Body by Science: An Epistemocratic Map for Health Decision Making

(Above: Dr. Doug McGuff, M.D. discusses his perceptive thoughts on health)

Better maps do exist.

Body by Science is one such map, written by two epistemocrats: Dr. McGuff and John Little.

Super-slow and highly-intense, that's the energy expenditure coupling and underlying spirit you should be thinkering with when you decide to self-experiment with the Body by Science epistemocratic map for health decision making. That, and a real foods ancestral diet, of course. Like Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint, which I reviewed recently, Body by Science is born out of experience, from the bottom-up, emerging from John Little and Dr. McGuff scouring the evidence-based literature--the PubMed Anthology as one primary source of medical mythologies--and then testing these conjectures on real people, under real-world conditions: that's ecologically intelligent clinical health science in practice. Human beings are the best animal models for studying human physiology (when safe and appropriate for testing).

My favorite animal model is my own body.

I am a Patient of One, so I approach my health and fitness with a n=1 frame-of-mind. As Dr. McGuff suggests, I attempt to send proper signals to my body to stimulate desired physiological responses and epigenetic adaptations. When it comes to n=1 clinical trials with exercise (energy expenditure, generally), fractally randomized bouts of high intensity / low-duration work provides an efficient and effective hormonal 'kick' for me.

Since this essay is an attempt at a quasi-book-review reflection, and I try not to reveal too much of the actual contents of a book when I review it (hoping folks will actually go read the book instead), I have to say that any health and fitness book that references Nassim Taleb's Fooled by Randomness, as Body by Science (BBS) does, moves up the ranks quickly in my book. Nassim's work is a good heuristic for sorting through information sources. When it comes to BBS, Jeff Erno (@ernoj) is the epistemocrat you want to follow to learn more about and observe applications of the BBS principles regularly. He's even working on a 'Workout Tracker' to help folks organize their experimental efforts in this domain. Personally, I approach my self-experiments with energy expenditure from the portfolio perspective, and I default to Barbell diversification whenever possible. Barbell diversification relies on the formation of a stable foundational platform, the 'tried-and-true' investments that make up 80-90% of your portfolio, upon which you can engage in diversified trial-and-error with novel options (10-20%). Awhile ago, BBS started as a novel option for me. I have been working for some time now to incorporate more and more of the BBS spirit into my trips to the gym. I've started doing more ultra-slow body-weight dips; I've started doing upside-down pushups at super-slow rates, and then again at my fastest pace (I've done the same with leg presses, etc.); essentially, I've been tinkering here and there, which means that I have been diversifying my energy expenditure portfolio nicely. Right now, I feel as if BBS is becoming part of my 'tried-and-true' platform, as a work-in-progress component of my hybridized base. It's my 'm=1/n=1' application of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces: the practice of hybridizing role-models, mentors, and heroes in our lives to mimic and learn from. When it comes to exercise, as a student of fitness who wants to feel good, I like to hybridize Dr. McGuff's wonderful insights with Keith Norris' excellent functional power quest (The Power Zone) and Mark Sisson's awesome Primal Laws--it's 'The Hero with Three Faces' that I am primarily thinkering with currently. To me, it appears that each of these bricoleurs fits Campbell's monomyth description of the journey that heroes progress through in mythologies:

Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the monomyth. In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell summarized the monomyth: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” In laying out the monomyth, Campbell describes a number of stages or steps along this journey. The hero starts in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unusual world of strange powers and events (a call to adventure). If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials (a road of trials), and may have to face these trials alone, or may have assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift (the goal or "boon"), which often results in the discovery of important self-knowledge. The hero must then decide whether to return with this boon (the return to the ordinary world), often facing challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world (the application of the boon).

Blogging, book-writing, and other social media efforts by Doug, Keith, and Mark represent just some of their individual applications of the "boons" (gifts) that they have discovered through real-world experience and reflection, through engaging in my thinkering biotechnology model.

They're trying to improve the world by shaping health and fitness choice architecture.

That's a m=1 my-thology approach full of grace nudges that I appreciate.

But, like Doug reiterates, "Don't take it on blind faith." Instead, take it to the gym and experiment, then iterate.

To good health,

Brent