Primal Blueprint Podcast

Elle Russ chats with Jeffrey Brownstein, a Certified Empowerment Coach and founder of Life Purpose U. He has been helping people to uncover their purpose and create meaningful, extraordinary lives since 2005.  Jeff has Bachelor's degrees in English and Metaphysics, and is also a professional speaker, writer, photographer, and Certified Energy Healer. He currently lives on the East Coast with his wife Allison, and their 2 dogs Bailey and Murphy.  

Last year I was talking with Brad Kearns and Dave Dolle when Dave said something really interesting: he was using neurotransmitter analysis to build personalized training programs for his athletes. By giving a short written T/F test called the Braverman test, he could determine whether a client was dominant in dopamine, acetylcholine, GABA, or serotonin—and then use the results to determine their ideal training regimen. It was one of those instances where you hear something you know you’ll be chewing on for the next few months. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns welcomes Folsom, CA’s #1 power couple, Jake Taylor and Primal Blueprint’s own keto queen Lindsay Shaw Taylor, Ph.D. These folks are the real deal and they have immersed themselves fully into ketogenic living and studying the various approaches. Interestingly, they have landed upon disparate approaches to keto and dietary habits in general. Lindsy is an ironman athlete and also happens to be a female. She has determined her best approach to be somewhat regular meals, with generally stringent carb intake guidelines ranging from full keto to low carb primal over the course of the year. Jake, always pushing the limits in the financial markets as well as personal peak performance, has found an effective strategy in prolonged fasting/compressed eating window, but with less stringent carb intake guidelines when he does eat.

Today I want you to completely rethink your basic philosophy about how you manage both your fitness activities and the assorted stresses of hectic, modern life. This post was inspired by a great article from training expert Joel Jamieson of 8weeksout.com titled, “All Pain, No Gain: Why The High Intensity Training Obsession Has Failed Us All.” Joel’s message set off a firestorm of internal dialog among members of the Primal Blueprint team. (Catch Brad Kearns’ recent interview with him for the Primal Blueprint Podcast.) After much back and forth and additional research, I’m eager to get you reflecting and commenting on the genuine nature of recovery from an entirely new angle. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Brad Kearns chats with Performance Architect Joel Jamieson about his groundbreaking post about the energy cost of recovery, published on 8weeksout.com, called "All Pain, No Gain: Why The High Intensity Training Obsession Has Failed Us All".  Joel details how our flawed perspective about training negates the concept that the body only has a given amount of energy to expend each day, and that recovery and restoration require energy just as training and stressful. Furthering the compensation theory discussed at length in Primal Blueprint books, Joel mentions respected science that contends we operate under a "constrained model of energy expenditure." If you burn up excess energy during exercise, your body becomes naturally lazier throughout the day and divert valuable energy away from recovery and immune function. Hence, Joel's argument for "recovery-based fitness" where you respect the resources necessarily allocated to three main functions:
1 - vital biological functions - basic daily survival
2 - physical act

This is one of the most common queries I receive: How do I go keto as a vegetarian? One way to go keto as a vegetarian is to stop being vegetarian. You begin as a vegetarian, make the conscious decision to go keto, and then cease vegetarianism. Seriously, just try it out. A little animal won’t hurt you. Promise. Okay, jokes aside: How do you go keto while remaining vegetarian? Once you let the dust settle and consider the proposition with a calm, clear mind, going keto as a vegetarian isn’t all that outlandish. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns walks you through Chapter 1 of The Keto Reset Diet—the what, when and how of keto. First, resetting your metabolism to ditch carb dependency. Then doing some fine-tuning to improve your metabolic flexibility. Finally, a six-week immersion into nutritional ketosis. Keto is the default human genetic factory setting; we have likely spent more time in keto-mode over the past 2.5 million years, because carbohydrates were never abundant until civilized times, and often regular calorie consumption was not assured either. Brad explains that if you do the journey correctly, there will be no struggling and suffering involved, because you will be getting a nutrient-dense diet. Regarding the widely-touted 50 grams of daily gross carbohydrate intake limit for keto, you can discount the contribution of avocados, leafy greens, and other high fiber above ground vegetables, since they have minimal net carb contribution. Brad talks a bit about blood testing and the surprising phenomenon of highly fat- and keto

Almost everyone has at least one dietary restriction. Maybe your religion or cultural traditions prohibit specific foods or food pairings. Maybe your physiological response to certain foods—an allergy or intolerance—prevent you from eating them. Or perhaps your immediate goals preclude a food’s inclusion in your diet. Like every other diet, keto is already circumscribed by basic principles, which can make further limitations difficult to accommodate. But the benefits of going keto, at least for part of the time, are well-established and worth the effort. You want to do it. How can you go keto while honoring your own dietary bounds? It depends on the restriction. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Mark Sisson chats with Dr. Joseph Mercola - a board certified family physician who started Mercola.com 20 years ago...the most visited natural health site on the internet for the last 13 years. He has also authored many bestselling books including Fat for Fuel which details mitochondrial metabolic therapy.  Mark Sisson and Dr. Mercola discuss topics ranging from intermittent fasting, KETO, stem cell therapy, mitochrondrial impairment, stem cell therapy, and issues around EMF.

Every New Year, the cynics are quick to tell you how arbitrary all the motivational messages, resolutions, and new beginnings are. It’s just another day, they grumble. And, sure, they have a point. You could start that new diet, join that new CrossFit box that just opened down the street, and finally pursue the dream job you’ve always wanted on March 7th, February 15th, or August 3rd. It doesn’t have to be January 1st. Any day will do. The New Year is somewhat arbitrary. But we’re social animals who thrive in the presence of others. We feed off the energy around us to fuel our own initiative. On some level we’re always looking to what the group is doing for motivation, if not direction. The New Year presents a unique opportunity that way for all of us. Why would we not take advantage of the tailwind? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns talks about the common mistakes and drawbacks of a shortcut approach to keto. If you are still even a bit carb dependent when attempting keto, what you will get is a flood of stress hormones in response to the sudden deprivation of your primary fuel source glucose. Lacking dietary carbs, you will commence the hallmark fight or flight process of gluconeogenesis to give your body the sugar it needs. You may even feel alert and energetic for a while from the stress hormone buzz, but when the stress response becomes exhausted, you are destined to crash and burn, featuring overeating, extra sleeping, and programmed lazy behavior to recalibrate.  Also in the show, Brad rips on the concept of “cheat days.” If you are allured by the prospect of a cheat day, this suggests your approach is too regimented and unpleasant to sustain. With the Keto Reset approach, you will instead progress gracefully with your metabolic fitness so that you are enjoying nutritious, satisfying meals, getting better and bette

Mark Sisson chats with with good friend and fellow New York Times Bestselling author Robb Wolf to answer a few listener questions and to chat about what they have been up to. With his bestselling book, The Paleo Solution, Robb Wolf helped hundreds of thousands of people lose weight by eating a low-carb Paleo diet, but Paleo is only a starting point, not a destination.  In Wired To Eat, he shares a more customized way of eating that may be the key to permanent weight loss and better health. You'll start with Wolf’s 30-Day Reset to help you restore your body's blood sugar levels, repair your appetite, and reverse insulin resistance. Robb recently teamed up with filmmaker CJ Hunt for a new documentary called Dispelling The Lies

A few months back, I put together an article on alternative therapies for depression. Many readers  showed a lot of interest in some of the emerging non-drug treatments in that field, and, more importantly, many began to relay their own stories about how they overcame or successfully managed their depression through various strategies. That’s what I love the most about this community—sharing experience and expertise in the interest of broadening available solutions beyond what conventional thought tells us. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns talks about the contrast between liver function in a carb dependency state (hint: overwhelmed in processing excess glucose into fat and eventually becoming insulin resistant) versus a fat- and keto-adapted liver function (elegant regulation and dispensation of the exact amount of energy you need in your bloodstream any time. Enjoy a great excerpt from the Keto Reset Diet called “Keto vs Carbo…Whoa!” The amazing liver is the control tower for energy processing and distribution throughout your entire body. It’s amazing to reflect on the liver’s exquisite regulation of blood glucose within an incredibly tight range at all times. Our optimal circulating glucose level is only around five grams (a teaspoon) within a total blood volume of around 1.5 gallons (5.5 liters) of blood. In the typical modern human carbohydrate dependency eating pattern, your liver will fight valiantly under adverse circumstances to keep you energy balanced until finally it succumbs to insulin resistance and you end up wit

Host Elle Russ chats with hilarious and fun-spirited podcasters Jason Leapai and Jason Sikorski. The Jasons host The Savage Podcast, where they chat with guests about topics ranging from MMA, sex, and even mind control.  Both avid outdoorsmen and lifelong martial artists - both of their lives were transformed for the better after adopting a paleo/primal lifestyle. With an advanced understanding of primal living, they explain and discuss key nuances of living a primal lifestyle.

Each year is fuller than the last. More and more scientific papers are published each year, and that trend is only quickening. The same trend goes for books, products, businesses. Humans are incredible producers. It’s what we do—create and consume. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns talks about one of his recent favorite subjects, exploring the long scientifically validated benefits of fasting. We know that your body works more efficiently and burns fuel more cleanly (less production of free radicals than when you are glucose burner) when in a fasted state, but that long-term extreme calorie restriction is not a viable option in daily life. By eating in a ketogenic pattern, you can enjoy fasting-like benefits while enjoying nutrient-dense, high satiety, high fat meals. You can also improve your metabolic fitness through keto such that you can fast more frequently, for longer periods, while enjoying peak cognitive and physical function and not suffering from hunger. Fasting and ketogenic eating helps upregulate fat metabolism and free you from carbohydrate dependency that is endemic to the modern diet. Fasting also stimulates autophagy, the natural cellular detoxification process that promotes longevity and disease protection, and apoptosis, the programmed death of dysfun

Host Brad Kearns catches up with the legendary Dave Scott, a 6-time Hawaii Ironman world champion and respected coach of both elite professional and amateur multisport enthusiasts. Dave is perhaps more steeped in the science of nutrition and exercise physiology than any other endurance athlete ever, so this show will give you insights on both cutting edge science and also the competitive mindset of a champion athlete. Brad gives you a brief intro in case you’ve never heard of Dave, then they jump right into it. Dave describes his transition from a high carb pioneer back in the 80’s to his current support of primal/paleo/ketogenic eating patterns. He describes the science behind keto, and how it can protect your health and your heart from potential damage caused by strenuous training. On the long-standing topic of “intensity vs. volume” Dave sets people straight by detailing the huge mistake of going “kinda hard” on a regular basis. Not only will your burn out in performance, you are putting your health at ser

I’ve been spreading the word about the primal lifestyle for over a decade now, and while the information on this blog and in my books has reached millions, I wonder how many of these millions have actually been able to live some version of a primal life consistently and confidently. My guess is, not as many as I’d like. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

No matter what kind of evidence comes out to the contrary, the anti-saturated fat sect won’t relinquish its dogma. Whenever its advance is rebuffed—perhaps by an observational study showing the lack of relations between saturated fat intake and heart disease, or a study showing the beneficial effects of saturated fat on multiple health markers—they regroup and try another route. The latest is a study that several readers sent to me, worried that the attack had finally made it through the defenses. In it, researchers purport to show that saturated fat increases the solidity and rigidity of cellular membranes, reducing membrane fluidity and eventually leading to cell death. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)