Rant #33: Hacking Our Bodies to fight the "4 Horsemen" Diseases of the Modern World

Most experts agree that a good diet, regular exercise and careful monitoring of one's vital signs can help increase one's chances of living a long and healthy life, but once they start talking about the specifics of which diet, what kind of exercise, and the vital signs that matter most, it all falls apart and starts splintering into different camps.
       Hence everyone's confusion, which makes it too easy to do nothing or little, because the thought of wasting one's time on a tough regimen that yields little to no results, is too risky and frustrating, if not completely discouraging.
       To the rescue is Dr. Peter Attia, whose book "Outlive" was published a little over a year ago and instantly shot to the top of the best-seller charts. I've only just discovered it because, ever since my new LADA Type 1 Diabetes was diagnosed, I've been devouring everything I can to take an informed and aggressive approach to minimizing T1D's effects on my body and longevity.
      There's a lot of science in Attia's book, but he's a patient teacher loaded with very helpful analogies to break down complex medical-school concepts into stories they lay reader (me) can understand and embrace. And the more books I read on the topic of aging, disease, and diabetes, the more patterns I see that are prevalent in this book -- not just for me and treating my life's condition, but potentially for everyone who is interested in putting off all of the "4 Horsemen" diseases that eventually strike everyone: Heart Disease, Cancer, Alzheimer's, and Diabetes (a.k.a. 'metabolic syndrome').
        What fascinates me is that, although these diseases are very different in how they attack the body, whose bodies they attack, and what genes or lifestyle factors play a role in contributing to these diseases' effects on us, when it comes to what we can do to "hack" our bodies to fight these killers - with or without medical intervention - insulin control emerges as one of the most crucial ways to keep all these diseases at bay. 
       I'm not talking about man-made insulin that diabetics inject; I'm talking about the insulin that the pancreas produces (and our liver and kidney's manage), which controls the entry of glucose into our bloodstream to feed our body, the conversion of glucose into fat in our cells for later use, the absorption of protein in our cells, and all kinds of other metabolic functions to keep our brain, muscles, and body parts fed, whether we're eating regularly or not. 
       I didn't know insulin did all that, but what is MORE interesting is how the disruption of those complex and constant metabolic functions can ALSO contribute heavily to contracting cancer, dementia, and heart disease more quickly. And weight gain (whether through excess calorie consumption or lack of activity) is the gateway to initiating the metabolic disruptions that lead to excess glucose in the bloodstream, which damages blood vessels, promotes inflammation, feeds cancer cells faster, and impairs cerebral blood flow. 
       So, for some reason this learning is more ACTIONABLE for me: avoid frequent consumption of foods (e.g., those high in carbohydrates) that spike glucose in the bloodstream, whether I have insulin-dependent problems or not, to avoid wearing down my body before its time. I wear a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), Peter Attia ('Outlive' author) wore one for a period of time, and I predict it's going to get a lot more common for people to wear CGMs, especially those with elevated risk of the 4 Horsemen, to give them the instant feedback and knowledge to better HACK their bodies' metabolism through more careful dietary control.  

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