re: Huberman Lab: Robert Lustig on Sugar and Processed Foods

I'll try to give a short and sweet "6-year old answer" first, but this is a complicated question so I think it requires a complicated answer. But I'll give it a shot, starting with the basic premise and moving onto the more complex parts later.

Caloric deficit = caloric value of everything you consume is less than your body's caloric needs. To the 6yo, "Eat and drink less calories than your body burns to stay alive, you'll know your'e actually accomplishing this because over time you'll weigh less on a bathroom scale."

High protein = consuming relatively more protein than the body needs to maintain current muscle mass, other solid organ mass, (and in my opinon) optimal organ function. To the 6yo, "Eat double portions of meat. Also, eggs, beans and nuts, milk, yogurt and cheese help too, but don't skimp on the meat!"

Figuring out what your caloric needs actually are???

Harder to do, definitely not an exact science. Here, calculators are used to get you "in the ballpark". In reality, your caloric needs fluctuate based on numerous factors (too complicated to get into all that here) concerning the physiological processes the body uses to stay alive, so having a good estimate is good enough. You'll refine your estimate as you go forward by using your tracked caloric intake and body weight.

Caloric intake is also tricky, first off food labels aren't all that accurate to begin with, but humans are also notoriously error prone when it comes to tracking caloric intake, we weigh and measure with our eyeballs instead of instruments (and we're waaayyyyy off), we forget to log those pretzels we ate at work, we miss stuff like condiments, and we lie to ourselves, etc. There's lots of ways to muddy this part.

But let's assume that you are highly consistent(track/log more than 90% of your caloric intake) and relatively accurate(within 10%), I just pulled those out of my arse so don't obsess over those numbers.

You would also need to track your own body mass consistently, that way you can take your 2 "ballpark numbers" of 1)Caloric Needs(Expended calories) and 2)Caloric intake and use them in conjunction with those body mass measurements to "fine-tune" your caloric needs and adjust your caloric intake to accomplish your goal.

Always keep in mind that a caloric deficit maintained over a long enough timeline causes body weight to decrease.
Caloric surplus maintained over a long enough timeline causes body weight accumulation(gain).

You can adjust your caloric intake(up or down)relative to your caloric needs, and if you are in a deficit you'll lose weight, if you are in a surplus you'll gain weight.

I think the high protein part of the question is much harder to answer because there are so many different opinions on what a human beings baseline protein intake should be, but it depends on several factors including sex, age, height/weight, activity level, activity type, performance goals, etc.

I'm gonna give you this definition I came up with, I'm not a medical doctor, my phD is not in any hard science, it's in denim, I'm not a phD physiologist or exercise scientist, this is my way of defining high protein for me. I have a BS in nursing and I lift weights and I have a lot of muscle and I'm relatively strong, so I can say that "My definition" of high protein does work....it works for me, absolutely. But I want to make it clear that my definition isn't necessarily The Definition.

A high protein diet is a diet with enough protein in it that I can maintain (or build) strength while losing weight. The assumption here is that strength is maintained or gained by either the maintenance of current muscle mass or the creation of new muscle mass, and not due to any other reason. Like I said, this works for me, and there's a big emphasis on MAINTAINING strength, because being in a caloric deficit over enough time causes muscle loss, it's inevitable, but you can dramatically slow muscle loss down with a high protein diet and weight lifting.(also, sleeping like a tranquilized grizzly bear in the dead of winter is essential)

Just like the caloric needs of the body was from a calculation that got you "in the ballpark" the protein intake calculations do the same. The calculator gets you in the ballpark and then you track yourself, track your strength(you have to lift weights, otherwise how do you know if you are getting stronger, weaker, or staying the same strength?), track your sleep, track how sore you are, how long does it take before you feel fully recovered to train again?

You can use Google or Duck Duck Go or Bing or whatever to look for "protein intake calculation" just like you can for "caloric needs calculator"(or estimator) to find out how many calories you should be consuming. I'm sure LSU777 will chime in once the sun comes up and he's answered this question so many times he probably has his citations memorized, so he can verify for you a better, science-backed answer for how many grams of protein per unit of body mass is best. I'm using what I know works for me based off the different calculations that could be made for protein intake, ultimately I think everyone has to play around with these numbers and find what works for them.

Here's the formula(you don't really need to go searching around for it, but you may find the instructions on how to use the calculator to be insightful).

(Protein multiplier (in grams/body mass unit)) x (Body Mass Measurement, could be in Lbs or Kgs) = grams of protein to intake

I've seen multipliers as low as 0.6grams/kg of ideal body weight, and as high as 2.0grams/Lb of actual body weight, but you usually need to decide for yourself on what multiplier to use. Most of the calculators you will find will have instructions and guidelines to help you pick but don't sweat it, like I've said before, you'll jiggle these numbers around as you collect data on yourself and make adjustments to get the results you're after.

For Example:
I am 45 years old, and I've been doing heavy weight training for about 30 years, I weigh 260lbs(118kg), and I want to lose excess fat. I've got no injuries or chronic health conditions to contend with, my testosterone is low-ish, and I don't take any TRT or steroids, just food and supplements. I weight train 3 days a week, I also walk about 60 minutes a day at a fairly easy pace, and I do 20min/week of moderate to mod-high intensity cardio. I get on average 8 hours of sleep a night. (I'm using all of that personal info to help me weigh my decision on what protein multiplier I will use, I feel I should be more aggressive than less, also, my past experience tells me the most about where I need to be....1-1.2gram/lb IBW-ideal body weight)

So my calculation works out to: 1x220=220grams protein up to 1.2x220=264grams.

As I do this, my body weight is slowly(very slowly) going down, while the amount of pounds I can lift is very slowly going up. This means I'm in an caloric deficit(albeit a small deficit), but I'm eating enough protein to increase my strength, so this (for me) fits my definition of a high protein caloric deficit diet.

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DrDenim

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Damn baw. What did Huberman have to say about adderall

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it's in denim

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Blue jeans?

A simple look at ingredients tells you this

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Big Agra
Big Pharma
Big Medical

All working together

Get them hooked then sick, then permanently treat them. Big money in the people sickness Industry.

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don't leave out the fast food industry.... "essential" during covid lock downs. Would have been a perfect time to wean americans off of fast food.

I finished it. Big take away for me is try not to eat anything with over 4g of added sugar and try to eat as much as I can of foods with no added sugar. Keep those insulin spikes low. It was definitely eye opening and after reading labels for a couple days it’s insane how many grams of added sugar are in things you’d never even think.

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and can’t do a single chin up

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I was with you until this. Chin ups are hard, man.

Pretty thorough debunking of Lustig's claims by Layne and a cancer specialist friend of his

LINK

Dammit. So I’m back on added sugar now?

I'm just messing around. That guy did have some wild ideas but he really opened my eyes to how much added sugar is out there in things that you'd never think. My Liquid IV is 11g. That's about 70% of the powder in there. Which is fine if you just ran a 5k but I think the average person doesn't think they are taking 3 teaspoons of sugar when they drink one.