PhilosophersNotes (53)

• 

  The Healthy Deviant

  A Rule Breaker's Guide to Being Healthy in an Unhealthy World

  by Pilar Gerasimo

  I’ve been eagerly awaiting for my dear friend Pilar Gerasimo to write a book that captures her wisdom on how to Optimize our lives and give the world all we’ve got. And... The wait is over! Pilar is one of the wisest people I know. Among many other things, she created Experience Life magazine (which currently reaches over 3 million people per year) and is the co-host of the Living Experiment podcast with Dallas Hartwig (co-founder of Whole30). The lead quote for this book perfectly captures the thesis of the book. It’s from Jiddu Krishnamurti. He tells us: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Yep. That’s about right. In a society in which the VAST majority of us are sick and tired and anxious and depressed and, well, blah... IT IS NO MEASURE OF HEALTH TO BE WELL ADJUSTED TO THAT SICK SOCIETY. (Right?) Enter: The Healthy Deviant. This “Rule Breaker’s Guide" is packed with Big Ideas on how we can "Be Healthy in an Unhealthy World.”

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  Energy & Energy

  algorithms Energy Habits willpower

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• 

  The Official Bright Line Eating Cookbook

  Weight Loss Made Simple

  by Susan Peirce Thompson

  I LOVE (!) Susan Peirce Thompson and her work. A few years ago, we featured her New York Times best-selling book Bright Line Eating. <- A book that combines the science of willpower and nutrition?! I’ll take it! In that book, we learn about the fact that Susan used to be obese and addicted to everything. As in... EVERYTHING. What makes her especially awesome is that she went antifragile on it and got a Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences so she could understand what the heck was going on. She’s now an Adjunct Associate Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. She’s also an expert in the psychology of eating and is the creator of Bright Line Eating Solutions— a program (and community!) that has helped thousands of people live “Happy, Thin, and Free.” This book is the Cookbook to her Bright Line Eating movement. Of course, this book is packed (!) with Big Ideas. For now, I’m excited to share a few of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

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  Optimal Weight & Willpower

  Body Energy Nutrition willpower

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• 

  The End of Alzheimer’s

  The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline

  by Dale Bredesen

  Alzheimer’s. Even just thinking about that dreaded disease freaks you out a bit, eh? Over 5 million people in the US alone have Alzheimer’s. 1 in 9 people over 65. We’re told that there’s little we can do to prevent it and even less (make that: nothing) we can do to reverse it. Well... What if we could put an End to Alzheimer’s? Dale Bredeson, MD tells us we can via, as per the sub-title: “The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline.” Bredeson wants us to know this: “Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented, and in many cases its associated decline can be reversed.” This is a potentially life-changing book. Big Ideas we explore include the ReCODE protocol (playing chess vs. checkers), the three threats that lead to three different types of Alzheimer’s (inflammation, deficient nutrients, toxins), how to give yourself Alzheimer’s (just live like most people!), genetic risk (ApoE2 + ApoE3 + AppE4), and heroes behind progress (it isn’t easy!).

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  Energy

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• 

  The Longevity Paradox

  How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age

  by Steven R. Gundry

  How’d you like to “die young” at a ripe old age? Well... This book gives you the how to. Dr. Steven Gundry is a former heart surgeon (plus professor and head of cardiothoracic surgery at Loma Linda University School of Medicine) who makes a compelling case for the idea that we need to invest a lot more time Optimizing the most ancient part of ourselves (our microbiome) if we want to extend both our life span AND our health span (aka die “young” at that ripe old age). Big Ideas we explore include genes vs. microbiome (which one matters more?), long-lived peoples (do and don't!), chronic cardio (equals chronic stress), your two brains (head + gut... which one's #1?), and got glymph? (how to wash your brain!).

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• 

  Make Time

  How to Focus on What Matters Every Day

  by Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky

  Want to Make Time? Well, Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (JZ) have the system to help you, as per the sub-title of their great book: “Focus on What Matters Every Day.’ Jake and JZ met at Google. Jake had worked on Gmail and JZ on YouTube before they connected at Google Ventures. While there, they worked with a ton of startups in which Google invested (including Uber, Slack and 23andMe) on a project-development system they created called “Sprint.” This book is all about resetting our culture’s default settings by stepping off of what they call “the Busy Bandwagon” while jumping out of “Infinity Pools” of distraction to optimize our energy, focus, and time. It’s a GREAT book that echoes a ton of what we talk about all the time. Big Ideas we explore include how to make time in four steps: Highlight (what's today's focal point?) + Laser (vs. disco balls) + Energize (be a good Homo sapien) + Reflect (it's all one big experiment!).

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  Conquering Digital Addiction & Digital Minimalism

  digital minimalism Energy focus masterpiece-days productivity time management

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• 

  The Power of Agency

  The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms

  by Dr. Paul Napper, Anthony Rao Ph. D.

  Agency. It’s one of my favorite words and psychological concepts (and a cornerstone of our Optimize Coach program). So, when I saw this book I immediately got it and read it and here we are. Paul Napper and Anthony Rao are leading consultants and clinicians (who have both held academic positions at Harvard Medical School). In their great book, they define agency as “the ability to act as an effective agent for yourself—reflecting, making creative choices, and constructing a meaningful life.” Then they provide practical, scientifically-grounded wisdom on, as per the sub-title of the book: “The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms.” In this Note, we take a quick look at the 7 principles and shine a spotlight on the first 3 with a focus on how we can Optimize our agency TODAY!!

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  Antifragility & Positive Psychology

  Agency confidence Energy positive-psychology

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• 

  Why We Sleep

  Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

  by Matthew Walker PhD

  Matthew Walker is one of the world’s leading neuroscientists and sleep experts. He’s a professor at UC Berkeley (and former professor at Harvard) who has spent decades studying why we sleep and how to, as per the sub-title of this book, unlock the power of sleep and dreams. As you know if you’ve been following along, I’m a HUGE advocate of Optimizing our sleep as a fundamental practice in Optimizing our lives. This book has made me EVEN MORE bullish about the power of sleep. The consequences of chronically depriving ourselves of the sleep we need? Well, they’re astonishingly devastating—dramatically increasing the odds of having everything from mood disorders to cancer (and everything else we don’t want). Big Ideas we explore include the fact that you're more likely to get struck by lightning than have the gene that let's you get by on less than the recommended sleep, the universality of sleep (even worms sleep!!), resetting baselines, the iPad effect (did you know how much using one before sleep messes w/your melatonin?), and some tips to Optimize your sleep TONIGHT!!!

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  Energy & Sleep

  Energy sleep

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• 

  Wired to Eat

  Turn Off Cravings, Rewire Your Appetite for Weight Loss, and Determine the Foods That Work for You

  by Robb Wolf

  Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist and is one of the leading thinkers/writers/practitioners in the Paleo or Ancestral Health movement. The essence of this book is the that while there are general principles of nutrition that work for everyone AND... Ultimately we need to figure out what works best for us as individuals if we want to rock it. Big Ideas we explore include: the fact that one size diets do NOT fit all (remember: "rough" tools vs. precision tools), discordance theory (there's a mismatch between our genes and our environment!), an anti-inflammatory diet (aka Paleo aka Phase I), personalized nutrition (aka 7-Day Carb test aka Phase II), the other pillars of health (sleep, stress, move, connection), and genetic + environmental lotteries (what to do if you lost them--lol).

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  The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance

  by Jeff S. Volek, Stephen D. Phinney

  Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney are both academic researchers and professors who have been studying sports nutrition, ketogenic diets and peak performance for decades. To put it in perspective, Dr. Stephen Phinney (with his MD from Stanford and PhD from MIT) coined the phrase “keto-adapted” in 1980. Big Ideas we explore include: the accepted dogma (vs. compelling data), two fuel tanks (you want to go hours or days?), veto-adaptation (how to), protein (necessary but in moderation), fat (your most important fuel; the good and bad!), and the macro breakdown (here it is!).

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  Ketotarian

  The (Mostly) Plant-Based Plan to Burn Fat, Boost Your Energy, Crush Your Cravings, and Calm Inflammation

  by Dr. Will Cole

  Will Cole is a functional medicine practitioner who has helped thousands of clients from around the world. He’s also the Cohost of Keto Talk. In this book, he asks: “Curious about a ketogenic diet but turned off by all the meat and dairy?” If so, he says, perhaps you’d like to become a “Ketotarian"--which is, basically, a combination of the best of a low-carb approach with the best of a plant-based approach—while dropping the things that *don’t* work in both approaches. Or, as Will puts it, think of “a plant-based program that provides all the health and weight-loss benefits of keto diets” while welcoming “vegetarians, vegans and pescatarians to the table.” In the Note, we explore the benefits of burning fat for fuel vs. sugar, how to boost your mitochondria, the goodness of plants and how to enter Ketotarian Land.

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  Nutrition

  Energy Keto Nutrition

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• 

  The Overfat Pandemic

  Exposing the Problem and Its Simple Solution for Everyone Who Needs to Eliminate Excess Body Fat

  by Dr. Philip Maffetone

  Phil Maffetone is one of the world’s all-time great endurance coaches. In addition to coaching the best triathlete ever (Mark Allen), he’s also toured with The Red Hot Chili Peppers as their wellness coach (he considers them endurance athletes) and he’s coached legendary music producer Rick Rubin—helping him Optimize and lose over 100 pounds in the process. He’s a fascinating, iconoclastic guy who’s been preaching the power of burning fat for fuel for FOUR decades—demonstrating that it’s not only an optimal approach to endurance fitness but to our optimal health as well. In this book, Phil focuses his big brain on what he calls the “overfat” pandemic. He uses the word “overfat” to describe people who have “excess body fat sufficient to impair health.” Overweight and obese people fall into this category. AND... Even people at a “healthy” weight can be overfat. In fact, according to his research, 90% (!!!) of Americans fall into the “overfat” category. (Yikes!) We'll take a quick look at why we should care, figure out if we (and/or our loved ones) are overfat, look at the #1 cause and then focus on the solution so we can become optimalfat! :)

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  Fix Your Feet

  Build the Best Foundation for Healthy, Pain-Free Knees, Hips, and Spine

  by Dr. Philip Maffetone

  Let’s talk about our feet! Our feet? YES! Our feet. Although pretty much ignored, they’re kinda important. In fact, they are, of course, literally (!) the foundation of our entire body. And, we only get one pair that needs to last our whole life so... Get this: Over 25% of our bones are found in our feet. And, did you know that each foot endures over 100,000 (!!) pounds of pressure with every mile we walk? Yep. Why should we care? Because a bunch of our biomechanical issues—from sore knees and hips and lower backs—can be traced back to sub-optimal feet. Enter: Fix Your Feet. We'll take a quick look at the #1 cause of foot problems along with the #1 solution plus some other goodness to make sure your feet (and the rest of you!) are smiling.

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  Movement

  Energy movement

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  The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing

  by Dr. Philip Maffetone

  This is our second Note on one of Phil Maffetone’s books. This is called “The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing” for a reason. It’s a REALLY Big Book. (Hah!) It’s 516 pages, but the small font and two-column pages make it considerably denser; like, encyclopedically dense—which I found fantastic as I wanted to get into every nook and cranny of Phil’s brain. (Studying it was a wonderful mental-endurance workout. :) It’s essentially the distillation of over three decades (!) of clinical work with the world’s absolute best endurance athletes. Big Ideas we explore include the "Big Four" of the Big Book, the difference between aerobic and anaearobic (it's not just about oxygen!), building your superchargers (aka your mitochondria), flipping the switch to fat burning (pro tip: eliminate sugar and flour!), and stress: the good, the bad and the ugly (remember: training = work + rest!).

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  Rest

  Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

  by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

  Alex Pang is the founder of the Restful Company. In this book, he brilliantly walks us through the science of why rest is an unequivocally essential part of doing truly great work. He integrates the latest findings in neuroscience with compelling and inspiring stories of historical exemplars who leveraged rest to achieve greatness. It’s awesome. Big Ideas we explore include an introduction to your default mode network (aka what your brain does when it's "resting"), your new four-hour workday (that's what the great do), the importance of early starts (and rhythms), why walking and (aerobic) exercise are so powerful for creativity (hint: blood to brain!!), and the importance of deep play (aka making your work AND play one big game).

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  Productivity & Sleep

  Energy Rest Rhythms

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  212° The Extra Degree

  Extraordinary Results Begin with One Small Change

  by Sam Parker, Mac Anderson

  212°. It’s that extra degree where all the magic happens. Over 1 million people have enjoyed this super-short look at a super-powerful concept. Big Ideas we explore include a quick look at the importance of turning up the hear and initiating something called “activation energy,” how the little things matter and can be measured in Olympic gold, finding your ONE Thing, pruning diversions and going for the second mile, “and then some” style.

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  Peak Performance

  commitment Energy greatness Motivation Peak Performance

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  The Keto Reset Diet

  Reboot Your Metabolism in 21 Days and Burn Fat Forever

  by Mark Sisson

  Mark Sisson is a former world-class endurance athlete and one of the leading thinkers and bloggers in the ancestral health movement. His blog MarksDailyApple.com is one of the most-visited health information websites on the Internet. If you’re into the whole “fat is the human body’s preferred fuel” side of the nutrition world, then I think you’ll really love the book. (If you’re not, well then... :) Big Ideas we explore include how to create metabolic efficiency, how to best fuel your metabolic fire (fat = clean-burning logs; carbs = smoky twigs), the three things to go on the Rest (sugars + grains + veggie oils), how to Optimize your lifestyle (exercise + sleep + stress) and the ultimate target: enjoying the whole process!

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  Fat Chance

  Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease

  by Robert Lustig

  Robert Lustig is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at University of California, San Francisco. He has authored 120 peer-reviewed articles and 70 reviews and is a leading voice on childhood obesity. And, his YouTube video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” has been viewed over 7 million times. Obesity is a global pandemic. It’s astonishing how rapidly it’s expanding. And it’s COMPLETELY preventable. Lustig has dedicated his career to helping us understand the causes and how to “beat the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity and disease.” Big Ideas we explore include: Meeting the Darth Vader of the Food Empire (“Hi, sugar!”), two hormones driving the show (insulin + leptin), which fat you need to worry about most (big belly vs. big butt fat!), why so many diets work (reduced sugar + fiber), exercise (best ROI in medicine) and voting with ever dollar we *don’t* spend.

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  The Case Against Sugar

  by Gary Taubes

  Gary Taubes is an award-winning science journalist. He’s a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator in Health Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. In this book, we take up the case against sugar as the primary suspect for ALL of the chronic diseases that are killing us. As the back cover says, Taubes “makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick.” Big Ideas we explore include: the prime suspect (= sugar), drug or food?, two theories (energy balance vs. metabolic theory), sugar as a chronic toxin (vs. acute), sugar as candy for cancer cells, and the big question: how little is too much?

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  The Telomere Effect

  A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer

  by Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., Elissa Epel, Ph.D.

  Elizabeth Blackburn won the Nobel Prize for her discovery of telemorase—“the enzyme that replenishes telomeres, which protect our genetic heritage.” Elissa Epel is one of the world’s leading health psychology researcher. Together, they have created a great book that walks us through the best of what we know about telomeres, why they’re so important and what we can do to Optimize them. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about telomeres, THIS is the book to read. Big Ideas we explore include why telomeres are the secret sauce to aging well, the fact that your cells are listening to your thoughts (#1 tip? Shift from a threat response to a challenge response!), how to mind your telomeres (move from negative thinking to resilient thinking), how to eat, move, sleep your way to happy telomeres, and a challenging question: What will YOUR cellular legacy be?

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  Habits & Positive Psychology

  confidence Energy positive-psychology Telomeres

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  Designed to Move

  The Science-Backed Program to Fight Sitting Disease and Enjoy Lifelong Health

  by Dr. Joan Vernikos

  Joan Vernikos studied the effects of weightlessness on health and served as Life Sciences Director at the NASA Ames Research Center. We featured another one of her earlier books: Sitting Kills, Moving Heals. This book is kinda like Part 2 of that book. The theme is the same: Sit too much and you’re going to experience the same types of negative effects that astronauts experience in the microgravity of outer space. Big Ideas we explore include the fact that gravity is our friend, why we don’t want to be active AND sedentary (are you?), some stats on the health problems caused by sitting (did you know it can be as bad as smoking or drinking heavily?), and the keys to Optimizing.

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  Conquering Cancer & Movement & Productivity

  Body Energy Female Author Modern Classic

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