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Lewis HowesLewis Howes

The BITTER TRUTH About Sugar: How It's KILLING YOU! | David Perlmutter & Lewis Howes

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Dr. David PerlmutterguestLewis Howeshost
Jan 24, 20221h 29mWatch on YouTube

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Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 1:21

    Food, metabolism, and fear-based brain activity

    1. DP

      The foods that you eat are speaking right now to your DNA. Narcissism is really, uh, just the amygdala doing its thing. Glucose goes up with diabetes, so we've gotta limit that. Eat more fructose. Bad idea. Bad recommendation.

    2. LH

      I think you gotta have a dream.

    3. SP

      The School of Greatness.

    4. LH

      Really? [laughs] Yeah.

    5. SP

      Please welcome Lewis Howes.

    6. LH

      What are those main foods or ingredients that keep us in fear-based brain activity as opposed to the-

    7. DP

      It's an excellent question. So it's, it's really foods l- that threaten metabolism. In other words, refined carbohydrates, foods to which you may be sensitive as a unique individual, and foods that tend to elevate uric acid. So, uh, and these are the foods of the day. By and large, the, the biggest issue for us is fructose.

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    9. DP

      Leads to uric acid and turns on inflammation, turns on oxidative stress, uh, does other things that we'll talk about. But beyond that, um, through the lens of what that's doing to our thinking process and locking us into amygdala-based behavior, it's a big deal.

    10. LH

      Wow.

    11. DP

      It's, it's, uh... And we're watching it play out around the world.

    12. LH

      Yes.

    13. DP

      I mean, you know, you feel the shift. Yeah, and there w- there was always, uh, you know, conflict in the world, but there's never been the polarization like we're seeing, we're seeing now.

    14. LH

      I know.

  2. 1:21 – 4:55

    Amygdala vs. prefrontal cortex: compassion, narcissism, and inflammation

    1. DP

      And the lack of compassion for your fellow human. You know, the Dalai Lama said that, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. But if you wanna be happy, practice compassion."

    2. LH

      Hmm.

    3. DP

      So it works. That's tapping into your prefrontal cortex.

    4. LH

      It's funny, I was just interviewing a, um, a therapist psychologist, Dr. Ramani Navrasala, who is the, the leading expert on narcissism, and narcissism personality disorders and all things narcissist. And I'm curious if part of narcissism are these fear-based, you know, reactive thoughts and, and emotions could be diminished by the things people eat, and be less narcissistic because most narcissists aren't compassionate.

    5. DP

      We have two chapters on that exact topic.

    6. LH

      Really?

    7. DP

      Oh, yeah.

    8. LH

      In the book?

    9. DP

      Not in that book.

    10. LH

      Okay. In-

    11. DP

      In the book I'm gonna send you, Brain Wash.

    12. LH

      Wow.

    13. DP

      Uh, but you are correct. Uh, so narcissism is really, uh, just the amygdala doing its thing, that it's all about me. It's all about, ultimately, my fears. So it's, it's a very fear-based, uh, program from which the brain and reality i- the brain operates and reality is seen, and doesn't, uh, really have the door open in any way for other, the feelings of others and how I'm, what I might do to be helpful for that other person.

    14. LH

      Really?

    15. DP

      So it... And so as I described, food, because it separates, it segregates the, uh, prefrontal cortex from the amygdala.

    16. LH

      The amygdala is the fear-based part of the brain, right?

    17. DP

      But it dictates behavior.

    18. LH

      The amygdala dictates behavior.

    19. DP

      That's right.

    20. LH

      So if it's turned on in fear-based all the time, you're, it's pretty hard to have a compassionate, calm behavior.

    21. DP

      You are locked out from that. You're kept out of God's kingdom.

    22. LH

      Wow.

    23. DP

      Yeah. So w- this prefrontal cortex is, exercises the control, reins that in and says, "Hey, you know, I know you want to eat this food now. I know you wanna do this. I know you wanna be a bully and hit somebody."

    24. LH

      [laughs]

    25. DP

      "But we're gonna rein that in, because there's a, there's a better purpose here in life, you know?" And that's what we, that's our gift as humans, the opposable thumb and this prefrontal cortex, right?

    26. LH

      Yes.

    27. DP

      And that, so that superhighway, that communication that's bidirectional, uh, we really depend upon to get the job done as humans living together on this planet. When that is compromised for any number of reasons, we don't have that ability, and we're locked into that other mentality, clearly a mentality that's based on a reptilian brain, that is f- uh, you know, feasting, uh, it's fear-based, and, you know, reproduction. Basically, that's it. It's all about my needs and-

    28. LH

      What I want

    29. DP

      ... what I want, and right now.

    30. LH

      That's the amygdala.

  3. 4:55 – 5:44

    Off-ramps: meditation, nature, sleep, and tracking blood sugar

    1. LH

      So how do you get out of that?

    2. DP

      Well, so we offered up what are the off-ramps. Uh, a, a whole program based upon what you can do to choose to meditate for a few minutes a day.

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

    4. DP

      We'll expand that with time. Getting out in nature, getting enough restorative sleep. Perhaps, um, you know, being a little bit more proactive about following your blood sugar.

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    6. DP

      In that book, we didn't talk about continuous glucose monitoring. We have a whole section in h- uh, in this book about that. But talked about those foods, if you could give us one week, we're gonna help you redirect.

    7. LH

      So in Brain Wash, you have a couple chapters on narcissism specifically?

    8. DP

      Oh, yeah. Well, actually-

    9. LH

      Really?

    10. DP

      ... when you really read the book, you're gonna realize that it's throughout the book.

    11. LH

      Wow.

    12. DP

      That it, it's a commentary about where we are-

    13. LH

      As a society

    14. DP

      ... how we got there-

    15. LH

      Yeah

    16. DP

      ... and why, what you can do now to get us away from that.

  4. 5:44 – 8:17

    Social media, appearance culture, and what ‘matters’

    1. LH

      Well, it's cr- I mean, with social media and the s- and using s- I think everything's a tool

    2. DP

      There's a chapter on that as well.

    3. LH

      I think everything's a tool. You can use social media to benefit people, or you can use social media to benefit yourself.

    4. DP

      Yeah.

    5. LH

      With the selfie culture, right, of, of me, me, me, look at me, me, me. And, um- I'm curious how that plays in with our eating habits and nutrition habits based on the, the, I guess the, the psychological seeing yourself all the time and getting attention for how you look all the time on social media from random strangers. As opposed to when you just used to walk out in the street and get attention, but now it's just-

    6. DP

      Right

    7. LH

      ... like in a moment you can get this dopamine hit.

    8. DP

      The, the original term for that was Snapchat dys- dysmorphia, where you had to cultivate your, uh, social media appearance, not so much your, your real appearance of what, what people will experience face-to-face in terms of not just what you look like, but what do you got underneath it.

    9. LH

      Mm.

    10. DP

      Which is truly what matters, right?

    11. LH

      Right.

    12. DP

      It's really less about what you look like. It's about what, you know, what you portray, what you are ab- how you interact, what is your message. What is the message? What is your contribution?

    13. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    14. DP

      And so to me, I think really seems to matter, but you know, that stuff is so underrated now. It's all about what you look like, and it has to be within the first three or four seconds, and that's end of story.

    15. LH

      So in Brain Wash, all right, you're talking about social media, narcissism, and all these different things. How are those affecting us in what we choose to eat as well? Is it part of the cycle when we get these dopamine hits for looking good or our social media, do we then choose to eat certain foods from that? Or what does that-

    16. DP

      No, I think that, uh, that's an excellent question, and I think that, uh, the answer's no.

    17. LH

      Okay.

    18. DP

      Because I think, um, we either eat what we want to eat or we eat what we know is good for us.

    19. LH

      Mm.

    20. DP

      Now, what we want to eat, what's deep in our brains, is sugar.

    21. LH

      Yes.

    22. DP

      So we are deeply programmed.

    23. LH

      [laughs] Yep.

    24. DP

      Every person walking the planet. You're, you're laughing-

    25. LH

      That's-

    26. DP

      ... 'cause you know exactly what I'm talking about

    27. LH

      ... that's my, that's my vice. You know, I don't-

    28. DP

      Of course it is

    29. LH

      ... I don't drink. I've never been drunk in my life. I don't drink alcohol. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. But sugar is a thing that when I'm disciplined, I can be completely off of it.

    30. DP

      When the prefrontal cortex-

  5. 8:17 – 11:21

    Why humans crave sugar: evolutionary programming and modern mismatch

    1. LH

      What are the main risks of sugar in the first place? And, and why should we be aware of it before figuring out how to get it under control?

    2. DP

      Well, let me go back to just, uh, the, the notion of your sugar-

    3. LH

      Yeah

    4. DP

      ... uh, desire.

    5. LH

      Uh-huh.

    6. DP

      Uh, you are like, I would say, mm, seven plus billion people.

    7. LH

      [laughs]

    8. DP

      Meaning it's what let us survive.

    9. LH

      Mm.

    10. DP

      Our desire for sweet. We're deeply programmed. It's not learned. It, it's not an app that we picked up along the way. It came when you bought that computer. It was built into the hard drive, that we will seek out sweet. Why? 'Cause sweet tells us that a food is safe.

    11. LH

      Mm.

    12. DP

      It tells us that it is ripe, meaning highest in nutrients. It's good for the fruit because that's when the seeds of that fruit need to be dispersed. So everything works together. Um, but it also tells us that winter's coming.

    13. LH

      Mm.

    14. DP

      Which means it tells our bodies to shift metabolism and start making and storing fat. And it turns out that the, the danger signal that winter's coming, the signal that tells your body to make that happen involves uric acid.

    15. LH

      Mm.

    16. DP

      And this is something that happened to our ancestors around 14 to 17 million years ago when the Earth became cool. And certain primates who developed mutations in the genes that dealt with an enzyme called uricase that breaks down uric acid, they developed mutations that turned, uh, that enzyme off so they couldn't break down uric acid, so uric acid levels would elevate. They survived. Not that they got fat-

    17. LH

      Mm, right

    18. DP

      ... but they stored just a little bit more fat, so they might survive, whereas the other primate might not, and then they would pass the genes on. And that comes to us. That's why we make fat when we're exposed, for example, to fructose. It was a powerful survival mechanism, and we carry it today. The problem is now fructose is everywhere, every, in every food we eat, so we're suffering from this evolutionary environmental mismatch. I mean, that's the, the-

    19. LH

      Mm

    20. DP

      ... premise of the paleo movement.

    21. LH

      Mm-hmm, right.

    22. DP

      Let's try to, uh, emulate an environment that our paleolithic ancestors must have experienced in terms of lifestyle, exercise, activity, and certainly food and sleep. Um, so it's not that the gene is necessarily bad. It's the context of today, uh, bombarding that gene pathway with the signal that says, "You better make fat and make it fast because winter's coming and you need to be ready. You need to lay down some fat. You need to raise your blood sugar to power your brain because there's not gonna be any food. You need your brain so that you can forage and find-

    23. LH

      Mm-hmm

    24. DP

      ... some food." That's our ace in the hole.

    25. LH

      Mm.

    26. DP

      That's our high card. So that's why there's all this excitement then about the relationship between fructose, the downstream metabolite, which is uric acid, making more sugar, making more fat, and really a central player in our metabolic mayhem.

  6. 11:21 – 12:29

    Sugar, metabolic disruption, and brain degeneration (Alzheimer’s as inflammation)

    1. LH

      And how much does sugar affect the brain?

    2. DP

      Well, the, the brain does run on a form of sugar called glucose.

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    4. DP

      And there is even some suggestion that the brain can metabolize a, a small amount of fructose. That's really kind of recent data. But how it, uh, th- the brain is not tolerant to any significant degree of disruption of our metabolism, this, what I call metabolic mayhem. Because this disturbance of our metabolism sets the stage then for inflammation, and that is the underlying cornerstone of brain degeneration.

    5. LH

      Mm.

    6. DP

      Alzheimer's is an inflammatory disease. Like coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, these are inflammatory conditions. So You know, Alzheimer's is very much the brain on fire, which is what the word inflame, inflammation means, to be on fire. So we've got to do everything we can to put the fire out as a, you know, an intervention.

    7. LH

      And to prevent it as well.

    8. DP

      Yeah.

    9. LH

      So it doesn't get there.

    10. DP

      And, and to, uh-

    11. LH

      Have there been cases, not to go off topic here, but have there been cases of people where-

    12. DP

      We're, we're, we're deep into the woods

    13. LH

      [laughs]

    14. DP

      We're good.

  7. 12:29 – 14:54

    Reversing cognitive decline and the limits of ‘one magic pill’ medicine

    1. LH

      Have there been cases where people have had Al- Alzheimer's that have reversed it? Is that possible, yes?

    2. DP

      Yes.

    3. LH

      Really?

    4. DP

      There are. It's, uh ... There are books written about it. In fact, I wrote the forward to a book, uh, by Dr. Dale Bredesen, who is here in LA, um, at UC- at UCLA, and he has reversed it now in over 100 patients-

    5. LH

      Come on

    6. DP

      ... who have ... Oh, absolutely.

    7. LH

      Early stage or is this like the-

    8. DP

      Uh, early to moderate, yeah.

    9. LH

      Wow.

    10. DP

      Yeah. He's gotten people back to work.

    11. LH

      Wow.

    12. DP

      So we live in a world, western medicine, of monotherapy and, you know, we're going to create a magic pill for you that will take your diabetes away, for example. Uh, I was giving a talk in New Jersey to, ah, 500 mainstream doctors. Why they chose me, I don't know. But I said, "How do you treat, uh, diabetes?" And people would raise their hand and say, "Oh, I use such and such a drug. I use this or that." And then I said, "Well, what happens when you stop using that medication?" They said, "Well, within a day or two the blood sugars go up." So I asked the question, "Did you really treat the diabetes?" And then I presented data from a Dr. Sarah Hallberg where using a ketogenic diet reestablishes insulin sensitivity and people don't need medication.

    13. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    14. DP

      Published research. That's treatment.

    15. LH

      Yeah.

    16. DP

      So again, we're not treating diabetes with a drug and we don't have a drug for Alzheimer's. Doesn't exist. I wish there were such a thing.

    17. LH

      Right.

    18. DP

      We know what happened with this Aduhelm drug that was put out in February of this past year. And finally, mainstream neurology said, "You know what? This isn't working."

    19. LH

      Hmm.

    20. DP

      And challenges the notion that this accumulation of beta amyloid is the cause of Alzheimer's. Getting back to Dr. Bredesen, he's identified 36 different inputs that can affect the brain in different ways and identifies in each patient what is disrupted. Is it brain energetics, meaning the brain's inability to use glucose as a fuel? Is it inflammation?

    21. LH

      Hmm.

    22. DP

      Is it toxic? Is it infectious? Uh, is it previous trauma? What is going on in the brain? Let's work on that rather than one size fits all, you're gonna take this pill and lo and behold, you're gonna get better. So it's a paradigm shift and I was, uh, in the intro to his book or the forward, I said, "You know, this is on par with washing your hands before delivering a baby."

    23. LH

      Hmm.

    24. DP

      You know, it's that big of a deal.

  8. 14:54 – 22:29

    Prevention starts decades early: inflammation, waist size, scans, and early-life factors

    1. LH

      What would you say based on all the research you've done and also with these other doctors you've worked with would be the three or four or five key things to eliminate or to do to prevent Alzheimer's or to start reversing it in the early stages?

    2. DP

      So again, I think the most important thing is to realize that it begins a lot earlier than you think.

    3. LH

      How early?

    4. DP

      30 years before clinical symptoms-

    5. LH

      Ooh

    6. DP

      ... at least. That's what, you know, our peer-reviewed literature is telling us.

    7. LH

      Wow.

    8. DP

      And I, and I'll tell you why.

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    10. DP

      Because a study that appeared in the, uh, journal, uh, Neurology looked at, uh, created what's called an inflammatory c- composite score and they looked at people, uh, they, they did blood work and they, they created an, uh, a marker of their level of inflammation and then they went back and evaluated them 28 years later and they perfectly correlated who got Alzheimer's with how high their inflammation-

    11. LH

      My gosh

    12. DP

      ... score was 28 years before.

    13. LH

      Oh, my gosh.

    14. DP

      Now, we've seen the same thing with waist circumference. Three decades. We've seen the same thing with brain scans that look at glucose utilization are predictive long before people began to forget their grandchildren's names. So the point is, when does it begin? Does it begin in the 30s? And I would submit it begins a lot earlier, that when we see-

    15. LH

      Wow

    16. DP

      ... adolescents now that are diabetic, that are obese and s- or significantly overweight, uh, when we see, uh, teenagers, uh, in high school e- experiencing head trauma from contact sports, these are issues that are profound. We know that, uh, inflammation, the set point of inflammation to some degree is determined before a child is even born based upon the gut bacteria-

    17. LH

      Oh, my gosh

    18. DP

      ... of the mother. And we know that, for example, how a child is even born, vaginal birth versus cesarean birth plays a huge role in determining that child's level of inflammation, immune function, risk for autoimmunity, and even risk for obesity later in life.

    19. LH

      Based on how they're delivered.

    20. DP

      How they're delivered. If a child is born by C-section, doesn't pass through the vaginal birth canal, doesn't get those bacteria that are there to anoint that child. Passing through the birth canal puts bacteria in the mouth and the nose and the eyes, throughout the body of that child that then are the seeds to create that microbiome for that living being.

    21. LH

      Wow.

    22. DP

      As opposed to picking up bacteria in the operating room because mom had to have a C-section. There is a time and a place for a C-section.

    23. LH

      Wow.

    24. DP

      But a third of American births are C-section right now.

    25. LH

      Right.

    26. DP

      So-

    27. LH

      So you're saying if there's like this is an extreme complication where we've gotta do a C-section, that's when you say-

    28. DP

      Totally

    29. LH

      ... "Hey, yeah, we want everyone safe."

    30. DP

      Yeah. I mean, the, the umbilical cord's wrapped around the child's ne- whatever it might be.

  9. 22:29 – 28:13

    Exercise as the most validated intervention: BDNF and hippocampus changes

    1. DP

      ... docosahexaenoic acid, generally, uh, from fish oil, although there's a vegetarian form of that. But I think the, the biggest, uh, lever that can be pulled, uh, provided a diet is reasonable, would be aerobic exercise.

    2. LH

      Really?

    3. DP

      So this is profound. So this is a, an epigenetic player. This turns on the genes that make something called BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is fundamental for healing damaged neurons, but also for nurturing them, allowing them to do what they can do and should do, but also stimulates what is called synaptogenesis, where brain cells connect to each other, and even allows the human brain to grow new brain cells. Who knew?

    4. LH

      When you're doing aerobic exercise?

    5. DP

      Yes.

    6. LH

      So even if you have, let's say, not the cleanest diet and you have some sugar here and there, maybe you have some wine or some alcohol or whatever it is, um, you're saying doing consistent aerobic ex- exercise will help defend against all those things as well? Could help?

    7. DP

      Well, again, it's not that your guest today is, is saying that. That's what the literature shows. It's profound. So, uh, the work, the original work is done, uh, by Dr. Erickson at University of, of Pittsburgh.

    8. LH

      Okay.

    9. DP

      And, uh, fascinating research looking at, uh, two groups of individuals, several hundred in each group. One group got a stretching program and one group got an aerobics program. Now, I'm not knocking stretching. I mean, that's very important, but the aerobics part, uh, you know, pushing up your heart rate, uh, is what seems to be im- very important for augmenting this production of this BDNF.

    10. LH

      How long is the, the, the heart rate up for, or how long is the program? Like, 20, 30 minutes or-

    11. DP

      It was variable, but my-

    12. LH

      Right

    13. DP

      ... recommendation is minimum of 20 minutes.

    14. LH

      Okay.

    15. DP

      What should that heart rate be? Depends obviously on the person. I typically say 180 minus your age as a ballpark. Now, that might be too low for some people, too high for some people. But, um- You know, that's where you use a wearable and you see where you're comfortable. I typically say you should be, um, breathing hard but not hard enough that you can't have a conversation with somebody.

    16. LH

      Okay.

    17. DP

      I mean, these are kind of, you know-

    18. LH

      So it's a jog, a, a hard jog.

    19. DP

      Yeah.

    20. LH

      A light jogger.

    21. DP

      Well, depending on what, you know, the, it, it-

    22. LH

      A bike, right, yeah

    23. DP

      ... may be walking for somebody.

    24. LH

      Yeah, right.

    25. DP

      It may be, you know, may be an elliptical machine at a certain rate. Who knows?

    26. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    27. DP

      But, um, once that happens after a period of time, so this BDNF, uh, starts to get produced, and what did the study show that I'm, I'm quoting? They followed these people for a year. Those who did the aerobics had, uh, in- instead of declining size of their brain's memory center, called the hippocampus, it actually increased during the course of one year. I mean, we expect everything's gonna be on the skids, but here it actually increased and-

    28. LH

      Wow

    29. DP

      ... memory function improved.

    30. LH

      Wow.

  10. 28:13 – 33:59

    How diet advice went wrong: low-fat era, fructose rise, and added sweeteners everywhere

    1. DP

      risk for, uh, becoming an Alzheimer's patient, a disease for which there is no simple treatment. So we've gotta focus on metabolism. We've gotta keep people from becoming diabetic. We've gotta get the willies when we know that the prediction is that by 2030, 50% of American adults will be obese.

    2. LH

      Come on.

    3. DP

      2030 is-

    4. LH

      Eight years

    5. DP

      ... eight years from now. You used to think, oh, 2030, you know, the glaciers are melting. That's sometime in the distant future. Thank you, Al Gore. It's eight years from now. Think about that.

    6. LH

      So they're predicting 50% of the US population will be obese.

    7. DP

      Adults.

    8. LH

      Of adults.

    9. DP

      It's already one-third of American adults that have high blood pressure. It's already 10% of children between the ages of 12 and 18 that have high blood pressure, that require medication.

    10. LH

      What was it like 30 years ago? Was it-

    11. DP

      Things were better, but that's just about when things changed. And what happened? What happened was we were all told, not just doctors, but the lay population as well, that fat was the enemy, right? Low fat-

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm

    13. DP

      ... everything.

    14. LH

      Yeah.

    15. DP

      Low fat Oreos.

    16. LH

      Fat free. Fat free this.

    17. DP

      Yeah.

    18. LH

      Yeah.

    19. DP

      Low fat Oreos with that white stuff in the middle that we all loved, right? Who wouldn't? And, uh, w- what happened was because we all went fat free or low fat as mu- as best we could, uh, there was far more carbohydrates and, um, simple carbohydrates in the diet. Sugar consumption skyrocketed. So, uh, between 1970 and 1990, fructose consumption went up 1000%. Now, fructose was, uh, looked upon as being a safer sugar than table sugar per se, or certainly than glucose, because fructose in its metabolism doesn't require insulin, doesn't mess with the insulin issue.

    20. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    21. DP

      So it was looked upon, it was even recommended by the American Diabetes Association, and yet fructose consumption directly leads to insulin resistance. That's the harbinger for future diabetes. So it is about the worst sugar we could be consuming, and yet we're consuming it, you know, left, right, and center these days.

    22. LH

      Wait, wait, so the American Diabetes Association, is that what you said? They-

    23. DP

      Said fructose. And-

    24. LH

      They recommended-

    25. DP

      Yeah

    26. LH

      ... that fructose was a he- way to ... prevent type 2 diabe- diabetes

    27. DP

      We know that if you needed a sweetener, fructose is a better choice

    28. LH

      Use that

    29. DP

      In other words, high fructose corn syrup, which is 55% fructose-

    30. LH

      Ooh

  11. 33:59 – 1:00:14

    Personal boundaries: CGMs, identity-based food rules, and inflammation awareness

    1. DP

      Uh, do I still want it and desire it? Absolutely.

    2. LH

      Really?

    3. DP

      Oh, yeah.

    4. LH

      How do you manage it?

    5. DP

      I, I, um-

    6. LH

      Do you have it some? Do you have it, you know, seasonally?

    7. DP

      Oh, there-

    8. LH

      Do you-

    9. DP

      I definitely eat some fruit. I can't tell you when I had a glass of juice. It's not even in my memory anymore. Um, I will say that, uh, I had some gingerbread-

    10. LH

      [laughs]

    11. DP

      ... and loved every bit of it.

    12. LH

      [laughs]

    13. DP

      I don't know how much sugar it contained, recently. Uh, but it's generally off the table for me. I mean, I-

    14. LH

      You just-

    15. DP

      ... don't wanna become diabetic. My father died of Alzheimer's. Um, I have a, a c- continuous glucose monitor. I know darn well moment to moment what my foods are doing to me, and I'm keeping my blood sugar-

    16. LH

      Wow

    17. DP

      ... under control.

    18. LH

      You have a blo- uh, monitor on your-

    19. DP

      I'm traveling right now, so I don't have it on.

    20. LH

      Okay, gotcha. But you usually have it on your shoulder?

    21. DP

      Left shoulder, yeah.

    22. LH

      Wow.

    23. DP

      I usually have it right here, a CGM.

    24. LH

      And so you check-

    25. DP

      Oh, you need to get that. We'll, we'll get-

    26. LH

      Really?

    27. DP

      ... you set up.

    28. LH

      Oh, I know, like-

    29. DP

      Absolutely

    30. LH

      ... Asprey and all these other guys have them, and Sergey Young and all these people. And I'm like, ah, do I want this in my bod- Do you feel it a lot?

  12. 1:00:14 – 1:10:03

    What he avoids and what he prioritizes: soda, sweeteners, meds, and fats (especially olive oil)

    1. LH

      Yeah. So what would you say are the foods or the liquids that are off-limits for you? Or maybe that are, like, very rare that you'll consume something, whether it's a gingerbread. I'll, I'll drink this-

    2. DP

      So we were watching Rick Steves on public television.

    3. LH

      Uh-huh.

    4. DP

      And it was obviously a couple years, uh, ago, 'cause no one was wearing masks. He was in Europe and, uh, he, they had ... It was for Christmas, and he ate gingerbread. And w- and it was, uh, we, my wife and I looked at him and we went-

    5. LH

      We'll have to get some of that

    6. DP

      ... "We gotta get some gingerbread." [laughs]

    7. LH

      [laughs]

    8. DP

      So I s- I was able to, to, uh, find some. But, um, so that's ... So from time to time, having something that's sensible, that's not really, you know, killing it. But, uh, I think it's the high-fructose foods and the high-sugar foods. You know, understand that table sugar is 50% fructose.

    9. LH

      Okay.

    10. DP

      S- sucrose, this table sugar that is the ingredient, you know, that two s- uh, tablespoons of, of sugar along with the refined flour and some vanilla, and next thing you know, you've got dessert.

    11. LH

      [laughs]

    12. DP

      And somehow it, you know, it's alchemy. It creates something new, de novo, out of these ingredients. Pizza, the same way.

    13. LH

      Yeah.

    14. DP

      Somehow well, it's pizza. But no, it's made from flour, highly refined carb, uh, flour dough, refined flour, and then you put tomato sauce and the mushrooms. It's now not bad anymore. It's new thing. It's pizza, therefore it's good. But, um-

    15. LH

      What's off limits for you then? What's like you don't have?

    16. DP

      Well, one thing I, I don't ever eat is liver. Not, I'm not saying it's bad food, I just can't eat it.

    17. LH

      Okay.

    18. DP

      I hate it. Uh, off limits are soda.

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    20. DP

      Uh, fructose containing, uh, sauces, uh, condiments, uh, fruit juice, that's for sure. Anything that's, that's got a lot of sugar is off the table.

    21. LH

      Sweets, candy, and all that stuff.

    22. DP

      No. Uh, that's not for me.

    23. LH

      You don't eat it?

    24. DP

      No.

    25. LH

      It's completely out of your ...

    26. DP

      No, I, I won't say completely. I might have a mint.

    27. LH

      You might have... Okay.

    28. DP

      In fact, uh, there was a ... And so I remember them. I had a mint, uh, that was in the, our rental car that the, uh, that Hertz put there for me. I ate that. But generally, that's not who I am. I don't eat, uh, I don't need it. And, um, do I feel guilty afterwards? Probably not. I, maybe I could feel more guilty-

    29. LH

      After eating a mint, you mean, or what?

    30. DP

      No, I don't. I don't feel guilty. I mean-

  13. 1:10:03 – 1:21:36

    Uric acid and the ‘LOVE’ approach: measuring, targets, and levers (fructose, alcohol, purines)

    1. LH

      And they probably don't wanna go to bed earlier to sleep so that they can burn more fat when they're sleeping, all these different things. So what is this surprising new science of uric acid? What is uric acid?

    2. DP

      So we-

    3. LH

      What do we need to know about it, and how do we use it to lose weight?

    4. DP

      Uric acid is the downstream end metabolite of fructose.

    5. LH

      What does that mean for somebody who's-

    6. DP

      So it means when, when you eat fructose-

    7. LH

      Yeah

    8. DP

      ... it goes into your body. It's absorbed through your intestinal lining. It undergoes a series of changes until it reaches uric acid, at which point that uric acid, some of it stays in the bloodstream, some of it is excreted.

    9. LH

      So sugar turns into uric acid at some point.

    10. DP

      Fructose turns into uric acid.

    11. LH

      Fructose. What other ... Okay, it's not sugar.

    12. DP

      Right. Well, fructose is sugar, but this is unique. Fructose and glucose are totally different. I, I would say apples and oranges. That's-

    13. LH

      [laughs]

    14. DP

      Although that's confusing.

    15. LH

      Apples and, and candy bars, yeah. So what is f- where is fructose and where is glucose for those that aren't sure?

    16. DP

      That's right. So fructose, the name comes from fruit sugar, fructose. Ose in, uh, biochemistry means, or in chemistry means sugar. And, uh, you know, this is what is found in fruit, and this was what allowed some of our ancestors to survive-

    17. LH

      Okay. And then-

    18. DP

      ... who could eat fruit, uh, fruit in the late summer, early fall and had a little advantage that they would make more fat such that when food was unavailable, they would survive, and those who didn't make that little bit more fat-

    19. LH

      Would perish, yeah

    20. DP

      ... would perish. And we didn't get their genes. We got the genes from the ones who survived.

    21. LH

      Who could produce a little more fat.

    22. DP

      A little bit more fat and became a little bit more insulin resistant so that their blood sugar would go up just a little bit, allowing their brains to, uh, help them avoid the two things that were their biggest threats, starvation and predation. Starvation, not having enough food. Predation, getting eaten.

    23. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    24. DP

      You know? Not ... Both of which are not really threats to most of us these days.

    25. LH

      Right, right.

    26. DP

      It's not like we're gonna be walking down the street and a lion's gonna come and-

    27. LH

      No

    28. DP

      ... eat you.

    29. LH

      No.

    30. DP

      In which case you'd wanna have a smart, uh, be smart so you could do what you need to do to get away from the lion.

  14. 1:21:36 – 1:29:02

    Closing questions: three truths, lessons learned, mission, and definition of greatness

    1. LH

      I have a, a couple final questions for you.

    2. DP

      Sure.

    3. LH

      This is called the three truths. I ask everyone this question at the end of the interview, and it's a hypothetical scenario. So imagine it's many years away, but it's your last day, last day on Earth. And you get to choose the day. You get to live as long as you want, but eventually, you gotta turn the lights off for this world. Um, and you have accomplished every dream you could think of. You can l- you've lived the life that you want to. You have the relationships. You have the, you know, the accomplishments, the impact. It's all there. But for whatever reason, every piece of work or piece of content you've put out into the world has to go with you or go to another place. We don't have access to this information anymore. So this book, everything you've created, for whatever reason, it's gone. Again, hypothetical world. But you have a piece of paper and a pen, and you get to write down three things you know to be true about life, about your experiences, about what you've learned, that you would wanna share with the world, and this is all we would have to be reminded by your message. What would you say are those three truths for you?

    4. DP

      Number one, uh, and I'm not gonna rank them, but number one that comes to mind is there is nothing constant except change.

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    6. DP

      Uh, number two is the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And number three would be don't sweat the small stuff.

    7. LH

      Yeah.

    8. DP

      I remember who said that to me the very first time. I was a freshman in college. And oddly enough, his name was John Kennedy, not John Kennedy, but h- that was his name. And it was very meaningful. I didn't get it at first.

    9. LH

      He said, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

    10. DP

      But over the years, I've gotten it.

    11. LH

      Right. Isn't the book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and It's All Small Stuff? Isn't that the-

    12. DP

      Oh, uh, yeah, you're right

    13. LH

      ... I think that's the tagline. It's like-

    14. DP

      But that's, uh ... It's not worth it.

    15. LH

      Yeah.

    16. DP

      It isn't worth it.

    17. LH

      What do you wish you'd have learned and implemented 30 years ago for yourself that maybe you didn't implement yet, but now you know?

    18. DP

      Well, now m- uh, uh, from a, a practical point of s- uh, view, I would've said, uh, don't get as much sun.

    19. LH

      Really?

    20. DP

      Oh, man, I really overdid it and paying the price now. Number two, floss more re- regularly.

    21. LH

      Yeah.

    22. DP

      Number three, uh, I would say don't sweat the small stuff.

    23. LH

      Yeah. Interesting.

    24. DP

      'Cause it took a, it took a while to learn that. I mean-

    25. LH

      Yeah

    26. DP

      ... um-

    27. LH

      Obsessing over every little thing that was like-

    28. DP

      I'm, I'm, I know I'm a driven individual.

    29. LH

      Yeah.

    30. DP

      I, I know that.

Episode duration: 1:29:02

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