Tips for your health 3

Healthier taco bites? Yum!

I grew up eating taco bites. Actually, I grew up hoping to get to eat taco bites because my mom was smart enough to not feed me that frozen junk the vast majority of the time. I recently found out about a company called Snow Days that makes better-for-you taco bites that will satisfy your inner 12-year-old (or your actual 12-year-old if you have kids) that are so damn delicious, I had to partner with them. Now I’m not saying these are a health food, but they’re made with a lot more care than the stuff that’s typically available in supermarkets. Snow Days Tex-Mex Chicken Taco Bites are 100% grain-free, seed oil-free, organic, and use grass-fed dairy. You seriously can’t beat that! If you click here and use code ‘MAX’ you’ll get 10% off, which stacks on top of the 50% off they’re already giving you if you get a 2-pack! Click here and try Snow Days (your kids, or your inner kid, will thank you).

Do THIS if you can’t lose weight

First off, recognize that “losing weight” is a non-specific goal that we should refine if we’re really looking out for our best interests. Do we want to lose muscle, which weighs more than fat at a given volume? Likely not. Most people would probably like an easier time losing fat. But fat loss can be a struggle, especially when juggling competing advice. One person who has helped many people shed the fat over the years is nephrologist and obesity medicine expert Jason Fung. He is controversial, to be sure, but has a lot to say about fat loss especially with regard to fasting. I compiled some of the best advice he’s shared on my podcast over the past few years. You can check it out here.

A probiotic that reduces stress!?

Acute doses of physical (and even psychoogical) stress can be rewarding, but chronic stress is not good—it harms your immunity, can lead to weight gain, and shrinks your brain. I recently partnered with Just Thrive to spread the word about their probiotic Bifidobacterium longum 1714 which has been shown to reduce stress-related behaviors in preclinical studies and improve stress responses and cognitive function in healthy human volunteers. (You can look to Wang, et al. 2019 or Allen, et al. 2016 for further reading.) If you click here and use code ‘Genius’ you’ll get 15% off the Just Calm psychobiotic which makes use of B. longum 1714 and includes some other mood-supporting micronutrients like methylcobalamin and folate.

Does red meat cause colorectal cancer and stroke?

In a brand new review published in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers found weak or no evidence of associations between unprocessed red meat consumption and risk of 6 health outcomes including ischemic heart disease, colorectal cancer, and stroke. This is good news, since red meat can be a good source of nutrients for many people, including protein, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. Read the review here.

Eat these flavanoid-rich foods for better brain health

In a series of randomized controlled trials, high-flavanoid fruits and vegetables—like apples, oranges, berries, and dark leafy greens—caused a dose-dependent improvement in cognition and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) when up to 6 servings per day were consumed. Low-flavanoid fruits and vegetables did not achieve any improvement in BDNF or cognition. Read the study here.

Reverse Chronic Disease and PREVENT insulin resistance

When you eat food, and carbohydrates in particular, your pancreas pumps out insulin to get blood sugar into cells. With excessive carbohydrate and calorie consumption, cells can become “tolerant” to all that insulin—they’ve become insulin resistant. To get to the root cause and understand how to reverse this condition, I invited bioenergetics expert and metabolic health scientist Ben Bikman, PhD onto the show. He shares how to prevent insulin resistance, reverse chronic disease (including type 2 diabetes), and reduce body fat. Watch our conversation here.

More Muscle = Longer Life?

An oldie but a goodie! A 2014 study found that having more muscle mass predicted longevity. And, those in the highest quartile of muscle mass compared to the those in the lowest quartile had a 20% reduced risk of mortality over a 10–16 year follow up. Unless due to reverse causation or some other confounding variable, this study pokes holes in the ‘low protein is good for longevity’ rhetoric, since we know that protein, especially for aged individuals, is crucial for maintaining muscle mass. One possible take-home? Lift weights! Read the study here.

Does vegetable oil promote atherosclerosis?

In an elderly Chinese cohort, prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease among vegetable oil users was more than double that of lard/other animal fat users. To be clear, this type of cross-sectional study can not establish causation. However, the large population studied (over 15,000 people), robust effect size, and fact that vegetable oil users were more likely to be married, more educated, and less likely to smoke (i.e. they were generally less likely to have heart disease based on other variables) should give us pause and open up avenues for further study. Read the paper here.

My current favorite magnesium supplement

I get asked a lot about which magnesium supplement I’m currently taking. Right now, I’m loving BiOptimizer’s Magnesium Breakthrough. Magnesium Breakthrough is a complete formula that includes 7 forms of supplemental magnesium, including magnesium citrate and glycinate, and doesn’t contain any synthetic additives or preservatives. I take this stuff daily to help optimize my sleep, stress, and energy levels. You can get an exclusive 10% off by clicking here.

Reduce grain and seed oils to prevent migraine?

As someone who occasionally gets migraines, I enjoyed reading about a trial whereby people who increased their omega-3 intake and reduced their intake of omega-6 dominant fats (on par with the recommendations I’ve made throughout my books) saw a significant improvement in migraine symptoms. Study participants reported fewer, shorter and less severe headaches compared with controls or those who simply consumed more omega-3s without concurrently reducing their linoleic acid (from grain and seed oils) intake. Read the study here.

How much fish oil to take every day for better heart/brain health

The scientific literature supports marine omega-3s—commonly found in fish oil—as a smart investment to make in your health, particularly if you tend not to consume fatty fish regularly. But how much should you take for optimal benefits without breaking the bank? And what should you look out for in a high quality fish oil supplement? To answer these questions, I welcomed globally recognized fish oil and omega-3 expert Bill Harris, PhD onto the show. Listen in to hear his exact recommendations as well as the science underlying omega-3 supplementation for various health outcomes.

My favorite toothpaste brand

Fluoride definitely has its place in public health, but I’ve personally avoided it for the past decade. My current favorite tooth “paste” is Bite. Their dry toothpaste tablets come in a reusable glass jar and you just pop one of the little tablets in your mouth, bite down and brush—no plastic tube or messy paste. They don’t use any artificial sweeteners, but they do include nanohydroxyapatite which is better for sensitivity, helps with remineralization, and is nontoxic! I partnered with Bite to get you 20% off your first subscription order. Simply click here or use code ‘MAX’ at checkout!

Bright light therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is the 2nd most common neurodegenerative condition in the U.S. and patients experience striking disturbances in their motor function, among other things. In a new, 2022 meta-analysis of randomized control trials, scientists found that bright light therapy was capable of improving both motor and non-motor symptoms (i.e. depression and sleep disturbance) in patients with no serious adverse events. Read the paper here.

Meat and the limitations of nutrition science

Hot off the heels of a study published in Nature Medicine which found weak or no associations of unprocessed meat consumption and 6 important health outcomines including stroke and colorectal cancer, the publication Big Think wrote a wonderful article (and quick read) on the “nature” of nutrition science, and why population-level observational studies linking unprocessed meat to adverse health outcomes are not surprising but should never be used to influence behavior or policy. Read the illuminating article here.

Caffeine is a natural PCSK9 inhibitor

A study published in Nature Communications found that caffeine (found in coffee, tea, dark chocolate) is a natural inhibitor of a protein called PCSK9 which is also a target of a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Targeting PCSK9 increases availability of the LDL receptor on the surface of the liver, which helps with cholesterol clearance. This is interesting in light of the observation that regular coffee drinkers are at lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Read the study here.

source: Max Lugavere www.maxlugavere.com

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