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The most useful health advice is to get cardio and strength training in and eat real foods. Everything else is a hyperoptimization. Some hyperoptimizations are

The most useful health advice is to get cardio and strength training in and eat real foods. Everything else is a hyperoptimization. Some hyperoptimizations are marginally useful, some aren't actually useful at all. Humans were built to eat real food, and they were built to use their bodies.

chaibiker 4y ago
Reducing average sitting bout length has as big an impact as exercise. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-021-00547-y https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-021-00547-y
- dangwhy 4y ago
  > In this Review, we make a case for an approach to preventing and managing cardiovascular disease that involves ‘sitting less and moving more’. Its not just 'Reducing average sitting bout length ' though right ? Also this seems like self reported observational studies?
  - chaibiker 4y ago
    Right, both exercise and sitting bout length independently are important. You just can't completely exercise away the impact of sitting alone.
kiba 4y ago
Important to get your vo2 max up, as highest as possible, because folks with elite vo2max are dramatically more likely to survive longer than baseline averages. Also important to focus on getting strong as possible, in both bone and muscle, with some focus on fast twitch muscles. A lot of elderly death can be attribute to some sort of falls. Even if they survive the fall, it can be a road to a fast death. Another thing not to neglect is to make sure you have movement patterns and that you focus on fortifying the body against injuries. Lifting extreme weight won't do you any good if you can't lift more, ditto for running.
- gymbeaux 4y ago
  My personal trainer says once you lose the fast twitch muscle, it’s gone for good and most people have lost it by age 70 or so.
- dangwhy 4y ago
  I've been listening to peter attia's new audiobook too. solid stuff. But where exactly do i find these 'medicine 3.0' doctors. My pcp still uses 'misguided' tests like LDL for cholesterol, serum creatine for renal function ect. Doesn't do host of other tests that he recommends doing by saying insurance won't cover it. I don't even know where to get my vo2 max tested. I have apple watch which gives me wildly different number than my garmin ( 32 vs 49). I am pretty sure both those numbers are wrong. I am not paying $300 to get my vo2 max tested privately.
  - kiba 4y ago
    I think I would set a budget aside for those sort of things. Accumulating 25 dollars a month to get a vo2 max test isn't as painful as spending 300 dollars of money you don't have. That comes to exactly once a year. I already spend 300+ dollars a month on health insurance, and I already see how much hospital bills was already costing me(I was hospitalized twice in the same year). I rather spend them on tests which are much cheaper in comparison. That being said, it's sure a good idea to get one's finance in order, which is what I am working, to facilitate important purchases(such as a foldable bike).
  - nradov 4y ago
    The reality is that unless you can afford to pay for high-end concierge medicine you're going to have to manage most of it yourself. Regular primary care physicians don't have time to deal with non-standard preventative care for people who are basically healthy. You can order many blood tests directly from reference labs such as LabCorp without a doctor but you'll probably have to pay out of pocket. You don't need any fancy equipment to get an accurate VO2 Max estimate. Just do a Cooper test by running as far as you can in 12 minutes and then plug the distance into a formula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test Modern fitness trackers such as recent Garmin watches can also make fairly accurate VO2 Max estimates but you have to give them enough raw data to work with. That means recording several running or cycling (with a power meter) activities of varying lengths at maximum effort. If you don't hit it hard then the device will still make an estimate but it's likely to be way off. https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/fitness-level/ https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/fitness-...
p1necone 4y ago
> eat real foods This is kind of a meaningless statement. Those of us that already know about nutrition are going to read that and go "he means eat a small amount of meat, lots of fibrous vegetables, avoid added sugar, high gi carbs" etc etc. But you're basically communicating nothing.
- rgrieselhuber 4y ago
  Real foods to me means foods that our ancestors ate for millenia and it was perfectly clear. Another way of putting it would be, foods that don’t come in too much packaging and foods that our grandparents would recognize.
  - p1necone 4y ago
    I like "prefer buying stuff from the outer ring of the supermarket" as good general advice.
    - rgrieselhuber 4y ago
      Hadn’t heard that one before but that seems like good advice.
    - have_faith 4y ago
      Michael Pollan wrote about this concept in In Defence of Food. He's also known for the idea of "eat food, mostly plants, not too much". His book goes on to explain what he means by "food" and mentions only eating from outer part of the super market where the fresh meat counters and vegies are.
      - jononomo 4y ago
        Michael Pollan was incorrect about plants, though -- it turns out you can just cut plants out of your diet entirely and experience excellent health and fitness as a result.
        4y ago
Asooka 4y ago
And to fast. Do intermittent fasting regularly. If you can, do a 3-day fast once a month or a week fast once every 6 months. To lose weight, eat fewer normal sized meals with a larger pause from the last to the first, not smaller meals spread over a large period. Also get your vitamin D, and magnesium, calcium, zinc. I take 4k IU of VitD and have never felt better.
jxramos 4y ago
love this term of "hyperoptimization", something in the direction an optimization in the penny-wise/pound-foolish space, an imprudent optimization if you will.

chaibiker 4y ago

Reducing average sitting bout length has as big an impact as exercise. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-021-00547-y https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-021-00547-y

dangwhy 4y ago
> In this Review, we make a case for an approach to preventing and managing cardiovascular disease that involves ‘sitting less and moving more’. Its not just 'Reducing average sitting bout length ' though right ? Also this seems like self reported observational studies?
- chaibiker 4y ago
  Right, both exercise and sitting bout length independently are important. You just can't completely exercise away the impact of sitting alone.

kiba 4y ago

Important to get your vo2 max up, as highest as possible, because folks with elite vo2max are dramatically more likely to survive longer than baseline averages. Also important to focus on getting strong as possible, in both bone and muscle, with some focus on fast twitch muscles. A lot of elderly death can be attribute to some sort of falls. Even if they survive the fall, it can be a road to a fast death. Another thing not to neglect is to make sure you have movement patterns and that you focus on fortifying the body against injuries. Lifting extreme weight won't do you any good if you can't lift more, ditto for running.

gymbeaux 4y ago
My personal trainer says once you lose the fast twitch muscle, it’s gone for good and most people have lost it by age 70 or so.
dangwhy 4y ago
I've been listening to peter attia's new audiobook too. solid stuff. But where exactly do i find these 'medicine 3.0' doctors. My pcp still uses 'misguided' tests like LDL for cholesterol, serum creatine for renal function ect. Doesn't do host of other tests that he recommends doing by saying insurance won't cover it. I don't even know where to get my vo2 max tested. I have apple watch which gives me wildly different number than my garmin ( 32 vs 49). I am pretty sure both those numbers are wrong. I am not paying $300 to get my vo2 max tested privately.
- kiba 4y ago
  I think I would set a budget aside for those sort of things. Accumulating 25 dollars a month to get a vo2 max test isn't as painful as spending 300 dollars of money you don't have. That comes to exactly once a year. I already spend 300+ dollars a month on health insurance, and I already see how much hospital bills was already costing me(I was hospitalized twice in the same year). I rather spend them on tests which are much cheaper in comparison. That being said, it's sure a good idea to get one's finance in order, which is what I am working, to facilitate important purchases(such as a foldable bike).
- nradov 4y ago
  The reality is that unless you can afford to pay for high-end concierge medicine you're going to have to manage most of it yourself. Regular primary care physicians don't have time to deal with non-standard preventative care for people who are basically healthy. You can order many blood tests directly from reference labs such as LabCorp without a doctor but you'll probably have to pay out of pocket. You don't need any fancy equipment to get an accurate VO2 Max estimate. Just do a Cooper test by running as far as you can in 12 minutes and then plug the distance into a formula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_test Modern fitness trackers such as recent Garmin watches can also make fairly accurate VO2 Max estimates but you have to give them enough raw data to work with. That means recording several running or cycling (with a power meter) activities of varying lengths at maximum effort. If you don't hit it hard then the device will still make an estimate but it's likely to be way off. https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/fitness-level/ https://www.firstbeat.com/en/science-and-physiology/fitness-...

p1necone 4y ago

> eat real foods This is kind of a meaningless statement. Those of us that already know about nutrition are going to read that and go "he means eat a small amount of meat, lots of fibrous vegetables, avoid added sugar, high gi carbs" etc etc. But you're basically communicating nothing.

rgrieselhuber 4y ago
Real foods to me means foods that our ancestors ate for millenia and it was perfectly clear. Another way of putting it would be, foods that don’t come in too much packaging and foods that our grandparents would recognize.
- p1necone 4y ago
  I like "prefer buying stuff from the outer ring of the supermarket" as good general advice.
  - rgrieselhuber 4y ago
    Hadn’t heard that one before but that seems like good advice.
  - have_faith 4y ago
    Michael Pollan wrote about this concept in In Defence of Food. He's also known for the idea of "eat food, mostly plants, not too much". His book goes on to explain what he means by "food" and mentions only eating from outer part of the super market where the fresh meat counters and vegies are.
    - jononomo 4y ago
      Michael Pollan was incorrect about plants, though -- it turns out you can just cut plants out of your diet entirely and experience excellent health and fitness as a result.
      - 4y ago

Asooka 4y ago

And to fast. Do intermittent fasting regularly. If you can, do a 3-day fast once a month or a week fast once every 6 months. To lose weight, eat fewer normal sized meals with a larger pause from the last to the first, not smaller meals spread over a large period. Also get your vitamin D, and magnesium, calcium, zinc. I take 4k IU of VitD and have never felt better.

jxramos 4y ago

love this term of "hyperoptimization", something in the direction an optimization in the penny-wise/pound-foolish space, an imprudent optimization if you will.