Reducing the risk of endometrial cancer

A recent report by the World Cancer Research Fund titled FOOD, NUTRITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND ENDOMETRIAL CANCER 2013 provides additional support for a Paleo approach to nutrition and fitness:

The evidence that greater body fatness (reflected by BMI, measures of abdominal girth and adult weight gain) is a cause of endometrial cancer is convincing. Glycaemic load is probably a cause of endometrial cancer, and physical activity and coffee both probably protect against this cancer.

Evidence for non-starchy vegetables and red meat was no longer suggestive of an association and was too limited to draw a conclusion.

Mark Sisson's training deload week

A deload week is a “take it easy” week. It’s a break from training hard and training often, and scheduling a deload week is often how hard-charging athletes and weight lifters (a notorious bunch who never want to take a break) force themselves to recover from their pursuits. Exercise, you see, especially effective, intense, hard exercise, requires that we recover. It’s just like any injury, wound, illness, or stressor faced by our body. We have to recover before we can get stronger. In fact, you don’t get stronger from the act of lifting weights. You get stronger by recovering from the act of lifting weights. 

Learn more at The Deload Week: What It Is, How to Do it, and Why It Might Help You Get Stronger

MovNat Success Story: "like I was 10-years-old again"

In the blink of an eye, everything became clear again. Why get stressed? Why eat processed food when you can pick up fresh food around the corner? Why not get out there, grab a tree branch and ignore the weird looks? Why not learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? Why not set a good, healthy example for my kids? Why not choose to be strong, happy, and free?

MovNat

Quote: When are you "beach ready"?

You are not “beach-ready” just because your body shape looks good. You are “beach ready” when you can run, swim, and carry someone out of the water to rescue them from drowning. 

MovNat

SUNDAY PALEO / January 15, 2012

Adding color to our walls has not changed much in 25,000 years.By Dr. John

Scicurious, at Scientific American Blogs, notes that the Paleolithic diet is “pretty popular among Americans right now.” However, he questions how well we know the details of our ancestors' diet, especially when it comes to fish. Did our ancestors deep sea fish 40,000 years ago? In Does your Paleolithic diet allow tuna?, Scicurious reviews new evidence from Papua New Guinea and nearby islands, such as a cave in the island of East Timor:

The cave holds evidence of a VERY long period of human habitation, with carbon dating showing artifacts as old as 42,000 years before present all the way to the modern period (or at least around 5,000 years ago). Among the shells, beads, stone artifacts, and bone points, are fish bones. LOADS of fish bones. The authors recovered over 38,000 fish bones, representing almost 800 species of fish. And not all of these fish were shallow water specimens. In fact, there were a lot of Scombridae specimens, the tuna group, and these specimens reached back almost to the base of the bone pile, estimated to be, at the bottom, around 42,000 years old.

Is it dinnertime? Although not fish recipes, here are some great Paleo/Primal meals to consider:

Fajita Frittata with Avocado Salsa

Oven Roast Chicken with Truffle Salt and Thyme

Slow Cooked Lamb Roast

You're eating well and starting to see some results from your Primal or Paleo diet. What about exercise? Is it time to start lifting weights? Maybe do some cardio? These should be easy decisions, but when you consider our Paleolithic ancestors, things get tricky. Josh Noel wonders, if our “modern notion of exercise has gone astray?” Learn more on this brewing controversy at Train like a caveman. 

Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, suggests the way to determine how to exercise is to ask: What is the best fitness regimen for a tiger (or a tigress)?

So isn’t it high time for a healthy and meaningful paradigm shift in the way society and the fitness industry approaches fitness?  In the way you are personally approaching exercising?  Aren’t you thirsty for authentic human movement?

Here’s the right answer: in order to become and stay optimally fit, a tiger needs to move the way tigers move in their natural biome.  It is that simple.  Tigers will move naturally when they’re free to live the natural life every tiger should live; as will all other wild animals.

Read the post and let me know what do you think. Does it take more for us to regain or maintain fitness than "authentic human movement"? 

Finally, take a look at the recent post by John Michael and contribute your thoughts to Notes on a Manifesto.

SUNDAY PALEO / December 25, 2011

Happy Holidays! Thank you for visiting this past year.
We wish you a Healthy and Happy New Year!

FITNESS

Barefoot running: bad or beneficial?
"I'm constantly scanning the terrain, dodging rougher areas and taking a much more meandering line, which works different sets of muscles. It's almost like dancing. But the moment I put shoes on, most of that sensitivity is gone." - MSNBC

2012 Summer 5 Day Workshops!
“We are happy to announce our 2012 Summer 5 Day workshop schedule.  These workshops give participants the unique opportunity to reconnect with their true nature in the beautiful woods of WV.  Participants will enjoy camping, learn lots of new movement techniques, become a part of the MovNat "tribe", and most of all have fun.” - MovNat

ENERGY

The 5 States With the Most Installed Wind and Solar Power Saw the Least Increase in Electricity Prices from 2005-2010
“The findings presented here show quite clearly that states with high volumes of wind and solar PV have seen well below average cost increases. When this fact is considered in conjunction with the various health, environmental, energy security, and job creation benefits of renewable forms of generation, it helps to form a compelling argument in their favor.” - Think Progress

Facebook & Greenpeace Join to Ramp Up Renewable Energy
"‘Facebook looks forward to a day when our primary energy sources are renewable, and we are working with Greenpeace and others to help bring that day closer,’ says Marcy Scott Lynn of Facebook's sustainability program. "As an important step, our data center siting policy now states a preference for access to renewable energy.” - Sustainable Business

LIVING

This amazing off-grid hobbit house cost less than $5,000 to build - Grist

MODERN DISEASES

The Truth About Gluten
"‘We're cleaner than we used to be,’ Fasano said, and our general cleanliness may lead to overactive immune systems and a less stable environment for healthy gut bacteria. Additionally, celiac disease may be on the rise because we eat more wheat products now than our ancestors did, and that wheat contains more gluten.” - MyHealthNewsDaily

The Paleo Diet And Gout
“Part of the treatment for gout, which is a form of arthritis, is avoiding of high-purine as well as high-fructose foods. The Paleo diet, which is based on foods your hunter-gatherer ancestors ate thousands of years ago, may be beneficial for gout.” - Livestrong

NUTRITION

Cereal? Cookies? Oh, What’s the Diff?
“So for more than half a century well-intentioned parents have been torn between their desperation to get their kids to eat something, anything, and the knowledge that most packaged breakfast cereals are little better than cookies. … It turns out that from at least the perspective of sugar content, many are worse...” - The New York Times

RECIPES

Standing Rib Roast 
This holiday season we enjoyed a standing rib roast, also known as prime rib. This amazing cut of meat is sure to dazzle any dinner guests you have during the holidays. - Primal Palate

Tender Prime Rib Roast with Mushroom and Bacon Sauté
“Prime rib is a cut of meat that’s perfect for special occasion feasts in more ways than one. Served in supple, thick slices that are marbled with fat, it’s a decadent and impressive main course.” - Mark's Daily Apple

Grain-free Christmas Cookie Roundup 
To give you something festive to munch on for the next few days, we thought we'd put up a collection of holiday-appropriate cookies for you to make and share with your families! - Primal Palate

SUCCESS STORIES

How the Bears Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Primal Lifestyle 
There are two thoughts I clearly remember having in my lifetime: I am overweight, but I no longer care about how I look and I am fine with being this way for the rest of my life. My husband is likely to die of a heart attack sometime soon and there is nothing I can do about it." - Mark's Daily Apple

TERRA

The Greater Gila: America's First Wilderness
“The Gila has been referred to as the Yellowstone of the Southwest for its size, wildness, and nearly complete suite of natural processes and wildlife populations. Extensive roadless areas, wilderness and old growth forests, unparalleled wildlife—including Mexican spotted owl, Mexican gray wolves, jaguars, and endemic trout and other native fish - make the Gila Bioregion very special with the potential to be the crown jewel of a wild southwest.” - Wild Earth Guardians

Mark Sisson's 21 DAY TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION

"In an effort to maximize exposure about living, eating, and moving primally, Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple is offering a sweet deal (including a hefty list of valuable freebies) for those who purchase his new book The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation between October 18 and 24.  A practical, action-oriented guide, Mark’s new book outlines a step-by-step 21-day plan for individuals looking to transition quickly into a Primal lifestyle." - MovNat

Brain Health: Stay smart with exercise

By Dr. John

The authors of a new report published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings reviewed 1,600 articles on the role exercise in cognitive function and found 130 studies pertinent to the issue. According to Medscape Neurology, the lead author, neurologist J. Eric Ahlskog, MD, PhD, notes:

Normal aging is associated with brain shrinkage, and this appears to be primarily mediated by progressive loss of synapses and related neuronal connections (the 'neuropil').

Dr. Ahlskog summarized the findings: 

We concluded that you can make a very compelling argument for [aerobic] exercise as a disease-modifying strategy to prevent dementia and mild cognitive impairment, and for favorably modifying these processes once they have developed.

While the type and amount of exercise varied among the studies, to Dr. Ahlskog, the studies suggests increasing "the heart rate to about 60% of maximum" in several sessions for a total about 150 minutes each a week. Even though the literature on resistance training was "less extensive", Dr. Ahlskog noted it was also beneficial. Cyrus Raji, MD, PhD of the University of Pittsburgh, not a participant in the study, concurred: 

While the majority of the evidence shows that aerobic physical activity is the best type of physical activity for this purpose, resistance training with weights may also be helpful.

Dr. Raji's impression of the study:

This paper nicely summarizes all of the latest evidence showing how regular physical activity can promote better brain health with aging and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

SUNDAY PALEO / October 16, 2011

Late afternoon in Grand County, Colorado. October 2011. Image: CyberMed

ENVIRONMENT

Vermont Eyes 90% Renewable Energy Use By 2050 
"The plan, the culmination of Gov. Peter Shumlin's efforts to move the state toward a sustainable energy future, calls for the development of cleantech projects, energy conservation, increasing residential and commercial electrical and heating efficiency and making a push toward establishing plug-in electric vehicle infrastructure." - EnergyBoom 

HEALTH / FITNESS

7 ways to protect your heart before it breaks 
"Your heart is one impressive, overachieving organ: In the minute it takes you to read these paragraphs, it will have pushed a whopping 1.5 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels—that's more than twice the circumference of Earth. Yet despite your ticker's superpowers (and the fact that it keeps you, well, alive), most women don't do enough to safeguard their heart health." - TodayHealth 

How I Would Change Gym Class 
"No, I’m not considering a new career path, and no, this isn’t a policy discussion. I’m not proposing comprehensive school reform (although that’s probably what it’d take to work). I’m just having fun. In the process, hopefully I outline some tangible activities you parents find helpful enough to try." - Mark's Daily Apple 

NUTRITION

Paleolithic eaters find community at breakfast 
"Layton started the Facebook group Eating Paleo in Montreal a year ago. Roughly one hundred local dieters, from professional athletes to firsttimers, exchange recipes, review restaurants and list grocery store finds. They also organize monthly breakfasts." - The Gazette

Could you go without processed foods for a month?
"Because eating well doesn't just make us healthier, it makes us happier. "It feels really good," Wilder said. "Physically, yes, but emotionally, too. I can't think of a better way to have good relationships with people than around the dinner table." - Grist

Bad Genes? Fruits and Vegetables Fight Heart Disease Risk 
"In a new study, people with alterations in a gene called 9p21 had an increased risk of having a heart attack. But if they ate a diet high in raw fruits and vegetables, that increase was virtually eliminated." - MyHealthNewsDaily 

My Escape From Vegetarianism 
"To other vegetarians, I know that any time a former vegetarian speaks about their negative experiences with vegetarianism, it can feel almost like an insult to their own beliefs. Which is why people like Lierre Keith who have spoken out publicly (and in her excellent book, The Vegetarian Myth) have been violently attacked for doing so. So it's not easy finding the right words to describe my own personal experience." - Everymon to Ironmom

RECIPES

Primal Texas Chili 
"Texas chili doesn’t let anything get in the way of and distract from the two main ingredients, chunks of beef and chili powder. Hearty, heavily seasoned and ranging from a bit of heat to fiery-hot, this is the type of chili that’s so thick you almost need a fork to eat it." - Mark's Daily Apple

Grilled Chicken Kabobs 
"This weekend we decided to make the most of the summer weather (hitting 80 in October is definitely summer weather when you live in the north east) and make some grilled chicken kabobs.  It was really easy and turned out delicious." - Against the Grain 

SUCCESS STORIES

How I Lost 70 Pounds On The Primal Diet 
"Losing weight is a challenge. It has taken me most of my adult life to find a workable way to do it. Along the way I have tried many, many different approaches from heavy exercise regiments, to calorie restriction and even becoming a vegetarian. Up until about one year ago ..." - Courageos Mind

SUNDAY PALEO / October 2, 2011

Grand Teton National Park. Image: CyberMed, LLC

ENVIRONMENT

There Will Be Oil 
"The date of the predicted peak has moved over the years. It was once supposed to arrive by Thanksgiving 2005. Then the "unbridgeable supply demand gap" was expected "after 2007." Then it was to arrive in 2011. Now "there is a significant risk of a peak before 2020." - Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal embraces peak oil denialism 
"The thing is, Yergin has been demonstrably getting it wrong about oil for years. There are countless examples, well chronicled here, but he is so wrong, so often, that it only takes about 5 minutes with Google to find an egregious example." - Grist 

FITNESS

Strong Support for the Brain Benefits of Aerobic Activity 
"We concluded that you can make a very compelling argument for [aerobic] exercise as a disease-modifying strategy to prevent dementia and mild cognitive impairment, and for favorably modifying these processes once they have developed." - Medscape Neurology 

Interval Training for Fat Loss 
"Are you looking to kick things up a notch this summer? Are your abs almost visible? Interval training can help you lose fat and improve your fitness. What’s not to like? Here are 4 reasons to incorporate interval training workouts." - Defined Wellness 

NUTRITION

Junk Food Looks More Tempting When Blood Sugar Drops 
"The researchers scanned the brains of 14 people (five obese and nine nonobese) while they looked at images of high-calorie foods (such as ice cream and hamburgers), low-calorie foods (salads and fruit) and nonfoods (a chair or a lamp). Participants were hooked up to an IV and their blood sugar (glucose) levels were manipulated." - MyHealthNewsDaily 

Feeding the flame: Some foods worsen inflammation – but the right diet can soothe body 
"The physical symptoms of chronic inflammation are wide, ranging from joint pain, gastrointestinal problems like bloating and diarrhea, skin problems and lack of energy. Experts warn that over time, low-grade, chronic inflammation can lead to more serious problems, such as Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, colon cancer and heart disease." - The Daily 

PALEO LIFESTYLE

Ken Korg Finally Gets It 
"The pantry has finally been purged. It was a big job, one Ken began immediately after that first chat with Valentina but only just finished because he had run out of garbage bags for all the old food (their pantry is a walk-in and just massive)." - Mark's Daily Apple 

RECIPES

Mint Lamburgers - Make it Paleo Recipe 
"These juicy burgers are just packed with flavor, and sit atop a crisp Greek salad. We think so highly of this recipe that we shared it with Liz (who writes Cave Girl Eats) and her "Cave Husband" when they spent a day with us at the beach this past summer." - The Food Lovers Primal Palate 

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Becoming Paleo, Part 1: The Yale Food Addiction Scale 
The Yale Food Addiction Scale is a survey designed to detect and measure the severity of food addiction. While food addiction’s not fully recognized by the medical establishment as a disorder, several studies have been conducted to explore the possibility of its existence. 

SUNDAY PALEO / September 4, 2011

Bear Creek Basin, Telluride, Colorado

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.

John Muir

ENVIRONMENT

Big Island of Hawaii Gets 20% of Its Electricity from Geothermal Plant
"The Puna Geothermal Venture is run by Ormat Technologies and is located in the Mt. Kilauea East Rift zone.  The plant has five wells that bring up 650-degree geothermal fluids to the surface where the steam is separated out and used to drive generators." - EcoGeek

Paper Use Declines as Media Tablets Boom 
"By 2015, paper used for publishing in North America - such as magazine, newspaper and book publishing - will be down 12%-21% compared to their 2010 levels. This is on top of the massive collapse that occurred during the recent recession." - Sustainable Business.com

First-Ever LEED Platinum Student Housing at USC 
“There are some luxury items that may at face value seem incompatible with sustainable development, but what we’ve found is that austerity does not necessarily represent ecofriendly construction,” says David Hilliard, president of Symphony Development, the developer of West 27th Place. - Sustainable Business.com

FITNESS

Guest Post by Tate Zandstra: MovNat training in Thailand 
“When you are a kid, you’re always told, ‘don’t yell, don’t move’…whenever we have this primal exuberance, this expression of this energy that we have in ourselves, it’s repressed to the point that it’s suppressed, like you have to stand right, be polite, be silent, then you’re a good kid.”  - MovNat

The Complete Guide to Interval Training [Infographic] - Greatist

NUTRITION

Paleo is reaching its Tipping Point 
"The movement started to gain momentum last year when I realized that a few of my co-workers were in a transformational program addressing workouts and nutrition - and guess what their nutrition plan was...yup basically Paleo." - Against the Grain

How to Eat Meat: Transitioning Away from Vegetarianism 
"I get a fair amount of emails from vegetarian readers who want to reintroduce meat into their diets. Although they see the health benefits of reclaiming omnivorism, they’re hesitant about the transition itself." - Mark’s Daily Apple

RECIPES

Lamb Arm Chops with Porcini Mushrooms and Rosemary 
"At first bite, we knew we had to recreate this dish. We had two lamb arm chops from US Wellness Meats awaiting our arrival back home, and we finally had the perfect recipe inspiration for these delicious looking chops." - The Food Lovers Primal Palate

Curry Sirloin Tips 
"I wasn't so sure this one was going to turn out very well, but boy was I wrong! Warm, spicy, rich, smoky flavors just fill your mouth and make this steak sing." - The Food Lovers Primal Palate

SUCCESS STORIES

Hypertension, Prediabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and 75 Pounds, All Gone in 6 Months 
"6 months ago I was 270 lbs, hypertensive, pre-diabetic, metabolic syndrome, etc. I had been aware of your site for a year or so because a political blog I frequent (lewrockwell.com) occasionally links to yours. I was intrigued by some of the articles but was skeptical and didn’t take it too seriously." - Mark's Daily Apple 

FROM THE ARCHIVE

The Idea of an Ecovillage 
I’ve heard a lot about sustainability, and I know that it’s a good thing, but I’ve rarely seen it in practice, and never to the extent that it’s practiced here, at Comuna de Rhiannon, a farming commune located within the Andes Mountains, and about an hour to the north of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito. Sustainability is the operating idea at Comuna de Rhiannon, and it governs the fate of everything that lives within the commune’s boundaries, from the hogs that are used to till Rhiannon’s soil, which is rich in volcanic ash, as the farm is surrounded by several volcanoes, to the food that is leftover from meals, which is either used as animal feed or as compost, depending upon what it is. - PaleoTerran

SUNDAY PALEO / August 21, 2011

Yellowstone National Park. Image: CyberMed, LLC

The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.

Richard Louv

FITNESS

Go Climb a Tree, It Seriously Works Your Trunk
Ms. Koening is an urban forester for the Missouri Department of Conservation in Jefferson. She is also a competitive tree climber. She saw her first competition nine years ago while attending the International Society of Arboriculture's annual conference. "I never knew climbing trees required that level of skill," she says. "I immediately wanted to try it." - The New York Times

Guest Post by Lori Crock: Outta Your Comfort Zone? My Experience of MovNat
Last week I went on my own to a week-long outdoor program called MoveNat … moving naturally.   It was an experience I have to tell you about because we all need to get out of our comfort zones once in a while.   It is tricky to explain MovNat because it is much more than what it may seem on the surface. - MovNat

RECIPES

Heirloom Tomato Salad and Steak with Peppercorns and Purple Basil
Is it possible not to be seduced by the gorgeous displays of tomatoes dominating farmers’ markets during the summer? - Mark's Daily Apple

moroccan pork skewers + grilled eggplant and leeks
I found this easy recipe in my favorite little tapas cookbook. I got it years ago on clearance at Marshalls. I was skeptical, but for $2 or whatever, who cares. But it's great! - Modern Paleo

Summer Salad | Paleo Salads
Being that it is summer, I thought I’d share a refreshing summer salad that we enjoy. It has crisp sweet apples (actually, blueberries work nicely here too) and takes no time to make. Hope you enjoy! - PaleoEffect

SUCCESS STORIES

The Unconquerable Dave
DEAR MARK AND ALL THE PRIMAL PEOPLE OUT THERE, I’M NOT GOOD WITH SPEECHES SO I FIGURE IF A PIC IS WORTH A 1000 WORDS. - Mark's Daily Apple

Paleo Stories from the Frontline
I lived with this pain for 10 years.  It wasn’t debilitating and didn’t prevent me from doing anything I wanted to do.  The pain was a pressure sensitivity issue.  If I bumped into something or tried to scratch an itch it would cause a lot of pain.  About a month ago, I realized that I didn’t hurt anymore. - Everyday Paleo

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Mt. Beirstadt trip report
Even before German-American painter Albert Bierstadt visited the mountain now bearing his name in 1863, hikers have trudged through the “dreaded willows” at the start of the hike. This segment is now comfortably passable using the recently constructed wooden footbridges. - PaleoTerran