u/Last-Guidance-4087

Coconut is technically a fruit but I am unsure if it is something that really fits the principles of this diet.

Pros:

Excellent fatty acid profile: Coconut is almost purely saturated fat or medium chain triglycerides, lower in PUFA than just about anything. The MCTs are seemingly good for metabolic health, lauric acid is seemingly a beneficial saturated fat, it has no palmitic acid which is the one saturated fat type that does have some negatives.

Lauric acid's anti-microbial properties, in a natural context, might be beneficial for the gut. not sure how true this is though.

Tastes really good- seemingly ancestrally consistent, at least in places that had access.

Cons:

Not really a fruit?

Super high in phytic acid

Not necessarily a lot of nutrients outside of the fats - more of a safe way to consume more fat in a natural food matrix

Paul Saladino said something about coconut meat being the "nut" part of the meat and therefore harmful and I believe him on that given the pretty notable amount of phytic acid in coconuts. This post is a bit disjointed but I just want to hear other people's perspectives here, ideally perspectives that know more about coconuts than I do.

Bryan is rich as hell. Olive oil is pressed from olives, and it has a few benefits. The first seems to be from the high percentage of oleic acid, the second being from the various high amount of antioxidants in the oil. My understanding is that actual olives are significantly higher in these antioxidants; Bryan attempts to replicate this in the oil by trying to optimize the quality of his oil, advertising its high polyphenol count and such, but it would be so much easier to just consume real olives, no ? I am aware that industrial olives tend to have concerns with how they're processed, but if he were to target like organic kalamata olives, brined in a high quality well sourced salt, and then desalinated in water to match whatever daily sodium intake he is going for. That way he gets all the oleic acid, gets maximum antioxidants, and also is now consuming the fat in its natural food matrix which usually tends to be better. More fiber too, more micronutrients, etc. The "toxic" part of olives, oleuropein, is the same compound that is expected to be so beneficial for humans.

I'm guessing there are two reasons why he doesn't, the first being that EVOO is way more "studied" than olives themselves. I think this is a philosophical flaw, EVOO being studied more than whole olives reflects something that is not reflective of their health. They should be nearly identical in benefits, and the underlying factors that result in the EVOO benefits are better across the board in whole olives.

The second reason is that this is approach isn't nearly as marketable as EVOO. Properly sourcing, brining, and desalinating is likely less economically viable than just getting a well sourced EVOO that is stored in the little UV bottle he has. And perhaps the difference isn't that big, but given how much he emphasizes maximizing the polyphenol count and whatever else in the EVOO, why would you not further maximize by consuming the real thing?

One thing I will acknowledge is that there doesn't seem to actually be a direct study comparing polyphenols and whatever else in organic kalamata olives vs a high quality EVOO, but again, that's the kind of thing Bryan should fund. it can't be that hard to measure that sort of thing. I'm just presuming that olives in their natural form will have more of those compounds. I don't know. Would love to hear info from people who know more about olives than me.

Hi guys,

There does not seem to be a lot of specific info out there but I want to hear people's opinions and advice for starting kava. for context, I am a pretty young (over 21) male who wants to age as well as I can, while still enjoying life. I cut out alcohol and weed at 19, the only drug I engage in is the occasional shrooms trip, and all of that is sort of informed by my understanding of what is beneficial for the human body. I eat a very good diet, I feel great every day, don't want to slip into bad habits.

However, I have been in many social situations recently where being able to have a drink would have made things a lot more fun. I had a great time when I would drink in college but didn't do it a lot, never really any chronically bad experiences (besides all the times I would like, have too much, but those were still funny memories). Never really got hungover, the only issue I really had was that I would get sick a lot. Point is I like the feeling of being drunk, but don't like the biologically negative effects of alcohol/ethanol.

This is where Kava comes in, I like how kava looks for a couple reasons. For one, the drink itself is less separated from nature; my general life philosophy, at least for things I ingest, is that the closer to its natural form the better. This heuristic applies to fruit (selected bananas vs wild blueberries), meat (hot dogs vs grass fed steak), sugar (again, fruit vs high fructose corn syrup), cocaine (coca leaves vs the refined powder), whatever. I don't really want to argue this point; it's just the reason why I am initially interested in Kava. This heuristic has served me well in life.

My understanding is that it acts on the GABA receptor in the brain which reduces anxiety, and that it acts somewhat similarly to alcohol in that regard. I also have come to believe that it doesn't really do any of the cellular damage that alcohol does, and while there are risks for the liver the link seems somewhat isolated, and also a bit dubious. I am happy to be corrected on any of this by the way. It seems like a pretty strong substance, and probably not something I would want to do regularly, but similar to psilocybin I don't think having a strong psychoactive effect in of itself is a dangerous thing. I also have come to understand that it can have extremely different effects on different people, so I ultimately would have to try it myself. The thing is that it is really expensive so that's why I'm coming here first.

Long term I wonder if there are any issues. As another example, I am considering going back to weed edibles just every once in a blue moon since weed is fun and not seemingly toxic at a cellular level, but my understanding is that marijuana destroys REM sleep and that is really like the main negative health effect that will happen no matter what (obviously scaled to how often you use it, if you use it just one night then REM will just be hurt that night). Kava is obviously much less studied than weed, but that's why I am coming here to talk to people who actually have experience with it. I'm also reminded of ashwagandha, obviously quite different in many ways but also something that seems to have a very strong effect but can be negative or positive depending on the context.

Finally, does it really replace alcohol? I've seen people say it sort of does, but not quite, I've seen people say they've blacked out from it (crazy asf lol), I've seen people say not much impact, but that's obviously all just individual anecdotes, I would want to hear from people who both have experience with it but also have a good understanding of other people's experiences.

I'm sort of just rambling here but I wanted to show my perspective so then y'all can further inform it and help me out on my decision to actually buy. Do y'all know any good lab tested brands too? I've read that that matters too.