The following are my notes on Peter Attia MD's great book Outlive.
77% of the US population doesn't exercise.
Adding 90 mins/week reduces all-death mortality by 14%.
Increasing your VO2Max by any amount is going to improve your life, not only in terms of how long you live but also how well you live, today and in the future.
One study found that boosting elderly subjects' VO2Max by ~25% was equivalent to subtracting 12 years from their age.
- Supplementing Zone 2 (walking where you can still hold a conversation but its somewhat uncomfortable) with 1 or 2 VO2Max workouts per week.
- 8-minute intervals: 4 minutes at max pace you can sustain for this amount of time, not an all-out sprint, but still a very hard effort; then ride or jog 4 minutes easy; repeat 4-6 times and then a cool down.
*Zone 2 cardio. 3 1-hour or 4 45-minute sessions is the minimum required for most people to derive a benefit and make improvements.
Important measure of strength = how much heavy stuff you can carry.
Rucking strengthens legs and trunk while getting in a solid cardio session.
- A good goal is to be able to carry 1/4 to 1/3 of your body weight once you develop enough strength and stamina.
Structure training around:
- Grip Strength
- Attention to Both Concentric and Eccentric Loading
- Pulling Motions
- Hip-hinging Movements (Deadlifts, Squats, Step-ups, Hip-thrusters, and Countless Single-leg Variants of Exercises that Strengthen the Legs, Glutes, and Lower Back)
- Dead hang for 2 minutes (male); 90 seconds for females.
Stability is Key
Dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS) is like a software upgrade for anything you are doing.
https://rehabps.com/ and https://www.posturalrestoration.com/
1 hour 2 times a week + 10-15 minutes on other days.
*How we breathe is who we are.
- Test: Lie on back, one hand on belly, the other on chest. Breath normally and see which hand is rising and falling. 1, both, or neither?
*Our toes are crucial to walking, running, lifting, and, most importantly, decelerating or lowering.
If toe strength is compromised, everything is more vulnerable; ankle, knee, hip, spine.
https://peterattiamd.com/outlive/videos/
Really, really slowed down cat-cow where you focus on and feel every single vertebra changing position.
- Inhale on cow, exhale on cat
- Point is to see how much segmental control you can achieve
Our grip and our feet are what connect is to the world, so that our muscles can do what they need to do.
*Trainers can be useful for some purposes, such as basic instruction, accountability, and motivation, but we discourage patients becoming overly reliant on trainers to tell them exactly what to do every single time they work out.
I would urge you to film yourself working out from time to time, to compare what you think you are doing to what you are actually doing with your body.
In order to go faster, you need to go slower.
Reframe "Diet" as Nutritional Biochemistry
Scientifically rigorous, highly personalized, and driven by feedback and data.
For majority goal is to find ways to reduce energy intake while adding lean mass; consume fewer calories while also increasing protein intake, paired with proper exercise.
Don't eat too many calories, or too few; consume sufficient protein and essential fats; obtain the vitamins and minerals you need; and avoid pathogens like E.coli and toxins like mercury and lead. Beyond that, we know relatively little with complete certainty.
The elements that constitute the Standard American Diet (SAD) are almost as devastating to most people as tobacco when consumed in large quantities: added sugar, highly refined carbs with low fiber content, processed oils, and other very densely caloric foods.
3 Strategies:
- Caloric Restriction
- Dietary Restriction
- Time Restriction
Avoiding diabetes and related metabolic dysfunction, especially by eliminating or reducing junk food, is very important to longevity.
There appears to be a strong link between calories and cancer.
If your diet is high quality to begin with, and you are metabolically healthy, then only a slight degree of caloric restriction, or simply not eating to excess, can still be beneficial.
Alcohol serves no nutritional or health purpose but is a purely hedonic pleasure that needs to be managed.
- It's especially disruptive for the overnourished: "empty" calories with 0 nutritional value; ethanol oxidation delays fat oxidation, which is the exact opposite of what we want when trying to lose fat mass; drinking very often leads to mindless eating.
- Strongly urge less than 7 servings a week and ideally no more than 2 on any given day. Research shows more than 2/week negatively affects one's health.
Blood glucose goal = 100 mg/dL or less average, with a standard deviation < 15 mg/dL.
Everyone tends to be more insulin sensitive in the morning than in the evening, so it makes sense to front-load our carb consumption earlier in the day.
Not all carbs are created equal. The more refined the carb, the faster and higher the glucose spike. Less processed and those with more fiber, on the other hand, blunt the glucose impact. Try to eat > 50g of fiber/day.
Rice and oatmeal are surprisingly glycemic despite not being particularly refined; brown rice is only slightly less glycemic than white rice.
Because fructose is almost always consumed in combination with glucose, fructose-heavy foods will likely cause blood-glucose spikes.
Timing, duration, and intensity of exercise matter a lot. In general, aerobic exercise seems most efficacious at removing glucose from circulation, while high-intensity exercise and strength training tend to increase glucose transiently, because the liver is sending more glucose into the circulation to fuel the muscles. Don't be alarmed by glucose spikes when you are exercising.
A good vs. bad night of sleep makes a world of difference in terms of glucose control.
Stress, via cortisol and other stress hormones, has a surprising impact on blood glucose, even when fasting or restricting carbs.
*Non-starchy veggies such as spinach and broccoli have virtually no impact on blood sugar. Have at them.
Foods high in protein and fat have virtually no effect on blood sugar, but large amounts of lean protein will elevate glucose slightly. Protein shakes, especially low in fat, have a more pronounced effect.
Stacking above insights, in both directions, positively and negatively, is very powerful.
Simply tracking glucose has a positive impact on my eating behavior.
*The first thing you need to know about protein is that the standard recommendations for daily consumption are a joke.
- Ideal amount varies person to person, but the data suggest that for active people with normal kidney function, 1g per pound of bodyweight per day is a good place to start (nearly triple the RDA).
- Ideally 4 servings, each ~25% of bodyweight.
- Most people don't need to worry about consuming too much protein; it would take an overwhelming effort to eat more than 1.7g/lb of bodyweight.
- Typically a protein shake + high-protein snack + 2 protein-rich meals.
- Protein found in plants is there for the benefit of the plant, which means it is largely tied up in indigestible fiber, and therefore less bioavailable to the person eating it; only about 60-70% of what you consume is contributing to your needs.
- Plant protein has less of the essential amino acids methionine, lysine, and tryptophan.
Fat ratio: Mono-unsaturated fats 50-55%; saturated fatty acids 15-20%; polyunsaturated to fill the gap.
- Usually means eating more olive oil + avocado + nuts, cutting back on butter + lard, reducing omega-6-rich corn, soybean, and sunflower oils, while also looking for ways to increase high-omega-3 marine PUFAs from sources such as salmon + anchovies.
If there is one type of food that I would eliminate from everyone's diet if I could, it would be fructose-sweetened drinks, including both sodas and fruit juices, which deliver too much fructose, too quickly, to a gut and liver that much prefer to process fructose slowly. Just eat fruit and let nature provide the right amount of fiber and water.
The best nutrition plan is the one that we can sustain.
We need to sleep about 7.5 to 8.5 hours a night.
How to Improve Your Sleep
1. Don't drink alcohol, period. And if you absolutely, positively must, limit yourself to 1 drink before about 6 PM. Alcohol probably impairs sleep quality more than any other factor we can control. Don't confuse the drowsiness it produces with quality sleep.
2. Don't eat anything less than 3 hours before bedtime, ideally longer. It's best to go to bed with just a little bit of hunger.
3. Abstain from stimulating electronics, beginning 2 hours before bed.
4. For at least 1 hour before bed, if not more, avoid doing anything that is anxiety-producing or stimulating, such as reading work email or, God help you, checking social media.
5. For folks who have access, spend time in a sauna or hot tub prior to bed. Once you get into the cool bed, your lowering body temp will signal to your brain that it's time to sleep. A hot bath or shower works too.
6. The room should be cool, ideally in the mid-60s.
7. Darken the room completely. Eyeshade if not achievable.
8. Give yourself enough time to sleep. At least 8 hours before you need to wake up, preferably 9.
9. Fix your wake-up time. Don't deviate from it, even on weekends.
10. Don't obsess over your sleep, especially if you're having problems.
"Religion is for people who are afraid of hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there."
Trauma Tree
Certain undesirable behaviors that we manifest as adults, such as addiction and uncontrollable anger, are actually adaptations to the various types of trauma we suffered in childhood.
- Need to look at the (often very well-hidden) roots.
1. Abuse (Physical or Sexual, but also Emotional or Spiritual)
2. Neglect
3. Abandonment
4. Enmeshment
5. Witnessing Tragic Events
Trauma, big T or little t, means having experienced moments of perceived helplessness.
Trauma does not = Adversity
- Setbacks can be net positive.
- Adversity = finishing dead last in a race.
- Trauma = being screamed at by a parent after.
1. Addiction. Not only to vices such as drugs, alcohol, and gambling, but also socially acceptable things such as work, exercise, and perfectionism.
2. Codependency. Excessive psychological reliance on another person.
3. Habituated Survival Strategies. Propensity to anger and rage, etc.
4. Attachment Disorders. Difficulty forming and maintaining connections and meaningful relationships with others.
I Don't Want to Talk About It by Terrence Real.
90% of male rage is helplessness masquerading as frustration.
Family pathology rolls from generation to generation like a fire in the woods taking down everything in its path until one person, in one generation, has the courage to turn and face the flames. That person brings peace to his ancestors and spares the children that follow.
The Road to Character by David Brooks.
True recovery requires probing the depths of what shaped you, how you adapted to it, and how those adaptations are serving (or not serving) you.
Biggest mistake = to believe you're "cured" by a few months on a drug or a handful of therapy sessions.
One simple tactic to cope with mounting emotional distress is inducing an abrupt sensory change; throwing ice water on your face or, if you're really struggling, taking a cold shower or an ice bath.
Opposite action: force yourself to do the exact opposite of the negative thing you feel like doing.
*Changing the behavior can change the mood.
You have to believe you can change, and that you deserve better.
If you want to find someone's true age, listen to them. If they talk about all the things that happened that they did, they've gotten old. If they talk about their dreams, their aspirations, what they're still looking forward to, they're young.
No comments:
Post a Comment