Frequently asked questions

What happens during the onboarding session?
You tell me about your health and history. I fill out a form to help you track your progress. Together, we come up with a plan to get started, which will involve some weight training, some cardio exercise, some supplements, and possibly changes to your diet and daily routines. We’ll be working on this for the next eight weeks. By the time the eight weeks are over, you should have a solid foundation for building your future self. Be sure to bring any health records you have to this meeting.

I want to ask a question before I buy
Schedule your discovery call right now!

Will you work with me if I’m seriously overweight?
Possibly. My approach is to work on losing the weight first, which means getting very serious about long-term weight loss. I encourage obese people to look into a keto diet and possibly getting some kind of surgery to get started. Read How to lose a lot of weight not in a hurry.

I’ve tried to quit smoking many times and haven’t been able to. Can you help me?
I’m afraid I can’t. You’ll have to find someone else to help you do that. It’s the most important thing you can do. In fact, if you find an amazing program, let me know so I can tell others.

I have pre-existing conditions. I’m afraid I might not be able to commit.
We all have pre-existing conditions! Even more reason to get seriously strong and stay ahead of your doctors for the foreseeable future.

Do you subscribe to everything Attia recommends?
Mostly, but that’s because he’s skeptical of all the magic molecules everyone is touting these days. He’s very open minded. He’s willing to look at new evidence and change his opinion. I agree his protein recommendations (you need more protein as you age). I think he’s right about alcohol (zero is best), and I think he’s wrong about diet. Your A1c and apoB numbers will guide your diet. Insulin resistance is even more important than heart disease, because it’s upstream from heart disease. I like that he changed his mind about caloric restriction. I like that he thinks we’re still mostly guessing and have a lot more to learn. He knows humans aren’t mice. I think he makes the best educated guesses.

Are there experts you don’t like?
Yes. I think David Sinclair lives in a world of mouse and worm studies and fake metrics. Whatever he says extends life I would generally stay away from. Peter Diamandis is usually wrong. Most “functional medicine” claims are nonsense. Walter Willett (Harvard) and the “Mediterranean diet” is mostly a collection of weak evidence for various different products, mostly promoted by companies for profit. Bryan Johnson is an idiot. Valter Longo is probably wrong about cancer, but I haven’t looked enough into his work to say very much. Don’t pay much attention to Andrew Huberman — he’s off in the noise. A few of Huberman’s podcasts are worthwhile, but most are skippable. Anyone who recommends more heavy exercise over worrying about diet is on the right track. Don’t read a book like “The China Study” and think you’ve just learned anything about diet.

Are there other experts you like?
I’m a big fan of Gary Taubes, which is how I heard about Peter back in about 2012 or so. His books have been very influential on me. He showed that calories-in/calories-out (the metabolic model) is not a helpful framework for people trying to lose weight. He also showed that saturated fat is not bad and doesn’t cause heart disease. He showed that dietary cholesterol has nothing to do with serum cholesterol. I like Aubrey de Grey as a researcher. I like Dr Ben Bikman a lot — his book, Why We Get Sick, is fundamental to my approach. I like Physionic, though it’s a bit technical and not for everyone. I watch every video Dr Mario Kratz makes. I like Dr Brad Stanfield, though he gets a few big things wrong, like osteoporosis drugs. I like Daniel Lieberman, he says reasonable things in general. I like Mark Hyman, except I don’t like that he’s been turned into a marketing platform and much of what he promotes is nonsense. But his books are great. For osteoporosis, I like Dr Doug Lucas. See the books page for more.

Why don’t you talk about many things Attia writes about?
He talks about a lot of very esoteric research. It’s confusing to most people. I think we can choose about 20 percent of his recommendations and get 80 percent of his results — and he says that himself. If a client has those 20 percent really working, we can start looking at the second-order options. For example, I don’t think anti-oxidants are meaningful for human health. They might be, but they are not a front-line approach to longevity, and most other prescription drugs aren’t, either.

What’s your view on osteoporosis?
I broke the head of my left femur at age 51 (ice skating) and my right femur at age 53 (running). That’s a diagnosis of osteoporosis. I’m very skeptical of osteoporosis drugs — I think the cure is worse than the disease, especially if you take bone-building seriously. There’s much more on my big osteoporosis blog post.

Which supplements do you recommend?
See my stack page.

What about rapamycin?
Not a first-order modality. Not second-order either. I prefer to stay in the control group.

What about cold plunges, red light, early light, saunas, chiropractors, metformin, rapamycin, resveratrol, MNM, Klotho, and all the other things various doctors recommend now?
Noise. For some of these, that may change. For now, get your protein and hormones (women), and build bones and muscle in the gym.

Do you want your clients to become vegan?
Absolutely not. I think veganism is a very suboptimal diet (and I was one for 45 years).