That's great you can pick heavy things up. Did you know that vegans can pick heavy things up too? You can easily swap Animals for plants and still lift weights. In fact, people who do tend to recover faster.
Here are some vegans:
Sophia Ellis: A two-time British powerlifting champion who deadlifted 524 lb (237.5 kg).
Nick Squires: Won multiple medals, including a 675 lb deadlift.
Bill McCarthy: A nationally competitive powerlifter who has pulled 622 lb
https://t.co/8rsukCOndE
I enjoy eating my nutrient dense diverse array of plant foods that keep me energized throughout the day in the most healthy, sustainable, and non-violent way. It's even effortless too fast every full moon. And every day I eat within a 5-hour window fasting 19 hours everyday, effortlessly. :)
An audience member at a recent talk of mine said he doubts future generations will be shocked that we ate animals.
Perhaps so, but might they be shocked that we built entire industries around making their lives as miserable as possible first?
When you eat animals you're supporting the most violent jobs, the most atrocious living for Animals that are artificially inseminated into existence and supplemented, crammed by the thousands into concentrated animal feeding operations, this makes up over 97% of the animals people eat, nothing about this isn't natural, necessary, healthy, logical, sane, it's vile, dumb, deadly and destructive. And you being a mouthpiece for it makes you equivalent to a psychopath.
A debate like this should also right out the gate start with defining love. To love is to cathect and nurture another's spiritual growth and Independence. And ideally one would love themselves before trying to love another. In a healthy way of course not a narcissistic one. And when I say spirituality I don't mean religious dribble.
It's a really interesting conversation that ideally could be had without people getting in a pissing this contest to see who can be the most unhinged. My wife is about 11 years younger than me. I feel like it's been more problematic for me than it has been for her interestingly enough. She's amazing. But I don't feel like she understands my age-related needs a lot of times.
As for the 41-year-old dude in this video, well my son is 22 and is married to a woman who is one year older. They have a child, a home, and everything's awesome! They also have support from their families to make all of this happen. He started working at 16 and developed all kinds of skills. They are both on the same page and probably will be for their entire lives. I would much rather him be with somebody his age than somebody significantly younger or older. This way they can live a long life together experiencing the stages of life together in tandem.
I think men can be very predator-like. Perhaps women can be too. And if people aren't patient and mature then all kinds of crazy and problematic dynamics develop.
What's interesting is, I don't know if it's still the case but when I was in college studying psychology and relationships, pre-arranged marriages did better than the kind of marriages we have in the US. Better on all kinds of metrics, like being happier, and staying together longer and all that.
It's easy to be infatuated with a voluptuous, young perky lady. But all that can change if the couple doesn't go into the relationship on the premise of trying to make things work. And that's what this older guy in this video apparently doesn't understand. Apparently he also thinks young dudes can't hold their own and don't have support from their families. So the premise of his perception seems to be based on all kinds of dysfunctional scenarios.
I was also under the impression that may be less a general public health message to restrict and more disease reversal type intervention. So I inquired about that as well. But I guess there are people who are using it as a preventative measure in the longevity sphere but that's probably stage of Life specific and still amino acid (Food type) specific:
Exactly. You have highlighted a massive point of misalignment in this debate: Alex Leaf is arguing against protein restriction as a generalized, lifestyle recommendation for the average person, whereas leading longevity researchers advocate for it as a targeted, therapeutic intervention.. [1, 2]
The primary advocates for protein and amino acid restriction are not telling healthy 25-year-old athletes to starve their muscles. Instead, their clinical and real-world focus centers on distinct applications:
1. Disease Prevention and Reversal
When prominent researchers like Dr. Valter Longo (creator of the Fasting-Mimicking Diet) publish data on low-protein protocols, they are targeted at treating specific metabolic threats: [3, 4]
Starving Cancer Cells: Cancer cells rely heavily on specific amino acids, like methionine and glutamine, to grow and replicate. Restricting these amino acids effectively cuts off the fuel supply to tumors. [4, 5]
Reversing Type 2 Diabetes: Human clinical trials show that short-term, targeted restriction of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) rapidly corrects insulin resistance and reduces blood glucose levels in obese patients—even without changing their total calorie intake. [6, 7]
2. Lifespan Extension via "Periodic" Restriction
Most longevity experts do not support permanent, severe protein restriction. Instead, they promote periodic cycling:
The Cellular Cleanup Switch: They use short blocks of protein or amino acid restriction (such as a 5-day periodic fasting-mimicking diet) to intentionally trigger autophagy—the process where the body clears out damaged cells and misfolded proteins. [3, 8]
The Muscle Compromise: Once the cellular "cleanup" phase is complete, individuals return to a normal or higher-protein diet to rebuild muscle mass. This cyclical approach protects skeletal muscle while still capturing the systemic benefits of molecular restriction. [3, 4]
3. Sub-Populations (Age Discrepancies)
The general population is too broad a category for a single protein rule. Longevity researchers split their advice by age demographics: [2, 9]
Ages 20–65 (The Growth Phase): Lower protein is advocated here because excess growth signaling (via IGF-1 and mTOR) acts as an accelerator for aging and tumor development. [4, 5, 10, 11]
Ages 65+ (The Frailty Phase): At this stage, scientists on both sides of the debate—including Valter Longo and Alex Leaf—agree that protein restriction should be abandoned. Due to age-related anabolic resistance, older adults must consume more protein to prevent sarcopenia. [4, 9]
Summary of the Disconnect
Alex Leaf’s critique functions perfectly if the baseline assumption is that a person intends to eat a strictly low-protein diet forever while trying to optimize fitness. However, he misses the mark on how the science is actually deployed: as a periodic therapeutic dial used to suppress disease pathways, downregulate aging genes, and treat metabolic dysfunction. [1, 7]
I asked AI if you were overlooking human studies and the results make a lot of sense based on things I've heard:
Yes, Alex Leaf is selectively bypassing critical human data to support his stance. While he is correct that lifelong, severe protein restriction is a bad idea due to muscle wasting, there are major human studies, clinical trials, and epidemiological data that support the benefits of protein restriction for longevity. [1, 2]
Critics point out that his argument relies heavily on a "all-or-nothing" presentation, overlooking several pillars of human science.
1. Human Clinical Trials: The IGF-1 Mechanism
Alex argues that calorie restriction is what lowers the aging hormone IGF-1, not protein restriction. However, human clinical trials show the exact opposite: [1]
The Fontana Study (2008): Published in Aging Cell, researchers followed humans practicing long-term, severe calorie restriction for up to six years. Surprisingly, calorie restriction alone did not lower their IGF-1 levels. [3]
The Protein Link: When a subgroup of these individuals specifically reduced their protein intake (from 1.67 g/kg down to a moderate 0.95 g/kg) for just three weeks, their circulating IGF-1 levels dropped significantly. This proved that in humans, IGF-1 is uniquely sensitive to protein intake, not just calories. [3]
2. Large Human Epidemiological Studies: The Age Flip
Alex warns that protein restriction causes premature death. However, major population studies show that the risk depends entirely on your stage of life: [1, 4, 5]
The Levine Study (2014): Published in Cell Metabolism, researchers tracked over 6,000 humans for 18 years. [4]
Middle-Aged Results (50–65): High protein intake was associated with a 75% increase in overall mortality and a 4-fold increase in cancer and diabetes deaths. Low-to-moderate protein intake during middle age was highly protective. [4, 5]
The Over-65 Switch: Alex often highlights that older adults need more protein, which this study actually confirmed. After age 65, the trend completely flipped—higher protein protected against frailty and mortality. [4, 5, 6, 7]
The Oversight: By framing protein restriction as universally dangerous, Alex overlooks the clear sweet spot: low-to-moderate protein in youth and middle age, scaling up to higher protein in older adulthood. [4, 5]
3. Human Real-World Evidence: The Blue Zones
We do not just have lab data; we have living human populations that validate this. The global regions with the highest density of centenarians (people living over 100)—known as The Blue Zones—have inherently low-protein diets: [5, 8, 9]
In places like Okinawa (Japan) and Ikaria (Greece), traditional diets derive only about 9% to 10% of their total daily calories from protein, mostly from plant sources. [8, 10, 11]
These populations live exceptionally long lives with remarkably low rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, heavily contradicting the idea that a lower-protein diet inherently leads to a fragile, premature death. [5, 8]
4. Recent Human Trials on Metabolic Health
Recent randomized controlled trials show that protein restriction can actually reverse modern metabolic dysfunction:
The Ferraz-Bannitz Trial (2022): A study published in Nutrients put patients with Metabolic Syndrome on a protein-restricted diet for just a few weeks.
Even without restricting calories, the lower protein intake improved insulin sensitivity, reduced body fat, and lowered blood pressure. [2, 12]
Summary of the Blind Spot
Alex Leaf’s argument treats protein restriction as a lifelong, severe deprivation that strips away muscle. Where he errs is ignoring cycling and timing. Human data suggests the ultimate longevity strategy is a moving target: keeping protein moderate/low during middle age to suppress cancer and aging pathways (mTOR and IGF-1), and then bumping protein up later in life to combat sarcopenia.
@Alexleaf@cremieuxrecueil I get your hole of men and mice... It's my understanding like 90 or 95% of animal studies don't translate to humans which is something I heard in this interview I released Sunday
https://t.co/BZ9wTjTnXJ
I've always understood protein restriction more about restricting certain amino acids. Just saying protein seems too broad. Focusing on certain amino acids can easily happen not eating animals limiting branch chain and sulfur containing amino acids. Which is easy to do plant-based.
so, you're anecdote dependent and all for what? to support the most violent jobs, most atrocious living for animals and the most gravely invasive industry on the planet because you refuse to be on the right side of history as you cling to your appeal to tradition ancestry nonsense.
This is why the leading health organizations say a well planned vegan way of eating is healthy and appropriate for every stage of life and even reduces risk for chronic diseases. But NONE of them say this about a carnivore diet. They actually say reduce meat and saturated fat intake, increase fiber.