The Primal Blueprint (25 page)
Read The Primal Blueprint Online
Authors: Mark Sisson
If you argue that life will never be the same without your bowl of Raisin Bran or a heaping plate of pasta and garlic bread, see if these suggestions can ease your transition:
“80% Rule”:
If you are someone who has a difficult time transitioning to a new habit, call to mind the spirit of the 80% Rule and do your best. Take it step by step and relieve yourself of pressure so you can adapt more comfortably. Be sure that your indulgences are sensible, as I detail in the next chapter. Over time, you will naturally and comfortably become more compliant, particularly with the restriction and elimination of grains and processed carbohydrates from your diet.
Build Momentum:
As you continue to make progress eating the way you were designed to eat, you will notice a heightened sensitivity to how food affects your body, both positively and negatively. During my years as an athlete, I thought my recurrent digestive bloating and postmeal fatigue were due to my hard training regimen or simply the end of a long day—not from a subclinical allergic reaction to excessive processed carbohydrates and/or dairy products. Can you relate to that hyper, racing heart sensation that comes after consuming a sugary dessert? It’s probably something that we’ve been aware of since childhood—a little annoying but no big deal, right?
It was only when I started to really clean up my already quite healthy diet a decade ago that my sensitivity went to the next level. What a pleasure it was to leave the dinner table feeling totally satisfied, yet alert and energetic—and not having to unbuckle the belt a notch or two! Passing on dessert took a little getting used to, but I noticed that the minimal sacrifice of instant gratification paled in comparison to not having to deal with sugar highs and sugar crashes. Plus, as you cut out those simple carbs, you begin to lose the craving for them. Hence, you escape the vicious cycle that befalls even those with tremendous willpower trying to do the right thing but eating the wrong stuff.
Five Favorite Meals Strategy:
Pick your five favorite
Primal Blueprint
–approved meals and rotate them for the first two weeks of your transition to
Primal Blueprint
eating. Maybe it’s broiled salmon and steamed broccoli. Lamb chops with grilled zucchini and summer squash. Rotisserie chicken (with the skin—preferably organic) and a large steamed vegetable. As much colorful, creative salad as you want. Liberal snacking on
Primal Blueprint
–approved snacks. Yes, you are removing the baked potato, corn on the cob, Cheerios, baguettes, and other beige staples from the picture, but the discomfort of a habit change can be greatly assuaged when you can look forward to as much as you want of your favorite Primal foods during the crucial transition period to the
Primal Blueprint
eating style.
Never Struggle, Suffer, or Go Hungry:
Surround yourself with
Primal Blueprint
–approved foods and enjoy them as much and as often as you like. Always have a Primal snack nearby to help you through the transition period. That said, respect the Primal philosophy and pay close attention to your hunger levels, eliminating emotional triggers that negatively influence healthy eating. The key is to stop eating not when you are full—by then you’ve had too much—but when you are no longer hungry.
Substitute:
Consider whether you can switch out
Primal Blueprint
meals for some of your old favorites. I used to be a big blueberry pancakes and granola guy, but whatever deprivation I might have felt at first in eliminating the “stack” from my life was more than made up for by a dozen bites of a delicious, deluxe high-fat omelet. Consider the overall impact of your current favorite foods on your body and if they are all truly worth it. A fine Italian meal of pasta with gelato for dessert will please most any palette, but if you feel bloated, gassy, and sleepy in the hours afterward, a better strategy might be to consider some of the many other delicious,
Primal Blueprint
–approved items on the menu (or off it, from a polite request) at the same restaurant.
When you eat
Primal Blueprint
style, the consequences of your food choices become crystal clear. Eat right and you have discernibly more energy and health. Stick with it and your body composition goals happen effortlessly. Slide a little bit and you might get halfway to your goal (or less, owing to the vicious cycle of insulin-driven sugar crashes and cravings), have a little less energy, and maybe catch an extra cold or two due to compromised immune function.
Every once in a while, I’ll have a lapse in judgment and indulge in something like a small scoop of gourmet ice cream. It tastes delicious for the four minutes it takes to eat it (but not quite on a par with a bowl of fresh blueberries and raspberries with homemade
whipped cream), but invariably I experience bloating and gas in the ensuing hour as well as a bit of a sugar crash. Because these lapses are out of my normal habit pattern, I am highly sensitive to the consequences of choices like these.
Understand that I enjoy the taste of ice cream as much as anyone, but I will assert my position that after eating Primally for some time, even the occasional treat that’s not
Primal Blueprint
approved—for me—is
just not worth it
. I don’t mean to come off as a food nazi here. I assure you that I’m tempted frequently and in the future will certainly indulge in a non-Primal manner again (and again after that…hopefully we’re talking
years
now!). I’m merely trying to illustrate how, once you’re sensitized to the negative effects of unhealthy choices, it gets easier to turn down what used to seem impossible to resist. This is especially true when you clearly understand the consequences of each and every food choice that you make, whether they are aligned with your primal genes or whether they are not.
When you use defense mechanisms like “Everything in moderation,” “You only live once,” and the like, you disguise the fact that over years and decades, those little ice cream outings can add up literally to hundreds of pounds of ingested substances that are toxic to your body. Furthermore, as unhealthy food choices ingrain themselves (pun intended) into your daily life, I believe you become desensitized to the negative effects they have on your health. This concept is illustrated by heavy tobacco or caffeine users who are able to function somewhat normally (that’s not saying much) with volumes of chemicals in their bloodstream that would floor the casual user.
The complete lack of regimentation or caloric deprivation in the
Primal Blueprint
eating style (I refuse to use the word
diet
because it implies regimentation) is the secret to its long-term success. You don’t have to force yourself to go hungry or to feel deprived or negative about eating. Simply make sensible choices by welcoming the abundant selection of delicious foods whenever you want and transition out of habitually consuming foods that may taste great for a brief moment but make your body feel bad or create long-term metabolic stress.
“
Once you’re sensitized to the negative effects of unhealthy choices, it gets easier to turn down what used to seem impossible to resist
.
”
Chapter Summary
1. Primal Blueprint Foods:
Eating lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and animal foods, and avoiding processed foods, creates a more calorically efficient, nutrient-dense diet. These
Primal Blueprint
foods have driven human evolution for two million years. Benefits of
Primal Blueprint
eating include enhanced cellular function, improved immune and antioxidant function, optimal development and repair of muscle tissue, enhanced fat metabolism and weight management, a reduction in disease risk factors, and a stabilization of daily appetite and energy levels. While the
Primal Blueprint
advocates restriction of processed carbs like some popular diet programs, it does not restrict most nutritious natural carbs and, furthermore, takes a comprehensive lifestyle approach rather than being a mere diet.
2. It’s All About Insulin (Well, at Least 80 Percent of It):
Eighty percent of your ability to achieve body composition goals is determined by your diet—essentially, your ability to moderate insulin production so you can access and burn stored body fat for energy, while preserving or building muscle. Insulin is an important hormone that transports nutrients into cells for storage. When the delicate insulin balance is abused by habitually consuming too many carbs, cells become insulin resistant; more fat is stored and it becomes increasingly difficult to burn. This sets the stage for the development of serious conditions like Metabolic Syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Synthesis of testosterone and human growth hormone are hindered by excessive insulin production, creating an artificially accelerated aging process. There are also serious immediate drawbacks to consuming high-carb snacks or meals. The sugar high–insulin release–stress response cycle causes problems with fatigue, mental focus, mood swings, and jitters, resulting in the familiar condition of burnout. The regulation of insulin production is perhaps the most important takeaway message of the
Primal Blueprint
for preventing obesity and many modern health problems.
3. Cholesterol:
Cholesterol is critical to healthy cell structure and numerous metabolic functions. Conventional Wisdom’s lipid hypothesis of heart disease is a flawed and narrow perspective on the actual chain of events and risk factors that contribute to heart disease (a premise supported in recent years by the Framingham Heart Study and many other respected studies and experts). In many cases, only one specific lipoprotein, small, dense LDL, is most related to heart disease and usually only causes problems when triglycerides are high and systemic inflammation is present (typically a consequence of excessive insulin production, a poor omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, and poor exercise habits—either sedentary or too stressful). Furthermore, sufficient levels of HDL—generated by healthy eating and exercise habits—can often mitigate the damage caused by small, dense LDL. The primary function of statin drugs—lowering cholesterol levels—does not directly address these risk factors. Statin’s purported anti-inflammatory benefits can be easily achieved through diet, exercise, and supplementation—it’s cheaper and without side effects!
4. Omega-3s:
Primal Blueprint
eating provides higher levels of the highly touted omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which support healthy cardiovascular, brain, skin, and immune function, primarily by keeping the inflammation response under control. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 intake is dangerously out of balance in the modern diet, due to excessive consumption of processed foods and oils.
5. Macronutrients:
Understand the context of calories to see a bigger picture than the overly simplistic “calories in, calories out” concept of weight loss. Obtain between 0.7 and one gram of protein per pound of lean body weight per day (observing the adjustment factors detailed). Limit carbohydrate intake to an average of 100 to 150 grams per day (or 50 to 100 grams per day if you seek accelerated fat loss), something that will happen automatically when you enjoy plenty of vegetables and fruits and avoid grains, sugars, and other processed carbs. The Carbohydrate Curve summarizes how various levels of carbs impact your health and weight management success.
With protein intake in optimum range and carb intake strictly controlled, fat becomes your main caloric energy variable. This allows you to enjoy deeply satisfying high-fat foods whenever you are hungry (knowing they will more likely be burned as energy than make you fat—if you moderate insulin production). Although fat has been maligned by Conventional Wisdom for years, it’s largely due to mistakenly attributing the negative effects of processed fats (and high carb diets) to fat intake in general. Ketones (a byproduct of gluconeogenesis in the liver) are known as the fourth fuel because they provide an efficient energy source when carbohydrate intake is low. Occasional mild ketosis during weight-loss efforts is a safe strategy to burn off excess body fat more rapidly.
6. Eating Well:
Eating well means enjoying one of the great pleasures of life without deprivation, restriction, stress-related bad habits, or other negativity. Choose the foods that you enjoy most from the broad list of
Primal Blueprint
choices and don’t obsess about calories, nutrient ratios, regimented mealtimes, or food combinations. Eat until you feel satisfied instead of habitually stuffing yourself. Realize that our genes evolved to easily handle sporadic eating habits without energy lulls or metabolic slowdowns.
7. Transitioning to the Primal Blueprint:
Discover desirable substitutes (rotate them over and over if desired) to avoid feelings of deprivation from discarding old meal choices. Ensure you have plenty of
Primal Blueprint
foods available for snacks and meals so you don’t suffer or feel depleted. Follow the 80% Rule by striving for total compliance (realizing this should get you to 80 percent) and not stressing about perfection. Notice your heightened sensitivity to how foods affect your body and leverage that instant gratification to stay on the path of high-energy, effortless weight management and optimal gene expression with
Primal Blueprint
foods.
Law #1: Eat Lots of Plants and Animals
(Insects Optional)
In This Chapter
I detail the health benefits of eating
Primal Blueprint
style and how to choose the best products in the food categories of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, animal foods (meat, fish, fowl, and eggs), and herbs and spices. I pay particular attention to the benefits of choosing organic plants and animals and contrast the often offensive ingredients (hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics) and processing methods found with conventional foods and mass-produced animal products.
Organic, locally grown vegetables and fruits are the most nutritious and safest. They are teeming with antioxidants and micronutrients that support health and help prevent disease. Organic animal foods are healthy and nutritious and will help you reduce excess body fat and build lean muscle. Eggs are healthy and nutritious. They have been mistakenly maligned due to the flawed assumption that their high-cholesterol content is a heart disease risk factor. The budget increase for buying organic products pales in comparison to the importance of leading a healthy life and avoiding disease risk factors.
Nuts, seeds, and their derivative butters offer high levels of beneficial unsaturated and omega-3 fats, phytonutrients, fiber, antioxidants, and numerous vitamins and minerals, and they make for delicious and satisfying snack options. Herbs and spices offer tremendous micronutrient value and high antioxidant values. Spices enhance your enjoyment of meals, while herbal extracts can benefit numerous health conditions.
I detail foods that you can enjoy in moderation, including how to make the best choices among certain fruits, coffee, dairy products, fats and oils, starchy tuber vegetables, and wild rice. I refute Conventional Wisdom’s notion that you should routinely drink extensive amounts of water and instead assert that, like Grok, we simply use our thirst to guide us to proper hydration. A few sensible indulgences like alcohol, dark chocolate, and high-fat treats should be chosen discriminately, but enjoyed guilt-free. Certain high-quality supplements (multivitamin/mineral/antioxidant formula, omega-3 oil, probiotics, and protein powder) can provide a strategic boost for our high-stress lifestyles and often nutrient-challenged food supply.