Beginning in the 1960s grocery stores started selling a breed of bigger, plumper turkeys known as Broad-Breasted Whites. This turkey is bred for one main reason: it’s cheap to raise, primarily because it’s genetically modified to grow quickly. Turkey producers can maximize their profits and provide what they think consumers want: birds with more white meat. But the thing is, all that white meat makes a turkey cook and taste different. In fact, it is probably Broad-Breasted Whites (not your mother’s cooking skills) that are to blame for decades of dry, flavorless Thanksgiving turkeys. Even worse than dry meat, the genetic modifications to Broad-Breasted Whites leave them unable to fly or reproduce without artificial insemination.

By far, the Broad-Breasted White is the dominant breed of turkey sold in grocery stores. In the 1990s, it almost put other breeds of turkey into extinction. Luckily, organizations and turkey producers dedicated to preserving culinary heritage and to fighting against industrialized food production have been diligently protecting natural breeds of turkeys that have been around since our forefathers. Collectively, these breeds of turkeys with colorful names like Bourbon Red, Standard Bronze and Narragansett are known as Heritage turkeys. In recent years, as consumers have become more interested in where and how their food is grown, Heritage turkeys are enjoying a surge in popularity.

Heritage turkeys are more expensive to buy, ranging from $6.00-$12.00/pound, because they are more expensive to raise, taking up to 30 weeks to grow to close to 30 pounds while a Broad-Breasted White can reach that weight in just 18 weeks. Why splurge on a Heritage turkey? For starters, they are not genetically modified to maximize breast size and meat. Heritage turkeys have more fat and more dark meat, which helps keep the meat moist while cooking. The meat has a richer, heavier texture and more intense flavor, rich and robust and slightly gamey – what a “real” turkey is supposed to taste like.

Heritage turkeys can be bought from some local butchers and from Whole Foods Markets. Mary’s Turkeys does not sell directly to consumers, but does provide a listing of where their Heritage turkeys are sold. Heritage Foods and Local Harvest ship directly to consumers, but their prices are higher than most retail stores.

Buying a Heritage turkey is like casting a vote for humanely, naturally raised animals and for the farmers who are putting a premium on healthy, safe, natural food instead of profits. Pair your Heritage turkey with any number of our favorite Primal Thanksgiving sides and you’re guaranteed to have a very Happy Primal Thanksgiving.

Ingredients: (based on a 12 pound turkey)

• Turkey. For a Heritage turkey, allow 2 pounds of uncooked turkey for every person. This will yield enough cooked meat for Thanksgiving dinner and leftovers the next day.
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed with a knife until powdery
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, plus extra sprigs to stuff in turkey cavity
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Remove turkey from refrigeration 1/2 hour before cooking. Preheat oven to 350 and set the oven rack in a low position. Remove the innards (neck and giblets) from the cavity of the turkey and set aside.

The neck can be roasted next to the turkey or simmered in soup. The giblets (heart, liver, gizzard) can be sautéed in a little butter or oil and eaten as a separate meal or snack. Rinse the turkey inside and out with cool water and pat dry. Combine melted butter with fennel seeds, parsley, salt and pepper. You can also add minced garlic if you like. Drizzle the melted butter over the entire turkey. You can also loosen the skin, pull it up and rub some of the butter directly onto the meat.

Add broth to roasting pan and set bird in the pan, preferably elevated on a rack, breast side up. Insert a meat thermometer straight down through the thickest part of the breast – if you have an instant read thermometer, do not leave it in the bird; insert it later to check the temperature. After an hour, check the bird.

If the skin is getting too dark on top you can cover it with aluminum foil for the remainder of the cooking time. Roast until the meat registers at 160 –165 degrees, basting occasionally with pan drippings.

As a general rule of thumb, a 12 pound turkey typically takes around 2 1/2 hours to cook. A 15-25 pound bird can take 2-3 hours and a 25-30 pound bird can take 3 – 3 1/2 hours.

Once the thermometer hits 160, remove the bird from the oven and let rest with a loose covering of foil for 20-30 minutes before carving.

Mashed parsnips are the perfect substitution for potatoes. The flavor of parsnips is earthy and slightly sweet. You can enhance the sweetness by adding cinnamon and nutmeg, or opt for just salt and butter for a more savory side.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds parsnips, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream, optional
• butter and salt to taste
• optional: 1/4 teaspooon nutmeg and cinnamon

Directions:

In a deep saucepan, combine parsnips with chicken broth and 1 1/2 cup water. With a lid, simmer until very tender (about 20 minutes).

Drain off broth. Mash parsnips with a fork or potato masher. Add enough broth back to the parsnips, and cream if you’re using it, until desired consistency is reached. Add salt and butter taste.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Turkey Time: Recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers
2. Turkey Meatballs with Broccoli-Carrot Mash
3. Root Vegetable Hash

As part of our ongoing Primal Blueprint Fitness Video Contest readers Anders, Annika and Rob submitted their interpretation of a Primal Blueprint Sprint Routine (the latest contest theme). They’re in the running for a cash and Primal prize package and have a one in four shot of winning.

If you liked this video be sure to check out other videos Anders has submitted: Bringing Home the Bacon and Primaldelphia.

If you’d like to be featured on Mark’s Daily Apple for a chance to win Primal gear read the Primal Blueprint contest details and submit your video (fitness or recipe), real life Primal story or Primal recipe today!

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Contest Video: Primal Blueprint Bodyweight Exercises
2. Contest Video: Primal Blueprint Upper Body Workout
3. Primal Blueprint Fitness: Sprint Routine

Instead, he spends the entire day slaving away with a shovel and a pick axe, hacking at the earth to loosen it and shoveling the loose dirt out. A deep hole appears, about eight feet in depth and wide enough to accommodate him and a ladder.  In goes the ladder, and he follows with the wash bucket and rag. Dirty, grimy, sweaty, and disheveled, he ascends the ladder to finally reach the basement windows. He manages to clean them, but his alternate self in a parallel universe – that guy who decided to just kneel down to wash the windows – has clean windows, a killer tan from spending hours at the beach doing pushups and sprints, a couple racks of ribs on the barbecue, and a nice glass of Cab paired with a wedge of French brie. He enjoyed his day, while the ladder enthusiast had to work for hours just to arrive at the same point.

At the end of the day, the windows are clean in both instances. But which method made the most sense? Which method featured a whole lot of redundant BS, and which method allowed for plenty of free time?

“Diggin’ a hole to install a ladder to wash the basement windows” is a phrase I love to use to describe the inanity and redundancy of contemporary conceptions of fitness. Sometimes our methodologies are inherently ridiculous, like with the Treadmobile, a mobile treadmill, or the StreetStrider, a mobile elliptical with endorsements from The Biggest Loser (need I say more?). Anyone can recognize the absurdity of taking a stationary fitness machine that is itself an attempt to recreate a real world movement – like the treadmill tries to mimic running – and turning it into a functioning way to get around the environment. As if having a pair of thick, clunky rubber soles between you and the ground weren’t bad enough, now people are actually using treadmills to stay as removed from nature as humanly possible. And the elliptical is already a ridiculous looking contraption (easy on the joints, sure, but it might replace or even divorce you from real, natural movement patterns like swimming that are equally easy on the joints), but if you do like to use it, just please keep it in the gym. No need to go flailing all over the road.

But on a more serious note, far too many people dig the proverbial hole for themselves when they try to improve their fitness levels by following CW’s lead. Take the Chronic Cardio crowd, for example. Most people still buy the line that running sixty minutes every day is the key to health, fitness, longevity, and happiness. They run those sixty minutes – hating perhaps fifty-five of them – every night to lose weight and get fit and to burn the all-important calories. Sure, some calories get burnt, but so do all their glycogen stores, stores that require restocking with tons of carbs, the more refined and delicious the better. They’ve just come home from a grueling seven mile run and they feel like maybe they deserve a little break, a little treat for all that hard work – so they order a large pizza and wolf the entire thing down, followed by a bowl of ice cream. They wake up feeling bloated (but man are those glycogen stores ready to go!) and horrible, which leads to mild self-flagellation and the decision to “hit the treadmill extra hard tonight” to make up for all the carbs. The same thing happens all over again. The wheels are in motion. This vicious, endless, Sisyphean cycle of Chronic Cardio and carb refueling leads to weight gain and broken spirits (“why can’t I lose the weight?!”) – and the broken, overweight, totally confused about what works and what doesn’t nation we see today.

That’s not to say the Primal fitness community doesn’t have its hole diggers. Some of us – and I’m guilty of this from time to time – make the mistake of thinking more is always better. More pain, more sprints, more weight, more sweat, perhaps even more vomit – are encouraging signs that good work is being done. Now, I’m a huge proponent of compound strength building movements, sprints, hikes, and anything that engages the entire body and works it hard to the core. These exercises are meant to tax and test our strength and our stamina, but there is a point of diminishing returns. There are occasions where – even if you’re doing Primal approved exercises – you run the risk of compromising your health and fitness. The body needs rest at times, and it possesses a pretty effective subconscious feedback system to let you know when it needs that rest. If you’ve lost count of how many hill sprints you’ve done, and each “sprint” has devolved into a plodding uphill jog, it’s time to stop. You’re not doing yourself any good; you’re only hurting your body and increasing your recovery/downtime. If that ain’t diggin’ a hole for yourself, I don’t know what is.

Conventional notions about what constitutes an effective fitness regimen always make me shake my head and throw up my hands. I see people doing ridiculous, ineffective routines with every fiber of their being with nothing to show for it except some lingering injury or a lighter wallet. I can’t help but feel a bit superior, maybe even a tad patronizing, when unbending dedication to a failed, counterproductive fitness methodology persists. But that quickly disappears when I remember that it used to be me. I used to be the most ardent supporter of Conventional Wisdom around. Even when my ultra running and endurance training was physically wearing me down and forcing me into terrible dietary habits, I told myself this was normal. I assumed, despite mountains of evidence (both personal, anecdotal, and clinical) to the contrary, that I was ensuring a long, active life for myself. I think a lot of people are in that situation, so I empathize.

Are you engaging in redundant, inane workouts that go nowhere? Are you working out on a regular basis and failing to see any results?

You may be diggin’ a hole to install a ladder to wash the basement windows, when you could forget the shovel, lose the ladder, grab your wash bucket and handle business.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Washboard Abs on a High-Fat Diet, No Ab Workouts and No Cardio?
2. Statin Insanity

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet Mark in person during his Northern California media tour. Mark’s extensively researched masterwork cuts through the confusion, hype and flawed Conventional Wisdom about eating and exercising with a simple, evolution-proven program based on ten simple, practical Primal Blueprint behavior laws. As soon as you “go Primal” you will enjoy immediate results in the form of improved energy, athletic performance and immune function. Long-term, you will be able to effortlessly reach and maintain your ideal weight without the struggling and suffering that is so common with the mainstream approach.

This single evening could change your life—and quite possibly save your life! Mark will have copies of the Primal Blueprint available to personally autograph for everyone in attendance, and engage in extensive Q&A about losing weight effortlessly, overhauling your diet, and getting much more out of your training program in far fewer hours than you might think!

Sunday, December 6th
7:00pm – 8:45pm
Catalyst Athletics
1257 Tasman Dr, Suite A, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

This free event is expected to fill!

Please RSVP to guarantee your seat: greg@cathletics.com or 408-400-0067

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Announcement: Upcoming Event
2. Announcement
3. Announcement: New Recipe Theme for the Cookbook Contest

For our part, as parents, we see both sides. We worry for our kids’ health. We hope for their social acceptance even as we encourage them not to depend on it. We want them to take good care of their bodies, enjoy the physical energy and potential of youth. We want them to be and feel their best. Meanwhile, we want them to know they’re amazing, beautiful and beloved just the way they are. We know what we want to do, how we want them to feel, but then there’s the sticky reality of it. What’s the right message exactly? How do we figure the perfect balance in communicating and cultivating all our good intentions for our kids’ health?

A New York Times article, “Parenting and Food: Eat Your Peas. Or Don’t. Whatever.”, picks up this dicey parenting issue. It’s a discussion of the blurry lines between how to foster healthy habits without inhibiting a healthy self-concept. As any parent (or person who has any recollection of the awkward adolescent years) knows, taking on this issue can involve navigating an emotional mine field. One wrong move, and you face an explosion of tempers, guilt, and other psychological shrapnel. The long-term stakes, we learn, are high. Research has shown that fathers’ communication about and even “attention to” their daughters’ weight can raise their “risk of eating disorders.” Children of parents who promoted dieting “were significantly more likely to remain overweight than those whose parents didn’t.”

Frank Bruni, the author of both the Times article and recent memoir Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, illustrates the precarious landscape with stories of hesitant parents attempting their best acrobatic acts. He gives us stories of parents who’ve diligently striven for “balanced meals and restrained portions.” On the other hand, Bruni gives us another angle of parental concern, a resistance to what some parents see as a tendency toward broader deprivation – a missing the forest through the trees if you will. As one mother put it, she wants to instill healthy habits but not deny her daughter the basic “psychological pleasures that come from sitting at a table and enjoying a meal.”

Bruni’s article ends by rounding up several points of expert consensus. Most are basic and commonsensical. First, of course, he says parents should model healthy eating and exercise habits. It’s the old “Do what I do, not what I say” principle. Other effectual strategies include stocking the house with healthy options and planning dinners with homemade fare. Finally, he says with a personal note, it’s important to find a substitute “activity” that can provide a “similar emotional gratification” children may have previously associated with food.

I found Bruni’s article engaging, relevant and thought-provoking. It got the Worker Bees and I talking. We had a slew of questions but few clear answers. (Isn’t that always the case in parenting though?) What do kids need and want to hear? How do parents inspire the best balance between emotional self-acceptance and physical self-investment? How much should we as parents demonstrate and divulge of our own struggles exactly?

I thought I’d take up the conversation here with you all. I’ll throw out a few thoughts, and I hope you’ll add yours to the discussion.

Clean up the family diet and environment.

A physiological point first… Parents want to help their kids make good food choices and get plenty of physical activity. However, there’s another often missed piece to the puzzle. The increasing presence of toxins in our everyday environment and food supply can contribute to a myriad of health problems, including weight issues. Toxins, particularly in children, can disrupt basic hormonal balance. This disturbance can throw off the metabolic processes responsible for energy conversion and, particularly in tandem with a poor diet, boost fat storage. It’s a good excuse for explaining why a “good diet” entails more than a menu: it means fostering an educated and thoughtful mindset toward eating and health.

Be honest (first with yourself) about your relationship with food and/or your physical self-image.

Perhaps having lived a similar experience, we can identify on some level with our kids. If we were overweight once upon a time, we can understand what it’s like to struggle with weight as a child/teenager. Yet, once in a while we have to step back and ask ourselves if our level of concern has more to do with our child or our own past? In short, are we helping or projecting – or some combination of the two? Maybe we’re still struggling with weight or other body image issues. Regardless of how we approach our health and what priorities we focus on, our children are undeniable witnesses to our lives. They see our daily endeavors, and they undeniably pick up on our self-talk. What messages are we sending (consciously and unconsciously)?

If your child is old enough, have a heart-to-heart about experiences with health, body image and weight. Divulge honestly – but selectively. You can show your kids you identify without burdening them. Most importantly, talk about where you get your sense of perspective. What guides you, motivates you and grounds you day to day? What have you learned that you wish you knew earlier in your life? What do you hope they enjoy about living a healthy life and taking care of themselves?

Talk about what health really means.

It’s pretty easy for kids to grow up not really having a clear understanding of health. Hey, most adults don’t get it either. If I’m not sick, I must be healthy, right? Health as a concept can be a random swirl of disconnected images for kids: food pyramids, sweaty gyms, sports icons, a salad bar. How do they put it together? What does it mean to be healthy? To feel healthy?

In the vast array of images and messages out there, kids have to be pretty thrown by the paradoxical shape of it all. On the one hand, there’s infinite fun to be had in downing every variety of fast food, sodas, energy drinks, chips and other snack abominations (just look at the youth-centered commercials). On the other, there are tabloid articles about celebrity crash diets and stories of their three hour a day workout routines. Our culture encourages either disregarding or punishing the body – making a joke of physical health or exercising/depriving ourselves into the ground. The result? As a culture we don’t have the most comfortable relationships with our bodies. It’s little surprise that many of our kids absorb this mindset.

Parents, unfortunately, have a lot of ground to fill in. Find a chance to talk about what health means to you personally. How did you come to learn about healthy eating? Why do you make the choices you do? What gets you motivated to stay active, to keep your stress under control? When do you feel the best physically? Ask them what makes them feel healthy, strong and rejuvenated? Is there a way you can help support those experiences (e.g. emotional support or family activities)? Let it be an open and continuing conversation. Let it be a catalyst for healthy changes and experimentation. Let it be a challenge to your family to play more, cook more, do more, get out more.

Talk about what living really means.

This website is all about health, yes. Nonetheless, I put health squarely into a large picture of happiness and vitality. Too often the messages kids get come off as instructive but less than relevant and inspiring. In the midst of navigating the social scene, figuring out an identity, and finding their way through school and other responsibilities, dry details can quickly fall on deaf ears. Consider a different angle. We hear a lot of success stories from people who have overcome serious health issues, dropped weight that they’d wanted to lose for years (or decades), and/or turned around their lifestyle to gain a whole new sense of energy in their lives. A common thread in so many of their accounts is a sense of self-investment. Whether a serious medical scare that made them realize how precious (and endangered) their lives were or the culmination of a deep soul-searching, something sparked a novel sense of ownership. Their health mattered more because they’d chosen to see it and value it in a new way.

Maybe talking to kids about real health ultimately means talking about life. Owning your health necessitates – on some level – knowing and respecting yourself. It’s a self-commitment after all. The more self-confidence and self-respect we have, the more likely we are to invest in ourselves.

For kids who struggle with weight and body image, too often the goal is outside themselves, remote and elusive. How can the goal finally be authentically personal? What does it mean to dig down and learn to tune out the noise in life – the social clamor, the media messages? What’s there to listen to once you reach the other side of the commotion? How, finally, do they see themselves there? What does their vision of a healthy and happy life look like from that vantage point? Kids, like the rest of us, shape their health a step at a time. Maybe a parent’s best role is to help them start down their own path.

And now…let me know what you think. What should kids hear growing up? How can a parent walk the line to empower their kids’ overall health and well-being? How do we avoid the traps that either alienate or enable? I look forward to reading your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Dear Mark: Weight Loss and Workout Routine
2. Dear Mark: Healthy Body Weight?
3. Trick or Treat: Yea or Nay?

First, I’d like to review the differences between asceticism and eating in accordance with evolutionary biology. As it’s generally practiced across multiple disciplines and belief systems, asceticism refers to the complete and utter refutation of “worldly pleasures” to achieve spiritual and physical enrichment. Cleansing the mind along with the body. Regarding the pursuit of pleasure as somehow unnatural or impure, as if giving in to our animal urges is something to be ashamed of. It promotes permanent abstention from material desires with the hope that they will permanently atrophy and dissipate, like some little-used muscle or organ withers and dies. If the fate of the appendix is any indication of this idea’s validity, though, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Pleasure is here to stay. In fact, I’d argue that our relentless pursuit of pleasure is actually completely natural, deep-seated, and immutable. The basic human condition is desire. Without that pursuit of pleasure, we may not have made it this far. Without that constant, nagging desire to feel good, to taste good things and enjoy the warmth and intimacy of a sexual companion, to sit bundled up in front of a roaring fire licking marrow from sticky fingers, we lose the desire to survive – because what use is living if you’re not going to enjoy it on some basic level? Why get up in the morning without something to look forward to? It may be that thriving is actually necessary for surviving after all.

What do we crave, once we’ve transcended the artifice of refined sugar and whole grain addiction? Once we’ve spent a few weeks eating clean, Primal foods and cleansed our palate, most of us don’t even want the Twinkies or the Wonder Bread or the pizza anymore; we want the fat, the grease, and the gristle. We want fresh veggies sautéed in butter and salads drenched in olive oil and vinegar. We crave chicken with the skin, and we might just eat an entire pack of bacon to finish off an IF (if you put it in front of us). Some of us want nothing but the animal, while others sample the entire pantheon of flora and fauna. Above all, though, we all suddenly want nothing but real, whole foods once we get off the Neolithic faux-food. And when we get it, it tastes good.

Damn good.

Doesn’t that make you wonder? Might that not-so-subtle positive interplay between taste bud and food stuff be by design? I mean, sex feels good because it promotes procreation. The sun feels good to convince us to stay outside long enough to make vitamin D, an essential prohormone for life. Conversely, direct flame applied to our skin hurts like hell because it’s damaging our body and threatening our health, and we get sunburns to let us know we’ve gotten a bit too much sunlight. Wouldn’t it follow that the things that taste good actually are good for us, that the things we could conceivably come across and eat raw in nature are in fact suitable for consumption? I’d say so, yes.

I can already hear the fingers typing furiously.

“What about candy? Candy tastes good, so doesn’t that mean it’s good for us?”

For one, consumption of refined sugar and excess fructose beyond evolutionarily-realistic amounts is proven to be harmful. Tooth decay, insulin resistance, small and dense LDL formation – all that and more can be directly attributed to sugar intake. We all know that. But we also know that candies are clusters of pure sugar, half glucose and half fructose (a bit more fructose than glucose if made with HFCS), that appeared only recently on the menu. Crystallized sugar appeared on the scene around 5,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, but until Columbus realized sugar cane flourished in the Americas and established a profitable slave-based industry, refined sugar in all forms was cost-prohibitive for anyone that wasn’t rich. Now? Now it’s cheap. It’s actually cost effective for companies to stick sugar and especially HFCS in anything and everything. Breads, salad dressings, condiments, sauces – pretty much everything on shelves and in packages contains a form of sugar. Some estimates peg our yearly intake of the stuff at over a hundred pounds each. Each, per year! That’s terrifying (especially when you realize that it’s an average, and that there are a significant number of people that minimize sugar intake, like us – somewhere, someone is eating two hundred pounds a year!), and it far exceeds what we could have mustered in Grok’s day.

A better question would be, “What about the sweet flavor? Why are we drawn to the sweet flavor if it signifies danger?”

That’s just it; in and of itself, it doesn’t necessarily mean bad things to come. In days of yore, sweet things were difficult to come by. Honey meant receiving bee stings and climbing tall trees, and, while there’s no way of knowing exactly how sweet or bitter seasonal fruit in the Paleolithic was or was not, we do know that today’s fruits are selectively bred for increased sugar content. Yesterday’s fruits were sweet (they had to be to enable seed dispersion), and sweet meant nutrients, but that sweetness was naturally selected for, rather than forced and sped up by man’s hands. Simple logic indicates that a fruit actively bred for sweetness will trend sweeter than the fruit left alone. The data certainly suggests as much.

Then there’s the fact that fruit used to be seasonal. Northern European Grok wasn’t shivering by fjords waiting for the latest shipment of Amazonian bananas (fun fact: here’s what a wild banana actually looks like – a far cry from the perfect peel-able fruit that we’re able to produce) by dug-out canoe. If he was lucky, he might nab a bushel or two of berries and apples in season and then gorge on them. But an apple a day? No, that wasn’t possible for Grok year round. Tropical or temperate Grok probably had more access to fruit, but they still weren’t as sweet. And wherever he was, Grok was not drinking Jamba juice or chugging a liter of orange juice in a single sitting. If he lucked out on a sweet fruit, he was eating the entire thing.

We may be drawn to the sweet flavor, but that’s because it was such a rare, quick source of cheap energy for our ancestors (and possibly a bit of a holdover from our extremely distant days as arboreal frugivores about 4 million years ago). Besides, what better time to fatten up than with a dose of sugar right before winter? The fact remains that, historically, the fruit we rarely ate was less abundant, and it contained less sugar than modern fruits. Our attraction to sweet flavors is not a free pass to subsist on bananas and figs. It’s merely a cue for Grok to snap up all the fruit and honey he can carry, because this might be the last time he sees any for a long, long time.

Meat, however, was abundant. Man had yet to encroach upon and severely disrupt local ecologies, and game was not relegated to a preserve or a national forest. Our brains grew big and hogged our metabolic output thanks to meat, which represented a new, denser source of energy for Grok. Neanderthals were our closest ancestors, and they were completely carnivorous, while many Homo sapien cultures were essentially pure meat eaters. Meat was the foundation for man’s emergence as conscious, cunning, brilliant, adaptable, preeminent predator. We depended on meat, which explains why we have such a visceral reaction to it.

The dog salivates at the whiff of a meaty bone, the cat seeks out the sunny patch so it can synthesize Vitamin D in its fur, and the plant strains toward the nourishing sunlight. Organisms are pleasure seekers, and we are no different. We’ve just the ability (or curse) to rationalize and analyze our behavior, sometimes to our detriment. When we start using some arbitrary moral system to condemn and regulate our very natures, we deny our humanity. That is a very, very bad thing. I dunno about you, but I like being human. I like my big brain, and my compassion, and my conscience, and my consciousness. I can appreciate the fact that I drool a little when I smell a steak seared in butter even as I sit down to read the paper with my meal. We represent the union between animal urge and reason. The former keeps us alive and well, while the latter makes us human. The Primal Blueprint simply recognizes those urges, rationalizes them with an examination of the clinical and anthropological evidence, and offers a stable (yet malleable) foundation for people to follow. We satisfy our cravings, blood and grease dripping from our chins, content that this time (like most, actually) our basest urges are the purest and most righteous.

Jack LaLanne got it half right when he said, “If man made it, don’t eat it,” but I think he dropped the ball with “If it tastes good, spit it out.” I say embrace worldly pleasures that nourish our bodies and minds. Pastured meat, relations with a loved one, a bowl of wild berries, a day of play with some pals, a healthy serving of sunshine – these are true worldly pleasures that we derive from the natural world and to which we are drawn by our natural, animalistic urges. These are urges that promote healthful, vibrant living and true happiness, and I think the ascetic does himself a disservice in denying them. We are animals – thinking, feeling, loving, free animals – and we shouldn’t ignore or bury that fact for inconsequential ideologies or self-imposed limitations.

As William Blake wrote, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” Grok took that road, and perhaps we should, too.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. The Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve
2. Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint
3. Dear Mark: Primal Blueprint Superiority?

Dear Mark,

Each summer and throughout the year, I spend weeks at a time leading hiking, backpacking and camping trips in the backcountry. While this seems like it’s definitely a primal activity, traditional backpacking fare consists of oatmeal, tortillas, granola, peanut butter, pasta, rice, and beans. These foods are light, compact, durable, will fill you up, do not need to be refrigerated, and are easily packable. At the end of each week, though, I always feel worn out – depleted, almost – and I realize now that it is probably because of what I eat. Do you have any primal menu suggestions for those of us who actually live, at times, in a primal environment? (Hunting and gathering are unfortunately not viable options.) Thanks!

I know what you mean about being stuck in the wilderness with nothing but a big bag of carbs. I did a wildness trip a while back with a group that packed exactly that. Just a few days left me feeling miserable beyond belief.

As suggested, true backpacking imposes more limitations than base camping. Nonetheless, there’s still no reason to feel stuck in the traditional carb corner for the sake of packable convenience or physical need. If you pace yourself well and are already acclimated to the Primal diet, you’ll be perfectly able to rely heavily on fats, so there’s no need to carb up. (You can always bring along a couple sources of emergency fuel like a sports gel in case you “bonk.”) Rest assured that it’s entirely possible to eat Primally on long treks.

Lightweight and calorie dense is the name of the game for Primal packing. Obviously, dehydrated food can be a staple, and it’s a great way to work in plenty of veggies and fruits on the trail. I’d suggest dehydrating your own for price and variety sake, but many stores, especially good co-ops or camping outlets, will likely carry these as well. Think dried berries and apples, and veggie chips made from eggplant, sweet potato, zucchini, and parsnips. Throw in a couple pouches of sun-dried tomatoes and a little baggie of freeze-dried herbs/spices for good measure. If you prefer, you can always vacuum-seal some fresh veggies for days when you’re sick of the dehydrated stuff, but of course it will add the extra weight.

Dried meats, like jerky and pemmican, are obviously convenient choices and can help you get enough calories. In addition, you can consider including some chicken and wild salmon in foil pouches, a couple sardine cans, and the like. Freeze dried meat and powdered eggs are pretty easy to get a hold of. You can cook yourself a decent omelet with some dried egg, bell peppers, jerky and chives. Or add some meat to a dried soup mix for dinner.

For easy snacks and quick fueling, there’s always a good Primal trail mix (nuts, seeds and fruits), homemade fruit leather, as well as nut butter and Primal energy bars (both of which offer a good wallop of healthy fat). Although I don’t suggest living on it all week, a good protein/supplement powder can be a packable option, and it can help add calories if you feel you’re coming up short on a given day.

As for prepared meals, I’d say there are a few decent options out there, but I’d try to eat real food whenever you can. Not only are these meals expensive, but the prepared stuff generally reads like other processed foods do – chemicals, preservatives, and other odd laboratory concoctions. If you want to throw in a few packaged meals for convenience or variety, look for the natural or organic options, which leave out the fake stuff. (Just be prepared to add your own spices.) Of course, most are carb-heavy, but you can find some good omelet choices and occasionally a good low carb stew or chili. (Any brand suggestions out there, everyone?) Of course, you can always concoct your own fully Primal version ahead of time by putting together the dehydrated spices, meats, veggies, natural bouillon and other ingredients in individual baggies.

Finally, although you mention hunting and gathering aren’t options for your situation, both are great ways to supplement your diet with fresh food while you’re out on the trail. Gathering (seeds, mushrooms, berries, greens, etc.) is arguably the more straightforward of the two, but you need to know what you’re looking for. Obviously, you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere having just eaten a toxic plant. Take a good guidebook along with you. Even if you don’t plan to forage in the bushes, it might not be a bad idea for some side entertainment (or the unforeseeable emergency). As for hunting, if you have the skill and equipment, it makes all the Primal sense in the world to kill small game. Be mindful, however, of the legal issues surrounding hunting where you’re at – private/public land use and state regulations (hunting licenses, game seasons, tag/bag limits, etc.). And one last option: fishing. Although government regulations again come into play, fishing is generally less restrictive than hunting. Given the modest equipment needs (which can be handmade on site if need be), fishing can be a more impromptu choice if supplies run low or if you’re craving the sizzle of fresh fish in the pan for dinner. Enjoy your time in the wilderness!

Other campers out there? Have more ideas for Brian? Add your suggestions and anecdotes. Thanks to everyone for the great questions and comments, and keep ‘em coming!

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Dear Mark: Food with HFCS?
2. Dear Mark: Your Brain on Junk Food
3. Dear Mark: Visting Family – Primal Compromises and Grain Alternatives

According to Better’s Better, there are health benefits from drinking six cups of coffee a day. Six cups. Six. Cups.

The nutrifoodical quagmire belches out another odious stench with “healthy ice cream.” (thanks, Meghan!)

Can you spot the metaphor in this Rocky IV montage? (thanks, Dan!)

I’m not a big fan of shoes, but this Timberland advertisement is just brilliant.

Recipe Corner

• GQ prints a brussel sprout recipe? Maybe the world really is changing.
• Make some fried chicken fingers, courtesy of Girl Gone Primal. Just don’t put them in a KFC Bowl.
• Charm City Kettlebells has the pork roast. Put some pig in your belly.

Time Capsule

One Year Ago (November 8-14, 2007)

• 10 Steps to “Primalize” Your Pantry – Turning your life around starts with turning your kitchen around.
• Dear Mark: “Rest Days” – Do I ever take rest day? Find out here.

Two Years Ago (November 8 – 14, 2007)

• Why Don’t We Eat Horse? It’s Nutritious. – What’s the difference between horsemeat and pig meat? Why do we eat one but not the other? Does horse farming exist? Find out.
• Candy Coated What? – Now retired Fuming Fuji is upset about Kid Kupz. In the grand race of human stupidity, the people who think of these products are right on the tails of the people who buy them.

And finally, Food Inc. is out on DVD. Rent it, Netflix it, Redbox it, just get it into your house and watch it.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Weekend Link Love
2. Weekend Link Love
3. Weekend Link Love

A grab-and-go breakfast is exactly what Amy Schoenherr had in mind when she submitted her recipe for Omelet Muffins to the Primal Cookbook Challenge. This easy and clever variation of a regular old omelet can be made in batches of a half-dozen or more and eaten throughout the week. Amy’s muffins, made almost entirely from eggs, are little powerhouses of protein, fat, nutrients and flavor. Mixing in a little water and mayonnaise keeps the eggs fluffy and moist while they bake. Other than that, what you mix in for added flavor is up to you. Anything you love adding to an omelet – diced vegetables, meat, and some cheese if you’re so inclined – you can add to this recipe to create your own personal omelet muffin.

Keep in mind that while omelet muffins are pretty darn perfect for breakfast on the go, they’d also be great for a weekend brunch. Double the recipe and make a dozen. Then, make time to sit down with family or friends and enjoy the type of long, leisurely breakfast that’s so hard to come during the week.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cooked meat, cut or crumbled into small pieces
• 1/2 cup diced vegetables
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground pepper
• 1/8 cup mayonnaise
• 1/8 cup water
• Optional Ingredient Idea: Make a Mexican Omelet Muffin by adding 1/4 cup shredded cheese, onions, and lightly drained salsa to the eggs.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease 6 muffin tins with butter or coconut oil or for easier removal line with paper baking cups. The baking cups also help the muffins hold their shape.

In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add meat, vegetables, salt, ground pepper, and any other ingredients and stir to combine.

Spoon or scoop into the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until a knife inserted into the center of an muffin/omelet comes out almost clean. The omelets will continue to cook for a minute or two after removed from the oven. Remove the omelets from the muffin cups and serve, or cool completely and store for another day.

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. How to Render Bacon Fat (plus a Fennel and Dill Omelet Recipe)
2. Root Vegetable Hash
3. Primal Breakfast Suggestions for People on the Go

As part of our ongoing Primal Blueprint Fitness Video Contest reader Tom Greenwald submitted his interpretation of Primal Blueprint bodyweight exercises. (The new theme is Creative Sprint Routines.) He is in the running for a cash and Primal prize package and has a one in four shot of winning.

If you’d like to be featured on Mark’s Daily Apple for a chance to win Primal gear read the Primal Blueprint contest details and submit your video (fitness or recipe), real life Primal story or Primal recipe today!

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Contest Video: Bodyweight Basics
2. Contest Video: Primal Blueprint Bodyweight Exercises
3. Contest Video: Primal Blueprint Upper Body Workout