The Quantified Body

Rejuvenation biotech is a new industry forming around the theme of life extension technologies. This episode provides a broad look at the state of the industry, its most promising life extension technologies and their potential timelines. Life extension - this is something I've wanted to spend time on for a while. In this episode, I interview 5 thought leaders from the life extension movement. Consider this an introduction to the current status of life extension tools and technologies, as we look at most areas with a broad first-look. You will learn where things are and what the risk profile of those life ...

Microbiome testing can be confusing: many companies, different technologies and a lack of standards make it hard to get actionable insights from the data. Find out how technologies and labs differ and what information is actionable from today's microbiome tests. In this episode we continue our discussion of the microbiome that we started in Episode 9 and continued with Episode 37. Today we try to help you navigate the confusing field of microbiome testing companies and discuss the pros and cons of different technologies. Examples and lessons learned from our own testing will give you an idea of how a microbiome ...

Looking at an example of Machine Learning applied to functional medicine with the goal of helping athletes optimize performance. The question - with the help of artificial intelligence, can a 7-minute questionnaire identify physiological weaknesses and bypass the need to spend money on expensive lab tests? This episode focuses on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. These topics are massively discussed in investor and entrepreneurial circles, as well as the media in general. There is a trickle of that starting to move into areas of health tech and health data. There is a lot of potential and discussion around what that ...

What is carbohydrate intolerance? Do each of us have a personal tolerance or intolerance of carbohydrates? Does this also vary by source of carbohydrate? Learn how evolutionary tools may explain appetite regulation and carbohydrate metabolism and offer ways to regain carb tolerance through diet and lifestyle modifications. In this episode, we explore how carbohydrate intolerance works. We look at the evolutionary template (basically the Paleo template), neuroregulation of appetite, carbohydrate tolerance, insulin resistance and sensitivity, and the factors that drive all of these. "Once the person is insulin resistant, particularly when they are heading down this road towards prediabetes and potentially diabetes, ...

Is your glucose metabolism driven by your personal microbiome? Recent research reveals how the microbiome influences blood glucose, weight gain and weight loss. And how the new company, "Day Two", is using microbiome sequencing data to provide personalized nutrition recommendations. In this episode we discuss how personal your blood glucose response and regulation is. We look at how glucose metabolism can differ from one person to another, and how it differs based on typical measures, such as the hypoglycemic index. Most research studies try to understand what a diet or food does to an average person. But the question is whether ...

Recent investigations have shown supplements to not always contain what they say they do. Or at other times to have unwanted contaminants such as heavy metals. Learn to use 3rd party lab testing to select supplements that contain the active ingredients needed to provide the results you seek. Sometimes on this show, we discuss using supplements as tools to get desired results. Examples in past episodes included curcumin, activated charcoal, NT factor, Greens powder, oxaloacetate and many others. I've been aware for a long time that not all supplement products are equal in quality. For instance, if they actually contain as ...

Micronutrient status is a foundation of health, performance and chronic disease minimization. This episode looks at how to optimize fat soluble micronutrients status. In this episode we look at ensuring micronutrient status. Ensuring your body has the building blocks it needs to do what it needs to do. This is an important lever to increasing your health span and current functionality and performance. Previously we discussed micronutrient status with a focus on magnesium in episode 17 with Dr. Carolyn Dean. This episode is about fat-soluble micronutrients including vitamin A, D and K. I personally look at micronutrient status as a foundational piece to get covered ...

Ketone bodies, whether gained from fasting, keto diets, MCTs or exogenous ketones have many potential applications with benefits ranging from performance, to health, to longevity and mitigating symptoms and risks of certain diseases. There is growing evidence that ketone bodies, whether they come from fasting, keto diets, MCTs or exogenous ketones have potential applications across many areas from longevity to performance, to health and mitigating some of the risks and symptoms of certain diseases like cancer and neurologically inclined deceases. As such the whole ketone body area is what I call a high leverage area due to the many potential ...

Putting the body into ketosis and controlling blood glucose levels may prove to be effective therapy against certain cancers. This real case reveals one aggressive self-experimenter who used a combination of the ketogenic diet, fasting and other tools to control his epilepsy and send his brain cancer into remission. This episode examines the ketogenic diet as a tool to fight against cancer. It is a follow up of the episodes on ketosis and fasting that we have done with Dr. Thomas Seyfried in episode 16, and Gene Fine in episode 36. You definitely should check those out for context before ...

Most of us have non-optimal blood glucose regulation today.The impact? Reduced performance, and reduced longevity. We wrongly assume that it's only diabetics that are exposed to these issues. This episode explores using continuous glucose monitoring and other tech to optimize blood sugar through the eyes of a diabetic self-experimenter. How can blood sugar regulation and dysregulation be  better understood? Certainly a lot of you are aware and concerned about these topics, if you haven't already been tracking your blood glucose or your ketones through some of the self experiments we have previously done. There are a lot of lessons on optimization ...

Part 3 in our series of Fasting Self-Experiments. In this longer 10 day water fast I tracked results with a broad set of biomarkers (ketones, glucose, weight, hormones and cognitive performance panels). This is a long post - if that scares you, jump directly to what you're looking for: Why Do a 10 Day Water Fast? (The health benefits that we're optimizing for) 10 Day Water Fast Results (Weight, metabolism, cognitive performance, hormones) 10 Day Water Fast Experience (Anecdotal thoughts, symptoms, and my post-fast rookie mistake) The Tracking (Details on all the biomarkers tracked and lab tests used) Tools & Tactics (Details on the exact ...

A look at how to accurately quantify your cardiovascular fitness in order to optimize endurance sports or your cardiovascular health. Is VO2Max the gold standard? Are the metrics in the current "fitness trackers" useful for this goal? In this episode we look at different ways to track fitness. Previously we have talked about VO2 max and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), along with the trackers (ex. Fitbits) which are used to quantify such physical activity markers. This episode highlights difficulties and advances in translating physical activity data into meaningful information. We seek to understand what tracking fitness actually tells you about how fit you ...

Heart disease affects 50% of the U.S. population in their lifetime. Learn how to accurately quantify your personal heart disease status and risk, and if necessary, take clear actions to reduce that risk by eliminating plaque in the arteries. This episode presents an in depth look at heart disease because this is one of the most likely things to shorten our lifespan. We focus on the key topic of quantifying your real heart disease risk. One in three deaths in the United States are caused by cardiovascular disease. Even worse, one of out two Americans will suffer some form of heart ...

Meditation - ever more popular as studies pile up proving its benefits. However, how do you assure yourself that you gain the same benefits with your meditation practice? Muse Calm is a neurofeedback device that promises accurate feedback on the quality of your meditation. In this episode we talk about improving your focus and meditation practice with the Muse Calm app. There are many benefits to meditation. Some find that it helps increase their calm. Other benefits include reducing stress, and changing the structure of the brain. In spite of these benefits, many find it hard to either start or continue ...

What is genetic testing able to do and not do with current services? We talk with one of the top genetic lab services to understand how technologies differ in accuracy and where it is working, where it is not yet ready and why. In this episode we look at the impact that genetics has on our health and wellness. With rapid discoveries in epigenetics, the picture isn’t as clear as when we thought genetics was everything. Epigenetic factors regulate which parts of our genetic blueprints are actually active and working for us at a given time. As previously covered throughout ...