200 Pounds Down and Grateful to Be Alive

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading! Ever since the age of 8 I can remember being different. The only sports I was ever picked for were wrestling and 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

Harvest Kale Salad

This isn’t just another boring kale salad. Massaging your greens may sound a little weird, but don’t skip out on rubbing the kale with the lemon juice and sea salt. It helps break down the fibers of the leaves so it becomes tender, less bitter, and more enjoyable to eat raw. If you have time, roast the squash for more flavor. Bring a large pot of 1 to 2 inches of water to a boil. Place butternut squash in steamer basket and sprinkle with sea salt. Place basket in the pot and cover with lid. Allow to steam for about 7 to 10 minutes, until it can be pierced with a fork. While squash cooks, mash garlic with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and black pepper using the back of a spoon. Place

31 Healthy Recipes That Require Zero Cooking

Making creative and healthy meals at home doesn’t have to mean slaving over a hot stove for hours—or even turning on the stove at all! With a handful of great ingredients and a little bit of imagination, making a no-cook feast is a complete cinch—and we’re not talking limp green salads and boring sandwiches. Whether you don’t feel like cooking with fire (or sweating your a** off in a hot kitchen), or you’re eating a raw food diet, this mix of meals for every time of the day is sure to satisfy and keep things interesting. Who knew you could make chili, pancakes, and brownies without cooking? Breakfast Photo: The Rawtarian 1. Raw Pancakes No, this recipe isn’t for batter (which can be tasty, but often ends

Kiddo Update: Potty and Sleep Training

I have so many kid-related updates to share, so I thought I’d dedicate an entire post to it. Let’s start off with the big boy, okay? POTTY TRAINING (Namaste tee!) SO proud of Henry. He’s potty trained (he’ll be three in a month)! Wahoo. I was really intimidated to potty train, but it ended up not being that big of a deal. I do think he needed a “push” (he was NOT going to ask for underwear on his own anytime soon), but he was definitely physically and emotionally ready. Once I took the lead, there wasn’t a fight over it. I didn’t use any particular method; I just switched out his diaper drawer for an undies drawer and told him no more diapers. I

The 15-Minute Total-Body Kettlebell Workout

“High-intensity interval training” (HIIT) is a fitness term that gets thrown around a lot these days. HIIT workouts vary from bodyweight-only circuits to treadmill sprints to far less intense variations. But here, when we say high-intensity, we’re not kidding. This 15-minute workout, led by certified trainer and Grokker expert Kelly Lee, gets your heart pumping and targets every major muscle group, from your chest to your legs. It takes you through three sets of two exercises using a kettlebell (a dumbbell works too). In each set, you’ll perform ladder-style reps: 10 reps of each exercise, then 9 reps, and so on until you perform just 1 rep of each. With moves like sumo squats with high-pulls, Russian twists, and squat presses, this workout isn’t for

Is Blogging Dead? I say NO! (guest post).

Please welcome Kristine (whose hair I covet but that’s a different post).  I’ve invited her here to share her response to my musings on the State of the Blogging. I have a lot of thoughts on the topic of blogging. Even though I don’t write long “journalog”-type posts much, I still consider myself having been a blogger since April 2000. That’s forever in internet years, right?! I volunteered and then worked for a then-big blogging company in the 2000s, and so I know that shapes my perspective. I think blogging has shifted, not died. When I started, there was no commenting; to react to what a friend said, we wrote posts and linked to the friend. Comments let conversations happen on the original

Greatist Workout of the Day: Friday, May 22nd

This series of GWODs was designed exclusively for Greatist by Bodeefit. For more information about the exercises in this workout, or to see video demos of each movement, follow the links below the graphic. Be sure to note the results of your workout so you can track your progress as you go. Before you tackle this workout, try this quick and effective full-body warm-up. It’s just five simple moves but hits every major muscle group and gets your heart pumping. The American Royal Complete 21 reps of each of the following movements, then 15 reps, then 9 reps as fast as safely possible. Elevated Push-UpsExplosive Push-UpsV-Ups Want to kick up the intensity? Move your feet higher during the elevated push-ups. And don’t forget to

Pedalling the Dream – How Cycling Really Can Change Your Life

It was at the top of the first climb out of Ushuaia that I knew I’d turned a corner. Phil – the man I’d met just six months earlier – had lovingly assured me that ‘there shouldn’t be any big hills to climb for the first few days’ of our trip. Yet here I was at the top of the southernmost point of the Andes. Phew. How wrong he’d been. My thighs burned. I’d been sorely tested on our very first day on the road. But I’d made it. Before setting off to the bottom of South America with our bikes and panniers, our ‘training’ programme had consisted of one 30km ride along a towpath. There hadn’t been the time, as we tied up the loose ends

46 Crock-Pot Recipes to Try This Summer (That’s Right, Summer)

Summertime, and the living is…well, hot. When stratospheric temperatures make you want to do nothing but sit in an ice bath all day, using a slow cooker might initially seem like a preposterous idea—isn’t that thing just for winter meals? But don’t put that Crock-Pot into storage just yet! You will be pleasantly surprised at how useful this appliance can be even during the warmer months, sparing you from turning the oven on and turning your kitchen into a sauna. Forget steaming stews and cozy casseroles, and try some tacos, corn on the cob, or s’mores bars. Cooking in the summer just got a whole lot cooler! Breakfasts Photo: The Foodie Corner 1. Slow Cooker Frittata With Zucchini, Tomato, and Feta Take the stress out of the

The Best Way to Comfort a Crier in Any Situation #Awkward

Crying: It’s the very first item on the to-do list of life. From there on out it’s anyone’s guess what will crank the waterworks. Some of us get weepy when we’re sad or angry, others at the sight of an adorable puppy, the sound of the National Anthem, or watching a favorite rom-com for the umpteenth time. We all do it for different reasons, and some of us more than others, but we all know what it feels like to well up and burst out. It’s All Right to Cry: The Science of Letting It All Out Many theories abound as to why, exactly, we cry. Some scientists see our bawling as a means of regulating arousal: A little blubbering slows down breathing, prompts us

Watch This Guy Dice a Whole Watermelon in 21 Seconds Flat

“DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME OR WORK” is one way to make sure someone doesn’t cut a hand off trying the “Matt Jones, Cut a Watermelon in 20 Seconds Challenge” shown above. All right, maybe that’s not a real challenge. Sure, “cut” could be interpreted a lot of ways. And yes, the guy above takes 21 seconds to dice the hell out of a watermelon, but that didn’t seem to trouble the more than 6 million people who have watched this video since it was posted on April 23, 2013. Jones, the man in the video, is an assistant produce manager at a Publix Supermarket, at least according to his Google+ profile (yes, people still use those). Chunking watermelons is apparently part of the job over there, and given his technique