Siim Land has written an excellent book called “Metabolic Autophagy: Practice Intermittent Fasting and Resistance Training to Build Muscle and Promote Longevity.”1 It’s a valuable synergetic companion to “Fat for Fuel,” as it delves into some areas I did not cover. It compiles and presents all the basic science you need to know in a digestible format. Here, we discuss his latest book, “Stronger by Stress: Adapt to Beneficial Stressors to Improve Your Health and Strengthen the Body,”2 which came out July 26, 2020. It reviews the really important concepts of hormesis and antifragility.
Stronger by StressAs it pertains to COVID-19, evidence suggest if you can get two key variables right — a vitamin D level of at least 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L) and metabolic flexibility — your chances of getting sick from SARS-CoV-2 infection is fairly remote. But improving your resilience against stress is also important.
What Is Antifragility?Antifragility is a term coined by economist Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, “Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.” The term describes a state that is the opposite of fragility. Antifragility describes how stress makes you stronger rather than breaking you down or apart.
Time-Restricted Eating Builds AntifragilityOne of Land’s favorite tools for health and longevity is intermittent fasting, or more accurately termed, time-restricted eating, and one of the reasons for this is because it allows you to become metabolically flexible and insulin sensitive, which builds your antifragility.
So, time-restricted eating is a great way to get the benefits of calorie restriction without experiencing the negative side effects from it, because extreme and prolonged calorie restriction can also leave you vulnerable and more fragile by triggering muscle loss, for example. That will actually shorten your life span and make you more vulnerable to potential dangers in your environment, such as falling and breaking your hip. Intermittent fasting can sidestep these negative side effects. Time-Restricted Eating for Muscle BuildingA persistent question surrounding intermittent fasting is what the best strategy is. Should you eat just once a day, or can you get away with two or more meals as long as you eat it all within a certain time window? And, if so, how long can that window be? Land comments:
Now, if your intention is to build muscle, having two meals a day, within a six- to eight-hour window, would make more sense. Having just one meal a day is likely better if you are seeking to lose weight, but might be challenging. This is likely for the simple reason that you’re only going to build muscle when you activate mTOR, and to activate mTOR you need to introduce protein and leucine or branched-chain amino acids, along with some healthy carbohydrates. If you eat twice, six hours apart, you can activate mTOR twice a day, thus allowing you to get better muscle-building benefits. As explained by Land:
I found this advice personally helpful as I was pushing my eating window to four hours, but after Land related this commonsense strategy, I extended it to six to eight hours, which actually is easier on the kidneys. Also, as noted by Land, pushing your eating window to be excessively narrow can backfire and slow down your metabolism. In the context of stress adaptation and antifragility, if your body becomes too accustomed to the fasting because you’re eating only one meal a day all the time, then that can eventually slow down your metabolism and lower thyroid functioning. This in turn makes you more prone to insulin resistance, which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid by eating just once a day. Carbs Aren’t All BadWhile carbs have gotten a bad rap, they are still an important part of your diet. In fact, when you're seeking to stimulate mTOR, carbs may be just as important as protein, because insulin secretion is a powerful activator of mTOR. I believe carb cycling can be highly beneficial in this respect. If you’re chronically low-carb, it will provide you with significant benefits initially, but long-term, it can backfire. Land explains:
Land’s explanation above caused me to change my own carb cycling to a more optimal schedule. While nothing is set in stone and listening to your body is important, if you are not insulin resistant, I believe cycling in carbs once or twice a week and remaining low-carb, below 50 grams per day, the rest of the week is a good strategy, as nutritional ketosis has so many profound metabolic benefits. That said, if you’re already insulin resistant, as 90% of the population is, or diabetic, then adding carbs will be counterproductive, so it’s important to assess your individual situation. If your metabolic flexibility is already good, then being on a restrictive low-carb diet isn’t really necessary anymore. Hydroxy MethylbutyrateOne excellent reminder in Land’s book is the importance of hydroxy methylbutyrate (HMB), a metabolite of the branched-chain amino acid leucine, which is the most potent stimulator of mTOR. To activate mTOR and boost muscle protein synthesis, you need a significant quantity of leucine, at least 3 grams. I have a kidney damage from mercury poisoning that limits me from eating high amounts of protein. The beautiful thing about HMB is it doesn’t stress the kidneys. After reading “Stronger by Stress,” I started adding HMB to my breakfast as I wasn’t getting the minimum dose of leucine needed to activate mTOR. Since then, I’ve noticed a significant change in my body's ability to create more muscle mass. Land comments:
The Benefits of Heat-Shock and Cold-Shock Proteins“Stronger by Stress” also delves into the science of heat-shock proteins and cold-shock proteins, activated by exposure to heat and cold respectively. Heat-shock proteins repair misfolded proteins and RNA, increase glutathione and promote autophagy, among other things. Cold-shock proteins also activate antioxidant defense mechanisms, and lower inflammation and oxidative stress. Born and raised in Estonia, Land is familiar with the cold, and embraces cold exposure for its physical conditioning and mental toughness benefits.
Muscle Building Is Essential to Avoid SarcopeniaIn the interview, Land reviews some of his recommendations for high-intensity resistance training, such as doing multiple sets, split training and other strategies that are also covered in his book. As noted by Land, maintaining muscle and keeping physically active is probably one of the best things you can do to extend both your life span and health span. Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a significant threat to health that virtually no one can escape. Use it or lose it applies here, and muscle is far easier to lose than gain, and its lost much faster than you can build it. For this reason, I strongly recommend strength training for all ages, especially the elderly. The good news is you can effectively build muscle without risking injury from heavy loads by using blood flow restriction (BFR) training. In Japan, where the technique was developed, it’s known as KAATSU. You can learn more about the fascinating history of BFR in my interview with Steven Munatones, who brought this fitness system to the U.S. It’s important to realize that sarcopenia is not just cosmetic, and it’s not just about frailty. Your muscle tissue, which makes up about half of your body’s tissues, is a metabolic organ, an endocrine organ. Your muscle tissue makes cytokines and myokines, and is a sink for glucose. Insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes accelerate sarcopenia, and research shows glucose fluctuations are independently associated with this condition. As noted in one 2019 study,3 “glucose fluctuations were significantly associated with a low muscle mass, low grip strength, and slow walking speed.” The effectiveness of BFR for the prevention and reversal of muscle wasting is directly addressed in an April 2019 study4 in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle:
BFR SummaryFor a detailed discussion about the benefits of BFR and how it can be done, see “Build Muscle Faster, Safer and Easier With BFR Training.” In brief, BRF involves exercising your muscles while partially restricting arterial inflow and fully restricting venous outflow in either both proximal arms or legs.5 Venous flow restriction is achieved by using thin elastic bands on the extremity being exercised. By restricting the venous blood flow, you create a relatively hypoxic (low oxygen) environment in the exercising muscle, which in turn triggers a number of physiological benefits, including the production of hormones such as growth hormone and IGF-1, commonly referred to as “the fitness hormones.”6 It also increases vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which acts as “fertilizer” for growing more blood vessels and improving their lining (endothelium). I believe BRF is one of the best strategies available to address the epidemic of sarcopenia,7 and for most people who are not competitive athletes it may be the only form of resistance training they need. Land, like me, is a big fan of the KAATSU system,8 and uses it every day.
Bad Fats Are Worse for You Than SugarLand also discusses the benefits and importance of omega-3 fats, and the hazard of vegetable oils and oxidized, rancid fats. It’s important to realize that both omega-3 and omega-6 oils are integrated into your cell membranes. While omega-3s make your cell membranes healthier, omega-6 fats from vegetable oils wreak havoc with your cellular metabolism, and have a half-life of 600 to 680 days, as explained in my interview with Dr. Chris Knobbe. I firmly believe, as does Land, that harmful oils and fats are far more hazardous to your health than added sugar and grain carbs.
One simple way to tell whether you might have a lot of bad fats in your system is to look at your skin. The dark so-called “age spots” or “liver spots” many have are caused by lipofuscin. Those spots can eventually disappear if you clean up your diet. More InformationWe cover a lot of ground in this interview, as we review many of the topics Land covers in his book. For example, we touch on the harmful impact of high iron, which in conjunction with lipid peroxidation is particularly disastrous; the importance of sleep and nose breathing; and how to avoid mouth breathing while asleep. We also discuss senolytic therapies — strategies that remove senescent (old, damaged) cells, thus providing antiaging benefits. One of the most effective senolytic therapies, in Land’s opinion, is intermittent fasting. Cyclical ketosis also helps clear out senescent cells, and certain compounds, such as curcumin, EGCG, quercetin, resveratrol, sulforaphane and allicin have senolytic effects. Because fasting is a powerful senolytic therapy, these compounds are best taken while you’re fasting. So, for example, provided you’ve eaten your last meal early enough in the evening, take your supplement right before you go to bed. That way, it can work for another several hours while you’re sleeping. Land also discusses how autophagy and nutritional ketosis may help protect against EMF damage. To learn more about all of these topics that we’ve merely scratched the surface of here, be sure to pick up a copy of “Stronger by Stress,”9 which is a great follow-up to and continuation of “Metabolic Autophagy: Practice Intermittent Fasting and Resistance Training to Build Muscle and Promote Longevity.”10 Both are excellent and well worth reading. In closing, Land reminds us:
from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/07/26/small-stressors-beneficial.aspx
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