Primal Blueprint Podcast

Mark sits down for a lively chat with Melissa Hartwig, Certified Sports Nutritionist, New York Times Best Selling author of It Starts With Food and The Whole30, and co-creator of the wildly popular Whole30 movement. Melissa is no stranger to major media as she's been featured by The Today Show, Dr. Oz, The View, Outside, Shape and Self Magazines, and The Wall Street Journal. Melissa has presented over 150 health and nutrition seminars worldwide, and connects with over 1.5 million people each month through the Whole30 website. Mark and Melissa run through a number of fascinating topics, including how Melissa developed the Whole30 program, nutrition's role in addiction recovery, whether or not alcohol can have a place in a healthy diet, and why the Whole30 program is meant to be learning tool to get you on the path of having a healthy relationship with food. This is truly an episode you don't want to miss!

We rely on communication for all we do—how we parent, how we lead, how we love, how we navigate the world and all of our relationships. And, yet, it’s no secret that we’re doing our communicative talents no favors these days. From the filter of technology to the culture of busy, we’re seem to be backing ourselves into our virtual, isolated corners more and more.(This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)  

Primal people tend to assume they have the B vitamins covered. It’s no wonder: punch a slab of beef chuck steak or a few ounces of liver into the USDA nutrient database and that whole B vitamin section seems to fill up. Let’s take a look. You may be right. You may be totally fine. But it’s always nice to refresh your focus. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Readers of my blog are already familiar with my take on the minimalist, or “barefoot” shoe. Unencumbered by supportive arch inserts, stiff soles, and cramped dimensions, the healthy human foot performs, feels, and functions best in a minimalist shoe. It cuts out the fluff and the artifice, the rent-seeking yet unnecessary modifications and upgrades that characterize the modern shoe industry and distills the essentials of what shoe should do—protect the bottom of the foot without changing the heel height or cutting off incoming sensory data. Even if you don’t currently wear minimalist footwear, you grasp the argument, understand the appeal, and agree that minimalist shoes hew more closely to the ancestral environment in which our feet evolved. They are Primal through and through. Does the same hold true for the growing minimalist movement? Was Grok a minimalist? Sorta… (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Andrew and Brad discuss how to “solve the puzzle” of transitioning gracefully through major shifts in career or life. In the athletic world, many struggle when faced with retirement because the intensity of competition and dedicated attention is difficult to match more traditional career pursuits. A process-oriented mindset is urged, so that self-esteem is not attached to results or one’s identity as an athlete, or as a career achiever as well. Another suggestion is finding new passions—they don’t necessarily have to be competitive—but something that lights you up and engages you deeply. More discussion of how to balance career, family, fitness/health, and personal goals, and how sometimes we look at health and fitness pursuits as “sacrifices,” when in fact, not practicing healthy behaviors is the real sacrifice. Enjoy a thoughtful show full of practical tips from Andrew and Brad.

Can we take what research tells us about the roughly prevalent hunter-gatherer model of leadership and decipher lessons for modern management? I tend to think so. Here are what I’d consider 7 Primal ways to be a better leader…. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

On a literal level, your metabolic rate describes how much energy you expend to conduct daily physiological functions. This has many practical ramifications, however, because your metabolic rate also influences how you feel, how many calories you burn, how many calories you can eat without gaining weight, your libido, your fertility, your cold tolerance, how much subjective energy you have, how you recover from injuries and stress, how specific foods affect you, and how you perform in the gym. In short, it’s usually a good thing to have a higher metabolic rate. Here are a few ways to increase your metabolism in a healthy, productive manner. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Elle Russ sits down with Dr. Peter Osborne, the clinical director of Origins Healthcare Center in Sugar Land, TX, and author of No Grain, No Pain. Dr. Osborne is a doctor of chiropractic medicine, a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and an expert in orthomolecular and functional medicine. His clinical focus is the holistic natural treatment of chronic degenerative diseases with a primary focus on gluten sensitivity and food allergies. He has helped thousands of patients recover from mysterious medical illnesses. Get ready folks, because this episode is chock full of fascinating (and digestible) facts on the issues grains cause within the body.

How do we deal with anger? What do we do with this naturally occurring emotion when it’s not a matter of survival? Today's post covers a few tips for managing anger (so it doesn’t manage you). (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

We all have people in our lives who avoid meat and/or animal products in general for multiple reasons—health, ethics, the environment, squeamishness, animal welfare—but we care about them. We also subscribe, with varying degrees of rigidity, to an eating philosophy based on the nutritional importance of animal foods. How do we reconcile these competing loyalties? Should we give up on them? Are they a lost cause? Should we simply wait for them to come limping toward us with sallow skin and low muscle tone? I kid, of course. We should absolutely help where and when we can. Yet telling them to “just eat meat” doesn’t work. If anything, it’s counterproductive. Instead, we can offer productive, legitimately helpful advice from a Primal perspective. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Brad Kearns sits down with Dave Dollé, personal trainer and co-Author of Fruit Belly. Today we’re diving deep into Dave’s background and current career endeavors, including how he manages his two training facilities and keeps his clients motivated.

Not everyone has the luxury of buying and eating solely grass-fed, pasture-raised meat and dairy. Most folks have to choose. They have to pick their battles. Today’s post will help you choose wisely. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

When we dump the pervading culture’s nonsense of obsessing over comparative perfectionism, we’re free to own our own sense of worth. We’re free to enjoy living in our bodies and reveling in their abilities. We’re free to actualize ourselves physically to our own unique potentials. That sounds to me like a much bolder and worthier project in this lifetime. Let’s look at a few ways to take up this challenge. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

No, you yourself can’t save the world. You personally won’t make a dent in the climate, or the amount of plastic in the ocean, or the number of cute baby seals that are bludgeoned to death. But collectively, we can. The choices we make, the things we value, the food we eat, the way our food is raised, who we buy our food from, and how we conduct our day-to-day lives in attempted harmony with our Primal natures really does seem to mesh well with the environment. Multiply those small personal choices by millions of readers (and their dollars) and you get real change. I’m not putting any extra pressure on you. These are things you’re already doing, by and large. These are the ways going Primal can actually help, not harm, the environment. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Research indicates that the growing emphasis on academic rigor in grade school is ineffectual at best and counterproductive at worst. Here's what I would do if I were in charge. (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Abel James is a bestselling author of The Wild Diet, entertainer, and lifestyle entrepreneur. As the #1 rated Health podcast in 8+ countries, Abel's award-winning web series, Fat-Burning Man, has helped millions reclaim their health with cutting-edge science, outdoor workouts, and outrageously good food. When his debut cooking app, Caveman Feast, bested The Food Network and Martha Stewart with more than 1,000 5-star reviews in 48 hours, Abel became the first independent publisher to hold Apple's #1 food app and #1 podcast at the same time. A leading voice in new media, Abel was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness along with Michael Pollan, Dr. Andrew Weil, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Deepak Chopra. Abel starred on ABC and has been featured in People Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, NPR, Forbes, and many more. Also a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Abel has toured internationally and won several awards for vocal performance. After completing his B.A. at Dartmouth College

As with most cultural phenomena, Valentine’s Day is part commercial hoopla and part genuine human inclination. So how do we honor the substance of the holiday while separating out the marketing static? Maybe a Primal lens (at least in the anthropological sense) doesn’t make for the most sentimental post about romantic love. But there’s plenty of authentic awe—and maybe some thought-provoking sense—to be had from the exercise. See if you agree…(This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

For years, the bodybuilding, protein-gorging community has maligned collagen for its inessentiality and lack of input into the muscle-protein synthesis process. From their perspective, it sort of makes sense. Why bother with “low quality” protein like gelatin/collagen when you can pound the whey, eat the meat, and focus on other sources of the essential amino acids directly involved in building muscle?(This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)

Host Elle Russ sits down with Surfing Champion, motivational speaker, mother and all around inspiration, Bethany Hamilton. For those of you not familiar with today’s incredible guest, she has been an amazing source of inspiration and hope to millions of people. During a surf session in 2003, at the age of 13, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, resulting in the loss of her left arm, which seemed to end her career as a professional surfer. However, Bethany rose to (and far beyond) the challenge, was back in the water a month after and took home her first national surfing title a little over a year later. 13 years after what seems like a horrible event, Bethany says she wouldn’t change a thing and talks about how her experience ended up bringing such positivity and strength to her life and how she channels that to bring hope to others. Bethany's latest book, Body and Soul, is a health, fitness and nutrition resource that teaches young women how to care for their bodies beyond the over-emphasis on p

Hang around on nootropic forums where fans and users congregate and you’ll come away with the notion that you’re missing out on a leg up if you’re not taking the latest and greatest nootropic supplement. Nootropics promise vague benefits to “cognition” and “performance,” but what’s really happening? Do nootropics actually work as advertised? Some of them do, absolutely. But others, maybe not so much.  (This Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Leaman)