This is really interesting; thank you. I’m curious what your sources on diet (which I would like to see more of) say about variety in the dietary needs of modern humans. Even if you discount the extremes (totally sedentary people and professional athletes), people may for example put on muscle and fat very differently from one another due to both genetic differences and lifestyle choices. Would any common variations that you know of—for example, regularly getting more exercise than recommended, or having a genetic tendency for a skinny or fat body type—alter your advice?
By the way, there’s a typo in the diet section: “potassium to suite diet.”
The diet issue is complex, you can find plenty of info on the paleolithic diet on wikipedia and the web—one extensive source is beyondveg. It just so happens that in about every case where we have specific evidence for some dietary problem, the paleo-diet does not have that problem.
There certainly are genetic differences and variations in the gene pool, but they are details in the story. For example, the particular genetic tweak that allows one to digest lactose (milk sugar) is a caucasian gene. Some particular races who have no recent history of agriculture do very poorly on modern diets. So there are some recent adaptations to agriculture—to wheat and higher glycemic diets. But these tweaks are probably more complex than the lactase gene.
For example, there are a huge number of genes that influence weight, but most of them do not directly code for weight. We can expect much of the variation to be in these complex metabolic cycles that involve many factors. Variations in insulin response could cause some people to gain weight much quicker on high glycemic diets, for example. Vitamin D receptor variability could play a role. It is really complex. So it’s not nearly as simple as ‘skinny’ or ‘fat’ body type. One person could have a naturally skinny body type—but only on a paleo diet. Another could have a skinny body type on a high-carb western diet, but only because they also have a reduced absorption of fats. Another could be skinny regardless. There are so many variables. It is never as simple as just genetics. It is genetics and diet.
The safest route, the default strategy, should just be to revert to a paleo diet and lifestyle in at least minimal form. My post outlines a way one can get most of the paleo benefits for low cost.
From what I have read, health benefits of exercise itself level off after about 300 calories burnt per day—equivalent of perhaps 30 minutes or so of running. Naturally there may be some genetic variability in those benefits, but at the moment we just have no way of knowing. So it is safest to exercise daily. Excessive exercise is detrimental—too many calories per day accelerates many oxidative and entropic aging processes. However, that only typically applies to athletes—regular folks don’t reach those levels of daily caloric burn.
Unless one regularly tans, one should be supplementing with vitamin D3 (avoid D2). I roughly take 5000 IU per day, but one should research it and get a bloodtest, because there is genetic variability in absorption and regulation. It is a cheap supplement.
In order of benefit for most people, it would be vitamin D, improve diet, exercise. I’m not sure where sleep optimization fits in there.
From what I have read, health benefits of exercise itself level off after about 300 calories burnt per day
For what it’s worth, I was curious about this because I bicycle a minimum of about two hours per week, usually more, depending on how busy I am. I don’t do it for exercise, I do it for transportation, so the question was less “is this a good idea?” than “should I be taking this into account when making dietary decisions, and if so, how?”
My sleep optimization so far is to sleep when tired and wake up when not. So far that give me the waking time to be 8:00 pm to noon depending on how I sleep.
This was both a subjective boost and actual performance. I have not been too tired to often to get the blinking eyes and other effects of sleep deprivation. This of course, enabled me to drive safely.
Individual variety in nutrition and response to food and exercise is really interesting, and it seems to occupy a weird gray area between science and craft. I’d like to learn more about this.
One example I’ve seen (more from the fitness/nutrition community than the scientific community) is that people respond differently to carbohydrates—I think it’s variation in insulin response. Try eating a big meal of pancakes and syrup. Some people will feel sluggish soon after; some people will be energized. Some people are always mildly unwell on a high-carb diet: tired, hungry, gastric distress. Some people do fine. (I’m in the mildly unwell camp, only I didn’t know it until I experienced what it was like not to be mildly unwell.)
This is really interesting; thank you. I’m curious what your sources on diet (which I would like to see more of) say about variety in the dietary needs of modern humans. Even if you discount the extremes (totally sedentary people and professional athletes), people may for example put on muscle and fat very differently from one another due to both genetic differences and lifestyle choices. Would any common variations that you know of—for example, regularly getting more exercise than recommended, or having a genetic tendency for a skinny or fat body type—alter your advice?
By the way, there’s a typo in the diet section: “potassium to suite diet.”
The diet issue is complex, you can find plenty of info on the paleolithic diet on wikipedia and the web—one extensive source is beyondveg. It just so happens that in about every case where we have specific evidence for some dietary problem, the paleo-diet does not have that problem.
There certainly are genetic differences and variations in the gene pool, but they are details in the story. For example, the particular genetic tweak that allows one to digest lactose (milk sugar) is a caucasian gene. Some particular races who have no recent history of agriculture do very poorly on modern diets. So there are some recent adaptations to agriculture—to wheat and higher glycemic diets. But these tweaks are probably more complex than the lactase gene.
For example, there are a huge number of genes that influence weight, but most of them do not directly code for weight. We can expect much of the variation to be in these complex metabolic cycles that involve many factors. Variations in insulin response could cause some people to gain weight much quicker on high glycemic diets, for example. Vitamin D receptor variability could play a role. It is really complex. So it’s not nearly as simple as ‘skinny’ or ‘fat’ body type. One person could have a naturally skinny body type—but only on a paleo diet. Another could have a skinny body type on a high-carb western diet, but only because they also have a reduced absorption of fats. Another could be skinny regardless. There are so many variables. It is never as simple as just genetics. It is genetics and diet.
The safest route, the default strategy, should just be to revert to a paleo diet and lifestyle in at least minimal form. My post outlines a way one can get most of the paleo benefits for low cost.
From what I have read, health benefits of exercise itself level off after about 300 calories burnt per day—equivalent of perhaps 30 minutes or so of running. Naturally there may be some genetic variability in those benefits, but at the moment we just have no way of knowing. So it is safest to exercise daily. Excessive exercise is detrimental—too many calories per day accelerates many oxidative and entropic aging processes. However, that only typically applies to athletes—regular folks don’t reach those levels of daily caloric burn.
Unless one regularly tans, one should be supplementing with vitamin D3 (avoid D2). I roughly take 5000 IU per day, but one should research it and get a bloodtest, because there is genetic variability in absorption and regulation. It is a cheap supplement.
In order of benefit for most people, it would be vitamin D, improve diet, exercise. I’m not sure where sleep optimization fits in there.
Thank you for the thorough response.
For what it’s worth, I was curious about this because I bicycle a minimum of about two hours per week, usually more, depending on how busy I am. I don’t do it for exercise, I do it for transportation, so the question was less “is this a good idea?” than “should I be taking this into account when making dietary decisions, and if so, how?”
My sleep optimization so far is to sleep when tired and wake up when not. So far that give me the waking time to be 8:00 pm to noon depending on how I sleep.
This was both a subjective boost and actual performance. I have not been too tired to often to get the blinking eyes and other effects of sleep deprivation. This of course, enabled me to drive safely.
Individual variety in nutrition and response to food and exercise is really interesting, and it seems to occupy a weird gray area between science and craft. I’d like to learn more about this.
One example I’ve seen (more from the fitness/nutrition community than the scientific community) is that people respond differently to carbohydrates—I think it’s variation in insulin response. Try eating a big meal of pancakes and syrup. Some people will feel sluggish soon after; some people will be energized. Some people are always mildly unwell on a high-carb diet: tired, hungry, gastric distress. Some people do fine. (I’m in the mildly unwell camp, only I didn’t know it until I experienced what it was like not to be mildly unwell.)