Biohacking Lite • Hacker News Board

Re: Biohacking Lite

#141

Post by throw1234651234 » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

thechao wrote: post #72

jaypeg25 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a long history of back pain going back to college (32 now). As I've gotten older (and a bit bigger) I've started to get knee pain in addition if I run a lot. So I recently switched to biking which has honestly been way more fun, opened me up to exploring more parts of my city and the surrounding area than running did, and I haven't really had any associated pains since starting roughly a year ago. I still drin…

Back pain is almost always an indicator of posterior chain weakness. Do daily squats (just up & down), and do toe-touch-stretches (legs about 2x shoulder width, right-hand-to-left-toe, stand up with arms in the air, left-hand-to-right-toe). Personally, I just do weighted squats & heavy deadlift, but if your knees are bad, that's a bad idea. You can chat with a PT for 50–80$ and they can tell you exactly what's wrong…

"You can chat with a PT for 50–80$ and they can tell you exactly what's wrong & how to fix it in less than an hour."

That's a complete lie. Most PTs don't know anything about anything and will try to milk you for "motivating" you in your workout and keeping a notebook for you on a regular basis. Usually for at least $300-500 a month, even at horrible gyms. By no means will they be able to tell you remotely, let alone, exactly "what's wrong".

"Personally, I just do weighted squats & heavy deadlift, but if your knees are bad, that's a bad idea."

Yea, and guess what? There is no easy solution for this, let alone one provided by a random PT. It's a cascading effect - you have one injury, you can't address the muscle imbalances causing it.

As far as posterior chain weakness, there is also the issue of lordosis, which results in horrible squat form. Deadlifts do help, but again, there is the risk of hyper-extension.

In short, solutions to this are far, far more complicated than your post implies.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#142

Post by theontheone » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

byproxy wrote: post #43

gandreani wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't doubt the author gained benefits from the lifestyle change. I just appreciate the lack of hyperbole when describing how they feel. It's hard to get nutrition and health advice without a product/service incentive attached to it nowadays. The excerpt I highlighted matched the qualitative and candid style of the rest of the post. It's refreshing

Oh, yea. I agree. I suffer from panic attacks and general anxiety and when I picked up lifting/running a while back one of my friends asked if it helped and I gave him the same, honest "uh..not really.", which he was kinda bummed for me about. But I learned to enjoy those things on their own. Or, at least, I enjoyed being able to pat myself on the back after running for 4 miles straight.

Your comment seems to imply that it didn't help. Would you recommend picking lifting/running up? I went on meds recently for the same issues but had a bad (lasting) experience, so I'm looking towards therapy and healthy eating / exercising for the future now.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#143

Post by theshrike79 » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

JamesBarney wrote: post #67

gdebel wrote: post #51

I'm French (and incidentally a doctor,and my post is not judgemental in any way, this is not the point). Everytime I travel to the USA, I'm puzzled by how difficult it is to "eat normally" (= by my own standards). You can find really good junk food everywhere, or pay a really high price to eat in high-level Italian restaurants for example, but it is very difficult to eat standard meat-with-vegetable-without-sugar-add…

> I think sugar is the main problem (not fat) Most of the research is that it's both. (Tt's the worst when fat and sugar are together) Specifically food is more rewarding, denser, cheaper, and easier to find than it used to be, so we overeat it. Same thing happens with almost any animal that's given ad libitum access to the american diet. It seems there are two societal solutions, extremely heavy handed government in…

I can't find the study, so take this with a grain of salt:

There was a study that determined that the reason for the sugar+fat combo was that sugar "scratched" arteries and made them easier for fat to stick to.

Just plain fat is OK, because it doesn't stick to healthy arteries. But combine (highly processed) sugar and fat, then you get an insulin spike AND the fat clogs your arteries more easily.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#144

Post by throw1234651234 » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

jaypeg25 wrote: post #126

thechao wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back pain is almost always an indicator of posterior chain weakness. Do daily squats (just up & down), and do toe-touch-stretches (legs about 2x shoulder width, right-hand-to-left-toe, stand up with arms in the air, left-hand-to-right-toe). Personally, I just do weighted squats & heavy deadlift, but if your knees are bad, that's a bad idea. You can chat with a PT for 50–80$ and they can tell you exactly what's wrong…

It's been an ongoing, years-long effort to find the root cause and alleviate the pain. I was finally diagnosed with degenerative disc disease (aka shitty spinal discs). One particularly pessimistic doctor said I was "an otherwise healthy thirty year old with the back of a 70 year old" after looking at my MRI, though others I have seen said it's not THAT bad. I was a fairly accomplished High School Cross Country runne…

I know 3 people diagnosed with DDD and recommended surgery who got a second opinion who told them they are fine and just to take it easy for a while. Just something to keep in mind.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#145

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:04 PM UTC

gdebel wrote: post #51

I'm French (and incidentally a doctor,and my post is not judgemental in any way, this is not the point). Everytime I travel to the USA, I'm puzzled by how difficult it is to "eat normally" (= by my own standards). You can find really good junk food everywhere, or pay a really high price to eat in high-level Italian restaurants for example, but it is very difficult to eat standard meat-with-vegetable-without-sugar-add…

Few years ago I had some eating disorder, I could only eat raw vegetables.

My diet habit shifted 180deg in 48h, it's a weird realization:

1) eating raw vegetables tickles your brain differently (raw veggies make you feel full faster)

2) most probably because there's no fat nor sugar added (which makes you want to eat more I guess)

3) even dressing is bad, so raw is best to have a natural negative feedback system

4) even the most mundane raw veggies have a lot of flavour.. I eat carrots like M&M's nowadays, it's sweet. Same for lettuce or tomato. I really think modern western culture is hurtful there.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#146

Post by ricardobeat » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

mettamage wrote: post #80

gdebel wrote: post #51

I'm French (and incidentally a doctor,and my post is not judgemental in any way, this is not the point). Everytime I travel to the USA, I'm puzzled by how difficult it is to "eat normally" (= by my own standards). You can find really good junk food everywhere, or pay a really high price to eat in high-level Italian restaurants for example, but it is very difficult to eat standard meat-with-vegetable-without-sugar-add…

Ah, the Americans... ;-) As a Dutch person living in Amsterdam, I completely agree. I noticed when I visited SF a few times (and California in general) that: - Vegetables are more expensive - Bread is sweetened (there goes my breakdfast) - Bread sucks (yep, I said it, basic bread should be thrown into the thrash can) - Basic cheese in the US is a new species, and I am afraid of it I went around these 2 issues by buyi…

It is also becoming increasingly difficult to find "plain bread" in Dutch supermarkets. The majority of them now have additives like soy lethicin, 15 kinds of leftover flours/powders from some other industrial process, even the 'artisan' labeled ones.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#147

Post by mettamage » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #146

mettamage wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, the Americans... ;-) As a Dutch person living in Amsterdam, I completely agree. I noticed when I visited SF a few times (and California in general) that: - Vegetables are more expensive - Bread is sweetened (there goes my breakdfast) - Bread sucks (yep, I said it, basic bread should be thrown into the thrash can) - Basic cheese in the US is a new species, and I am afraid of it I went around these 2 issues by buyi…

It is also becoming increasingly difficult to find "plain bread" in Dutch supermarkets. The majority of them now have additives like soy lethicin, 15 kinds of leftover flours/powders from some other industrial process, even the 'artisan' labeled ones.

That saddens me. I must confess that I'm used to my brands, so I don't look around that much at the Albert Heijn (the supermarket I go to, for reference: an upscale-ish supermarket that tries to be normal and sort of is? Looking at fellow Dutchies here to see what they think).

Re: Biohacking Lite

#148

Post by yutopia » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:19 PM UTC

dnhz wrote: post #117

yutopia wrote: post #30

After years of experimentation, lately I’ve decided that eating like my grandparents (i.e., eating like a traditional Japanese) is the easiest way to keep myself lean and healthy. Traditional Japanese meals follow a standard format [1]: a bowl of rice, several small sides (which can change by the day), and an optional cup of miso soup. Sticking to this format every day can be boring, but it keeps my diet reasonably b…

The funny thing is that eating rice isn't even that old of a tradition, and neither is eating it in polished, white form. White rice only became ubiquitous when milling technology improved, and spoilage of the oils in brown rice became a concern for storage. > Despite its long history in Japan rice was, for a long time, a food reserved for the warriors and the nobility. It was consumed by the majority of the populati…

That's a good point, I cook my rice with all kinds of millet, barley, and seeds mixed in. My grandparents would probably think that's backwards, why would I eat barley when I could afford white rice.

But it's supposedly healthier (there's a famous story about how eating too much white rice crippled the Japanese navy [1]), and personally I think it tastes better too.

[1] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rice-disease-mystery-e...

Re: Biohacking Lite

#149

Post by thereticent » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:20 PM UTC

throw1234651234 wrote: post #141

thechao wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back pain is almost always an indicator of posterior chain weakness. Do daily squats (just up & down), and do toe-touch-stretches (legs about 2x shoulder width, right-hand-to-left-toe, stand up with arms in the air, left-hand-to-right-toe). Personally, I just do weighted squats & heavy deadlift, but if your knees are bad, that's a bad idea. You can chat with a PT for 50–80$ and they can tell you exactly what's wrong…

"You can chat with a PT for 50–80$ and they can tell you exactly what's wrong & how to fix it in less than an hour." That's a complete lie. Most PTs don't know anything about anything and will try to milk you for "motivating" you in your workout and keeping a notebook for you on a regular basis. Usually for at least $300-500 a month, even at horrible gyms. By no means will they be able to tell you remotely, let alone…

I'm guess you're reading PT as personal trainer and it was intended as physical therapist.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#150

Post by drewg123 » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 9:21 PM UTC

I've lost about 60lbs over the last few years in 2 stages. (210lbs->150lbs)

In the first stage, I lost about 30lbs. I did not modify my terrible diet, and mostly did cardio (running ~4-5 miles every other day). My health markers (heart rate, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol) improved, but not a lot. I plateaued at 180 for a few years.

Last year, I made some changes and cleaned up my diet. I avoided deserts and all "accidental" carbs (switched away from sandwiches for lunch, etc) and tried to run a bigger calorie deficit. I bought a rowing machine (waterrower like from House of Cards, highly recommend) and replaced running every other day with an hour of rowing, since its a full body workout. I started lifting weights on the alternate days when I was not rowing. I lost 30lbs over the course of about 5 months. After this, all my health markers improved markedly and my doctor stopped wanting to put me on a statin.

In the 9 months since I reached my target weight, I've increased my carbs to make my diet more long-term sustainable, but maintained my activity. My weight has remained steady. Since COVID and the closure of gyms, I've replaced lifting weights with lots of pushups, situps, planks, etc, but I'm worried that is not quite as effective, and i'm looking forward returning to my gym.