Shifting primal perceptions is a challenging proposition but one that Mark Sisson and his PB community welcome with an adaptive mindset.
For some the tag Primal equates to a restrictive diet and lifestyle model, conjuring images of carnivorous cavemen chasing their quarry barefoot. Perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration but still a large portion of the population harbour an outdated view of Primal Living associated with stereotypical stone age references. However, when they research the Primal lifestyle through progressive resources like MarksDailyApple.com a very different picture emerges—one of scientific exploration and modern application. Applying the founding principles unearthed through ancestral studies on how we moved, what we ate, our underlying genetics and evolutionary patterns; Mark designed the Primal Blueprint which consists of 10 Laws as follows:
1. Eat Lots of Plants and Animals
2. Avoid Poisonous Things
3. Move Frequently at a Slow Pace
4. Lift Heavy Things
5. Sprint Once in a While
6. Get Adequate Sleep
7. Play
8. Get Adequate Sunlight
9. Avoid Stupid Mistakes
10. Use Your Brain
Eschewing the conventional wisdom of law as indicating limitation, Mark deliberately constructed a set of parameters that would serve as a flexible foundation not a rigid definition. So, within the laws (stated above) a myriad of options apply. This frees us to explore our own interpretation of Primal, and how we can adapt it to our individual lifestyles. It also means that far from being stagnant and stuck in the past, Primal is progressive—taking ancient principles and applying modern science.
To help illustrate this, I asked Mark to share his thoughts on the movement and the latest progressive insights shaping the Primal perspective…
A lot of people criticize me for creating the “Primal” branding, as if it were just a cheap and easy way to align myself with the paleo movement while reserving a separate commercial space for my own interests. In reality, I developed the Primal Blueprint as an overarching framework for human behavior, including but not limited to the more narrow paleo focus on diet. And I separated myself from paleo not to further my own interests, but to remain agile — to allow myself the freedom to change course as emerging evidence dictated. I didn’t want to feel confined or limited.
We don’t ignore new evidence that contradicts formerly-held positions. We integrate.
We constantly evaluate the science. I have several dozen email alerts set up for whenever new papers come out on certain health, nutrition, and anthropology topics. I read them. My team reads them. We discuss what it might mean to our grander message. And if the developments warrant a tweak to the foundation, we go with it.
I maintain an open line of communication with my readers. When I mess up, they let me know. When they discover something that changes the story or come across some new piece of evidence, they’ll send it along. I probably learn more from them than they learn from me. And over time, I’ve made tweaks to the Primal formula.
The Primal Blueprint defaults to a reduced carb intake – for most people. This is because most people eat more carbohydrates than they currently require, and this has definitely lead to a surplus of collective body weight. But as time’s gone on, Primal has shifted away from low-carb toward macronutrient agnosticism. It often is low-carb, and it seems to be the best way forward for people with lots of weight to lose, but it’s been established beyond doubt that people can be healthy and maintain their body weight while eating higher amounts of carbs, provided they come from whole foods. From the start, I promoted carbohydrate intakes of 150 grams or less, with more “allowed” as needed for the more physically active. That’s far from “very low-carb”; it allows for a significant amount of fruit, starchy tubers, and other vegetables.
In 2009, after initially rejecting white potatoes and rice as neolithic harbingers of excess starch, I realized that as long as a person could use the extra carbs, they were acceptable. And in the case of potatoes, downright nutritious.
In 2013, I embraced resistant starch, a prebiotic fiber with beneficial effects on resident gut bacteria after previously categorizing it as “just another type of fiber, no better or worse than any other and certainly not vital.” As accumulating evidence began to show, resistant starch wasn’t like every other prebiotic fiber. It had a unique tendency to preferentially target beneficial gut bacteria and improve digestive, immune, colonic, sleep, and even mental health. But because the most common sources of resistant starch in typical Western diets are grains, I was skeptical of its essentiality. The evidence is the evidence, however, and it turns out that the richest sources are actually cooked and cooled potatoes, raw potato starch, green bananas and plantains.
Ultimately, the Primal Blueprint is a tool. For making choices about what we eat, how we move, how we sleep, and what we spend our time and money doing. For analyzing foods and behaviors. It doesn’t require that we eliminate certain foods. It doesn’t require anything. Life is a series of choices. If a person wants to eat wheat, a person can. If eating wheat makes a person feel bad, the Primal Blueprint offers an explanation, and an alternative. If a person feels good eating meat and salad for lunch but worries it’ll kill them, they can look to the Primal Blueprint for evidence of its healthfulness and vindication that what they’re feeling isn’t wrong.
Tools are technology, and technology is always growing, always changing, always evolving. The Primal movement is no different. Rather than being an inherent weakness or an example of wishy-washy flip-flopping, that tendency to grow with the evidence is precisely what makes it so compelling and effective.
Notable Primal Shifts
Paleo potatoes: Contrary to the perspectives of the first wave of paleo dieters, potatoes aren’t nutrient-sparse empty carbohydrates riddled with toxic glycoalkaloids. Potatoes are nutrient-dense foods that only contain dangerous levels of glycoalkaloids when eaten green and sprouted.
Carb intake: While low-carb remains the most effective strategy for the overweight and obese attempting to lose weight, we’ve acknowledged that several populations can benefit from moderate carb increases: the physically active, who may need to eat a few more carbs to fuel and recover from their efforts; those experiencing weight loss plateaus, for whom the occasional carb refeed can kickstart weight loss.
Women aren’t the same as men: Men and women are the same species, but they often thrive on different eating strategies. Men report incredible benefits from intermittent fasting, or the skipping of meals, and very low carb intakes, while women tend to respond poorly to meal-skipping and may need more carbs than men for proper endocrine function.
The importance of gut health: We always knew that gut health was important for digestion, but we didn’t realize the primary role the gut plays in metabolism, immunity, and even psychology. The Primal eating plan began emphasizing the importance of fermented foods, probiotic supplements, and prebiotic fibers like resistant starch for the maintenance of optimal gut — and overall — health.
Dietary extremism isn’t healthy: Some people took the Primal Blueprint to dangerous extremes. They gave up grains, sugar, vegetable oils and started eating more animals and plants, their health improved, and so they upped the ante. They stopped going out with non-Primal friends. They wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t 100% free-range and grass-fed. They’d experience anxiety because they didn’t know what oil a restaurant used to cook their food. In short, they became paralyzed by the thought of dietary imperfection. The perfect diet doesn’t exist, and the stress of tirelessly pursuing it is unhealthier than eating a bite of bread or a piece of candy.
Expand your perception of Primal, explore: MarksDailyApple.com
Go deeper and learn the founding principles and adaptive nature of the Primal Blueprint, get certified: PrimalBlueprint.com
