of eating, living, and moving. You know the a title=”French Paradox” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox” target=”_blank”French Paradox/a and how it confounds the experts. To mention all those smug a title=”Cheese-eating surrender monkeys” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys” target=”_blank”surrender monkeys/a with their brie and their butter and their duck confit and their Gauloises and their seeming imperviousness to heart attacks is to make Dean Ornish binge on bran and pull out tuft after tuft of frizzy hair. And then there#8217;s the lesser-known a title=”Diet and disease–the Israeli paradox: possible dangers of a high omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid diet.” href=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8960090″ target=”_blank”Israeli Paradox/a, which attempts to answer why Israelis have skyrocketing rates of heart disease despite a skyrocketing intake of #8220;healthy#8221; omega-6 fatty acids. In its wake, Walter [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Arugula” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/arugula.jpg” alt=”arugula” width=”320″ height=”212″ /By now, you#8217;ve probably seen the a title=”Managing Your Mitochondria” href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc” target=”_blank”TedX video from Dr. Terry Wahls/a, a former Tae Kwon Do champ and current MD diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (the kind that degenerates your brain and has you relying on a wheelchair to get around) who describes her transformative experience with a a title=”The Definitive Guide to Dairy” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dairy-intolerance/”dairy/a-free a title=”What’s the Difference Between Primal and Paleo?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/whats-the-difference-between-primal-and-paleo/”Paleo/a diet rich in a title=”Dear Mark: Best Fruit Choices” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/best-fruit-choices/#axzz1kyj4oyOx” target=”_blank”fruits/a, a title=”Top Ten Spring Vegetables” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/spring-vegetables/#axzz1kyjM2Gkl”vegetables/a, a title=”The Differences Between Grass-Fed Beef and Grain-Fed Beef Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/#ixzz1kyjVoiFF” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-differences-between-grass-fed-beef-and-grain-fed-beef/”grass-fed meat/a and a title=”It’s Not So Offal” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/organ-meats/”organs/a, and a title=”A Visual Guide to Sea Vegetables” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-visual-guide-to-sea-vegetables/”seaweed/a. Relegated to and totally dependent on a wheelchair in 2007, by 2008 Wahls had adopted the diet and was commuting to work on [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson