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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Mark Sisson
Read between
November 23 - December 3, 2022
In case you haven’t heard, here’s the issue at hand: We eat too much of the wrong foods too often. It’s making us fat, tired, sick, and it’s slowly but surely killing us.
In reality, you access the main benefits of keto through fasting, not feasting on high-fat foods.
It’s as simple as this: if you want optimum health, body composition, and longevity, you have to do two things: 1. Ditch processed foods in favor of wholesome foods 2. Eat less frequently
Following is a list of the ancestral foods that have made us human for the past two million years: meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.
Eat nutrient-dense foods of your personal preference—within ancestral guidelines, of course. Ditch the alarmingly destructive habit of snacking or eating frequent small meals. Snacking disrupts fat burning, increases insulin swings during the day, and increases overall daily caloric intake. Honor your hunger and satiety signals at all times.
Metabolic efficiency drives longevity, while caloric excess is one of the most prominent drivers of accelerated aging and disease.
you cannot exercise your way out of an overfat condition.
So if eating less and exercising more doesn’t work, what does? The research is clear: the best way to improve your body composition is to minimize your overall dietary insulin production for the rest of your life—through fasting and, as Dr. Maffetone suggests, “replacing junk food with real food.”
Dr. Sinha suggests that you will fare much better against all manner of exposure to pathogens, ranging from the common cold to a global pandemic, if you possess three attributes: an intact immune system (which is strongly correlated with healthful eating and regular exercise), an intact respiratory immune system (again, regular exercise helps keep the sinuses and lungs clear, with strong filtration abilities), and a strong aerobic system (which builds strong accessory breathing muscles, which in turn are vital in preventing severe complications from infection). Spread
The Big Three toxic modern foods are sugars, grains, and refined industrial seed oils.
“first cold pressed” on bottles of extra-virgin olive oil. This indicates that the olive was crushed and pressed only once, without being heated or otherwise processed. This delivers a temperature-stable oil for cooking or consuming directly—on a salad,
Vegetables grown aboveground (leafy greens, peppers, asparagus, tomatoes, and those in the cruciferous family [broccoli, cauliflower]) are high in complex carbohydrates and low in starch, with abundant fiber and water content. This means you can consume them liberally without an adverse insulin response, even if you are trying hard to reduce excess body fat or stick to keto carbohydrate limits.
Root vegetables, grown in the ground (beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, turnips, yams), absorb high levels of antioxidants, vitamins, and iron from the soil, making them nutritional powerhouses. In comparison to aboveground vegetables, root vegetables have a higher starch content and potentially have more carbohydrate and insulin impact. If you are trying to lose fat, they warrant moderation,
Berries, lemons, limes, and stone fruits (cherries, peaches, apricots) rank among the best. Avocados are also technically fruits and rank among the true superfoods: they are obviously high antioxidant–low glycemic because of their high monounsaturated fat content. Low
To find the best bars, look for these designations on the label: bean-to-bar, fair trade, and certified organic.
Some outstanding bean-to-bar artisanal chocolate providers: Askinosie.com, CoracaoConfections.com, CreoChocolate.com, HuKitchen.com, KellerManniChocolate.com, LillieBelleFarms.com, RitualChocolate.com, and TazaChocolate.com. Visit BarAndCocoa.com for a wide selection of premium bean-to-bar products (cacao percentages range from 60 to 100 percent) from around the world.
In her bestselling book Deep Nutrition, Dr. Cate Shanahan identifies the four pillars of human nutrition: (1) fresh foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds; (2) fermented and sprouted foods; (3) meat on the bone; and (4) organ meats.
This is especially important if you are an athlete who sweats frequently. Eat avocados for potassium, and use a transdermal magnesium spray at night before bed.
If you are struggling to drop excess fat despite a devotion to exercise, you are going to have to cut carbs, especially nutrient-deficient grains and sugars and the performance drinks, bars, and gels that are enjoyed to egregious excess by serious exercisers.
In The Obesity Code and his other books, Dr. Jason Fung strongly emphasizes that how often you eat is just as important as the foods you choose when it comes to fat reduction, insulin control, and disease protection.
“Gluttony and sloth are not causes of obesity, they are symptoms.”
excess body fat is a result of hormone dysfunction caused by hyperinsulinemia—not lack of willpower or discipline.
Wherever you are today is a perfectly acceptable starting point for your growth and transformation.
your thoughts—not what’s happened to you—are the source of all your pain.
“The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”
“If you want to find happiness in life… put a muzzle on that inner critic and transform it into an encouraging, loving, and positive inner coach.”
single night of insufficient sleep can spike cortisol by 100 percent, putting you on the path to carbohydrate cravings, overeating, and suppressed immune functioning the next day.
“It’s better to be 10 percent undertrained than 2 percent overtrained.”
as your friendly neighborhood Zen Buddhist will remind you, attachment inevitably leads to suffering. In a world driven by instant gratification, hyperconnectivity, and consumerism, we are all programmed to cultivate unhealthy attachments to all kinds of crap, and food is one of the most destructive items on the list.
