Building and Defending YOU

Hey - I'm Thomas. Welcome to the second issue of Build & Defend.

If you're reading this, you probably care about at least one of these things: technology, security, building things, or financial freedom. This newsletter is about all four - and ultimately more I hope! That’s the cool part of the concept of “Build and Defend” - it applies to cybersecurity, but just about anything else!

One email a week. No fluff.

Last week we talked about building conviction. That's a nice lead-in to today's newsletter: building and defending YOU.

Everyone knows you can't get back time. Many people don't think about the fact that you also can't get back your health, at least not without great effort.

Why does it matter? Well, if we think of time as the most important resource for us, then using that time as wisely as possible is what we'd ideally like to do. The trick then, of course, is to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible, so that you have the best use of your time. It's especially true as we get older; it's one thing to live longer and it's another thing to live longer well.

I'm on a Southwest US trip right now, and I got carded in Chili's today. I think they likely card everyone, but at the same time, I'm often told that I don't look like my age (50) and many people are honestly surprised that I've reached half a century.

How have I done this?

I developed a plan - built a model for my own health - quite some time ago. A lot of it came from just reading books - but much of it was inspired by technologists who are also looking at health as an information problem. Folks like Ray Kurzweil (my original inspiration), Aubrey De Grey, Tim Ferriss, and Dave Asprey - have published quite a lot of information on how we can build ourselves as healthy if we think of ourselves as "programmable". While it might be reductionist to think of humans as machines in that sense, it is a good paradigm from which to start. (I'm going to be reading "Outlive" by Peter Attia next.)

Why did I do this? When I was 23 or so, I was working long hours, not exercising, and eating quite a lot. I was doing some moderate exercise (walking to and from the train, about two miles a day) but I quickly gained a lot of weight and ended up weighing 195lbs / 88.6kg / 13.9 st. I saw myself in the mirror one day and I knew I had to change.

The first book I read was "The 10 Percent Solution" in which Kurzweil documented his weight loss and reversal of his diabetes. I continued to read other health books as well as biohacking books.

The first thing I did was to eliminate soda from my diet. Completely. I have not had soda since 2000. Yes, more than 26 years now.

I cut back on calories, and did more exercise. I eventually lost weight.

In 2015, I came across the idea that gluten might be bad. I read "Wheat Belly" and "Grain Brain" and, quite frankly, I was horrified. I gave up gluten entirely in 2016. So that's been more than ten years as well.

I also started regularly doing weight training four years ago, and monitoring my caloric intake. I tracked that religiously for a year (not the most fun, I'll admit) and now I can do it without an app. Adults really only should eat about 2000 calories, and knowing that you're under / at / over that is important.

It's also important to understand food. Ideally, understand it at a fundamental level; what has the most vitamins, what your body can use for energy (sugar, fats) and why you would want to choose one or the other.

I think in the ideal world, everyone should be carnivore. I know that's a touchy subject, and I don't currently do that myself, but I have tried it, and it's likely the best system. That said, I do have trouble sticking to that (though my wife's been doing it more than a year) and I have taken a more "liberal" approach in that I still do my best to eat reasonably with a focus on protein as much as possible.

You have to decide what's right for you. That's where the Defend part comes in.

So how do you do that? How do you defend your health and your time?

First, you want to figure out your goals. I have the goal of not only living as long as possible, but doing it in a manner that is as healthy as possible. That's my goal. What's yours? What are you hoping to get out of being healthy?

Second, you have to audit where you are and where you want to be, and figure out how to get there. In my case, it was a sacrifice of giving up soda - extreme. Do you want to give it up entirely, or cut back to a few per week? Do you want to eliminate plans entirely or be vegetarian? Do you have moral qualms regarding food and its sources and production and want to explore veganism? These are the things that you need to decide.

I've included an audit you can use to get started, here: https://thomasquinlan.gumroad.com/l/buildanddefend_healthaudit It's $7, but as a subscriber to the newsletter, use the code "BUILDDEFENDHA" to get it for free!

Once you've figured out your goals, done your auditing and figured out where you want to go, the difficult part starts. Defending yourself from "cheating". Engaging your willpower. This is where the real defence comes in.... and it's tough. You can track calories with an app (I used to use MyFitnessPal) and gamify it - see how long you can make your streak of consistent data entry. You can also gamify your grocery purchases - see how much you can avoid putting into your cart / trolley. (It's easier not to drink soda if you never buy it, for instance.) Involve an accountability partner, even if that's something like ChatGPT. The more you can do to fix the system in your favour the better off you'll be.

You'll also see people talk about "stacks". This typically refers to things like supplements; I suggest you do your own research. I have my own stack; typically it's multi-vitamins, extra vitamin C and D, as well as caffeine and L-theanine. If you go down that road, and have questions, I'm happy to help.

On to the other stack:

My current passive income is still approximately $300 per month. My target is $30,000 per month. So I've not made progress since last week (I am on holiday) but I am working with my AI (OpenClaw) to do as much as I can in the evenings when we're not out doing our vacation activities. (We went to Four Corners today - that was fun!)

These are Amazon affiliate links, just FYI.

Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis
https://amzn.to/45WMchM

Grain Brain, by Dr. David Perlmutter
https://amzn.to/4abFcQA

The Four Hour Chef, by Tim Ferriss
https://amzn.to/3Og1IPx

Superhuman, by Dave Asprey
https://amzn.to/4qzI8eL

Ending Aging, by Aubrey de Grey
https://amzn.to/4rbF6ys

Longevity Guidebook, by Peter Diamandis
https://amzn.to/4bO6HRk

Outlive, by Peter Attia
https://amzn.to/4qzI8eL

Whatever you come to in terms of a decision regarding your health, start today. You can only improve things if you actually put in the effort. It may not be easy, but as a fifty year old in relatively good health, I can tell you it is worth it!

- Thomas

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