OK guys I took one for the team and listened to the Andrew Huberman 3 hour and 47 min podcast with Dr. Layne Norton. I flew to Orange County last weekend to spend time with my dad during his knee replacement recovery and spent my travel time listening to this podcast and taking notes.
My sister asked me if I understand most of Huberman talks about on his podcasts (usually very science heavy) and yes I understand most of what he talks about thanks to all my science classes ;). In my notes I try and bullet point the main take away message in an easy to understand way.
There was A LOT of info and A LOT of references so many different studies. I took notes on what I thought was the most relevant information that the common person would want to know (not the scientist).
To be honest I found myself a little bored during the podcast because it was heavy based on studies (many in mice) and less concrete information you can implement at home. While I appreciate science based information I found the podcast heavy in information that wasn’t necessarily applicable information it was more conversation based. Therefore, I tried to take notes on things that were teaching moments and could be implemented at home.
FYI these are Layne’s thoughts and advice not mine ;). Let me know if you want more explanation to any of my notes.
- A calorie is simply a unit of energy. He explains the Krebs cycle which I won’t do here 😉
- Layne explains that there is an error up to 20% in nutrition fact labels, but he is still a big fan of tracking intake and a theme throughout the podcast is that excess caloric intake is really the root of health and weight issues (not a specific food, nutrient, or diet plan).
- He talks about RMR (resting metabolic rate) accounting for 50-70% of total daily energy expenditure and the thermocouple effect of food being around 5-10%. I explained more about that and NEAT in this post which they also talk a lot about.
- Purposeful activity vs. NEAT (not purposefully activity). There is significant calorie burn (sometimes over 1,000 calories a day) in NEAT (linked my post above to explain NEAT more)
- All sources of calories have different effects in the body, but essential excess calories is what causes weight gain.
- Fat is easily converted into energy. Fat and protein are more satiating.
- You BMR decreases as you lose weight because you’re in a smaller body can make it harder to lose weight or plateau. Need less calories.
- The calorie burn on smart watches are very inaccurate, but good for tracking steps.
- Placebo effect is REAL. It can be as powerful as some pharmaceuticals according to some studies.
- A main hack to be healthier and improve all biomarker is exercise. Even if weight loss is not the goal or is not accomplished, you should exercise for longevity. Exercise is by far the best thing you can do for longevity.
- Exercise also increases sensitivity to satiety signals. This means you’re more in tune to your body telling you to stop eating.
- Active people able to regulate appetite better than those who are sedentary
- Reasons we eat are often not related to true hunger. Stress, boredom, lack of sleep > reason people eat vs. actual hunger.
- Fat loss diets that use any strategy for weight loss that doesn’t address all these reasons we eat won’t work.
- Weight loss success and able to successful maintain weight loss…you must create a new identity
- Can’t make long term changes without becoming a new person
- “You can’t create a new version of yourself while dragging your old self behind you”
- To achieve weight loss- you have to have some form of restriction (caloric restriction, time restrictions, nutrient restrictions)
- Find a form of restriction that’s easiest for you and you can sustain. Pick the nutrition plan you can stick to for the longest period of time (forever). One doesn’t work better than another. Pull what lever works for you. Ex keto- can you do it for the rest of your life? No? Then pick something else.
- There are more cells in microbiome then our entire body making gut health so important.
- How to support gut microbiome—> improve gut health
- 3 levers to pull to improve gut health #1 not eating too many calories #2 fiber (prebiotic) and #3 exercise
- Too many calories can increase body fat. It appears body fat can negatively impact the gut microbiome
- Soluble fiber —-> short chain fatty acids (SCFA) create positive effects in the gut (ex on insulin sensitivity)
- Food diversity (variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc.) important for good gut health. I wrote a post about it here.
- Prebiotics > probiotics because most probiotics not concentrated enough to colonize
- Fiber = huge longevity hack
- Pooping the last reason to consume fiber (it helps) but you should eat fiber bc effects on mortality
- HDL important to cardiovascular health. High HDL = good biomarkers (without using meds to increase).
- Muscle building is not just protein synthesis
- Leucine (amino acid) is almost solely responsible for increasing muscle
- 1.6 g protein per kg of body weight most people should try to achieve that threshold for muscle building. Studies show a plateau over that amount. More minor benefits for muscle growth consuming greater than 1.6 g /kg body weight.
- Quality protein intake = biggest lever to pull for muscle growth and to preserve lean body mass. Also helps appetite suppressant.
- Not all high protein foods are as satiated (ex. High protein bar- highly palatable and processed so not as satiating vs. chicken breast)
- Does protein distribution matter? Can you make up from previous low protein meal with a high protein meal? 2-3 high quality protein meals a day will get the benefits (total protein may be more important than distribution) if you can distribute that’s good, but focus on quality protein sources 2-3 x day and will get benefits for lean muscle.
- leucine content is key in protein synthesis (protein building)
- Using soy 1-2 x week doesn’t have impact on testosterone or estrogen. It’s a complete protein source best option for vegans (whey best for vegetarians).
- Focus on ingesting minimally processed foods for health avoid highly processed foods and sugar
- Ultra processed food = studies show you eat more total calories (one study showed people ate 500 more calories to feel satisfied on ultra processed diet vs minimally processed diet)
- ex. Keto cookies and ice cream etc. missing the point of the keto diet. Eating processed foods you won’t lose weight because too many calories and more palatable. If you’re being keto for body comp goals you won’t achieve that eating these highly processed “keto” foods.
- Energy output for most people is down overall these days. Ex. PE classes for kids is down significantly.
- If you’re gaining weight overtime you’re consuming more energy (energy balancer problem yes, but but unhelpful to say move more eat less) It’s much more complex reasons that can include low income, past sexual abuse, childhood trauma, etc that needs to be addressed.
- When you purposely restrict something – can set you up for a binge. Crave that nutrient more. Binge response. Thinking that this is “bad” so if I have it I’ve already screwed up might as have as much as I want.
- Sugar sweetened bev and swap out for artificially sweetened bev can be helpful tool for those who drink soda. Artificial sweeteners are not necessarily healthful choices, but studies don’t show unhealthy.
- Is Diet Coke healthier as water? No, but a tool for people to lose weight to cut out the sodA. Replacement to lose weight net effect more positive than you not losing the weight
- The more adipose tissue you have (obese) the more aggressive you can diet with less consequences. Boost in beginning and transition to something more sustainable.
- Seed oils are polarized.
- Rarely black and white that one thing/behaviors is the cause of all bad in health.
- Seed oil alone not harmful other than the addition of adding more calories/energy to diet
- Saturated fat should be limited to 7-10% totally caloric intake wise based on consensus of evidence seen
- MUFA vs PUFA disagreement on studies – prob better off MUFA or PUFA in place of saturated fats
- We tend to think xyz (seed oils, carbs, animal protein, artificial sweeteners,sat fat, etc) bad rather than thinking overall energy toxicity is the problem
- Diet maintenance or sub caloric diet studies similar results in females vs males
- Muscle training should work towards getting to muscle fatigue/ muscle failure and similar results male and female specific training
- Menstrual cycle and training you should auto regulate – make the decision on what training to do based on how you feel. If you feel great and you’re on your period go for it. If not – take it easy
- Raw vs cooked food- cooked foods more digestible cooked not less. Cook food and denatured nutrients doesn’t mean it loses nutrients.
- Don’t eat char meats
- Carb blockers don’t work for weight loss. You still absorb the calories.
- Creatine the most tested safe and effective sports supplement on the market- monohydrate type
- Helps improve exercise performance improves recovery and increase lean mass
- You can reset caffeine tolerance by cutting it out for 7 days (cut out cold Turkey)
- He never tells people they need sports supplements
- Research out there Rhodiola rosea (adaptogen) reduce physical fatigue. Added to coffee can be more mild calm energy. Needs more research.
- Ashwagandha (another adaptogen) promising research.
- You can’t out science hard training
- If you’re looking to build muscle – consistently and hard work over time
Wow, Alix! This is great. Thank you for doing all that work!
So glad it was helpful!