Mark's is the moderate, sensible voice that enrolled me into leaving SAD. He seems to understand that supplementing your whole foods with a little home-made yogurt or a piece of fresh fruit isn't a "paleo fail" that deserves a stern scolding. I happen to agree his products fall in the "processed" category but I never felt I "had to" use them.

On some other sites, I feel like I "have to" be physically capable of intense athletic workouts to belong, or putting a little honey in my coffee is as bad as eating the french toast with maple syrup (or doughnuts, or highly sweetened cereal) I used to start my day with. And "how dare I" start my main meal with that well known evil, fresh fruit?

While I respect the young, lean and highly active "strict paleos" many of their posts read like science fiction to me as a woman in my 60s. Mark is at least from the same planet.

He's no greasy salesman. Fiercely devoted to helping others understand and interpret biochemistry and proper nutrition. He posts every single day, without fail.

The powders and supplements? Take it or leave it. There's no pressure or severe advertising going on, but there's quality supplements there if one feels they need that extra oomph. Everyone has to make a living somehow. I've seen far worse in terms of the supplement category.

Given his experiences, I'd say 95% of everything he's provided so far is completely free of charge, and is solely dedicated to helping others not fall down the rabbit hole of chronic cardio, SAD-eating, and nutrition-fails.

I know he's big in the primal scene...

He is the "Primal^TM" scene. The guy literally wrote the book on it. Colloquially, we all tend to throw around paleo, primal, etc, but "primal" is definitely his branding.

I tend to agree with all your points. I do take supplements and vitamins (in a training phase now, so more than usual), but I cringe when I hear or see people eating shakes and all that sort of fake, non-food food products. IMHO, a McDonald's hamburger is less processed than a shake mix, regardless of how "natural" the ingredients in the shake claim to be.

However, a lot of people gravitate towards "primal" over "paleo", as "primal" has a more lax approach to healthier eating and lifestyle baked right into it. Sisson is also big on the 80/20 rule -- and I don't think he'd advocate anyone getting 20% of their food intake from the shakes he sells. (Granted, I can't speak for him, but I sure hope he wouldn't).

Overall, I find him to be a really smart guy, and I feel that he is dedicated to his blog that he offers freely to the public ... a blog that has a great wealth of information. So he sells some shake mixes, too -- it doesn't outweigh the good he's brought to the paleo/primal/etc community.

My 2¢.

Not only is he offering really good, smart, free advice that is highly accessible to folks (and thus stands a greater chance of reaching and impacting more people than stricter paleo-luminaries), he's also making it simple and easy. I also don't hear him promote his own food products all too often. He promotes his books quite a bit, but those tend to be lifestyle-oriented, not powder-oriented.

I think it's also worth noting that many of the folks in the paleo/primal "choir" (to whom many like Mark and Robb Wolf are inevitably partially preaching) are athletes who are going to work with some sort of protein powder/supplement regimen regardless of their attachment to the principles (e.g. crossfit folks and other training-nuts who tend to gravitate toward the lifestyle anyway and are often its early adherents). Sisson is at least making an effort to make these powders as nutritionally compatible with paleo/primal as possible, and I think that's worth respecting.

If selling some protein powder lets him do what he does full time, awesome. He is an exceptional writer and one of the few prominent figures in the paleosphere I really identify with; things like his articles on forest bathing, connection, dance, yoga... you don't find this stuff on your average biochemistry researcher's site, nor on a physical trainer's blog. He has a unique perspective that has made him one of the most popular figures in our little sphere.

His website is what got me into the whole primal/paleo scene. I think he's great.

I'd have an issue with him if he were constantly hocking his protein powder in his blog posts, but I've read almost all of them and he pretty much never mentions it. I don't see what the big deal is.

His book and Dr. Bernstein's were the first two books I read when I started this trip at 324lbs. Today I'm 220lbs and I'll be forever grateful to Mark Sisson for getting me started with something I could do to begin with.

Thanks Mark.

Jeff H.

I like the guy. He writes high quality, well researched articles on just about everything under the sun, and he practices what he preaches. He was my first introduction to paleo, and after some experimentation with others' philosophies, his is the one I returned to. He's pragmatic, and understands that people don't have the luxury of hunting down an elk every time they're hungry (or even hunting down some grass-fed beef). He was a supplement designer before he wrote The Primal Blueprint. He rarely, if ever, promotes his products in his blog posts, and I don't mind that I occasionally see a jar with Grok on it in the sidebar.

I agree with a lot of what's been said, Mark Sisson is a pretty reasonable and straight forward guy who advocates a more tolerant approach to nutrition than some people might advocate with a strict paleo diet. Personally, I started out with just being exposed to his books which opened up the world of "Primal" eating habits and how I could fairly effortlessly maintain ideal body composition without counting calories or stressing over whether I was getting enough complex carbohydrates or low fat meats. I was under the spell of a lot of unfounded conventional wisdom in the fitness world. I think Mark's 80/20 rule made eating better seem a lot less daunting. I can almost guarantee that if on day one someone told me no grains, no sugar, and on top of that nothing with so much as a single preservative in it or any fruit whatsoever I would have told them to go screw themselves and given up completely only to return to my pathetic SAD lifestyle. Eating a high fat moderate protein diet is what helped me realize that I really didn't know anything about nutrition or weight loss despite years of dieting and reading nonsense online.

Now I have personally decided to try and take my fitness, and body composition, as far as possible and this has involved further restricting my diet (cutting out most fruit and dairy, which I ate regularly for the first three months) and researching ways to adhere to a more Paleo diet. However, without starting out on the 80/20 rule I don't think I would have been open to changing my eating habits and I would still be where I was last year. What's wrong with being slowly introduced to a lifestyle that, if we're honest, is a fairly significant deviation from what 90% of Americans seem to do on a daily basis? Most people I try to describe a strict paleo diet to stop listening before I'm even done explaining it, it's just too drastic of a change and it seems mentally impossible to a lot of people. I think they're missing out, but hey it's their health not mine.

As far as his shakes go, I've never bought them. Even from a nutritional stand point if you just bought straight whey protein with no additives it would technically be more Primal than his brand (no sugar, no significant carbs which if you look at the labels on his Primal Fuel are pretty high if you were to have it on a daily basis) it would just taste like crap mixed with water. A lot of people get worked up over his line of supplements, but I'm pretty sure that's the business he's been in for a while. At the end of the day, he has to make money too and he already provides a wealth of free information on his website. You really don't even need to buy the books to start a Primal diet all the guidelines are right there in his blog. I think that's a pretty sweet deal. Here's the key to a happier, healthier you and oh by the way IF you happen to be interested I also have a line of supplements that I enjoy and you might too. Nothing wrong with that. Business is business and not everyone can just spend hours educating the masses without investing a little time into their own income.

It's not for everyone, but for what it's worth I think he's personally responsible for opening up a whole new world to me and many others. Just look at his page of success stories and most of those people aren't out to market his line of supplements. Let him sell his powder, if it helps people avoid a snickers or some other crap from 7/11 then let them have a protein shake as a snack here and there. That's just my opinion.

It is unfortunate that a number of people I have talked to seem to get the same first impression of Mark's site - that it is all about selling his products.

There is an incredible amount of free info on the site and aside from the ads in the sidebar, he rarely toots his own horn.

I initially learned everything I needed to know about Paleo/Primal from Mark's site. I eventually bought a book but only to give away.

Also, echoing what a few of you have said, I like Mark because he seems to be a very balanced, calm, reasonable voice in the community and his information the best synthesis of the whole. I send new people to his site because I don't want them to get bogged down by some of the debates over minutia going on elsewhere (not that these aren't important).

Mark Sisson not only convinced to change my lifestyle (something I'm INCREDIBLY stubborn about - I research like a fiend), but he stressed that I could actually ease into it, rather than go cold turkey. That one element made all the difference for me and it's completely contrary to every single other diet/lifestyle out there. Sure, I went through withdrawal hell along with everyone else and probably for longer as I took my time weening myself off of grains and get adjusted to purchasing paleo friendly foods, but he offered a lot of real support throughout because he has a very logical and sound approach to not just food but to life.

Honestly, when I first noticed all of the drink mixes and things I was personally offended. I couldn't believe he'd be trying to make money off of the community. But I decided to really think about it and I really can't fault him for taking advantage of a great opportunity. Like others have said above me, he needs to support himself somehow and he has great visibility. Plus his products are better than a loaf of bread.

I'm most definitely a loyalist despite any minor reservations. After best selling books and products, he STILL takes the time to answer my (2?) emails personally. I find that insanely admirable.

My advice? Go to the very last page of his blog and work your way backwards. You can go through the journey of learning Primal with him as he hypothesizes and changes his mind with scientific evidence and develops the blueprint framework. Very cool.

An excerpt of Mark's response to this question in his own words:

It’s tough going full Primal today. While there are many things we can do (or eat) today that very closely approximate what Grok did to trigger positive gene expression, there are also a number of obstacles that can thwart our attempts to be as Primal as possible. Artificial light prompts us to stay up too late and sleep too little. Electronic entertainment competes for our time when we should be out walking and basking in sunlight. We don’t always have access to ideal foods. We shower too much in water that’s too hot. We use medicines to mask our symptoms instead of allowing our bodies to deal directly with the problem. You get my point.

One of my tasks is to find the shortcuts – the easy ways to get the same genetic expression benefits Grok got – but by using 21st century technology or just plain old common sense.

Sisson brought me here, once I crack the diet I'll be sure to send him a thank you email for changing my life

If you don't like the products, don't buy them.

As an entry point to healthy, conscious living MDA is without peer. People can take note of the 'glaring errors' themselves, if they aren't as hyper-critical as some they'll simply take the good and leave the bad. If they don't possess the knowledge or drive to find said errors, they will still be MUCH healthier than they were before they found the site.

The biggest problem in 'all of this' are the people who are so eager to tear down, but make no effort to rebuild amongst the wreckage.

My biggest problem with his protein powder is that it contains maltodextrin, a corn byproduct that might as well be high fructose corn syrup when you consider how safe it is to eat. While i understand that many of us are not always up to cooking or need to supplement our protein a bit but I prefer to do it without putting that crap in my system.

Eating Paleo shouldn't be some kind of goofy experience where we fantasize about being cavemen. If something is made from paleo products in a paleo way, why shouldn't we consume it?

I wasn't going to answer this, but decided to after having mentioned him in today's blog post. (http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/2012/04/neat-part-about-moving-more.html for anyone interested)

On the face of things what's there not to like about Mark? By all accounts he's a very nice man and doesn't turn his nose up (quite the contrary I hear) at fans who approach him at events like AHS to introduce themselves. Overall it would be difficult to argue that Mark has not had a positive influence on the whole debate over what constitutes a healthy diet and exercise regime. Especially when others like Cordain don't really address exercise much (I don't have his books, but does he?) and others revered in this community routinely minimize it (ahem ... Gary Taubes). He's a nice looking guy, looks amazing for a man approaching 60 and walks his talk. Surely (as many have stated here), he's also responsible for bringing folks into the fold of a general lifestyle that has benefited them greatly. Mark makes healthy eating cool.

So what if he's not right about every little detail, right? Well, in the comments on my blog Beth cited this piece by Mark: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/ I cringed reading it because Mark has a degree in biology wherein presumably he learned that both fats and carbs and proteins are broken down to produce ATP which is the energy currency in all cells. This is such a glaring error. I've encountered so many in the couple of years that I've been reading his "definitive guides" it's not even funny. I find his carb curve notion of >150g carb leading to insidious weight gain to be laughable on its face, and I first read that back when I was still eating VLC 90% of the time. His science is piss poor and I've rarely read something from him that didn't contain at least one glaring error.

I also wondered when I first "stumbled" on his blog if I was the only one to pick up on the blog being a marketing vehicle. I mean really. Daily posts of the sort he makes (linking to his other blog posts for references and almost never to primary sources) are not very time consuming. Sure he doesn't "push" his stuff on anyone, but write enough about the importance of this or that supplement, and have "Sponsor" notes at the bottom of posts, etc., the message is clear. His supplements used to be far more expensive than they are and hats off to Mark for being able to sell a packet of who knows what quality supplements for several times the price of buying generics at CVS or Vitamin Shoppe, but this is his bread and butter ... erm ... butter and butter.

I'll never forget his response to Jimmy Moore about insulin and how it was "all about the buy in" -- http://carbsanity.blogspot.com/2010/12/insulin-wars-ii-mark-sisson.html

Next money maker will be online course to be PB certified in nutrition. This will make him a lot of money for not a lot of work. And if they're lucky, make some money for the PB Certified folks who paid for the class, but not most.

I think when people are helped by others they presume that person is in the business of helping them. When someone makes money helping others -- be it doctors, nurses, teachers, trainers, therapists -- it doesn't negate their motives for doing so, but folks do need to keep perspective and realize that most aren't doing this to help others, they are doing it to make a living. NOTHING wrong with that, and no doubt helping others in the process is gratifying and motivating for them. But it is what it is.

Mark Sisson is the Jillian Michaels of paleo. Different schtick, same day. I envy both for being able to make nice livings off of their passions. But most here probably loathe Jillian for her nasty ACT on Biggest Loser. You do realize it's an act, right? Jillian puts a lot of free stuff out there too folks, and sells stuff like gangbusters on her website. http://www.jillianmichaels.com. Mark is no different, and he's got marketing savvy up the wazoo. He could probably sell ice to an Eskimo and jerky to a Hindu. That makes him both a huge asset and potential liability in all of this.

I think his approach is appealing to a lot of people but I worry that for the masses, it's going to cause many to miss a great learning opportunity. I think going full, strict paleo for a couple months is good for people. It's not so much that I think his supplements aren't useful or beneficial but I think everything you get from those, you can get from real food. I think people should do paleo first, then primal. If you go from standard american diet straight to primal and you're a complete newbie, i'd venture to say you might miss the point and lead yourself to believe that being healthy is about finding the right powders and supplements and magic pills and not about nutrition and real food. Do the legwork and educate yourself before you take the shortcuts he offers.

That said, he's a man with a business and I can sorta respect that. Most of what he says is about nutrition and I don't hear him promote his products that often but yeah...they can be misleading. I followed him closely on his blog for a long time and just sort of ignored the banners about powders and supplements and never felt like i'd picked up bad info or bad habits. All in all he's a great man who is still helping this movement tremendously.

I like him, he's the voice of reason and against fanaticism, in my opinion. What I don't like is all these powders and supplements he's trying to sell all the time. Chill on that, and he's cool.

He lives in Malibu and has a personal chef, hats off to him for making large sums of money off of what is essentially a low carb diet.

I regularly read Mark's blog. To me it is definitely streets ahead of all the other blogs out there. I have only bought his books, no supplements, and feel like others that there is no pressure to purchase anything if you don't want to. Sure he mentions the products here and there, there is the a banner down the side promoting his books but it's not all gare and flashy like many websites today.

For all the information he has given me, I feel I have repaid him very little in the purchase of two books.