Fat for Fuel

Dr. Mercola’s approach is called “Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy” or “MMT.”

He kicks the book off with a high-level overview of mitochondria and why they’re so important. We talked about the importance of mitochondria in Head Strong and Power Up Your Brainas well. In Head Strong, Dave Asprey says: “Your mitochondria determine how your body reacts to the world around you. When your mitochondria become more efficient, your mental performance increases. The better your mitochondria are at creating energy, the better your body and mind will perform, the more you can do, and the better you will feel while doing it.”

So, your mitochondria are super important. They’re the little power centers inside every cell. It’s the breakdown of our MITOCHONDRIA that initiates disease. Therefore, we want to make sure we’re taking good care of them.

And, I’m still blown away by just how many of them we have in our bodies.

10,000,000 x 1,000,000,000 = 10,000,000,000,000,000.

That’s a lot of zeroes. 16, in fact. Over a QUADRILLION mitochondria organelles in our body. 1 billion of which can, apparently, fit on the head of a pin yet, when they’re all thrown together in that body that is you, they make up 10% of your total body weight. Mind-bendingly awesome. Now, let’s take a look at how to make them happy.

Focal point here: “ADEQUATE protein.”

Not “high.” Not “low.” Not “moderate.”

ADEQUATE.

As in, basically, just enough to meet your needs.

This concept and reintroducing intermittent fasting (which we’ll talk about in a moment) are the two Big Ideas that I’ve experimented with the most as a direct result of this book.

Dr. Gundry recommends the same “adequate protein” approach in The Plant Paradox. He suggests four ounces of animal protein per day—which is what I’m currently experimenting with.

My health/fitness/nutrition coach, the super-fit Ben Greenfield is all about the lower protein approach as well.

As is Mark Hyman. In Eat Fat, Get Thin he tells us to go “pegan”—combining the best of both the vegan and Paleo worlds. Specifically, he says: “I focus specifically on the cross-section of vegan and Paleo because the middle ground between these two approaches is the most doable, sensible, sustainable, delicious, healthful, and science-based way of eating.”

He also makes the point that a HIGH-FAT vegan diet outperforms the low-fat approach: “A study of any diet of whole foods—vegan or Paleo—will do far better than the awful processed industrial diet. But what happens when you compare two whole-food, good-quality vegan diets—one low-fat and one high-fat? This has been done, and the high-fat, high-protein, low-carb, low- glycemic vegan diet (Eco-Atkins) performed better for weight loss and lowering cholesterol than the low-fat vegan diet that avoided nuts, seeds, and avocados.”

Having said that, I like this thought the most as it relates to experimenting and figuring out what works for YOU: “LeBron James, considered one of the greatest basketball players of our time, follows a Paleo diet. The number one tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, cut out gluten and dairy and ate a higher-fat diet and went from losing match after match to winning every major tennis tournament in a year. Rich Roll completed five Ironman triathlons in seven days on a high-fat vegan diet. Humans are amazingly adaptable. But the only important question is, What is the right diet for the human that matters most—you?”

P.S. Important note: Of course, when I was vegan, I cut out ALL animal protein. My current take on the research along with a number of discussions with highly-respected functional medicine doctors (and my own experimenting) is that SOME animal protein is important.

Of course, there are very strong moral considerations that influence many people’s decisions on this—which, of course, I admire and respect.

Again, as always, there is no THE way. We each need to discover OUR way.

Thank you, Fred: “‘This is my way; where is yours?’—Thus I answered those who asked me ‘the way.’ For the way— that does not exist.”

That (+ the prior Idea) are from a chapter called “The Protein Paradox” in which Mercola walks us through the fact that, although essential for our health, too much protein is not a good thing.

Why? Well, one of the reasons is that excessive protein activates what’s know as “mTOR” which is short for the “Mammalian (or Mechanistic) Target of Rapamycin.”

As Mercola says: “When mTOR is not stimulated, it instructs the cell to turn on the array of repair and maintenance processes at its disposal, including autophagy (cleaning up cellular debris), DNA repair, and activating intracellular antioxidants and heat-shock proteins (HSPs). When it is activated, it cues the cell to grow and proliferate; it also suppresses most cellular and mitochondrial repair and regeneration mechanisms.”

It’s interesting because as I typed that I thought of our Peak Performance growth equation. Recall: Stress + Rest = Growth.

Protein is a great builder. A “good stress” in the building process if you will. But, we can’t have that switch flipped ON all the time. We need to flip it OFF and allow for the recovery. THAT’s when the sustainable, healthy growth occurs. More accurately, during that “rest” phase is when autophagy occurs—when our body gets to press pause on all the building and take out the trash, cleaning up “cellular debris” to keep our cells nice and shiny and happy.

So… Question: How’s your protein intake?

P.S. Wondering what “adequate” protein means? Here’s a blog post by Mercola that addresses that question. Short story: “This formula calls for about 0.5 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass (or for the Europeans: 1 gram per kg of lean body mass). Pregnant women and those who are aggressively exercising or competing should have about 25 percent more.

To determine your lean body mass, simply subtract your percent body fat from 100. For example, if you have 20 percent body fat, then you have 80 percent lean body mass. Just multiply that percentage (in this case, 0.8) by your current weight to get your lean body mass in pounds or kilos. In the above example, if you weighed 160 pounds, 0.8 multiplied by 160 equals 128 pounds of lean body mass. Using the ‘0.5 gram of protein’ rule, you would need about 64 grams of protein per day.”

That’s from the chapter “What to Eat on MMT: The Cleanest, Most Efficient Fuel for Your Body.” First, know that if you’re going to follow MMT and add a lot of fats, you must a) simultaneously reduce your carbs and b) make sure your fats are a high quality.

The good fats? Mercola loves coconut oil and MCT oil. And avocados (“one of the healthiest foods you can eat”; he eats one to three per day). And olives (“a wonder of nature”) and olive oil (which Mark Hyman calls “liquid gold”).

What needs to go? Well, let’s walk over to your pantry and give ALL your veggie oils a boot: canola oil? Gone. Soy, corn, sunflower, safflower, peanut, and cottonseed? Trash can.

I know “vegetable” oils sound so nutritious but they’re NOT. They didn’t exist before the turn of the 20th century and anything that recently added to our food supply should be limited.

(btw: Did you know that Americans consume 18 BILLION pounds of soybean oil per year? An ASTONISHING 20% of our calories come from soybean oil alone. TWENTY PERCENT!!)

That’s from a chapter called “The Power of Fasting to Optimize Mitochondrial Health” in which Mercola walks us through the array of fasting techniques that have been shown to help us Optimize—from 2 day water fasts to his favorite: Peak Fasting.

This is what I currently do. Last meal around sunset, next meal at least 14 or so hours later. Often 16-18 hours later. It’s super easy. Energy is nice and stable. Note: There’s NO WAY I could have done that when I ate a ton of grains. I was, as David Ludwig says, “Always Hungry!”

Why is this so good? Remember the autophagy/cell clean up? When we fast, the crews get to work. Keeping our cells nice and shiny and happy!

btw: Mercola is also all about limiting food before sleep. He says: “I believe one of the best strategies for reducing mitochondrial free radical production is to limit the amount of fuel you feed your body when it requires the least amount, which is when you are sleeping. That’s why I stop eating four to six hours before I go to bed, although a three-hour window is also beneficial and probably more doable for most people.”

Note to self: Stop eating even earlier before bedtime!

P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE from Mercola: “Although I believe intermittent fasting, particularly Peak Fasting, is a powerful way to improve your physiological function all the way down to the mitochondrial level, it is not for everyone. Individuals taking medications, especially diabetics, need medical supervision; otherwise there is a risk of hypoglycemia.”

Whether you follow a Mercola-inspired MMT diet or a vegan or a Paleo or some modification of whatever approach you like, you probably consume some stuff that you know is sub-optimal.

Best way to eliminate it? Go to your pantry once more. Throw away/donate the stuff that needs to go. Then, most importantly, QUIT BUYING IT. Buy your willpower at the store. Play offense rather than defense. And, Optimize.

So… On that note, what’s one thing that you know needs to go?

Here’s to fueling those quadrillion+ mitochondria like the world-champion version of you!