Jay Feldman: The Compelling And Controversial Energy Balance Ideals, And How “Eat Less, Exercise More” Is Missing The Point

Jun 1, 2022

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“Fasting turns on stress hormones,” was the quote that slapped me in the face as I listened to Jay Feldman and Mike Fave discuss their Energy Balance approach during an interview on the Ben Greenfield Life podcast.

This insight is so simple and obvious, but I failed to appreciate it in the broad context of all the other stress factors in my life—especially the pairing of intense exercise with fasting, low-carb, or other cutting-edge dietary strategies. It’s clear that the devoted health and fitness enthusiast can often get out of balance and into the category of overstressed. Who wants to be that person?! Alas, much of the messaging in the mainstream diet and fitness industries is pushing us toward the struggle and suffer approach instead of respecting the importance of stress-rest balance and energy balance in the body.

Intrigued by the Energy Balance message, I’ve been on a five-week experiment to start with my day with a big bowl of fruit and a super-nutrition smoothie (with frozen liver, whey protein, nutritious fats and carbs, and assorted performance ingredients like creatine) instead of perhaps fasting for a few (or several hours) before eating my first meal. The idea is that I will minimize the need for stress hormones to release energy from storage and instead have more energy available for peak performance, energy, cognitive function, and stable mood and appetite.

Jay will discuss this idea and many others on this hard hitting and provocative podcast. We’ll learn how ridiculously narrow and short-sighted the conventional perspective is about calories in-calories out, and how the true secret to health and vitality is our ability to generate cellular energy with healthy metabolic and hormonal function.

This is the first of two lengthy interviews with Jay as he describes the Energy Balance premise, in the process calling into question some of the foundational principles of the ancestral/progressive health movement, so stuff gets real right away, and you better listen carefully with your seat belt fastened as we strive to sort things out and hint at strategies we can experiment with to optimize cellular energy production, performance, recovery, and vitality.

Jay Feldman is a health coach, independent health researcher, and host of the Energy Balance podcast. He has degrees in neuroscience and exercise physiology and is devoted to using his knowledge and experience to help people heal from all manner of disease, dysfunction, and difficulty losing excess body fat. Take control of your health with Jay by visiting JayFeldmanWellness.com.

TIMESTAMPS:

Energy balance challenges some of the foundational principles of the progressive health and ancestral health movement. [01:20]

A lot of us come to health awakenings through pain and struggle. [05:55]

Fasting, low carb, keto….these restrictive diets turn on stress hormones. [09:20]

What is the premise of energy balance? [12:50]

It's not just this problem of eating too much or exercising too little, but rather why is the food that we're using not being efficiently used to produce energy or efficiently used for other reasons? [17:34]

If you just focus on the label that mentions calories, you are missing the point of what type of food it is. The industrial seed oils and other toxins are there. It’s not just calories. [19:15]

The first step for anyone wishing to improve their body composition, get more energy, protect against disease, is to eliminate the processed foods that are inhibiting energy production. [26:03]

As far as fasting goes, the main benefits are relief from gut toxin production and improvement in intestinal permeability and leaky gut. [30:02]

Some of the success of these niche diets is caused by the lack of processed foods rather than what the person is actually eating on their special magical diet. [32:47]

The out-of-control hunger, the daily battle with willpower, the desire to consume more food is largely driven by something dysfunctional in our ability to produce energy internally to, to burn the logs. [36:50]

Reproduction, repair, growth, and locomotion are a zero-sum game. [40:35]

The calories in, calories out mentality is destructive for most people. Using carb intake sensibly is a must. [42:30]

What about the fat-adapted folks say they thrive on low carb intake? [46:51]

Remove the polyunsaturated fats from your diet and eat whole foods. Remember that all carbs are not equal. [53:59]

We want to be consuming a lot of fuel to be able to produce a lot of energy, assuming it’s going efficiently, that’ll involve a lot of carbohydrates. [01:02:23]

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