Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Friday, April 17, 2015

Groktimus Primal's - The perfect diet

I love these authors that say if it isn't broke then don't fix it. They say unless you are having health problems just eat whatever you want in moderation essentially because they don't believe an ideal diet exists. 

I think it  definitely does exist but unfortunately due to genetics, environment/complexities and humans limited intellect no one will ever be able to follow the closest thing possible to their specific perfect diet. That doesn't mean we can't get fairly close though by seeing what we should be adapted to and applying the ever expanding science to it.

Here is the real kicker though. If you are eating the closest thing to a perfect diet then you might do better in the short term but what about the removal of the selection pressure? Does that mean future generations will be weaker than they could have been if you made them eat a little dirt with their lunch?

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Groktimus Primal's - My Story

Life of the Doughboy

     Ever since the age of 8 I can remember being different. The only sports I was ever picked for were
wrestling and the tug of war. The President's Physical Fitness Test (particularly the 600 yard dash)
nearly killed me every year and my failure provided endless hours of laughs for the other kids. The only
saving grace was that I developed a bit faster and even though most of the kids acted like big shots many
of them were aware that it wasn't too smart to push the big kid too far unless you wanted to be seen running
away which was more than their egos could take. I did develop an easy going "jolly" personality which helped
me save what little face was left and diffuse most situations. At least social media hadn't been invented yet!

     This social stunting continued all through high school and various employment until I was about 30 years old.
Naturally I tried the conventional wisdom many times but due to the unrelenting cravings the most success I ever
had lasted about 6 months. I ended up being treated for congestive heart failure and the doctors propped me up
with meds and told me to lose weight or my life and sent me home with the same damn low fat diet that I knew
I could not stick to even in the face of death. I went home depressed and expecting to die.

     The most important moment of my life happened shortly afterward. I went out one night with a friend and
we met up with one of his friends that happened to have a masters in health promotion and knew the cutting
edge research in the health and fitness field. He took a look at me and heard my story and immediately told me I 
was insulin resistant an needed to go on a low carb diet. This was all new and naturally unbelievable because
I knew and believed the conventional wisdom even though it obviously wasn't working. After he left I told my
friend it sounded like bunk and I didn't plan to follow the low carb advice. My friend just looked me in the
eye and said "What do you have to lose?  If things continue as they are you're going to die! Do you have a
better idea?". I was about 400 LBS at 5'6" after all and not in good shape in any respect.
 
     I told my friend his logic was sound and I could certainly deprive myself of some junk food and at
least give it a real try. I did and I was amazed. I read Atkin's and pretty much all of the low carb books
and the weight started to virtually fall off and my cravings disappeared and eating became a choice rather
than an addiction. I went off all my meds and began exercising and felt better than ever. I am still
angry with the medical establishment for knowing less than a friend of a friend in a bar! They sent
me home with a death sentence when I didn't even really need medication. I could have had a much better
life and saved myself some real damage with that simple knowledge. Better late than never I suppose.
My friend actually told me I was the only one he ever saw return from the dead.

     I kept the weight off for many years but I slowly loosened the reigns and regained half of it. This time
I knew what to do and began taking care of the problem. Then I received my second revelation... Thanks to
Mark Sisson of marksdailyapple.com who showed me that the only thing better than a low carb diet is a low carb
paleo diet consisting of low carb whole foods that humans are genetically adapted to eat. There are
many other lifestyle factors that the paleo world focuses on to complete the health and fitness picture too.

     That's where I am today. Most of the way back to a normal weight and grateful to be alive but still
supremely pissed at the "experts" that I paid good money to that led me (and damn near everyone else)
astray and still continue to do so! After disovering MDA I realized that going Primal was the icing on the 
cake I had been missing by simply going low carb.

-Jim Rendek

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