Fall, Falling Off the Wagon and the HCG Diet

The leaves are falling, and yesterday morning it actually snowed a little bit. With the fall air comes football, wings, beer and pizza. With these things, my weight-loss progress has come to a halt and I feel the brain fog returning. With only a couple weeks before Thanksgiving, during which I plan to enjoy myself, a conscious decision must be made not to decline further.

Speaking of getting back on the wagon, a coworker asked me what I thought about the HCG Diet (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) developed by Dr. Simeon in the 1950’s but popularized by the likes of Dr. Oz and Kevin Trudeau.  Like you, I know some people that have done well with the HCG diet. While HCG has been documented in proximity to weight loss, it is my opinion that it is a low carbohydrate, ultra-low calorie, diet of 500 Calories per day for 8 weeks that is true cause of the weight loss.

Do the math: -1500 Calories * 7 days * 8 weeks = -84000 Calories = -24 lbs*

*Not including the water weight lost when your blood sugar normalizes.

I, personally, am concerned about taking any substance that would affect the hypothalamus, a gland responsible for hormone secretion beyond those that control fat storage, without properly understanding it, but with 500 Calories per day my primary concern is compliance.

Starving yourself is much harder than tricking your body into thinking it is starving.

During the winter months, our ancestors would eat dried meat and fat and dried nuts and seeds. Native Americans called it “pemmican”. I think my ancestors called it “sausage” and roasted nuts.  The point is: our ancestors would eat a more balanced diet including fruits and starchy vegetables during the summer months, and then subsist off of what they could store inside their body and other vessels. If they had electricity, natural gas, firearms, and  a basic understanding of microorganisms, they would have had better infant mortality rates, which is the true source of the misnomer that our ancestors had a low average life span (Average vs. Mode).

This is why the Paleo / Primal / Ancestral Health movements made so much sense to me: Eat like a caveman, look like a caveman, and maybe will less brain fog, I will "discover fire".

The progression to Bulletproof Coffee and Biohacking in general was just the natural progression for a Technically-minded person such as myself.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and Other Glucose Related Diseases

I met a lovely Spanish speaking bar tender this evening. She commented on my matching shirt and FitBit band, at which point I explained that it tracked steps I take each day and how many times I woke up in the night. At which, she commented that she did not sleep well due to Fibromyalgia.

She was sipping on Red Bull, one of my frequently consumed beverages in years past. Perhaps it was the late nights working late at one of Chicago's highly Zagat rated bars that caused her chronic fatigue (and pain?). Perhaps it was a diet high in carbohydrates, resulting in elevated glucose levels, as is common in America. This would explain how someone physically fit could have the complications of glucose without the outward issues I have been dealing with.

I passed her one of my Biohackineering cards, explaining that her symptoms might be alleviated by some Bulletproof Coffee in the morning, a low carbohydrate meal plan, and the addition of a Magnesium supplements to help her sleep.

When she said she was already taking a Magnesium and Calcium supplement for sleep (Natural Calm?) I knew I was speaking with a fledgling Biohacker.

I hope she takes the time to read my blog, and wish her the best in her battle with Chronic fatigue.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Simple Math

I apologize for the math so early in the day, but this is vitally important.

The American Diabetes Association states that "normal" fasting blood glucose (sugar) level is less than 100 mg/dL. I would argue that "normal" means "average" and the average American is overweight and on the road to diabetes or other blood sugar related disorders. But for the sake of simple math, let's say that the ideal blood glucose is 100 mg/dL (1.0g/L).

According to Google, a 180lb man has approximately 5.5L of blood.

Therefore a 180lb man would ideally have 5.5g of sugar in his blood.

According to Google, 1 tsp of refined sugar* has 16 Calories @ 4.2g

Therefore, a 180lb man would only need 1.3 tsp of glucose to live.

Check the label of anything at your grocery store, it likely has 5 to 50 times that per serving.

How many carbohydrates (complex sugar) is in your beer or glass of wine?

I will address eating too much protein in my next post, but for now replace your sugar calories (including fruit) with grass-fed butter, healthy fats including the fat that accompanies grass-fed and pastured animals. Get your glucose from slow absorbing carbohydrates that accompany leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, intensely colored vegetables and 85% or darker chocolate.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

*Refined sugar is technically glucose+fructose. The bond is easily broken by the liver, releasing the glucose into the blood stream, but fructose needs to be processed by the liver. There seems to be some debate on whether fructose can become glucose, or if persons with metabolic syndrome immediately produce triglycerides from fructose. So, technically, a 180lb man might need to  consume 2.6 tsp of refined sugar to achieve a blood sugar of 100mg/dL but this is still not very much sugar which is the point of this post.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

August

August was a great month for Biohacking. Jimmy Moore's Keto Clarity book was released. Dave Asprey's The Bulletproof Diet Book was available for pre-sale. My weight continued to drop (-47 lbs) and my mental clarity and focus were steadily increasing. A number of coworkers have begun to ask asked about my secret, and at the close of August, five of my coworkers have tried "Bulletproof Coffee", of which two are regular consumers of it. With a little luck I hopefully convinced one of the employees at Whole Foods to try Bulletproof Coffee, after she commented about my purchasing the "best butter ever". This weekend was pretty relaxing end to the month of August and I am looking forward to another great month of Biohacking.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

The Bulletproof Diet Book

I just pre-ordered my copy of The Bulletproof Diet Book!!! If you do, you get a  coupon for 10% off everything on his website, except Tech, and access some exclusive videos and updated Bulletproof Diet Road Map and a cheat sheet on how to hack your sleep, like killing all sources of blue light (or wearing red lenses at night) and taking a Magnesium supplement, or bathing in Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate), before bed.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Bulletproof Coffee

I have been wanting to write this post for some time. This one change to my diet took me from Paleo to Bulletproof and from health enthusiast to biohacker.

What is Bulletproof Coffee? Simply put, Bulletproof coffee is low toxin coffee enhanced with grass fed unsalted butter and pure MCT oil.

Why should you drink it? I will let Dave Asprey, the Bulletproof Executive and inventor of Bulletproof Coffee walk you through the benefits. However, I will say this: This energy dense breakfast is sugar free and has been instrumental in getting my blood glucose under control.

It does so by allowing me to extend my fast from protein and carbohydrates, both which can stimulate insulin secretion, from my last meal of the day until late morning, early afternoon, the following day. This puts me near, if not into, a state of Nutrional Ketosis (not Ketoacidosis), which I will discuss in another post.

One tip for the ladies: you may need to eat something with your Bulletproof Coffee as intermittent fasting can wreck havoc on your hormones, says Stefani Ruper. Make sure to listen to your body and check out her book Sexy By Nature.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Supplement Update

My Health and Wellness packs from Vitamins on Demand arrived yesterday! Because of my robust supplement regimen their 14-day packs only fit 7 days of my supplements. Still, they were on par with the cost of my supplements when purchased individually and arrive packaged and ready to go. No more shopping, stocking and bagging dozens of supplements for this dude.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

New Logo!

I just had a professional logo created for my blog for $5 thanks to actualreviewnet at FIVERR. You would be surprised what people would do for just $5. Even when I added the $5 for vectorized images, and $10 for the original files, I got a professional, high-res image created for $20 with no Photo Shop skills required.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

Ice Cream?

Well, I just made my first batch of ice cream. Custard to be more precise, as it is made with eggs and zero milk, cream or sugar. So what's in it? Eggs, Grass-Fed Butter, MCT Oil, Upgraded Vanilla, Stevia and Water. That's it.

The recipe called for coconut oil and an acid like Vitamin C, Lime juice or apple cider vinegar as well, but I was concerned about the impact to taste. I simply used more MCT oil and omitted the acid.

Fresh out of the ice cream maker, I am concerned the lack of longer chain triglycerides from the missing coconut oil will leave the batch a little soupy. A tasty "milkshake" at the least.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

Supplement Update

In an attempt to get the correct ratio of vitamins and minerals, I have been mixing my own supplement packs for some time now. Tonight, I mixed my last batch. Am I ceasing my supplementation? No.

The good people of Vitamins on Demand have agreed to provide me the precise mix of supplements I have been taking in individual daily packs for basically the same price as I was paying for the supplements alone.

What will I do with my extra 15-25 minutes per week? 

The possibilities are endless.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

External Brain, Part 1

Sure, I have been using Evernote for some time to keep all of my new notes in the cloud, but what about all those binders full of notes from High School and College? They are certainly of no use unless I am in my basement. Plus, the few times I have wanted to have some of them at work I had to put off what I was doing, remember to dig up my notes and bring them to work the following day. Definitely not efficient use of my time.

This past weekend, I took the opportunity to scan three office boxes worth of notes prior to shredding and recycling them. This is just another step toward what Ari Meisel calls your "external brain". You can read about it in his book Less Doing, More Living.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

First Post

I never thought I would start a blog. What would I write about? Who would want to read it? Why would I want to have one in the first place?

Well, some of my coworkers have begun to notice my weight loss and it was not long before people were asking me about the "butter in the coffee" thing. When a random guy at Barnes and Noble asked me why I was picking up Timothy Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek, my interest in Biohacking and parallel avenues of Less Doing and Minimalism clearly needed more of an explanation than I was willing to go into.

It was at that point that I decided that it would be faster to hand them a business card with a link to my blog where they can see what I do, and get links to where I have learned to do it.

Not sure if I love the logo, but the I think the title is good to go. What are your thoughts?

Stay well engineered,

Devon