“Try something that’s a little difficult, a little out of your comfort zone, and you’ll get better and better each day.”

Even incredible feats like 10K runs and half marathons do not have a high demand for advanced balance skills, so throwing in some basic workouts and integrating them into your fitness routine in order to hone your balancing skills is a key fitness strategy for anti-aging, one that will be discussed in detail in this episode. Since these exercises aren’t time-consuming or strenuous, they don’t interfere with the energy expenditure that you put out towards other goals/endeavors, and while they are challenging, they’re also super fun to do, especially because they give you the opportunity to strive towards getting better at something. For example, if you’re one of those people who often hoists a heavy bar and is putting a lot of weight on your back, why don’t you try putting one leg on an elevated surface (the Bulgarian split squat) and squatting down on a single leg without even adding any weight at all? Just simply performing that move for let’s say, 12 reps….you might even be sore the next day! I’ve experienced this myself—performing a nice set of squats with heavy weight, but then after switching over to one leg squats, well, all bets are off! But building new skills is important—especially your ability to do exercises one leg at a time, because most athletic/fitness and everyday activities are performed one leg at a time (walking, running, jumping). 

In contrast, a lot of stuff we do in daily life (athletic, fitness, even work-related) is done with two arms at a time—we lift things with two hands, we carry things frequently with two hands, but one leg at a time seems to be the prevailing athletic and fitness endeavor—however, we don’t work at one leg at a time too often. If you look through my Morning Routine online course, you’ll see I have included some interesting balancing challenges in there, and it’s kind of fun to reflect on what I’ve noticed from a daily practice of doing exercises—I am getting a tiny bit better, but when I step on that soft 2.5 inch pad and try to balance on one leg for a count of 60, while it’s not stenegous to my muscles, I’ve realized it’s much more of a challenge to the brain. Whenever I step off, I feel a sense of central nervous system fatigue from simply concentrating so hard! So giving your brain a little challenge like this is super helpful, and I would contend, translates directly to all manner of not only fitness endeavors, but cognitive endeavors too. There is a huge need for an emphasis on balance training in fitness—just see this Dr. Luks article about the importance of balance training and why, for the elderly, each fall becomes progressively harder to recover from—as scary as it sounds, sadly 50% of people who fall die within a year of suffering a hip fracture. So minimizing our risk of falling is an integral healthy aging practice, especially as it helps dramatically accelerate both the speed and success of our recovery, if we do end up falling—because we head into an unfortunate situation fully loaded with all the positive, helpful attributes that can help us, instead of going into something with frailty. And interestingly, as I mentioned in the previous show, the senior citizen age group has the highest rate of improvement from strength training than any other age group! 

When you have a great commitment to health and fitness in your young years and decades, you will induce epigenetic changes that will affect your lifespan, according to Dr. Luks. So an athletic youth spent building muscle mass, doing explosive efforts and working on balance, will imprint into your genes that you are an athletic person, and you will hold onto these attributes—even if you slip and fall off as you get older. Once it’s time to turn it back on and return to the gym, court, etc, you’ll be much more adaptable. And of course, exercise leads to some of these genes being turned on, and some of these genes can decrease your risk for cardiovascular disease, premature aging, neurocognitive decline, and so on. Remember: it is never too late to start, no matter where you’re starting from. Also, it’s never too early to start (something important to emphasize nowadays since today’s youth is less active than ever thanks to modern life and technology, which has eliminated a lot of the built-in activity that used to be a necessary part of modern life). 

Check out my YouTube channel for jumping drill videos and other balance training content, and my Morning Routine Online course here. 

TIMESTAMPS:

Do something out of your comfort zone. One leg at a time seems to be the prevailing athletic fitness endeavor, but we don’t usually practice that. [00:19]

After falling, the success of your recovery and the speed of your recovery is going to be dramatically accelerated because you went into the misfortune fully loaded with all the attributes rather than going into something with frailty. [03:09]

It’s never too late to get in shape and it’s never too early.  Today’s youth are much less active than their predecessors. [07:37]

What exercises are good to improve balance? [09:46]

Flexibility and mobility work will add to your fitness goals. [12:04]

What will happen to me if I don’t stay fit? The presence of visceral fat is indicative of all kinds of other problems under the hood. [15:22]

If you step on the scale to monitor your health, realize you have a natural fluctuation of around four to five pounds. [22:54]

Chronic sitting and chronic consumption of heavily processed foods promote chronic inflammation. Also, plastics touching our food causes inflammation. [26:03]

Anything you put on your skin goes right into your bloodstream. Read the labels. [28:04]

It is not safe to ride bicycles on the streets dodging vehicles. Wear gaudy clothing if you are on bikes. [32:42]

Air pollution surrounds us. [35:22]
The accumulation of the little spare tire is a reliable sign of adverse lifestyle practices for both males and females. [37:18]

The most important thing to look for in your blood chemistry is the triglyceride to HDL ratio. [40:22]

It is always important to be reminded of the dietary recommendations Brad presents. Remove all industrial seed oils from your cupboard.  [43:39]

We don’t need to accept discomfort after eating something. Learn what your body can tolerate and what it cannot.  [50:34]

There are many benefits to fasting, but don’t forget that it is a stress response. [56:04]

LINKS:

• Brad Kearns.com
• Brad’s Shopping page
• Brad Kearns’s Morning Routine
• Brad’s First Simpler Morning Routine
• Drinking bird exercise
• 4 essential bodyweight single-leg exercises
• Jumping exercises
• Melanie Avalon podcast on cosmetics
• BeautyCounter.com
• Rear View Mirrors for cyclist
• Podcast with Jay Feldman no. 1
• Podcast with Jay Feldman no. 2

LISTEN:

Download episode audio by clicking the arrow in the top right corner of the player above

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• Brad’s Macadamia Masterpiece: Mind-blowing, life-changing nut butter blend
• Male Optimization Formula with Organs (MOFO): Optimize testosterone naturally with 100% grass-fed animal organ supplement
• BeautyCounter: Complete line of cosmetics tested to be free of typical toxins and endocrine disruptors. Try Brad’s favorite vitamin-C skin serum and make the switch away from toxic mainstream skin-care products! 
• Butcher Box: Convenient, affordable home delivery – free shipping! – of the highest quality meat, poultry, and seafood with customizable box design. Click here for a special promotion. 
• Bala Enzyme: Electrolyte and triple enzyme recovery drink mix. BRAD30 for 30% off
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• Ultimate Morning Routine Online Course: Learn how to custom-design an energizing, focusing morning exercise routine. Enroll now for earlybird discount 
  
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B.Rad Podcast

Brad (00:00):
I’m author and athlete Brad Kearns. Welcome to the B.rad podcast where we explore ways to pursue peak performance with passion throughout life. Visit Brad kearns.com for great resources on healthy eating exercise and lifestyle. And here we go with the show,

New Speaker (00:19):
The success of your recovery and the speed of your recovery is going to be dramatically accelerated because you went into the misfortune, fully loaded with the attributes rather than going into something, Try something that’s a little difficult, a little outta your comfort zone, but you’ll get better and better each day. He sees himself on the high side of that five pound flux. It’s time to go out there and slam some impressive workouts and then keep things back in gear.

Brad (00:54):
And then the next day you’re pumping some impressive iron in the gym, lifting up stacks of weights. And then the next day you’re completing a 10 K run or a half marathon. But those do not have a high demand for, uh, advanced balance skills. And so throwing in even some basic workouts, integrating them into your fitness routine, if your other goals are, that hone your balancing skills, they’re not time consuming, they’re not strenuous. So they’re not interfering with, the energy expenditure that you put out toward those other goals and, and endeavors that I mentioned. But boy, they can be super challenging, super fun to strive to get better at something where you’re shocked at how poorly you perform when you have to do, for example, some calisthenics or some strength training on one leg. And so if you are one of those people who are hoisting the heavy bar, putting a lot of weight on your back and racking up PR numbers for your squat, why don’t you try putting one leg on an elevated surface, the Bulgarian split squat and squatting down on a single leg without even adding any weight at all, just simply performing that move.

Brad (02:10):
Let’s say for 12 reps, you might even be sore the next day. I know I’ve experienced this myself where I can go perform a nice proper set of squats with heavy weight, but then single leg, all bets are off and you have to build new skills. And it’s super important to do exercises at one leg at a time because most athletic fitness and everyday activities are performed one leg at a time like walking, like running, like jumping off one leg, or even if you’re dunking off two feet, you’re stepping into that jump one leg at a time. And interestingly in contrast, a lot of stuff we do a lot of athletic or fitness or everyday work efforts are done with two arms at a time. So we’re lifting up things with two hands. We’re carrying things frequently with two hands. But one leg at a time seems to be the prevailing athletic and fitness endeavor, but we don’t work it one at a time too much.

Brad (03:09):
Interesting for me, if you look through my morning routine, enroll in the mastery course, I highly recommend it’s so fun and there’s so many great ideas to learn and custom develop your own morning routine. But I do have some interesting balanced challenges in there and it’s kind of fun to reflect on how every day I do these, they’re still difficult. I’m getting a tiny bit better. But when I step on that soft pad, that two and a half inch pad, and try to balance on one leg for a count of 60 it’s, it’s not strenuous to the musculature, but it’s a challenge for the brain. And I step off from that particular exercise. And I feel a sense of central nervous system fatigue from concentrating so hard. People try to talk to me if I’m standing and balancing one leg and I can’t do it, I fall, you know, and so getting that brain a little challenge is certainly helpful.

Brad (04:08):
And I would contend translates directly into all manner of not only fitness endeavors, but cognitive endeavors too. So being able to concentrate and calm down the sewing machine leg that you’re trying to stand on and just, you know, kind of get that balance, get that proprioception dialed up to maximum so that you can complete your chosen exercise and a casual observer might not be as impressed as when you’re cranking with the barbells or doing something explosive, but a huge need for this in fitness. So, Dr. Luks from that great article. I have some, excerpts where again, he’s trying to establish these pillars for exercise and he mentions aerobic conditioning, resistance training, high intensity sprinting and balance training. Yes, indeed balance training when chronic disease sets the stage for our decline as we age, this ultimately leads to frailty and demise and the is centerpiece there on falling. Even if you fracture your, and again, these problems, it’s a really scary spiral downward because each fall becomes progressively harder to recover from. You’re gonna maybe fracture your wrist, shoulder or hip someday, and sadly 50%, not maybe,

Brad (05:37):
Horrifying stat cited by Dr. Luks in the article, 50% of you might die within a year of suffering a hip fracture. So how do we minimize our risk of falls and the injuries associated with the falls and the severity of the falls directly related to muscle mass strength and balance. So we’ve talked about muscle mass and strength. If you have good muscle mass and strength, then you do happen to fall off your bicycle or your falling on the basketball court when you’re doing something awesome. Guess what your recovery, the success of your recovery and the speed of your recovery is going to be dramatically accelerated because you went into the misfortune fully loaded with all the attributes rather than going into something, uh, with frailty. So, this is important point to mention while we, uh, excitedly say that it’s never too late to start.

Brad (06:36):
And I believe in the last show, I mentioned how the senior citizen age group has the highest rate of improvement from strength training of any other age group, which is so exciting. And so anyone off the street or out of the nursing home is well served to get up and start doing some dumbbell curls, but here’s some good news on the other side, when you are in your younger years and you have a nice centerpiece when you have a great commitment to fitness in your younger years and decades, you will induce epigenetic changes that will affect your lifespan quote from Dr. Luks. So an athletic youth where you’re building that muscle mass, you are doing explosive things, you are working on your balance. You will kind of imprint into your genes that you are an athletic person and you will hold onto these attributes, even if you slip and fall off as you get older.

Brad (07:37):
And of course, then when it’s time to turn it on and return to the gym, the court, whatever, the challenges that were kind of put on the, the back burner for a while, you’re gonna be much more adaptable. Exercise leads to some of these genes being turned on, and these genes might decrease your decrease, your risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, premature aging, neurocognitive decline, and so on. So, I guess we could close this idea by saying it’s never too late to start no matter where you’re starting from. And it’s also never too early to start. And I think this is an important point to emphasize these days because the youth is probably less active than any other time in the history of humanity. Thanks to our advanced technology, the constant entertainment provided by mobile device and screen use.

Brad (08:33):
And so we’ve kind of eliminated some of the built in exercise and activity that a lot of young people can reference that was a necessary part of life back in other generations. And of course I can, uh, reference like many, uh, in my age group or this active childhood where we’re out running around every afternoon, because we didn’t have mobile devices to keep us entertained and interested indoors. You get bored in 10 minutes, then you’re out and about and into the community into nature. And so many of those things have now been sort of taken away in a sense, uh, marginalized. I was gonna say taken away, but guess what nature is still out there, young people beckoning for you to go out and play at whatever age you are. And, um, you know, it’s time to get to it because it is going to influence the genetic expressions that happen over the course of the ensuing decades and the natural, processes of aging that lead to graceful, but steady decline.

Brad (09:46):
You wanna stave those off with an act of youth. Okay. So as far as what types of balance exercises to do, I would recommend starting with some single leg squats, so you can elevate the rear leg and then try to lower down. You might need to use some support at first, but just start putting in some of those reps and see those glutes gauge, more so than you might notice when you’re doing, squats with two feet. And so that’s kind of a basic, they call it the Bulgarian split squat, and then you can also do single leg, uh, deadlift type of exercise, Romanian single leg deadlift, they call it and you don’t need weight. Again, you can just kind of do this with a support object or without if you start to get competent. I call it the drinking birds where I’m just have one straight leg that I’m balancing on. And I extend the other leg behind me also straight until that rear leg becomes parallel to the ground. So it’s like an oil derrick going back and forth. I’m returning to a standing position I’m lowering down, um, drinking birds. You can, look up links on YouTube for some of these, or you can look at my morning exercise routine and I’ll give you great progression exercises for each one, where you can now start to be doing some single leg exercises into your, into your regimen.

Brad (11:09):
And you can now integrate an assortment of single legged exercises into your regimen. So those two examples, the Bulgarian split squat and the Romanian single leg deadlift. You can do those in an indoor, on a surface and the gym floor, whatever. And then I also have videos on YouTube for jumping drills, and a lot of those drills are jumping off of one leg and they go with basic and then some more advance. So we’ll put the links to those YouTube videos and anything where you’re launching off the ground off of one foot, wonderful for not just balance, but also bone density and then landing gracefully is the second aspect of the challenge. So you want to take off gracefully and use your balance to get a good, successful, safe launch off the ground, and then land appropriately too. So, Hey, what could be more simple than that to integrate balance into your fitness regimen.

Brad (12:04):
And then I like to craft a distinct category called flexibility and mobility.And again, back to that example of having all these fitness endeavors in your pipeline, but not really addressing too much the need to develop flexibility and mobility. You can think of the, uh, endurance, the popular endurance endeavors, like triathlon swimming, biking, and running. None of those three really, uh, challenge flow, flexibility and mobility, and even a lot of athletic events like playing tennis or golf or basketball, we are told that they have a premium on flexibility and mobility, but unfortunately you can go and participate in those things with very low scores in these areas. And then what you’re going to get, or what you’re going to see is someone with a crappy golf swing or someone who’s, uh, lurching up and down the basketball court rather than moving gracefully.

Brad (13:07):
Um, and we’re talking about a recipe for injury risk and mediocre performance in comparison to, uh, putting in some time and effort to do flexibility and mobility drills. Fortunately, these are becoming a prominent and popular area of fitness. I remember seeing many years ago, these guys were doing, I think it was called G M B fitness, and they had a lot of online programming. Kelly Starrett at the ready states, one of the most popular, uh, providers out there, my friend, Tim DeFrancesco at TD athletes, Edge.com, former strength and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. And now putting out fantastic content on Instagram to help you with not only injuries and injury prevention, but overall becoming a more fit and competent athlete. And of course, Ben Patrick knees over toes guy whom I’ve adapted many of his exercises because they’re very helpful for rehab and injury prevention from the recurring, uh, problems that I experienced.

Brad (14:11):
So you can see on my Instagram, I’ve been doing the reverse Nordic curls and the regular Nordic curls and trying to gracefully and carefully build up my competency to become resilient and bulletproof for all the other athletic endeavors that I put in. And so, again, my morning routine is showing you, uh, uh, all kinds of, uh, scalable flexibility and mobility challenges that you can pick and choose from and try something that’s a little difficult, a little outta your comfort zone, but you’ll get better and better each day. My leg circles, where I’m just laying on the mat and making a 360 degree circle with my swinging leg is a great place to start because whatever level you can perform at now, your circles might be a little smaller than they will be if you keep working at it, keep working at it. And I also have some good videos on YouTube. Titles would be pre-workout dynamic stretching, dynamic stretching for the office, beginner running drills. And then I mentioned the jumping drills. So that is

Brad (15:22):
Okay there, you have it. So we’ve covered balance and flexibility slash mobility. Now let’s take a pause and wonder or ask the question, what might happen to me if I don’t stay fit and I don’t attack these pillars of aging gracefully and avoiding a disease and demise? And the number one symptom or the number one indication that things are going off track as you age might be. It might be argued that the presence of visceral fat is indicative of all kinds of other problems under the hood. And that is the accumulation of fat in the midsection. This is fat that surrounds the important organs in the midsection and accumulates on the belly in a manner where it’s firm. So you see the familiar beer belly from the middle aged male human. But also is everything’s, the same prominence and the same relevance to females. So, females with a tendency to accumulate extra abdominal fat, males with the same tendency, this is an extreme health problem because this fat is a categorized metabolically different than the more familiar subcutaneous fat that we tend to gather in a variety of areas in the body often that is genetically influenced. So you may look down at your fat thighs or your fat calves or your bigger areas that you wish were smaller, and those are, you know,

Brad (17:02):
Right. So some people accumulate fat in different areas. You’re looking down at your casts, your thighs, they wish they looked differently like someone else, and then other people are accumulating fat in the upper body, more so and, you know, wish they could, um, you know, re reposition the subcutaneous fat, generally when you’re dropping excess body fat, you’re gonna drop it, uh, in a, in a manner that’s in a manner you’re gonna drop it

Brad (17:36):
In a consistent manner. Again, with some genetic influence, probably where you’re gonna see, um, a little bit going off your calves, your thighs, uh, your neck, whatever. But the visceral fat, we have to focus on that because that’s a whole different deal. And there are, a lot of people with genetic particulars that, with the genetic particulars to not be inclined to store much subcutaneous fat and Dr. Maffetone, politely calls these people skinny fat, because they appear to be slender, especially when they’re clothed in the latest fashions, but there is, an unwanted accumulation of visceral fat around the abdomen. And this visceral fat is actually classified as a separate organ because it secretes these inflammatory agents called cytokines into the bloodstream. And this promotes that horrible condition that we’ve often been warned about called systemic inflammation or chronic inflammation. So we exist in an inflammatory state, thanks to thanks in part to the visceral fat around our organs, around our abdomen, secreting inflammatory cytokines into the bloodstream.

Brad (18:57):
Another thing that these, uh, these cytokines do is they contribute to secreting these inflammatory cytokines into the bloodstream. Another thing that visceral fat is blamed for is the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. And this is a horrible vicious cycle because the accumulation of more estrogen and less testosterone promotes the accumulation of more visceral fat. And so we have this fork in the road for our lives and our health and our disease protection in our future vitality. And that is, if you start to accumulate a bit of visceral fat, it begets the accumulation of more visceral fat. So you start a little bit of aromatizing, you start a little bit of inflammatory cytokines, released into the bloodstream. And this state of adverse metabolic health will sort of lead you down that fork in the road to the bad destination. And so it really is a battle.

Brad (20:10):
It’s a valiant battle that you wanna keep that visceral fat off your body for as long as possible, and for as long as you live, ideally, and of course this is age associated. And if you sit around and do nothing, if you just watch your life unfold, right, and, and participate in the trends of modern culture and modern, modern society, you are going to pack on, you know, at more and more and more visceral fat as the years and decades go by from things that promote it like inactivity from adverse food choices, especially the consumption of the refined industrial seed oils that inhibit the burning of stored body fat and from adverse exercise habits, including insufficient exercise. And in very rare cases, the extreme exercise, uh, can throw you at a whack metabolically, but we’re mostly talking about getting up and moving more throughout the day, not being in that category of what they call active couch potato.

Brad (21:11):
And that’s someone who has an impressive dedication to fitness and workouts, but otherwise sits around a lot throughout the day, and maybe even takes some free passes to consume indulgent foods because of your commitment to fitness. So we gotta clean up the diet, we gotta get more active and do whatever is possible to stave off the accumulation of visceral fat. And yes, Dr. Maffetone and others are talking urgently to those in the skinny fat category, because by and large, they will accept that their physique is optimal or acceptable because they look slender, but again, um, even a little bit of visceral found accumulation and you can go test your blood and, uh, look at things like inflammatory factors, like high sensitivity, C reactive protein. You can look at H B A1C, that’s the average level of blood glucose over a long time period.

Brad (22:06):
You can look at fasting glucose. You can look at fasting insulin, which Dr. Paul Saladino contends is the most important blood marker, but is rarely ordered on routine blood tests. Just went through this with Mia Moore where I chipped in for her annual checkup and blood draw. And I said, please also ask for fasting insulin and vitamin D. And it was like a big ordeal back and forth. Like, why do you need that? Oh, because Dr. Saladino says, it’s the number one marker for, uh, metabolic health as you age. So, anyway, do the same ask for fasting insulin. Maybe it’ll become a more popular test Saladino says urgently, and others, right. But, urgently you wanna get under 15, under six is optimal. And then if you’re down in the low numbers, I just got my report. I think I was 2.3 or something.

Brad (22:54):
So I’m not headed toward insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome anytime soon. And that’s a nice checkpoint to cross through, and also looking at your abdomen and trying to keep it, how it looked 10 years ago, or 20 years ago. And easier and less expensive than doing blood tests is to mind your physique. Take a look at it, take pictures, make yourself accountable. Right.You’ve heard a lot of talk about don’t step on the scale every day. It’ll, uh, it’ll trip you out. And that might be appropriate advice for people, especially those at risk of disordered eating. But Dr. Ron Sinha offered a different take when he was on my interview. And he said he recommends many of his patients step on the scale every single day, check their weight, realizing that we have a natural fluctuation of around four to five pounds based on inflammation, water, retention, and level of glycogen storage.

Brad (23:58):
And so he says himself, he’s a very fit active physician in his late forties. I believe he says that when he sees his body weight at the low range of his five pound flux, his typical five pound flux, he believes that that represents doing a lot of exercise in recent times and possibly being low on the glycogen storage side. And so that will be his signal to back off a little bit and refuel with more devotion. And if he sees himself on the high side of that five pound flux, it’s time to go out there and slam some impressive workouts and then keep things back in gear. And of course then, um, exceeding your typical flux, is a sign that maybe things are creeping, uh, outta control. And so this notion, uh, this flawed notion that, oh, we went on the cruise, the buffets were great and I gained 10 pounds is very rarely applicable to, and, oh my gosh, I gained seven pounds in a single week.

Brad (25:06):
It’s not really that you gained, you added that much body fat because a pound of fat weighs 3,500 calories. It’s very, very difficult to eat your way into gaining a pound of fat. But of course you can do it easily over a longer time period. But when you come back and step on the scale and you’re seven pounds heavier, you are fully glycogen stored, and you have probably inflammation, water retention, and then you can go and lose that quickly by just recalibrating your diet, your exercise habits, getting healthy, getting rid of those inflammatory heavily processed foods. So just to put some perspective on the use of the scale, the appropriate use of the scale to keep you accountable, but not tripping out as you vary day by day by day, uh, to the range of five pounds. And I have been, to the tune to the tune of perhaps a five pound range, maybe less if you’re lighter and maybe more if you’re heavier.

Brad (26:03):
Okay. So, we talked about causes of this accumulation of visceral fat. All that stillness, the great research from Dr. Herman Pontzer. He revealed this on one of his interviews on the show, but he was saying that they don’t exactly know why in great detail, but a lot of sitting around causes an inflammatory response in the body. So chronic sitting promotes chronic inflammation. Chronic consumption of heavily processed foods, especially the refined industrial seed oils, will promote systemic inflammation and the accumulation of visceral fat. Chronic stress and poor stress management techniques will also lead to inflammatory conditions in the body. And we also have to put in a plug for the endocrine disruptors in our environment. My interview with Melanie Avalon talked about this a little bit, especially focusing on skincare and cosmetics, but the big areas, the big needs to improve and need to focus on areas for all of us are first plastics touching our food and drink.

Brad (27:17):
So just keep that in the back of your mind, we do not want plastics touching our food and drink. If you’re thirsty and you’re in the airport and you have to buy a plastic water bottle, Hey, go ahead. That’s fine. Once in a while it right into your stainless steel bottle that you carry through security empty, and then you’re a good to go. Especially doing things like microwaving food and plastic. I’m shocked when I still see people doing that, uh, despite, uh, I, what I thought was widespread understanding that you’re heating up those plastic molecules and they’re diving right into your salmon or whatever you’re, uh, microwaving. And so, especially heating up plastic, uh, but as soon as you get takeout or something in a plastic container, please switch it over to a beautiful plate and enjoy the experience and stay away from that.

Brad (28:04):
We have the other category of skincare and cosmetics, which was covered in detail on the show, but anything you put on your skin is going right into your bloodstream. So it is a huge category of attention and trying to get as clean and toxin free as possible. That’s why I’m so excited to associate with Beauty Counter. You heard my wonderful, enthusiastic commercial on the shows. And so right now in the middle of the show, I’ll give ’em a plug again. But I’ve been really been taking care of my skin, uh, better than I ever have in my life for the last couple years, especially in my face. Part of a one person study to see if I can reverse all the wrinkles that have accumulated in the first, uh, 55 years. And so we’ll report back on that later.

Brad (28:52):
Uh, but I also like their new product clean DEO, and it’s a completely toxin free deodorant and interesting about that is when you’re looking at those pores under your arms, they’re very, it’s a very large porous area. So when you apply a deodorant with chemicals on it, you are dumping that right into your bloodstream. So again, another huge area that’s so simple to recalibrate and turn around. So go to Beauty,Counter.com/brad Kearns. Order up the clean DEO. It smells great. It’s got natural scent from natural sources rather than just about every other persirent and deodorant on the market has chemicals in there. Uh, and so you probably understand the distinction between antiperspirant and deodorant. The antiperspirant has the aluminum and the chemicals that retard the sweating, under the arms and the deodorant is just something that doesn’t retard the sweating, but it has an artificial scent. that’s preventing the odor from.

Brad (30:01):
So if you’re trying to get healthier and less chemical exposure, the first switch you’re gonna do is switching from antiperspirant to deodorant. And then the deodorant that masks the odor, almost all commercial deodorants, even the even the hippie trippy cool sounding alternative brands contain chemicals. And what is the code word for unknown chemicals in your consumer skincare product? It is the word fragrance or natural fragrance. There’s way more details on the Beauty Counter website. Melanie Avalon biohacking podcast, great show has full length shows, just on topics like these, where the stuff they are sneaking into consumer skincare products. So I hate to be a radical here or a pot stir, but if you are looking at a major prominent brand, do not trust them one inch because they are dumping in whatever they can.

Brad (31:10):
And it’s been the way of American consumerism for decades, right? They’re just trying to get away with whatever and get the right smell out there per their focus group. And they don’t care about the chemical impact and the endocrine disrupting impact on the body. And especially with antiperspirant, the aluminum had a strong association with breast cancer because of the proximity to the breast tissue and also with cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s dementia. Going through those major categories, plastics on your food and drink skincare is skincare and cosmetics, household cleaners and laundry detergent, because whatever you’re putting in your laundry detergent is going on to your clothes, which is going on to your skin. Right. So now it’s great. You can find these eco-friendly detergents all over the place. Same with household cleaners, Dr. Bronner, one of the old time, uh, natural product makers with those wonderful, crazy labels.

Brad (32:10):
You can use that product to clean every surface in your house and also on your body shampoo. I brush my teeth with it about once a month. It’s kind of strong, but it’s a nice feeling to get really clean teeth from Dr. Bronner. So get a eco-friendly chemical free laundry detergent. Again, anything put out by the major brands is going to sound, healthy, but you can look on the label and see those code words, natural fragrance, things like that. So cleaners and detergent is another category.

Brad (32:42):
And then of course, air pollution, we’re gonna do the best I can. So we will do the best we can there with our living situations and our choice of outdoor exercise. I’m continually amazed to see people jogging down busy boulevards. I just , I don’t know what they’re thinking. Somehow they’re, uh, able to overcome the unpleasant sensation of noise and cars and honking horns and exhaust fumes, but, you know, find an appropriate place to exercise outdoors where you’re away from automobile traffic, especially if you’re peddling a 20 pound bicycle, amidst 2000 pound automobiles.

Brad (33:20):
It’s just not a good deal. And I can’t emphasize that enough from my many years, uh, on the road pedaling my bicycle. And fortunately, being able to survive that ordeal and stand here and live to tell about it. Strongly against, road cycling on the open road with vehicles, because you’re putting your life in your hands to an extreme that nothing is comparable in your daily routine, unless you’re a sky diver or a base jumper or a hardcore athlete, nothing compares to the danger that you incur when you head out your door and pedal your bicycle with the vehicles. And thank . Thank you very much. But, today’s vehicle motorist is now with mobile device in the car and probably in hand, or probably on a Mount where they are easily distracted, unlike any other time in history.

Brad (34:17):
And fortunately I did my writing, uh, 20, 25 years ago when there were no mobile devices and there weren’t that many SUVs out there yet. And so it seemed a lot safer and boy, and just think twice and find the most safe and less trafficked well lit route. You can find if you insist on pedaling your bicycle outdoors, and by the most obnoxious, loud, fluorescent clothing from head to toe your helmet, your shirt, your shorts, cuz I think many cyclists have no idea as the dusk hour nears when our visibility is dramatically reduced from a bright sunlight earlier in the day and they’re wearing their stylish kit of black and dark green and these tones on their clothing blend in nicely with the, the trees and the bushes and all the other sites around. And so they’re really, really hard to see, especially around dusk and so bright colors, I think makes a big difference. Wearing a rear view mirror that you can mount onto your helmet. Those are easily found on Amazon. I’ll even put a link in the show notes and beg you to get one, if you’re a cyclist.

Brad (35:22):
So there goes my pitch for cycling safety, an offshoot from one of the things on the category of endocrine disruptors, that being air pollution, especially when you’re sucking air and you’re breathing a lot of air you’re breathing, what is it? Six times more oxygen than you are at rest when you’re out there for a light exercise. So please get off the busy roads. And then finally in this category of endocrine, disruptors would be the EMF and the wifi. So do your best to not have your phone pressed against your brain for hours throughout the day. And then, finding a wifi free area, especially when you go to sleep. That was a great point made by.

Brad (36:08):
Uh, I think it was Dr. Anthony Jay author of Estro Generation where we really have an intense need to get into parasympathetic rest and digest mode at night when we go to sleep. So we are better able to handle the onslaught of environmental pollution during the day when we’re wired on energy and sympathetic nervous system, we can fight this stuff off, but when we laid our head on the pillow, that’s when we want the most calming and pollution free environment. So it’s as simple as turning off your wifi every night or if you have gamers that play late at night and you can’t very well turn off wifi, have it as far away from your, your bed as possible. I remember moving my son into apartment at UCLA and they had the bed placed there and like right at the head of the bed was the giant installation of the cable modem and the router and all this equipment and cords and plugs and power strip.

Brad (37:06):
And I’m like, well I guess that last student didn’t care. but this ain’t gonna happen. So we had to reposition everything in the room, unfortunately at the insistence of the annoying father who was moving in that day. Okay.

Brad (37:18):
Okay. Another important point to emphasize here is this accumulation of a little spare tire is not normal. I do not want you to perceive that as a normal consequence of aging. That you’re gonna say goodbye to the six pack and hello to the pony keg as the old joke goes, because you just turned, uh, a 30 or 40 or 50. So the accumulation of visceral fat around the organs, the accumulation of the little spare tire is a reliable sign of adverse lifestyle practices for both males and females. It is not acceptable. And I want you to challenge that notion and do what you can to and do whatever you can to chip away at that visceral fat.

Brad (38:14):
And when you make positive lifestyle changes, when you eliminate those toxic nutrient deficient inflammatory foods, you can make quick progress on the spare tire because a lot of that is inflammation, water retention and things that aren’t directly associated with having to drop 3,500 calories of stored fat. Again, that’s, largely the subcutaneous fat that’s on your calves, thighs, upper neck, wherever you’re, annoyed that you’re carrying too much fat as well as around the abdomen, the midsection, the rear end, but this is a different category. And that tightness in the abdomen is the sign of visceral fat, where the flabby, pinching the skin and being able to pinch an inch that’s more, associated with subcutaneous fat. So, not that they’re either or here, but, if you have that, uh, belly that you could play the drums on, that’s gonna be the one that you really wanna focus on.

Brad (39:14):
Okay. Here’s Dr. Luks describing this in further with a little science muscle and fat are two highly metabolic tissues. How our tissues interact with our metabolic machinery matters. How our tissues act with our metabolic machinery matters, visceral or belly fat is very toxic to us. It’s responsible for chronic disease states like type two diabetes, heart disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease muscles. On the other hand, improve our ability to manage glucose, dispose of glucose, and they have a role in mediating, the severity of insulin resistance. So people that have insulin resistance are type two diabetes. You want them to exercise to improve their glucose control. If you exercise to increase muscle mass, you’re also gonna increase your HDL that’s widely touted as the good cholesterol it serves as nature’s garbage trucks, because it circulates through the bloodstream and cleans up damage dysfunctional molecules and, eliminates them or helps, and eliminates them before they have a chance to do damage.

Brad (40:22):
For example, lodging on the walls of your arteries the small dense LDL, the problematic type of cholesterol HDL is protective against those problems. And so increasing HDL via exercise and also believe via increased consumption of saturated fat is also believed to be, uh, a way to increase HDL. The main goal, as I’ve said so many times, backed by Dr. Cate Shanahan, Dr. Ron Sinha, I think Dr. Paul Saladino is also echoing this idea that your most important blood marker is this triglyceride to HDL ratio. That’s an improved metabolic profile of vastly more significance than the often misunderstood, total cholesterol number or the total L D L cholesterol number. So very quickly you can listen to whole shows on this from people like Dave Feldman. I think he and Peter Attia did like six hours of content on understanding cholesterol and, and the latest research, which goes against the oversimplified and flawed notion that we’ve been told for years and decades, that LDL is bad and HDL is good. It’s not anything close to that. There’s so much more context that’s important to understand, but, uh, very briefly, um, there’s two types of LDL. There’s small dense LDL, which is potentially problematic. And then there’s large fluffy LDL molecules, which are largely harmless. And you can have increased levels, due to genetic factors or due to dietary changes, like consuming more saturated fats. Okay. So if you can get into exercise and especially doing that high intensity stuff and doing more regular everyday movement, you are going to chip away at that horrible,

Brad (42:18):
Very disturbing risk factor of visceral fat. Okay. So with exercise, we don’t wanna overwhelm here. You got a busy life. You only have so much energy, especially if you’re diet scrappy, you don’t have a lot of energy, but we wanna start with increased walking and moving around every day. I would recommend putting into place a very modest morning routine. So at least the first thing you do every day is get into some form of exercise. It could be as simple as leashing up the dog and walking around the block. But I’d love to encourage you to go a little further, at least looking at the landing page for the morning routine course at bradkearns.com. And you could see some tidbits of what I do. That’s definitely scalable to anyone at any fitness level, also on this list to not overwhelm, you would be micro workouts.

Brad (43:07):
Okay. So we have walking around more. We have doing some form of morning exercise, even if it’s only five minutes and we have doing micro workouts. So you’re doing a one or two minute physical effort to break up your day of stillness. Now, if you wanna get over to the gym and sign up and get into class again, if it’s been a while or you want to get out on the trail or do something more sophisticated, some weekend adventures, that’s great, but let’s take those bite size steps forward and toward the elimination of the spare tire and maintenance of muscle mass throughout your life.

Brad (43:39):
So we’re gonna quickly, since we have so much content on diet already, we’re gonna quickly overview some diet and supplement highlights for aging gracefully. And the first opening point of the discussion is to ditch the highly processed inflammatory nutrient deficient, modern foods.

Brad (44:01):
And in the recent books, we call them the big three refined industrial seed oils and refined grains and sugars and all the processed food that puts those, uh, ingredients together and giving you all kinds of trouble. Listen to my show with Jay Feldman, where he talks about endotoxin. That’s a term that you’re gonna hear more and more, and that’s when you’re consuming these processed foods. And you’re, you have an adverse reaction in the gut that can promote inflammation and leaky gut syndrome. So above and beyond the fact that your slurpy is not giving you any nutrition, just sugar calories, the ingestion of sugar is not, what’s gonna kill you per se, but it’s the adverse effects of consuming processed foods, especially liquid ingredients, that are heavy in sugar. The oils, on the other hand, will kill you directly. And there’s so much direct association between disease dysfunction, DNA damage, very quickly upon ingestion of these refined industrial high polyunsaturated seed oils and that term polyunsaturated, you can remember,that the hydrogen ions are not saturated.

Brad (45:12):
Therefore these molecules are unstable upon ingestion into the body, and they generate a lot of reactive oxygen species free radicals. And that is the essence of disease decline in aging. So you are ingesting, Dr. Cate Shanahan said consuming industrial seed oils is literally no different than eating radiation out of a bottle because of the effect that immediate effect that it causes on the DNA structure of the cells. And so if that’s one thing you can take away from the entire 250 plus shows on the podcast is to completely eliminate refined industrial seed oils from your diet. Oh, simple, grab the bottle and throw it away, right? Okay. No more canola oil, corn oil, whatever you’re stacking in your cupboard, from, you know, however long it’s been there. Uh, but it’s important to look at labels because you’ll be shocked if, if you haven’t really been scrutinizing, you’ll be shocked at how many foods and processed foods contain these refined industrial seed oils.

Brad (46:18):
And unfortunately, one of the major providers of this into our diet these days is dining out. Of course, we know that fast food is laden with all this stuff, uh, but also at fine dining at medium dining and at fine dining, restaurants routinely cook their meals in these inexpensive, highly toxic, highly health destructive, refined industrial seed oils. So when you go to a fine restaurant or a medium restaurant, like a chain or whatever, ask them to cook your meal in butter or other saturated fat or choose something else. It’s been cited by, uh, Dr. Cate Shanahan that, uh, some 40% of all the calories that you consume in a restaurant meal come from refined industrial seed oils because they’re so calorie dense. And when the meal’s cooked in the oil, you’re gonna have a great contribution of calories in that fish stick or whatever steak burger that you’re eating, coming from the oils, pretty easy life changing, uh, modification to make.

Brad (47:23):
And yet that’s gonna be taken away some of your go-to items that you like to get from the frozen section at Trader Joe’s or Costco and heat those up when you’re in a rush, but look at the ingredient list and stay away from them. Of course we know what happens with excess consumption of refined carbohydrates, both in the sugar category and the grains category. They’re nutrient deficient. They can promote gut dysfunction. They can have inflammatory properties from things like endotoxin. And then with this chronically excessive insulin production, you’re gonna have difficulty burning, stored body fat and a tendency to be dependent upon this dietary carbohydrate source for energy, because you are inhibiting your ability to, uh, burn stored energy efficiently. And we should also add a category here for the very prominent condition of leaky gut syndrome, an assortment of digestive dysfunction associated with the reaction to consuming natural plant toxins.

Brad (48:25):
And that’s what the carnivore movement is all about is to, uh, at least experiment with avoiding many of the foods that have been touted as health and nutrient centerpiece in the modern diet. And the most disturbing, or the most category of most concern are roots seeds, leaves, and stems. And so we’re talking about the leafy greens, the wonderful broccolis and the cauliflowers and the kale and the celery. We’re talking about your salad, your stir fry, um, your nuts and seeds. If you’re sensitive to those, your grains, of course, the, the gluten and the lectin in all the grain foods, everyone’s pretty well aware of how problematic that can be to a lot of people, but I just want you to extend the lens beyond just the gluten in the bread to the oxalates and the isothiocyanates and all the chemicals that Paul Saladino can re cite in short order, uh, in your salad, your spinach salad in your kale smoothie.

Brad (49:34):
So a, if you are suffering from frequent digestive disturbances, gas, bloating, transient abdominal pain after meals, uh, you have nagging autoimmune or inflammatory conditions, things like asthma allergies, arthritis, gastritis, colitis, things like that. You will do yourself as solid to perform an experiment with a 30 day dietary restriction. Uh, the more strict, the better, because that will give you the best data. And then you can start to add back in the least offensive plant foods and see how well you tolerate them. I just learned something from my recent show with Jay Feldman, who recommends not eating the skins of root vegetables, like sweet potatoes and others, because they have the concentration of the toxins. And so the insides are acceptable, very low on the risk, but you wanna stay away from the skin. I used to love scooping up the skin.

Brad (50:34):
So, we’re trying to minimize our exposure to plant toxins in the event that we are sensitive to them. And we probably make a safe argument that most people have some level of sensitivity, uh, especially with the most biggest offenders like gluten or the consumption of raw forms of these plant toxins. So I’m talking about my super nutrition green smoothie, the SuperDuper powerhouse, where I put in frozen celery, beets, kale, spinach carrots, blend it all up, and you’re getting this amazing power packed with nutrition, but you are also getting an amazing concentrated dose of plant toxins. And as I’ve mentioned a few times, I was drinking this smoothie. I was on a kick. I learned about it from Dr. Ronda Patrick esteemed resource with her YouTube viral YouTube video, showing us how to dump more celery and more spinach into the blender, and then blend it up and then add more because you can get more that way. And that for me, caused a problem virtually every time I consumed it, and I would experience this bloated stomach that would last for several hours after eating my super duper nutrition, green smoothie. And boy, there’s something wrong with that picture when you’re trying to do something, you know, toward your health, but you’re having this immediate adverse reaction every single time. So that was a recalibration necessary there.

Brad (51:58):
And how you gonna know if you have plant sensitivities without testing it out. And I contend that a lot of people are just satisfied or content to not worry about minor health disturbances. They seem so normal. Don’t all of us feel a little uncomfortable and gassy and bloated after certain meals. And then it goes away the next day. And we go about our busy, important day. But what we’re talking about here, as Saladino likes to say, uh, we’re trying to go from level seven to level nine. And how do you know if you’re at level seven or level nine right now? How do you know if you’re not at level three or four or five, and you have tremendous potential for health improvement and health awakening without testing and refining. And so I think a lot of us I’m gonna guess are content to exist at level five or level six, or even level seven, if we’re an extreme health enthusiast, but there might be further potential down the road.

Brad (52:55):
And so I always strive to maintain an open mind, think critically and take it to the next level whenever possible with testing refining and of course, sharing with you on the podcast. And boy, that was a major health awakening back in 2019, when I was first exposed to Dr. Saladino’s message and made what I contend is a lifelong shift to a more animal based diet, because these are the most nutrient dense foods on earth. So I want to have those as the centerpiece of my diet and in concert deemphasizing, the, especially the highest risk plant foods because of their plant toxicity and the unnecessary trade off between going for the nutritional benefits of broccoli and kale and celery versus the potential adverse reactions when I can get those same benefits from other foods or other lifestyle behaviors.

Brad (53:52):
And, Paul has a good video on Instagram where he’s jumping into the cold chest freezer full of ice and saying how he’s getting a antioxidant boost just as if he were drinking a smoothie full of raw vegetables. And so we have these redundant pathways where we can obtain all those benefits without the downsides and the potential side effects of consuming plant foods with a lot of toxins in them. And, um, and as you’ll know, from listening to my two recent publications interviews with Jay Feldman and my four part series of follow ups with reflections on the energy balance model I have had, what I believe is another major awakening or major checkpoint to check on my beliefs, challenge them recalibrate some things and test some different things out. When Jay talks about how fasting keto carb restriction, time restricted eating, all turn on stress hormones.

Brad (54:55):
And that is indeed the mechanism by which they work. So when you are liberating energy from storage due to fasting due to car restriction, whatever you are turning on, the stress response, the fight or flight response, that’s a genetically programmed survival response. That’s great. And it’s nice to hone these skills in comparison to being overfed and underactive your entire life, which is basically the essence of today’s, uh, metabolic syndrome and widespread diseases of modern life. But in my case, I want to minimize my stimulation of stress hormones, or prioritize that for my athletic endeavors and perform and recover. And so my experiment, which is now, uh, about two months into it to wake up, do my morning routine, of course, and then consume a huge bowl of fruit and a giant super nutrition smoothie, I think has been a big winner for me in comparison to lingering and letting the hours go by working, getting busy, whatever, maybe nibbling on some dark chocolate, but not eating a proper meal until midday in the name of health boosting benefits of fasting.

Brad (56:04):
And yes, indeed, there are tremendous benefits to fasting. We can go on and on there’s full books and volumes about this, but we must not forget that it is indeed a stress response. And so speaking of redundant pathways, a properly conducted high intensity workout, where you have fuel available to perform without having to turn on the stress response without having to stack the stressors of being fasted and performing at high intensity, uh, maybe that has the potential for overkill. And so I’m gonna be fueling my workouts with more intention, uh, based on this, uh, new information and new strategy. And I think that’s what it’s all about is we’re marching forward together people. So I encourage you to be open-minded experiment, definitely listen to those Jay Feldman shows and my reflections afterward, where I’m getting into great detail with the changes that I’ve made and the lessons that I’ve learned over time.

Brad (56:59):
With input from the world’s leading experts, it’s a really fun journey. And I appreciate you so much, uh, being here with me send us a email podcast@bradventures.com. I have some great fodder for a future Q and A show from other people weighing in on, uh, what seems to be conflict and confusion, but I think can be thank you for listening to the show. I love sharing the experience with you and greatly appreciate your support. Please email podcast, Brad ventures.com with feedback, suggestions, and questions for the Q and A shows. Subscribe to our email list at bradkearns.com for a weekly blast about the published episodes and a wonderful bimonthly newsletter edition with informative articles and practical tips for all aspects of healthy living. You can also download several awesome free eBooks when you subscribe to the email list. And if you could go to the trouble to leave a five or five star review with apple podcasts or wherever else, you listen to the shows that would be super, incredibly awesome. It helps raise the profile of the B.rad podcast and attract new listeners. And did you know that you can share a show with a friend or loved one by just hitting a few buttons in your player and firing off a text message? My awesome podcast player called Overcast allows you to actually record a sound bite excerpt from the episode you’re listening to and fire it off with a quick text message. Thank you so much for spreading the word and remember B.rad.

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