Breaking a longer fast properly
Hi, Doc - and thanks for all you do, truly. I'm about to be 54, 6'4"(male). During quarantine I made it up to about 340lbs, and was daily IF'ing myself back down; until my brother died in December, likely due to kidney disease. I've kicked it into high gear, eliminated most sugars and moved from 20+hr fasts to a hybrid of my own design - mostly keto, with Tuesday-Thursday at little to no calories (weighing in at around 250 right now so yay me). I'd like your thoughts on a) healthy re-feeding after 2-3 days of fasting, and b) your thoughts on weekly carb cycling. I had a gnarly experience with severe dizziness/prickly feelings in arms/legs after scarfing some high-carb, high-salt, low-sugar grub last week after I "thought" I had eased in with a little protein an hour beforehand. Thanks again!
Autophagy and "unwanted tissue" catablolism
Hola Doc - here's the deal: I'm down a lot of weight after saturating myself in your material, among several others. I love the idea that fasting into autophagy (2-3 days?) could get my body to utilize stored protein (i.e. loose skin, fibrous growth, skin tags) as well as stored fat; but how realistic is it to think that one could "self-eat" regularly and get rid of the majority of excess tissue?
Weekly multi-day fasting for significantly obese?
Hola, Doc - So, I've been fasting 2-3 days in the middle of every week this year, eating a pretty clean, omega-3 and fiber-centric diet around it (I'm 54, 6'4"and have gone from 340 last fall to the 250's this morning). I feel pretty good, do some light resistance training and "power-waddle" 3-4 miles most days. Am I fasting too much? It's hard sometimes to parse out what might be a physical feeling that I should pay attention to, vs. generalized anxiety that "I should only be losing a couple of pounds per week like the doctor on TV says, or it's unhealthy." Thanks!
Hormone optimization
Not a question, more of a comment/suggestion. I believe any discussion of longevity, health span, cardiovascular risk, lipids, cancer, osteoporosis/fractures, dementia, and aging in general should include sex hormones and thyroid hormones. Besides the discussion on WHI (thank you for that), your podcast has not really addressed the topic of hormone replacement in men and women. I sat listening to your discussion with Tom Dayspring on lipids (twice) and I heard no mention on the role of testosterone and estradiol on lipid management (!). I humbly suggest a podcast with Neal Rouzier, MD on the benefits of HRT on lipids and all the other topics I mentioned above. Thank you, and keep up the good work!
Mistrust Of Science
Hi Peter, Just listened to your interview with Peter Hotez where you posed the question of why there is a growing mistrust of science. I want to pose this in the form of a question by suggesting a couple reasons in the hope of eliciting a response from you. I would suggest that your probing interviews are one of the reasons that I do not trust science as must as I did previously. For example, you did a recent interview (sorry cannot recall the exact one) in which you revealed the fact that the average increase in life span attributable to "cancer drugs" amounted to an extra three months. Taking into account that Phase III trials are usually done with the healthiest of the sick, the actual increase is most likely much less if anything. Couple this with the fact that these socalled cancer drugs cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and you have a real formula for mistrust. Your take was that we must do better and that these end results were lacking. I agree, however the big money keeps flowing to these drug companies even though what they created was substandard (I'm being kind). Yes, their collective investments were huge; that does not change the fact that the "product" is more or less a sham. On to the subject of vaccines... There are seemingly reputable people like Rashid Buttar, The Nine Steps To Keep The Doctor Away who see the vaccine issue in a completely different light Peter Hotez. I think it would be fair to hear their side as well and perhaps debate a differing point of view. Seems to me, science is always about debate and uncertainty as to stated conclusions (as I've heard you say many times). Finally, the portrayal of Republicans as conspiracy theorists / antiscience simpletons is troubling. There is enough "out there" to understand why a growing healthy skepticism with regard to science is starting to percolate. I gave you a few examples, there are many others. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.