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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Frank Lipman
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February 4 - October 2, 2019
Health or disease is almost always multifactorial in cause and is typically the outcome of the small choices you make daily:
There are three big goals of
Good Medicine,
Resilience
When resilience is optimized, you can handle temporary and unexpected changes a little better.
Function
The keys to optimizing function are paying attention to changes as they are happening instead of powering past them, and being willing to investigate the deeper causes of symptoms rather than automatically suppressing them with medication to make them go away.
Synergy
refers to the “extra” you get when several different elements, such as the various organs and systems of the body, are working together. You
Synergy is the reason the small, ordinary things we often take for granted can catalyze extraordinary
habit. What science tells us is that once a habit is developed, it works effortlessly for you, partly because the brain loves habits.
When lifestyle choices become habitual, they are automatic. This frees up energy for the brain to focus on more meaningful things—like problem-solving and creativity—and helps override the urges toward negative habits.
Take three deep breaths before getting out of bed.
what a mandala is, it’s a visual tool used in meditation to help focus your mind and bring awareness and order to every part of your self: body, mind, and spirit.
Health is the outcome of the small choices you make on a daily basis.
This can be very motivating, because the thing about small, meaningful lifestyle changes is that they don’t always trigger fireworks and dramatic epiphanies.
the microbiome has the power to impact almost every area of your health, including your immunity, stress response, sleep, mood and behavior, metabolism, weight, and so on.
In order for your immune system, metabolism, inflammatory response, sleep, and brain to function well, protecting your microbiome—and restoring its balance if it is disrupted—is one of the most important things you can do to sustain health.
systems. It is designed to leap into action when the presence of danger is detected—like
and use emergency measures to tackle and take it out.
Your biology is governed by rhythm in ways you barely recognize and is designed to exist in sync with the rhythms of day and night and the seasons.
A physical symptom is a pointer to something in the body system that is out of balance, not an annoying disruption that must be extinguished at all costs.
dominated by “yang”—the impulse to do more, go faster, and constantly generate things. This is contributing to a level of exhaustion, an overly “outward” identification with material things, and a level of aggression that is unsustainable.
Understanding and embracing the complementary impulse of “yin”—quiet, inward, deep, still—is essential to bringing yourself back into the center, where you are stable and less easily rocked by the events and circumstances around you.
When you are more intimate with your food, you look at it not as a means to an end—a way not to be hungry!—but as your best ally.
Cook several days’ worth of components ahead of time, storing them separately in airtight glass containers in the fridge. Then, for each meal, assemble your plate or bowl, heating to order.
alters your hormones so you don’t register hunger the way you normally should, making you eat more. It spikes your dopamine, requiring you to eat more sugar to get that “sugar high” effect.
The fructose in juices and sweet beverages goes straight to the liver, where it is metabolized in a way similar to alcohol and converted into fat.
Fructose is metabolized by the liver and is not used by the brain or muscles for energy like glucose.
always avoid artificial sweeteners, which disrupt your microbiome, have neurotoxic properties, and trigger cravings, setting off a vicious cycle for those trying to avoid sweets.
(Since there is only so much glucose we need to burn in order to have energy, the overload gets stored, first as glycogen in your liver and muscles and then, when those storage tanks are full, all over your body as fat.)
This state is known as insulin resistance, and it is by far the most important risk factor for hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity (and probably Alzheimer’s), not cholesterol levels as is commonly believed.
enjoy a bounty of benefits: stable, longer-lasting energy and fewer hunger highs and lows; a more efficient metabolism (meaning more stable weight); clearer thinking and more balanced moods; healthier hormones; better hair, nails, and skin; and fewer cravings.
women are at a higher risk of heart attack on a low-fat diet than a high-fat one,
Real-food fats not only deliver powerful protective benefits, they are hard to overeat because they digest more slowly, giving your brain and hunger-regulating hormones more time to register fullness.
Pay attention to your energy level, feeling of satiety, and the resolution of any symptoms of fat deficit, such as brittle hair and nails.
digestive issues can lessen; energy and mental clarity return; persistent aches, pains, and stiffness dissolve; and headaches can subside—and
They do this by triggering inflammation that leads to weight gain, brain fog, and system-wide pain (often doing damage silently and unnoticed for years); disrupting the balance of hormones (such as through estrogenic chemicals); degrading your microbiome and possibly contributing to food allergies; and, because they are so highly engineered to be addictive, disrupting your natural rhythms of eating (i.e., regularly consuming simple, whole foods and finding them fully satiating).
Remember this: Many processed foods, most fast food, and almost every soda in the world have been designed and built with addiction in mind.
Increasing your awareness of why you want what you want gives you the tools to resist the craving and make an
empowered, better choice.
Know where you tend to trip up and do a time-audit: Where can you win back blocks of time to perform these tasks without stress?
Add a special kick of colorful and flavorful spices. Halfway through sautéing the onion, add the following and stir frequently: 1 clove minced garlic, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon turmeric, and ½ teaspoon ground ginger.
A few of my favorite brands: Madécasse (madecasse.com) Raaka (raakachocolate.com) Wei (weiofchocolate.com) Kakawa (for exceptional drinking elixirs; kakawachocolates.com)
Try to “chew” it rather than guzzle it (this helps digestion), and consume it as mindfully as you would any other lovingly prepared food. And consuming it at room temperature is easier on the digestion than drinking it icy cold.
“If you buy it, and if you can see it, you will eat it.”
Check out cleanplates.com for news on new casual restaurants and what they’re serving.
These oils are high in the fatty acids that cause inflammation and increase the risk of multiple disease processes.
No matter what size your dinner, finish eating at least two to three hours before you go to bed. That way, your body can prioritize recovery and rebuilding during sleep instead of laboring to digest.
overconsuming the healthy-seeming multigrain breads, bananas, and beans, which all turn to sugar in the blood.
