Hormetism is the application of progressive, intermittent stress to overcome challenges and grow stronger physically, mentally and emotionally. As athletes, we intuitively understand the hormetic effect of exercise but did you know that cold, altitude, plant toxins and even straining slightly to read can all be used to help us get stronger?

My guest is for this interview is Todd Becker, a freelance blogger based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his wife and two children. He has degrees in Chemical Engineering and Philosophy from Stanford University and Brown University.  Todd currently works as a staff scientist for a biotechnology company in Palo Alto, where he leads project teams and holds more than 20 patents.   Not everyone will have access to all of the hormetic stressors we talk about in this episode. The important takeaway message is that there's more than one way to get stronger. Take advantage in whatever way you see fit. Here’s the outline of this interview with Todd Becker:

[00:00:24] Myopia: A Modern Yet Reversible Disease.

[00:00:53] AHS16 - Todd Becker - Living High and Healthy.

[00:01:48] Hormesis.

[00:02:35] Low-carb and intermittent fasting.

[00:03:58] Going on holiday and forgetting glasses.

[00:04:40] Print pushing.

[00:05:02] Exercise.

[00:05:29] Immune system.

[00:06:07] UV.

[00:06:13] Overcompensation.

[00:07:28] Lactose tolerance.

[00:08:35] Unnecessarily avoiding the sun.

[00:10:05] Finding the perfect amount of stress.

[00:12:15] Learning to fast blog post.

[00:13:00] Heart rate variability or even just resting HR.

[00:14:02] Cold showers.

[00:14:43] Alcohol.

[00:15:53] Metabolic flexibility.

[00:16:08] Allostasis.

[00:17:07] Wood smoke.

[00:17:25] Evolutionary mismatches.

[00:17:41] Is charred meat bad for you?

[00:18:29] Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human.

[00:19:02] Phases of detoxification.

[00:19:17] CYP3A4.

[00:19:42] Superoxide dismutase.

[00:20:01] Sulforaphane and Its Effects on Cancer, Mortality, Aging, Brain and Behavior, Heart Disease & More.

[00:21:28] Low-dose dioxins.

[00:21:53] Hormone analogues.

[00:22:14] Gluten.

[00:22:40] IgE emergency response.

[00:22:50] An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases.

[00:23:36] Peanut allergies

[00:23:56] Karelia (historical province of Finland).

[00:25:00] Reversing peanut allergies.

[00:25:22] Poison ivy and oak.

[00:26:49] Peanut oil in diaper cream.

[00:27:06] Oral vs topical exposure.

[00:27:23] Epstein–Barr virus infection at certain ages.

[00:28:09] Altitude.

[00:28:24] Boulder has the lowest obesity rate in the US.

[00:29:28] PGC1-a via hypoxia.

[00:30:16] Barry Murray on my podcast.

[00:31:36] Altitude masks.

[00:32:02] Train high race low.

[00:32:24] Jeremy Powers on this podcast.

[00:34:43] gettingstronger.org