Episode 10: personal philosophy for the twenty-first century

This particular episode of the podcast both excites me and makes me a bit nervous. I conceived of the idea last week and pitched it to Jared Clough--my co-host on the Critical Absorption Podcast--the next day, when he arrived in Massachusetts. (We had already planned to record the eighth episode of Critical Absorption.) What makes me nervous about the episode is that it can and will be considered rather pretentious and obnoxious by people who are unwilling to engage with the forcefully-delivered opinions of non-experts. 

The episode is the first of what will turn out to be a three-part series, the focus of which is roughly personal health (though I prefer to frame it as human optimization): nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness. What I'm arguing for is a more ubiquitous and diligent use of science in the construction of our personal living philosophies. This first episode focuses on nutrition; I run through some of the history of how a combination of misguided science and cowardly public policy came to derail our discussions around human nutrition. In short, I argue for the importance of recognizing the role played by carbohydrates in atherosclerotic disease and diabetes. 

Despite making me nervous, it was a fun talk to have with Jared--I'm not sure I could find another human on the planet willing to undergo such a ludicrous experiment with me--and I hope you enjoy it. I really do think we need to get over our suspicion of non-experts and realize that the world's knowledge lies at our fingertips. If you've learned how to learn then you can learn anything you want. It's an exciting time.

​What follows are links to the work of some of the actual experts I mention in the episode, along with a couple I didn't mention:

Mark Sisson 
Peter Attia
Rhonda Patrick
Dominique D'Agostino 
Aubrey Marcus
Valter Longo
Ron Kraus
Robb Wolf
Gary Taubes
Jeff Volek
Ken Ford
​
... That should get you started!