What up family? Welcome to episode 178 of the Genius Life. Happy to have you here.

What's going on everybody? Happy Monday. It's the first Monday of the month. So you know what that means bonus episode of the show.

I'm your host Matt Saluga-Viram, a filmmaker, health insurance journalist, an author of The New York Times, Best Selling with Genius Foods, and the Genius Life. Hope you all had a wonderful July 4th if you live in the United States. Happy Independence Day.

Belated Independence Day. Today we have the legendary Stuart Phillips on the show.

Stuart is the director of the Physical Activity Center of Excellence at the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

And there are a litany of topics that Stuart and I covered today from aging to exercise and strength and even sarcopenia.

But mostly this episode of the show will be a masterclass from a bona fide expert on that glorious macronutrient that we all know and love protein.

Over the next hour, Stuart and I chat about the importance of protein in the diet and what it does in the body.

We'll talk about where to find the highest quality sources of protein and which sources of protein are lower in quality.

Why some believe that the key to long life is a lower protein consumption and whether or not there is any scientific rationale for that assumption.

We'll reveal the truth about branch chain amino acid supplements. These are all the rage on social media and we'll get to the bottom of whether or not they actually do anything.

And so much more. You guys are going to love this episode of the show. I became a fan of Dr. Phillips' work.

After reading a few of his publications and I have no doubt there's going to be one of those episodes that you come back to again and again.

Before we dive in you guys, this show is sponsored by my good friends at ForSigmatic.

I lately have been off coffee. Yeah. I know I flip-flop more than a politician when it comes to my coffee habits.

But I like to have a healthy relationship with caffeine and I find that dependency is the antithesis to that.

When I'm off caffeine, I definitely rely on my ForSigmatic elixirs. I'm a huge fan of their Rachy mushrooms.

Which I will consume morning or night. And I love their Lines main elixir, which I've talked about before on the podcast.

It's purported to have cognition-boosting effects and I love to drink a cup while I'm recording my podcast.

The team at ForSigmatic harvests the best medicinal mushrooms around. I don't know how, but they've been able to turn these mushrooms into beyond tasty drinks that have even more impressive health benefits.

If you're dipping your toe into the shroom pool for the first time, give that Rachy elixir or their Lines main elixir a try.

They also have a Rachy hot chocolate mix that is very low in sugar.

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