Top all-time · #756
M
Mark's Daily Apple
Personal blog · marksdailyapple.comhealth
Mark's Daily Apple is a personal blog at marksdailyapple.com about health. Since 2008, 87 different Hacker News readers have linked it 111 times, most often “The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-02, and you can follow it by feed.
111mentions?
13recommend?
87HN people?
2008–2022first – last linked?
Sometimes recommended · 13 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Mark's Daily Apple for its ancestral-health and Paleo posts, which commenters cite as evidence on diet, fasting, sun exposure, fitness and supplements.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Everything you need to know about thriving in the modern world with Primal principles.
Most-linked posts?
- The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2009-07-24
- /6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2010-09-20
- /5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-01-10
- /fish-oil-prostate-cancer/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-05-01
- /will-eating-red-meat-kill-you/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-09-30
- /health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-03-29
- /primal-blueprint-101/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-11-13
- /the-evidence-continues-to-mount-against-chronic-cardio/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-07-22
What Hacker News says?
Sprinting is a good alternative to weightlifting. Worth giving a shot if you're hesitant to lift weights or don't have the equipment / gym nearby. https://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-how-many-sprints-p...
Comment linking /dear-mark-how-many-sprints-per-week-how-to-play-and-train-with-babies-and-the-best-nighttime-snack/
on “The Animal Is Tired”Submitted How to Eat According to the Primal Blueprint as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI'm very interested in health and fitness and often lose hours at Mark's Daily Apple (primal lifestyle and health blog): http://www.marksdailyapple.com/tag/dear-mark/ The Getting Stronger blog is another wonderful health and fitness blog which focuses on training the mind to thrive in difficult conditions, though it has really amazing insights on diet and training as well: http://gettingstronger.org/about-this-blog/
Comment linking /tag/dear-mark/
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?”Submitted The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSunlight is bad for you in high doses without sunscreen. Moderate exposure is healthy, and may decrease the risk of many other cancers and heart disease. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260247#3 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/07/dose-sunshine-ex... https://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-some-sun-exposure-will-p... Another way to look at it is that we evolved with the sun over millions of years, and…
Comment linking /why-some-sun-exposure-will-protect-you-from-deadly-skin-cancer/
on “Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe Covid-19”Submitted How Bad Is Charred Meat, Really? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI realize it may seem like the most relaxed form of breathing is however you've been accustomed to breathing automatically, but no, probably the majority of people tend to breathe using chest breathing and it is definitely not the most relaxed sort of breathing. You can't fill your lungs as full, it creates tension in chest, neck, and shoulders, neglects using diaphragm, which is the primary muscle for breathing. Le…
Comment linking /how-to-breathe-correctly/
on “Guided meditation for beginners”Also see http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-grains/ and then maybe http://www.marksdailyapple.com/gluten-celiac-disease/ Several people have referred me to Mark's blog in the context of paleolithic dieting. I've been going through the archives, and it seems pretty solid. Of course, like many blogs now, it's really half blog, half sales funnel for information products. (Which is totally cool, but it some…
Comment linking /gluten-celiac-disease/
on “NYT Review of ‘The 4-Hour Body’”Here's what I was able to find from my notes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12090031 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15291498/ https://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e363 Pretty sure they're all on SciHub. Here's some about heat, frying and other methods of cooking when it comes to creating mutagenic compounds: https://www.marksdailyapple.com/safe-cooking-temperatures/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2991…
Comment linking /safe-cooking-temperatures/
on “Prenatal cannabis exposure associated with mental disorders in children”https://www.marksdailyapple.com/ - Ancestral health and lifestyle https://earlyretirementextreme.com/ - Financial independence. No longer adding new posts. https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/ - Travel "hacking" and the miles and points "game". https://jamesclear.com/newsletter - Habits and human potential. Email newsletter - not a blog, per se. https://blog.asmartbear.com/ - Startups and marketing https://recrai…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What niche blogs are worthwhile to follow?”In my informed opinion snacking is indeed a very bad habit and it is not in any way a healthy eating mode. It's contrary to all of human evolution and there are objective measurements that show the body needs rest from eating to heal and regenerate critical systems. That's why intermittent fasting is such a proven benefit to health in people who have enough to eat. Source: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/meal-timing/
Comment linking /meal-timing/
on “Ask HN: How to increase self-discipline as a self-employed person?”The recent demonization of sugar substitutes hasn't helped either. The problem with studies that link them to weight gain is that they confuse correlation and caution then make some wild unsubstantiated stab at causation by guessing that maybe they cause insulin issues. I went looking for information on that, and found and excellent article by a diabetic site summarizing the evidence and treating each substitute as…
Comment linking /artificial-sweeteners-insulin/
on “Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes”Intermittent fasting has long been a standard staple in the Paleo diet[0] and bodybuilding[1] communities, both for health and aesthetic reasons. [0] http://www.marksdailyapple.com/health-benefits-of-intermitte... [1] http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
Comment linking /health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting/
on “Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system”It is a common misconception that any calories >0 break the fast. However, all IF coaches agree that the threshold for most people is around 50 calories [1]. Knowing this, I only take a splash of cream or milk in my coffee. [1]: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread36172.html
Comment linking /forum/thread36172.html
on “Intermittent Fasting Is Gaining Acceptance”> The link between telomere shortening and age was proved just a typical correlation recently Rosedale made a brilliant case (though maybe not proper proof) for this back in 2012: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-tall-tail-of-telomeres/
Comment linking /the-tall-tail-of-telomeres/
on “Telomere lengthening via gene therapy in a human individual”Your comment reminds me of a thread I read in the Primal Diet's forum. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/forum/the-primal-bluepr... Quite a few of them are having heart attacks: "So my first heart attack, 8 years after a stroke, was unexpected. My heart is determined to kill me. I've had at least 4 attacks, the last one keeping me in hospital 6 days" Yet they still all stay on that diet, because of some convincin…
Comment linking /forum/forum/the-primal-blueprint-forum-discussion/primal-blueprint-nutrition/103039-had-heart-attack-on-sunday-22nd?t=117283
on “US government to withdraw longstanding warnings about cholesterol (2015)”I agree with you completely. The simplicity required for a peaceful life is really difficult to find in today's world. Additionally, it's a common misconception that primordial man was a poor wretch that scrounged for food, fought larger predators and generally lived a life in constant fear and hunger. I once read an article on Mark's Daily Apple ( http://www.marksdailyapple.com/about-2/who-is-grok/#axzz2ENJ... ) th…
Comment linking /about-2/who-is-grok/
on “Most lives are lived by default”"I’ve found that time management has little to do with “lifehacks” and how you manage your email inbox and more to do with prioritization, saying “no” to people, and clearly communicating the expectations you have for yourself and others." Well said. For those interested in similar ideas regarding diet and exercise, you might enjoy http://www.marksdailyapple.com
Comment linking /
on “Staying Healthy and Sane At a Startup”Almost every article you find from Googling "good and bad fats" show all saturated fats as bad, because of a increase in risk of cardiovascular problems in some studies. Completely ignoring the wealth of positive[1] effects[2] from saturated fats. They even lump in trans fats as if they have exactly the same risk factors. [1] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/2... [2] http://www.marksdailyap…
Comment linking /saturated-fat-healthy/
on “Obesity and Fitness Are Revolutionized By Reddit, Not Doctors”I think it boils down to canola oil being highly processed, which makes it contain trans fats. Would you like to know more? http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-canola-oil/
Comment linking /dear-mark-canola-oil/
on “What Google's Famous Cafeterias Can Teach Us About Health”same here. try this: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-blueprint-21-day-c... also work in 30 minutes periods (set a timer) and walk around for 5 (see pomodoro).
Comment linking /the-primal-blueprint-21-day-challenge-infographic/
on “Ask HN: What are you doing to improve your health?”"The honey isn’t your store-bought, pristine golden syrup smelling faintly of HFCS. It’s straight up honeycomb, teeming with bees and larvae and pollen and the queenly secretions called royal jelly. In fact, studies tend to emphasize that the Hadza get 15-50% of their calories not from honey, but from “honey and bee larvae.”" - https://www.marksdailyapple.com/hadza-honey/ They aren't eating the honey that your or I…
Comment linking /hadza-honey/
on “Ultra-processed foods and the corporate capture of nutrition”I use Withings Steel HR and Sleep Cycle on an iPhone. Both provide useful information but neither is perfect and often conflict. I think a lot of this is due to a 4 year old that my wife and I have been unable to get to sleep in his own bed. https://www.marksdailyapple.com/should-you-track-sleep/ is a good article with recent data on accuracy of a variety of devices.
Comment linking /should-you-track-sleep/
on “Ask HN: Best sleep trackers?”I really like Marks Daily Apple [1]. He is big on Paleo and some may find him controversial/extreme. But he does back what he says up with a lot of science (maybe pseudo-science, I'm not sure). Anyway following his advice has really helped me. [1] http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Where do you go for learning about health and well-being?”The Paleo diet is interesting but is not the be all and end all. Check out http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/ , http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ and http://www.westonaprice.org/ for more viewpoints. The general consensus though is to avoid processed foods and stick to whole foods. A big one is to eat animal fat instead of industrially produced vegetable and seed oils. Also, limit carbohydrate intake (ideally eati…
Comment linking /
on “How Western Diets Are Making The World Sick ”Sure do! I typically defer to Mark Sisson for this kind of stuff, who’s very good at linking in relevant research. https://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-evidence-continues-to-mo...
Comment linking /the-evidence-continues-to-mount-against-statins/
on “Total cholesterol and all-cause mortality – a study among 13M adults”Last time I’d read into it, statins didn’t move mortality numbers for most members of the population. Edit: they do decrease your risk of a heart attack a bit, but the increased incidence of cancer and diabetes actually eliminates the benefit for most users. The only people who showed any measurable reduction in mortality were non-elderly patients with a history of cardiovascular disease. https://www.marksdailyapple…
Comment linking /the-evidence-continues-to-mount-against-statins/
on “Total cholesterol and all-cause mortality – a study among 13M adults”What the article states is not true (but - at the same time - it's not false!): it's simple, you can buy "truffle oil" that does not contain truffle, or you can keep your eye sharp (and pay more) and buy oil containing real truffle (I have done both!) Same applies to a lot of food out there. Here is a good example, olive oil: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-your-olive-oil-really-oliv... Of course you can buy perfe…
Comment linking /is-your-olive-oil-really-olive-oil/
on “There Are No Truffles in Truffle Oil (2014)”The 800 calories number indicates that this might be related to the Fasting Mimicking Diet of Valter Longo. Since actual fasting has a "scary" reputation among some patients and doctors, Valter Longo developed a 5 day fasting like protocol with severely restricted calories that appears to have similar benefits to fully fasting for 5 days. It looks like this modified version of complete fasting is gaining popularity…
Comment linking /does-the-fasting-mimicking-diet-live-up-to-the-hype/
on “Type 2 diabetes: NHS to offer 800-calorie diet treatment”Zuk's critique of the paleo diet has itself been soundly criticized, e.g. [1] and [2]. Of course she's gotten many details right; the food that is available today doesn't resemble Paleo-era foods very much, so how can we truly recreate their diet? She cherry-picked studies though, just like Ancel Keyes did when he declared that dietary fat was killing us. As for barefoot running, the barefoot shoes are seen as a mag…
Comment linking /is-it-all-just-a-paleofantasy/
on “Lack of exercise kills roughly as many as smoking, study says”
