Popular Mechanics - USA (2018-07 & 2018-08)

push my body down to the bottom. My mus-
cles freak out trying to make sense of their
lack of sensory input. My mind becomes
a dirigible. Am I seasick? Am I moving? I
am a glacier. A planet. There are little LED
star lights on the ceiling of my pod. Weight-
less death scenes from Gravity pop into my
mind. That movie was stressful.
Stop it. Concentrate.
There is nothing to pay attention to.
Nothing at all to...
And then music comes on to tell me it’s
time to go. It’s been forty-five minutes. I
rinse of the salt and descend, like a subma-
rine, out into the street. Did it work? Let’s
just say I’ve never felt this mellow after yoga.
A man roughly bumps me on the subway.
“Hmmmm?” I say, dreamily.

WHAT IS IT?

Restrictive, focused dieting

WHAT IS IT

SUPPOSED TO DO?

Reduce weight, improve health

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Anywhere from free to $400.

And up.

IS IT SAFE?

It depends. Ask your doctor.

SPECIALIZED

NUTRITION

iet is an important part of
any biohacker’s arsenal,
and not in the 1980s way in
which the right one will
make you look good in a
weird high-waisted bikini. A biohacker’s diet
has a superior calling: It should improve
brain function, heal the gut, prevent cancer

and autoimmune diseases, improve sleep,

and, ideally, also make you look good in a

weird high-waisted bikini. But it’s hard to

k now what t o eat t o ma ke a ny of t his happ en.

Every ive years, the nutritional magic bul-

let shifts, from carbs to protein to fat to

avocados to kale, and everyone seems to

continue feeling unhealthy, regardless.

“I think my story is not uncommon: too

much work, too much lying, probably too

much booze, not enough sleep, not enough

exercise—things we know we should be

doing and just aren’t getting done,” says

Neil Grimmer, who founded a personalized

nutrition startup called Habit. For $300

to $430, Habit will test your DNA, fasting

blood sugar, and reaction to a high-calorie

“challenge shake,” then tell you exactly

what to eat to become a healthier, better,

and slimmer version of yourself.

When I tried Habit, I lanced my ingers

one at a time, squeezing my forearm to get

enough blood to drip over three greedy absor-

bent tests. I swabbed my cheeks for DNA.

The 950-calorie shake made me want to

simultaneously puke, die, and punch myself

in the face. There was a lot of groaning.

The test results would take two to four

weeks to arrive, which gave me just enough

time to try an exceptionally popular one-

size-its-all eating plan: the ketogenic diet.

Developed in the 1920s to control seizures

in children, keto involves getting roughly

70 percent of your calories from fat, 25 per-

cent from protein, and less than 5 percent

from carbs. The idea is to mimic starva-

tion to engender positive changes in brain

chemistry. After a few days on keto, the body

depletes its stores of its preferred fuel, carbo-

hydrates, and shifts to burning fat.

“Your liver breaks fat down into ketone

bodies, and ketone bodies can pass through

the blood–brain barrier and be used as an

alternate fuel source for the brain,” says

Mackenzie Cervenka, director of Johns

Hopkins Adult Epilepsy Diet Center, who

studies how modiied keto can combat sei-

zures and an aggressive form of brain cancer

called glioblastoma multiforme. For some

reason, burning ketones for energy appears

to protect the brain in ways that normal

metabolism doesn’t. “It’s also been shown

to be anti-inlammatory, and it can decrease

free radical production,” Cervenka says.

These beneits may translate to other brain

diseases, including Alzheimer’s, which is

why people are so excited about it.

Here’s where keto gets tough: A few extra

carbs a day, even from vegetables, can knock

you out of ketosis. I tracked my nutrient pro-

ile through an app, Keto Diet Tracker, and

ate so many avocados and macadamia nuts

Hawaii’s agriculture board should send me

on a free trip. I used pee-strip and finger-

prick tests to check ketone levels in my blood

and urine. For someone experiencing a hun-

December

2010

Dave Asprey posts
a recipe on his blog
for a mixture of
cofee, butter, and
oil that he claims
aids weight loss
and boosts mental
acuity. This will
become “Bullet-
proof Cofee.”

June 2014

Phil Kennedy lies

to Belize and pays

$30,000 to have

a set of elec-

trodes implanted

in his brain, in an

attempt to build

are mixed.

August 2017

Australian Meow-

Ludo Disco

Gamma Meow-

Meow is ined for

traveling without

a valid train ticket.

(He had implanted

October 2017

Josiah Zayner,

CEO of

biohacking-

promotion startup

The Odin, publicly

injects himself

with CRISPR-

Febr uar y 2018

Aaron Traywick,

CEO of gene-

therapy-testing

startup Ascen-

dance Biomedical,

April 2018

Traywick is found

dead in a sensory

deprivation tank.