Primal Eating Step 1: Ditch grains, sugars and refined oils

The Primal Endurance podcast Interval shows are published in between our full-length feature episodes published on Fridays. For the Interval episodes, podcast host Brad Kearns discusses various elements of the Primal Endurance approach, pulling from topics in the book/digital course and adding some candid and fresh insights. The Interval shows will keep you focused and purposeful with all of your workouts and lifestyle decisions.

The first step to going primal is to get rid of the most offensive foods in the Standard American Diet: sugars, grains and refined high polyunsaturated vegetable oils. These foods promote carb dependency, inflammation, and oxidative damage. Besides, they have no nutritional value. Knowing that chronic cardio promotes carb dependency, you must slow down your training pace before you even attempt a dietary transition. 

Realize that besides contributing to overall excess carb intake (grains, even whole grains, convert to glucose upon ingestion), the gluten and other lectins in grains contribute to leaky gut syndrome. The bad oils are particularly insidious—“radiation in a bottle” says Dr. Cate Shanahan. They cause an immediate disruption in healthy cell function and disregulated fat metabolism.