Episode #43: Interview with Jonathan Bailor, Author and Founder of Sane Solution

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Description: Brad and Mark sit down with New York Times Best Selling author, and creator of the website Sanesolution.com, Jonathan Bailor: a nutrition and exercise expert who uses modern science and technology to simplify health.

First, they discuss how Jonathan came to do what he does. He discusses his early days as a trainer who recommended eating less, and working out more—a philosophy that just made people sick and sad.

Second, they discuss the flaws of the calories-in vs. calories-out philosophy and why it usually does more harm than good when it comes to achieving and maintaining weight loss.

Next, they talk about the importance of avoiding the bad things in our diet and lifestyle, rather than looking for a panacea to good health. This leads into a discussion about the influence of genetic predispositions and how that constrains our control over our health.

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Episode #42: Ask the Primal Doctor – Q&A with Dr. Cate Shanahan

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Description: Primal Blueprint Podcast welcomes Dr. Cate Shanahan, who will join the podcast to answer questions on a monthly rotation. In this show, we learn some fascinating insights about Cate’s unique approach to optimal eating–a Primal-friendly philosophy that’s based on her unique “4 Pillars of World Cuisine” philosophy, which examines the dietary habits of traditional cultures for similar health-promoting themes.

Cate suggests that a collective downfall in diet occurred around 1950, when the post-war momentum drove us toward chemically-altered, heavily-processed foods that inflicted deep harm on a genetic level.

She discusses how her interest in the genetic effects of food first took shape when she was a frequently injured collegiate runner, and later when she noticed the exceptional health of her patients in rural Kauai who ate a nutritious native islander diet.

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Episode #41: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: First up, Mark details his revised stance on alcohol for the Primal Blueprint. Previously listed as a “sensible indulgence,” he discusses how alcohol’s less obvious health drawbacks have come to light, which spurred a reevaluation of the subject.

Second, Mark mentions why The Primal Blueprint advocates the consumption of fatty meats, instead of the often mentioned refrain to consume “lean meats” that has been connected with the Paleo movement.

Next, Mark answers some questions about how the Primal approach to eating can help repair unhealthy emotional and psychological attachments to food.

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Episode #40: Interview with Ben Greenfield, Author of Beyond Training

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Description: In this podcast, host Brad Kearns talks with Ben Greenfield, a leading endurance athlete, trainer, and fitness author. They discuss Ben’s book, Beyond Training, which focuses on supporting and maintaining good health while training for high intensity endurance activities like triathlons.

The two talk about the importance of balancing older, low tech training methods with newer, high tech ones. This leads into a discussion about heart rate variability and its implications for maximizing training efforts.

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Episode 39: Interview with Vinnie Tortorich, America’s Angriest Trainer

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Description: Host Brad Kearns talks to Vinnie Tortorich, “America’s Angriest Trainer!” Vinnie is a popular Hollywood trainer known for helping celebs drop weight quickly with his simple, no-nonsense NSNG strategy (No Sugar, No Grains). Vinnie describes getting his foothold in Hollywood by helping an obese employee of Playboy Enterprises lose a couple hundred pounds. Consequently, he caught the attention of the organization and was soon enrolled to help keep centerfolds in top shape after they received their windfall and started indulging in food accordingly.

Vinnie is the author of Fitness Confidential and hosts the popular Angriest Trainer Podcast. He has hosted a very impressive assortment of guests in his 300+ shows, including many leading endurance athletes and primal/paleo authors.

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Episode #38: Ask the Primal Doctor – Q&A with Dr. Cate Shanahan

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Description: Dr. Cate Shanahan hits the Q&A hard, offering interesting commentary on a variety of topics, especially those relating to hormones and longevity markers. Cate explains how one’s level of elastin is a major predictor of lifespan. Elastin is typically considered an important component of healthy skin. Losing elastin and collagen (a form of elastin that is also a major element of healthy skin) cause wrinkles, an obvious sign of aging. Elastin, however, is present in other cells such as those in joints and arteries. Losing elastin accelerates aging (arteries become stiffer and less resilient; joints become creakier and less fluid) and hastens demise. Across species, the typical half-life of elastin is a lifespan predictor. For example, the half-life of elastin in a dog is 10 years whereas it’s 75 years in humans.

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Episode #37: Listener Questions & Answers with Mark Sisson

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Description: Mark Sisson is back in the Malibu studios for a free-form conversation with Brad Kearns about Mark’s latest fitness pursuits, recent developments and new products in the Primal Blueprint business, and the importance of balancing stress and rest when exercising.

Mark mentions that there is likely a holistic fix for virtually any overuse injury. He talks about how he has modified his gym weight lifting regimen and offers some stretching techniques to improve compromised joints. Mark also discusses how to modify exercise patterns based on sub par immune function and not being in the right headspace for an intense effort. He mentions a new comprehensive online multimedia educational program called Don’t Just Sit There, where he works together with Katy Bowman, MS, author of Move Your DNA, to help combat the problem of excessive stillness and lack of variation in the modern workplace. Mark also mentions the general trend of Primal Blueprint Publishing transitioning away from chopping down trees to print hard copy materials to delivering multimedia digital educational products instead.

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Episode #36: Primal Blueprint Expert Certification – Comprehensive Summary

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Description: Primal Blueprint Expert Certification program director Brad Kearns presents a detailed description of the entire online course and its examinations. This recording includes a summary of the most frequently asked questions from prospective students, followed by a methodical review of the content in each of the 13 modules. Brad proceeds through the entire course, literally one module at a time, and gives you an overview of its main topics and some hints about the exams. He even tosses out a few actual exam questions!

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Episode #35: Interview with Elle Russ, Primal Blueprint Certified Expert and Personal Coach

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Description: Elle joins host Brad Kearns to discuss her journey from chronic cardio sugar addict to primal success story, her completion of the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification as a critical beta tester, and her personal coaching services.

Elle was one of the first five graduates of the Primal Blueprint Expert Certification program and made a tremendous contribution to the beta-testing program by scrutinizing and challenging assorted elements of the text and examinations. This helped clarify the official Primal Blueprint position and ensured that the examinations were a fair and relevant test of knowledge for students.

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Episode #34: Interview with Dr. Cate Shanahan of The Primal Advantage

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Description: Dr. Cate talks about her experiences with Primal Advantage clients after the launch of the program in July. In particular, she discusses how traditional medical care is not structured to allow for the discussion of how diet and lifestyle elements affect disease patterns. Most family practice physicians are obliged to spend only 10 minutes with patients. This usually constrains doctors to only enough time to treat symptoms (rather than the cause of those symptoms) with prescription drugs that generate adverse side effects. Regarding blood tests, Cate mentions the recent disturbing headline about the UCLA meta-analysis that 75% of heart attack victims have LDL cholesterol readings in the “safe” or “normal” zone, and furthermore have no symptoms of heart disease until the actual heart attack.

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