Still You, But Way Better! | Our Final Book Review of Head Strong

Don’t underestimate the brain-body connection  

If you joined us in reading Head Strong by Dave Asprey for our Hip2Keto Book Club this month, you probably learned A LOT about how your brain and body work together. I don’t know about you, but I was pleasantly surprised by how incredible this book was!

If you haven’t yet read the book, get yourself a copy so you can fully understand what it’s all about. It might change your life! I’m not kidding when I say this book has already made me a better-functioning human in so many ways!

Level up your brain!🧠

In Head Strong, we discovered just how much our brain and body depend on our mitochondria for energy and support. When we suffer from mitochondrial dysfunction, everything else begins to suffer—from our sleep quality and mood to our health and energy levels.

Dave Asprey also hit hard on the fact that the foods we eat are some of the biggest contributors to a high-functioning brain, hence why he is a HUGE advocate of a ketogenic diet.

Head Strong sheds light on common problems and offers real solutions

Whether you struggle with low energy, poor sleep quality, or brain fog, this book does a superb job at explaining in detail what causes these common issues on a scientific level.

At first, I was worried I would get lost in all the “science talk”, but Dave simplifies things perfectly and manages to keep us fully engaged in reading. Chapter by chapter, we’re given a guide for simple things we can start implementing now, leading up to the actual 2-Week Head Strong Program.

Dave Asprey bio-hacked his life like a boss!

As a self-proclaimed biohacker, Dave first set out to figure out what was going on with his own brain and body. Before we ever heard about the 2-week Head Strong program, he put it to the test on himself and, WOW it worked!

Dave went from being a cloudy-minded fellow who was overweight, exhausted (falling asleep in meetings all the time), and forgetful to a high-functioning superhuman who looked and felt great. In his own words, “I felt foggy, as if I had a constant hangover”.

Here are our final key takeaways from the book Head Strong by Dave Asprey:

“Your diet offers the easiest and most powerful way to gain the upper hand.”

“If you eat too much sugar, your mitochondria will no longer easily produce energy from fat—they’ll start producing all of your energy from glucose.”

“When the brain is low on energy, it stimulates the release of cortisol and adrenaline to make emergency fuel.”

“Your mitochondria determine how your body reacts to the world around you. When your mitochondria become more efficient, your mental performance increases.”

“When mitochondrial function is not as strong as it could be, mitochondria produce an excess of free radicals that leak into the surrounding cells and wreak havoc.”

“Certain hormones speed up your ability to break down fat, while others slow it down.”

“Environmental toxins are a leading cause of mitochondrial dysfunction. We are now exposed to thousands of toxic chemicals and pollutants that simply didn’t exist a mere hundred years ago. These chemicals have made their way into our bodies, and our mitochondria have not evolved to thrive among them.”

“Pay attention to your energy dips throughout the day—perhaps you ate something or were exposed to something that damaged your mitochondria!”

“When you make these relatively simple changes, you will feel an incredible difference in your mood, your energy, and your overall performance. As a side effect, you might look better too. This is the power of your mighty mitochondria.”

“It’s clear that eating a diet that’s high in fat keeps your hormones balanced, mimics the effects of fasting, fuels mitochondria, and supports healthy gut bacteria that will hot-wire your brain for maximum performance.”

“Your brain is actually the first part of the body to suffer when you are chronically inflamed.”

“When you dial down the swelling in your body or in your brain, the fog suddenly clears. You can think more clearly, focus when you want to, and remember things with ease.”

“The mitochondrial toxins you eat or are exposed to every day rev up your body’s inflammatory response and inhibit neurogenesis and mitochondrial function.”

“Head Strong is all about putting you in control of how good every day will be from now on.”

“When it comes to your brain, the right fats are the most important macronutrient there is.”

“It seems that ketosis is meant to protect us from all sorts of threats. If it weren’t for ketosis, we would starve in times of scarcity because our mitochondria would not be able to produce ATP from our fat.”

“I consider sugar at commonly consumed levels to be a neurotoxin. It is part of nearly every major illness, including (and especially) Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Studies show that meditation changes the brain on a structural level. Think of it like strength training; when you lift weights, you gain visible results in the form of stronger, shapelier muscles. A regular meditation practice also yields visible results.”

“Sleep is important to your brain for lots of reasons. During sleep, you produce increased levels of growth hormone, which stimulates neurogenesis as well as mitochondrial growth.”

Head Strong wraps up with a bonus chapter, Beyond the Limits, which gives us even more hacks for improving sleep as well as helpful information regarding supplement use.

If you’re ready to level up your life and take control of your brain and your body, then the 2-Week Head Strong program is for you! Just think of how amazing it’ll be when you meet the healthier, happier, sharper version of yourself!

If you missed out on our May book club selection, join our Hip2Keto Book Club in June as we dive into the highly-rated Carnivore Cookbook! Sign up here!