Diet and Healthspan - Uncertain but High Value

[Beth]

@mccoy, thanks for posting this! I’ve seen many Longo interviews, but this might be the very best one.

I found it quite interesting to learn that glucose spikes (in moderation) can help prevent muscle loss.

It was also interesting in how glucose spikes were designed into Prolon. I always hear so many people saying they can copy the FMD on their own, and I imagine they don’t incorporate this. They just seem to think it’s about ketosis. I feel anyone interested in a DIY should watch this.

Unrelated, but at the very end of the video, I learned that Huberman is a partner in Attia’s protein bar. The podcast bros have become so incestuous with their cross promotions, it makes it hard for me to know when I should trust what they say. It’s a shame because they both have a lot to offer. I have learned I can’t listen to anything they say about nutrition because they have too much money on the line.

I was surprised to learn that if your main protein source is beans, you need to eat a ton more protein than .80 per kg. I do vary my sources, but I focus on beans, so now I will try harder.

No surprise but the protein topic is forever overwhelming. Valter thinks, in general, .80 per kg. He mentioned he is friends with Matt Kaeberlein, and MK is more in Attia’s camp of super high protein. I imagine he respects Longo, so I’d love to know why he feels so much protein is needed. Perhaps it’s because MK is also very protective of Attia (I could see why because Attia has given him a lot of exposure)? Or he might just disagree with VL. Either way, I’d love to hear his rationale why he feels VL is misguided about this. I respect MK, but I am not sure there is anyone I respect more than VL, so??

Now that I know Valter designed the protein powder, I’ll give it a try. I just assumed the company was putting out everything it could think of to profit off of Longo’s name. I’ll be more thrilled to try the protein bar that will soon be released.

On the fruit… My take on Longo is he is always concerned with what the average person might do, so him worrying about people taking that as permission to eat bananas all day tracks with me. He’s very practical in that way and sometimes doesn’t share the optimal options only because he’s trying to advise the masses. I don’t like this aspect, but I understand it.

The most important point Longo made was that he knows of no additional benefit of 100% chocolate over 85% (god bless him). JK, but only sorta.

[Bettywhitetest]

When Longo first published his book on the “diet,” in Europe, he gave information on how to do the protocol by buying food at the grocery. He went 180 degrees pretty quickly as it was too easy for some people to get the required ratios etc incorrect. I found it pretty easy to do on my own. Recipes for a Fasting-Mimicking Diet And my markers like blood sugar were the same as when doing a water fast for the most part.

[CronosTempi]

Regarding “grifters”, I think (just my opinion), clearly Huberman is a grifter, and - I’m being completely honest here - I never did learn anything from him, even though I listened to him a few times when he just started out, before he found his full grifter footing. It always struck me that his own research was long on theory and suppositions with a real lack of practical applicability - even if you fully bought his claims about the impact of light, it was just ridiculously impractical to apply a whole elaborate protocol daily… if you did that for all the recommendations by all the specialists (foot exercises anyone?), you’d neeed at least 250 hours in every 24 hours, and sadly here on earth we only have 24 hours in every 24 hours, so maybe good advice for folks living on planet Zorg, where I would be happy to send Huberman to. Meanwhile, he expanded his podcast to all health related topics, where I find him shallow and completely unreliable. Pushing garbage is the cherry on top. I consign Huberman to the “zero value, ignore forever” bin.

Peter Attia is a more complicated case. He sometimes has genuinely good guests, and I do learn from those deep dives (his “how can I make this about me” interviewing technique can get a bit grating though). He does however have his blind spots (diet, protein, exercise etc.), and given that he is a legitimately smart guy, it’s surprising that he’s unable to course correct - not exactly a stellar scientific attitude. The protein bars and jerky he’s endorsing are just terrible, but a lot of his economic activity I just chalk up to “this is the system we have, and he’s gotta make a livin’”. In my book he’s not a grifter as yet, though I can see how others may regard him as one. He’s edging it a bit, and maybe one day he’ll cross over into full on grifting, but for now I’m giving him the benefit of doubt. YMMV.

[mccoy]

It is not easy to find reliable sources on nutrition, even in consideration of the highly individual variability in the physical and mental parameters governing the intake, digestion, and elimination of food. Presently, I find the epidemiological work of Walter Gillet (> 2000 articles published) and the clinical trials led by Christopher Gardner to be the most authoritative and actionable. I don’t know if you guys can suggest other researchers.
Of course the literature is based on statistical parameters not immediately applicable to our individual cases, but this is easily worked out by personal adjustments based on experience, inference and lab results.