unpopular opinion: your health experts know nothing
What we know as the classical “healthcare” system has devolved into little more than disease management, where the suppression of symptoms leads to the best health outcomes, but nothing could be further from the truth. If anyone actually took the time to “follow the science” instead of blindly repeating it, they would realize recommendations from the trusted mainstream sources have not made us any healthier over the last 50 years.
Don’t believe me? Look at the skyrocket rates of obesity, diabetes, coronary issues, cancer, etc. — all of which are comorbidities associated with the increased severity of complications with covid. The surprising part is that “healthcare” system isn’t broken, it’s a very successful and effective venue for disease management, generating billions of dollars, and that’s the problem.
Healthy people don’t need medications, surgery, or hospital care. Allowing people to fuckabout, making lifestyle decisions that are in complete contradiction to our evolutionary biology has failed to serve us, but has served the bottom line of those who enable our poor lifestyle choices, that lead to our poor health outcomes, that lead to us seeking assistance from the “experts” whose only advice comes by way of offering this or that medication to mask the fact that we aren’t living in accordance to our natural way of life.
I work with a lot of people who have issues — like high blood sugar, high cholesterol, poor sleep, obesity — that their “healthcare” practitioner could very easily have helped with if they could simple step out of the false paradigm that allopathic medicine is the best way to solve a health issue. Instead of complex pathways and medications, we need to start thinking about simple recommendations revolving around eating better, going outside to get some sun, getting enough sleep. These things are rarely addressed, yet are the very foundations of health.
Don’t believe me? Did you ever hear anyone on the News over the last 2 years recommend any of these very simple, free, and effective things? Likely not. What is recommended, are medications or pharmaceutical interventions, which — as any student of history can see — has proven to be a very poor path to achieving or recapturing any semblance of real health.
Personally, I think the future of health, both how to recapture and how to optimize it, lies not with the recommendations of those who are deeply entrenched within the “healthcare” industry, but those who understand the natural world and how we evolved from it. Not one time in human history have we ever been deficient in a pharmaceutical drug, yet just about everyone in the Western world is deficient in something because they lack a natural connection to their environment — real food, natural sunlight, restful sleep, and meaningful relationships are the way to health. None of these foundational things are espoused by the establish “healthcare” experts, so when do we start listening to someone else? In my opinion, the future of achieving health and optimizing longevity lies literally outside the walls of modern medicine and within the natural environment we can all stand to benefit from returning to.
Be careful who you listen to. Sick people make great customers.
322. improve your health
There is an entire industry devoted toward biohacking. Much of the time it serves as a distraction from focusing on the fundamentals of improving health. Rather than getting overwhelmed with all the opinions centered around hacking different aspects of your biology, just work on the basics. You could spend thousands of hours researching the best bio hacks and not come up with a better recommendation to improve your health than to eat whole, unprocessed foods, get outside in the sun, move a lot, sleep like you’re on vacation, surround yourself with loving relationships, and practice a bit of gratitude for everything you experience. You can put all the money you save on gadgets and expensive supplements into building a life that lets you live and capture health how you’re supposed to.
312. form implies function
The way we look speaks volumes about our health because of the simple fact that form implies function.
When a racehorse breeder sees obvious disruptions in healthy growth, they naturally consider the nutritional context in which the animal was raised. If a prize-winning mare gives birth to a foal with abnormally bowed legs, the veterinarian recognizes that something went wrong — asking the logical question: what was the mother eating?
Applying this example to children, rarely do physicians ask the same question, even when life-threatening problems show up at birth. And we continue to neglect the nutrition-development equation when people develop scoliosis, joint malformations, autism, schizophrenia, and other maladaptive issues later in life.
Our desire for beauty is not solely a matter of vanity. The way we look speaks volumes about our health because of the simple fact that form implies function. Less attractive facial features are less functional. Children with suboptimal skull structure may need glasses or braces, whereas those with a more ideal architecture won’t. This is because suboptimal architecture impairs development of normal geometry, leading to imperfectly formed facial features; whether it’s the eyes, ears, nose, or jaw.
For example: narrow nasal passages irritate the mucosa, increasing the chances of rhinitis and allergies. When the airway in the back of the throat is improperly formed, a child may suffer from sleep apnea, which stares the brain of oxygen necessary for normal brain development.
Frederick Douglas once said that “it’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Yet, with our complete avoidance of looking at the root of the problem and addressing the nutritional and environmental factors, it is getting increasingly more difficult to even build strong children.
book war: Fiber Fueled vs Fiber Menace
Fiber Fueled is written by a plant-based gastroenterologist, Fiber Menace, by a forensic nutritionist. Both hold diametrically opposed views on fiber recommendations. While Fiber Fueled praises including ever greater quantities of fiber in the diet, Fiber Menace pull no punches as to why fiver is overrated and potentially detrimental to overall health. Despite their differences, they both agree on one thing… “it is easier for our body to digest and process meat.” This is a quote from Fiber Fueled, which doesn’t give much credence to his plant-based argument, but that is a discussion for another day.
The thing everyone wants to know… how will I shit without fiber in my diet? Well, if we understand that nutrition is based on our ability to breakdown and assimilate nutrients, the simple fact that human don’t posses the digestive enzymes necessary to breakdown fiber should counter the idea that we need large amounts of fiber for regularity.
Gut motility is influenced by the content and composition of a meal, not its volume. Dense meals with high-fat content increase motility — carbs and protein have no effect. How much FIBROUS BULK you eat makes no difference because fat initiates the release of bile from the gallbladder, which then stimulates peristalsis. Pounding more fiber in hopes that it will make you shit is akin to there being traffic on the highway and thinking sending more cars down the onramp will help get things going.
That said, it is necessary for us to feed the microbes in our gut. And that is a good thing. More fiber = more diversity, but does more diversity mean better health? Fiber Fueled says yes, while Fiber Menace makes no mention (and as a fan of ancestral health, all signs point to more being better, however, I am not convinced). To get greater diversity, we need more fiber but an excess of fiber can cause greater acidity in your colon due to fermentation, which has the ability to kill off microbes.
Both books make compelling arguments fo their side, but it would be foolish to blinding accept what is being said in either, just because you want it to be true. A bit of self-experimentation is necessary to figure out where on the spectrum of fiber intake you need to be. A very simply place to start to see if you dietary plan is working or not is by utilizing the Bristol Stool Scale. If you aren’t shitting a “4” consistently, try adding or taking away some fiber for 2 weeks, depending on where you fall on the scale. Adjust accordingly.
Personally, Fiber Fueled was a waste of time because it just parrots everything you’ve already heard. “More plants, less meat.” This is dogma, and it WILL NOT work for everyone. Over the years I have ramped down my vegetable intake and have seen a rise in the quality of my digestion. When I was juicing everyday and eating grains, my body was falling apart. Fiber Fueled gets a 1 out of 5. On the other hand, Fiber Menace swings the complete opposite direction and is very refreshing to read something counterintuitive the common advice, and somehow have it vindicate my approach to a lowered fiber intake. Fiber Menace gets a 4 out of 5, and is a must read for anyone who thinks fiber is the only way to solve their digestive issues.
77. pillars of health
With all the noise coming from the media’s glorification of the impending mythical antidote, we seem to be losing touch with what was necessary for humanity to achieve a level of health that allowed us to arrive at this pivotal moment in history. Contented with the fact that Big Pharma will have an answer to the consequences a lifetime of indulging in desires will ultimately bring, most people no longer value the fundamental principles of health. The main message being delivered is that your health no longer needs to be your responsibility. It’s tragic. Unfortunately, I can’t save everyone, yet, for those that choose to take responsibility for their health, I want to share my fundamental pillars of health.
Wholesome Nutrition - What you need to eat will largely come down to your individual goals. It is important to understand that there is no perfect diet for all people. We all need to find what works best for us. A good place to start is to look at how your ancestors ate. Try to recreate it with the freshest, least processed, locally sourced, and most nutrient dense products you can find. Eat both veggies and vegetarians for the best health.
Functional Movement - Movement is more than exercise. It is the acquisition of strength to do what you need to do on a daily basis, and the mobility that grants you the ease to get in and out of necessary positions. The easiest way to improve your functional movement, without a gym, is to sit on the floor while you watch TV instead of the couch. You’ll constantly need to move and shift positions which will stretch different muscles, and then you will need to use those to get up, which over time, can improve strength.
Sleep Optimization - Sleep is underrated. Prioritizing rest and recovery is key to optimizing health. Without it we are unlikely to think, act, move, perform, or make decisions to the best of our abilities. The body thrives on consistency so follow a schedule. As the sun starts to set and bedtime gets closer, turn off unnecessary entertainment and dim the lights to mirror the outside environment.
Stress Management - While stress is necessary for adaptation and growth, if it becomes chronic, as in today’s society, there can be negative consequences, like a suppressed immune system. Knowing that you control how you react in any situation — that you choose, how anything affects you — will allow you to approach life differently. If you choose to take responsibility for your actions in all situations, you will have less stress and more time to appreciate the things you enjoy.
Digestive Health - You are not what you eat, but what you can absorb. The bacteria in our gut outnumber the cells in our body by a factor of 10. Their health can impact not only our nutritional input, but also our mood and immune health as well. The only way to improve your digestive health is to find a diet that works for you. If you’re not consistently shitting a 4 on the Bristol Stool Scale, you’ll need to change some aspect of your diet or lifestyle.
Efficient Detoxification - There is no such thing as a “pure” lifestyle in the 21st century. We have to be vigilant with what food and products we put in, on, or around our bodies because a majority of them have chemicals that aren’t tested by the FDA, as they trust companies to “self regulate.” Start with looking at the ingredients of everything you use and compare them to the EWG.org database, replace the most toxin ones. Oh and juice cleanses are bullshit. You need a certain amount of amino acids to efficiently detoxify, which are woefully deficient in fruit.
Resilient Mindset - Mindset is the most powerful thing we have. It is able to have a positive influence on our world and manifest change in ways we never thought possible. Stop focusing on the negative messages you hear all day and instead practice gratitude. Start a grateful journal today to change where your focus lies. Get a pen and paper, and write down 3 things you’re grateful for today. Repeat this everyday.
Community of Support - We are tribal animals. We were never meant to exist in solitude. To thrive, we need to find an environment with like-minded people in pursuance of similar goals, where we can connect with those who challenge us, as well as support our decisions to grow. I invite you to be a part of my tribe.
Maybe I missed the memo, but I don’t think these are being talked about by any mainstream source as a way to achieve a better quality of life. I’m assuming because they require taking responsibility for your own health and that’s not a money-maker for pharmaceutical companies. Regardless, they are what I have used to transform my own life as well as those I have worked with. It may take a little bit of effort, but they are the foundational principles of health that can save you from a reliance on the “sick care” system.
72. just a thought
Yesterday, through the introduction of a friend, I met someone for the first time. As she approached, I saw she was wearing a mask, so to be polite, I asked if she would like me to put my mask on so we could sit down and talk. “No, I don’t think it’s necessary.” I agreed, I didn’t think she needed her’s either, so she took her mask off and we proceeded to have a great conversation.
In the small community of people I interact with, I’ve found that none of them really care about the “safety procedures” of social distancing or the need to wear a mask. And to be honest, I’m fine with that because I don’t find the merit in doing so either. Before the Karen’s and Kevin’s jump down my throat because my mouth is exposed, let me explain myself.
Everyone I surround myself with is deeply entrenched in the health, fitness, research, nutrition, functional medicine, and the strength and conditioning world. They are not IG influencers searching for likes or part of the Dr. Oz tribe that likes to lead you down the yellow brick road of bullshit. These people are not average in anyway. They are the people you look for when you want to improve your health or get in shape because the government guidelines on health you’ve been following haven’t worked. They are people I respect, because they place their health as a top priority in their life. I’m assuming this is strange to hear as it sounds like some type of cognitive dissonance. They want to be healthy, yet they don’t follow the guidelines or wear a mask?!? GASP! They must be crazy, right?
No, they are not crazy. Nor do I think they are dangerous or careless. How could they be? They are the best at what they do and it shows. They, much like myself, stopped listening to the “wisdom” the government was shoveling in our direction many years ago, and it’s subsequently the reason why they have acquired the health they have. If these people aren’t worried about the biggest health crisis of our lifetime, maybe we should start to ask why, and take on some of their practices so that we can get on with life. Perhaps the “information” you’ve been hearing on the News isn’t the best advice to lockdown your health in these uncertain times. Just a thought.
57. inadequate nutrition
Why do we get fat? The simplest answer is that we’re eating food that we know we shouldn’t in quantities higher than we should. But why am I always hungry? Well, at a certain point gaining weight is a symptom of inadequate nutrition. If your body found what it needed to function in the food you were consuming, then you would no longer be hungry. Problem solved!
Unfortunately, the hyperpalatable, over-processed, chemical-laden, mystery concoctions we classify as “food” these days are all deficient in the nutrients we need. And because of that, our hunger stays elevated. Essentially, we’re hungry because our body is continuously searching for nutrients the food we’re consuming doesn’t contain. It’s a cycle of your body saying “feed me”, and when you do it says “wtf is this, let’s try again.” Think of trying to complete a puzzle — you need a certain piece but keep getting pieces you don’t need and instead of throwing them away you have to stack them on top of the existing pieces, eventually there’s way more than you need and you still have a missing piece. When this happens the weight starts to rise alongside things like inflammation and metabolic dysfunction that create more issues.
The mechanism of hunger is designed to help regulate nutritional requirements. When you need vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients, hunger serves as your guide for which foods you should be eating, when, and how much. Once those baseline nutritional requirements have been met, the hunger stops. But, if the food being eaten lacks the adequate nutrients the body is looking for, the mechanism of hunger never really shuts off and you expand horizontally. Therefore, weight gain is a reflection of your nutritional status. To lose weight, start eating more satiating food!
more exercise isn’t the answer
Why do most people choose to exercise? I assume it’s deeper than simply making an attempt at being healthy, and more along the lines of wanting to lose weight to look good naked. That’s fair, I TOO want to look good naked. HOWEVER, I am here to tell you not to fall prey to the simplistic mantra of “calories in, calories out.”
More exercise isn;t the answer in your quest for a sexy body. Multiple studies carried out by health and fitness experts have concluding that exercise doesn’t really result in much weight loss(1,2). A study from Harvard University, reported that exercise alone was not adequate for preventing weight gain in people who are already overweight(3). Furthermore, after 8 weeks of your favorite aerobic exercise, you’ll hit a plateau, where continuous work will not bring you any further progress AND may even cause you to lose muscle while storing more fat.
None of this is to say that we shouldn’t be exercising, but relying on it to get you the body you want without addressing all other aspects of your lifestyle is misguided. The reason why certain exercise protocols — specifically, resistance training — are implemented when it comes to transforming your turnip shaped body into one made for selfies is that it helps RETAIN MUSCLE while cleaning up the diet is largely responsible for the reduction in fat mass. Both are necessary for the best results, but neither will give you the best results on their own.
References in link
why can’t we get better info
Why is it that the only thing we hear about how to protect our health during this pandemic revolve around external precautions? Social distancing, masks, quarantining. There’s no ethical reason behind the lack of advice regarding diet and lifestyle. Unfortunately, it all comes down to the financial interests of large corporations who DO NOT have your health, or best interests in mind.
Bolstering health is relatively simple. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Get outside in the sun. Move as much as you can. Sleep like you’re on vacation. And connect as much as you can with the people you love. Yet, none of this is talked about. Instead, we have things happening like governments deciding the best choice for our health is to CLOSE NATURE (beaches) while they leave McDonald’s open.
We were in a health crisis before this pandemic came around — obesity, heart disease, diabetes. It seems to me that if we had been having the correct conversations about health PRIOR to this, it wouldn’t be as bad. Wearing a mask is not going to make everything okay because all you have to do is remove it and shove some waffles in your mouth. What ever happened to wanting to be resilient in mind and body?
Part of this is taking ownership of the issues at hand, but I understand that most people only listen to headlines. Unfortunately, headlines are driven by corporate interests, not the wellbeing of the public.
The financial health of large industries, is more important than your individual health or longevity. As a matter of fact, the food industry directly objects calls for healthier guidelines. An example of this can be seen in a health report by the World Health Organization — composed by a panel of 30 experts from 22 countries. The conclusions were commonsensical: too much sugar and fast food are unhealthy. NO SHIT!! However, despite this obviously being sensible advice, a protest against these findings arose within the food industry. Actions by the Snack Food Association, Wheat Foods Council, Corn Refiners Association, International Dairy Foods Association, the Sugar Association, and many others, called for ceasing all financial support of the WHO by the United States. This was based on the grounds that the report was garbage science, not founded on any concrete scientific consensus.
There’s a reason we aren’t getting quality information regarding health and it’s because the narrative is directed by those who seek profit.
think outside the box
When I ask people what they’re doing to create a healthier lifestyle, most respond with some variation of “moving more and eating less.” While that’s helpful, it largely misses the point. Health isn’t only about finding ways to incorporate exercise into our lives, just as it isn’t all about cutting calories. This line of thought only seeks to change our appearance, as how we look on the outside is how we’re judged.
To genuinely improve our quality of life and overall health, we have to go beyond the current narrative — “move more, eat less.” We need to start thinking about things like fixings our sleep habits, starting a grateful journal to mitigate stress, finding a healthy recipe to cook and enjoy with someone close, buying house plants to improve the air quality in our homes, or go for a walk after a meal to help with your digestion and get some sun.
Health is cumulative. Choosing only to battle with the symptoms of a poor lifestyle — e.g., the expansion of your midsection — will never lead to an optimal life.
what’s more important — diet or exercise?
What is more important — diet or exercise? Should you prioritize diet at the expense of exercise, or eat whatever you want and move as much as you can?
If you want to be healthy, lean, strong, live a long time, and continue to do the things you love throughout your life, then a foundational focus on nutrition is the best choice. We’ve all heard that you can’t out exercise a poor diet, and it’s true. Everything we shove into our mouth eventually becomes part of us. The macronutrients — protein, fat, carbs — and micronutrients — vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals — are the building blocks for our muscles, bones, tissues, and organs. Poor choices in nutrition, lead to poor structures in our body, ultimately giving way to degeneration.
But wait… I thought exercise is supposed to fight against the aging and degeneration process!? Yes, you would be right by thinking that, but again our bodies are made of what we put into our mouth. While you can eat like shit and exercise those extra calories off to give the outward impression of healthy body, your internal processes are not able to keep up with the demand as they don’t have the necessary nutrients to elicit proper repair and recover of all the exercising you’re doing. By trying to out exercise your poor dietary choices, you are effectively burning the candle at both ends. And because I’m fancy, I’ll quote Lao Tzu by saying “the flame that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.” In other words, you’re not doing yourself any favors by going off the rails with your diet and trying to make it up with exercising more.
So what should you eat?
Nutrition should be individualized to the person and unique to their goals. If you want to know more reach out. To get you started here are a few tips everyone can agree with and incorporate:
Eat whole foods (you don’t have to shop there, just stop buying processed foods)
Eliminate all vegetable oils from your diet (Soybean, Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, Rapeseed, Sunflower, Sesame, Grapeseed oil)
Shop on the perimeter of the grocery store (the center is full of deception disguised as food)
If it comes in a box and you can’t pronounce ALL the ingredients don’t buy it (this is the deceptive fuckery)
healthspan > lifespan
As a society we’re living longer, but at what cost. There are more years to our life, but less life in our years. We need to understand that there is a difference between lifespan and healthspan. Lifespan is how many years you’re able to accumulate, whereas healthspan is how long you’re able to live with vibrant health and without limitations.
One way to achieve a significant healthspan is to focus on acquiring and maintaining muscle mass as you age.
Muscle is the organ of longevity. It provides you with the strength to do the things you want — walk, hike, climb, lift weights, swim, bike, and get up off the ground when you fall or better yet, save you from falling. It is largely responsible for your metabolic rate — the more muscle mass you’re able to maintain throughout your life the greater amount of calories you’re able to burn at rest, and because of this there is a greater likelihood of staving off the metabolic pathologies of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, Alzheimer’s (Type 3 Diabetes), and cardiovascular disease. And, lastly, muscle serves as a reservoir of amino acids that the body can utilized to repair the body in times of need — e.g., when you’re laid up in the hospital.
None of this is meant to say that you need to look like a body builder to live a long and vibrant life. The point is that we need to change the conversation. It has always been about adiposity and losing weight. Never has it been about the importance of muscle. The problem with this, is that when you go on a diet in an effort to lose weight, yes you burn some fat but you’re actually losing muscle at the same time (unless you’re actively resistance training concurrently). By making the conversation fat centric and only focused on losing, we are exacerbating the problem of muscle loss.
There are only two way to stimulate muscle building, the first is prioritizing dietary protein (which is a big deal). Eating high quality protein OF ANIMAL ORIGIN will be the best option from a nutritional perspective. Adversely trying to achieve the same protein intake via plant sources is calorically devastating because you need 2 to 5 times more to elicit the same response for muscle building — e.g., 6 cups of Quinoa at 1300 calories holds the same amount of protein as 8oz of Chicken Breast at 300 calories. And that is not even going into the difference in amino acid profiles between the two (we’ll save that for another time).
The other way to stimulate muscle building is actually using your muscles. While, I am way less strict than I used to be, I think it would benefit everyone to incorporate some type of resistance training into their life. You can never go wrong with learning how to properly deadlift, squat, pull-up and overhead press. But at the end of the day, find something you love to do and keep doing it. Your body will thank you down the road for not forgetting about your muscles.
Stay strong.
Don’t worry about my mask, if you got Cheetos in your grocery cart
Don’t worry about my mask, if you got Cheetos in your grocery cart.
Please do not outsource your health concerns. They start with you and are an accumulation of all the decisions you make. The burden of health starts with each one of us. This is not to say we shouldn’t be respectful and wear a mask while in public during this time, or cover our mouths when we sneeze. However, it is everyone’s responsibility to make the best decisions regarding our individual health — e.g., eat better, move more, go to sleep earlier, and finding ways to mitigate stress.
Obviously, I’m biased, as I am the center of my own universe. Maybe she was buying Cheetos for the birds or homeless. Either way, I think we need to be clear on the subject of securing our health first.
Anytime we’ve flown anywhere we hear the familiar instruction to secure our own masks before attempting to help others in the event of there’s an emergency. We’re supposed to do this because in times of crisis, securing ourselves first, allows us the freedom of greater safety. Without securing ourselves, we are more likely to be impacted by the unknowns of the situation, ultimately leading to negative outcomes.
What does all this mean?
Take complete ownership of your health. Those most affected by this virus are the ones who are metabolically challenged, overly stressed, have preexisting conditions or a litany of other issues. The majority of these issues come from years of poor choices. Because health is cumulative, we all need to start making better choices.
evolutionary experiment
Evolution doesn’t always mean progress in terms of longevity, safety, comfort or even fitness, just look at zoo animals compared to those in the wilderness. It simply means change. That change, for better or worse, is driven by our environment (what we eat, when we sleep, how much we move, where we live, etc.). Today, the human body is changing in ways we’re not prepared for. Instead of passing down robustness to create antifragile adaptations, our offspring are inheriting traits that are detrimental to our health.
Story time…
Let’s go back to the 1930’s, where Dr. Francis Pottenger carried out a 10-year multi-generational experiment on 900 cats that were explicitly fed an inferior diet. The impact from poor nutrition was not so startling during the first-generation, but became progressively worse during subsequent generations. From the second-generation on, the cats showed increasing levels of structural deformities, birth defects, impaired-mental health, stress-driven behaviors, vulnerability to illness, allergies, reduced learning ability, and reproductive problems. (poor Bootsy!!)
Why is this relevant?
Because we are running the same experiment, just on ourselves! Your back ache, digestive problems, fertility issues, depression, diabetes, and insomnia aren’t for a lack of mediations, they’re due to the poor and mismatched environment we find ourselves in. Pottenger’s work shows how the simple act of eating poorly can destroy a group in just a handful of generations. We’re up against more than inferior nutrition, yet that should be the EASIEST choice.
Is dysevolution a thing? Because if not, it’s certainly heading that direction.