Peter Attia

But it is pretty simple, when you get down to it: identify one or more bogeymen in your nutrition world, such as wheat gluten (for example), and exclude it.

It’s especially disruptive for people who are overnourished, for three reasons: it’s an “empty” calorie source that offers zero nutrition value; the oxidation of ethanol delays fat oxidation, which is the exact opposite of what we want if we’re trying to lose fat mass; and drinking alcohol very often leads to mindless eating.

I strongly urge my patients to limit alcohol to fewer than seven servings per week, and ideally no more than two on any given day, and I manage to do a pretty good job adhering to this rule myself.

The higher their blood glucose, the greater their risk of death—even in the nondiabetic range of blood glucose.

Foods high in protein and fat (e.g., eggs, beef short ribs) have virtually no effect on blood sugar (assuming the short ribs are not coated in sweet sauce), but large amounts of lean protein (e.g., chicken breast) will elevate glucose slightly. Protein shakes, especially if low in fat, have a more pronounced effect (particularly if they contain sugar, obviously).

Protein and amino acids are the essential building blocks of life.

Protein is all about structure. The twenty amino acids that make up proteins are the building blocks for our muscles, our enzymes, and many of the most important hormones in our body.

They go into everything from growing and maintaining our hair, skin, and nails to helping form the antibodies in our immune system.

On top of this, we must obtain nine of the twenty amino acids that we require from our diet, because we can’t synthesize them.

The literature suggests that the ideal way to achieve this is by consuming four servings of protein per day, each at ~0.25 g/lb of body weight.