Optimal Weight 101 (Intro)

Hi, this is Brian. You're about ready to listen to or watch an introduction to an optimal living 101 masterclass. This is an intro to a full class at 60, 75, 90 minutes long that our Optimized premium members get access to and you can as well. If you join our program, you'll get instant access to this class. Dozens of other optimal living 101 masterclasses, hundreds of philosopher's notes, and hundreds of optimized plus ones. We'd love to have you join us. Cruise on over to Optimize Me to learn more. You're listening to Optimize with Brian Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to the Optimal Living 101 Masterclass Series. Today I'm thrilled to be chatting about optimal weight 101. Although technically this class should should be called optimal metabolism 101, we're going to let our weight be a natural byproduct of getting our metabolism right. As always, we've got 10 big ideas. Let's take a quick look and then we'll jump in. We're going to start today with zero idea Number zero disclaimer number one, I'm not a weight loss guy or a doctor, obviously. Number two, disclaimer there is no one way. Nietzsche's phrase I love so much. He said when asked for the way, and thus spoke Zarathustra, he said, there is no the way. This is my way. What is your way? There is no one size fits all approach. We're going to talk about that in depth. And then the third disclaimer is the most important one that I want to emphasize very, very clearly. If you are currently on medications, particularly insulin, to deal with diabetes or any other medication really, and you adopt some of the things we're talking about here, you need to work with your doctor because things can change very quickly, which is exciting. But we need to make sure that that is done in partnership with whoever your primary care or other physicians are. And ideally you find a doctor who has a nutritional background or at least an interest in nutrition. Functional medical doctors are the best. Functional MDs. Those are our disclaimers. Moving on to Big Idea number one. We're going to talk about stats. We're going to talk about why I decided to do this class in the first place. The global stats are crazy. 600 million people in the world are obese. 2 billion people are overweight. It's a global pandemic. The World Economic Forum, I believe that's the entity says we're going to spend $47 trillion over the next 20 years on what they describe as global industrial diet issues. 90% of our food comes from 10 different companies. And let's just say they're not producing the types of food that are going to keep us optimized and healthy. Those are the global stats, the personal stats we'll talk about as well. The number one piece of data that we need to know about for our health, the number one predictor of morbidity, disease, risk, et cetera, hint, your waist circumference. We're going to talk about the difference between big butt fat versus big belly fat, as Robert Lustig, the leading endocrinologist at ucsf, playfully puts it. The second big idea, as I think about, why is this so hard? Why is it so hard for so many of us to maintain our optimal weight? I went to an event last weekend that my sister's put together for my brother who's going through pancreatic cancer. And I'm going to share a story from that weekend and the importance of seeing the gorilla that's in plain sight, but that we miss. You might have heard of that study. We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about hot dogs being served at an event like that along with sodas. Not a good idea. The third big idea we're going to look at is metabolism. Again, the cornerstone to our weight optimization is metabolism. The word in Greek literally means to change. Metabolism means to change. It's how your body produces energy, right? To change one thing to another, we need to change how we change within our body. And apparently a lot of the leading entities, whether it's the pancreatic cancer association or any other major institution, they haven't gotten the memo on the fact that there's a difference between the energy balance theory of weight loss. Everyone thinks that it's calories in, calories out. Now, of course, that's a factor to our optimization of our weight, but it is not. I believe it is not. This is a highly debatable issue, but I do not believe that energy balance adequately describes what's actually happening. We're going to talk about the metabolic or hormonal approach and why that's so important for us to think about. The fourth big idea is going to be a stat that I want to tattoo onto your consciousness. It's about 150 calories added to your diet, right? And what happens if those calories come from sugar in a can of soda? I'm going to say it right now, and I'LL repeat it in depth. In that idea, if you add 150 calories to someone's diet, right, and there's just general calories, you won't see a real shift in the prevalence of diabetes. But if those 150 calories come in a can of soda and the sugar in a can of soda, you will see a seven fold increase in diabetes. 150 calories by themselves doesn't matter. But if those calories are from sugar in a can of soda, you will see a seven fold increase in diabetes. That is a crazy stat. A calorie is not a calorie. Sugar. Calories are more toxic than their calories. It's not about empty calories, it's about toxic calories. We need to understand that because most of our society doesn't. Fifth big idea. I get a little bit fired up about this. The fifth big idea is insulin. That's your master hormone. We need to understand at a deeper level it's connected to another hormone called leptin. The crazy thing is when your insulin is jacked up from all the sugar, right? Pull insulin pulls glucose out of your bloodstream and stores fat. Talk about it in depth. But the other thing it does is it flips the switch on leptin, which is a hormone that basically says, we're good, I've had enough food for today. And it makes you feel like you're starving even while you're overeating. You are basically being hijacked. Your brain, the neuroregulation of your appetite is totally off and it makes it very difficult to do the right thing. It's no longer about willpower. You're acting like an addict. Which leads us to the next big idea, which is number six, the case against sugar. Is sugar a drug or a food? Well, we're going to talk about that. You look at. We'll talk about that in detail. That will be fun. And the fact that sugar lights up the same part of your brain as cocaine, as heroin, alcohol, etc. The reality is you're addicted. We're all addicted. We need to deal with this addiction to sugar. The seventh big idea is why all diets work. I have a strong opinion about the types of diets that make the most sense, but the reality is all diets work. If you look at the data on a range of diets, they're going to work. And why are they going to work? Because they restrict sugar and they increase fiber. We'll talk about that in depth and I'm going to encourage you to go all in. Pick one approach, whatever approach you feel makes sense. Go all in on it. And I'm going to add a little PS about why I have a bias toward a certain approach. But again, there is no the way. What's your way? Go all in on it. The eighth big idea is you and Michelangelo times two. I want you to imagine your ideal self, just like Michelangelo reportedly saw David within the statue. Okay? See yourself within your current body, and we're going to chip away what's in the way. We're going to live from a new identity. We're going to use different tools to make that happen. The ninth big idea is 90%. 90%. 90%. Now, these are just my fun ballpark numbers, but I think that optimal weight, optimal metabolism, 90% nutrition, not 100%, but it may not be 90%, but 90%. Let's say sleep matters a lot more than you may think for your weight and your appetite. So does movement, and so does a number of other factors, stress, et cetera. Let's just say 90% is nutrition, but 90% of that is psychological. Getting yourself to make the switch and to change your behaviors and your habits comes down to all, all the stuff we talk about in habits. 101 algorithms, 101, et cetera. And then 90% of your psychology is actually physiological, right? So you look at the fact that your gut produces 90% of your serotonin, the feel good hormone, and then you've got this hijacking going on in your brain. So you've got this interesting loop that can either be vicious or virtuous. We wanna set that going in the right direction. The tenth big idea. Your new superpowers. You're gonna create bright lines. You're gonna have the ability to create bright lines as a superpower. And you're going to make your kryptonite invisible. We'll talk about creating good habits, and we'll also talk about your super vehicle as a superhero. You're going to have a super vehicle, which is you, your new body, your optimized energy, nutrition, health. It's just a vehicle to a bigger, broader destination, which is you living your greatest life in service to the world. Which leads us to our 11th big idea, the greatest ROI in health. And the fact that this needs to be a lifestyle choice, not a diet. There you go. Quick look. Let's jump in. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Optimize with Brian Johnson. To find out more, go to Optimize Me.