#324 ‒ Metabolism, energy balance, and aging: How diet, calorie restriction, and macronutrients influence longevity and metabolic health | Eric Ravussin, Ph.D.

Imagine a world where our lifespans aren’t limited by illness or aging, where people could live for as long as they wanted to. This sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but according to Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis, and Robert Hariri, such a scenario may be more fact than fiction. In Life Force, the authors explain how ongoing development of new technologies and information in the medical field may extend our lifespans beyond what we ever thought possible. Robbins is a bestselling author and speaker, Diamandis is a bestselling author and scientist, and Hariri is a neurosurgeon and scientist.

In our guide, we’ll explore the lifestyle changes you can make now to increase your lifespan and overall health. We’ll also look at new technologies that are rapidly improving our healthcare and upcoming technologies that have the potential to bring us even closer to the ideal of immortality. We’ll supplement this with elaboration on some of the authors’ more complex ideas, and we’ll contextualize the guide’s information in the fields of science, technology, and sociology.

What if the key to understanding and treating mental illness isn’t in the brain itself, but in how the brain gets its energy? In Brain Energy, psychiatrist Christopher M. Palmer argues that mental illnesses result from problems with your metabolism—the process that converts food into energy for your body. He writes that when your brain doesn’t get enough energy, it doesn’t function properly and problems arise. But by making lifestyle changes that boost your metabolic efficiency, you can lessen symptoms or even prevent mental disorders from developing in the first place.

In this guide, we’ll explore Palmer’s brain energy theory and how mental health is linked to metabolic health. We'll also discuss factors affecting metabolism, ways to improve metabolic well-being, and tips for creating a personalized treatment plan. Throughout, we’ll compare Palmer’s ideas to other experts’ views and provide additional advice for improving your metabolism.

Author Tim Ferriss has spent years studying how to improve the human body—he interviewed and trained with experts, studied scientific literature, and tried out what he learned on himself. In The 4-Hour Body, he distills the most effective 2.5% of what he discovered into programs you can use to improve six aspects of your body: losing fat and gaining muscle, enhancing sex, improving sleep, managing injuries, improving sports performance, and living longer.

How do you want to spend the last decade of your life? Do you want to be weak, bedridden, and mentally foggy? Or busy doing whatever brings you joy, flexing the body and mind of someone decades younger? According to physician Peter Attia, you can extend the active and fulfilling part of your life by building the right healthy habits—and the earlier you start building these habits, the better chance you have of circumventing mental and physical decline.

In this guide, you’ll learn Attia’s recommendations for how best to eat, exercise, and otherwise take care of your body and mind. You’ll also understand how one chronic condition, metabolic dysfunction, can cause four of the most deadly diseases known to man. In our commentary, we’ll supplement Attia’s explanations of human biology and modern medicine with information from recent research. We’ll also use additional health and fitness tips to paint a broader picture of the current consensus in the complex field of wellness.

Weight loss—all it takes is eating less and moving more, right?

Not according to Jason Fung, author of The Obesity Code and head of the Intensive Dietary Management Program. For decades, experts have believed that obesity was a matter of excess calories—that is, that people get fat from overeating. Fung challenges this view, laying out a comprehensive theory of obesity as a hormonal disorder that causes overeating, rather than the other way around.

In this guide, we unpack Fung’s theory of obesity, which he developed after observing the weight gain that insulin caused in his diabetic patients, along with his solution for overcoming it. In this guide, we’ll show why dieting doesn’t work and why exercise actually has little impact on weight loss. We’ll explore how the body processes food, learn why not all carbs are bad, and discover which foods to avoid at all costs. In addition, we’ll compare Fung’s ideas with perspectives from similar books on obesity, including Why We Get Fat and Salt Sugar Fat.

Author Tim Ferriss has spent years studying how to improve the human body—he interviewed and trained with experts, studied scientific literature, and tried out what he learned on himself. In The 4-Hour Body, he distills the most effective 2.5% of what he discovered into programs you can use to improve six aspects of your body: losing fat and gaining muscle, enhancing sex, improving sleep, managing injuries, improving sports performance, and living longer.

How do you want to spend the last decade of your life? Do you want to be weak, bedridden, and mentally foggy? Or busy doing whatever brings you joy, flexing the body and mind of someone decades younger? According to physician Peter Attia, you can extend the active and fulfilling part of your life by building the right healthy habits—and the earlier you start building these habits, the better chance you have of circumventing mental and physical decline.

In this guide, you’ll learn Attia’s recommendations for how best to eat, exercise, and otherwise take care of your body and mind. You’ll also understand how one chronic condition, metabolic dysfunction, can cause four of the most deadly diseases known to man. In our commentary, we’ll supplement Attia’s explanations of human biology and modern medicine with information from recent research. We’ll also use additional health and fitness tips to paint a broader picture of the current consensus in the complex field of wellness.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’re probably aware of all the conflicting advice about what you should eat. Should you go on a low-carb diet, a low-fat one, or a liquid one? Eat one large portion in the morning, smaller portions throughout the day, or practice fasting?

In How Not to Diet, Michael Greger, physician and best-selling author of How Not to Die, adds a much-needed voice of clarity to the world of weight loss. He draws on extensive scientific research to explore the healthiest and most efficient way to lose weight and keep it off.

This guide explores Greger’s advice, covering:

• How eating processed foods and animal products leads to weight gain
• Why eating plant-based foods and legumes reduces the calories your body stores as fat
• What dietary changes will help you shed excess pounds and keep them off

Additionally, we’ll expand on each of Greger’s ideas with research, advice, and actionable ideas from other health practitioners and weight-loss specialists.

Imagine a world where our lifespans aren’t limited by illness or aging, where people could live for as long as they wanted to. This sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but according to Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis, and Robert Hariri, such a scenario may be more fact than fiction. In Life Force, the authors explain how ongoing development of new technologies and information in the medical field may extend our lifespans beyond what we ever thought possible. Robbins is a bestselling author and speaker, Diamandis is a bestselling author and scientist, and Hariri is a neurosurgeon and scientist.

In our guide, we’ll explore the lifestyle changes you can make now to increase your lifespan and overall health. We’ll also look at new technologies that are rapidly improving our healthcare and upcoming technologies that have the potential to bring us even closer to the ideal of immortality. We’ll supplement this with elaboration on some of the authors’ more complex ideas, and we’ll contextualize the guide’s information in the fields of science, technology, and sociology.