The Primal Blueprint (2 page)

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but instead will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease
.

—
Thomas Edison

Disclaimer, part II: this book was written at knifepoint…. Okay, not really. But my frequent discourses on all matters primal over the past two and a half years at my blog
MarksDailyApple.com
have prompted unceasing requests for more, as in, “Hurry up and finish the book!” I owe a tremendous debt of inspiration and enlightenment to those readers and the dynamic contribution they have made to the
Primal Blueprint
. This work represents the culmination of my primal philosophy, which has taken shape over the past 20 years through extensive research and life experience. I’m not a scientist or doctor; I’m an athlete, a coach, and a student on a lifelong quest for exceptional health, happiness, and peak performance. I have an insatiable curiosity about what we need to do to achieve such goals and a growing mistrust of the answers that have been heaped upon us by the traditional pillars of health “wisdom” (Big Pharma, Big Agra, the AMA, the FDA, and other government agencies), the health and fitness profiteers glorified by Madison Avenue, and even the know-it-all multilevel marketer next door.

In its essence,
The Primal Blueprint
is my effort to distill the information I’ve studied from the world’s leading evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, geneticists, anthropologists, physicians, nutritionists, food scientists, exercise physiologists, coaches, trainers, and scientific researchers into a concise list of behavior laws that have promoted optimal gene expression and indeed survival over the course of human evolution. While the book you are holding is a product of the new millennium, the behavior laws are as old as the dawn of mankind; they merely reinform us about the fundamentals of health that seem to have been forgotten, or misinterpreted, in the modern world.

I do not have any agenda besides improving your health, fitness, and overall enjoyment of life. I am not beholden to any employer, government agency, professional licensing board, or sponsor or to any other higher power that might result in the filtering
of my message. I
am
an opinionated guy and not afraid of a challenge. However, I strive to maintain an open mind and will modify my position based on feedback from others, whether from experts, ordinary health enthusiasts, or the publication of new research. I simply don’t trust many of the major elements of
Conventional Wisdom
(a recurring term throughout the book, akin to a yellow highway hazard sign) that we have blindly accepted as gospel for decades.

In my case, the mistrust has been well earned over the past 35 years of trying to do “the right thing” (another recurring theme) by diligently following Conventional Wisdom. For several years of my youth, I ran in excess of 100 miles a week with a single-minded focus toward competing in the 1980 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. At my peak, I was considered by many to be a picture of health: 6 percent body fat, a resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute, and a marathon time of two hours, eighteen minutes that had placed me fifth in the national marathon championships.

While I reached some notable heights during my endurance career, I also experienced some devastating lows. Soon after my best marathon performance, the monumental physical stress of my training regimen and the state-of-the-art “high-energy” diet that fueled it resulted in a succession of serious overuse injuries, illnesses, and burnout. While I looked like a picture of health, I was really one of overstress and inflammation. I was the fittest guy my friends knew, yet I suffered from recurring bouts of fatigue, osteoarthritis in both of my feet, severe tendonitis in my hip joints, stress-related gastrointestinal maladies, and six or more upper respiratory tract infections each year.

Most people have traveled a less extreme path than I, yet nearly all of us have experienced similar results following the Conventional Wisdom of our time: weight-loss efforts doomed to a 96 percent long-term failure rate, workout programs leading to fatigue and increased appetites for sugar, and medications that exacerbate the underlying cause of pain while barely alleviating symptoms (not to mention the unpleasant side effects).

I applaud your efforts and desires to do the right thing, and I deeply empathize with your frustration in trying to succeed amidst a whirlwind of conflicting and confusing advice. My goal with the
Primal Blueprint
is to expose much of the lucrative health and fitness industry as ethically and scientifically bankrupt. I will peel back the many layers of marketing blather, folk wisdom, and manipulative dogma and replace it with 10 simple
Primal Blueprint
behavior laws modeled after the evolutionary success of our ancestors.

Pause and reflect on the following simple statement for a moment, for it is the most powerful and compelling rationale for living according to the
Primal Blueprint:
Human beings prevailed despite incalculable odds by adapting to the selective pressures in their environment over thousands of generations. Our primal ancestors were lean, strong, smart, and productive, which enabled them to reproduce, rule over more physically imposing
members of the animal kingdom, and exploit virtually every corner of the earth. This is no mean feat, yet Conventional Wisdom has essentially dismissed the legacy of our ancestors in favor of quick fixes.

Today at the age of 55, I feel healthier, fitter, happier, and more productive than ever. I am no longer a marathon or triathlon champion (nor do I want to be), but I maintain a weight of 165 pounds with 8 percent body fat. I eat as much delicious food as I want, am not beholden to regular meal times or even regular meals, exercise just three to four hours per week (instead of the 20 to 30 I put in back in the day), and almost never get sick. My personal clients (ranging from world-champion triathletes to ordinary citizens just trying to lose a few—or a lot of—pounds), as well as thousands of readers at
MarksDailyApple.com
, report similar life-altering benefits from following the
Primal Blueprint
. Now it’s your turn.

“
The
Primal Blueprint
is the centerpiece of a vibrant community of people connected by the Internet and committed to living their lives to the fullest potential, challenging the status quo, and not being afraid to try something
old
.”

Your Way or the Highway

My intention in this book is to show you the immense personal power you have to control your health and fitness destiny and to give you the tools to reprogram your genes, reshape your physique, and enjoy a long, healthy, energetic, and productive life. The
Primal Blueprint
principles are wonderfully simple, practical, and inexpensive, and they require minimal, if any, sacrifice or deprivation. Unlike many of the gimmicky diet and exercise books that have graced the best-seller shelves in recent decades, the
Primal Blueprint
is intuitive and easy to follow—not for 14 days or 30 days or eight weeks but for the rest of your life.

I recognize and appreciate real-world concerns like lack of time, budget issues, motivational challenges, dysfunctional social circumstances, eating disorders, ingrained bad habits, and other powerful influences that can sabotage the picture-perfect diet plan served up by the celebrity of the moment. On numerous occasions, I’ve felt the disappointment of taking a plunge with my heart and soul into a new diet or athletic training regimen, only to fall well short of the ambitious goals I had set. Adding insult to injury, I often discovered later that I’d been given bad advice—by my government (thanks to the tainted influence of special interests), Madison Avenue, or a less-than-knowledgeable coach, peer, or professional expert. Few things in life are more frustrating!

With the
Primal Blueprint
, there’s no need for trepidation. This is not a regimented program where I shove my agenda down your throat and cajole you to go against your own common sense or pleasure-seeking human nature. My experience with
MarksDailyApple.com
has taught me the value of the collaborative approach to health and well-being. Whenever I’m in a position to raise an interesting theory or discussion point that might be considered contrary to Conventional Wisdom, I immediately have thousands of readers with the ability to contribute freely to the discussion. Many of these readers are forward-thinking doctors, scientists, researchers, or coaches whose valuable input and suggestions I could not have otherwise easily solicited. This interplay often forces me to substantiate—or at times significantly modify—my position. It always requires me to adapt my message to resonate with real people and their real-life experiences. The philosophical positions and practical guidelines that shape the message of this book have been heavily battle-tested, scrutinized, refined, and finally approved by thousands of “Primal” enthusiasts (as well as skeptics) at
MarksDailyApple.com
.

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