Biohacking Lessons for Health and Beauty
A quick summary of "Smarter, Not Harder" by Dave Asprey.
Simplified for easy implementation. (For more info, read the full book.)
Nature abhors waste, and have thus made it so be as lazy as possible. Which is why doing things that requires an effort is hard, and your willpower depletes fast.
In the gym, focus on pushing yourself to the limit fast and hard, then stop or take a break. It will yield better results than trying to go slow and long.
If you want to be healthy, make it easy to choose the healthy choices. The less work, the better.
Avoid synthetic and processed food as much as possible.
Your body works best when it has all the raw materials you need, and you are not going to get them just by eating food. Although eating the right food will help. So make sure to buy supplements to get the vitamins and minerals you need.
Many types of plant food carries anti-nutritions, which is something that hinders the body in properly absorbing vitamins.
(Plants that does not want to be eaten use this defense, like potatoes and nuts, while fruits that do want to be eaten is better for you as long as you avoid the seeds.)
Nuts (especially almond, with pine being least harmful), seeds, beans, legumes (especially chickpeas), whole grains, soy, corn, quinoa, grain (rye is the least harmful), raw spinach, kale, rhubarb, uncooked leafy greens, Nightshade vegetables (potato, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes).
Avoid the unhealthy Omega 6 fatty acid. (Omega 3 is good, omega 6 is bad.)
Avoid food fried in vegetable oil, especially canola oil and sun-seed oil. (Olive oil is not good either, if less bad than the above-mentioned.)
Moderate consumption of omega 6 (like in Avocado) is fine. But don't overdo it.
Avoid processed vegetable and seed oils, poultry fat, and industrially raised pork fat.
Avoid any animal products from animals raised with industrial methods and/or fed non natural products in general.
Especially avoid milk with added vitamin D. This type is highly processed.
Store bought dressings, sauces and the likes usually contain unhealthy things.
Avoid fish from the sea, and industrially raised fish. (The ocean is so polluted these days that you are very likely to eat microplastics with the fish.)
Any kind of fish should be limited as well, as they do have bad things in them that could be a problem in bigger doses.
Avoid picked and canned food, as well as smoked meat. Limit shellfish, chocolate and coffee.
It goes without saying that you should also limit sugarcane sugar.
If possible, avoid industrially grown vegetables, and anything grown with any form of chemicals, pesticides (even so-called "safe" ones), and genetically modified stuff.
By and large choose meat from grass-fed cows, and avoid meat from poultry (especially chicken) and pork. (Mainly because they are industrial raised, and in ways far worse than cows when it comes to chemicals.)
Avoid all forms of plant-based meat substitute. They are processed and unhealthy.
Avoid protein powder. If you want to improve your muscles, go for lean meat from grass fed cows.
Avoid any form of artificial sweetener. White sugar is quite frankly healthier, and less likely to make you fat. (Because artificial sweeteners make you crave fat and sugar, thus making you eat unhealthy stuff as well as filling you with chemicals that make it harder to loose weight.)
Avoid MSG like the plague. In some countries/states, this may even be illegal or limited as to how much one can put un food, but check to make sure what your country/state's policy on it is.
Where it is legal, MSG is widely used in fast foods, snack foods, processed meat, canned soups, condiments, and seasoning blends.
Ripe Fruits and berries that are in-season.
Meat and dairy products from grass-fed cows (Guernsey or Jersey cows are best), sheep, camels, goats or buffalo.
(But make sure it is either raw milk, unpasteurized, non-homogenized or at least as little processed as possible. From a farm with high health standards on their products.)
Raw, unprocessed milk also have a large amount of healthy proteins in it.
Organically grown food where there is no chemicals of any kind used. (Be careful of this, because some countries allow food to be balled as ecological/organic even if they use pesticide.)
Wild game may be more healthy, as it has lived a natural life, eating natural things.
Pigs are tricky, because their diet matters so much. Even raised on grains can be bad, while a more natural and healthy diet makes the meat healthier too.
Sushi-grade fish from a restaurant that prides itself in ensuring top-quality. Younger fish is better than older fish, as they have had less time to soak up pollution.
Oysters, clams, and mussels.
Plants low in anti-nutritients. Such as carrots (raw carrots is detoxing for your gut), celery, lettuce, broccoli, and asparagus.
Vegetables can be made less harmful by being processed in certain ways. Usually the ways your ancestors 500 years ago made them. Like sourdough bread.
Cruciferous vegetables and cabbage are good for you. But be sure to cook them properly, and do not buy them in winter. These are especially important to get fresh.
Always eat seasonally --like nature intended. Your body prefers to eat what is naturally in season, and plans and fruits in-season is fresher, healthier, and less likely to be filled with the chemicals used to grow them out of season.
Shop at farmer's markeds, and check the website of dairy and meat companies.
If you like to eat a lot of fish, buy supplements that bind the toxic metals in the fish. And make sure to only buy high quality fish from a trustworthy supplier. (Ideally stick with wild, freshwater fish as well. Salmon is a good fish.)
You can limit toxins and anti-nutrients by removing the peel. The peel has the highest concentration of bad stuff.
Which means white rice is better than brown rice, as it has removed the husk.
Coffee and chocolate is actually good for you in small amounts. (But bad in high amounts.)
Choose chocolate with more cocoa and less sugar. If you make your own, you can control what goes in it. And some brands are more health-conscious than others. Choose wisely.
Remember to enjoy yourself and your food. The worst diet is always the diet you hate. The best diet is a healthy one filled with things you love.
For healthy fiber, eat artichokes, avocado, and acacia gum.
Be sure to eat a lot of herbs and spices. Or you can create an alcoholic tonic and take a tablespoon of it every day.
Thyme, rosemary, oregano, turmeric, and vanilla are healthy. Spices and sea salt is very important to your health.
Fat. Ideally animal fat from animals with a natural, healthy diet. You need more high-quality fat than most people think.
At least 50% of the fat should be saturated fat. (Tho 75% is better.)
Salt. Despite the popular hype, chances are you are not getting enough.
But choose sea salt over refined iodized salt. Sea salt is healthy, refined iodized salt is not.
High quality protein. Very important.
Fiber. You need to feed the bacterial microbiome in your stomach. You do this with fiber. But as many things that contains fiber also contains anti-nutrients, make sure to not overdo it. And balance it out with the right vitamins, minerals and so on.
Carbohydrates. A basic rule is that they are fine, as long as you understand exactly what you're getting, and choose the good options.
But be aware that carbohydrates tend to cause a spike of energy, followed by a crash and cravings.
DAKE - Vitamin D, A, K2, and E is the most important vitamins your body needs. They work together and need each other to work best. So take all of them together.
B vitamins are good for your skin and hair, and vitamin B12 improves your mood and can lower depression and anxiety.
These vitamins mentioned bind with animal fat, and is absorbed better when taken with a meal because of this.
Iron, copper, zinc, manganese, calcium, and magnesium.
The most important ones are calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, and sulfur.
You almost certainly need higher dosages of these than what is recommended. (In part because much of the vitamins are stored in body-fat --especially for those with a lot of body-fat--, and because much of what you eat counteracts the vitamins, as mentioned above.)
Iron is tricky. You need it, but too much of it can cause problems.
Trace minerals important for health are; Molybdenum, zinc, iodine, selenium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, vanadium, and manganese.
Ultra-trace minerals are also important.
Enough high quality sleep is important for you.
I will edit this post when I have read more of the book, to add new things.
When you study biohacking, and the intricacies of the body and it's chemical reactions work, you will sometimes (or often) find that it goes against conventional wisdom.
This is because conventional wisdom takes each part of of it's context. ("This plant have that vitamin") and it fails to consider the biological and chemical processes involved ("can the body absorb this vitamin from that plant?" "How does that plant interact with other plans and vitamins?"), and that makes a big difference when it comes to your health and well-being.
If you want all the nitty-gritty details of the how's and the why's; Read the book.
Hopefully this will prove a usable, easier-to-read, substitute for all those less inclined to read heavy-on-the-science texts.
