Team Asprey

Could A Fecal Transplant Cure Depression? How Gut Bacteria Impacts Your Mood

April 25, 2018 by Team Asprey

A recent health feature by the BBC explores the connection between gut bacteria and depression — and whether getting a new microbiome by way of a fecal transplant can cure mood disorders.

What is the microbiome?

Your microbiome — home to trillions of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms, as well as a wide array of fungi — keeps your entire body functioning properly. When the good kind of bacteria is in control, you function at your peak. But when the bad bacteria outnumber the good, you experience anything from nausea and brain fog to more serious conditions like leaky gut. Now growing research points to a connection between emotional health and a balanced gut.

Microbiome transplants

To test the connection between gut bacteria and depression, scientists at the APC Microbiome Centre at Ireland’s University College Cork transplanted the microbiome from people with depression to rats, a method known as a fecal transplant (aka trans-poo-sion)[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5530613/”] They found that after transferring the fecal bacteria, the rats exhibited depressed behavior, including anhedonia — when people lose interest in ordinary pleasures.

“We were very surprised that you could, by just taking microbiome samples, reproduce many of the features of a depressed individual in a rat,” study co-author John Cryan, professor of anatomy and neuroscience at University College Cork, told the BBC.

The rats had access to sugary water before and after the fecal transfer. At first, they couldn’t get enough of the sweetened water, yet “when they were given the microbiome from a depressed individual, they no longer cared,” said Cryan.

How gut bacteria affects the brain

The BBC highlighted the different ways in which gut bacteria impact the brain:

Bacteria travel along the vagal pathway, a system of nerves connecting the brain to other bodily organs, including the gut.
Bacteria break down dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids, which can affect the brain.
The gut microbiome influences the immune system by training it to function properly.

The microbiome and disease

Naveen Jain, founder of Viome, a service that measures your gut’s microflora, said in a recent Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast that a microbiome imbalance is to blame for numerous illnesses, including Alzheimer’s and depression.

“Whether you start to think about autoimmune diseases, the allergies, eczema, the Alzheimer’s disease, the autism, the depression, the ADHD and anxiety, they may look all different,” he said. “The symptoms may be different but the underlying cause for all of them is exactly the same, which is imbalance of your microbiome. And your immune system responds to the environment that you are in.”

Ways to heal your gut to combat stress and depression

Even without a fecal transplant, there are things you can do to fix your gut. Right now, a fecal transplant is only approved for treatment of c. Diff, not for depression. Here’s how to hack your belly’s bacteria:

Clean up your diet: Diets high in processed, preserved, and allergy- or histamine-producing foods (like conventional yogurt as opposed to coconut alternatives, lunchmeat, alcohol, and yeasty foods like bread) are linked to an unhealthy gut biome. Bad bacteria feed on sugar, so cut it out where you can. Instead, aim for vegetables that promote good gut bacteria growth. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like kale, cabbage, and cauliflower are great options.
Add resistant starch to your daily intake: Resistant starches like green banana flour, plantain flour, cassava flour, and potato starch work like soluble fiber in your diet to feed the good bacteria.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8695601″] Start slowly with resistant starch and work your way up.
Consume collagen to repair your gut lining: Another key to a healthy gut is its lining, or intestinal wall. Short-chain fatty acids are produced when bacteria ferment fiber or collagen protein in the colon, helping your gut lining maintain itself. Adding bone broth to your daily diet regimen will go a long way to strengthen your gut lining.
Take probiotics to lower inflammatory, histamine enzymes: In the specific case of depression, try bifidobacterium longue and lactobacillus helveticus. Look for CFUs (colony forming units) when you purchase them, not brands offering multiple, different strains in one supplement. Opt for probiotics with fewer strains – different strains compete in your gut for food, canceling each other out.
Avoid antibiotics when possible: Antibiotics kill the good bacteria in your gut and throw its subtle balance out of whack. Discuss alternative options with your doctor if at all possible.

How to Beat Cancer With the Keto Diet and Other Alternative Treatments

April 19, 2018 by Team Asprey

The American Cancer Society projects that there will be 1,735,350 new cancer cases and 609,640 cancer deaths in the United States this year.[ref url=”https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.3322/caac.21442″] While cancer cases have increased, cancer death rates in the U.S. have been on the decline since the early 1990s — meaning, treatments are getting more effective every day.[ref url=”https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics”] New areas of cancer research around novel therapies like the ketogenic diet, oxygen therapy (HBOT), and insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) offer promising ways to tackle cancer alongside traditional cancer treatments.

According to recent Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast guest Kris Smith, MD, a top neurosurgeon who specializes in brain tumors at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, the downside of some aggressive cancer treatments is that they can cause lifelong side effects in survivors. The challenge is to find effective treatments that aren’t as damaging to the patient. “We’re really trying to learn through molecular profiling analysis and a lot of epigenetic changes how to beat cancer, but not beat the patient’s brain in the process,” he says. “I really think the ketogenic diet is going to be…part of that magic bullet, the holy grail of treating people with this disease.”

Ahead, what the science says about these new, less traditional forms of cancer treatment.

Cancer cells thrive on glucose

First, in order to understand how these treatments work, here’s a review of how cancer develops in the first place. While there are several different forms of cancer, they are all characterized by uncontrolled cell growth that typically forms a lump or tumor. In the 1920s, German scientist Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells grow at a rapid rate specifically due to glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose or sugar (carbs) into energy. Warburg’s hypothesis that cancer cells need a high-carb diet to thrive is called Warburg Effect.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4783224/”] Meanwhile, other research reveals cancer cells’ high glucose consumption is a hallmark of the disease.[ref url=”https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11585066_Fasting_Insulin_and_Outcome_in_Early-Stage_Breast_Cancer_Results_of_a_Prospective_Cohort_Study”]

The keto diet starves cancer cells

Because cancer cell metabolism relies upon glucose, minimizing a tumor’s access to sugar as a means to manage or even limit cancerous cell growth has been the subject of several recent cancer therapy studies.[ref url=”http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/66/18/8927.short”] Many of these studies focus upon a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet, which eliminates glucose and forces the body to burn fat as fuel instead. Since cells can’t use fat directly, the liver converts dietary fats into ketones, which become the body’s fuel source.

Research shows that patients who follow a ketogenic diet during their traditional chemotherapy treatment starve their cancer cells because they lack glucose to feed upon.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/”] While not all cancers respond equally to a keto diet — because they don’t all use glucose in the same way — evidence supports effective results from a keto diet with brain, colon, gastric, and prostate cancers.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/#bib31″]

What researchers haven’t quite figured out is whether a keto diet prevents cancer in the first place. However, a recent report revealed that, for decades, the sugar industry covered up a study linking table sugar consumption to cancer.

How many carbs to consume on a keto diet with cancer?

When you’re following a keto diet, it takes some guesswork to determine how many grams of carbs you can eat while remaining in ketosis. Some aim for fewer than 50 grams a day, while others restrict theirs to less than 35. For cancer patients looking to supplement their traditional care with a ketogenic diet, there may be a sweet spot, says Smith though further study is needed. “The idea of being in nutritional ketosis for health and athletic performance is probably a different ballgame than using it as a ketogenic metabolic therapeutic treatment of cancer. I don’t know that for sure, but my intuition is it’s better [with cancer] to be a little more strict and keep the carbs down to probably under 20 grams [per day], and not bounce in and out [of ketosis].”

Oxygen therapy enables your body to heal itself

Smith also recommends oxygen therapy as a promising treatment option in tandem with a keto diet. With hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), you inhale 100 percent oxygen in a total-body chamber while atmospheric pressure is increased in a controlled manner for approximately 2-3 hours. This allows the oxygen to reach damaged tissues and cells to support the body’s innate healing process.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4499900/ “]

What to expect with oxygen therapy

Oxygen therapy is typically performed as an outpatient procedure, though hospitals do employ the therapy if you are hospitalized. The therapy takes hours and the side effects are minimal, though you might experience fullness in your ears like you would in an airplane or at high elevation. If you are interested in using oxygen therapy, talk with your doctor to find the best location for your needs.

Why a keto diet combined with oxygen therapy combats cancer

One byproduct of a keto diet is an abnormal blood supply (ketones instead of glucose) to tumors. Since ketones starve all cells (both healthy and cancerous) of oxygen, hypoxic pockets can form. These oxygenless pockets spur cancer growth because cancer cells are entirely anaerobic — they require an oxygenless state to survive.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17656037″] However, Smith suggests that if you combine a keto diet with oxygen therapy, you flood the tumor pockets with oxygen and stunt cancer growth.

A recent study on mice with cancer looked into the combined effects of oxygen therapy and ketosis on cancer progression. The researchers put mice into one of three groups: group one consumed a keto diet; group two received oxygen therapy; group three received a keto diet as well as three 90-minute sessions of oxygen therapy.

The keto diet alone significantly decreased blood glucose, slowed tumor growth, and increased the rodents’ lifespan by 56.7 percent. While oxygen therapy alone did not influence cancer growth, the researchers found that combining keto and oxygen therapies together led to a significant decrease in blood glucose and tumor growth rate, as well as a 77.9 percent increased lifespan for the mice.[ref url=”http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0065522″]

Insulin potentiated therapy (IPT) combines insulin and chemo to fight cancer

A third alternative treatment also targets cancer’s use of glucose in the body. Insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) makes use of orthodox drugs — insulin and chemotherapy – in an innovative fashion. IPT uses off-label insulin much like a diabetic uses it — help deliver glucose from the bloodstream to cells.

Because cancer requires glucose for energy production, cancer cells possess an overexpression, or abundance, of insulin receptors. These extra insulin receptors on cancer cells outcompete normal cells for glucose.

IPT takes advantage of cancer’s need for glucose. First, the insulin treatment helps increase the cells’ membrane permeability. This makes it easier for your body to receive the maximum benefits of the chemotherapy.[ref url=”http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/65/22/10545.short”] Research shows that taking exogenous insulin along with chemo improves the effects of the chemotherapy to fight cancer.[ref url=”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987700910636″]

Next steps if you want to try these alternative cancer treatments

If you are interested in any of these metabolic cancer therapies, consult with your cancer treatment team to learn if the specific treatment suits your cancer type.

The Complete Bulletproof Roadmap to Spices & Flavorings

April 6, 2018 by Team Asprey

Many spices are potent sources of anti-inflammatory antioxidants
Use high-quality, recently opened herbs and spices to avoid mold and toxins
Download this roadmap to spices to help you maximize you meals’ flavor and function, while reducing exposure to molds, toxins and anti-nutrients

A little spice packs a lot of punch. Just a pinch of the right spices can add the perfect flavor to a meal, and provide a potent dose of health benefits and antioxidant function. Many herbs and spices boost your gut biome (the friendly bacteria that help you digest your food), reduce inflammation and improve mental performance, but some can impact your performance with antinutrient exposure or psychoactive compounds.

With some personal research and experimentation, you can determine which spices help you think, feel, and look better, and which might cause food cravings or brain fog. The herbs, spices, and other flavorings in The Bulletproof Diet Roadmap (download the roadmap free here) are organized to help you maximize the benefits of spices and keep you firmly in charge of your own biology.

Read on for an in-depth guide to spicing up your Bulletproof Diet.

Spices that combat inflammation

Antioxidants in the Bulletproof Diet fight inflammation by neutralizing free radicals and preventing them from damaging your cells. When you think of antioxidant-packed foods, spices probably aren’t the first thing to come to mind. While fresh berries and leafy greens may have the spotlight, certain spices and herbs are potent antioxidants, and powerhouses for reducing inflammation.

The Top 7 Anti-Inflammatory Herbs and Spices you can use to increase your performance now are packed with antioxidants, and likely already in your kitchen. Just half a teaspoon of ground Ceylon cinnamon has as many antioxidants as half a cup of blueberries, and half a teaspoon of dried oregano has the antioxidant power of three cups of raw spinach.

Avoid mold toxins in your spices

Many of the plants used as spices contain naturally strong antifungal and antibacterial oils, but aggressive strains of mold can still thrive in your spice rack. “The “Bulletproof Diet” book details how and why mold contaminates our food, and all the best practices to avoid exposure.

Because of this known risk, it’s common practice in the spice industry to irradiate commercial herbs and spices. This sterilization process may kill mold, but destroys antioxidants, and leaves behind mold toxins.

Mold spores are all around us, and irradiated or not, a jar of spices can make a prime incubator. Think of all the times you’ve sprinkled herbs into a steaming pot of food, then sealed them back up with that moisture to sit another month on the shelf. One of the simplest things you can do to make your spices work for you is to use high-quality, recently opened, fresh or dried herbs and spices, and toss out any that are more than a few months old. And never store spices in warm, humid environments.

Spices with especially high mold toxin risk include black pepper, powdered garlic, nutmeg, and paprika, which is one of the reasons why they are suspect in the Bulletproof Diet. Other reasons include lectins (binding proteins that can reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients) and in the case of garlic, it affects brain waves

What flavorings should I use?

Spices and herbs are necessary to bring life, culture, and flavor into our food, and when used right, are potent tools to add to your health arsenal. They’re arranged below in order from the most beneficial to the most harmful.

Use high-quality, recently opened, fresh or dried herbs and spices
Buy organic when possible
There is always room for personal experimentation. It’s up to you to decide where you go on the roadmap and how that makes you feel and perform
Check for added sugars, sweeteners or fillers in spice blends and condiments

Apple cider vinegar

ACV is the only vinegar recommended on the Bulletproof diet, as other vinegars can introduce toxins and promote yeast growth.

Chocolate

The real stuff, not kryptonite candy bars. Dark or pure chocolate (85% and above) is packed with polyphenols and antioxidants, and can boost your HDL cholesterol. Just be sure to watch out for sugar and artificial sweeteners. A better option: high-quality cacao or cocoa powder.

Cilantro

Related to parsley, cilantro is a great detoxifier, and helps cleanse the body of heavy metals, like mercury.

Ginger

Ginger is a powerful anti-inflammatory, and great at combatting joint pain or sore throats. Powdered and whole ginger are both prone to molding, so buy fresh roots that you can use quickly.

Parsley

Another great herb for detoxification, parsley draws out impurities like heavy metals as well. Just beware of parsley’s oxalate content — crystals that can build up in the body, causing kidney stones, muscle weakness, and painful sex.

Sea salt or pink salt

Sea salt or pink rock salt from ancient sea beds in the Himalayas or Utah are loaded with beneficial minerals.

Vanilla

Pure vanilla (not the common synthetic vanillin) is great at quelling free radicals and reducing inflammation, and is also known for calming stress, relieving nausea, and boosting brain power.

Lavender

Lavender makes a great bedtime herb because its aroma has sedative effects. Try it in this detox elixir. Drink as tea or use as aromatherapy.

Oregano

Oregano is high in antioxidants, and helps balance yeast and microbes in your gut biome.

Rosemary

Rosemary possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Add rosemary to marinades to keep the fat in meat from oxidizing at high heat.

Thyme

Another good antioxidant, thyme also has antifungal effects, and helps protect fats from oxidation under heat.

Turmeric

Turmeric has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities, and thus has potential against various diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic illnesses.

Cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon helps you regulate your blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance, along with guarding against irritable bowel syndrome and stomach flu, while increasing memory and response times.[ref url=”http://www.wju.edu/about/adm_news_story.asp?iNewsID=1882&strBack=/about/adm_news_archive.asp “][ref url=”http://www.life-enhancement.com/magazine/article/669-insulin-improves-cognitive-function-in-healthy-adults”] Even small doses of the cheaper and more common Cassia cinnamon can lead to liver damage in sensitive people.[ref url=”http://www.bfr.bund.de/en/press_information/2012/26/cassia_cinnamon_with_high_coumarin_contents_to_be_consumed_in_moderation-131836.html”]

Cloves

Cloves are extremely rich in antioxidants, including the flavonoids kaempferol and rhamnetin. The spice also protects against the inflammation that underlies heart disease, cancer, and the other chronic diseases.[ref url=”https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8980/8a009ebed204d1d98c0b206f0655de4ca2fd.pdf”]

Extracts

Pure, organic, plant-based extracts such as vanilla, oregano, or mint are safe to use in small quantities, but make sure you know what your buying. Watch out for artificial imitations, and remember that the term “natural flavors” in the ingredient list is an umbrella term that allows hundreds of nasty ingredients to go under the radar. does not mean a product is safe, or even very “natural” at all.

Prepared mustard with no additives

Go for high-quality, organic mustard, and beware of additives like sugars, vegetable oils, artificial colors, and distilled vinegar (which is often grain-derived).

Sage

Sage shows promise for its protective effect against inflammation-based neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s, boosting memory and concentration and lessening anxiety.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5318325/”][ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12895683?dopt=Abstract”]

Cayenne pepper

Cayenne contains a range of flavonoids and carotenoids – antioxidants that scavenge free radicals to protect against the cellular damage that leads to inflammation and disease. Capsaicin appears to have anti-cancer properties, helps induce autophagy (the body’s natural detox system),[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4811481/”] and boosts your metabolism.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23179202″] However, cayenne is a member of the nightshade family, and you may be sensitive to it. It is also almost as likely as black pepper to have high amounts of mold toxins in it, so quality matters when buying.

Mustard seed

Most seeds are suspect on the Bulletproof Diet, and mustard seed is no exception. Mustard contains an omega-9 fat called erucic acid that’s linked to heart lesions in rats.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24491745″]

Onion

While delicious, onions can mess with your brain waves and negatively impact your ability to meditate, and are a nightshade, so can cause inflammation for some people. Plus, if you get them in any season except spring, they’re likely moldy.

Table salt

Table salt often contains aluminum, undisclosed fillers, and toxic anti-caking agents, so it’s best to opt for rock or sea salt instead. Because it’s been refined to pure sodium chloride, table salt also lacks other trace minerals.

Black pepper

Black pepper tends to be especially high in mold toxins,particularly aflatoxin and ochratoxin A. If you insist on using pepper, a good pepper grinder with fresh, high-end black pepper is the only way to do it.

Garlic

While garlic feeds healthy gut bacteria and has antifungal effects, it also messes with brain waves and impacts mental function. Eat it when you’re sick, instead of every day.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg has an especially high risk of mold contamination and mycotoxins. Even without the mold, nutmeg makes its own toxins, and is best used sparingly.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1285340/”]

Paprika

Paprika often harbors toxic mold species. As a member of the nightshade family, it contains lectins, proteins that bind to the sugars that coat the cells in your body and cause inflammation. Alkaloids can impact nerves, muscles, joints, and digestive function in some people.

Miso, tamari and tofu

Soy is almost always genetically modified to withstand insane amounts of glyphosate (a weed killer also known as Roundup), so big ag can spray them with abandon. Plus, they’re full of histamines, making them a common allergen and source of inflammation even in small amounts. Eating soy is linked to thyroid and hormone problems, and osteoporosis. Depending on your tolerance, natto — fermented soybean — and soy lecithin can be beneficial, but the Bulletproof Diet recommends avoiding all soy. Learn more about soy here.

Vinegars

Aside from apple cider vinegar, most vinegars contain significant amounts of mold toxins, yeast and fungal by-products that can rob your body of nutrients and limit your performance. Red wine vinegar, malt vinegar, and balsamic vinegar tend to be highest in anti-nutrients, including mold toxins and, in the case of balsamic, lead.

Additives

Beware of added sugars or high-glycemic sweeteners in spice blends or condiments. Check labels for kryptonite additives like sugars, milk solids, potato starch, corn starch, or MSG. Your safest bet is to make your own blends at home, like these Bulletproof Salad Dressings.

Fake foods

Hydrolyzed glutens, textured protein, and enzyme modified products aren’t products your body can recognize or use, and can be inflammatory or harmful.

Flavors

Artificial flavors often contain petrochemicals and dubious compounds, and are rarely tested for safety. Don’t be fooled by the term “natural flavors” in processed foods either, which can mean just about anything.

MSG

MSG is one of the most common artificial flavorings added to processed foods. MSG messes with the way your neurotransmitters cause the nerves in your brain to fire. MSG is an excitatory neurotransmitter that sends signals from one cell to another. Consuming it can cause the cells it activates to become overexcited. This leads to cell damage and often cell death.

Yeasts

Yeast are fungi, and often carry with them a host of toxins. Depending on the strain, yeasts can also compete with the good guys in your gut biome, and encourage candida overgrowth in the body (also known as yeast infection, athlete’s foot, athlete’s foot, ringworm, thrush…).

If you’re ready to implement what you’ve learned and fuel your performance with the right spices, read more about the best anti-inflammatory herbs and spices for your Bulletproof cooking.

Enter your email below to download your roadmap now

Age-Related Muscle Loss Happens Sooner Than You Think. Here’s How to Stop It

April 2, 2018 by Team Asprey

Age-related muscle loss, known as sarcopenia, happens as you get older — and it starts much earlier than you think. After the sprite age of 30, you lose as much as 3-8% of your muscle mass with each passing decade, and the decline worsens after age 60.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804956/#R4″] Sarcopenia doesn’t just affect your athletic performance or how you look in a swimsuit. It also impacts your longevity. Sarcopenia, the major cause of frailty as you age, leads to falls and broken hips, and even prevents you from fully recovering after those tumbles.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16124998″] In other words, it leaves you enfeebled as a senior, when you should be enjoying those golden years.

“You’ve got to have some type of a physical activity planned that builds up your strength so you avoid frailty. That’s probably the major driver of not just aging, but death in America. We’re not strong enough.” says Dr. Mehmet Oz, during a recent Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast.

The good news is, sarcopenia is avoidable and even, to some degree, reversible, and there are plenty of ways to prevent it that don’t involve exercise (though you do need to do that, as well). Here’s how to preserve the muscle you’ve got — and get back what you’ve lost.

Move it or lose it

Exercise is a no-brainer when it comes to building muscle, but that doesn’t mean you have to live at the gym or join a CrossFit box (unless you want to). Muscle strength really comes down to daily activity. “Look around the world at places where people live a long time, and they do daily rigorous activity. That’s what you want,” says Dr. Oz. “Yoga, pilates, or lifting weights [works, but]… it could also be picking up a bucket to garden,” he explains.

First and foremost, find simple ways to add movement to your day. Garden or walk with a friend on weekends, or take a bicycle tour of your city. Bottom line: your workout should feel like play-time most of the time.

If you’ve got a desk job that keeps you sedentary Monday through Friday, explore these 5 ways to sneak movement into your workday. It could be anything from working at a standing desk or standing on a vibration plate to scheduling walking meetings or even doing a few laps around the office while taking a call (assuming you’re on your cell).

Second, add a brief, rigorous workout to your schedule once a week. HIIT (high-intensity interval training) – a unique resistance and aerobic training combination — is the key. Essentially, HIIT alternates between short bursts of strenuous exercise and active rest for 20-30 minutes. For example, you might sprint for 60 seconds, walk for 30 seconds; do push-ups for 60 seconds, walk for 30; and so on. Try this complete full-body HIIT workout routine you can do in 18 minutes.

Special note: If pain has you sidelined and keeps you from exercising, follow these quick and easy tips to fix your posture, get rid of pain, and get back on track again – all in under four minutes.

Eat more protein

Without enough protein, you can’t maintain muscle mass or bone density, and your body will become weak. As Dave talks about in “The Bulletproof Diet,” protein is so essential to survival that your body and brain possess intrinsic feedback mechanisms to keep you from eating too little or too much of it. “If you crave protein, eat more. If the thought of one more egg makes you cringe, eat less.”

Your activity level and age dictate the precise amount of protein you need to eat on a daily basis.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16886097″] It also depends on your gender, age, and muscle-mass-to-fat ratio. Even if you’re thin, you may have high levels of fat compared to lean muscle — a sign that you may have sarcopenia.

Indeed, there are people who are aging and combating muscle wasting who need to eat more than 20 percent of their daily calories from protein — the gold standard of the Bulletproof Diet. If you have sarcopenia or wish to prevent it, 25–30 grams of high-quality protein per meal is a good starting point, though note that eating carbs with protein can deter protein synthesis.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2760315/”]

Make sure too, that as you up your protein intake, you consume the best protein sources available to you. Good Bulletproof protein options are low-mercury fish, grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured eggs, hydrolyzed collagen, gelatin, and clean whey concentrate. Specifically, you want to consume leucine, which preserves body muscle[ref url=”https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/136/2/533S/4664398″], and it’s found in higher amounts in the animal foods listed above.

You may be wondering how plant proteins fit into the mix. Well, in the case of sarcopenia, they really don’t. In a recent Instagram post, functional medicine doctor Mark Hyman shared that you have to eat three cups of beans (with 100 grams of carbs) to equal six ounces of animal protein (which contains zero carbs). “Plant proteins contain very little leucine, the rate limiting amino acid needed to build muscle. Animal protein is the best source of protein and is especially important as we get older, where muscle loss is the single biggest cause of rapid aging and disease,” says Hyman.

Consume omega-3 fatty acids

Ward off sarcopenia by consuming omega-3 fatty acids because they speed up protein metabolism in your body.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25994567″] Eat your omega-3s in the form of wild salmon and grass-fed beef or supplement with low-mercury fish (or krill) oil. Research[ref url=”https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/102/1/115/4564326″] shows that in a matter of six months, you can increase your muscle mass by 3.6 percent with fish oil. Work with a functional medicine doctor to find the right dose.

Balance your hormones

Hormone regulation is a key component to managing muscle mass. Estrogen preserves muscle[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4261347/”]; testosterone builds muscle[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112698/”]; and growth hormones contribute to muscular performance — all of which assist to combat sarcopenia.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24300031″][ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938029/”] You want to be certain all three hormones are performing properly and in balance. You can do this by getting your hormone levels checked, then working with your doctor to rebalance anything that is out of whack.

The general rule of thumb is to start checking your hormone levels at age 40. However, hormone levels are particularly important to assess if you are a woman in your postmenopausal years because any hormonal imbalance will affect your muscle loss most.[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938029/”]

Depending on your age and condition, your doctor may also recommend hormone replacement therapy. If you want to hack your hormones naturally, check out this Bulletproof video with John Gray, author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” with solutions like eating superfoods and balancing your blood sugar.

Biohack your muscles with variable resistance training

One quick and dirty way to combat muscle loss, called variable resistance training (VRT), actually changes the amount of muscle mass you possess.[ref url=”https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-2007-1024942″] In VRT, differing degrees of force are applied to a target muscle to create constant resistance. Take a VRT arm curl, for instance: the force applied through bands or chains to the bicep are consistent through the entire trajectory of the movement. The goal is to achieve maximum muscular engagement through the entire movement, which increases power and mass.

In this Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast with Dr. John Jaquish, PhD, who develops biotechnology devices to increase bone density, strengthen muscles, and improve stability while reducing injury risk, you can learn about a certain kind of “cheat pushup” that’ll prompt your muscles to grow. “Get in a pushup position. Start doing pushups. When you can’t do them, drop to your knees. Then put your knees on the ground and push away from yourself,” offers Jaquish. Now listen to the podcast for more on how to cheat your way to greater muscle mass.

Superpowered Businesswoman Jen Gotch Explains How She Copes With Depression

March 29, 2018 by Team Asprey

Meet Jen Gotch. Gotch is the founder and chief creative officer of Ban.do, a women’s lifestyle brand that soared to the multimillion-dollar mark in its early days. Gotch runs a vast creative empire all while managing the highs and lows of bipolar disorder, which she talks about openly on social media. Even though her lifestyle brand peddles rainbows, pom-poms, and glitter, Gotch puts forward a very different image: one that’s colorful, complex, and brutally honest about her mental health struggles.

How exactly does she keep her moods in balance? Gotch credits her mom. When Gotch was a child, her mother came up with a way to check-in with her daughter, using an emotional rating scale from 1 to 10. Gotch uses a similar scale today, rating each day on Instagram for her 195K followers. “I’ve adapted [the scale] because after being diagnosed with bipolar, 10 is too high. There are mania and depression in the spectrum. For me, a 7.8 is the ideal place to be,” says Gotch.

Gotch hopes to inspire other young men and women to talk openly about their mental health. To help bring the conversation into the mainstream, Ban.do recently launched necklaces that say “anxiety” and “depression,” which have already sold out.

Learn more in the video below about Gotch’s coping strategies, emotional rating scale, and why she fuels her day with Bulletproof Coffee. Also listen to this Bulletproof Radio (iTunes) podcast for more with Jen Gotch.

How to Use Tapping (EFT) for Anxiety and Stress

March 22, 2018 by Team Asprey

Ready to sit in the driver’s seat once and for all and master your response to anxiety and stress? The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as tapping, uses acupressure points to help you release energy blockages to treat emotional and psychological issues. Mind-body medicine pioneer Dawson Church, PhD, author of a new book titled “Mind to Matter” recently sat down with Dave Asprey for a Bulletproof Radio podcast (iTunes) interview to talk about tapping and the field of energy psychology.

What is EFT Tapping?

In simplest terms, EFT uses seven acupuncture points, tapped in a specific sequence, while you recall a negative experience. For instance, you remember something that’s bothered you: a car crash, dog bite, terrible experience in school, being punished by a parent or by a bully. It can be any moment that still bothers you. As you think about that event, you start to get uncomfortable. While you may experience this as a distressing emotion, there is a biological link. What’s happening is that your serotonin and dopamine levels are dysregulating in your brain; and your stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, are rising. While it doesn’t feel good to think about the particular event, the tapping technique frames the experience in the context of self-acceptance. The goal is to allow you to inhabit the space of all the grief and loss you’ve never processed emotionally in your life so that you can let it go for good.

How does EFT work?

Bad memories trigger your brain’s limbic system. When you pair a traumatic cue with a soothing cue like tapping, that tells your limbic system that the memory is not a threat in the here and now. Once you break the link between the memory and a fight-or-flight response, even just once, that association remains broken. In other words, the traumatic event will no longer trigger a stress reaction.

Tapping produces electricity in your body called piezoelectricity that functions much like a gas grill. When you turn on the grill, it clicks and clicks until it ignites. The electrical pressure is what eventually produces a spark. When you tap, tap, tap, tap, tap on specific body points, a wave is sent through your connective tissue to the part of your body that’s disturbed or experiencing any kind of energy blockage. The energetic wave breaks up the blockage and you feel better instantly.

Why the tapping technique helps heal trauma and anxiety

The tapping technique works for most kinds of stress-related issues. That includes physiological problems like pain, fibromyalgia, and psoriasis with a definitive stress component. Evidence for tapping is both robust and promising. Among the myriad afflictions tapping helps with: anxiety[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26894319″], depression[ref url=”http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307(16)30106-9/fulltext”], addiction (food cravings)[ref url=”https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17580854″], pain[ref url=”http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/arc/”], PTSD[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5499602/”], and phobias[ref url=”http://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/view/367″]. It’s even shown promise for mastering your athletic performance[ref url=”https://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOSSJ/TOSSJ-2-94.pdf”].

EFT has been used in the past to treat PTSD in veterans from Vietnam, World War II, and the Korean War. According to Dawson, the veterans’ PTSD symptoms fell significantly after using the tapping technique. They no longer experienced flashbacks, nightmares, or hyper-reactivity to ordinary events.

Try this EFT tapping exercise led by Dawson Church

Think about a disturbing event that occurred in the last couple of weeks, and give it a one-word name. Score it numerically from zero (no distress) to 10 (maximum distress). In three words, if this event were a movie, what would its title be?

Now tap on the side of your hand — between your wrist and the joint that anchors your little finger — and repeat the following while remembering the event:

“Even though I remember XYZ movie…”
“I completely accept myself.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“I’m okay now.”
“I am safe now.”
“And that XYZ movie happened.”

Now stay focused on the movie and, with two fingers, lightly tap right where your eyebrow meets the bridge of your nose. Repeat after me: “XYZ movie.”

Vividly remembering XYZ movie, tap the side of your eye, saying out loud, “XYZ movie.”

Tap under the pupil of your eye, “XYZ movie.”
Tap under your nose, “XYZ movie.”
Tap under your lower lip, “XYZ movie.”
Tap where your collarbone meets your breastbone, “XYZ movie.”
Tap about four inches below your armpit (either armpit), “XYZ movie.”

Now, score the event again, on a scale of 0 to 10. What was your first number? What’s your number now, thinking about that old movie? Now say out loud, “I’m still an X (number).” i.e: “I’m still a 4.”

Continue by saying “… on XYZ movie …”
“… and I might never get below a four.”
“I might go back to my original number.”
“I might go to 10.”
“I might go to a zero”
“… or less than zero.”
“It might go up, it might go down.”
“Either way, I accept myself.”
“I might get worse.”
“I might get better.”
“Either way, I’m okay.”
“I’m acceptable.”
“Either way, I’m acceptable.”
“I might heal.”
“I might not heal.”
“I might get better.”
“I might get worse.”
“And I will love myself …”
“… regardless of whether I get better or worse.”

This last step is crucial, says Dawson, because so often we delay loving ourselves until after we’ve made the extra $10,000, or asked for the raise, or found the girlfriend, or moved to the perfect place to live, or got the perfect job. We’re always saying, “When I lose 25 pounds, then I’ll be acceptable. Then, my life will be fine.” It’s like the dangling carrot always out of your grasp.

EFT says, “You know, my life is imperfect. Things have happened that didn’t work out well for me, and I love and accept myself nonetheless.” Just love yourself, accept yourself the way you are, and tap while you say that. This breaks all the psychological tension in your mind between you having to be different and better before you’re acceptable and lovable.

Tap the side of your eye again, saying, “XYZ movie.”
Now tap your pupil again, “XYZ movie.”
Tap under your nose, “XYZ movie.”
Tap under your lower lip, “XYZ movie.”
Tap where your collarbone meets your breastbone, “XYZ movie.”
Tap under your arm, “XYZ movie.”
Tap the side of your head again, “XYZ movie.”

Now vividly remember that little movie. Take a deep breath. Stop tapping, and give the event a new score when you remember it again.

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