Mark from www.marksdailyapple.com is having some contests where readers can submit videos, pictures, stories, recipes, and different kinds of media to win prizes. There are a lot of entries and I haven't got to reading all of them but I'm going to condense them all here. Maybe you guys will enjoy these posts as well.
Last edited by Kobe Bryant; 08-30-2009 at 05:14 PM.
Getting diagnosed with Parkinson’s wasn’t the ideal way to celebrate my 31st birthday, but then again I didn’t really have any choice in the matter. Over the next 9 years I was a good boy and took the pills and potions the doctors prescribed for me, they don’t cure, they just mask the slow deterioration of a once active body. You name a sport and I played it – in retrospect I had probably worn my body out in the first 31 years on our planet!! Whether it be catching, throwing, running, chasing or skiing I was always on the move.
With the onset of the disease came the depression, the sapping of ones self esteem, nibbling away at my abilities to function as a ‘normal’ human being, whether it be buttoning a shirt, tying my laces, walking, in fact all the everyday automatic functions became a constant frustration. I could still eat though and made the most of it and piled on 60lb’s over my ‘fighting’ weight. Last August a few days before my 40th birthday I looked at some photos of myself in my younger fitter days and that was the catalyst, the excess had to go. At first I used CW to shift the weight, it was slow and tedious, but this was the way that we lost weight in the 21st century wasn’t it? If the majority of the population are doing it, it must be right!! Wrong !
I started going to the gym, in fact 2 gyms, I was really keen, totally immersed in macro nutrient ratios, should I be on the 40,30,30 or the 50,30,20 or maybe the best way was 60,20,20 my mind was awash with ZMA, EAA, BCAA more acronyms, I think most were BS though!! Then one day after trawling the net for the next big diet fad I came across MDA, another acronym to get the money out of my pocket I thought. After reading the Mark’s blog, the members forum etc. I felt like I had found a home. Strange way to put it I guess but the internet is a 1000 lane highway with the traffic doing 80 and it just felt like I had exited to a suburban single track country road where you could stop a while and take in the view. I posted on the forum when I first joined, saying what a refreshing change it was for a forum to have such well informed and friendly members.
On receiving my copy of the PB, I read it cover to cover and repeat………….twice!! I took it all on board and am living a primal lifestyle with the odd 21st century indulgence, remember the 80/20 rule! My Parkinsons is still there, but somehow less obvious, this past month or so I have become a true fat burner, my brain fog has disappeared and I am physically and mentally in the best shape I have been since PD. I have lost that stubborn last 10lbs and my body composition has changed and I am in better shape now than in my formative years, all thanks to Mark and his Primal Blueprint. I love my new lifestyle, Cheers Mark.
Regards,
Tallguy
Regaining Control: Michelle's Primal Journey
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My weight struggle began when I turned 21. I got really stressed out at my job, and in turn I became depressed and very anxious to the point that my Doctor put me off work. That was the beginning of my search to feel well again…so here’s my story.
In 2002 I was prescribed Antidepressants, which at the time I definitely needed because I was not in a good place. However, this increased my appetite like crazy and I really started gaining weight. I ballooned up to 87kg and I’m 5’6”, so my ideal weight is something like 60kg. I searched online for an answer and I came across Atkins, so I started it straight away. I was really successful with it and I lost a lot of weight. I got right down to 54kg so I was thin…great, ah not really. I didn’t emphasise health enough. Veggies weren’t a large part of my diet, but diet coke and artificially sweetened chocolate was. I kept the weight off for a wee while but I was still having anxiety and depression. So in my search to find a cure I did more research online and came to the conclusion that low carb was exacerbating the problem….
In 2005 I started eating whole grains after what I had read, and I was convinced that they were the key to healing my body… boy was I wrong. I was so stubborn that I had found the answer that I just kept eating and eating, hoping that one day my anxiety would vanish. I still can’t believe how much faith I had in eating this way.
2008 This is the year where I reached my lowest point and my highest weight. I was now considered morbidly obese and I was extremely unhappy. I was eating every 2-3 hours and even before bed just to keep my blood sugar “stable”. I would eat whole grains, protein and “good fats” thinking I was eating well, but I was constantly hungry and just getting bigger and bigger I was so stubborn and convinced that this was the right way to eat. My anxiety levels were not good, and deep down I knew something was wrong, but I had no idea just how misinformed and misled I had been.
I knew that I was large but you see what you want to see in the mirror, and although I knew I was fat, I was definitely in a state of denial for months. I remember buying a size 20 pair of jeans and thinking “oh they must be a big sizing” until I hopped on the scales and saw 107kg!! And even then I thought the scales were giving me the wrong reading. Then my husband suggested he take a photo of me. I was so shocked that I was actually that size and I remember just sobbing, and being so angry with myself.
In Oct of 2008 I started my online search again Knowing that Atkins had worked in the past was my main motivator, but I was a bit apprehensive. Now there had been a lot more research done, so I managed to find some great websites and blogs that were very informative, which helped me make my decision. With the combined ideas of Atkins, Protein Power and Paleo, I cut out all my whole grains and started eating plenty of veggies, protein and fat, and quickly started dropping weight. No diet coke this time, just water, soda water and herbal teas. I started feeling energised and so great. I still had a little anxiety, but nowhere near as bad.
Once I’d lost about 10kgs I came across Marks Daily Apple and was glued to the site for days!!This is what I had been looking for. It helped me to change my mindset, and to realise it is all about lifestyle, not just about dieting. Since then I have lost another 25kgs and now I weigh 72kgs, and fitting a size 12! I joined the gym to start weight training about 2 months ago and I’m hooked! I’m really looking forward to changing my body composition. My anxiety is far more manageable now and I finally feel like I’ve got it sorted. I now know what works and what doesn’t for my body.
The primal way feels so natural, coming from a person who had to eat every 2-3 hours otherwise I would be lightheaded and sometimes even dizzy. Now I can do the odd 24hr Intermittent Fast with no problems, and if a meal is late it’s no biggie. I finally feel freed from my obsession with food, and the handcuffs of my eating timetable. That is one of the best things about going primal.
When people ask me “what’s my secret?” I don’t talk about it like it’s a diet. This is just the way we were meant to eat. Hopefully I can help others to realise it’s all about mindset, feeding yourself with the best fuel, and using that knowledge to maximise exercise and movement. I’m definitely a bit of a preacher when it comes to Primal living, and talk about Mark Sisson like he’s my best buddy. I started a blog so I wouldn’t drive my friends and family crazy talking about it.
So, it can be a tough pill to swallow when you realise there is no magic pill, and you have to make some major changes if you want real results. Now, when I’m in a situation surrounded by unhealthy foods I have to make conscious choices. Most of the time it’s easy because eating primal foods are so satisfying and makes me feel so good that I never feel deprived. And holding onto my old pair of size 20 jeans is a great reminder and motivator of just how far I’ve come!
Michelle – New Zealand
Went Primal, Ditched the Diabetes Meds
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I’m 56 years old and have been a type 2 diabetic since I was 32. When diagnosed, I went on the American Diabetic Association exchange diet, which is 50%+ carbohydrates. Believe it or not, the diet worked for a while, because as high in carbs as it is, it was still fewer than I had been eating. Over the years I made an effort at taking care of myself, but medicines increased. At the first of this year I was injecting 10mcg of Byetta twice a day, 22 units of insulin at night, and taking 2 grams of metformin in the evenings. I was unable to predict what my body’s reaction to meals would be. I had frequent lows, because I was trying to maintain healthy blood sugars. I had been doing some studying – read Dr. Bernstein’s book, Taubes’ book, etc. (didn’t know about Mark then). Anyway on January 4th I began my first steps at becoming primal.
With my doctor’s consent, I discontinued the Byetta and began eating a low carb diet (he also agreed I could stop taking the statin I was on). Initially I was eating 90g of carbs or less a day. That soon dropped to 75g and now I am eating <50g a day. I had to start lowering my insulin dosage within two weeks and was off the insulin in 6 weeks. In 6 months I was off the Metformin, so I am now free of diabetes drugs, though I have not yet been able to get off some others. I have hope for the future. The only exercise I used to do was tai chi, which I enjoy a lot, but was not all I needed. I found out about burpees on this web site and began doing those as well. I also found out about grass-fed beef. I was able to locate a farmer about 75 miles from my home who raises and sells grass-fed beef and recently bought half a cow! I’m eating organic raw cheese. I have cut out artificial sweeteners with occasional lapses. I have cut out all grains and starchy vegetables. I do often have one square of a Lindt 85% cocoa bar – it is about 1.5 grams of sugar (never more than one in a day). Otherwise no sugar. No trans-fats. I find I am very sensitive to carbs so the only fruit I eat is berries, in small amounts. I have increased my fat intake in hopes of raising my HDLs, which historically have been < 30 most of the time. I have added coconut oil to my diet. My low testosterone had risen by 200+ points at my last check up. I hope for a further increase at the end of next week when I have another check up. If that happens, I can begin reducing the medicine I am on for that. I feel great and look forward to continued improvements in my health as time goes by. I wish I had known this 24 years ago.
Best,
David
Cardio Queen Gone Primal
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I was always a little on the heavy side, ever since I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out in kindergarten. I would say 3rd grade was the last time I really felt “normal.” After that it was all down hill. I can remember my childhood being filled with snacks, cakes, and overall poor food habits. As I got into my teens and after graduating, that’s when I started really suffering the emotional consequences. By the time I was 18 I weighed 200 lbs, and being a teenager, that made life pretty much hell. My life was generally unhappy and not going the direction I’d always dreamed, unable to afford college and working at minimum wage jobs. Food was my comfort. It was so comforting I ended up at 250 lbs… at least that’s where I think I ended up. I stopped weighing myself after that.
I had just ended a very serious relationship and I got fed up with my life. I decided it was time for some change. I moved into a new apartment where for the first time in my life I could cook for myself and eat what I wanted- which meant finally eating healthy food. I remembered back to when my sister went into the Air Force and had to lose a lot of weight just to get in. Her recruiter told her no “white” foods. No bread, no pasta, no potatoes. I started following that rule, and was thrilled to see the weight start to slowly come off. My mom bought me a treadmill for my birthday. At 250 pounds I was no runner, but I could at least walk. Gradually as the pounds came off my speed went up, until I was at the point of slamming out 6 miles on the treadmill every morning, faithfully. I was meticulous when it came to my meals. Every hour and a half to 3 hours there would be a “mini-meal” or a snack, you know- so my metabolism stays high. (At least that’s what I thought.) Every day was planned out, what I would eat, when, and how many calories. It was all right there in my journal- what I ate, how many calories, along with a log of my weight, my workout, and how many calories I burned from running. It seemed like the more weight I lost, the more obsessive I got about food, exercise, calories, cardio… the whole shebang.
I remember when I got down to my goal weight of 150 lbs. On one hand I was absolutely thrilled. I couldn’t even remember the last time I weighed 150 lbs! On the other hand, I still had a lot more fat than I imagined I would at that weight. I was a little shocked. I was a runner and runners are supposed to get skinny! What happened!? So naturally I cut calories a little more, and increased my miles. At my max I was eating 1800 calories a day and running almost 50 miles a week. I knew deep down that this was not a pace I could sustain for long, and what’s worse, at 140 lbs the weight completely stopped coming off. I was so frustrated and depressed.
During my “Cardio Queen” phase I’d joined a forum for runners, and a fellow runner directed me to MarksDailyApple.com. I’m an admitted Foodie and was looking for recipes, and boy did I find some great recipes! I couldn’t believe all the great foods, no grain required. What really impressed me was Mark, and his wife. I remember seeing a photo and thinking “Wow… I want to look like that.” I did some reading through the archives and decided to take the leap. It was incredibly hard wrapping my brain around the idea of eating more fat, and running less.
So I got my diet straightened out and restructured, and it really was surprisingly easy once I got over my fat phobia. It was a little sad giving up my Kashi TLC bars and my yogurt. Of course I don’t miss the gurgly gut the yogurt used to give me. Eating Primal has opened doors to new foods I never knew about. Coconut milk is one of my new favorite ingredients, and I love cooking with beef tallow that I render myself. It has also spurred me to think more in depth about the meat I eat, and where it comes from. I’m proud to say I’ve gone from buying the cheapest CAFO “club packs” for $1 per pound to shopping for a chest freezer to hold my grass fed/finished beef, and the wild boar I will soon be ordering- uncured bacon and all. I’ve also broadened my food horizons to foods I thought I hated, like radishes and liver. Yes, I actually like liver.
That’s not the end of my Primal evolution. I’ve learned great lessons about not only eating Primal, but living Primal. I sleep better, and I play more. I also exercise differently. No more pounding miles on the treadmill at 5:00 am, annoying my downstairs neighbor. I’m sure she’s as grateful for my lifestyle transformation as I am. I do still get up at 5:00 am, but now it’s of my own accord, without the alarm clock, to go to the gym to play leisurely on the elliptical, do tabata sprints on the stationery bike, or lift lots and lots of heavy things. Admittedly, random outdoor exercise is better, but I do like the structure the gym provides me, and I certainly don’t turn down an opportunity to use my lifting and sprinting skills in the outdoors. One of my favorite games, part exercise, part play, is “chase the rabbit.” If there are no rabbits in sight, it becomes “chase the parents’ Jack Russell terrier.” He loves it too.
I noticed some other side effects of my new lifestyle. I wasn’t hungry every hour like I used to be. I don’t have to plan out an entire day’s worth of food, nor do I need to keep an emergency Soy Joy bar in my car in case I’m lost out in the concrete jungle without a snack. I only eat 2 or 3 times a day (rather than 5 or 6) and yet I had energy- and lots of it! My boss recently commented to me how I was “too chatty and upbeat” too early in the morning. We were pulling overtime at 6:30 in the morning, and I was wide awake and ready to go, while my co-workers were dragging themselves around by their coffee cups and breakfast bars. When I get home from work, I’m proud to say I don’t pass out on the couch after dinner anymore. The energy levels I have now are amazing, albeit sometimes frustrating when my non-Primal friends and family aren’t raring to go, go, go with me.
Of course, what would a success story be without results? I’m very proud to say that I’ve lost another 15 lbs after 3 months of going Primal, and am continuing to improve my body composition. That’s a grand total of 125 lbs of weight loss in 2 ½ years. I am exactly half the weight I used to be. How freaky is that!? I’m building muscle tone in my arms and don’t look quite so “skinny fat” anymore. I still can’t do a regular pushup, but I can do several “girl” pushups- a huge improvement over my previous state. I have to say, I look amazing! I can’t wait to finally wear a bikini.
The biggest change in my life, beyond what I eat, how I exercise or how I sleep, is the simple freedom that the Primal Blueprint has afforded me. I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full. If I’m running late for work, it won’t kill me to skip breakfast. Some mornings I don’t feel like lifting weights, or doing sprints, so I don’t feel guilty for just taking a walk, or doing no workout at all. I don’t have to measure every serving of food and count every calorie, and make sure I burn off a certain number of calories on the treadmill in order to lose weight. I can eat meat, and fat, and eggs in butter without the fear of getting fat again. I can be free… free to eat, to run, to breathe, to live Primally.
Pictures Don't Tell The Whole Story
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Mark, I just got back from my endocrinology appointment when I saw the latest contest.
I’m no picture of health yet but things are looking a heck of a lot better than they did before I started on Primal Blueprint.
I’ll start at the beginning. Six months ago my type II Diabetes was completely out of control, I’ll admit I wasn’t taking the best care of myself -moving, starting up a new research lab, you know “life” had gotten in the way of finding time to eat right and exercise. On top of that I was taking medication for high blood pressure and a birth control pill that made me even more insulin resistant and making it so that none of my oral medications for the diabetes worked anymore. In short, I felt like crap and looked it too.
First they put me on insulin -not fun but neither are sugars in the 300 range so it was a necessary evil. But here’s where it got really depressing, I didn’t need “just a boost” of insulin, I needed a ton! Long acting, short acting, I was taking 5 shots a day and my sugar was still sky high. I was seeing the Diabetic educator and she was at a loss. I got sent to the diabetic nutritionist and she (I still want to scream thinking about this!) told me my sugar was high because I wasn’t eating enough carbs. Her advice was to eat between 45-60 grams of carb at EACH meal, oh and most of that should come from whole grain sources! At that point I was taking 1 unit of short acting insulin for every 3 grams of carbohydrate. Do the math and I would be taking 15 to 20 units at each meal. Gee, I wonder why diabetics get fat? I don’t do diabetes research but I know how to do a literature search and quickly found that low carb was the way to go (Duh!) but I had tried Atkins before and frankly, I’d rather be dead. I figured there had to be something that was lowish carb that I would be willing to eat. Yeah, I am a Foodie and dang proud of it! Finding Marksdailyapple.com was like xmas without the cranky relatives.
Fast forward to today, did I mention that I live in one of the foodie capitals of the Midwest? I can trip over grass-fed beef and pastured eggs just walking out my front door. There is a choice of farmer’s markets on the weekend -I can even get elk! Hey, the city even lets you have chickens within the city limits (I haven’t gone there -yet! the dogs would have a field day!) There are even a bunch of restaurants that I can be comfortably primal and no one looks askance. Sorry to say, no miracle occurred, I am still overweight but I have dropped my body fat percentage 2% in the last 2 months alone. I have replaced that fat with muscle so my hips are 3.5″ smaller, my waist is 1.5″ tighter and I can keep up with the 9 year old (actually now she has to keep up with me!) Here is the real kicker though. When I started Primal my cholesterol was at 178, not horrible but not great especially for a diabetic, now it is down to 158. My A1c, the three month average of my blood glucose was 8.9 (yikes!) and is now 7.6. My blood pressure today was 112/78 and -drum roll please! all this with no meds! Yep! I stopped taking the blood pressure med and never did take the statin they wanted me on. Yes, I am still on insulin but less and I am building muscle, which on insulin is really tough.
So how has my life changed since finding MDA? Well, this is definitely a case where the picture doesn’t tell the whole story. Perhaps the greatest testament to the changes in my life are that both my Endocrinologist and my Doctor/Scientist husband are now trying the PB lifestyle as is my sister and even my meat averse diabetic mother. I’ve become like one of those nuts that quits smoking and becomes evangelically non-smoking. I am an evangelizing Primal and thank Grok for it!
Less Cardio, Less Fat, More Muscle
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I’ve been a distance runner who fights my weight for the past 24+ years. I started running to lose weight in 1985, when I weighed 180. Right now, I’m in the mid-190s. Funny how that worked (not).
Two-plus years ago, I started lifting, which helped with fat loss. Some of the time. As long as I was very careful about what I ate.
In the past few weeks, I think I may have finally found the answer. I’ve made a number of changes:
1) No grains
2) No sugars
3) Less cardio
4) More lifting
5) Less structure and rigor to my workouts. I still don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow from an exercise perspective.
So far this month, I’ve seen the following changes:
1) Carb cravings are gone – completely
2) I’m gaining muscle mass at age 47
3) People other than my wife are commenting on changes in my physique
4) I’ve dropped almost 2 inches from my waist and tomorrow, I’ll measure my BF% to see how it’s changed this month
5) I’m falling asleep when tired and waking up on my own
6) My weight is dropping
Lastly, it all feels sustainable.
Oh yeah, long cardio is hard while eating this way. I learned that the hard way.
I have been an ultramarathon runner since 1994, but maybe it’s time to simply move on, save the time normally spent running for hours on end, day after day, and spend that time with my family.
Right now, I simply feel great and my body is changing. I need to see where I am six months from now, but I’m more optimistic now than ever that I’ve found a sustainable way to be fit and lean and happy.
The Look On The Doctor's Face Was Priceless
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My journey started with a diagnosis of Diabetes (type II) on November 17th, 2008. I had some blood work done and the #’s looked like this:
cholesterol 377
trigs 1864 (not a typo)
hdl 28
ldl could not be calculated due to high trigs
hba1c 11.3
My doctor couldn’t even put a sentence together to explain how unreal these numbers were. So of course the doctor just wanted to medicate the crap out of me and told me to get used to it because I would be on medication for the rest of my life. I left the office feeling as if my life was basically over. I felt immediate depression set in.
When I awoke the next morning I decided that I was going to try to figure out how to beat this or at least live a productive life with diabetes. On to the internet to solve my problems. I was lucky enough to wander upon Dr Eades site and started to identify with what he was writing about in his blog. I was also learning about why my body was reacting the way it was and there were actually people who were able to get healthy again. Well one site led to another and I was convinced on what I had to do.
I also learned of the Paleo diet and started a hybrid low carb paleo way of eating. I went into this with the hope of fixing my blood sugar problems and getting my lipids straightened out. I started that day and after a few days of my body adjusting I started to feel better each day. Oh and I started losing weight and my fasting blood sugar went down immediately. Encouraging signs and I just felt better. I was eating very low carb at this point because I became deathly afraid of anything carb. I was very strict with myself because I knew how easy it could be to fall off the wagon and start chowing Doritos and all that other crap. I watched my fats and started cooking just about every meal I ate. I was working out in some form about five days a week, mostly weights and walking.
I had great success as well as the weight kept coming off and I became more active and had an incredible amount of energy. Like has been said before I started to become more active as I lost weight. I, in the mean time, found Mark’s Daily Apple. I really enjoyed the way you put the information out there. It was easy to understand and was also fun. So March rolled around and it was time to go back to the doctor.
When I had last left the doc I had about 4 different prescriptions and a not so good outlook on life. Oh, and some really bad nutritional advice (lay off the animal fats). So I rolled into his office weighing in at 190 and excited about life.
My blood results from blood given two days prior
cholesterol 262
trigs 133
hdl 28
ldl calc 207
hba1c 4.8
Doc was excited to see improvements as was I. Still not where I wanted to be but a lot better than 4 months earlier. He then patted himself on the back and said well I guess the medications are working for you but your cholesterol is much higher than I’d like so I would like you to start taking some statins. Well I was armed with knowledge this time and said no freaking way am I taking that crap! And by the way I stopped taking all my medications after the first month.
The look on his face was priceless.
He then wanted to review the medications I was taking and I told him none. I was simply living primal. He shot me a look of confusion and so I started to explain and he said my cholesterol was suffering for all the animal fat I was eating and that I should really cut down. I was a little frustrated by that comment but thought it was just par for the course for the medical community in general.
I went straight to my parents house to tell them my great results at the doctor.
I should add that my parents were behind me all the way from the beginning of my new lifestyle and saw the success I was having and became fans of it as well and are now living a primal life with me. My mom had been a vegetarian for as long as I could remember and now eats a piece of meat at every meal. Makes those family meals that much better.
By this time I was sold on my lifestyle and wanted to tell everyone. I was surprised by the reactions I got. I think people were starting to think I was crazy. I was touting saturated fat and trying to tell anyone who would listen. I grew up in a small town near Rochester, NY and now live and work in that same small town. So I am well known in the community. Being that I am now 38 yrs old, people had gotten used to me and now I was changing in front of there eyes and quickly. People that I have known all my life now did not recognize me and patients at the office I work at (eye doc) who hadn’t seen me in a year or two did not think I was same guy.
I soon learned not to tell people about this life unless they asked because I just didn’t want to deal with the conversation. Ignorance on their part made for some tough explanations.
So June came around and time to go see the doc again and test that blood.
cholesterol 215
trigs 50 (yeah!)
hdl 58
ldl calc 148
hba1c 4.7 (non-diabetic) was written right next to it
I now weighed 175lbs.
Doctor practically gave me a high five when he entered the office. Said he had never seen anybody with these kind of improvements and was down right giddy. He then asked me what meds I was taking and I once again told him I was taking nothing. He just shook his head. He also said that he has never heard of anyone being cured of diabetes but…Unfortunately still not sold on my eating choices but couldn’t argue it because of my results.
So that is the short version of my great new Primal lifestyle. I could not be happier with my work in progress. I still tell everyone I know and hand out your Grok flyers to anyone interested. Your sight is named great because it really has become my daily apple. I now just do stuff that I would never have done nine months ago. Hiking, sprinting etc. I now look at playgrounds in a whole new way. I pretty much eat what I want (primal of course) and just listen to my body.
Socially it can be a bit tough but that is okay with me. I now see how lazy people are and it can be tough to find people who can keep up with my energy and good spirits. If you are contemplating a lifestyle change I would say being Primal is a great way to go. Jump in with both feet and live life, it’s great. The community on the internet is a great place to gain knowledge and get different ideas. Part of the fun is trying these things and then figure out what works for you.
Grok on,
ChuckyZ
The Strength To Recovery, Wendy's Powerful Primal Story
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Where to begin? My earliest memories of food and health started, of course, with family. I remember that my mother was never happy with her weight and was always on some sort of diet. As a little girl, I remember the Slim Fast shakes, the diet pills that would “puff up” in your stomach, leaving no room for food (genius, I thought, as a 6 year old), and the food restriction. Meanwhile, my sister, my father and I would feast on fish sticks, rice a roni, and vitamin D milk. This had little impact on me as a child, but stayed with me through adulthood.
I was never overweight. I was always thin and had muscularity thanks to genetics. Without lifting a finger, I had biceps that wowed the other kids at school. I took up athletics, and ran track, played volleyball, and played as kids do. I ate what was put in front of me and always cleaned my plate. Weight wasn’t so much a concern of mine, but it was always there, lurking in the back of my mind, memories of my mother and her struggles.
About 4 years ago, I went shopping with my mom and my sister. There were these awesome blue velvet pants that I HAD to have. Size 4. I was always a size four, no problem. Went to try them on just as a matter of duty, and they didn’t fit. Come to think of it, none of my jeans fit anymore either. That day was it for me. A turning point and the beginning of a very dark time. That day, I became anorexic. I restricted myself to 800-1000 calories a day, and began working out like no one’s business. I lost the weight, but the CR and exercise didn’t stop. I don’t want to go into details, I am not the “poor me” type. I got down to a zero, and it was easy because people kept telling me how great I looked. Finally, I found Marks Daily Apple and a trainer. I was able to realize that skinny didn’t equal healthy. Anorexia is mostly about control and obsession. While any obsession isn’t healthy, I was able to at least begin to control a diet that was healthier for me than what I was doing.
I’ve been eating primally now for about 2 years. I am a size 4 again, and thanks to heavy lifting and a great trainer, and boxing, I have replaced the desire to look stick thin with the desire to have the best muscularity on the block.
Pictures will not accompany this letter because I still struggle with my body image. Every day is a fight, and I still spend more time thinking about food than any human being should. But, thanks to Mark, I am healthy and everyday trying to follow the 10 tenants. I am still working on stress and fitting in play, but I am confident that day will come.
This thank you is long overdue. Mark, you may have saved my life. Thank you.
The Beginning Of a New Life
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Hi Mark,
I’ve been Primal for about two weeks.
In that time, I’ve learned more about how my body works, how ill-informed doctors can be, and how important movement is to health than in all my 38 years combined. This is both mind-blowing and humbling for me.
I’ve always lived in my head. I never had much use for my body, because I was a chubby kid and I became a more-than-chubby adult. I ignored warnings about high-sugar food, went on every diet known to man at the time (from the 600-calorie-per-day no-fat diet to Weight Watchers to the Water Diet, where you ate… wait for it… water and nothing but), you name it, I’ve probably tried it. Exercise hurt and made me sweaty, which meant I had to shower, which meant getting undressed and looking at my body, which I didn’t like doing. It was just easier not to exercise. I hid in books and, later, computers and the Internet. By trade, I’m working on being a sociologist and a statistician – lots of head-work, but not much field-work. (I used to say that that was the advantage of sociology over anthropology: you don’t have to go out into the fields to do your field-work.)
Every now and then I’d have a spurt of “I’ll try to be THIN!” but it never lasted more than a couple of weeks. And it always involved cutting out fat and sugar, but still eating lots and lots of those supposedly “healthy” carbs and grains. In high school, I weighed 200 when I started freshman year and, despite four years of marching band, I weighed 280 when I graduated. When I got married the first time, I weighed 340. I thought surely I was as big as I was ever going to get, right? When my first marriage broke up nine years later and I went vegetarian, I was at 370. I maintained that weight for eight years. Sure, I got told I was a diabetic two years ago (with what I argued at the time was a single and unrelated anomalous blood sugar reading of 127 when I was completely stressed out), but although I took the tester and strips, I didn’t bother to follow the program, and I insisted that one could be heavy and healthy at the same time. (And I’m still a fat activist for the rights of fat people, because as most of us know, so many fat people aren’t aware that they’re being told all the wrong things about weight and health and food that I can’t really blame them for their lack of knowledge. I tell those I can, when I can, and let the rest of it work out on its own.)
So I thought I was doing pretty well. I was in graduate school, I had two beautiful daughters and a strong relationship with my husband (he and I married last year when it was legal for us to do so in CA), I was bright, I was articulate, I’d graduated from undergrad with honors. Oh yeah, and I was a hell of a good cook.
Then, in January of this year, my father died of cancer and diabetes complications (inoperable gangrene in his feet). You have to understand about my dad – he was the most important person in my life next to my husband and my kids, and when he died, I went a little nuts. More than a little – I started eating everything I could get my hands on. Ice cream? Check. Pie? Check. Hi-carb snacks, chips, dips? Check, check, and check again. Bring on the mashed potatoes and the rice pilaf, and add a hot fudge sundae in there, for good measure.
Six months after my father died, I was up to 397 pounds. Essentially, I was 400 pounds. I’d gained 200 pounds in 25 years, and I wasn’t skinny at 200, but I was six inches shorter then.
My doctor got on my case on the 7th of August. Nicely, but firmly. It was time, he said, for me to stop pretending I wasn’t an impending diabetic and get with the program. I came home and didn’t eat anything for two days. Then I started testing my blood and was shocked at the numbers. 192. 178. 217 (after a high-carb meal at my brother-in-law’s)! Even my morning “fasting” numbers weren’t great: 144, 148, 152, 139.
So I dove into research, and among other sites about diabetes and low-carb ways of eating, found MDA. And reading the success stories here, I decided I was going to go low-carb. Not to lose weight, but to get my sugars back under control.
I’ve been low-carbing since August 13, and I started with a goal of no more than 80 carbs/day. Now I’m down to a goal of no more than 40 carbs/day, and I hope soon to get that down to below 20/day as I figure out what affects me and what doesn’t. Although my morning numbers are still annoyingly high (mid-140s most days), my daytime sugars go down all day long, and by the end of the day my average is sitting in the mid-110s, which is a hell of a lot better than the mid-180s!
I’ve also noticed a few other things. It’s no longer a struggle to buckle my seatbelt. My shortest belt is too long to really keep my pants up. I saw a doctor last week and I’d already dropped five pounds – and that was before I got seriously into the Primal way of doing things. I feel better. I sleep better. My teeth don’t bleed when I brush anymore (and that was just a lifelong thing for me, the bleeding teeth). I walked a half mile (round trip) to the store the other day – something I NEVER would have done before – and although I came back in a muck sweat, I was so proud of myself. And I’m working out, gently, every morning. I’m up and moving for thirty minutes before I do anything else, and it’s made a huge difference in how I feel.
I want to live a long, long life. And the image of my father’s feet is all I need to keep me going, even when I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. But if I hadn’t come across the Primal way of living, I’d probably be sucking down my little pancreas-killing hypoglycemic sulfonurea drugs right now, eating 60% of my calories in grains, and wondering why the glucometer stubbornly refuses to get out of the 250s.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make some steak and wilted spinach for dinner. I promise to post the recipe, too.
Griff
Done With Yo-Yo Dieting
Quote:
I’m 33 and haven’t felt better in my whole life since converting to the primal lifestyle. I’ve been living pretty primal for the past 4 months now… prior to that I was still maintaining a healthy lifestyle according to “conventional wisdom” and was in decent shape. But back in March, 09, my wife was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and forced her to eliminate all gluten from her diet… I wanted to support her as much as possible and so our entire house became gluten free,… however, I was still eating whole wheat bread when away from our house. Then two months later a friend of ours introduced us to MDA and I recognized Mark from the P90x dvds… Reading on made me realize the health benefits and it helped me turn the switch on in my brain to go primal…
I was initially contemplating whether I should, or even needed to switch to the primal way. I mean, I had lost over 50 lbs on conventional wisdom and thought I was pretty healthy overall… my cholesterol was down,.. my excercise routines were good and I ate small meals six times a day. So I was pondering whether I should give it a try or not, but I took the plunge since it wouldn’t be too much different than living gluten free. Ever since starting to go primal, I’ve been able to eat about 80%- 90% primal ever since and I must say that it was actually easier eating the primal way than trying to eat small meals 6 times a day. I used to have to worry so much about what I was going to eat and to pack my food everywhere i went… it just just plain ole stressful and tiring.
I have been able to drop my body fat from 10-12% to about 7-9%, and lost another 10 lbs, I sleep better, sprint faster, and jump higher and just feel better overall… Today I feel like I’m living primal and pretty optimal for my body. I’m 5′8″ and weigh 165lbs. Today I feel much more educated about nutrition, fitness and living a healthier lifestyle in general. I know that I will never be unhealthy or go back to yo yo dieting like I have experienced in the past. Thanks for the good work Mark. Grok on!
Some pretty amazing stuff here.
Last edited by Kobe Bryant; 08-30-2009 at 05:29 PM.
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