Instagram Q & A 8/29/2024

Q: Antioxidants causing health issues? Aside from blunting training response. Any risk

A:

Yes. dissipative structures and dynamic equilibrium in cells. Look into that. micro-chaos at the cellular level contributes to the overall adaptability and functionality of the organism.

When you eliminating those fluctuations through excessive antioxidants, the system essentially loses its 'tone' or ability to respond effectively to fluctuations that are actually necessary for cells to manage energy balance, production and redox through. This also ties into why it's not a good idea to jack up ATP and energy production constantly.

That's a dynamic process. We know this with blunting post inflammatory cascades in training.

But it goes beyond mitigating training responses.

That's relatively surface level. It also has health implications. That doesn't mean antioxidants aren't useful in certain circumstances. But blasting tons of them isn't a free lunch. You're going to create problems for yourself when you're taking too many things. This is why I'm really not a fan of supplementing with anything other than basic nutrients for prolonged periods of time. Any big benefit you get from something will likely have a downside. It's all about weighing those temporary advantages against the drawbacks. Supplementing is a push and pull game.

Q: View on root canal treatment

A: commonly infected. And can be tied to a lot of underlying health issues when conducted poorly (which is more often than you think). That goes for any infection in the mouth/jaw though. If you're going to get a root canal, get it done with a biological dentist. They often use things like ozone and some other methods to throughly disinfect the area after and during the procedure. I have some recommendations and additional info on this in the patreon under the dental protocol.

Q: Thoughts on supplementing pregnenolone for stress & as a preworkout

A:

Sparingly. And maybe only before a high-stakes event or something. It does tend to be particularly effective for endurance. Ive tried it in the past a few times for high output, CNS based activity as well and it also seems to have some positive impact there since it's essentially a neuro-steroid.

Seems to have some good benefits for recovering from that type of training as well. But it's not free of side effects and it's not something I'd use on any consistent basis.

Q: What would you look into with cold hands and feet? Thyroid?

A:

Raynauds, hypothyroid, poor circulation from poor vascular and cardiac health (especially if you're not doing enough zone 2 or walking) etc. yea. Lots of potential things. Vascular bio-regulators (vesugen, vilon) can help with Raynauds and poor circulation.

Hesperdin, carbon dioxide baths, and red light therapy are also useful. Hypothyroid origins are more complex and require a more multi-systemic solution. It's all ultimately a systemic health problem though. But poor circulation and vascular issues can usually be corrected with appropriate diet, supplements and other lifestyle factors.

Q: Do you think diet alone can cure Ir treat a genetic disorders that's incurable

A: It's a question of context and severity. You need to realize that diet and lifestyle - in many instances- set the stage for a treatment outcome. It's an internal pre-condition that has to be met before you can effectively make big changes in progressive, degenerative conditions of varying genesis. Take a condition like EDS which can vary dramatically in terms of severity. Collagen synthesis itself relies heavily on the overall energy status of the cell. That's influenced by mitochondrial function and the electron transport chain. If complex I and complex ll of the ETC are shut down, it will jack up the cell's ability to produse oxidative shosphory asion, oricial generates the majority of cellular ATP. Those are all big lifestyle decisions- sleep, food, sunlight etc. So if you're not healthy and you're not supporting the basic functions of your cells, it's going to be impossible for more 'advanced' therapies to work as effectively. You can't install the plumbing on a house that doesn't even have a frame. That's why I think sometimes it's the wrong question. Can is be all that's needed in some circumstances? Sure. But even if it's not...it's still a non-negotiable

Q: Anything to worry about in salt as far as quality?

A: Yes. Heavy metals, especially lead and aluminum. Some sea salts can have extremely high concentrations of lead in particular. Avoid anticaking agents sodium aluminosilicate and or 535 Sodium ferrocyanide and pink salts as those tend to be high in HM. I personally use Vera salt which is third party tested and microplastic free packaging as well

Q: Any thoughts on the importance of bone health

A: It's no longer viewed as a structural organ. Irs actually an endocrine organ. So yes. Obviously important for many reasons.

There some good research looking into the fight or flight response in bony vertebrates being triggered by the release of the bone-derived hormones like osteocalcin actually, rather than adrenaline as traditionally believed. The brain actually instructs the skeleton to release osteocalcin almost immediately upon detecting danger. Osteocalcin also plays a role in regulating metabolism, increasing glucose uptake, improving memory, enhancing other aspects of performance etc. Pearl powder (for calcium and signal proteins), vitamin K, magnesium, vitamin D (ideally from sufficent sun exposure if possible) and boron are my favorite supplements for bone support. Carbon dioxide baths are also super useful for bone density. Would also check out the bone protocol I have on the patreon. It has a list of over 30 different things for bone health

Q: Any real health value in cold exposure and ice baths aside from resilience

A:

Yes. But you need to be 'healthy' before you can get the 'health' benefits of cold exposure.

The benefits of cold exposure aren't what you think though. extreme drops in body temperatur trigger the nuclear retention of negative clock regulators. negative clock regulators are proteins that play a role in regulating the circadian rhythm by inhibiting the activity of clock genes. When cells are exposed to hypothermia, the normal functioning of the circadian clock is altered positively. negative clock regulators accumulate in the cell nucleus, which is the compartment where genetic material is housed. That accumulation of NC's regulators in the nucleus can lead to changes in gene expression and cellular processes that are normally regulated by the circadian clock. You can actually use cold to help regulate the CR. I have a great patreon blog up going super deep into the benefits of cold exposure beyond recovery and stress innoculation. Which are probably the worst reasons to use cold tbh.

Q: Do you still reccomend seed probiotic?

A: No. It's not 'bad'. But I found that most people responded way better to the Just Thrive probiotic. That's one of the three supplements (magnesium and B's being the other two that I think most people would benefit from supplementing mostly year round. I've seen that one product completely turn around people's Gl health and symptoms (especially bloating). You can find that one in the bio

• Spores have better survivability and also increase the diversity of other keystone bacteria in the gut.

Mitolife also sells a good spore based probiotic.

Q: Favorite nootropic for brain performance overall? If you had to choose

A:

I don't usually feel like I need nootropics anymore. My concentration, focus, mood and overall energy on any given day is usually fairly solid. But if I had to pick, probably centrophenoxine.

Some find it over-stimulating (it's not actually a stimulant but it does feel stimulant like) but l've always responded very well to it. It feels like a good 'all-purpose l' compound for overall cognition, mood, focus and memory recall. I tend to like nootropics that provide that all encompassing feeling rather than things that jack up focus only. That's why I could never use adderall..

Q: PEDS that boost collagen growth lol? Like why do they work for muscle but not tendon

A:

I mean that's essentially what growth hormone is. And then you have splice variants of IGF like mechano growth factor which is basically doing exactly that in connective tissues. But again, uncontrolled growth IS the thing that causes issues with tendons with PEDS. You're not going to magically not run into problems by just and sort tissue. This is why lower doses of these things tend to be less problematic.

Uncontrolled collagen formation is why you get scars and fibrosis in organs like the heart after damage - that's not a good thing.

That's why for collagen synthesis, I'm more a fan of things like GHK which act as signaling molecule that helps regulate cellular functions in a balanced way. It can increase collagen production when needed, such as during wound healing, but also has mechanisms to prevent excessive collagen deposition that could lead to scarring.

Thymosin-beta-4 is also really good for this as well as BPC-157 to lesser but still clinically relevant extent