Fitness & Metabolism

Get jacked first, lose weight second. (If weight loss is a priority)

Optimizing for muscle growth first with the opportunity for weight/fat loss as a byproduct is far more beneficial than using a treadmill to simply burn calories. Why? Because building muscle is a huge contributor to restoring youthful metabolism. Muscle is for everyone man or women, athlete or office worker, young or old. Their are certain pressures of appearance or pre conceived notions as to what a women should look like, feel free to not adhere to them while also not fearing muscle gains as they are far more difficult to put on than perceived. Reduce amount of reps if muscles are getting bigger than desired appearance.

What foods actually improve metabolism thus improving muscle growth?

Prioritize the best protein from ruminant animals, the best fat from grass fed meat & whole dairy with quality carbohydrates from fruit and perhaps some rice and potato's. Signaling abundance to the body is important for the management of metabolism at the level of the thyroid, endocrine and adrenal systems so that we can reduce cortisol's anti-metabolic effects. 

Examples of activities that can lead to the loss of muscle.

• Extended exercise sessions.

• Long distance endurance exercise.

• Treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical, jogging. 

• Calorie restriction, ultimately causes weight gain due to guarantied destruction of muscle tissue.

• Fasting or intermittent fasting, essentially different forms of intermittent calorie restriction.

Examples of muscle building activity.

• Optimizing for more tears in the muscle with the highest weight you can safely lift will be the fastest way to stimulate muscle synthesis. This will ensure that we are spending less time at the gym/working out and more time with the people we love.

• Push ups, sit ups, rucking and any movement with additional weight placed on back or in the hands can help push the muscle to max exertion with the least amount of reps & sets.

• Take breaks, 3 to 5 minutes of heavy weight motion should be followed by 5 to 10 minutes of rest. Recovery is in fact more important than exertion.

• Rock climbing and walking or running up steep hills. Take it slow on the way down to avoid exertion. Stair climbing is great, take the elevator on the way down, descending stairs can be more damaging/catabolic for the muscle.

• Slowly lifting and dropping or quickly lowering weights. 

• Variable resistance training such as chains attached to a bench press or squat bar that increases the weight as you lift into your peak strength position.

Why are my food cravings so strong?

Our cells are always signaling their needs to us, the microbiome is also signaling to us via the enteric nervous system. Both want one thing ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS. But how do we selectively feed ourselves as first priority so that the colonies of bacteria do not over populate and starve us from the inside? The fiber craze that started around the 1960's to 1980's has increased our consumption of fiber to inappropriate levels, excess fiber feeds ALL bacteria types. As colonies of bacteria grow they produce gases like methane (cows are not the only ones who produce methane in their flatulence) excess methane gas in the human colon has the devastating ability to slow down the gastrointestinal tract. A slow moving conveyor belt is a buffet for bacteria in the colon and only leads to further overgrowth. This only amplifies cravings and strengthens the importance of feeding yourself first so that you have the intestinal strength, motility and power to keep the conveyor belt moving at an appropriate speed without loads of fiber to feed bacteria. Bacterial overgrowth affects neurotransmitters making us seekers of quick fix style dopamine sources. These quick fix sources of dopamine do not reinforce our internal production of dopamine therefore reinforcing a viscous cycle of feeding for pleasure rather than nutrition. 

What is the proposed mechanism for why bacteria are useful for humans?

Prebiotics (Fiber)  --> Biotics (Bacteria) --> Postbiotics (Propionate, Butyrate, Short Chain Fatty Acids, Vitamins)

However it is often ignored that bacteria also produce negative postbiotics such as gram negative cell walls known as endotoxin or methane gases like previously mentioned. Some of these are entirely detrimental to the body and some of these may be useful if balanced. However it can be like playing with fire. Incredibly grass fed ruminant animal meat contains EVERY GOOD POST BIOTIC that you can possibly get from fermenting plants in your colon WITH NONE OF THE BAD POST BIOTICS. So I encourage you to reject the idea that we need fiber to live when we have animals specialized to breakdown fiber with large cecum's, reticulorumens and other stomach cavities. This does not mean totally eliminate fiber, simply do not go out of your way to eat more fiber. Fiber in appropriate amounts is still useful for humans, some may prefer to eat zero fiber and that is ok, some may have the capability and intestinal speed to eat more and that is ok. Just understand that everyone's breaking point is at a different spot and that we do not need to push or be on the limit of that breaking point.

When understanding human satiety it is also important to understand the endocannabinoid system, the nerves that connect our stomach to our brain. The signaling capability's of this system work well when we eat the things that our ancestors ate hundreds of years ago. During the industrial revolution the invention of seed oils to lubricate machines was determined to be "edible" after bleaching and deodorizing it with a chemical named hexane. Immediately following this it began to be slowly introduced into nearly every processed food in the chain. These plant oils are very high in omega 6 linoleic acid, a macro nutrient only previously seen at 3 to 4% of our daily intake. They now make up nearly 20% of our daily calories on average and are chiefly know for disrupting and blocking our endocannabinoid system making us furiously and monstrously hungry. And in those quantities they also destroy our cell membranes so even the nutrients that we do consume end up having trouble gaining access to the cells of our body. Infections, poor sleep, inadequate nutrition and obesity also all play a role in the dysregulation of our leptin and ghrelin hormones that are responsible for satiety signaling. This is why a holistic approach is required to solving cravings rather than just throwing a GLP-1 agonist at the situation like Semaglutide. This is detrimental to the human body because it is correcting the symptom of cravings without addressing the nutrient inadequacy, essentially promoting a starvation status within our body.

The Importance of Muscle for Glucose Metabolism

Muscle is the secondary storage sink for glucose after the liver has converted excess glucose into glycogen for later use. Size and quality of our muscle tissue is important. Consuming complete proteins from animal sources such as ruminant animal meat, eggs and whole milk will support this. If the liver has maxed out its glycogen storage capacity and their is no space left in the muscle, your body will partition a greater proportion of glucose into fat cells. This process is called lipogenesis and is mediated by the increased action of insulin on glucose.

The Importance of Consuming Quality Fat

Our fat stores are an important organ of the body and they require a specific nutrient blend for optimal function. The quality of our muscle and adipose tissue are massively affected by an imbalance in our omega 3 to 6 consumption. Particularly when we consume greater than 5 grams daily of omega 6 it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the health of our cell membranes. Once the fluidity of our cell membranes are disrupted we can no longer split, fill, empty and detox our cells. This also has implications in how our body produces energy via the mitochondria. Making it hard to have the energy to live life, lift heavy things and eat quality food. When we consume quality saturated, monounsaturated, omega 3, stearic acid and conjugated linoleic acid fats we are able to split fat cells for more efficient utilization. When the function of a fat cell is impaired rather than splitting it can balloon up to 300 times its size. The body only has so much access per fat cell to efficiently traffic fat into and out of the adipocyte, if the cell is enlarged this job becomes much harder. Stearic Acid and Conjugated Linoleic acid that are found specifically in grass fed ruminant animal products such as meat, milk and eggs can help create new fat cells / split fat cells and contribute to better fat management and gains in lean mass (muscle).

The Psychology of Healthy Weight Loss

With the strategy set out above it is important to ditch the scale and focus on measuring progress based on improvements in energetic state. Use measurement of waist circumference if interested in appearance based metrics. Checking blood pressure can also be a useful health progress marker. Aiming for total body health rather than the singular metric on a digital scale will help direct the purpose of what we are doing. Treat sleep routine like a business, I created my sleep page for improving the energetic state and ability to keep cravings under control and the production of muscle on track. Its at the top of the page.

Metabolism at the Mitochondrial Level

The Foundation of Resilient Metabolism

The basis of all disease stems from the presence of toxins in the cell and the absence of vital nutrients creating mitochondrial energetic disfunction. The key to increasing mitochondrial function is elimination of environmental toxins like excess omega 6, excess retinol, mold, heavy metals, pesticides, fluoride and microplastics. This is achieved with a balance between key minerals and vitamins required for its function and provision of essential carbs, fats and proteins. 

In the cytoplasm, glucose is broken down into pyruvate through a series of enzymatic reactions, generating a small amount of ATP and NADH. Pyruvate from glycolysis is transported into the mitochondrial matrix, where it is converted into acetyl CoA by pyruvate dehydrogenase, producing NADH and carbon dioxide. Calcium ions can activate the PDH complex, enhancing mitochondrial ATP production by promoting the entry of pyruvate-derived substrates into the citric acid cycle.

Acetyl CoA enters the citric acid cycle in the mitochondrial matrix, combining with oxaloacetate to form citrate. Citrate is broken down through enzymatic reactions, releasing carbon dioxide and generating NADH, FADH2, and ATP precursors like GTP. During glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, and the citric acid cycle, NAD+ and FAD are reduced to NADH and FADH2, respectively. These coenzymes carry high-energy electrons for the electron transport chain.

These processes collectively generate NADH, FADH2, and ATP precursors, which are inputs for the electron transport chain, where the majority of ATP is produced.

COMPLEX V ATP Synthase

utilizes the energy created by the proton gradient to synthesize ATP. The process begins with the movement of electrons at Complexes I, III, and IV, which pumps protons into the intermembrane space, creating an electrochemical proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane. This proton gradient results in a higher concentration of protons in the intermembrane space than in the mitochondrial matrix.

Protons flow back into the mitochondrial matrix through ATP synthase, which is powered by this proton flow. ATP synthase consists of two parts: the F₀ unit, which forms the proton channel, and the F₁ unit, where ATP synthesis occurs. The flow of protons through the F₀ unit causes it to rotate, which in turn causes the spindle (or rotor) in the F₁ unit to spin.

The spindle of the ATP synthase can rotate at speeds of up to 7,000 RPM (revolutions per minute). Each complete rotation of the spindle leads to the production of 3 ATP molecules as it facilitates the binding of ADP and inorganic phosphate (Pi), forming ATP.

Magnesium ions (Mg²⁺) are required for ATP synthesis, as they bind to the ATP molecule to stabilize it, forming magnesium-ATP (Mg-ATP).