pimg class=”alignright” title=”Aromatic Beef Soup with Mushrooms and Chard” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/soup-1.jpg” alt=”soup 1″ width=”320″ height=”212″ /Hovering over a warm bowl of soup, lapping up its warmth and inhaling the steamy aroma, is one of the best ways to take the chill out of a cold day. This is especially pleasurable if the soup smells so good that the aroma wafts out of your house and onto the street so even the neighbors know something good is cooking. Imagine a pot simmering with tender chunks of beef, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and fennel seeds. A soup like this is hearty, nourishing and guaranteed to make the neighbors jealous./p
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pYou could actually call this soup faux pho, since it’s not quite the real thing but is inspired by the Vietnamese soup, pho. This soup is a little less brothy and little meatier than real pho and makes the cooking process simpler by calling for [...]

Original post by Worker Bee

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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
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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
pDear Mark,/p
pI can’t tell you how much I feel like a a title=”Success Stories” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-story-summaries/”Primal success story/a although my before and after photos wouldn’t reveal a thing. You see, I haven’t lost a pound, not one. And I didn’t really need to, but I desperately needed a change./p
pA little backstory:/p
pI am a stay at home mom. Three years ago, my husband began his graduate degree. [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Canned Tomatoes” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/iStock_000000300520XSmall.jpg” alt=”iStock 000000300520XSmall” width=”320″ height=”212″ /By now, you#8217;re undoubtedly aware of a title=”Are Plastics Safe?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/harmful-plastics/#axzz1j5lrm9Fy”BPA/a, or bisphenol A, and its ubiquitous presence in can liners, plastics, and even receipts. I a title=”Is Canned Food Safe?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/canned-food-safety/#axzz1j5LGnjxJ”wrote about its status as a xenoestrogen/a with the ability to interact with hormonal receptors in animal bodies, as well as its potentially deleterious effects on humans #8211; especially tiny growing humans #8211; and the general takeaway is that avoiding BPA as much as possible is in all our best interests. We can#8217;t avoid everything, but we can do a fairly good job of it. Luckily, the consumers (that#8217;s you) have spoken up loud enough to get companies to pay attention to the way they line their cans so that while BPA remains a pervasive issue, more and more BPA-free products are being introduced. This is good, but which ones [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pa title=”Success Stories in the Making” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-stories-in-the-making/”img class=”alignright” title=”Success Stories in the Making” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/success_stories_in_making.jpg” alt=”success stories in making” width=”320″ height=”240″ //aOkay, is everyone as pumped as I am for this? Ever since reader Adam proposed a title=”Success Stories in the Making” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/success-stories-in-the-making/”the idea/a some weeks ago, I’ve looked forward to making it happen #8211; as the MDA 2012 New Year Challenge no less! Now the moment has come, and it’s a big one. As Challenge participant Brandi put it, “It seems like a lot of folks were looking for something just like this.” A lot is right. Readers, I’ve been bowled over by the amazing response to Success Stories in the Making. More than 400 (do the doubletake!) new and continuing Grokkers responded to the call last week and submitted their goals and photos! It doesn’t get more awesome than this, folks. The bees and I have been hard [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Inflammed” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/inflammed.jpg” alt=”inflammed” width=”320″ height=”300″ /In the comments section of a title=”What is Inflammation?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-is-inflammation/”last week#8217;s post on inflammation/a, many of you expressed a desire for a post explaining how to know if one is actually suffering from systemic, chronic inflammation. I thought that was a great idea and decided to put the other followups on hold so I could tackle this one. Obviously, it#8217;s easy to tell if you#8217;ve got some acute inflammation going on #8211; swelling, pain, heat radiating from a part of your body that#8217;s suddenly assumed a rosy hue, and throbbing open wounds are all blatant indicators of the inflammatory process at work #8211; but tests for markers of inflammation are not yet standard across most medical practices. With that in mind, I#8217;ll be giving info on both objective markers for which you can test, as well as on the subjective markers I use [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Brain” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/brain.jpg” alt=”brain” width=”320″ height=”240″ /It feels good to get back to our regularly scheduled Monday morning programming. #8220;a title=”Dear Mark Category” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/dear-mark/”Dear Mark/a#8221; is a way for me to keep my finger on the pulse of the community, to respond quickly and directly to any issues that may arise. I try to keep abreast of all this stuff, but there#8217;s a lot, and some will inevitably slip through the cracks. When that happens, you guys pick up the slack and keep me honest and informed. These Mondays give me a chance to respond to the things I would have otherwise missed or put off until another time. Thanks for that./p
pThis past week, I received a massive influx of emails from readers worried about the results of a new study. I figured it was a good idea to address it. Here are a few of the messages:/p
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blockquotepI#8217;m [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”Fajita Frittata with Avocado Salsa ” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/frittata2.jpg” alt=”frittata2″ width=”320″ height=”235″ /There are a million ways to prepare and flavor a title=”Egg Purchasing Guide” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/egg-purchasing-guide/”eggs/a, and yet, how often do you end up making the same old scramble or omelet? Early mornings usually aren’t an ideal time to try out new recipes, which is one reason it’s so easy to dig oneself deep into a breakfast rut. If the thought of eating breakfast is starting to make you groan rather than grin, then it’s high time to change things up./p
pA emFajita Frittata with Avocado Salsa/em brings bold new flavor to breakfast without being overly complicated. Seasoned steak and peppers are sautéed and then quickly baked with eggs and topped with an eye-opening avocado salsa. The result is a flavorful and healthy breakfast that can be sliced into portions for the whole family and eaten at home or on the [...]

Original post by Worker Bee

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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
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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
pDear Mark, /p
pI have had fast, great success with the Primal lifestyle and I would like to add my story to your growing library in order to encourage others who have lost hope of ever getting that middle-age weight back off./p
pFor most of my life, I kept myself in fairly good condition. I was a 1979 graduate of The Citadel, with military experience at Fort Bragg, [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”What is Inflammation?” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/inflammation.jpg” alt=”inflammation” width=”320″ height=”212″ /a title=”What’s All This Talk About Inflammation?” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/inflammation/#axzz1ibIFHx9q”Inflammation/a is one of those words that people use without really thinking about its actual meaning. So today we#8217;re going to take a bit of a break from the a title=”How To Interpret Cholesterol Test Results” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-interpret-cholesterol-test-results/#axzz1ibIWOByX”blood lipid/a series to cover inflammation. In later posts, I#8217;ll dig deeper into how the inflammatory response works with stuff like exercise and heart disease, but for now, I#8217;ll just get the basics out there./p
pExistence is suffering, according to certain schools of thought. I don#8217;t know that I#8217;d go quite that far, but I would emphatically state that anyone who spends a modicum of sentient time in the space time continuum we call existence is gonna experience some unpleasantness. A bump on the knee, a bacterial infection, an acute injury, a persistent illness, a death of a loved [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson

pimg class=”alignright” title=”DNA” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA2010/dnaonaplate.jpg” alt=”dnaonaplate” width=”320″ height=”212″ /A hallmark of the a title=”Definitive Guide: Primal Blueprint” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/#axzz1iWEeOFQF”Primal Blueprint/a is that our genetics were shaped by our ancestral environment. That the foods to which we had access, the amount of a title=”Vitamin D: Sun Exposure, Supplementation and Doses” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/vitamin-d-sun-exposure-supplementation-and-doses/”sun/a and a title=”15 Ways to Beat Stress” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/15-ways-to-fight-stress/”stress/a and a href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-sleep/”sleep/a to which our bodies became accustomed, the a title=”Primal Blueprint Fitness” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/”movement patterns/a in which we engaged represented environmental factors that exerted selective pressure on our genetic makeup and phenotypic expression to make us who we are today. As a result, heeding those environmental factors generally results in excellent health. And, even more importantly, many evolutionarily novel environmental factors #8211; like a title=”Why Grains Are Unhealthy” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/”grains/a, refined a title=”The Definitive Guide to Sugar” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-sugar/#axzz1iWFLYgJp”sugar/a, and a title=”The Definitive Guide to Oils” href=”http://www.marksdailyapple.com/healthy-oils/”high omega-6 vegetable oils/a (plus chronic stress, poor sleep, [...]

Original post by Mark Sisson