December 3, 2025 • 12 mins
This episode argues that chronic disease is one story told in many dialects—and that story is stalled energy flow. We reframe health as organized, efficient energy movement through the body, and show how mitochondria act not just as fuel generators, but as highly tuned sensing and decision hubs that determine whether the system thrives, compensates, or collapses under stress.
We introduce the Energy Resistance Principle, which explains why biology breaks down when stress pushes the system outside its Goldilocks zone. Chronic stress becomes resistance in the energy circuit, causing dissipative loss and metabolic overheating. You’ll learn why the flu feels like an energy budget shutdown, how GDF-15 functions as a universal distress marker across diseases, and how mismatched demands drive everything from fatigue to inflammation.
We map the tools that restore the sweet spot: hormesis through exercise, cold, heat, and fasting; the role of recovery as the true engine of adaptation; and how ketosis provides cleaner fuel with higher mitochondrial efficiency. We cover targeted supports like CoQ10 and B vitamins for electron transport, and introduce mitoception—your ability to sense energetic alignment—and energy journaling to guide daily choices.
The episode closes with a mindset shift: stop managing disease, start managing energy.
High-volume keywords used: mitochondrial health, chronic disease, energy metabolism, ketosis, hormesis, stress resilience, CoQ10, recovery
Listener Takeaways
- Why chronic disease reflects stalled or resistant energy flow
- How mitochondria act as sensors, decision hubs, and signalers
- The Energy Resistance Principle and the Goldilocks zone of stress
- How hormesis, ketosis, and recovery restore metabolic efficiency
- Tools like mitoception and energy journaling to guide daily choices
Follow for daily longevity and wellness episodes.
This podcast is created by Ai for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional medical or health advice. Please talk to your healthcare team for medical advice.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Okay, let's just jump right in.
We are doing a deep dive todayinto something that might just
be the most fundamental law ofbiology.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
It really might be.
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
We're talking about health, aging, chronic disease,
all through the lens of energyflow.
We're going to get into theactual physics of why we get
sick.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Aaron Ross Powell Exactly.
I mean, for so long, medicinehas been focused on, you know,
molecules and symptoms, givingdiseases names.
Trevor Burrus, Jr. (00:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
A different pill for every ill.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: A pill for every ill.
But our sources today, they'rearguing we've been missing this
huge, essential dimension, theactual flow of energy.
They see health as thisenergetically sustained state.
And the framework for it iscalled the energy resistance
principle.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
Aaron Powell And the scale of this is, I mean, it's
hard to wrap your head around.
The potential energy inside yourbody at any given moment is
something like a lightning bolt.
It's a massive controlled powersource.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
It is.
And if you stop that flow, thegame is over instantly.
That's the key thing to grasp.
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Aaron Powell, you mean like with a poison or
something?
SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
Yeah.
Take a cyanide pill.
What does it do?
It instantly shuts down yourmitochondria.
The power senders in your cells,the energy flow stops, and
you're dead.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
In seconds.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
In seconds.
That just shows you howcompletely dependent we are on
this continuous transformationof energy.
SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
Aaron Powell And the really big idea here, the
unifying theory, is that thisexact system is compromised in,
well, almost every modernillness you can name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
That's what the evidence points to.
SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
Alzheimer's, depression, autism, diabetes,
Parkinson's, all of it.
The science, again and again,circles back to the mitochondria
not working right.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Aaron Powell So yeah, the mission today is to
show you that all these diseasesthat seem so different, they
really share a common rootproblem.
It's all about impaired energyflow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
All right.
So if energy flow is the issue,let's start at the absolute
beginning.
You take a cadaver and a living,breathing person.
Structurally, they're the same,right?
Same organ, same cells.
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
Same genome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
So what is the fundamental difference?
What separates life fromnon-life?
SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
It's the flow.
It's the energy moving throughthose structures.
Without it, the genome we obsessover, the DNA, it's just a
library with the power shut off.
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
An inert repository of information, I think one of
our sources call it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
That's a perfect way to put it.
Energy isn't a thing.
You can't hold it.
It's the uh potential forchange, the ability to do work.
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
That's a critical distinction.
We aren't just machines that useenergy.
The process of life is theorganized flow of energy.
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Yes.
And the architects of that flow,the absolute masters, are the
mitochondria.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
These little bacteria that what moved into
our cells billions of years ago.
SPEAKER_01 (02:34):
They did.
And they kept their own DNA,which is fascinating.
It's passed down only from yourmother.
But their job, their wholepurpose is to take stored energy
from the sun.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
Which we get from food and oxygen.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Right.
And they transform that chemicalenergy into the body's
electrical currency, which isATP.
SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
When I first learned about this in school, it was all
Krebs cycle, just a littlefactory that spits out ATP.
A powerhouse.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
That view is ancient history.
SPEAKER_00 (03:00):
So it's more than that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
Oh, so much more.
Calling them a powerhouse islike wildly reductive.
They are a core hub ofcommunication.
In a way, they're like anintracellular brain.
SPEAKER_00 (03:12):
An intracellular brain.
SPEAKER_01 (03:13):
Yeah.
They receive thousands of inputsevery second.
Signals from your hormones, yourimmune system, toxins, your gut
bacteria.
They process all of it and thendecide what the cell should do
next.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
So if it's a brain, it must send signals out, not
just make currency.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Precisely.
They produce these messengermolecules called mitochines.
Think of them like, I don'tknow, text messages or command
signals for the rest of thebody.
They tell a cell when to grow,when to repair its DNA, or even
when it's time to die, they keepthe whole system in sync.
SPEAKER_00 (03:43):
Okay, this is where the physics really becomes
personal.
The energy resistance principle.
Now resistance sounds like a badword, right?
Like something you want to getrid of.
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
It does, but you can't.
Without resistance, you get nowork.
Think about a simple electricalcircuit.
If the energy just flows througha copper wire, nothing happens.
SPEAKER_00 (04:00):
It's just a flow.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
It's just a flow.
You need to put something in itspath, like the filament in a
light bulb, that's a resistor.
The resistance is whattransforms the electrical flow
into light and heat, into work.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
Aaron Powell So resistance is the friction
that's needed to turn food into,well, life, into ATP.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Aaron Powell That's exactly it.
And the energy resistanceprinciple, or ERP, states that
you need this friction, but youhave to live in a kind of
Goldilocks sweet spot.
SPEAKER_00 (04:27):
Aaron Powell And what happens if you're outside
that zone?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
Well, with too little resistance,
transformation is basicallyimpossible.
But the real problem for us forchronic illness is too much
resistance.
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
The traffic jam.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
The permanent traffic jam on the electron
highway, yeah.
When the flow gets stopped up,it causes what we call
dissipative loss.
SPEAKER_00 (04:44):
Aaron Powell Okay.
And that's the the systemoverheating.
That's what shows up as disease.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Yes.
That's the breakdown, theoverheating.
That's inflammation, cellulardamage, all the classic signs of
aging.
It's energy that's being wastedas disorder instead of being
used for function.
SPEAKER_00 (04:59):
Aaron Ross Powell So what is it in our modern lives
that's constantly cranking upthis resistance?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Chronic stress in all its forms.
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Aaron Ross Powell You don't just mean mental
stress.
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
Aaron Powell No, not at all.
It could be psychologicalanxiety, sure.
But it's also environmentaltoxins, a hidden infection, a
messed up gut microbiome,hormonal issues.
It all acts as resistance.
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Aaron Powell And the danger is that this stress it
steals your energy.
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
It steals it.
It forces your body to burn itswhole energy budget just coping,
just pushing through thatresistance.
And that means you're divertingpower away from things like
immune surveillance or DNArepair.
And that is what ages us faster.
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Aaron Powell That makes so much sense.
I mean, think about when you getthe flu.
You don't just have a cough, youfeel depressed, you can't think,
your body aches.
SPEAKER_01 (05:47):
Aaron Powell That is a masterclass in metabolic
conservation.
It's not in your head.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
How so?
SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
When your immune system goes to war with the
virus, it starts burning amassive amount of energy.
Your body has a fixed budget.
So the brain senses that theimmune system is about to
bankrupt the whole system.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
And it pulls the emergency brake.
SPEAKER_01 (06:04):
It pulls the brake, it shuts down all the
nonessential energy hungrystuff.
Motivation goes out the window,it tanks your testosterone, your
thyroid hormones, and it evenramps up your pain sensitivity.
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
My pain.
SPEAKER_01 (06:15):
It's called alludenia.
Your body is deliberately makingyou feel achy and uncomfortable
and tired so that you have torest.
It's forcing you to stopspending energy so it can divert
everything to keeping you alive.
SPEAKER_00 (06:27):
Wow.
Okay, so if this high energyresistance is the engine behind
so many diseases, we have to beable to measure it, right?
Is there a critical marker?
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
There is, and the science has really been
converging on this one protein.
It's called GDF-15.
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
GDF-15.
SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
Yeah, growth differentiation factor 15.
You can think of it as adistress signal, a flare that
cells shoot up when they'reunder major mitochondrial
stress, when resistance is high.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
So it's not a marker for one specific disease, but
for the underlying energyproblem itself.
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
Exactly.
And that's why it's so powerful.
Big studies like the UK Biobankfound that GDF-15 is basically
the best single marker for mostdiseases.
It's a true pan-dise biomarker.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
That's a game changer.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
It links them all to this energetic idea.
High levels show up ineverything from cancer to heart
disease to neurodegeneration.
It's a single number that tellsyou how much resistance your
system is fighting against.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Okay, so if we could measure it, how do we fix it?
How do we get back into thatGoldilocks zone?
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
The main principle is something called hormesis.
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Right.
The idea that a little bit ofstress makes you stronger.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
A little bit of the right kind of stress.
The body adapts during restafter being stressed.
So you need these temporaryperiods of high resistance
followed by low resistance.
It's an on-off, on-off rhythm.
SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
Aaron Powell Like your heart contraction,
relaxation.
SPEAKER_01 (07:47):
Perfect analogy.
Yin and yang.
SPEAKER_00 (07:49):
We always talk about exercise.
I was on this brutal 11-milebike ride the other day, and I
was definitely feeling the highresistance then.
SPEAKER_01 (07:56):
For sure.
And during that ride, you'reactually breaking down muscle
tissue, you're stressing thesystem.
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
But the adaptation, the good stuff, that happens
later.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
That happens later.
You don't build new, moreefficient mitochondria while
you're panting up a hill.
You build them when you'resleeping that night, when you're
recovering.
The goal isn't just to exercise,it's to become more
metabolically efficient.
If that bike ride helps yourresting heart rate drop by 20
beats a minute.
SPEAKER_00 (08:23):
That's a huge energy savings over a lifetime.
SPEAKER_01 (08:25):
A massive savings.
You've lowered your baselineresistance to just being alive.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
So what else besides exercise can we use for this
kind of hormetic stress?
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Well, anything that gives a short, sharp signal,
cold exposure is a big one.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Cold plunges, cold showers.
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yep, that's high resistance.
An infrared sauna is highresistance.
Intermittent fasting is highresistance.
These temporary stressors forceyour system to get stronger and
more resilient so it couldhandle future stress better.
SPEAKER_00 (08:53):
You also talk about something called mitoception,
tuning into our own bodies.
How does that work in practice?
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Mitoception is just its energy awareness.
It's getting beyond I'm tiredand asking why you're tired.
The easiest way to start is witha simple journal.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
An energy journal.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
An energy journal.
Just track your energy levelsand ask, you know, what
interactions, what foods, whatenvironments drained me today.
That's an increase inresistance.
And what gave me energy, that'sa decrease.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
Can you give me a real world example of that?
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Sure.
Let's say you notice everysingle time you spend 30 minutes
scrolling through angrypolitical comments on social
media, your energy just tanksfor the next two hours.
You feel sluggish.
Okay.
That's a measurable increase inyour energetic resistance.
The emotional stress of thatactivity is literally stealing
biological energy.
So the fix isn't some fancysupplement, it's putting the
(09:45):
phone away at breakfast.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
You're removing a source of chronic, low-level
resistance.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
Exactly.
And that connection between ourpsychology and our mitochondria
is direct.
It's not a metaphor.
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
It's actual psychobiology.
SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
It is.
Studies show that people whohave a greater sense of purpose,
more optimism, they literallyhave more mitochondria with
better function in theirprefrontal cortex.
That feeling of being drainedafter a tough conversation,
that's a real measurablemitochondrial event.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
Let's touch on diet before we wrap up.
The ketogenic diet is getting alot of attention for things like
Alzheimer's and mental health.
How does that fit into reducingresistance?
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
It's all about fuel efficiency.
When you burn glucose, sugar,and carbs, the electrons take a
kind of complicated path to getwhere they're going.
There's more friction, higherresistance.
Okay.
When you burn fat and produceketones, however, the process is
incredibly direct and clean.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
So ketones are like a higher octane fuel that
reduces the traffic jam.
SPEAKER_01 (10:45):
Aaron Powell That's a great way to put it.
They get oxidized with much lessresistance.
This can immediately boostfunction in energy-starved brain
cells, which is why we're seeingsuch incredible results in
conditions like Alzheimer's,which is really at its core, a
brain energy failure.
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
Aaron Powell And this is where supplements like
CoQ10 and B vitamins come in?
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Yes, because they are the cofactors.
They're like the workers on theassembly line that is the
electron transport chain.
Having enough of them ensuresthe whole process runs smoothly,
which directly lowers resistanceat the most fundamental level.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
So to pull this all together, this deep dive really
brings the focus back to thebody's core operating system.
The big takeaway for me is thatour chronic illnesses aren't
these separate random failures.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
No, they're not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
They're a universal sign that the body's fundamental
energy flow is just overwhelmedby the resistance of modern
life, the stress, the diet, thelack of rest.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
The ERP gives us a unified theory, a natural law of
biology that connects the dotsbetween all these diseases.
We need to shift from a modelthat's all about managing
disease to one that's aboutmanaging energy.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
It feels like we're still using very crude tools,
though, like the first X-ray ofenergy medicine.
But the future is well, it'salmost here.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
It is.
Think about being able tomeasure GDF-15 with a continuous
monitor, just like a glucosemonitor you wear on your arm.
Imagine knowing in real timethat a stressful meeting or the
breakfast you just ate spikedyour energy resistance score.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
That would change everything.
SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
It would.
So here's the final thought foryou to chew on.
If you could continuouslymonitor your own energy
resistance right now, what dailyhabit would you suddenly realize
is silently draining your lifeforce?
And knowing that, what one smallchange would you make today to
start investing that energy backinto your own future?
Okay, let's just jump right in.
We are doing a deep dive todayinto something that might just
be the most fundamental law ofbiology.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
It really might be.
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
We're talking about health, aging, chronic disease,
all through the lens of energyflow.
We're going to get into theactual physics of why we get
sick.
SPEAKER_01 (00:17):
Aaron Ross Powell Exactly.
I mean, for so long, medicinehas been focused on, you know,
molecules and symptoms, givingdiseases names.
Trevor Burrus, Jr. (00:25):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (00:26):
A different pill for every ill.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: A pill for every ill.
But our sources today, they'rearguing we've been missing this
huge, essential dimension, theactual flow of energy.
They see health as thisenergetically sustained state.
And the framework for it iscalled the energy resistance
principle.
SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
Aaron Powell And the scale of this is, I mean, it's
hard to wrap your head around.
The potential energy inside yourbody at any given moment is
something like a lightning bolt.
It's a massive controlled powersource.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
It is.
And if you stop that flow, thegame is over instantly.
That's the key thing to grasp.
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Aaron Powell, you mean like with a poison or
something?
SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
Yeah.
Take a cyanide pill.
What does it do?
It instantly shuts down yourmitochondria.
The power senders in your cells,the energy flow stops, and
you're dead.
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
In seconds.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
In seconds.
That just shows you howcompletely dependent we are on
this continuous transformationof energy.
SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
Aaron Powell And the really big idea here, the
unifying theory, is that thisexact system is compromised in,
well, almost every modernillness you can name.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
That's what the evidence points to.
SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
Alzheimer's, depression, autism, diabetes,
Parkinson's, all of it.
The science, again and again,circles back to the mitochondria
not working right.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Aaron Powell So yeah, the mission today is to
show you that all these diseasesthat seem so different, they
really share a common rootproblem.
It's all about impaired energyflow.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
All right.
So if energy flow is the issue,let's start at the absolute
beginning.
You take a cadaver and a living,breathing person.
Structurally, they're the same,right?
Same organ, same cells.
SPEAKER_01 (01:54):
Same genome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
So what is the fundamental difference?
What separates life fromnon-life?
SPEAKER_01 (01:58):
It's the flow.
It's the energy moving throughthose structures.
Without it, the genome we obsessover, the DNA, it's just a
library with the power shut off.
SPEAKER_00 (02:09):
An inert repository of information, I think one of
our sources call it.
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
That's a perfect way to put it.
Energy isn't a thing.
You can't hold it.
It's the uh potential forchange, the ability to do work.
SPEAKER_00 (02:18):
That's a critical distinction.
We aren't just machines that useenergy.
The process of life is theorganized flow of energy.
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Yes.
And the architects of that flow,the absolute masters, are the
mitochondria.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
These little bacteria that what moved into
our cells billions of years ago.
SPEAKER_01 (02:34):
They did.
And they kept their own DNA,which is fascinating.
It's passed down only from yourmother.
But their job, their wholepurpose is to take stored energy
from the sun.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
Which we get from food and oxygen.
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
Right.
And they transform that chemicalenergy into the body's
electrical currency, which isATP.
SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
When I first learned about this in school, it was all
Krebs cycle, just a littlefactory that spits out ATP.
A powerhouse.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
That view is ancient history.
SPEAKER_00 (03:00):
So it's more than that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
Oh, so much more.
Calling them a powerhouse islike wildly reductive.
They are a core hub ofcommunication.
In a way, they're like anintracellular brain.
SPEAKER_00 (03:12):
An intracellular brain.
SPEAKER_01 (03:13):
Yeah.
They receive thousands of inputsevery second.
Signals from your hormones, yourimmune system, toxins, your gut
bacteria.
They process all of it and thendecide what the cell should do
next.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
So if it's a brain, it must send signals out, not
just make currency.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Precisely.
They produce these messengermolecules called mitochines.
Think of them like, I don'tknow, text messages or command
signals for the rest of thebody.
They tell a cell when to grow,when to repair its DNA, or even
when it's time to die, they keepthe whole system in sync.
SPEAKER_00 (03:43):
Okay, this is where the physics really becomes
personal.
The energy resistance principle.
Now resistance sounds like a badword, right?
Like something you want to getrid of.
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
It does, but you can't.
Without resistance, you get nowork.
Think about a simple electricalcircuit.
If the energy just flows througha copper wire, nothing happens.
SPEAKER_00 (04:00):
It's just a flow.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
It's just a flow.
You need to put something in itspath, like the filament in a
light bulb, that's a resistor.
The resistance is whattransforms the electrical flow
into light and heat, into work.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
Aaron Powell So resistance is the friction
that's needed to turn food into,well, life, into ATP.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Aaron Powell That's exactly it.
And the energy resistanceprinciple, or ERP, states that
you need this friction, but youhave to live in a kind of
Goldilocks sweet spot.
SPEAKER_00 (04:27):
Aaron Powell And what happens if you're outside
that zone?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
Well, with too little resistance,
transformation is basicallyimpossible.
But the real problem for us forchronic illness is too much
resistance.
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
The traffic jam.
SPEAKER_01 (04:38):
The permanent traffic jam on the electron
highway, yeah.
When the flow gets stopped up,it causes what we call
dissipative loss.
SPEAKER_00 (04:44):
Aaron Powell Okay.
And that's the the systemoverheating.
That's what shows up as disease.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Yes.
That's the breakdown, theoverheating.
That's inflammation, cellulardamage, all the classic signs of
aging.
It's energy that's being wastedas disorder instead of being
used for function.
SPEAKER_00 (04:59):
Aaron Ross Powell So what is it in our modern lives
that's constantly cranking upthis resistance?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Chronic stress in all its forms.
SPEAKER_00 (05:06):
Aaron Ross Powell You don't just mean mental
stress.
SPEAKER_01 (05:08):
Aaron Powell No, not at all.
It could be psychologicalanxiety, sure.
But it's also environmentaltoxins, a hidden infection, a
messed up gut microbiome,hormonal issues.
It all acts as resistance.
SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Aaron Powell And the danger is that this stress it
steals your energy.
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
It steals it.
It forces your body to burn itswhole energy budget just coping,
just pushing through thatresistance.
And that means you're divertingpower away from things like
immune surveillance or DNArepair.
And that is what ages us faster.
SPEAKER_00 (05:40):
Aaron Powell That makes so much sense.
I mean, think about when you getthe flu.
You don't just have a cough, youfeel depressed, you can't think,
your body aches.
SPEAKER_01 (05:47):
Aaron Powell That is a masterclass in metabolic
conservation.
It's not in your head.
SPEAKER_00 (05:51):
How so?
SPEAKER_01 (05:52):
When your immune system goes to war with the
virus, it starts burning amassive amount of energy.
Your body has a fixed budget.
So the brain senses that theimmune system is about to
bankrupt the whole system.
SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
And it pulls the emergency brake.
SPEAKER_01 (06:04):
It pulls the brake, it shuts down all the
nonessential energy hungrystuff.
Motivation goes out the window,it tanks your testosterone, your
thyroid hormones, and it evenramps up your pain sensitivity.
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
My pain.
SPEAKER_01 (06:15):
It's called alludenia.
Your body is deliberately makingyou feel achy and uncomfortable
and tired so that you have torest.
It's forcing you to stopspending energy so it can divert
everything to keeping you alive.
SPEAKER_00 (06:27):
Wow.
Okay, so if this high energyresistance is the engine behind
so many diseases, we have to beable to measure it, right?
Is there a critical marker?
SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
There is, and the science has really been
converging on this one protein.
It's called GDF-15.
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
GDF-15.
SPEAKER_01 (06:42):
Yeah, growth differentiation factor 15.
You can think of it as adistress signal, a flare that
cells shoot up when they'reunder major mitochondrial
stress, when resistance is high.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
So it's not a marker for one specific disease, but
for the underlying energyproblem itself.
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
Exactly.
And that's why it's so powerful.
Big studies like the UK Biobankfound that GDF-15 is basically
the best single marker for mostdiseases.
It's a true pan-dise biomarker.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
That's a game changer.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
It links them all to this energetic idea.
High levels show up ineverything from cancer to heart
disease to neurodegeneration.
It's a single number that tellsyou how much resistance your
system is fighting against.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Okay, so if we could measure it, how do we fix it?
How do we get back into thatGoldilocks zone?
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
The main principle is something called hormesis.
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Right.
The idea that a little bit ofstress makes you stronger.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
A little bit of the right kind of stress.
The body adapts during restafter being stressed.
So you need these temporaryperiods of high resistance
followed by low resistance.
It's an on-off, on-off rhythm.
SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
Aaron Powell Like your heart contraction,
relaxation.
SPEAKER_01 (07:47):
Perfect analogy.
Yin and yang.
SPEAKER_00 (07:49):
We always talk about exercise.
I was on this brutal 11-milebike ride the other day, and I
was definitely feeling the highresistance then.
SPEAKER_01 (07:56):
For sure.
And during that ride, you'reactually breaking down muscle
tissue, you're stressing thesystem.
SPEAKER_00 (08:01):
But the adaptation, the good stuff, that happens
later.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
That happens later.
You don't build new, moreefficient mitochondria while
you're panting up a hill.
You build them when you'resleeping that night, when you're
recovering.
The goal isn't just to exercise,it's to become more
metabolically efficient.
If that bike ride helps yourresting heart rate drop by 20
beats a minute.
SPEAKER_00 (08:23):
That's a huge energy savings over a lifetime.
SPEAKER_01 (08:25):
A massive savings.
You've lowered your baselineresistance to just being alive.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
So what else besides exercise can we use for this
kind of hormetic stress?
SPEAKER_01 (08:35):
Well, anything that gives a short, sharp signal,
cold exposure is a big one.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Cold plunges, cold showers.
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yep, that's high resistance.
An infrared sauna is highresistance.
Intermittent fasting is highresistance.
These temporary stressors forceyour system to get stronger and
more resilient so it couldhandle future stress better.
SPEAKER_00 (08:53):
You also talk about something called mitoception,
tuning into our own bodies.
How does that work in practice?
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Mitoception is just its energy awareness.
It's getting beyond I'm tiredand asking why you're tired.
The easiest way to start is witha simple journal.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
An energy journal.
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
An energy journal.
Just track your energy levelsand ask, you know, what
interactions, what foods, whatenvironments drained me today.
That's an increase inresistance.
And what gave me energy, that'sa decrease.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
Can you give me a real world example of that?
SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Sure.
Let's say you notice everysingle time you spend 30 minutes
scrolling through angrypolitical comments on social
media, your energy just tanksfor the next two hours.
You feel sluggish.
Okay.
That's a measurable increase inyour energetic resistance.
The emotional stress of thatactivity is literally stealing
biological energy.
So the fix isn't some fancysupplement, it's putting the
(09:45):
phone away at breakfast.
SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
You're removing a source of chronic, low-level
resistance.
SPEAKER_01 (09:50):
Exactly.
And that connection between ourpsychology and our mitochondria
is direct.
It's not a metaphor.
SPEAKER_00 (09:55):
It's actual psychobiology.
SPEAKER_01 (09:57):
It is.
Studies show that people whohave a greater sense of purpose,
more optimism, they literallyhave more mitochondria with
better function in theirprefrontal cortex.
That feeling of being drainedafter a tough conversation,
that's a real measurablemitochondrial event.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
Let's touch on diet before we wrap up.
The ketogenic diet is getting alot of attention for things like
Alzheimer's and mental health.
How does that fit into reducingresistance?
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
It's all about fuel efficiency.
When you burn glucose, sugar,and carbs, the electrons take a
kind of complicated path to getwhere they're going.
There's more friction, higherresistance.
Okay.
When you burn fat and produceketones, however, the process is
incredibly direct and clean.
SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
So ketones are like a higher octane fuel that
reduces the traffic jam.
SPEAKER_01 (10:45):
Aaron Powell That's a great way to put it.
They get oxidized with much lessresistance.
This can immediately boostfunction in energy-starved brain
cells, which is why we're seeingsuch incredible results in
conditions like Alzheimer's,which is really at its core, a
brain energy failure.
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
Aaron Powell And this is where supplements like
CoQ10 and B vitamins come in?
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
Yes, because they are the cofactors.
They're like the workers on theassembly line that is the
electron transport chain.
Having enough of them ensuresthe whole process runs smoothly,
which directly lowers resistanceat the most fundamental level.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
So to pull this all together, this deep dive really
brings the focus back to thebody's core operating system.
The big takeaway for me is thatour chronic illnesses aren't
these separate random failures.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
No, they're not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
They're a universal sign that the body's fundamental
energy flow is just overwhelmedby the resistance of modern
life, the stress, the diet, thelack of rest.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
The ERP gives us a unified theory, a natural law of
biology that connects the dotsbetween all these diseases.
We need to shift from a modelthat's all about managing
disease to one that's aboutmanaging energy.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
It feels like we're still using very crude tools,
though, like the first X-ray ofenergy medicine.
But the future is well, it'salmost here.
SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
It is.
Think about being able tomeasure GDF-15 with a continuous
monitor, just like a glucosemonitor you wear on your arm.
Imagine knowing in real timethat a stressful meeting or the
breakfast you just ate spikedyour energy resistance score.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
That would change everything.
SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
It would.
So here's the final thought foryou to chew on.
If you could continuouslymonitor your own energy
resistance right now, what dailyhabit would you suddenly realize
is silently draining your lifeforce?
And knowing that, what one smallchange would you make today to
start investing that energy backinto your own future?
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