Jay Feldman: Is Hormesis Even Healthy, And Is Fat-Burning Really The End All (Or Should We Eat More Nutritious Carbs To Be Less Stressed?)

Jun 7, 2022

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It’s time for another show with Jay Feldman, host of the Energy Balance podcast. We had to keep recording because these insights are pretty mind blowing, and pose a challenge to a lot of the conventional stories in the ancestral health scene, which can be a little disturbing/disruptive, but that’s what is so great about being open to new ideas and thinking critically.

I think we do a great job on this show trying to reconcile some of these opposing views—one of the things we get into early on is this concept of hormesis, or hormetic stressors, which are intended to provide a net health benefit by putting the body under assorted forms of stress, like jumping into cold water and getting all these wonderful cognitive, immune, antiinflammatory benefits. Again, it goes back to this concept that we are turning on stress hormones when we do all manner of metabolic stress—such as restrictive diets, pushing our bodies through workouts, etc. What Jay wants to advance is this compelling idea that we want to get the maximum benefits to the human organism with the minimum amount of stress, and for us to not forget the idea that stress is cumulative over our lifetime. We joke about how “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” but that isn’t necessarily true, because what doesn’t kill you, can wear you down over time, and that's one of the reasons why the dudes running around with a six pack in their 20s and ordering pizza and ramen and doin whatever, ten years later, there is no more six pack, and it’s not because their diet changed dramatically, it’s because they got away with stuff and then the cumulative effects of stress hit. The same concept applies to anyone walking around with a hip/knee/etc replacement—obviously what didn’t kill you caused you to have a replacement joint, so we want to get into this realm of optimizing our cellular health looking at some of the questions with a critical mindset. This show covers some big picture concepts like hormetic stressors and then we have a little bit time for some rapid-fire questions, where we get more clear about the idea that fat burns clearly and glucose burns more “dirty” and sort it all out with some scientific references there that might be difficult to keep up with at times, but we’ll come back and bring some takeaway insights that I think you'll understand and greatly appreciate. I’m so pleased to have Jay Feldman back on the podcast, and I think you’ll love hearing this second show with him.

TIMESTAMPS:

Hormetic stressors are intended to provide a net health benefit by putting the body under assorted forms of stress. [01:24]

The benefits of environmental stimuli are due to their specific effects rather than the stress they cause. [05:28]

The concept that muscle soreness is being anything but terrible, is something we need to awaken to. [10:22]

We have a compelling reason to reawaken our human fighting spirit because modern life is so comfortable and indulgent. [13:35]

You don’t need to train the brain or the anaerobic system to suffer. Stress is cumulative. [15:41]

Think that you have a stress bucket that gets filled during the day with personal time, work at the office, and working out. You need to look for balance. Minimize the stressful things that aren’t benefiting us. [20:16]

Brad is eating a big bowl of fruit in the morning and a protein smoothie instead of fasting. How does Jay explain the change that Brad has undertaken? [21:48]

How are we losing less fat if we’re burning fat, or we’re targeting fat burning? [24:51]

How do the different fuel sources burn? [26:59]

When we are oxidizing, burning for fuel fat versus carbohydrates, we need to be producing more reactive oxygen species with fat in order to slow the rate of energy production. [31:44]

Much of the damage that people have comes from processed foods that they have been ingesting for years. [34:59]

Elevated glucose is a desperate attempt to you liver’s dumping more glucose into your bloodstream. [39:29]

The reason you feel bad when you eat carbs is because 1. We are not using the glucose well, 2. Experiencing the reduction of stress hormones, 3. The gut effects. [43:13]

Gut health is a huge factor because there are toxic compounds that are produced by the bacteria or microbes in our gut. [48:43]

How does The Energy Balance theory compare with Pontzer’s theory that human daily calorie expenditure is the same whether we exercise or not? [49:55]

When Jay works with a client, he usually analyzes why the person experiences energy dips. There are many reasons why this happens. They learn how to correct those areas of their daily life. [57:07]

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