Outlive - Dr. Peter Attia - 2022

 

17 hours audio but I would say better to read this one because chat says that for highly technical subject matter you retain the knowledge better if you read it. I tend to agree. If I was distracted at all while listening I had to rewind. 

A few takeaways from this book:

This doctor likes exercise more than diet and sleep for longevity.

Genetics are very important.

Humans struggle a lot now because our evolution is not used to modern life. 

Grip strength is directly correlated to longevity.

Strength training is not more important than cardio.

Cardio is not more important than strength training.

You should do both strength training and cardio. 

Gum health is related (but it is not causal) to alzheimers. 

Vo2 max is directly related to longevity. 

Let me expand a bit. This doctor thinks a bad diet will hurt you more than a good diet can help you and at the end of section on diet says don't overthink diet, go outside now and do some exercise. For me there is no way this can be right. But I'm good at exercise and struggle with diet so that is probably why I disagree. I am beginning to think I have an eating disorder. 

This book is pretty technical. I would say read it for sure (Scott and Rachel I am talking to you) but it is a slow read because you will have to think a lot. 

The author is a fan of Richard Feynman lol. I love Feynman. 

The author was recently named in the Epstein files lol which is bad news but even so, I think this book is worth reading. 

The end of this book is the best part. He details his own mental health struggles and I really thought he was describing me. He said when he missed a shot in archery he would rage and break an arrow over his leg. When I lose at chess I punch the wall and swear at myself in the mirror. The conclusion he came to is that why was he putting so much effort into living longer when he hated his life? I need to ask myself the same question. I don't like my life either because I am too serious and performance oriented. If I can become less of a perfectionist I think I will be much happier. 

There is a really good discussion of the e4 gene (if you have two copies you are much more likely to get alzheimers). I will have to get tested. There is also a good discussion of lp(a). If you have this (from genetics) there is a much higher chance you will have atherosclerosis at some point. The same goes for apo b. I will have to get tested for these as well. I think you can find these markers in genetic testing instead of blood testing.  

The section on diet is very interesting. He names a lot of benefits of intermittent fasting but concludes that it is not really worth it except in extreme cases because you will lose too much lean muscle mass or you may not lose weight at all or you will be tired all the time. He says almost nothing about ultraprocessed foods. He likes the Mediterranean diet and the ketogenic diet but basically says diets are very personal and that they are definitely not one size fits all. He does not trust how nutrition studies are conducted mostly because he thinks the participants do not adhere to the diet they are supposed to be on during the study or because the way the studies are set up is imperfect or because the humans tested are not appropriate. For example, one study found some alcohol could be good for you but it was likely that the test subjects were very healthy people in general.  

He makes a good point that sometimes conclusions are drawn based on tests on lab mice. This is fine except humans are much different from mice. 

I was a bit shocked that he did not lambast ultraprocessed foods or give more specific guidelines on what to eat and what not to eat. He did say protein is extremely important and to eat a lot of it (I forget the exact numbers he used) and that it is basically impossible to overeat protein. 

So yes read this for sure. I would say this and the book Good Energy should become your health bibles. I need to reread both of these books because they are so technical and filled with a lot of valuable information. 

He said he took so long to produce the manuscript for this book that the publisher fired him and then his book was dead as a google doc for 9 months before his friend read it and connected him to penguin random house publishing. That's crazy. lol 

I am not sure what I am reading next. Peace!