What is Primal Kitchen

Primal Kitchen is the latest project by Mark Sisson, one of the founders of the Paleo movement as well as the author of the bestselling book, “The Primal Blueprint.”

The company makes an assortment of Paleo diet health foods, ranging from coconut-based protein shakes to avocado oil infused mayonnaise. To put it simply, Primal Kitchen is on a mission to create excellent food made with nutritious ingredients that are oh-so tasty.

Who is Mark Sisson

Mark Sisson is the founder of Primal Kitchen and is widely recognized for his work within the Paleo community. But even those things paint an incomplete picture of the man—let's start from the beginning.

Raised in a fishing town in Maine, Mark Sisson fell down the rabbit hole of nutrition and athletics at an extremely early age. He lived about a mile and half away from the school he attended and one day developed a game. Instead of riding the bus home, he’d run and try to beat the bus. Little did Sisson know, he was on the path to becoming a world class athlete and in due time, launching Primal Kitchen.

In college, while earning a degree in biology, Sisson ran track and built a name for himself at races across the nation. Eventually, his goals to win the ultimate gold medal were within reach, as he earned himself a spot on the 1980 Olympic Trials.

Sisson soon discovered that excellence had a price. The closer he got to his goals, the more frail and sick he felt—his body was taking a beating due to the incredible amount of physical excursions from his training regimen and competitions.

After a series of injuries and falling short of qualifying for the Olympics, Mark Sisson was forced to ask himself some tough questions. He realized that he had plateaued and probably wasn’t going to get better than his current level. How could he preserve his current level of fitness? More importantly, is it possible to live a fulfilling life that is healthy and pain-free? Sisson decided to retire from track and use his knowledge of biology to discover the answers and share them with the world.

How Primal Kitchen got started

After being put on the sidelines from injuries, Mark Sisson spent the next few decades writing several books chronicling his research. He soon realized that books alone may not be enough in his quest to help people achieve better health. Using his knowledge and findings, he developed nutritional supplements, educational resources, and dietary systems, which became quite popular. In 2006, Sisson launched his own blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, full of health, nutrition, fitness information that he could share with his followers.

Based on the success of his blog, Sisson wrote the bestselling book, “The Primal Blueprint,” which was published in 2009, followed by another book, “The Primal Blueprint Cookbook” in 2010. Realizing that healthy food choices can be difficult to access for most people, Sisson recently launched Primal Kitchen in 2015, as an offshoot of his bestselling books.

Most of Primal Kitchen’s food is Paleo-friendly. What does this mean?

Paleo is a lifestyle built around the concept that modern humans should reject processed foods and return to a diet similar to the caveman for the sake of our health. Paleo embraces vegetables, meat, fish, and fruit while rejecting dairy, grain, and processed foods.

Supporters of this diet believe that consuming processed foods made with questionable, chemical ingredients are partially responsible for the uptick in major health issues, such as obesity and diabetes.

Humans have always eaten a Paleo diet, that is until farming was discovered. Seemingly overnight, society changed from fractured clans of nomadic hunter-gatherers to small yet steady farming camps. Ardent followers of Paleo argue that while farming is good, collectively our bodies have not evolved enough to digest foods like grains and sugar without harm to our health. They strongly believe that for thousands of years, humans ate a certain way for a reason and it may be time to return to it.

What are some products that Primal Kitchen sells?

Made with some of the best all-natural ingredients found on the planet, Primal Kitchen sells all kinds of tasty health foods to help you live your very best. Note that with the exception of their protein shakes, all of the foods produced by Primal Kitchen are Paleo-friendly.

At Thrive Market, we’re proud to be the exclusive seller of Primal Kitchen’s amazing new avocado oil mayonnaise. Made in the sunny heartland of California with one of the healthiest fruits in existence, Primal Kitchen’s avocado oil mayon is infused with antioxidants and a plethora of nutrients.

Although, avocado mayo isn’t the only thing Primal Kitchen sells. Below is a sampling of some of their other products that we carry:

Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil

Excellent for salad dressings, a sauté, or for cooking fish, avocado oil is full of vitamins, antioxidants, and holds a light avocado flavor.

Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo with Avocado Oil

Emboldened by smoky chipotle peppers and a touch of zesty lime, this updated take on Primal Kitchen’s iconic avocado oil mayo is for the adventurous.

Primal Kitchen Primal Fuel, Chocolate Coconut

For the perfect combination of chocolate and coconut, this tasty protein shake will fill your body with everything you need to function at your best: fiber, vitamins, and minerals. If chocolate isn’t your thing, it also comes in Vanilla Coconut.

Primal Kitchen Sampler

Included in this kit

The Best Primal Picks