A lot of people have this cliche influencer approach to utopia. Raw milk drinking fountains, ball sunning stations, seed oil free cafes. Personally I think thats out of touch. Utopia in the typical sense would be an environment that meets all human needs with little friction:
A high trust society. One where I would trust my neighbor and have some level of allegiance and cohesiveness with everybody I live around
Convenient and self-sustaining pathways for learning, self-development & skill-building
A practical way
Purpose & meaning. Play & joy. Variety & stimulation. Esteem & significance. Contribution & service. Connection & Love
In practice, this would be a place untouched by the throes of industrialization. Drinking out of rivers, eating fruit from the trees. wild game and pasture raised animals. Nutrient dense produce. No glyphosate, no air pollution, no nnEMFs. No hereditary toxin accumulation from the poisions accrued by our mothers and our mothers mothers.
A true utopia would be one where we could strip the generations of cumulative damage to our brain and bodies. Thats the biological side. On the sociological side. I'd want a place where people feel connected to one another. Small societies of no more than a few hundred. A world where virtue is praised and degeneracy is frowned upon. In essence I'd like to bring back the way we lived for thousands of years and compound that with the scientific advancements we've made in presenting disease and suffering.
I know this is unrealistic. But I've had glimpses of this. Particularly in my time living in small coastal towns.
Whats a full day of eating on a fat refeed day / week. Do you still use carbs at least pre workout? FTN? Fruit juice & glycine before bed? what about the supplements stack
I have carbs on my fat refeed day because I'm no longer trying to shred through fat (already lean). My metabolism is now capable of having some levels of fats and carbs together. My high fat day looks like:
Breakfast: Eggs, avocado, butter, vegetables (sometimes stewed meat if I have it)
Pre-workout meal: sourdough or potatoes, leanish meat
Post-workout meal: High protein, mid fat (think ribeye, cucumbers and sauerkraut)
Dinner: Fatty fish (mackerel, sardines, etc), Cheese (feta, or mozzarella), or chuck roast/lamb
You can still have carbs, just keep them around your workout and have a little less fat with those meals. Load the first and last meal of the day with ample fats and make sure they're GOOD ones
It depends on the martial art. Jiu Jitsu will be isometrics & mobility, Wrestling & judo will be explosive compound movements, striking will be rotational torque, fascia, footwork, and hip mobility
I Train a mix of striking and grappling, and align my training with whatever style I'm focusing on.
Non-negotiables are:
Rotational work (check out Weck Method, Landmine Method, Rope flow)
Sprint intervals: Swimming, Assault Bike, Beach or hill sprints
Footwork: Preferably jumpwork, occasionally ladder drills at my gym
Endurance training: usually covered just from training any martial art but I also enjoy running
As for explosive exercises with high crossover:
Deep hip sled pushes. Getting my hips into it like I'm lunging into a takedoown
Landmine Presses, cleans, core rotations
Kettlebell swings
Bodybuilding exercises make my martial arts worse. Muscles take up too much oxygen and lose their spring. If I do traditional training (think Curls, bench press, rows), I find a way to make them more athletic. Explosive with little to no negative. Fast twitch muscle activation. I find this also gives me a unique physique and strength profile
Hey Noah, what do you think about taking T3 (cynomel) and all the talking around thyroid in general?
I have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, I’ve been having them all my life, I’m 26yo. I’ve been researching about nutrition and training for the past 10 years but last year I heard the name Ray peat for the first time. I started with FTN and many other peaty principles and I experienced joy for the first time in my life (avoided sugar since I was a kid). The thing is, I feel like my metabolism is extremely fragile, every little stressor, a week I eat bad, winter, etc. and I’m back to feeling like shit.
Temperature and pulse extremely low.
Even if I could do everything at 95-100% perfection to feel very good (which I think isn’t normal). Shouldn’t I address the probable root cause and fix it with t3? (I was always very anti drugs, only regular thing I started taking was aspirin)
Supplementing synthetic thyroid is not addressing the root cause. Its a crutch that could give you the energy needed to implement other behaviors but will at best have a net neutral effect on natural production. If your objective is just to feel better, then yes consider natural dessicated thyroid (NDT). If your objective is to address root cause, then keep digging.
Remember that progress is non-linear and the objective is resilience. T3 or NDT can be a crutch to get you there but there is no biological free lunch.
You could always just use beta blockers haha. But in all seriousness, a lot of the anxiety that comes from public speaking is actually excitement in disguise. If you can frame it that way, you can break through into a proverbial second wind. A lot of it is finding your tone and practicing in low stakes scenarios. Commit to a few rant sessions about a particular subject and post them in a low risk environment (eg youtube channel). You'll find your tone and it will turn into an enjoyable self-discovery process. Accept the fact that you're going to fuck up and appreciate the fact that every fuckup is an opportunity for growth
Depends on personal digestion speed. I wait until I feel the gastric emptying (no food in my stomach). This can look anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour 20. Carbs will burn faster than fats so better to have carb meal then fat meal as opposed to vice versa
Antihistamines are great here. Black seed oil and pig kidney extract for DAO. I cahd rammed my way through a deviated septum via mewing and exclusive nose breathing during exercise (you will feel like you are suffocating)
I also use a propolis nasal spray when I really need it. Great help. Mouth tape at night. Your system will adapt if you force it to (lesson in there)
If you were training ultra endurance or training fasted, then yes. The shredmaxxing protocol prioritizes short, intense training sessions and micro-workouts. I like pomegranate juice in sparkling water & electrolytes as my intra-workout (unless I'm training intense, then still water).
Hey Noah. What are the best ways to fix the gut? or even knowing if your gut is having problems? I am having acne at 24 after not having it for a long time, ( I was on acutane when I was 15), and I’m depressed, low energy most of the days. I’ve been seeing more and more studies about how the gut dictates most of the stuff that I’m Feeling, hence my curiosity.
Having my first kid in about 7 months. How do you recommend parents should approach the modern day vaccine schedule? Are there any books/research I can read?
First of all, congratulations. A few book recommendations for you:
- The nourishing traditions book of baby & child care
- Real food for pregnancy
- Optimising fertility with Nutrition
- Deep nutrition
- The optimal diet for pregnant and nursing mothers
As for vaccine schedule, I am an invasive minimalist. I would find a practitioner with a solid track record (check out Andra, bioavailableND), and assess the risk profile of opting/abstaining from any particular injections
Recently read "We want to live" by Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Eating raw meat and raw foods makes a lot of sense to me for the beneficial enzymes, bacteria, and preservation of key nutrients / protein. That being said, he mentions the dangers of eating raw meat that has been frozen as the protein is only 25% utilizable in the human body compared to fresh at 100%. And freezing meat causes more E. coli production. Curious to your thoughts on this? And if so, it seems most supply chains freeze at some point in the process. Is there a way to find consistent sources of fresh raw meat/fish?
A 75% decline in "usable" protein from freezing is overstated. Freezing does mitigate risk of certain pathogens & parasites, and cooking makes certain proteins/nutrients more bioavailable. There is a benefit tradeoff between the two
Most butchers will offer fresh, unfreezed beef. I personally abstain from eating raw, unfrozen fish unless marinated thoroughly in acid.
If you want to get the best of both worlds, cycle raw meat, marinated meat, and cooked meat. Its not one or the other, its both.
For finding a consistent source, find a butcher near you that you trust
Have you heard of anyone on the animal-based diet running into issues with gout? I have been (mostly) sticking to high protein (a lot of red meat), fruit/honey in the AM, beef organ supplements and drinking a few days a week for last 8 months.
And as a 32 year old healthy male I started noticing my big toes would hurt so bad in the morning from time to time that it felt like they were going to fall off.
Someone mentioned it sounds like the symptoms of gout and guess what generally causes gout flare-ups according to the internet? high protein intake (specifically red meat), foods high in sugar, beef organs and alcohol...
Thanks for the response Noah. I do all of those things except for the castor oil.
Are organ meats something to cycle? Like do they have a time and a place where I can reintroduce them or does the bad outweigh the good?
Is there something I should be taking in place of these? They felt like an easy natural "multivitamin" of sorts that seemed to be helping me quite a bit early on.
When it comes to the high carb, low fat window meal.
For the proteins like chicken + ground turkey, etc. Any use of ghee or coconut oil allowed. I know we want to keep the fat low during this window. Just wondering in terms of adding more flavor to my protein haha
Coconut oil is exempt from the randle cycle requirements. I use it to cook all my meals regardless whether its high fat or high carb. The triglyceride chains are small enough to bypass traditional fat metabolism and will actually improve your metabolic rate. go crazy with it!
When stacking supplements what’s a golden rule for cycling time on / off? Recently started to cycle off of shilijit (I was doing 400mg resin tablets for about 6 months straight) and am now cycling butea superba - except this time I’m only taking it 5 on (Mon-fri) and 2 off (sat/sun)
It depends entirely on the substance. For any herb, I'm doing 3-4x/week for no longer than 45 days.
You have to look at the risk profile and play devils advocate. Use GEEKBOT, use forums. Keep tabs on documented negative effects. If its one you think is solid to take long-term (like shilajit), use micro cycles (5x/week vs 7x)
Significantly more sharper and confident as a daily supplement. Long term effects I believe it accentuated my male features (adams apple, facial hair, etc) it is known to be a dht booster after long term use
After about 2.5 years of being purely relegated to intellecualism (no emotion, all rational thought). I gave up on trying to biohack my way out of it. no matter how hard I tried I was only getting worse. No feelings of connection, vigor, presence, or intimacy. I said fuck it and moved to a beach. This was fun, moderately healing, but didn't fix anything. But I went out one weekend to a poker tournament. I drank a bunch of tequila and took some modafinil (a wakefulness agent). I've had both of these before, but for some reason I woke up the next morning and was me again. Everything was more vibrant. I had that internal feeling of awe and realized how cool everything was again. It was night & day difference. Like I had my life back.
This is total conjecture but I believe the environment change put me in a state more cohesive to healing. No EMF, no pollution. Spending every day in the ocean. Then I was able to induce a level of shock to my brain and gut that it reregulated. Kind of like hitting the top of a staticy TV until it regains signal.
I do believe the gut plays a huge role here. not sure how, but it does. Looking back on it, I would also consider l.reuteri, potentially intranasal oxytocin
what would utopia look like to you?
A lot of people have this cliche influencer approach to utopia. Raw milk drinking fountains, ball sunning stations, seed oil free cafes. Personally I think thats out of touch. Utopia in the typical sense would be an environment that meets all human needs with little friction:
A high trust society. One where I would trust my neighbor and have some level of allegiance and cohesiveness with everybody I live around
Convenient and self-sustaining pathways for learning, self-development & skill-building
A practical way
Purpose & meaning. Play & joy. Variety & stimulation. Esteem & significance. Contribution & service. Connection & Love
In practice, this would be a place untouched by the throes of industrialization. Drinking out of rivers, eating fruit from the trees. wild game and pasture raised animals. Nutrient dense produce. No glyphosate, no air pollution, no nnEMFs. No hereditary toxin accumulation from the poisions accrued by our mothers and our mothers mothers.
A true utopia would be one where we could strip the generations of cumulative damage to our brain and bodies. Thats the biological side. On the sociological side. I'd want a place where people feel connected to one another. Small societies of no more than a few hundred. A world where virtue is praised and degeneracy is frowned upon. In essence I'd like to bring back the way we lived for thousands of years and compound that with the scientific advancements we've made in presenting disease and suffering.
I know this is unrealistic. But I've had glimpses of this. Particularly in my time living in small coastal towns.
appreciate the thorough answer, i like the end the most. Im at my best when Im living near the ocean
Hey Noah, is there any healthier alternatives to cologne/perfume?
Yes, increasing androgens, namely androsterone.
Single-note and essential oil based scents work well here, specifically
- Vetiver
- Sandalwood
- Cedarwood
- Frankincense
- Patchouli
- Bergamot
- Black Spruce
Whats a full day of eating on a fat refeed day / week. Do you still use carbs at least pre workout? FTN? Fruit juice & glycine before bed? what about the supplements stack
I have carbs on my fat refeed day because I'm no longer trying to shred through fat (already lean). My metabolism is now capable of having some levels of fats and carbs together. My high fat day looks like:
Breakfast: Eggs, avocado, butter, vegetables (sometimes stewed meat if I have it)
Pre-workout meal: sourdough or potatoes, leanish meat
Post-workout meal: High protein, mid fat (think ribeye, cucumbers and sauerkraut)
Dinner: Fatty fish (mackerel, sardines, etc), Cheese (feta, or mozzarella), or chuck roast/lamb
You can still have carbs, just keep them around your workout and have a little less fat with those meals. Load the first and last meal of the day with ample fats and make sure they're GOOD ones
What are your favorite exercises to be more explosive and to help with martial arts??
It depends on the martial art. Jiu Jitsu will be isometrics & mobility, Wrestling & judo will be explosive compound movements, striking will be rotational torque, fascia, footwork, and hip mobility
I Train a mix of striking and grappling, and align my training with whatever style I'm focusing on.
Non-negotiables are:
Rotational work (check out Weck Method, Landmine Method, Rope flow)
Sprint intervals: Swimming, Assault Bike, Beach or hill sprints
Footwork: Preferably jumpwork, occasionally ladder drills at my gym
Endurance training: usually covered just from training any martial art but I also enjoy running
As for explosive exercises with high crossover:
Deep hip sled pushes. Getting my hips into it like I'm lunging into a takedoown
Landmine Presses, cleans, core rotations
Kettlebell swings
Bodybuilding exercises make my martial arts worse. Muscles take up too much oxygen and lose their spring. If I do traditional training (think Curls, bench press, rows), I find a way to make them more athletic. Explosive with little to no negative. Fast twitch muscle activation. I find this also gives me a unique physique and strength profile
Hey Noah, what do you think about taking T3 (cynomel) and all the talking around thyroid in general?
I have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism, I’ve been having them all my life, I’m 26yo. I’ve been researching about nutrition and training for the past 10 years but last year I heard the name Ray peat for the first time. I started with FTN and many other peaty principles and I experienced joy for the first time in my life (avoided sugar since I was a kid). The thing is, I feel like my metabolism is extremely fragile, every little stressor, a week I eat bad, winter, etc. and I’m back to feeling like shit.
Temperature and pulse extremely low.
Even if I could do everything at 95-100% perfection to feel very good (which I think isn’t normal). Shouldn’t I address the probable root cause and fix it with t3? (I was always very anti drugs, only regular thing I started taking was aspirin)
Supplementing synthetic thyroid is not addressing the root cause. Its a crutch that could give you the energy needed to implement other behaviors but will at best have a net neutral effect on natural production. If your objective is just to feel better, then yes consider natural dessicated thyroid (NDT). If your objective is to address root cause, then keep digging.
Remember that progress is non-linear and the objective is resilience. T3 or NDT can be a crutch to get you there but there is no biological free lunch.
Any public speaking protocol? Specifically suppressing fight / flight reaction
AKA nature’s beta blockers
You could always just use beta blockers haha. But in all seriousness, a lot of the anxiety that comes from public speaking is actually excitement in disguise. If you can frame it that way, you can break through into a proverbial second wind. A lot of it is finding your tone and practicing in low stakes scenarios. Commit to a few rant sessions about a particular subject and post them in a low risk environment (eg youtube channel). You'll find your tone and it will turn into an enjoyable self-discovery process. Accept the fact that you're going to fuck up and appreciate the fact that every fuckup is an opportunity for growth
Well said, thank you
How far apart should we space our fat meals and carb meals. Is there a certain time frame for digestion or the Randal cycle?
Depends on personal digestion speed. I wait until I feel the gastric emptying (no food in my stomach). This can look anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour 20. Carbs will burn faster than fats so better to have carb meal then fat meal as opposed to vice versa
How can I improve my breathing?
-Slightly deviated septum (70/80% breathing, but one nostril is always relatively blocked)
-Possible food/environmental allergies (I don't have the best digestion)
-Forward neck and suboptimal posture (working on this)
Antihistamines are great here. Black seed oil and pig kidney extract for DAO. I cahd rammed my way through a deviated septum via mewing and exclusive nose breathing during exercise (you will feel like you are suffocating)
I also use a propolis nasal spray when I really need it. Great help. Mouth tape at night. Your system will adapt if you force it to (lesson in there)
Would Intra workout carbs like honey, gummy bears be beneficial on the Shredmax protocol?
If you were training ultra endurance or training fasted, then yes. The shredmaxxing protocol prioritizes short, intense training sessions and micro-workouts. I like pomegranate juice in sparkling water & electrolytes as my intra-workout (unless I'm training intense, then still water).
Hey Noah. What are the best ways to fix the gut? or even knowing if your gut is having problems? I am having acne at 24 after not having it for a long time, ( I was on acutane when I was 15), and I’m depressed, low energy most of the days. I’ve been seeing more and more studies about how the gut dictates most of the stuff that I’m Feeling, hence my curiosity.
Having my first kid in about 7 months. How do you recommend parents should approach the modern day vaccine schedule? Are there any books/research I can read?
First of all, congratulations. A few book recommendations for you:
- The nourishing traditions book of baby & child care
- Real food for pregnancy
- Optimising fertility with Nutrition
- Deep nutrition
- The optimal diet for pregnant and nursing mothers
As for vaccine schedule, I am an invasive minimalist. I would find a practitioner with a solid track record (check out Andra, bioavailableND), and assess the risk profile of opting/abstaining from any particular injections
Recently read "We want to live" by Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Eating raw meat and raw foods makes a lot of sense to me for the beneficial enzymes, bacteria, and preservation of key nutrients / protein. That being said, he mentions the dangers of eating raw meat that has been frozen as the protein is only 25% utilizable in the human body compared to fresh at 100%. And freezing meat causes more E. coli production. Curious to your thoughts on this? And if so, it seems most supply chains freeze at some point in the process. Is there a way to find consistent sources of fresh raw meat/fish?
A 75% decline in "usable" protein from freezing is overstated. Freezing does mitigate risk of certain pathogens & parasites, and cooking makes certain proteins/nutrients more bioavailable. There is a benefit tradeoff between the two
Most butchers will offer fresh, unfreezed beef. I personally abstain from eating raw, unfrozen fish unless marinated thoroughly in acid.
If you want to get the best of both worlds, cycle raw meat, marinated meat, and cooked meat. Its not one or the other, its both.
For finding a consistent source, find a butcher near you that you trust
Have you heard of anyone on the animal-based diet running into issues with gout? I have been (mostly) sticking to high protein (a lot of red meat), fruit/honey in the AM, beef organ supplements and drinking a few days a week for last 8 months.
And as a 32 year old healthy male I started noticing my big toes would hurt so bad in the morning from time to time that it felt like they were going to fall off.
Someone mentioned it sounds like the symptoms of gout and guess what generally causes gout flare-ups according to the internet? high protein intake (specifically red meat), foods high in sugar, beef organs and alcohol...
Animal based to that level is bound to cause issues on a long enough time frame. The body needs nutrient diversity.
You are going to want to lower uric acid and inflammation
- Drink more water, specifically gerolsteiner
- Consume more cherry juice
- Supplement magnesium
- Topical castor oil packs on joints
- Cut out organ meats (you're consuming too many purines)
- Increase cooked veggie consumption
Follow this and you'll be all good
Thanks for the response Noah. I do all of those things except for the castor oil.
Are organ meats something to cycle? Like do they have a time and a place where I can reintroduce them or does the bad outweigh the good?
Is there something I should be taking in place of these? They felt like an easy natural "multivitamin" of sorts that seemed to be helping me quite a bit early on.
When it comes to the high carb, low fat window meal.
For the proteins like chicken + ground turkey, etc. Any use of ghee or coconut oil allowed. I know we want to keep the fat low during this window. Just wondering in terms of adding more flavor to my protein haha
Coconut oil is exempt from the randle cycle requirements. I use it to cook all my meals regardless whether its high fat or high carb. The triglyceride chains are small enough to bypass traditional fat metabolism and will actually improve your metabolic rate. go crazy with it!
Sweeeet
When stacking supplements what’s a golden rule for cycling time on / off? Recently started to cycle off of shilijit (I was doing 400mg resin tablets for about 6 months straight) and am now cycling butea superba - except this time I’m only taking it 5 on (Mon-fri) and 2 off (sat/sun)
It depends entirely on the substance. For any herb, I'm doing 3-4x/week for no longer than 45 days.
You have to look at the risk profile and play devils advocate. Use GEEKBOT, use forums. Keep tabs on documented negative effects. If its one you think is solid to take long-term (like shilajit), use micro cycles (5x/week vs 7x)
Thoughts on shilajit after 6 months?
Significantly more sharper and confident as a daily supplement. Long term effects I believe it accentuated my male features (adams apple, facial hair, etc) it is known to be a dht booster after long term use
You said that your anhedonia and depersonalization got significantly better, could you explain what you did? It would help me a lot!
After about 2.5 years of being purely relegated to intellecualism (no emotion, all rational thought). I gave up on trying to biohack my way out of it. no matter how hard I tried I was only getting worse. No feelings of connection, vigor, presence, or intimacy. I said fuck it and moved to a beach. This was fun, moderately healing, but didn't fix anything. But I went out one weekend to a poker tournament. I drank a bunch of tequila and took some modafinil (a wakefulness agent). I've had both of these before, but for some reason I woke up the next morning and was me again. Everything was more vibrant. I had that internal feeling of awe and realized how cool everything was again. It was night & day difference. Like I had my life back.
This is total conjecture but I believe the environment change put me in a state more cohesive to healing. No EMF, no pollution. Spending every day in the ocean. Then I was able to induce a level of shock to my brain and gut that it reregulated. Kind of like hitting the top of a staticy TV until it regains signal.
I do believe the gut plays a huge role here. not sure how, but it does. Looking back on it, I would also consider l.reuteri, potentially intranasal oxytocin