Starting This Catalog: Reading Health, Fasting, Running, and SEO in Public
I’m Brendon Kennedy, I live in Newport Beach, and this is the first entry in something I’ve wanted to keep for a long time: a notebook, kept in the open, of what I’m reading and testing on myself.
That’s the whole thing. Not a brand, not a course, not a funnel. A catalog. Every week I end up with a browser full of tabs — a study I want to read properly, a protocol I’m curious enough about to try, a run I want to remember, a strange corner of search behavior I noticed while working. Most of it evaporates. I read the abstract, nod, close the tab, forget it by Thursday. Writing it down in public is my way of making it stick — and of being honest about the difference between “I read about this” and “I actually did this.”
Why in public
I’ve spent years building quiet infrastructure that mostly speaks for itself. This is the opposite instinct, on purpose. Keeping the notebook where someone else might read it forces a standard I don’t hold myself to in a private note: if I’m going to claim something, I have to be able to point at where it came from. It keeps me from rounding a “maybe, in mice” up to a “this works.” And there’s a smaller, more human reason — the stuff I’m curious about is more fun to chase when it’s not just me and a spreadsheet at 11pm.
I’m also not interested in the guru version of this. I’m a founder and an operator, not a doctor and not a coach. What I can honestly offer is a front-row seat to one person reading carefully, testing slowly, and telling you what held up. When I get something wrong — and I will — I’d rather correct it in the open than quietly delete the tab.
What you can expect each week
Think of this as a few recurring beats. Some weeks I’ll go deep on one; some weeks I’ll leave a shorter field note.
- Health and neuroscience. Attention and focus — how the brain holds onto a task — and what the evidence suggests about how sugar and alcohol may affect sleep. I read the primary sources, keep the “association vs. proof” line bright, and try never to hand you a headline dressed up as a fact.
- Metabolic health. The boring, durable levers. What the evidence supports, what’s genuinely uncertain, and what I’m willing to test on a body of one.
- Fasting research. I’m fascinated by longer fasts and the autophagy question, which is exactly where I have to be most careful: a lot of the exciting evidence there is still preclinical or early human, and I’ll say so every time rather than pretend the science is further along than it is.
- The running log. I run a modest 2 to 4 miles a week and I’m not pretending otherwise. This is the accountability beat — the one that only gets better if it’s written down where I can see the gaps.
- SEO research. The informational side of what I do at zsty — how search actually behaves, what ranking rewards, what I’m seeing shift. Research notes, not a pitch.
- The personal journal. The connective tissue. Why I’m testing any of this, what’s hard about staying consistent, and the honest reporting when a habit falls apart.
None of these are lectures. The voice is “here’s what I’m reading, here’s what I’m trying” — a catalog, kept honestly.
The cadence I’m committing to
I’ve learned that the only version of this that works is a boringly regular one. So here’s the deal I’m making with myself, out loud:
- One entry a week, on whatever day I can actually hold to, even when the entry is short.
- Every scientific claim gets a real, named source — or it doesn’t get written.
- The running log gets updated whether the week went well or not — I’d rather log a bad week honestly than only write down the good ones.
- And I keep at it because paying attention in the open is harder to weasel out of than paying attention alone.
If you’re the kind of person who likes watching someone actually do the reading — who wants the caveats left in and the hype taken out — this is for you. Bookmark it, or just tune in weekly. I’ll be here, tabs open, writing down what held up.
Welcome to the catalog. Let’s see what a year of paying attention adds up to.
Not medical advice. This is a personal catalog of research I’m reading and habits I’m testing on myself. Nothing here diagnoses, treats, or prevents any disease, and it isn’t a substitute for a qualified clinician. Talk to your doctor before changing diet, fasting, exercise, or medication — especially with ADHD medication, alcohol, or a personal or family cancer history.