Dear friends,
Welcome to my official newsletter! If you’re here, we’ve had a meaningful interaction within the last 20 years. I’ve played a lot of roles in life as a doctor, entrepreneur, Stanford lecturer, startup advisor, angel investor, and soon-to-be published author. And all of my life experience has supported my ultimate goal: to educate, inform, and equip you with my philosophies about health and topics I think are important to guide you on your path towards human flourishing. So let’s get to it!
HOW LONG WILL YOU LIVE WITHOUT DISEASE?
In 2014 I realized I was on the borderline of having prediabetes. I realized this while wearing a blood sugar monitor (which you can now get from Levels). For the next few years, I was committed to figuring out how to reverse my insulin resistance and get back on a healthier track–body, mind, and spirit. In the process of fixing my blood sugar, I also fixed my skin, my hormones, my sugar cravings, my relationship to food, my energy problems, my sleep, and my fitness.
It was my own journey that led me to understand my life’s mission–to radically extend healthspan for as many people as possible. In searching for the truth behind what makes people healthy, I ended up building a practice around optimizing health and teaching a course at Stanford on healthspan. These lectures were transformed into an online course containing cutting-edge wellness methodologies to equip you with the confidence to navigate your journey towards true health.
How you look and feel as you age is determined more by your choices than your genetics.
Do you want to thrive with beauty, energy, fertility, mobility, and longevity?
Or, do you want to live a life dependent on pharmaceutical drugs and surgery to survive?
My course will teach you the 4 Pillars of Healthspan (Making Connections, Maintaining Mobility, Mastering Stress, and Managing Metabolism), and this model and approach will teach you to bring your body into balance and harmony.
I’ve exclusively launched my online course to my 2-year waiting list thus far, and the response during the pre-release has been AMAZING. As a supporter and subscriber to my newsletter, I wanted to give you the opportunity to sign up for this early access, limited-time offer for $500 OFF.
Having turned my health around using science, self-tracking, and lifestyle design, I'm here to help. I want to see you reach your health potential by showing you how to generate more energy, fix your blood sugar problems, and optimize your body’s batteries so you can adapt to an increasingly complex and chaotic world.
HEALTH & HEALTH TECH NEWS
Vegetable oil is a silent culprit in our chronic disease epidemic
I have been doing a bunch of research on vegetable oils and I believe they are playing an important role in chronic disease for a few reasons. First, they are now making up 20% of our dietary calories with people consuming around 5 Tb or over 500 calories of vegetable oils a day. Second, most people consume them in the form of fast food, fried food, and processed foods, which are all linked to chronic disease. Third, they aren’t great for the environment. Here are some health statistics or the environmental concerns linked to these erosive oils.
This is a huge reason why I joined my friends at Zero Acre Farms as an advisor. I want to help them on their mission to replace harmful vegetable industrialized seed oils with cultured oil. If you want to learn more about why Jeff Nobbs started this company, first read through his incredibly well-researched, three-part series on vegetable oils.
I am a fan of their new cultured oil product because it resists rancidity, is high in monounsaturated fats and tastes super clean, mild, buttery, and nutty. It’s my new favorite discovery for the kitchen, and I won’t be using any other cooking oils besides olive oil that I get from a farm in Italy.
Understand long COVID-19, a mitochondrial perspective
The New York Times reported on a JAMA Network Open study that suggested wearable fitness devices such as Fitbit, Apple Watch and others could be useful not just for detecting “early signs of [COVID-19] symptoms” but also for tracking recovery from the disease. According to the Times, “researchers studying Fitbit data reported that people who tested positive for COVID-19 displayed behavioral and physiological changes, including an elevated heart rate, that could last for weeks or months.”
My thoughts? Well, in the 2019 summer before Covid 19, I studied viruses and chronic fatigue syndrome. I discovered that there was a clear link between how viruses hijack cellular metabolism and cause dysfunctional mitochondria leading to global symptoms of fatigue, low stamina, and brain fog. Viruses contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction because they hide inside the cell evading the immune response, and they use the cell’s machinery to make more of themselves. When Covid 19 broke out, the first thing I thought was we’re going to see a lot of chronic fatigue syndrome.
And, guess what? We did. Longhaul covid IS CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME. The reason why when you have a major viral infection like Covid 19, you see problems like elevated heart rate, tiredness, and neurological symptoms is because when energy declines in the body, the organs that fail first are the most energy demanding – namely the heart, brain, and muscles.
So, how do we best equip ourselves against long-haul covid or chronic fatigue syndrome? We understand the drivers of health. Health is capacity. On a cellular level, health is capacitance. That means it’s the ability of our cells to create, store and deploy charge. Mitochondria are our powerhouses, our batteries, and our capacitors, and they are intimately tied to our immune systems.
To avoid long haul covid, we have to optimize our lifestyles, we keep our stress in check (which drains our batteries), we exercise enough (to send the signals to our cells to make more batteries), we don’t over-exercise (which is a stressor), we don’t under-nourish ourselves (preventing metabolism from running smoothly), we take really good care of our gut health (which is the fuel supply and the seat of our immune system) by making sure we enough vitamin D, have a nutrient-dense diet and sufficient minerals.
But, even if you are pretty healthy, you could still be one of the 7.5% of people who develop long-haul covid after their infection. If this happens to you, I recommend the following interventions: medical ozone therapy (I’ve seen this work wonders in people), hyperbaric oxygen therapy, massage (for lymphatic drainage), sauna, a paleo diet, and supplements like PQQ, coenzyme q10, NAC, magnesium, glutathione, curcumin, nattokinase, and pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
Psychedelics & Consciousness
Psilocybin Generates 10% Increase in Neuronal Connections in Mice, Yale Study Shows
Researchers at Yale University published a study that evaluated structural changes in the brains of mice dosed with psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. Senior author Alex Kwan explained, “we not only saw a 10% increase in the number of neuronal connections, but also they were on average about 10% larger, so the connections were stronger as well.” The increased connectivity between neurons—seen in the increased density of dendritic spines—was immediate and long-lasting. Crazier still? The changes were observed within 24 hours and were sustained at a month post-administration.
What does this mean for you? Well, even though I can’t recommend people consume magic mushrooms (even though I think they are extraordinary), I can say that there are millions of people doing so without harmful effects. In fact, there is clear evidence that of all scheduled drugs, mushrooms are likely the safest to consume. One of the problems with the world we live in right now is changing the regulations around the commercialization of illegal drugs takes time. Heck, marijuana is still federally illegal. But, I do think there is promise in both the pharmaceutical and recreational markets for mushrooms. It’s just going to take some time. In the meantime, follow Compass Pathways, the brand The Multiverse, and watch the Fantastic Fungi film.
MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR PRESALE
BTW, more to come on this soon, but my book “The Spark Factor” is now available for pre-order HERE!!!
Inside of you, there is a spark—it’s what animates you, and without it, you could not live. This energy creation isn’t mystical, nor is it spiritual; it is science. We know from research that our cellular machinery transforms the food we eat and the air we breathe into the electricity that fuels us. With the right lifestyle inputs, we glow with energy; but when the demands on our bodies exceed our capacity--as is true for so many of us--we become burned out, mentally and physically. In The Spark Factor, I will share a biohacking program uniquely tailored to the biology of women—a plan that targets the mitochondria, the power source of all cellular life.
Quote of the Day
“For so long, people have ignored the fundamental truth that learning to love is what our human life is all about, because they have forgotten that love is what God is all about. Love is also the force driving evolution. In this great union of love, we will truly recognize who we were meant to be, and we will realize that love is the only way to personal and universal fulfillment.”
Teilhard de Chardin On Love: Evolving Human Relationships by Louis M. Savary, Patricia H. Berne, and Ilia Delio.
Hugs & gratitude always,
Dr. Molly
Congrats Molly on this extended adventure. I look forward to reading your advice and knowledge. Kmom certainly insists you have changed her life for the better!
GREAT first newsletter! I have already purchased your course - and loving it! Just bought your book today. L O V I N G your work!