The stress response is a powerful force that can be beneficial or harmful, depending on the circumstances. This article will explain the science behind beneficial stress, who benefits from it, and how to achieve it naturally.
Performers call it ‘the zone,’ that state of complete focus where distractions disappear, senses sharpen, and performance is optimised. The zone is a real thing, and to the scientific community, this mind state is called eustress–beneficial stress–or flow.
To obtain the state of deep focus known as “flow,” distractions must be removed. We can easily make tweaks to our environment to minimise distractions while adding elements to induce the immersive flow state.
Steven Kotler, The Rise of Superman
Our modern lifestyles are slowly killing us: by overeating and being excessively sedentary, we might have brought upon ourselves an epidemic in metabolic diseases. Our body is not optimized for these modern ways of life and we can’t change that overnight, nor even in the course of a few generations. Evolution is slow.
Throughout evolution, the survival of humans may have greatly depended on the constraints of needing to acquire food. Food deprivation was most likely one of the biggest energetic and evolutionary challenges to our bodies - it is likely that many of our ancestors could only acquire food during daytime, having to fast for long hours; it is also likely that long periods of food scarcity were common. So, those who were able to endure in these conditions ended up being favoured by evolution.
The fact that our bodies store fat as a backup long-term, high-energy source, and that we can survive relying solely on it for a fair amount of time, is an indication of how human evolution prepared us (and maybe even optimized us) to go through periods of fasting.
The ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, adequate protein diet. This dietary pattern changes the way our body produces energy – its basic principle is to get your body into a metabolic state known as ketosis where carbohydrate stores are depleted and fat becomes the main energy source. The name ketosis comes from the molecules that the liver starts to produce from fat to be used as fuel - ketone bodies or ketones.
Ketone-fuelling has become a lifestyle approach of choice because it allows fast weight loss with no harm to physical or mental performance and resistance. In fact, an effective transition to ketosis may actually improve these outcomes.
On a regular or high-carbohydrate diet, our body is in a state optimized for the use of dietary carbohydrates. But in a continuous state of carbohydrate restriction, the body puts its plan B in motion, switching gears such as to become more efficient at using fat as the main energy source. Ketosis boosts the body's capacity to use fats as fuel.
I'm a Nutritionist and Ketogenic advocate, and my partner and I eat Keto six days per week but allow ourselves a carb day every weekend. We practice intermittent fasting and we weight train three to five times per week. We have both been in nutritional ketosis for six months now and it has supercharged our lives!
I've personally experienced a great improvement in body composition with a drop in body fat from 22% to 12%. Keto has given me increased mental clarity and focus, and it has brought with it a real sense of systemic calm. My blood sugar remains stable all day long and I no longer crave carbohydrates.
The original Bulletproof Coffee recipe is 1-2 tablespoons of unsalted grass-fed butter, 1-2 tablespoons of Brain Octane or XCT oil and 1-2 cups (250-500ml) of hot coffee brewed with low-toxin beans using a metal filter (like Aeropress or a French press).
I just measured my beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) levels at 7.6 -- way higher than anything I’ve ever seen before. But maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, ketones like BHB go up when you burn a lot of fat, and for the last six days I’ve been eating nothing but saturated fat, in the form of butter and MCT oil. I’ve been doing the Bulletproof Rapid Fat Loss Protocol. Partly because my weight loss efforts had been flat-lining for the last few months, but mainly because I was curious. Here’s how it went, and what I learned.
First, the good news. In the last six days I’ve lost 4.5 kg and my body fat percentage has dropped about 2%. I’m still a few kilos outside the healthy weight range for my height, and about 12 kilos over my ideal weight, but my confidence that I can get there eventually has been restored.
I’m Steve Hord. #Biohacker for life. Whether I’m BASE jumping from Europe’s awe inspiring walls, working as a #FIFO (Fly In- Fly Out) electrician in the hot, dry and secluded Pilbara region of outback Western Australia or Wellness coaching- I demand optimal performance.
In 2010 I had a bout with depression and anxiety. On top of that I still had acne from my teenage years, low testosterone and elevated blood pressure, even though I was physically fit and following the standard western diet (God bless the food pyramid haha!). Although my body looked pretty good- I certainly didn’t feel it! After one particularly low evening, I decided enough was enough and took matters into my own hands. I found natural bodybuilding as my saving grace. It taught me that if you want something you have to visualise it and put all your focus and energy on it. If you do that, and your intentions are pure, you will be unstoppable in this human experience.
I’ve fasted before. I’ve water fasted. I’ve fat fasted. I’ve juice fasted. I once subsisted entirely on cold pressed vegetable juice and coconut water for 14 days.... and wanted to go longer.
So yes, I’ve fasted before. And these are some of the things I learnt.
Stress takes its toll in many ways - and its effect is compounding. Dr Justin Marchegiani presents a framework for managing and eliminating stress in the form of four dimensions of resilience: Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Here are 10 stress management biohacks that address each area.
