What is the Primal Blueprint

I have had many ideas on how to accomplish my desire to get closer to nature and to my true spirit. I have thoughts on movement, art, literature, nature studies and my lifestyle in general. One thing I have been thinking a lot about is my diet and what I put into my body. I want to start eating more whole, natural foods that have undergone little to no processing. While looking through different blogs I stumbled across Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint, a lifestyle guide that encompasses many of the ideas I have had regarding my rewilding journey. I mentioned the primal blueprint in a previous blog and I now want to share it with you in a bit more detail.


The blueprint has 10 basic steps:

1. Eat lots of animals, insects and plants - I personally haven't gotten into eating insects yet, but maybe one day.
2. Move around a lot at a slow pace - this is one of my favorite steps and is along the same lines as my daily walk/runs.
   
3. Lift heavy things occasionally.
   
4. Run really fast every once in a while.
   
5. Get lots of sleep - who can argue with that?
6. Play - I love to play, lately I've been playing ultimate frisbee (which Mark is a fan of...yay!), gymnastics and aerial silks.
7. Get some sunlight everyday.
8. Avoid trauma - although I don't think he intends this to mean play it safe, he is an advocate for play which has some inherent dangers in it.
   
9. Avoid poisonous things.
10. Use your mind - what...you want me to think?

Overall, I think it is a good list to help jump start my journey. If you start reading Mark's blog, The Daily Apple, you will find that he discusses eating habits a lot. You will also find that he is very anti grain, anti most carbohydrates and anti dairy products. I am not anti carbohydrates, however you will find that many carbohydrates such pasta and bread have gone through a lot of processing therefore they are foods that I am starting to avoid. However, from reading Mark's blog I find that he is also anti potatoes and the more starchy veggies, which I don't necessarily have a problem with. Also, I love dairy...even though it tends to be overprocessed, it will be a hard one for me to give up if I decide to do so.

At this point I am unable to start much of a garden, living in a small condo, and since I have to make due in the modern world, I do buy most of my food from the grocery. At the grocery I do try to buy organic, local produce and meats when I can. Hopefully soon I'll have a place where I can start a garden and greenhouse.