230. Q&A: Fat Loss, Nutrition, Supplements and More!

0:00Gary Brecka:Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. And if you're comfortable with where you are right now, this is your wake up call to becoming the ultimate human. I'm breaking down the most asked questions in my DMs with pure unfiltered science. No fluff, no BS, just the biological truth about how your body actually works. What's the number one food to avoid? I don't think that we should avoid a specific food, but there are ingredients like what foods does Gary Brecka recommend? The data is in guys. Dogmatic dieting is not what extends life. It's not carnivore, keto, paleo, paleo, pescatarian, vegan, vegetarian, raw food.

0:32Gary Brecka:It's eating. What is the best way to lose fat without losing muscle? Hands down, no second choice for this is, is LDL cholesterol really bad or is it a myth? That is a myth. LDL cholesterol on its own is, what's the worst nutrition advice you've ever heard that made you want to throw a steak at someone? I guess the worst advice that I've ever heard is that.

1:08Gary Brecka:Hey guys, you asked, I answered. My team has been collecting all of my DMs and all of the emails that we get at The Ultimate Human and compiling the most commonly asked questions. I'm gonna go through them all as fast as I can in no certain order, and I'm gonna try to answer them in one minute or less. So here we go. Look, aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. And if you're comfortable with where you are right now, this episode isn't for you because if you're ready to hear the science that the pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to understand, then the next few minutes could literally add years to your life.

1:39Gary Brecka:I'm breaking down the most asked questions in my DMs with pure unfiltered science. No fluff, no BS, just the biological truth about how your body actually works. So stay with me. This is your wake-up call to becoming the ultimate human. So here were your most asked questions. What's the number one food to avoid? I don't think that we should avoid a specific food, but there are ingredients like high fructose corn syrup that we should avoid. And if I was to say, what one food or category of foods should we avoid? It's highly processed foods. These are highly processed ingredients that have additives, preservatives.

2:14Gary Brecka:They have all kinds of garbage and chemicals in them that don't feed our cellular biology. They actually wreck our hormones. They keep us awake at night. They disrupt our sleep and they add to weight gain, water retention, poor focus and concentration, and lack of response to exercise. Those are the category of foods called highly processed foods. So my recommendation is that you switch to a whole food diet. Meat, fish, chicken, eggs, avocados, vegetables, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts, avocados. These are all great choices for you to have on your plate. Does the 30-30-30 method really work? Yes.

2:49Gary Brecka:30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking followed by 30 minutes of steady state cardiovascular exercise really does work. I didn't develop this method. It was developed by a gentleman named Tim Ferriss. He wrote a whole book on this called The 4-Hour Body. I am a huge believer because I have seen this work in my own clients thousands of times. 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking followed by 30 minutes of steady state cardiovascular exercise. You can even accelerate this by using something called perfect aminos, which is the equivalent of 29 grams of whey protein, and it doesn't even break a fast.

3:24Gary Brecka:It's all nine of the essential amino acids. So if you're looking for that weight loss tip and you just want one simple strategy, 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking, followed by 30 minutes of steady state cardiovascular exercise. You don't even need a treadmill. You can just go outside and do it with a walk. And if you want to accelerate it, add a weighted vest. How do I eat 30 grams of protein for breakfast? Great question. Well, I add something called perfect aminos, which is the equivalent of 29 grams of whey protein, but you can also do it by having three to five scrambled eggs.

3:56Gary Brecka:I like to put a little bit of goat cheese in there that is raw goat cheese. So I like the raw forms of dairy. That's one great way. You can get it through a protein shake. Whole fat Greek yogurt is another excellent way to up your protein intake. Cottage cheese, raw cottage cheese is another way to up your protein intake. I'm gonna put a link below to give you some of my favorite 30-30-30 recipes. What are good sources of protein? Well, all sources of protein are good. I prefer animal-based proteins and study over study animal-based proteins, even whey protein outperforms plant-based proteins.

4:32Gary Brecka:But for those of you that are vegans or vegetarians, you can still get good protein sources from plants. One of my favorite is shelled hemp seeds if you're a vegan or vegetarian. very high in protein, very low in carbohydrate, and just the right amount of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. I also prefer lean meats, grass-finished meats, wild-caught fish, especially salmon, and free-range chicken. What does Gary Brecka eat in a day? It's pretty boring. I stick to sort of the same plethora of foods. I do eat grass-fed, grass-finished meat. I eat a lot of wild-caught fish. I do eat a lot of eggs. I literally think that eggs are nature's perfect protein.

5:11Gary Brecka:I get fats from things like avocados. I eat a lot of olive oil. I've swapped out rice for something called cauliflower rice, and you won't notice the difference. I eat a lot of fermented vegetables, kimchis, pickles, fermented foods. These have the right amount of free fatty acids, soluble and insoluble fiber. You can mix that bitter taste of sauerkraut or kimchi with other foods, and the balance is really beautiful. These are excellent sources of gut-healthy foods that will actually repopulate your gut and calm down inflammation. What foods does Gary Brecker recommend? Whole foods. The data is in, guys.

5:48Gary Brecka:Dogmatic dieting is not what extends life. If you look at Blue Zone studies, it's not carnivore, keto, paleo, pescatarian, vegan, vegetarian, raw food. It's none of those things. It's eating whole foods. What does a whole food diet look like? It looks like a diet completely absent processed foods. Most of the things that we find in a package are highly processed. Most of the ingredients that you can't pronounce are highly processed. And any ingredient on a label that you can't find in the food store, that you actually can't walk around the grocery store and locate, that indicates that it's a highly processed food.

6:21Gary Brecka:We should be shopping more often, shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, staying out of the aisles as much as possible, and eating whole foods. That's the secret to extending life. If you could only eat one protein source for the rest of your life, what would it be? absolutely unequivocally beyond a single shadow of a doubt, it would be grass-fed, grass-finished meat, full stop. I could go into a long dissertation about the nutrient density of grass-fed, grass-finished beef and how a lot of the myths surrounding the saturated fat that is found in these meats is not true. The war on saturated fat is about to end at our FDA and it should end in your household too.

6:58And you should start the war on high glycemic sugars and processed foods. what's the worst nutrition advice you've ever heard that made you want to throw a steak at

7:08Gary Brecka:someone um i guess the uh worst advice that i've ever heard is that because something is not meat it's healthy for you um i don't want to attack vegans or vegetarians i think that people can do fine on a vegan or vegetarian diet but just because something is not meat or not animal-based does not mean that it's healthy for you think about being a vegan for example you can have beer You can have Doritos. You can have flour, wheat, pasta, grains, cereals. You can have all the sugar that you want. It's not to say that people that are on those diets eat like that, but just because it's not meat does not necessarily mean it's healthy.

7:43Next time you're in a grocery store, pick up a non-burger and read the ingredients on the back of that. Chemically laden, full of fillers, dyes, additives, preservatives, and thickening agents. Those are not things we wanna put in our body. If someone caught you eating a cheat meal,

7:59Gary Brecka:What would it be? You know, when I cheat, I usually cheat with things like my chef actually makes a really good almond flour cake with, he makes it out of almond flour, coconut sugar, and raw cacao. It is to die for. I do eat a lot of whole fat Greek yogurt that I add honey and berries to. Once in a while, I will stray for a piece of carrot cake. That's probably my Achilles heel. But most of the time I can satisfy my sweet cravings with highly nutritious, highly nutrient dense foods. In fact, next time you have one of these cravings, try this Ben and Jerry's recipe that I came up with. Go to the supermarket, get a can of organic light coconut cream.

8:38Gary Brecka:Take about five tablespoons, 10 tablespoons of light organic coconut cream. Throw in a fistful of crushed nuts, a tad of Baja Gold sea salt, and a packet of monk fruit. You can add fruit and nuts as sweeteners and things to make it crunchy and try it ice cold. It will become your new Ben and Jerry's. How do I build motivation when I feel stuck or unmotivated? Being stuck or unmotivated comes from being stuck or unmotivated. By that, I mean that bodies at rest tend to want to stay at rest. Bodies in motion tend to want to stay in motion. So make this simple switch. Make 15 minutes of morning sunlight and a 20-minute morning walk non-negotiable.

9:21No matter what the weather, no matter what it's doing outside, your body will survive. You got to stop saying, I can't go outside. It's too cold. I can't go outside. It's too hot.

9:30Gary Brecka:It's too rainy. It's too windy. That's not true. Your body is very resilient. That becomes a natural hormetic stress. And just say, I am going to make a 20-minute walk non-negotiable. This will start to build the building blocks of mobility. And very soon, your body will crave that walk like a rat to cheese. When you do and you start to walk regularly, get yourself an ion-weighted vest, A-I-O-N. You can go over to Ion Gear. You can add weight to your walks and get more out of less time. I promise you, if you look at the research between compression and weighted exercise, you'll be a convert. If someone told you they're taking 47 different supplements they bought from Instagram ad, what's your move?

10:13Gary Brecka:Intervention or just slowly backing away? That's actually a really cool question. I ask everybody that's supplementing, what are you supplementing for? Are you supplementing for the sake of supplementing or are you supplementing for deficiency? If you can't tell me the specific need for that supplement, you probably don't need it. At any time of the day or the week or the month or the year, I can make an argument for ashwagandha, St. John's wort, CoQ10, NAD, NMN, nicotinamide riboside, multivitamins. You can make an argument for all of these things. They're all great for you. The question is, what does your body need.

10:47That's why I always say test don't guess. Getting a basic panel of blood work and a basic genetic methylation test will tell you exactly what your deficiencies are. And you can start by supplementing for deficiency rather than the sake of supplementing. If you don't have a roadmap to supplementation, you will change your supplements up every few weeks just based on the

11:08Gary Brecka:latest Instagram ad. If you followed me for any period of time, you see that I have taken the same thing over and over for years. I take all nine of the essential amino acids in the morning. I take a methylated multivitamin. I sometimes will use glutathione or NAD if I need a boost or I'm traveling or feeling run down. I take hydrogen water tablets called H2Tab. I put those in my water to reduce inflammation and actually turn the lights on. And I always add mineral salt to my water first thing in the morning. I like a mineral salt called Baja Gold, but there are plenty of great mineral salts out there that have all 91 trace minerals and very little sodium compared to table salt.

11:45So try mineral salts, all nine essential amino acids, hydrogen tabs, and a methylated multivitamin. Those are your baseline go-tos. What is the best way to lose fat without losing muscle? Hands down, no second choice for this is weight-bearing exercise and weight training. The simple sentence is, if you want to live a long time, lift heavy weight. So So actually learn to be comfortable with weight training. Resistance training not only builds muscle, but it lowers your glycemic profile, helps your body become more sensitive to insulin. Your muscles are like a sponge for glucose. Also, frailty is one of the greatest risks in older ages.

12:23We know that grip strength is correlated to longevity. We know that thigh circumference is correlated to longevity. The single biggest marker for longevity is your muscles. Our muscles are a metabolic currency. So don't waste them, stimulate them, and live a long time. What role do parasites and mold toxicity play in overall health? Wow, this is huge. Mold, mycotoxins, parasite, virus, heavy metals. I'm gonna say that again. Mold, mycotoxin, parasite, virus, or heavy metal. These invaders are the cause of so many underlying health conditions that do not show up on regular labs. If you're one of those people that wakes up exhausted, you have brain fog, you've had recent weight gain, water retention, poor focus and concentration, you have a very poor response to exercise, you feel fatigued all the time, and I'm talking about noticeable levels of fatigue, you might have mold mycotoxin, parasite, virus, or have heavy metals.

13:21You can do a test. I use one called a vibrant wellness test. I'm actually coming out with my own test very soon. These are urine tests, and you can see these contaminants in your blood. Once you have them, head over to theultimatehuman.com and download one of our guides for mold or heavy metal detox, and you're on your way to feeling the best you have in years. Is LDL cholesterol really bad or is it a myth? That is a myth. LDL cholesterol on its own is not a marker for cardiovascular disease. You have to have a corresponding increase in triglyceride and you have to look at the balance of your cholesterol panel.

13:56Cholesterol is not just HDL, LDL, VLDL, very low density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, and high density lipoprotein, the healthy cholesterol. it's also what this ratio is to your blood fat called triglyceride. The lower your triglycerides without medication, the lower your triglycerides, generally the better cholesterol's impact is on your longevity. In fact, when we were in the mortality space, if you had elevated LDL cholesterol and low triglycerides, we would extend your life expectancy. So you have to pull the full profile of cholesterol. Lipo little A and lipo B are much better markers for cardiovascular disease, as are things like C-reactive protein, nonspecific markers of inflammation that can tell how much inflammation you have in your body.

14:42If you really want to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, lower your insulin and your glycemic profile. Focus on something called your hemoglobin A1c, which is the three-month average of your blood sugar. Try to keep that at 5.3 or lower and keep your insulin in the single digits and you're on your way to being cardiovascular, risk-free and living a long, healthy life. What are my views on common medical treatments like statins? I'm a believer in statins. I'm just not a believer in the overuse of statins. I think that every time somebody has marginally elevated LDL cholesterol, we have a tendency to go straight to statins.

15:16I am not a physician. I'm not licensed to practice medicine. Your doctor can make that recommendation to you, but I do see that we are over-medicalized in this country. The instant response is high cholesterol, no changes in diet, no changes in lifestyle, just take this pill. Statins long-term have been shown to have degradatory effects on cognitive function. In fact, one of the markers that we used for determining whether or not someone had a high propensity for early onset cognitive decline, Alzheimer's, dementia, early onset cognitive issues, was whether or not they had long-term statin use.

15:51very often discontinuing the statin had a positive effect on their memory and on their cognition. I'm not telling you to get off a statin if you're on one. I'm telling you to talk to your doctor about other mechanisms like diet and lifestyle changes that'll have a bigger impact on your cholesterol. What's the difference between infrared sauna and dry sauna and how should I incorporate them? An infrared sauna uses wavelengths of light, infrared light, and light that you can't see in order to excite a water chromophore, create friction, and raise your body temperature. You sort of sweat from the inside out.

16:22We have centuries of data on dry sauna. I'm a fan of either type of sauna. I don't think that infrared sauna has a benefit that dry sauna doesn't. I don't think that dry sauna has a benefit that infrared sauna doesn't. What I do know is that for centuries, we have been using dry sauna. Nearly every form of religion and every ethnic background has sauna somewhere in their heritage. So we have lots of data on sauna. Why does sauna, regular sauna use, reduce all-cause mortality? Because it is one of the best ways to detoxify. A little tip while you're in the sauna, take a hand towel in and wipe off the sweat while you're in the sauna so those toxins don't resorb back into the bloodstream and you wipe those heavy metals and other contaminants off while you're sweating.

17:05Get the most out of each one of your sauna sessions. Don't forget to hydrate one liter of fluid for every time you do 15 to 20 minutes of sauna. What is a simple daily routine for longevity and anti-aging. I'm gonna give you the three big ones, and there is no compromising each of these. One, focus on sleep. Sleep is your human superpower. We bully sleep around in our schedule and we don't give it the credence it deserves in terms of its impact on our health span and our lifespan. How do you draw your attention to sleep? Start setting an alarm to go to bed at night, keep your room cold, keep it dark, get off your screen at night, put your phone six feet from your head at night, unplug the electronics that are close to your bed, and learn to do a simple breathwork technique just so that you can calm down at night.

17:50Sleep is our human superpower. Number two, switch to a whole food diet. We know that dogmatic dieting, carnivore, keto, paleo, pescatarian, vegan, vegetarian, does not extend life. What extends life is the absence of processed foods. And number three, make mobility non-negotiable. Exercise has to be a non-negotiable part of every single day of your life. What is the correct way to do breathwork and practice breath holds? There's no absolute correct way to do breathwork. I do a Wim Hof style of breathwork. There's Pranayama, there's all kinds of breathwork. You can go way down the rabbit hole of breathwork.

18:28It's like getting into anything else, sports, nutrition. You can really go down the rabbit hole of breathwork and I encourage you to do so. The technique that I use, which was developed by Wim Hof and I use it every day, I haven't missed a day in probably four years, maybe even longer, is I do 30 inhales, long, slow inhales, through my nose with a little pause and I go out through a straw. At the end of each round of 30, I do an extended breath hold as long as I can. Then I take a deep breath in, pause. I let that breath out and I start again. Start with three rounds of five, work your way to three rounds of 10, 15, 20, 25, and eventually 30.

19:11Don't go all the way to 30 when you start and try to do this outside with your skin exposed to sunlight. I arise and gaze first thing in the morning and I promise you this will be a life-changing technique that once you start, you'll never wanna end. How do I improve my sleep quality and energy levels naturally? Here's five things that you can do to naturally improve your sleep quality. Number one, and the research shows this, whoop data, all kinds of research shows this. Consistent bedtime is probably the single biggest factor in determining the quality of your sleep long-term. Number two, morning sunlight will reset your circadian rhythm and do more for your sleep cycle that night than even taking sleep medication.

19:52Number three, having a consistent sleep routine. What do you do at night? Do you darken the room? Do you cool the room down? Do you put your electronics away? Do you invest in a$10 all cotton sleep mask that goes over top of your eyes and blocks out all the light? And do you do the same breathwork technique when you're in bed? I love to do something called a box breathing technique. Four seconds in, four second hold, four seconds out, four second hold. Think about taking all of the thoughts from your day, pulling them down into your lungs when you breathe in, and literally breathing those thoughts right out of your body.

20:30Also, waking at the same time really helps. Oh, how does one ground themselves and why is it so important? You can ground yourself several ways. A lot of commercial buildings, believe it or not, people that live in condos, their floors are actually grounded. If you actually put a grounding meter on some of these commercial floors that have concrete and steel in them, they're actually grounded all the way to the ground. For those of you that are in homes or areas that are not grounded, taking your shoes off and touching the surface of the earth will ground you. Grounding is a very real thing. It's not some voodoo science.

21:01The earth has a low gauss current. It actually has a current. And when you touch the surface of the earth, you discharge into the earth. This is measurable. I've posted videos where I held the polar end of a meter in my hands. I plugged the other end into the ground. I stepped on my tennis shoes and the meter was resting on the post. I touched the ground and it banged all the way over to the other post. Grounding and earthing is a very real thing. Touching the surface of the earth with bare feet is great for you. So if you can do that, that is the best way to ground.

21:32Gary Brecka:Hey guys, if you love this Q &A and you want to go deeper, I really encourage you to join my community. I started the VIP community to build a group of like-minded people that are going to change the world. You can ask me anything. I have a Gary AI in there. You can ask the Gary AI anything. We even have a 10 month course on becoming the ultimate human version of yourself. So please click the link below and join me in my VIP community.