One way of measuring older civilizations' well being is using anthropometric data such as height, which happens to be a good indicator of a population's standard of living.

 

In 16th century America there was a stark contrast between the height of the Native Americans to the Europeans. The Plains Indians were among the tallest in the world and renowned for their size, strength, and overall health.

 

As for their diet...they subsisted on bison supplemented by roots and berries. Sounds about right.

 

 

I can hear the rebuttal already:

 

"Well the Plains Indians may have looked healthy and been physically fit, but because they subsisted on red meat they probably had short lifespans!"

 

Luckily last week we got yet another piece of evidence for a meat-based diet where researchers found that animal protein intake is correlated with lower all-cause mortality including cardiovascular mortality in older adults. (r)

 

In an article on high protein diets, I discuss why this correlation likely exists.

 

“I think the most important thing to consider as a macro-principle of longevity is that the longer you can preserve muscle mass, the better.”

 

 

I once heard someone describe the difference between layers of an organization as:

 

Employees: Drive the trains.

Managers: Ensure all the trains are running on time.

Leaders: Makes sure the trains are on the right track.

 

Related to leading your life: 

 

 

But how do you know what track to put your train on? (i.e. what's the right thing to work on?)

 

I like the question that Chris Dixon poses: 

 

 

While I like to think it 3 to 5 year timeframes, answering this question can be a big step towards not climbing the wrong hill.

 

 

Every year I look forward to checking out Time's 100 Best Inventions of the year. While everyday news tends to focus on the problems of the world, I find it refreshing to highlight the people focusing on solutions. 

 

Perhaps unsurprising, one of my favorites that hit the list was Tonal. While I've never tried it (I want to!), I love the classic entrepreneurial story. Aly Orady, a hardware engineer, decided to finally try and lose his excess weight. He combined his engineering background with self-research and developed a way to use electromagnetic resistance and complex data collection to create a novel workout system. 

 

 

 

– Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher

 

 

To project forward it's helpful to look back and see how we got here.

 

Raoul Pal takes us through a 19th century journey to explain how wars led to baby boomers, boomers led to economic imbalances (supply / demand), and these imbalances ultimately led to currency debasement and the rise of bitcoin. Viewing our current economic environment through the lens of history and demographics can give us a peak into what's to come.

 

⛷️ Is this the best ski run ever:

A Saturday morning roundup on health and wealth, art and science, creativity and innovation, laughs and life by Kevin Stock.