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Biohacking Lite

karpathy.github.io

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Re: Biohacking Lite

#191

Post by fudged71 »

tomp wrote: post #187
fudged71 wrote: post #157

As a personal trainer I'm really impressed by the technical depth of this post, although it really only centers on the idea of caloric deficit, which is relatively basic compared to the other topics he mentioned. It's so hard to visualize small long-term biological changes without moving averages. "Trust the process" is so important. "Trust the algorithm" is even more apt: • what/when to eat, • what/when to train, an…

So... where can a non-PT find this kind of advice? Maybe you, or any other trainer you can recommend? Or some online resource? (Personally, I'm probably above-average knowledgeable about fitness, but I still find the information unmanageably overwhelming - train every day, every 3 days, every muscle once a week, every muscle 3 times a week, big muscles less often than small muscles, focus on strength, focus on growth…

I think that's essentially what online training is these days: a cheaper way to get access to a fitness 'sherpa' to guide you. Someone who lives and breathes this stuff to save you a lot of time and effort. Most of the real, practical, and current knowledge right now is spread across a variety of $1000 courses for personal trainers.

I'm in the process of building the largest online fitness database of its kind to democratize a lot of this information. I'm not sure what sort of business model I will pursue yet. But I want to collaborate with likeminded people and make the foundational information open to the public.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#192

Post by joshvm »

tomp wrote: post #187
fudged71 wrote: post #157

As a personal trainer I'm really impressed by the technical depth of this post, although it really only centers on the idea of caloric deficit, which is relatively basic compared to the other topics he mentioned. It's so hard to visualize small long-term biological changes without moving averages. "Trust the process" is so important. "Trust the algorithm" is even more apt: • what/when to eat, • what/when to train, an…

So... where can a non-PT find this kind of advice? Maybe you, or any other trainer you can recommend? Or some online resource? (Personally, I'm probably above-average knowledgeable about fitness, but I still find the information unmanageably overwhelming - train every day, every 3 days, every muscle once a week, every muscle 3 times a week, big muscles less often than small muscles, focus on strength, focus on growth…

You probably need to be more specific about your end goal. Is it to lift a particular amount, run a marathon, climb a certain route etc? There are usually specific trainers for certain skills, just like in video games :) If I wanted to get better at bouldering, I'd book a 1 on 1 at my climbing wall, not a generic trainer at the local gym (but maybe I would after advice from the climbing coach).

For generic "get fit" goals, stretch every day and some amount of cardio/resistance training three times a week is hard to get wrong. The important thing is to read your body and don't push your luck. Also, to stop when you lose good form.

There is a lot of overwhelming information, but a lot of it is conflicting and anecdotal. You yourself point out - should you go for growth? 5 days on? 7 days on?? You can find information online to support pretty much any theory you like (particularly about training frequency).

Re: Biohacking Lite

#193

Post by cbsks »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #160
andai wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, this mean that McDonalds is as healthy as the burgers I make at home? I was under the impression that their food is loaded with sugar and strange additives.

> So, this mean that McDonalds is as healthy as the burgers I make at home? Sure, as long as you use similar ingredients. > I was under the impression that their food is loaded with sugar and strange additives. It's not. The beef patty really is just beef. The bun is white bread, just like you can buy at the grocery store. And the condiments are self-evident. It's just that that they've nailed the production process…

McDonalds lists the ingredients in their foods here: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/nutrition-...

Their hamburger doesn't look any different than what I would make at home. I don't have any grocery store bought buns in front of me, but I assume it would have similar ingredients. The pickles are not the most natural, but once again, it's not much different than what I would buy in a grocery store.

The biggest difference for me personally is that I would usually make a salad or another vegetable along with homemade burgers and fries, but it wouldn't even cross my mind to order that at McDonald's. I suppose I bring that on myself.

Regular Bun: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Potato Flour, May Contain One or More Dough Conditioners (DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Mono and Diglycerides, Enzymes), Vinegar.

100% Beef Patty: 100% Pure Usda Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders. Prepared With Grill Seasoning (salt, Black Pepper).

Ketchup: Tomato Concentrate from Red Ripe Tomatoes, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Natural Flavors.

Pickle Slices: Cucumbers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Alum, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Natural Flavors, Polysorbate 80, Extractives of Turmeric (Color).

Onions: Onions.

Mustard: Distilled Vinegar, Water, Mustard Seed, Salt, Turmeric, Paprika, Spice Extractive.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#194

Post by Xenograph »

shawxe wrote: post #81
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…

In general, I agree with a lot of what you're saying here about eating more vegetables and way less sugar being the way to go health-wise, but I do want to respond to some specific things you've said. > 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-added, except…

Your Larabar example is way off base:

1. The number of ingredients in something does not directly indicate how (un)healthy it is. The fact that Larabar contains 2-3 ingredients says nothing about its nutritional value.

2. In fact, many people would not consider Larabar to be a "processed" food to begin with because it literally is just 2-3 fruits and nuts mashed together. You could make something very similar in your own kitchen. The way you're speaking makes it sound like "processed" food is anything that is cooked or combined in some way. That is not how people use the word IME.

3. Have you looked at the sugar content of Larabar? It's not low, nor would I consider it healthy or wholesome. They likely chose dates specifically because of their extremely high sugar content so that they could pretend they are healthy while actually including unhealthy amounts of sugar in their product under the guise of dates.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#195

Post by gridlockd »

RealityVoid wrote: post #185
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 am totally not convinced by this argument against sugar. Yes, sugar is calorie dense. Yes, it's easy to eat a lot of calories from sugar. But in the end, even eating NO sugar, if you eat a ton of things, you'll get fat. An then you go on to recommend honey as though there is something magic about it and not pretty much the same thing with sugar.

Not quite. Sugar spikes your insulin, insulin provokes fat storage.

This does not happen with fat, so it is harder to get fat by eating fat.

If you want to get fat, like a sumo ringer, simple carbs are the way to go.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#196

Post by m0zg »

lumberingjack wrote: post #178
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…

As an American that avoids sugar like the toxin it is I agree. The food manufacturers put it in everything. I got an off brand of milk the other day because of the shortage, a local brand it had added sugar, I took two gulps and said "WTF". Bread it's like a staple now in baking white bread fuck it pack it with sugar from corn. Pizza make %50 of the sauce sugar. Drinks, would you like 100MG of liquid sugars in every…

Milk does have sugars by itself, just different kind. That's how you're able to ferment it and make yogurt, kefir, sour cream, etc.

I do agree that the quantities of sugar in everything are _way_ too excessive though.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#197

Post by m0zg »

Xenograph wrote: post #194
shawxe wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, I agree with a lot of what you're saying here about eating more vegetables and way less sugar being the way to go health-wise, but I do want to respond to some specific things you've said. > 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-added, except…

Your Larabar example is way off base: 1. The number of ingredients in something does not directly indicate how (un)healthy it is. The fact that Larabar contains 2-3 ingredients says nothing about its nutritional value. 2. In fact, many people would not consider Larabar to be a "processed" food to begin with because it literally is just 2-3 fruits and nuts mashed together. You could make something very similar in your…

Likewise, HFCS has about the same blend of sugars as honey, yet it is considered unhealthy and honey is considered healthy somehow. I'd like someone to explain how that works.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#198

Post by ve55 »

JamesBarney wrote: post #73
ve55 wrote: post #35

>all of which I won’t go into full details of because it lets a bit too much of the mad scientist crazy out. This is a bit disappointing, but I know how the author feels. I can definitely feel like I am going to be judged for being crazy telling people about the strange ways in which I try to empirically optimize my health. But, nothing is more important than our health, and I think it would have great effects on rea…

What were the changes you made that had biggest impacts?

For myself the largest impact would have to be diet improvements, just like for most people. But, in general I want to be able to be much more preventative instead of reactive. I don't want to get diagnosed with atherosclerosis or diabetes in 10 years, I want to prevent the onset of them as best as I can now.

But, to try to provide a more helpful answer, here is two examples of things I do now, with much more detail:

1) I get a lot of (mostly blood) tests, and work to optimize them past 'making sure they are okay'. A lot of basic tests can be kind of pass or fail, like "do you have enough iron?" or "do you have enough vitamins?". But, a lot of other tests are less quantized, and have a lot of room for improvement past just being in the standard range, which does not mean you are optimal, just not doing terribly. A good example for this is an advanced lipid panel, triglycerides, blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Just getting results of "you probably aren't going to have a cardiac event or get diabetes" is good, but they can be optimized much more than this to reduce your long-term probability of many problems to as low as possible. It's also fun to find out the diverse array of other tests you can get to learn more about yourself, and potentially optimize. Nerdy people generally like optimizing things, and having numbers to attach to how well you are doing makes this a lot more alluring, at least for me.

2) A lot of more speculative research on different dietary (whether food, supplements, or drugs) changes that I can make for hope of long-term noticeable improvements. More common examples here might be things like magnesium or Vitamin D, but there's countless rabbit holes you can go down of many, much more interesting examples (For example, metformin, rapamycin, and many many others). The reason I don't provide a list is mostly because everyone is very different and has different goals, and also because I'm not a fan of the (mostly terrible) supplements industry as a whole. But just because so many popular products use junk science and scam consumers, doesn't mean there are many real gems out there.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#199

Post by suyash »

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…

Cheap Fast Food and Huge Portion Size are the biggest culprits to the heath (obesity) crisis in the US.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#200

Post by suyash »

downshun wrote: post #49

Surprisingly well written and researched. One thing missing is the effect of testosterone on lean mass creation. Wonder if the fat to co2 process can be ventilator assisted without hurting the lungs .

It says he was going strength training, that should improve testosterone levels and prevent muscle loss.
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