Greens
• Seems like everyone is talking about greens supplements lately. The idea is, if you don’t take in multiple fruits and vegetables each day, you can still get a lot of their nutrients by taking a powdered supplement of ground up plants.
• Some greens powders have nothing more than a few different grasses, but others are full of probiotics, enzymes, mushrooms and other healthy compounds. My favorite brands are Glaxon and Ghost, partly because they are significantly cheaper than Athletic Greens, arguably the industry leader. But product competition really benefits the customer, numerous nutrition companies and experts are selling similar products now.
Lipids
• LDL is either clogging our arteries, or necessary for a healthy life. Or both? We do usually need just the right amount of all the stuff that floats around our bodies.
• Software engineer Dave Feldman is trying to figure out the LDL question, specifically “Is high LDL a problem if triglycerides and HDL are optimal” (eg from low carb diet)?
• In this new video, Feldman presents preliminary data trends from their lean mass hyperresponder study. They plan to publish a paper just on the cross-sectional data from the “before.” Later they will analyze and publish data on atherosclerotic progression (or lack thereof) in these patients who have very high LDL. They added a control arm and are continuing to raise money to fund this high quality research.
Berberine
• Is berberine the key to lowering LDL? Or is it “nature’s Ozempic,” improving blood sugar control? It’s actually both. Mostly kidding, but the data on the various benefits of berberine is becoming impressive. Check out this systematic review showing mean LDL reduction 20 to 50 mg/dL and triglycerides reductions 25 to 55 mg/dL. This review of 28 studies in Type 2 diabetics found benefits on fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c.
• Berberine seems to have minimal downside, but as always, be careful in looking for side effects. Also, refer to the PW page on supplements. Think very hard before you start something new!
Creativity
• Cool video of Ethan Hawke talking about risk taking to be creative. What can you contribute to the world?
Weight Vests
• Here is GoRuck, company started by a veteran, they donate a lot to charity, lifetime warranty. Here are the plates, two 10lb ones would take your vest just over 20lb total
• Here are some listings from the Rogue website (they sell many brands, including GoRuck).
Rogue brand
Sentry Plate Carrier: i have this one, excellent value on the vest itself
TacTec: more expensive, very nice, supposedly easier to run in. on sale right now!
Plates from Rogue are either cast or laser cut. The laser cut ones are very sleek, probably worth the higher cost depending on budget (laser plates are $160 for two)
Last brand, check out Wolf Tactical on Amazon. Looks just like the Rogue laser cut plates, significantly less expensive. Vest looks solid too, with awesome reviews. Maybe I am on the market for a second plate vest? Thanks Troy for finding this one.
Quotes
Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.
– Andre Malraux
I had been obsessed about longevity for the wrong reason. I was not thinking about a long, healthy life ahead; instead, I was mourning the past. I was trapped by the pain that my past had caused and was continuing to cause. I wanted to live longer, I think, only because deep down I knew I needed more runway to try to make things right. But I was only looking backward, not forward.
“I think people get old when they stop thinking about the future” Ric told me. “If you want to find someone’s true age, listen to them. If they talk about the past and they talk about all the things that happened that they did, they’ve gotten old. If they think about their dreams, their aspirations, what they’re still looking forward to -they’re young?”
Here’s to staying young, even as we grow older.
– From Outlive, by Peter Attia
