Healthspan, Vitality and Performance
Critical Thinking Newsletter #11 | Strengthening The Pillars Of A Biohacker (5 Minute Read)
Hi friends,
Pretty sure the term “biohacker” has sneaked its way into your lexicon of ‘intimidating words of mystique’ quite recently.
With Bryan Johnson going with extreme anti-aging protocols to Dr Peter Attia’s books and protocols — I’m sure many of you, like me, have thought something like this.
“This sounds niche and redundant, it’s probably not for me.”
So now, what changed my mind? Let’s first reveal how has the meaning of biohacking changed to me over time.
Defining Biohacking
“Biological experimentation (as by gene editing or the use of drugs or implants) done to improve the qualities or capabilities of living organisms especially by individuals and groups working outside a traditional medical or scientific research environment.”
— Merriam-Webster dictionary
If you read the above (I didn’t), the focus you should place will be on the part where improvements of the qualities or capabilities of a living organism.
I’ve always preached that we all should find a way to live a FULL life.
A full life that allows you to maximize the things you truly want to do; And minimize the things that takes away time and effort from your purpose and core desires.
When I start consuming biohacking content, I applied the frame of fulfilment into it and my definition of biohacking essentially morphed into:
“High leverage knowledge, skills and habits that improve the longevity, performance (vitality), aesthetic and antifragility of my body.”
— Cal’s brain-dictionary
Longevity in the sense that your body, mind (and spirit) can function optimally as you age. The best way to explain this is the evolution of the term “healthspan” deriving from the term “lifespan”.
Performance in the sense that you can do what you want to do (with your body) at your desired level of competence.
Think a boxer with the ability to train and spar, at a professional level;
Or an entrepreneur with the ability to output great energy (for personal life) while functioning at the highest level when processing cognitive loads (for all facets of life).
Aesthetic is self-explanatory and subjective to individuals.
Antifragility, a concept I currently learning through the book by Nassim Taleb, means (in this context) the capability for my health to undergo stressors, attacks, infections and be able to use them as a way to grow stronger.
Not just returning back to original level of health, but actually achieve a breakthrough in strength, stamina and immunity.
Now, let’s do a rapid-fire round for some of the mindsets and principles that can make help make this whole health thing easier.
Biohacking Razors & 10 Food Recommendations
These are arranged in no particular order and 99% of them (except the mindset ones) have some research to back it up (because I learn them from channels that list their sources).
There is a range of body fat percentage that is ideal for a healthy body. For men, it’s 13-15%, for women it’s 15 - 18%. Fats can be used to store nano-plastics and other endocrine-disrupting agents.
Knowledge is the highest ROI thing you can invest your efforts into. Learning will equip you and the people around you with impeccable health to do what you love. With knowledge and application, staying healthy becomes effortless.
Energy flux is important to know for long-term metabolic health. It means consuming 1500 cal and burning 1500 cal is inferior to consuming 4000 cal and burning 4000 cal. The latter is better for your body.
Learn the proper definition of food - it needs to provide nutrients to help grow or repair your body. (More than 50% of food in grocers and convenience stores cannot be defined as food)
Table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup is just horrendous to your health. Sugary drinks or snacks should be replaced with raw honey and ripe fruits.
Seed oils are bad for you. Replace it with animal-based fats like butter, ghee, tallow or even lard.
Carbs are not obsolete. As omnivores, we need to learn how to use carbs - as fuel that you can tap into (fast).
Blood sugar spikes and crashes causes glycation (rapid aging of your organs which includes your skin, liver, etc.).
Eggs are the best food to consume for hormonal health, fat loss, satiation and muscle protein synthesis. (eggs are more bioavailable than whey protein)
Fat loss or biohacking journeys should be slow and sustainable. Replace one thing at a time and only add a new protocol when the old one becomes a habit.
Walking is the best tool for fat loss. Get your 10k steps every day.
Skeletal muscles (basically all the muscles you know) are important when you age, and you need to build them up and maintain them the earlier the better.
Hydration is important. Pay attention to electrolytes especially if you sweat a ton.
You should be able to enjoy life even when “eating clean” — but be real about what’s fun and what’s just highly stimulating. Highly stimulating “food”s can cause natural, healthy food to be bland, boring and even disgusting.
Your pallete will adjust and adapt every about 21 days. So eating clean becomes enjoyable after 21 days. (plus eating clean doesn’t actually needs to be bland).
Never eat fries. They’re carcinogenic (cancerous) and soaked with seed oil (which is highly un-satiating - more you eat the hungrier you feel)
Prioritize whole foods with protein, healthy fats or fibre. The opposite you want to avoid is highly-processed food with sugar, seed oils and flavonoids.
Sweeteners are bad. (Except allulose, but they’re expensive and rare.)
Eat leafy vegetables in moderation. They have plant defence chemicals which is not too healthy for your body if consumed at large quantities — even though they are high in fibre.
There are many more concepts and mindsets but I’ll end the list with a list. A list of 15 food you can add to your diet that is just awesome for your health.
Eggs
Purple sweet potato
High quality meat (preferably rudimants — animals with multi-chamber stomachs)
Sardines, mackerels or tunas.
Garlic and ginger
Avocados
Blueberries
Dark chocolate (as dark as you can take, I like 90% ones)
Beetroots or carrots (for better skin)
Snacks: Apples, salted/honey buttered organic popcorn, watermelon, oranges, macadamia nuts, greek yoghurt.
I know, I know. It’s more than 10, but I think a lot of these are delicious and adding into your diet you will definitely see improvements —
in your skin health, brain health, inflammatory symptoms (like lethargy or joint pain), metabolic health, fat loss and most importantly your identity of being someone that enjoys real, healthy food.
It’ll carry you a long way.
Now, let’s talk briefly about performance. Performance for athletic people out here.
Athleticism-maxxing
You want to do more.
You want to have healthy functioning muscles.
You want to recover so that you can progress.
3 things you would need to zone into — Nutrition, Sleep and Intensity.
For sleep, sleeping at the same time every day is most important. 7.5 hours to 9 will be ideal.
For nutrition, prioritise protein on top of the food I mentioned previously.
2.2g of protein per kg of lean body mass. If I estimate that I have 60kg of lean muscle mass, I would need to hit a minimum of 70 * 2.2 = 154g of protein every single day.
For female, just aim for 1.8 - 2g of protein per kg of body mass.
For Intensity, mix up your training in terms of strength, muscle hypertrophy and endurance. All three is equally important.
As an essentialist, I did focus only on muscle size more at the beginning, now transitioning into building the other two.
I can go even more in depth but this is not the place for extensiveness and depth.
My Biohacking E-book
I’m writing (slowly) an e-book that dive deeper into the space of biohacking and how I use it to better my life.
I will release the detail soon, so subscribe here or follow me on IG to stay tune.
Anyways, this’ll be the very end of the newsletter — Thank you for investing time into your health and vitality!
Best,
Cal