A year and a half ago I stumbled across a blog called Marks Daily Apple. It changed my life. Not long after finding Mark’s site, I bought his book, The Primal Blueprint. Armed with my newfound unconventional wisdom, I set out on a journey to change the way I eat and live. I officially went Primal.

Within 4 months I had gone from 220 pounds to 175 pounds. Never before had I experienced that level of success with any “diet.” Of course, the Primal Blueprint is not a diet, but a lifestyle. It’s not an easy lifestyle to lead in today’s world by any means, but it’s absolutely the healthiest and best way to live in terms of staying fit, feeling great, and avoiding the diseases that plague mainstream society.

When you start to research the Primal Blueprint Lifestyle, you quickly realize how much sense it makes and wonder why that sense isn’t common sense. You’ll also wonder why they don’t teach this stuff in school as soon as kids can read. Step one: teach you to read. Step two: teach you the Primal Blueprint. That’s how I’d do it; it’s that important.

Fortunately, there is no better time than now to start doing that research and experiment with Primal living. Every year Mark challenges his readers, old and new, to go as primal as possible for 30 days. As part of this challenge, there will be tons of contests and prizes, culminating in a grand prize. He’s starting this 30 day challenge on his site on September 12th (that’s pretty soon!).

This is not something you need to buy, but it’s something you need to TRY. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Commit to change: Decide now to make this 30-Day Challenge your jumping off point for lifelong health and well-being. The MDA community and I will be right there with you – with support and encouragement – as we collectively attempt to do right by our genes and live the healthiest, happiest lives with the least amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice possible.
2. Set an alarm: You won’t want to miss a single day of the action, so set a reminder to visit MDA each day. Some contests will have short deadlines, so if you want to enter show up early and often. Or better yet, subscribe to his feed so you get every update emailed to you (put your email in the box in his sidebar).
3. Gather equipment: While some contests will be as simple as leaving a comment, others will need a bit of legwork. Have your cameras locked and loaded. Borrow a camcorder. And if you want to win this year’s grand prize, you’ll need to either have or make some friends. Speaking of which…
4. Organize your friends and family: Rally your coworkers, and tell your friends and relatives. Use this event as a way of coaxing stubborn Aunt Bess to finally give up the diet RC Cola and SlimFast bars and start enjoying real food. And for an easy way to spread the word…
5. Grab the 30-Day Challenge flyer and pass it on to friends: Download the 30-Day Challenge flyer here. Keep it handy for a constant reminder of the challenge details. Email it to your entire email address book (people love that). And maybe print out a couple hundred of them and clandestinely lay them around the office at opportune moments.
6. Grab a free copy of Primal Blueprint Fitness: Part of the challenge will involve you moving like Grok all month. If you haven’t already grabbed a copy of PBF, do so now.

This kind of stuff transformed my life a year and a half ago. I want that for you too. Please do this for 30 days (you can do anything for 30 days!) and if you aren’t absolutely crazy about it at the 30 day mark, go back to eating your Arbys and Pizza. No harm no foul. But give yourself (and your kids) a chance. 30 days. Do it. 

If you’re actually going to do it, tell me in the comments section below!