How To Remove Toxins From Your Body With Exercise - Rhonda Patrick
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Rhonda Patrick addresses the challenge of mitigating the impact of ultra-processed foods in a world where perfect avoidance is often impossible, advocating for an approach based on imperfect but consistent effort. She suggests that individuals should focus on meal prepping with whole foods at home to ensure convenience and then allow themselves flexibility when traveling or socializing, noting that living life fully includes occasional indulgences. Crucially, she identifies exercise as the ultimate "forgiver" of dietary sins, arguing that regular physical activity acts as a powerful adaptation mechanism for the body's brain, gut, and cardiovascular systems. Even if one consumes added sugars frequently, consistent daily exercise helps shuttle glucose into muscles rather than fat stores while simultaneously improving cognition both in the short and long term. The discussion highlights how specific types of exercise yield distinct benefits depending on individual goals, such as building muscle mass or enhancing cognitive function. For those seeking to increase testosterone and strength, compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, rows, and overhead presses are recommended for their robust effects on muscle growth and hormonal health. Conversely, when the goal is immediate memory recall or learning new material, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) proves highly effective; studies cited indicate that even a ten-minute session can boost cognition, while thirty minutes of moderate-to-high intensity cycling has been shown to improve memory retention after testing. This versatility allows individuals to tailor their workouts to specific needs without requiring excessive time commitments. A significant portion of the conversation focuses on lactate as an active metabolite rather than waste, produced during vigorous exercise when oxygen delivery cannot keep up with glucose consumption in mitochondria. Lactate serves as a signaling molecule that increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is essential for neuroplasticity and staving off brain aging by increasing the size of the hippocampus. To maximize these benefits efficiently, Patrick recommends protocols like the Norwegian 4x4 method on an assault bike or rower, consisting of four minutes at maximal intensity followed by three minutes of recovery, repeated four times. She notes that while rowing machines can be cumbersome for rapid speed adjustments and running is difficult to pace precisely, a stationary air bike offers an optimal balance where users can easily modulate resistance to sustain high-intensity efforts without the mechanical constraints of other equipment. The transcript concludes by emphasizing the importance of consistency in maintaining cardiovascular fitness markers like VO2 Max, which naturally decline with age even for simple tasks like walking to a car. While acknowledging that shorter intervals such as twenty seconds on and ten seconds off can be effective when time is limited, Patrick admits that longer recovery periods often allow for better performance maintenance across multiple sets. The episode also features an advertisement for Eight Sleep's Pod 4 Ultra mattress technology, which uses integrated sensors to regulate bed temperature based on sleep phases and track metrics like heart rate variability with high accuracy, offering a thirty-night trial period for potential buyers interested in optimizing their rest alongside their exercise regimen.
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what are the best ways to mitigate the
impact of ultr processed foods given
sort of a typical way that people are
going to exist in the world how much can
it be offset I mean I think I think to
answer your question is like you're it
kind of goes back to the imper imperfect
avoidance right like you're going to do
what you can and most of the time when
you're at home and in an environment
where you can eat Whole Foods do some
meal prep on weekends you know do what
you can to kind of make it more
convenient for you to have Whole Foods
you're gon to you're going to do that
and then when you're traveling or you're
going out to have fun at a stadium or
whatever you're going to live your life
and have fun and like have have the
Ultra pess Foods right because if you're
if you're 80% of the time doing it the
right way you're really doing you're
doing good um I think exercise to to
really answer your question is it's the
it's the forgiver of all s most of our
sins basically so you know if you are if
you are exercising and it is a part of
your personal hygiene you do you're
doing it almost every day to some degree
you are you are mitigating you know so
the added sugar component right you're
getting glucose and bring it in into
your muscle you're improving cognition
in so many different ways exercise plays
a role in in improving cognition not
only in the short- term but in the long
term your um you know exercise also
increases but rate product um butter
rate producing bacteria independent of
of diet so exercise is actually a stress
on the body on the brain on the gut
and it actually very very trans causes
intestinal permeability but as an
adaptation like exercise does
adaptations it does cardiovascular
adaptations your brain adapts
everything's you know adapting um your
your gut actually increases the
production of butter rate producing
bacteria so that the next time you
exercise guess what you have more butter
rate around to like really help help the
um your gut be more robust so I think
that there's like you could just come up
with like every explanation why exercise
is going to be beneficial for X Y or Z
unhealthy thing that you do and it's
going to be like okay at the end of the
day I am I am getting that exercise I'm
doing I'm really doing a good job is
there a particular type of exercise here
I'm going to guess that you're going to
tell me it's high intensity again well I
mean I think it depends on on what
you're what you're looking for right I
mean so if you're looking to build
muscle mass and strength and increase
testosterone more we're going to talk
about compound lifts right like doing
multi-joint compound types of exercises
like squats and deadlifts and you know
rows and overhead presses shoulder
presses on and on like that's going to
help you robustly increase your muscle
mass increase your muscle strength
function and testosterone like those are
things that are known to affect all
those things so um you know if we're
talking about improving cognition in the
short term like you want a quick pump
like let's say you want to remember
something then we're talking a
high-intensity interval training session
short like not you don't want to like
because you can you can do a you know an
hourong hit workout and you're just
drained after it right um but there's
studies showing that even like a
10-minute hit workout will boost
cognition and memory recall actually
there was an interesting study where um
doing 30 minutes of it wasn't
necessarily high high intensity but you
know you're like 70% Your your max heart
rate so you're you're you're moderate
getting to the high level doing that so
learning something and then doing the 30
minute cycling workout and then having a
test after like on your memory recall it
boosts memory recall so if you really
like it's a little hack I use it all the
time I used it today like I go through
some of my material do do my workout in
my case I only had 10 minutes so I did a
10-minute high intensity workout my
favorite is the back toback tatas I do
16 you know intervals but um you know
that's something I use to to boost
cognition in the short term but there's
just just so much data out there on
aerobic exercise high-intensity exercise
improving cognition increasing the
number of brain cells in the brain there
was one study I think I mentioned it
last time on the podcast this was in
older adults they did aerobic exercise
for a year they increase their their
hippocampus by like 2% usually they're
atrophying okay they increase the size
of it by 2% amazing so I I do think like
yes if you're someone who likes to like
you know gain muscle yeah exactly you
want to you want to gain muscle great
there resistance training is good for
the brain too and there are studies on
that as well but if you want to really
have brain benefits and really um you
want to have your cardiorespiratory
Fitness Fitness improved you have to add
in some aerobic exercise in there the
most time efficient way to do it would
be hit because let's say you're like I'm
not going to go run 10 miles a week like
I'm going to be lifting weights I only
have so much time in the day right
that's where the the high-intensity
interval training comes in because it's
very time efficient right not only that
when you are when you're getting into
that high-intensity vigorous exercise
type of workout that's when you're
making a metabolite called lactate we've
talked about this when your body's
working so hard that it has to use
glucose um without using it through a
the mitochondria basically it's like
you're not you don't need oxygen you
can't get oxygen to your mitochondria
quick enough to use glucose and so
you're making it you're making energy
without the mitochondria and that makes
lactate as a byproduct turns out it's
not a byproduct it's an active
metabolite that's like amazing and it's
getting into the brain it's um it's been
shown to increase brain Drive
neurotropic Factor right that's a very
important neurotropic factor that can
improve short-term memory long-term
memory it's it staves off brain aging it
makes you feel better it's involved with
like neuroplasticity you know being able
to adapt to changing I mean it just it
goes on and on like you can't like you
you want this stuff right and so lactase
out there it's a signaling molecule
telling your brain to make it it's an
adaptation because your brain is working
hard while you're working out and so
your your body's more all of the Bros
that just want to do sets of eight to 14
are going I need to sign up to Barry's
boot camp I'm GNA have I'm going to be
sweaty I'm G to have to do all of this
work but you convinced me last year and
I've been doing the Norwegian 4x4 as
much as I can remember and as much as I
can tolerate since then and that's a
really good workout for cardor respitory
Fitness right improving your V2 Max
which is really important for longevity
like that's a big longevity marker I
mean if you just think about like
sitting here talking having this
conversation it requires an amount of
oxygen to like breathe in and be able to
utilize right as we get older like even
that becomes hard so you really want to
have a high level you want to like build
it up as much as you can because you're
going to be pulling on it and going down
as you age right things like walking to
your car have you ever seen like an
older person out of breath just by like
walking to their car right so you V2 Max
Norwegian 4x4 so this is four minutes of
like the maximal intensity that you can
sustain for that four minutes this a
sustainable intensity and then you have
a uh 3 minute recovery Total light
exercise and then you go back at it
again and you do that four times assault
bike after a year of testing I've come
to believe that the assault bike is the
best place to do it it's it's actually
it assaults you like it's so hard I it's
it's well the reason the reason I say
assault bike is that with this what you
need is to be able to go very slowly
very easily so you don't want something
you need to strap into or strap out of
so a rowing machine is kind of a little
bit ungainly when you've then got to go
slow uh the same I guess a ski you can
pick up and put down quite easily but uh
running on a True Form speeding up
slowing down in that way is just so
difficult and doing it on a static bike
a Carol bike or something else fantastic
but you do have to work a little bit
harder because it's just the lower half
of your body right so my choice my
preference is bike Carol bike great
assault bike kind of easier to be harder
if that makes sense it does um but yeah
I've I've tried I agree I I I like I
think the bike well I actually think the
bike is harder than when I do the rower
I on my three minutes off I actually
just end up like not really doing
anything because I switch off with my
husband and he'll be on so it's like I
actually get four minutes off sometimes
but yeah but it also it does improve
cognition in the brain that's another
you know there's some some research on
on that as well where like at least if
you're you're being time efficient and
it doesn't have to be the Norwegian 4x4
like like some you could do a minute on
a minute off do that 10 times or you
could do tatas right 20 seconds on 10
seconds off all of these protocols H
have been shown to improve you toax
they've been shown to improve cognition
um also like mitochondrial function so
yeah Norwegian 4x4 you're going to get a
little bit more of a boost because it is
a longer interval but you have to do
something that you're going to
consistently do right I I I found the
4x4 to be quite uh easy to stick to I
it's definitely miserable because 4
minutes is a very long time at a high
intensity but there's a bit of me when
I'm doing 20 on 10 off to batter unless
it's a really demanding movement that
just think I can't I'm not I can't work
hard enough I can't Sprint fast enough
in this 202nd period And I can't recover
enough in the 10 seconds to I that
Cadence for me maybe it's just a
psychological thing that Cadence doesn't
quite seem to work in the same way I get
it you know so I when I when I'm really
time strapped I do I do my tiata which
is a 10-minute one and I agree it's I
typically crank up the resistance and
stand while I'm doing it because I
really have to get my heart rate up I
don't find the 10 seconds is enough
recovery so my performance goes down on
subsequent intervals for sure but I do
find when I do a 20-minute hit workout
so I have 20 seconds on 20 seconds off
and then I have a little bit of time in
between my you know sets stations
whatever right so I find that my
performance goes up because I have a
little bit more recovery time and and
that I really do like that 20 minute I
mean 20 second on 20 second off 20
minute workout is kind of like a a go-to
if it's like it is because you know like
you said it's like the 10sec recovery is
really it's just not enough and I do
notice that my next you know five
intervals are not as as as hard yeah
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