Book notes: Head Strong

Over the past year I’ve started to focus on diet as a means to optimize energy levels and mental clarity throughout the day. I started off with the Slow Carb diet as described in the Four Hour Body. Somewhere in my consciousness I was aware of people putting butter in their morning coffee, but everything gelled after I saw a Bulletproof promotion at my local Whole Foods. This led to me drinking Bulletproof coffee in the morning (Bulletproof brand coffee, 1 tbsp grass fed butter, 1 tbsp Brain Octane Oil).

Bulletproof has a wealth of blog content, & its founder, Dave Asprey, has an amazing growth mindset applied to personal nutrition and wellness. So I knew that his book, Head Strong, would be right up my alley.

Here’s a summary of tweaks to my routine I’m testing as a result of the Bulletproof method and Head Strong:

Intermittent fasting for 16-18 hours per day, except for Bulletproof coffee in the morning (in practice, I eat dinner, don’t snack before bed, and don’t eat solid food until lunch the next day)
Added 25 jumping jacks daily to create EZ water
Turn my shower to the coldest setting for the last 30 seconds (today I did 45 seconds)
Started buying grass-fed whenever possible, as well as pastured eggs.
Bought Bulletproof Collagen Protein and started adding it to my coffee
Recut my diet somewhat to increase fats and reduce certain types of nuts and beans (although I have trouble being 100% strict on this - I live on peanut butter)
Spend time outside sans sunglasses

I probably should have done a blood panel before dramatically increasing my saturated fat intake, but I figured I would dive in and see how things go over the next 60 days.

There’s something for everyone in Head Strong, but these were the highlights most relevant to me (italics direct quotes from the book):

Brain Weakness: forgetfulness - I exhibit many symptoms of forgetfulness as described in the book. Forgetting important dates, pausing while speaking to think of the right word, losing track of regularly used items, etc. So this means I need to pay extra attention to (all covered in the book): mitochondria function, oxygen delivery systems, myelination, neurogenesis, and nutrition.

Make the most important decisions first every day, before you can experience decision fatigue.

If you feel that you’re experiencing decreased motivation, procrastination, forgetfulness, and mood swings, it’s worth trying a tyrosine supplement.

You’ll want to eat your yolks runny, as in sunny-side up, soft-boiled, or poached, so you don’t damage the valuable cholesterol and phospholipids found in yolks.

How to select coffee with the lowest probability of mold accumulation:

Look for single-estate coffee
Look for washed coffee
Look for Central American coffee
Organic label means nothing - most of the best coffees come from small plantations that could never afford an organic certification because the paperwork cost would put them out of business.

Flouride damages mitochondria. There is no scientific evidence to support the commonly held belief that adding fluoride to drinking water is safe. Same goes for Flouride toothpaste - link to cavity reduction unclear.

Dairy protein, gluten, trans fats, and vegetable oils cause inflammation in everyone

Mold toxins are particularly toxic to your mitochondria and are commonly found in grains, coffee, dried fruit, wine, beer, chocolate, nuts, and corn

Stop using artificial sweeteners (Stevia, Xylitol excluded). They are toxic to your mitochondria even in small amounts. While you’re at it, cut down on your sugar intake, particularly the fructose that is found in fruit juice and high-fructose corn syrup.

Never eat fried food! Frying damages fats and makes them toxic.

All rice contains some naturally occurring arsenic, but brown rice contains eighty times more arsenic than white rice.

If you sit in an office with junk light all day long, I highly encourage you to invest in some simple LED red lights to place in your environment, switch to halogen lights if possible, and get some quality outdoor light exposure throughout the day.

For UV exposure, walk outside with as much skin exposed as possible every day

Check out Wim Hof’s breathing technique to increase oxygen intake

Life goal: spend a week at 40 years of Zen

Hack your computer [blue] light first by installing f.lux software from getflux.com.

Three to five times a week, move your body meaningfully but not super-strenuously, for twenty to forty minutes. Bonus points for doing it outdoors in the morning without sunglasses to get a full spectrum of natural light at the same time.

Once a week, sprint like crazy for four hundred yards, then lie on your back for ninety seconds. Do it twice.

Phones emit radiation. Keep your phone as far away from your front pocket as possible. I also have been sleeping with my phone outside of my bedroom for about a year (an Arianna Huffington tip) which has had tremendous benefits for sleep.