#215 Optimizing for a Genius Life w/Max Lugavere

Today, we’re experiencing a variety of conditions that are brought on by eating poorly, being sedentary, not effectively managing our stress, and not sleeping well. We show up to a doctor’s office and we expect them to undo the decades of damage that we’ve done to OURSELVES.

It’s asking a lot to think that a single pill will come out and undo decades of siphoning the standard American diet and being sedentary.

Research has shown that people who consume a big bowl of dark leafy greens every day have brains that perform up to 11 years younger on cognitive tests.

Trying to change your diet is an exercise in utter futility if you’re not optimizing your sleep.

Eating a diet high in produce provides amble antioxidants and minerals that elbow out, in the digestive track, room for the absorption of heavy metals.

BPA, found in many plastics, mimics estrogen in the body.

With one night of poor sleep, you’re metabolically obese the next day—your insulin sensitivity drops to the floor.

With one night of poor sleep, levels of amyloid (as measured in cerebral spinal fluid) increase by 30%, and levels of tau protein increase by 50%. These are the two hallmark proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Try as hard as you can to write drunk. Drunk is whatever state of mind you need to be in for your ego to dissolve.

We’ve suffered as a society because we like to outsource various aspects of our lives.

Today, a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is about one in six. Fifty years ago, it was one in twenty.

The reason why I do what I do, why I wrote 'Genius Foods,' and why I’m writing my next book is because I lost somebody who’s very important to me—not just very important, but the most important person in my life.

The problem with endocrine-disrupting chemicals is that their toxicity curve, instead of being linear, can be more U-shaped—that's what's dangerous about them.

One study found that, upon examination of umbilical cord blood, there were ~300 industrial chemicals present that shouldn’t be .

Genes are not destiny, but they do help determine what the standard American diet and lifestyle will do to you.

Writing a book is probably one of the least healthy things you can do.

Most medical doctors get only an afternoon of nutrition training.