Primal Blueprint Podcast

Mark Sisson chats with celebrity nutrition and fitness expert JJ Virgin - who teaches clients how to lose weight and master their mindset so they can lead bigger, better lives. She is author of 4 NY Times bestsellers: The Virgin Diet, The Virgin Diet Cookbook, JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet, and JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet Cookbook. Her memoir Miracle Mindset: A Mother, Her Son, & Life’s Hardest Lessons explores the powerful lessons in strength and positivity that she learned after her son Grant was the victim of a brutal hit-and-run accident. JJ hosts the popular JJ Virgin Lifestyle Show podcast and regularly writes for Huffington Post, Rodale Wellness, and other major blogs and magazines. She’s also a frequent guest on TV and radio and speaks at major events. In addition to her work with nutrition and fitness, JJ is also a business coach and founded the premier health entrepreneur event and community, The Mindshare Summit.

Elle Russ chats with Justin Stenstrom, a nationally-acclaimed life coach, best-selling author, and speaker. He's the founder of EliteManMagazine.com and the host of the Elite Man Podcast where he interviews world-class experts every week. Once anxious, insecure, depressed, and unhappy, Justin has overcome many of life's greatest obstacles and loves nothing more than helping others do the same!  Coming up in May 2017 - Justin is holding the 2017 Elite Man Conference in Boston, MA.

Ignore the pseudo-spiritual baggage many people have with the notion of a mantra. Repeating and focusing on a meaningful phrase to help guide you through difficult situations, whether that's an hour of sitting meditation or a commitment to a healthy Primal lifestyle, is a legitimate tool anyone can use. Today, I'm going to give you 7 mantras that I find to be useful. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Sure, they’re not exactly the sexiest body part, but it’s fair to say that life with substandard ear health would be notably less enjoyable. And as it happens, millions of Americans would be able to speak to that. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Description:  Elle Russ chats with Carrie and Mark Sisson's grown children, Devyn and Kyle Sisson, about their new business endeavor - opening up a Primal Kitchen Restaurants franchise in Culver City, CA this Summer! You will hear all about "growing up Sisson" in this episode as Devyn and Kyle look back on their lives and share pieces of wisdom and guidance from their parents, while also sharing their personal health journeys.

Conventional wisdom has decreed that "detox" is a myth. They're not even sure if toxins even exist, as far as I can tell. On the other side, you've got detox gurus prescribing cayenne-maple-lemon tea and glasses full of charcoal water as cures for essentially everything. Where's the truth lie? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Description: Elle Russ chats with Integrative Physician Gary E. Foresman MD about an often overlooked topic in thyroid discussion...HYPERthyroidism.  While Hashimoto’s disease, hypothyroidism, and Reverse T3 hypothyroidism are widespread and on the rise, having hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland) can be even more dangerous and problematic than having an underactive thyroid.  Too many doctors are uninformed on how to diagnose and treat the various nuances behind thyroid disorders—leaving millions of patients un-diagnosed or symptomatic.  Dr. Gary E. Foresman, MD, is not only a Primal functional medicine doctor well-versed in all things paleo/primal, but also an informed integrative physician who Elle Russ chose to interview for her book, The Paleo Thyroid Solution. When Dr. Foresman opened a private practice, he quickly became dissatisfied with the inability of established Western medical treatments to effectively treat many of his patients—many of which suffered from thyroid disorders. Determined t

I get a lot of industry news. I eat out a fair bit. I talk to people whose job it is to spot and track health trends. I'm privy to some of the greatest, most innovative minds in the alternative health community—my readers. And you guys are always sending me interesting links. Today, I'm going to discuss some trends of Primal interest. I might poke fun at some of them, and others might be relatively small-scale, but even the silly or minor ones point to interesting movements in the health and fitness zeitgeist. So, what are the 9 I'm highlighting today? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

For all the focus on hearts and arteries, brain tissue and muscle mass, we tend to neglect one critical part of the body with dramatic influence over how we fare in later decades. It’s little surprise really. Feet don’t exactly garner much attention, let alone media time. Yet, the stakes are big. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Everyone reading this knows about the macronutrients. You’re all eating enough protein, fat, carbs, and the various sub-categories, like fiber, omega-3s, MUFAs, SFAs, linoleic acid, and so on. You know the major micronutrients, like magnesium, calcium, vitamin B12, and most of the minor (but still vital) ones, like plant polyphenols, iodine, and vitamin K2. Today I’ll be talking about the truly obscure nutrients. The ones health food hipsters were super into like, five years ago (“I’m taking beta-1,3-glucan, you probably haven’t heard of it, there’s only one group at Hokkaido University doing any research, you can only get it off the DarkNet using bitcoins”). The ones Grok was super into like, 50,000 years ago. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)  

Elle Russ chats with Dave Asprey, founder and CEO of Bulletproof, the world's first human performance and nutrition company.  Dave is a Silicon Valley investor and technology entrepreneur who spent two decades and over $1 million to hack his own biology. Dave is the creator of the widely popular Bulletproof Coffee, host of the #1 health podcast Bulletproof Radio, and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Bulletproof Diet.   Dave lost 100 pounds without counting calories or excessive exercise, used cutting-edge techniques to upgrade his brain and lift his IQ, and lowered his biological age while learning to sleep more efficiently in less time. In his new book, Head Strong, Asprey shows us that all of this is possible—and more. Using his simple lifestyle modifications (or "hacks") to take advantage of how the structure of your brain works, readers will learn how to take their mental performance to the next level. Combining the latest findings in neuroscience and neurobiology with a hacker-inspired

You are not the person you were fifteen years ago. The cells that compose your tissues and deliver oxygen have been recycled many times over. Your face has changed. You move differently. You’re probably slower and weaker, or, depending on your daily habits, faster and stronger. As it becomes available, you incorporate new information into your belief system. Even the neat narrative we imagine we’re orchestrating unbroken in our heads has nightly intermissions lasting hours during which we have no real clue what happens.   (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Autoimmune diseases really throw the body for a loop. You're attacking your own tissues. Your inflammation is sky high. What's usually good for you—like boosting the immune system—can make it worse. You'll often restrict eating certain foods that, on paper, appear healthy and nutrient-dense. You take nothing for granted, measure and consider everything before eating or doing it. Sometimes it feels like almost everything has the potential to be a trigger. Is it true for exercise, too? Must people with autoimmune diseases also change how they train? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

A few years ago, I wrote a long post listing cosmetics, soaps, and other personal products made with healthy, non-toxic ingredients. It's a sad thing when you basically have to assume the worst about the average product designed to be slathered all over the largest organ of your body—your skin. But that's the situation in which we find ourselves now. Today's post is an update of sorts. What products am I using? Which ones have I used? And are there any others that I can safely recommend? It won't be as comprehensive as the last one. It will be more personal. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Elle Russ chats with Helen Marshall who faced a long list of debilitating digestive and mental health issues until she turned to a Primal diet in a desperate attempt to reset her health.  Initially, the prospect of food elimination sounded insane to her but Helen has never looked back since.  Amazed with how her health transformed solely by changing the foods she ate, Helen felt called upon to help other women realize that their health problems were not their fault and that they were not alone. Helen started a blog to share recipes and soon realized that many people felt "time-poor" and often complained of "falling off the wagon."  Helen created a food range of Primal Alternatives to the foods we love and started to produce from home and sell at her local farmers’ markets, cool cafes, gourmet pizza shops and health shops.  The feedback Helen got was that her Primal Alternative range was life-changing for people.  Helen ultimately became a  Primal Health Coach and now runs a thriving and successful global hea

Back in 2008, I provided a brief look into deconstructing egg carton labelling. That simple guide to egg purchasing has gotten a fair amount of attention and shares over the years, so I’m revisiting the subject to update and elaborate where it makes sense. I don’t see eggs ever losing their place in paleo/Primal eating, and I know others share my enthusiasm. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

In 2002, Gary Taubes penned a New York Times piece that questioned the legitimacy of the presiding low-fat dogma. His article made a persuasive case for the safety—and metabolic urgency—of eating more animal fat and fewer carbs. It shifted the national conversation on healthy eating and paved the way for the rise of the ancestral health community. If the experts were that wrong about a healthy diet, what else were they getting wrong? (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Elle Russ chats with Robb Wolf about the surprising truth is that we are genetically wired to eat more and move less, the exact opposite of the advice we are often given.  Now there is a more customized weight loss solution that works with your body, a solution based not on arbitrary restriction of foods but on what works for YOU. Developed by former research biochemist, health expert, and bestselling author Robb Wolf, Wired to Eat offers an eating program, based on groundbreaking research, that will rewire your appetite for weight loss and help you finally determine the optimal foods for your diet and metabolism. 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.  Now, he'll share 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, r

Last month, I installed an infrared sauna in my house. A company offered it to me to try out, and I was willing to give it a go, knowing a little about them already. It also inspired me to dig into the research—to test it personally but also to see what studies had demonstrated in terms of benefits. I'll say I've been pleased with what I've found from both angles. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

By next year, Americans are expected to spend nearly 11 billion dollars on skin care annually. By some estimates anyway, the biggest share of this market goes to “anti-aging” products. Anti-aging… As I noted in an offhand way a few years back, there's a certain enjoyment in looking good naked (or just looking good), and there’s nothing wrong with that. Looking “good” is largely a reflection of optimum inner health—nothing un-Primal about that. Great health is what we’re all here for. The “extra” rewards that come with it aren’t anything to shake a stick at—or to be sheepish about. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)