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The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy

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Author: Mark Sisson
Publisher: Primal Nutrition, Inc.
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$26.99~~
Buy New: $16.80
as of 7/30/2010 21:55 EDT details
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Seller: sbd-
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

121 reviews

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1ST
Pages: 283
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.1

ISBN: 0982207700
Dewey Decimal Number: 613
EAN: 9780982207703

Publication Date: June 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Features:

	ISBN13: 9780982207703
	Condition: New
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Kindle Edition - The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The Primal Blueprint gives you the power to flip the switches that control your weight, health, energy levels and, ultimately, your destiny of a long, healthy, happy life. Combining modern genetic science with the immutable principles of human evolution, Health and fitness expert Mark Sisson presents a revolutionary, easy-to-follow program based on ten Primal Blueprint behavior laws that unlock the secret to weight control, health and longevity. * Learn about the one concept that will guarantee lifelong weight control-no matter who you are, how much extra weight you carry, or what your family genes are like. * Learn the reasons you crave sugars and sweets--and easy steps to eliminate those cravings forever. * Naturally control your appetite-and blood sugar levels-so well that you will sometimes have to remind yourself to eat! * Burn your stored body fat as a ready source of energy 24 hours a day. * Discover how popular low-fat, grain-based diets can trigger illness, insidious lifelong weight gain and devastating diseases. * Learn how a high-fat diet can help you lose weight and why it is actually healthy. * Reject gimmicks like regimented meal times, portion control, strict caloric ratios, and food point scores. Instead, eat "Primal" foods and be totally satisfied at every meal. * Discover a complete strategy of eating, exercising and living that is fun and comes naturally-even for the "unmotivated" types! * Achieve incredible fitness breakthroughs in a fraction of the time (and with a fraction of the suffering!) compared to conventional fitness programs. * Reduce your risk of developing conditions like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Do all this and more by learning about the precise foods, exercises and other natural behaviors that turn some "health-promoting" genes on and other "health-destroying" genes off.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 121

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Mostly good July 28, 2010
CSD
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Humans evolved for centuries to live a certain way. This way of life was disrupted by technological and social evolution. This disruption has caused many of society's ills. By living as humanity evolved to live, one can reverse many of the chronic ills that plague modern man, such as obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and more. So goes the hypothesis in Sisson's The Primal Blueprint.

I don't disagree with this hypothesis, but I do believe that Sisson has an ideology that he wants to push, rightly or wrongly. I believe this ideology undermines Sisson's case in some instances. A number of claims in the book strike me as being poorly supported or unsupported by data, or even inconsistent with other statements in the book. The "paleo movement" has its own brand of dogma that it likes to espouse based on what in my opinion is questionable empirical ground.

Some of these questionable claims are as follows:

Sisson discourages the consumption of grains due to "antinutrients" known as phytates; however, he neglects to mention that these are found in significantly greater abundance in nuts, which he encourages one to eat.

He promotes taking a multivitamin, despite little if any scientific evidence that doing so is beneficial to health. Science is full of various supplements that subsequently were shown to have few positive or even harmful effects on the body (beta carotene, vitamin c, etc.) Further, the supplement section reads like an advertisement, and features links to his supplement company. Nor does Sisson present the notion that a supplement, even in multivitamin form, most likely lacks many other nutrients that act in synergy with the nutrient being supplemented. (And it should go without saying that Grok [Sisson's name for the prototypical human] never took supplements.)

The way Sisson presents it, if you have a few slices of bread a day, you are on the fast track to diabetes. He likes to discuss the effect of carbohydrate consumption on insulin response, noting that carbs place higher on the glycemic index than do other foods. But these statements should be qualified by noting that consuming these foods with fat, for example, slows this process. I don't disagree that most people should cut out nutritionally void simple sugars for more healthy greens and fats, but Sisson needs to offer practicable advice. One can still maintain a healthy carb intake within Sisson's 100 - 150 g for "maintenance" weight with a sandwich or cheeseburger now and then.

Similar complaints can be lodged at Sisson's stance on peanut butter being a health risk due to aflatoxin and the relative health benefits of organic foods. Again, where is the data? To my knowledge there is little data demonstrating that whatever latent pesticides exist on non-organic food are harmful in the long-run, nor data comparing nutrient composition in non-organic food vis-a-vis organic food. Nor could I find any sort of study evaluating the risk of aflatoxin exposure. Singling out one particular food seems silly to me; peanut butter isn't unique in there being potential risks.

So anyway, in conclusion it's a good primer to a more healthful way of life, but Sisson should make a greater effort to ground what he says in empirical reality.

4 out of 5 stars

Basically good, but too many pitches for other products July 22, 2010
Natasha S. (Wiesbaden, Germany)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Overall I am enjoying this book. I only started the plan five days ago, so it is too early to tell what results will be. Having done well in the past with a diet based on the glycemic index, The New Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat, I suspect it will work if I can stick to it. Some of the science Sisson quotes, like the Framingham Heart Study and the Nurses Study, are classics that I've heard referenced by doctors and the like, and it adds to the credibility. But then he'll go and blow it by quoting someone like Deepak Chopra or Andrew Weil. Perhaps time will tell on whether those two have the right idea, but I'm not convinced that they aren't at least partially quacks, and Sisson would be better served sticking to peer-reviewed, replicated studies when he wants to add some credibility to his book.

That being said, he's not the only one out there touting this kind of change in eating style: see alsoThe New ME Diet: Eat More, Work Out Less, and Actually Lose Weight While You Rest, The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto , and sites such as [...]. Either it is the fad of the moment or they're onto something ahead of the power curve of the conventional farming/eating/fitness industry. Time, again, will tell. What I do like is that he advocates moderation, and it isn't a no-carb diet: eat lots of fruits and veggies, and some dairy if you want. I think that is a sensible change for any American to make, and this book simply lays out the reasons why it is better for us than high-carb diets.

The most annoying features of the book: 1) how repetitive it is, and 2) constant references to Sisson's blog and supplement gig. Like quoting celebrity doctors instead of studies, this diminishes some of the credibility in my eyes. Instead of being horrendously repetitive, as if he thinks repetition will make a believer of the reader if science and anecdotes won't, I'd prefer more useful content. Constantly referencing workouts or recipes or articles found on his blog is annoying, and the space wasted by the repetition of the plan's basic rules and reasons would have been better used to include that content in the book. (Especially since the blog site doesn't make it easy to find.) So, in short: good book if you the repetition of the same info doesn't drive you insane, and if you can get past the 'go see my blog' and 'buy my supplements' pitches.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Book! July 19, 2010
Eddie B
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone. I've read several books on the Paleo diet and the lifestyle and am completely convinced. I've followed a similar lifestyle change in the past and had great results.

It was great to see someone finally comment on supposedly Hereditary traits being more likely related to your upbringing than your genes!

A great explanation about insulin and the insulin resistance our generation seems to be experiencing!

5 out of 5 stars

Lots of great ideas, pushed a little too far July 13, 2010
Gomerel (Fantasyland)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Mark and his book came to my attention just after I had already started doing lots of what he recommends on my own. I am not "on" or "doing" the primal blueprint, but I started doing roughly the same thing.

I view popular diet and health books very skeptically. I'm old enough to remember all the fads that failed. I have questioned everything about Mark's ideas, but nearly always he has a calm, intelligent answer for my questions.

I have tried to do the "conventional healthy diet" routine for years. And I am overweight and fat. After a month of doing roughly the primal blueprint, I feel better than I have in decades. And I am burning off fat. It has been effortless.

My major disagreement with Mark is his calling all grains "poison." To me, that is throwing the baby out with the bath water. So I do grain or white potatoes once or twice a day, with no sweets other than some fruit. It works wonderfully. No way would I give up all the joys of rice, corn and oat foods without major proof that they would take years off my life. (Can't do wheat - allergic.)

Aside from calling grains poison, Mark is almost always understanding and gently humorous in his writing. He only asks people to achieve 80% of his plan.

Mark was a world class marathoner and triathlete. He tells about how that trashed his body. All he asks is for a reasonable amount of easy walking/running/etc., a bit of lifting, and a few sprints per week.

You can get all of Mark's ideas at [...]. But you may find it useful to have them laid out in an organized way in the book.

5 out of 5 stars

Like Paleo diet, but easier to stick to. July 9, 2010
Viabellum
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I give this book 5 stars, it is a must read. First let me state that I am an early 30's type I diabetic who also has to take thyroid medication. I am also an endomorph. I know a thing or two about unwanted weight gain. To combat this I have exercised seven days a week very intensely for the past three years: deadlifts, weighted dips/pullups, bench, running, squats. I even thought I adhered to a strict diet. Why bore you with this? I was still pushing 223, and nothing I did seemed to affect my stubborn fat. This diet Mark proposed seemed like a variation on the paleolithic diet which I have used and worked so well at controlling my insulin dependent diabetes. However, it was too much of a pain to stick with. This book got great reviews so I though I would try it out. Result? My blood sugars immediately leveled out, I now use a fraction of the insulin I used to(which extends my life). I immediately started to "look" thinner, as if my body had previously been suffering from inflammation and was now reacting favorably to the new food. Much of my joint pain disappeared. My energy reserves for endurance increased. I have lost eight pounds in four-weeks which is a health amount of weight loss, it keeps melting off. The diet is also easy to stick with, relatively little is banned, but that little is often the base staple of most households. Other family members have tried it with similar results. I have tried everything to improve my often fragile health, this is the real deal. If you care about living healthy into old age, buy this book. If you want to (probably) die early and worn out, go back to the pasta. Two caveats: Your food budget will increase slightly, and the first two days you feel like you are starving. Work though it, you will be happier for it.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 121

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