Gary Brecka: Sitting All Day Can Lead To EARLY DEATH (Watch THIS If You Have A Desk Job)
in the industry that I was previously. associated with, which was large life. insurance. If the database that I had. access to could see the light of day, it. would upend modern medicine in a way. that would be catastrophic. We could. tell the insurance company how long you. had to live to the month. Chief Human. Biologist, Gary Brecka. He's going to. make you superhuman. We know that. sedentary lifestyle is the leading cause. of all cause mortality. You're breathing. in that repetitively expired air, dropping that oxidative state. You're. making the blood more hospitable to. disease.
Hey everyone, I've got some huge news to. share with you. In the last 90 days, 79.4%. of our audience came from viewers and. listeners that are not subscribed to. this channel. There's research that. shows that if you want to create a. habit, make it easy to access. By. hitting the subscribe button, you're. creating a habit of learning how to be. happier, healthier, and more healed. This would also mean the absolute world. to me and help us make better, bigger,
brighter content for you and the world. Subscribe right now. The number one. health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The one, the only, Jay. Shetty. You talk about the ability to predict. how long someone will live. Mhm. And that sounds fascinating and. crazy at the same time. It does. that possible? Well, first of all, it's. based on large data. And it wasn't me. just looking at blood work and gene. tests and saying I can tell you how many.
more months you have left on Earth. But. if we got in the industry that I was. previously associated with, which was. large life insurance, if we got 10 years. of medical records on you and 10 years. of demographic data, we could tell the insurance company how. long you had to live to the month. And there are enormous companies that do. this. If the biggest one is probably a. Fasano and Associates, but this is based. on very, very large pools of data. And. remember that life insurance companies. have data that no other financial. services enterprise has, no other, you.
know, bank has, CDC doesn't have it, collegiate universities that are doing. longevity studies don't have it. And. that is that they know the day, the. date, the time, the location, and the. cause of death for hundreds of millions. of lives. And they have blood work on these. people, they have, um, you know, very. in-depth, um, analytics on their. demographic data. If you've ever applied. for a large life insurance company or. large life insurance policy, let's say 5. million, 10 million, 25 million-dollar. policy, there was at some point somebody.
determining not where you were on an. actuarial curve, but your specific. mortality. And the way that it's done is. you start with an actuarial curve, right? So, if you're a 35-year-old male, you have a life expectancy of X. If. you're 28-year-old female, you have a. life expectancy of Y. The question is. not where are you on that curve, but. what is your specific mortality. And. it's incredible how big data trends can. actually predict and not only the onset. of and the severity of, but how quickly.
you will succumb to certain disease. conditions. And what became glaringly apparent to me. was that, you know, if the database that. I had access to during that 20-plus year. career. could see the light of day, it would permanently change the face of. humanity. It it would upend modern. medicine in a way that would be. catastrophic because they have real. data. You know, so if you went to your, um, cardiologist, for example, and he. put, uh, some heart stents in your. heart, and you left his office, um, you.
may or may not ever see him again. He. doesn't know if something happened to. you 3 days later or 30 years later. And. you if you passed because of. complications related to the heart stent. or. or just died of happy ripe old age, but. the insurance company know exactly day, date, time, location, and cause of. death. And you can triangulate that back into. the record, and you can see where the. mistakes were made either in diagnostics. as we know medical errors the third. leading cause of death and that doesn't. mean that doctors are out to kill people. or that the health care system is out to.
kill people but we know that it's. completely overburdened and sometimes. medical error occurs. It just happens to. occur at a rate that in the United. States at least is the is the third. leading cause of death. And if you ever. want to. question whether or not. insurance companies are good at. predicting mortality, just look at what. happened during the 2008 and 2009. financial services crisis. We had we had. 364 banks fail. You didn't have a single life insurance. company fail. In the United States a. valid death claim in America has never.
failed to have been paid. Now. that that's an impressive statistic but. you also have to realize that only 2% of. life insurance policies ever pay a death. claim. 98% of all life insurance. policies lapse. So. I guess I've you know really belabored. that point but you would the the science. of mortality is some of the most. accurate science in the world. And if. you really boil it down to the sum of. its components, you find that. it's predicting where processes in the.
body that are running on parallel tracks. will finally converge, right? What we. call comorbidities. When that happens, there is a parabolic. rise in the ability to predict the. terminal end of somebody's life. We know. that for example. all human beings leave this earth the. same way. We actually all die of the. same thing. It's called hypoxia, lack of. oxygen to the brain. So when you can no. longer sustain enough oxygen to the. brain that you don't have brain. function, that's essentially the.
definition of death. And. we think of it as. uh. an event like a gunshot wound, a heart. attack, a bus, a stroke or. you know some other kind of event but. the truth is that. this is a predictable curve. Um we used. to uh use an underlying what we call the. hypoxic curve. How well is this person. managing oxygen or how poorly are they. managing oxygen? And once we were able. to predict that looking at red blood. cell counts, hemoglobin levels, hormone. levels, nutrient deficiencies, you can.
very accurately discern whether or not. somebody has a fighting chance of. getting out of their condition or that. condition, you know, uh resulting in. their demise. And. you know, two things were. very trying for me in that industry. One. was that. you know, I really began to realize that. it wasn't just data. There were human. beings on the other side of these. spreadsheets. But the second immensely obvious point. that came out of 20 years in that career. was that the majority of the reason why.
people are not living healthier, happier, longer, more fulfilling lives. is were because of things that we called. modifiable risk factors. Just simple changes that they could have. made to their daily routine that would. have materially changed the trajectory. of their life. In most cases, they had. to do with simple basic nutrients that. were missing from their body that were. causing the expression of disease. And, you know, anemias, D3 deficiencies, hormone imbalance, not because of their. endocrine system had a a particular.
disease or pathology, but because it was. nutrient deficient. And it became so. obvious to me that if I'd just been able. to pick up the phone. and call any number of these people, you. know, I could have could have. dramatically changed the trajectory of. their life. Wow. I mean, when I'm. hearing you talk about oxygen to the. brain, Mhm. which sounds so. obvious, but it's something that is. rarely articulated. Oxygen to the brain is not.
just gas entering the brain. You know, if you If you look at the molecular. structure of a lot of the states in the. brain that we talk about, Like if if if. you were to say uh to me, "What is a. mood? What is an emotional state?". Well, it's a collection of neurotransmitters, in most cases bound to oxygen. If you. look at the molecular structure of some. of these activated, deactivated. neurotransmitters or some of these the.
differences between different moods, elevated emotional states, passion, elation, joy, arousal, or suppressed. emotional states, anger, you know, vengeance, despair, you'd find that a. large reason, a large. difference between these two emotional. states is the presence of oxygen. You know, one one of the reasons why no. human being has ever woken up laughing. is because you don't have the oxidative. state to experience laughter. But can you wake up angry? Very easily. Mhm. Lower tier emotional. states do not require the presence of.
oxygen. And so, when you know, if you. want to do a fun experiment tonight, just just pinch your wife while she's in. a deep sleep. She will instantly wake up. angry, right? I I actually don't suggest that. And then I may laugh. But if you wanted her to laugh, right? If you wanted her to be joyous, um if. you wanted her to be elated, aroused, you you would have to, you know, wake. her up, improve the oxidative state, and. then allow those emotions to come in to. play. And and so, you know, I have a.
saying that the presence of oxygen is. the absence of disease. Mhm. And so, we know and you know very well because. you're you're you're in the space that. we feel emotion in an area of the brain. called the amygdala, right? Little two. little almonds. Um. And the fascinating thing about this. area of the brain where we experience. every emotional state that we we can. experience. If you're angry, you're. angry in the amygdala. If you're you're. you're you're elated, you're elated in. the amygdala area of the brain,
is that it is, according to MIT, the. sole gateway to the hippocampus, which. is where our memory is stored. And so, when you start thinking about. that from a physiological standpoint, you're like, "Well, the sole gateway to. the hippocampus is through the. amygdala." But when you start thinking. about it from a practical standpoint, then the sole gateway to our memory is. through our current emotional state. And if that's how we access memory, and. memory is what we draw upon, you know, our prefrontal cortex and our our our. consciousness, our future draws from our. memories, then if the amygdala is what.
accesses the the hippocampus part of the. brain and and taps into our memory, and. then our conscience pulls from our. memory, then this essentially means that. your current emotional state determines. your future. And I just feel like if we could improve. the capacity for people to experience. elevated emotional states for prolonged. periods of time, not like a heart. monitor, right? Because you find so many. people that are not in good.
physiological condition that are trying. to become in better emotional condition, right? Better mood. Um and. they're only able to reach these. emotional states for short periods of. time, like a like a heart monitor. So, um and they do all the right things. They wake up, they journal, they read. self-help motivational books, they go to. the right seminars, they try to. um. express gratitude, um even even fake. their way through it, but as soon as. they're done, that intentional focus.
drops back down into the state where. they most comfortably exist. And I. believe a lot of this has to do with the. oxidative state in the brain, and also. has to do with nutrient deficiencies, right? I mean, we every every emotion. that we can feel, every every mood that. we can experience is a collection of. neurotransmitters. As we have imbalances. and deficiencies in these, then we. cannot manufacture. the moods and the emotional states that. we that we really want to experience. And then we're told we have a mood. disorder um or a mental illness.
And and I think very often we just have. a lack of mental fitness. Mhm. you realize like the the happiest people. are the people that are moving the most. that have. the greatest sense of purpose and that. they're not necessarily the the world's. greatest biohackers, but they're eating. whole foods. Mhm. They're moving their body a lot. They have a sense of purpose. You look. at the blue zones and and some of the.
things that actually extend life. You. know, we would see this in the medical. record. Um Yeah, were those people. actually having some alcohol? Yeah. Were. those people actually having a little. bit of elevated LDL cholesterol? Sure. Um Did those people eat um sweets once. in a while? Yeah, they sure did. Um But. they moved on a consistent basis and. they had relationships and they had a. sense of purpose and for the most part. they ate whole foods and not any. particular type of whole food, not any. particular type of diet. It wasn't a. carnivore diet that extended their life.
It wasn't the keto diet that extended. their life. It wasn't the raw food vegan. diet that extended their life. It was. the whole food diet, you know, just. eating real whole foods. Um So I kind of. diverted there for a second, but. no, no. I get where you're going. Yeah. Sometimes my wife is like, "You just eat. people's face." And like, you know, so I. love it. you sit next to me on like a commercial. flight or something. Oh, yeah. I love. it. I love it. Just eat your face. how do we how do we how do we do that. though? Like how do we. get more oxygen to our brain? Like what. does that mean? What does that look. like? Well, I mean, we know that sedentary. lifestyle is the leading cause of all.
cause mortality, right? And why is. sedentary lifestyle the leading cause of. all cause mortality? We know that that. sitting is the new smoking. Well, we. know why smoking was bad for you, right? It destroyed the lungs. Um but uh and. then you know, that. the nicotine caused permanent lung. damage. And but it wasn't the really the. nicotine. It was the reduction in the. oxidative state. And when the body. doesn't have oxygen, it can't really. defend itself. I mean, if you actually. were to go in through the wall of a. cell, go through the cytoplasm, and and.
and find the little organelles floating. around in there called the mitochondria, which there's probably a thousand or so. per cell and 32 trillion cells, so it's. estimated we have 110 trillion. mitochondria. Uh about 10% of your body. weight are these little mitochondria. These are This is the. true energy source for human beings. And when cells become metabolically. sick, it usually begins in the. mitochondria, um including the genesis. of of of cancer and and forms of all.
kinds of different pathologies. So, when the mitochondria does not have. the right oxidative state, um you have a. 16-fold step down in its production of. energy. And what happens when you take, you. know, a 16-fold step down in the. energetic state of a cell is now that. cell can no longer eliminate waste, repair, detoxify, regenerate. And so, you're becoming metabolically sick, mainly because of the deficiency in. oxygen. It's not that linear, but that. is the main component. And sedentary.
lifestyle means that um. we have prolonged periods of where our. respiratory rate is very shallow. When. our respiratory rate's very shallow, the. majority of the air that we breathe in. and out is high in carbon dioxide, so. it's expelled air. I mean, right now, every time you let out a breath from the. tip of your nose and the front of your. lips, all the way down your esophagus, through the back of your pharynx, and. all the way down and out to the. bronchioles in your in your lungs, this. is all expired air. So, when you breathe. in and out, if it's very shallow, you're breathing in that repetitively.
expired air, and you're dropping that. oxidative state in the blood. You're. making the blood more acidic. You're. making it more hospitable to disease, um not alkaline and less hospitable and. not full of oxygen, which is energetic. And so, what are ways to get more oxygen? Obviously, things like breath work, just. simply moving your body. Give us Give us. one that So, I I love what you're saying. here because it's so fascinating to. understand that. the reason a shallow breath. is reducing our lifespan is because of.
this idea of just how much can get stuck. and lost in there. That's. changing in the gases. Yeah. And so, what are some breath work practices? Because I think what we don't realize. today is with everyone dealing with. anxiety, dealing with stress, dealing. with pressure, we're all subconsciously. breathing far more shallower. Mhm. And we're breathing quicker. Mhm. And so, we've got these shorter, quicker. breaths. And I think sometimes we're. doing it without knowing at all. What. are some great breath work practices. that you stand by there? So, you know, I don't have a breath work. practice that I that I take credit for.
I use a Wim Hof style of breath work. I. mean, you you could spend a lifetime. going and I and I encourage people to do. so. I mean, the lifetime going down the. the just the breath work avenue. You. there there's breath work to wake up, there's breath work to go to sleep. But. I think it's important, you know, as a. as a part of a really daily health. practice, longevity practice. See, you're just taking a deep breath now. Now I'm like now I'm like yeah. of suggestion. He's like. I'm saying. Yeah, I'm like yeah, let's. get really clear He's like I'm not dying. anytime soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not. going I'm not going down. I hope. everyone listening and watching is. taking a breath right now, too.
Everyone's like Everyone's doing the. same thing I'm doing, right? Yeah, they're they're doing it right now. They're Everyone's like counting how. long their breath is right now. The. truth is, you know, it's better to. breathe deeper and longer and less. frequently than it is to breathe more. shallow and less frequently. Um in fact, Wim Hof in some of his teachings will do. a very simple exercise where he'll say, "I just want you to look down at your. watch, and I want you to count the. number of times you breathe in and out. in the next minute.". And people will just they don't know. that they're actually being tricked. And. And what he's showing is that the.
majority of people are are are breathing. 15, 18, sometimes 20 breaths. in 60 seconds. And what this is showing you is if. you're breathing that frequently, you're. breathing that frequently because of the. very little amount of oxygen that you're. getting. And so you're breathing shallow. and your body body is trying to get more. oxygen. Then he says, "Okay, count the. number of breaths. in the next minute, I want you to only.
take four breaths. for the entire minute. One every 15. seconds. And you're going to breathe in. and you're going to pause and you're. going to breathe out. And so essentially what he's trying to. demonstrate is that in that same minute, four breaths. actually was equivalent to 15 or 18 or. 20 breaths in the same period of time, but they were four deep breaths. With as. we age, I read a statistic. I don't know. if there's any valid science behind this.
or not. I actually got hassled online. for for repeating this, but I read a. statistic that. after age 30, less than 95% of people. will ever sprint again. Oh, wow. I don't. know how much truth there is to that, but as I kind of just meander my way. through the world, I I I I have a. tendency to think that it's a you know. fairly close. And if it's not 95% of. people, maybe it's 70% of people, but. after age 30, and this means that we're. not using our auxiliary muscles of. respiration. We're not using our.
intercostals. We're not using our. diaphragm to massage our intestines. We're not correcting our posture and. getting, you know, air down into the. lobes of our lungs and out of the apex. of our lungs. And and so what Wim Hof. talks about is is. I do three rounds of 30 breaths. every morning. Takes about 8 minutes. There that is the one thing that I do. that I never ever ever ever miss. Three. rounds of 30 breaths that uh every. minute you're only taking four breaths? No, so no, so it's three rounds of 30. breaths. So.
the the one minute of four breaths was. just a way of showing you how you're. actually hyperventilating yourself. You're actually you know, if you're. taking 20 breaths in a minute or 15. breaths in a minute, those are really. short breaths. And which means that. you're not drawing in a lot of oxygen. And you made it through the next minute. breathing less than a quarter of the the. amount of time. And it just shows you. that it's because during those 15 or 18. breaths you use the apex of your lungs. During those four breaths you use the. lobes of your lungs where 2/3 of the. storage capacity is. And so it's just.
demonstrating that the fact that getting. oxygen deep into the lobes of our lungs. and into our bloodstream is a very very. healthy thing. And it not only elevates. your mood and your emotional state, but. it is the antithesis of disease. It can. actually even alkalize the blood. So I do three rounds of 30 breaths, obnoxiously deep breaths. And then exhale. And then on your 30th breath and you. exhale and you hold. as long as you can. When you start you.
might be holding your breath for 15. seconds, 20 seconds. After several. months of doing it because the the. oxygen tension will change, their. storage capacity changes. You'll be up to I'm up to almost 4. minutes now. So we can hold my breath. for 4 minutes between rounds. And you. want on that exhale, you want to build. carbon dioxide. You you that's the main. vasodilator in in the human body. It's. not nitrous oxide, it's carbon dioxide. The reason why we get vascular during. exercise is because of the carbon. dioxide traveling back to the lungs. Um. not necessarily because of the pressure.
So we want the carbon dioxide to build. up. We want that vasodilation and then. post vasodilation we take a nice. obnoxiously deep breath in. We let that air out. And we start again. It's like my coffee, my caffeine, my my. double espresso in the morning. I call. it my drug of choice because my body. craves it like a rat to cheese. So. within 30 minutes of waking every day, I'm finding a spot to do 30 minutes of. breath work. And the And the great thing. about it is number one, it's free. Number two, it's portable. Um you do it. in a hotel You sound a little weird. doing it in the hotel room or in.
airplane bathroom. Um you know, when I'm on long flights I. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go in the restroom. and do it. God only knows what they. think I'm doing in there. Cuz. about every. why wouldn't you do it in your seat? Well, um well, cuz it's like everybody. out there and I'm like. out, yeah. I don't I don't I don't want to the ring. the flight attendant call button and but. uh I was actually on a long flight from. Dubai um back to New York and and and. actually the. a few times ago when I was in LA, went. LA to. to Dubai on Emirates. And um and they got a big bathroom in.
the in the in the front of the plane. there and I just went in there and had. at it, you know. 25 air squats and then I would do 25. deep breaths, 25 air squats, 25 deep. breaths and I I could see the looks on. people's face when I came out of the. bathroom and I'm like, I feel great. And then and then every hour on the hour. I was going back in and doing the same. thing. I know they were thinking, "God, just give it a break. Give it a break, guy." They should build. a gym on planes. Yeah, uh they We need. to normalize gyms on planes. planes. Yo, somebody was actually. talking to me about that. My friend. Mikey Wang was talking to me about that.
the other day how he wants to put gyms. on planes. Take out the bar Yeah. Even. if you just put like some TRX bands um. or something, you know, where I I can't. I can't imagine a squat rack with some, you know, free weights, but um but what. a cool thing it would be if if the. business class section in the back, like. in Emirates, it's it's a bar back there. with a you know, with a cool TV and a. little lounge seats, but I I'd love for. them to put some eyelets around and just. throw up some TRX bands. I would I would be back there doing. I In fact, I had a whole group of people.
in the back of the planes, about 12 or. 13 of us last time on my way to Dubai um. and I convinced everybody to do breath. work and we all sat in a big circle on. the back of that uh. Airbus and uh and did breath work for. like 20 minutes. It was amazing. Gary, what's that I want to go back to. something you said earlier. What's the. relationship between mental health and. vitamin deficiencies? Well, if you look. at um I don't think this is talked about. enough. I don't think it's talked about. enough, either. Um you know, when we. talk about mental health and lack of. mental fitness, you know, so many mental.
health disorders are in my opinion. poorly understood. They are defined one. way and treated a different way. I just. had Dr. Palmer from from uh. um from Harvard on my podcast. It was. fascinating how he was treating and he's. a board-certified psychiatrist, an MD, and a Harvard professor. And and he's. treating some of the most drug-resistant. psychiatric illnesses. And I'm talking about the most awful of. psychiatric illnesses, you know, paranoid schizophrenia, the the the the. conditions where people are literally.
tortured inside their own head, voices, what have you. And they're. drug-resistant and he treated them with. um supplements and ketogenic diets. And. again, I'm not trying to oversimplify, you know, mental health by any means in. saying if you're suffering from severe. depression, just get on the ketogenic. diet. That's not at all what I'm saying. But if you look at the if you keep. digging in and you say, "Okay, what is a. mood? What is an emotional state?" Um these. are collections of neurotransmitters. They're recipes, right? Um What is.
anxiety? It's an excess, it's an. elevation of a category of. neurotransmitters called catecholamines. So if catecholamines rise in your brain, you will feel fearful. You will actually. feel the presence of a fear without the. presence of a fear. And when we. understand that the brain can play. tricks on us because it truly doesn't. know the difference between perception. and reality. You know, I use the example. that if you drove home tonight and you. got out of your car and somebody was. standing in front of you with a knife. Um very real fear, right? You're you. would begin to have a fight or flight. response. Pupils would dilate, heart.
rate would increase, your extremities. would flood with blood. But you could also be in your place here. and we're very high on the mountain in. LA. Um and you could be laying in your. bed tonight and you could start thinking. about getting eaten by a shark. You know. that the chances of a shark getting out. of the Pacific Ocean and making it up. there, right? That you're you guys even. if you had an Uber. Um when we are are. are virtually zero, but you could have. the exact same reaction. How is it that I could have the same to. the presence of a real fears and. entirely imagined fear? Because at their.
core, at the hub where all these spokes. meet, it's the same thing. It's a rise. in catecholamines. So, if we know fear can be born from a. rise in catecholamines, then we know. anxiety and anxiousness can be from a. rise in catecholamines. This is why so. many people that have anxiety or. experience anxiousness. very often will say, "I've had it on and. off throughout my entire lifetime and I. cannot point to the specific trigger. that causes it." They could be sitting. on a podcast like we are right now, very.
calm, their staff around, nothing to be. afraid of, and all of a sudden become. overwhelmed with anxiety. So, um and then we take it a a step further. and we say, "Well, where do these. neurotransmitters come from? How do we. make neurotransmitters?" Well, the. majority of these are made in the gut. Um serotonin, for example, is methylated. in the gut. We take a simple amino acid. called tryptophan, we methylate it into. the neurotransmitter serotonin, it. travels up the vagus nerve, and it. creates a mood. We take phenylalanine. and tyrosine and we turn those into. dopamine, the main driver of behavior.
So, if we know that mood and behavior. driven by neurotransmitters. that are derived from amino acids, then. why isn't it possible that deficiencies. in amino acids could give rise to. deficiencies in neurotransmitters which. could then be interpreted as as a mental. illness? And. again, I'm not trying to oversimplify. mental illness by any by any means. I. believe in therapy. I also. believe that, you know, meds do work in. in in many cases. But, um.
why wouldn't we start first, if we. define, for example, depression as an. inadequate supply of serotonin, then why. are we not trying to raise the level of. serotonin? If we define some addictive. tendencies as an inadequate supply of. dopamine, the absence of dopamine is the. presence of addiction. One of the. reasons why addiction has a tendency to. shift is because we never treat the. dopamine deficiency, We only treat the. physical addiction, right? So, these are. why drug addicts become alcoholics, alcoholics become workaholics, workaholics become workaholics. Um.
you know, you shift one addiction for. another because that deficiency in. dopamine drives you to feel want to feel. normal. And And this is. where I believe most addiction starts is. the search for normalcy, not the search. for a high. Right? I don't believe that. most most addicts woke up one day and. said, "I want to get really banged up.". They woke up one day and said, "I want. to feel normal." Yeah, or numb. Or numb. Numb, yeah. Yeah. And in the search for. that numbness or the search for that. normalcy, whether it was alcohol or nicotine or.
promiscuity or what have you, um. they felt that that either that numbness. or that sense of normalcy. And then the addiction grew from that. And so they they were then running from. a low, not running towards a high. And. this is one of the reasons why I have so. much empathy for people that are trapped. in the cycle of addiction. And I think. that more addictive therapy needs to. address these dopamine deficiencies. But. now we're getting down to the the. possibility that um nutrient.
deficiencies could give rise to. neurotransmitter deficiencies that could. give rise to. states of mental instability. And then. we label this mental illness. You have. ADD, ADHD, you have OCD, you have manic. depression, you have bipolar, you have. schizophrenia, you have um generalized. anxiety, you have generalized. depression, which. I personally think are are nonsense. But. again, I'm not attacking the mental. health profession. When you deprive the. human body of certain raw materials, you. get the expression of disease. And we accept this in so many different.
areas of medicine, but we don't really. accept it in mental illness. Right? I. mean, how how is a leading. PhD from Harvard having success treating. drug-resistant mental illness with diet? Because it's not the diets, the. nutrients that they were deficient in. Um. and how is it that people that. experience. high rates of anxiety and anxiousness. and attention deficit disorder or. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. can sometimes do something as simple as.
take a methylated multivitamin. and experience a dramatic reduction in. their symptoms because nutrients matter. The human being such a. human body such a fascinating machine. You know, it's. the more you. you study human physiology, the more you. you believe in God because. there's no way that this was just. assembled by accident or by chance over. time, right? I don't care how much time you give to. bacteria in a mud puddle. You're never.
going to get a human being out of it. And the intelligence with which it's. designed, how one raw material enters a. cycle, it gets used, it creates waste, and then that waste is is accepted and. taken into another cycle and it's and. it's utilized and it's like one man's. trash is another man's treasure and. cellular metabolism is so fascinating. because one amino acid enters a cycle. and it gets converted into something. completely different. Homocysteine gets. gets metabolized into methionine. Homocysteine then can be one of the most. inflammatory compounds in the human.
body. This gets metabolized into. methionine which then goes up into the. mind and quiets the mind by by. dismantling by by by essentially. downregulating catecholamines, these. fight or flight neurotransmitters. So, puts people into a calm state of being. calm. So, then you start to understand, well, the majority of people that have. sleep disturbance have one or two types. of sleep patterns. They are either lay. down to go to sleep, body tired, and they are mind awake. So, when their environment quiets, their.
mind wakes up. Why does the mind wake up. when the environment quiets? Because you. have excess catecholamines in the brain. There's a there's a gene mutation called. COMT, c o m t, catechol-O-methyltransferase. It's a fancy way of saying the the gene. that codes for the enzyme that that. breaks down this class of. neurotransmitters, that down regulates. them. Well, let's say that this gene. mutation, you have this and and and you. have an impaired ability to down. regulate catecholamines. That doesn't. sound like a big deal until you realize.
that catecholamines create a weakened. state in the brain. And so, this. weakened state usually happens at night. and somebody will lay there and they. will just think about the most innocuous. little thoughts while they are. exhausted. They're just like, "Did I get. everything on my grocery list? Did my. belt match my shoes?" We changed the. Juni label to fuchsia from dark blue, you know. And you're like, "Why am I. thinking about this at 2:30 in the. morning?" Right? Or you get up to use. the restroom and you go back to bed and. you lay there and your mind's awake. And.
so, you don't have a sleep disorder. You. don't have a mental disorder. You don't. have generalized anxiety. You don't have. a mood disorder. You have excess. catecholamines in the brain. And very often these can be. down-regulated very simply with. complexes of B vitamins, methylated. B12, methylfolate, the raw material that. the body needs to down-regulate these. And by by not giving the body the raw. material, we get this expression of. disease and then we say this person has.
this condition. You know, I tell the same story all the time a lot. about when I was in grad school and I. took these these plant botany courses. Which which I didn't like to take. because I wanted to get a human biology. degree and I had to study algae. It. wasn't. wasn't super interesting to me. That's what was so interesting about. biology growing up. I I remember there's. so many subjects now where I'm like, if. I knew that neuroscience was a part of, you know, looking at biology and so many. other things, I would have been. fascinated by it. But learning about.
plant biology, I didn't care. Yeah, me. too. I I really could have cared less. about plant biology. But and then, you. know, and then you have to study a rock. strata and and you know, fossil lineages. and all this other kind of stuff and I'm. like, who who makes a career out of. that, you know? It makes sense. Um, but uh but you can. actually get a degree in degree in. traffic management, too. So, I guess. that that I'd rather study rocks than. traffic. No offense to the traffic experts out. there. You guys are. killing it. But, um uh.
But, you know, if when you when when you. start to realize that. I'm just going to laugh you out of here. We cut that out cuz they're going to be. like, what an You know, I just. cracked up. Just lost half your audience right. there. Like, don't don't offend the. traffic guys, dude. Somebody's got to. figure out when these lights go on and. off. Um God, sorry. I got. So. I I I'm just having a good time. I I I'm having a good time, too, but I. mean, I don't know how how we got down. that road, but I mean, in any case, you.
know, when you when when you're studying. plants. All right, go ahead. Go, go. I don't. know why that's so funny. Hopefully you hopefully your listeners. think it's so funny, but when you're. studying plants. it. And you we'll cut it. Maybe we. should leave it in, actually. I kind of. like it. Um you you don't think you have. a lot of traffic experts who listen to. the podcast. No, probably probably a. very low you you probably lose two. followers on that. It's worth it. You know, if you if you. have a leaf that's rotting in the top of. your palm tree. and you call a true arborist, a true.
botanist down to your house and you. know, they'll look at that leaf and they. won't touch the leaf. They won't even. touch the tree. They'll core test the. soil. And they'll say, "You know what, Jay? There's no nitrogen. in this soil.". And they'll add nitrogen to the soil and. the leaf will heal. We stopped thinking about human beings. this way. We go very quickly to. chemicals and synthetics, pharmaceuticals as a way to solve. potential nutrient deficiencies in the. human body. And we're fascinating machines like.
plants. And when if you didn't add. nitrogen to that soil, all of the things that were good for. that plant um would have done nothing. Right? You're like, "Well, maybe we. should water it. Water's great for. plants." Well, you need to put water on. there and nothing happens. Maybe we. should add sulfur. Sulfur's great for. plants. And you and you put sulfur. You. put peat moss on there. And you're like, "Peat moss is great for plants.". And this happens in human beings, too. We don't get data. So, we actually never. find the nitrogen. We never find the raw. material that's actually missing that's.
causing the expression of disease. And. this is how most people wander their way. through their supplement routine. They. they get. they get lost in the myriad of great. supplements. And they start supplementing for the. sake of supplementing. Well, is NMN. good? Yeah, it's great. It raises NAD. levels. Um is resveratrol good? Yeah, it. can lengthen telomeres. Is St. John's. wort good? Is ashwagandha good? Is. supplemental good? Should I take CoQ10? I mean, you you can make an argument for. all of these different things that we. could supplement with.
But, unlike the missing raw material, like the missing nitrogen in the soil, if you don't find the deficiency, none. of that matters. And that's why I tell people that they. should get data on their body. You know, there's 74 biomarkers that I look at in. the blood. They're right up on my. Instagram. If anybody wants to take. those biomarkers off my Instagram, take. them to your doctor, your your health. care practitioner and say, "Hey, will. you look at these in my blood?" And have. your doctor interpret those. That's a. great place to start. I put the the the. genes that I think are the most. impactful for mental health, and for gut.
health, and for mood, and for anxiety, and for quieting the mind, and for and. the the research that I've I've been. able to uncover on ADD and ADHD, and. poor sleep, um and poor focus and. concentration. And you could take those. five genes, and you can um you know, find a genetic methylation uh counselor, or find a place to get a genetic. methylation test, and get data. So, that. you go, you know, like you were telling. me what but when we sat down before the. podcast, you were telling me where you. go to get your blood work done. Mhm. That's great because you're getting.
data. You're not just aimlessly. wandering around going, "I don't know if. I feel good. I don't know if I feel. normal. I don't know if I could feel. better. I don't know if maybe some of. the little nagging things that are going. on in my life." And I don't know if you. have any, but Of course. Of course. Yeah, I mean, I'm not sleeping as good. as I could. I know I'm not working out. And I don't have a response to exercise. like I want it. I feel like my focus is. off, you know, I My waking energy is a. little low. I was going to ask you. actually about that because I think a. lot of people feel and and I want to. talk about some of the symptoms that I. hear from our community, our audience,
what people feel, and to get your take. on how to combat that. So, one of the. biggest things I hear from people is, "Jay, I'm just feeling brain fog." All. right? "I'm just feeling like I have no. clarity. Like I struggle to make. decisions. I'm feeling a sense of low. energy. And so, like I'm lethargic.". Like these are very common things. So, with brain fog, what's going on there? Well, I mean, everything that you um. feel about energy, like when you say, "I. don't have I'm low on energy.". Physiologically, what you're saying is.
I'm low on oxygen in my blood. Because. everything that you perceive about. energy is nothing more than oxygen in. your blood. So, if oxygen equals energy, which it does, then if I want to raise. your energy level, I need to improve the. oxidative state. And how do I do that? Well, one of the ways, and I'm not. saying this is the only way, but one of. the physiologic pathways is um if we. know energy equals oxygen, then we take. it a step further and we say, "Well, um. what carries oxygen around the human. body?" Well, red blood cell carries. oxygen inside of a fluid, and I'm. simplifying for you ultra-woke.
biohackers, but the. you know, the red blood cell carries. oxygen inside of a fluid called. hemoglobin. So, if I'm low on red blood. cells, right? I'm low on vehicles to carry. oxygen. If those red blood cells are. further deficient in hemoglobin, then. the few cells that I have that are able. to carry oxygen and less fluid to carry. oxygen, therefore I'm hypoxic and it. hides in plain sight. So then the. question becomes where where are red. blood cells and hemoglobin made? Well, they're made in the bone marrow. So, how.
do I get the bone marrow to make more. red blood cells and hemoglobin? I go to. the bone marrow's boss, um which is the. hormone testosterone. Um in men and women, uh one of the one. of the roles of testosterone is. erythropoiesis to put pressure on the. bone marrow to make new red blood cells. And in nearly every case where we see. clinically deficient levels of this. hormone, testosterone, free. testosterone, we see red blood cells and hemoglobin. towards the low end of the range. And. then you look at well, what is.
testosterone made from? Well, I mean. it's made from several things, but. largely from DHEA. So, if I'm deficient. DHEA, I should get that fixed. And and. and what is the next macronutrient below. DHEA? Vitamin D3. So, you go oxygen, red blood cells, bone marrow, hormone. testosterone, DHEA, D3. So, if you start. in the root and you raise your D3 level. to the optimal functional functional. range, which I think most practitioners. would agree is between 60 and 80.
And then you raise your DHEA into the. optimal range and you wait to see if. your hormones respond. Um and if your. testosterone rises, especially your free. testosterone rises, your red blood cell. count and hemoglobin will go up. As your. red blood cell count and hemoglobin. level rise, the amount of oxygen that. you transport in your blood will rise. and you will perceive that as more. energy. You will perceive that as. improved focus and concentration and. your sleep will deepen. Why? Because in. low respiratory states, when our. respiratory rate gets very shallow, um.
we want our blood to be very good at. carrying oxygen. Because if you're. already poorly transporting oxygen and. then you try to get into a deep sleep. and your respiratory rate drops and you. get to where you are hypoxic, your brain will wake you up. Mhm. It. will wake you up by pulsing cortisol. And so, you people that have that are. exhausted sleep the worst. And ask a. physician sometime, why is it that. people that are the most exhausted sleep.
the worst? They very rarely connect the. fact that they're low on oxygen, which. is why they're tired and have brain fog. And they're low on oxygen, which is why. they're not sleeping because their brain. is. waking them up. And then they do the. worst thing, they go to their doctor and. they go, I can't sleep. And so then the doctor suggests. something like a zolpidem nitrate, diazepam, you know, um Lunesta, Ambien. And and essentially they tranquilize. you. And. and what's happening when you take a lot. of these sleep medications, not all of. them, but when you take a lot of these.
sleep medications is you're in a low. oxidative state. So your brain's trying. to save your life and wake you up. Um. and then you take a sleep medication and. you block the brain's view of blood. oxygen. So now the brain. can't isn't able to try to save your. life and wake you up. And so now you get into a deep sleep and. then you wake up the next morning and. you go, man, I hate taking Tylenol PM. because it is. I am so groggy. Um it's still in my. system the next morning. That's actually. not true. That that drug's been out of. your system for hours. You are feeling.
the effects of having suffocated for 6. hours. And so suffocating yourself to sleep and. then and then now you've slept. but you get up from the sleep medication. and you are still exhausted and you. still have brain fog. So there are other. potential causes, but but, you know, that is the one the one the one nice. thing about the clinics that we have is, you know, we see 20,000 new new gene. test patients a month. Um we see. thousands of new blood test patients a.
month. Um so we do we do have a. voluminous pulls of data. And some might. say, well, it's it's never been put. through a randomized clinical trial, but. it's an it's attempt to but it's. actually not anecdotal. When you see. pulls of data as large as we see them, um you know, you can say, "Listen, if. you have if you are clinically deficient. in free testosterone, you are very. likely to have low red blood cell. count." The reason why people feel so. good when they get on hormones or when.
they supplement and their hormones. return to the normal range is because. the effect of those hormones returning. to the normal range reoxidizes the the. blood for for lack of a word. Brain fog is. has to do with um access. You know, it's. like in in in in in the disease. Alzheimer's, you know, it's it's not so. much that people are losing their. memory, it's that they're losing access. to their memory, right? Um and in the. early stages access can be re- restored. There's a significant difference between.
the memory actually fading, which it. doesn't in later stages, and access to. the memory fading. So, the oxidative state of the body is. very important, which is why I I think. people really need to get data. If your. hormones are in the optimal range, you're you're you're not nutrient. deficient. Um you're not insulin. resistant. I'm not saying that your. blood labs need to be perfect, but by. dialing in a few markers in your your. hormone levels, in your nutrient levels, you can live a dramatically different. life. And in the majority of cases, probably.
70% of the cases, people that qualify to. be on hormone therapy don't even need. hormones. They need the nutrients to. make hormones. And that to me is really exciting. You. mean I could just be deficient in. something like DHEA, like D3, or I could. have an elevated protein like SHBG, and. I could I could take something simple. like boron and and lower that and raise. my hormones and feel a lot better? Yes. I'm not saying that you have to go and. get on hormone injections by any means, but I am saying that you need to get. data on the deficiency so that you can.
drive a state of being optimal because. so many people that. um I work with will will call me and. like, you know, weeks into our journey. and say, "Oh my god, Carrie, I feel. amazing.". Um including like Dana White, and I'm. like, "You know, you really don't feel. amazing.". And they're like, "What?". I say, "You feel normal." Right? That's. how normal supposed to feel. Yeah. You're really supposed to feel that. good, right? We're not used to that, though. We're not used to that. Yeah. I was going to ask you, what what.
does it feel like? Have you worked in. your clinics with. women preparing to give birth and then. post giving birth? Yes, quite a bit. In. fact, our clinic director is a board. certified. OB/GYN. She's a gynecological surgeon. She's got a double masters. Cuz I feel. like that journey we still don't talk. enough about how challenging it is on. the human biology. Oh, yeah, it's it's it's. very challenging. I mean, if you look at. a woman's, you know, what happens during a woman's menstrual. cycle and you look at what happens when. she becomes pregnant, it's perfectly.
normal during regular regular cyclical. periods of her cycle for her estrogen to. be as high as, you know, in the 400s, perfectly normal for it to be in the. teens, so it has a very large frequency, you know, rise and fall depending on. where she is in the cycle. Soon she. becomes pregnant, you know, estrogen. goes into the 4000s. Um mainly because, you know, one of. estrogen's primary role is to retain. water. to pad the uterus and and protect. protect the fetus. It has other other. roles, but it retains water. But.
postpartum, you don't want to be estrogen dominant. And you know, it's it's not necessarily. for for women especially the the level. of hormone, it is the ratio of hormones. in their body. And, you know, Dr. Sarris, who's who's our OB/GYN, is. phenomenal about pre- and post-partum. care. Um she's an enormous believer that. certain gene mutations like MTHFR, which. increase the frequency of of.
miscarriage. She delivered 9,000 babies, so she's very qualified to speak on. that. Um that the gene mutation that is. one of the most common gene mutations in. the world, the MTHFR. it do? It stands for methylene. tetrahydrofolate reductase. And it's the. gene that that codes for the conversion. of folic acid and its derivatives like. folate. into the usable form called. methylfolate. And this is what I mean. and and and and we have a process in the. body called methylation, which is where. we take one raw material,
which is. useless, folic acid, for example, entirely useless in human bodies. Folic. acid does not prevent neural tube. defects. It doesn't prevent anything. until it is converted into methylfolate. So, what if your body can't make this. conversion? Well, it might not sound. like a big deal until you realize it. Number one, it's the most common gene. mutation in the world. And number two, folic acid is the most prevalent. nutrient in the human diet in the United. States. So, if you have an issue converting the. most prevalent nutrient in the human.
diet into the form that your body can. use, you have a significant deficiency. And the expression of this deficiency is. increase in the number of miscarriages, um um infertility, a difficulty in. getting um pregnant. I'm just talking. about in the female cycle. Um postpartum depression, which can. actually begin before the pregnancy. ends. We call it postpartum depression, but very often it begins during the. pregnancy. And women that have this. MTHFR gene mutation, the first thing.
they're told when they get pregnant by. their OBGYN is to take high doses of. folic acid. Well, if you put 1,400%. of the daily allowance of folic acid. into somebody, a woman like that, who. has that gene mutation and cannot. process it, that is a disaster. And she. develops postpartum depression before. the pregnancy ends. And um eventually, when the pregnancy ends, she stops. taking the prenatal vitamin and the. symptoms go away. And so she blames it on the pregnancy, not on the vitamin.
And this is another, you know, pandemic. that we see is that pregnant women, all. of them could use methylfolate. Less. than 60% of them can use. folic acid. So why don't we just give. women. methylfolate? Why don't we actually just. give them the form that would. that their that their body can use? By. the way, folic acid also is is a. man-made chemical. You can't find folic. acid anywhere on the surface of the. earth. It does not occur naturally in. nature. So someone convince me how.
you know, a synthetic chemical that we. make in a laboratory is somehow. necessary for optimal health. Yeah, it's it's bizarre, isn't it? be. Yeah. You know? Wasn't even around, I don't think, until 1993 or so. What. did we do before that? Just suffer? Um so I'm a huge believer. that. um. you know, getting back to the basics. is really the gateway to optimal health. How do you know if you have that. mutation and what do you do with it? You. do it a genetic cheek swab.
So there's a cheek swab test. You swab. your cheek, usually put it in a test. tube, you send it to the lab and they'll. send you back the results. Even 23andMe. I do I do genetic tests at. 10X Health. You do not have to do the. test through me, but you know, we do. 20,000 of these a month. I'm sure 23andMe does something similar. to that. But you also get a lot, depending on the type of genetic test. you do, you'll get a lot of. non-actionable data. Right? I mean like. if I pulled your entire genetic code, I. could see that you have.
dark olive skin, you have green eyes, you have brown hair, you have detached. earlobes, but there's nothing you can do. with that genetic information. You want You want to look at the genes. responsible for converting raw material, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, into. the usable form. I I I always use the analogy that we we. pull crude oil out of the ground, right? But you cannot put crude oil into your. gas tank. The car doesn't understand. that fuel source. Crude oil has to be. refined into gasoline. Now the car can.
run. Human beings are no different. We. put vitamins, minerals, amino acids, nutrients, all proteins into the body, which are useless in that state until. they are converted into the gasoline, into the form that the body can use. And. this is governed by several of our. genes, and they're very easy to look at. You only do that test once in your. lifetime. That's fantastic. Thank you. for that. Mhm. I think that's going to help a lot. of people listening or watching because. I feel like. when we're thinking about. when people are planning for kids or. have had kids and they're struggling,
and again, I think we all do this, and. that's why I'm so glad we're talking. about this because. I think the first thing we blame is our. mind. That's the first thing we all do is we. judge ourselves, and we go, "I'm not. strong enough. I'm too weak. I'm. mentally not there. I'm not figuring it. out. There's something wrong with me.". Right. But we're not looking at the fact. that let me actually take a look at what. is wrong, and which part of it, and. where is it gone wrong. Yeah. You know, you know what I think we. try to do, I mean, just naturally, instinctively, is.
when we don't feel good, or something. seems to be going wrong in our bodies, we're anxious, we're worried, we're. depressed, um. or there's something more physical, we're bloated, we're constipated, we're. irritable, we got cramps, um we're. fatigued, we begin to look at our. outside environment, right? We look at. what's called a cluster of symptoms. And. a cluster of symptoms is very often. nonsense. We diagnosed Abraham Lincoln. with a di- you know, depression 150. years ago with a cluster of symptoms. We. do the same kind of diagnostic, we use. the similar diagnostic tools today. What. if you considered that it's not.
something happening to you, it's. something happening within you? Mhm. Right? Like that leaf that was rotting. in the palm tree, nothing happened to. it. Something happened within the soil. that then caused something to happen. within the tree, which translated to. that leaf. And I I always use that. example because it starts people. thinking that you know what, maybe I'm. not as sick or pathological diseased or. mentally ill as as I think. Um, you. know, people very often that suffer from. gut issues, I mean we see this thousands.
and thousands of times. So, they're like. to get gas or bloating or diarrhea or. constipation or irritability or. cramping. And they are always trying to relate it. to what they last ate. Because that makes sense, right? I ate. something and now I blew up like a tick. It must have been what I ate. But you. you may not be considering that if. you're deficient in methylfolate, for. example, a very simple nutrient, that the peristaltic activity of the gut. is off. So, the pace of the gut is off. You know, you you can think of the human.
intestinal tract as a 30-ft long. conveyor belt. You put contents on it at. one end and as it traverses to the other. end from the stomach to the rectum, there's a very specific sequence of. events that needs to occur. There's. acidic bacteria in the proximal end of. the small intestine. There's there's. alkaline bacteria in the distal end near. the rectum. What if you just change the pace. of that conveyor belt? What if you went. into any factory in America that works. on a conveyor belt system and double the. speed of the conveyor belt? The whole. line would break down. What if you went into any factory in.
America and reverse the speed of. conveyor belt? The whole line would break down. But. there's nothing wrong with the conveyor. belt. And so, you know, it sends people down the wrong. road because they're like, well, should. I get my gut bacteria checked? Should I. get my gut gut biome looked at? Should I. start taking probiotics? Should I. maybe take a you know, antibiotics? And. maybe may I have SIBO? Should I change. up my diet? And and nothing really seems. to work because if they think it's. something happening to them rather than.
something happening within them. And this happens very often with anxiety. with you know, people that suffer from. anxiety. generally have the the three. characteristics. Generally, if you'll ask them, "Have. you had it on and off throughout your. entire lifetime?" They'll say, "Yes.". Um, "Can you point to the specific that. trigger that causes it?" "No.". "Have any anxiety medications helped. you?" "No, they just make me feel like a. zombie." Those are very commonly the. same sequence of answers. So So that's.
That is not something happening to you. That's something happening within you. If I ask you if you have anxiety and you. go, "Yes, I'm afraid of heights and. every time I walk to the edge of a 30th. floor balcony, I freak out." "Yes, I'm. claustrophobic when I step on a crowded. elevator, I really get anxious." But if. you say, "Yes." Okay, well, what causes it? I. don't know. What makes it come and go? Pretty much anything. Um, you know, have. you had it on and off throughout your. lifetime? Yes. Then this is a sign that. this is a genetic.
mutation that's led to a deficiency. that's causing the expression of that. condition. We very rarely pass disease. from generation to generation. We do. pass deficiency. We pass these genes. that that. are either broken or operating. And when. they're. broken, for lack of better words, these. gene snips, the body has an inability to convert a. certain raw material into the usable. form. Which means that this deficiency. is passed from generation to generation,
right? So an an a deficiency in the. ability to. downregulate um homocysteine means that. you get the expression of hypertension. So you see that hypertension runs in. these families, even though there's not. a hypertension gene. You see that the inability to convert. thyroid hormone T4 into thyroid hormone. T3, which is a deiodination process in. the in the in the liver and the gut and. the periphery, that this process is is impaired. So So. people have hypothyroid, but the.
hypothyroid runs in family. So but. there's no. specific hypothyroid gene. And you And. you could go through dozens and dozens. and dozens of. cases like this. We accept that things. are inherited or familial because they. run in our family. Not because. we consider that the deficiency may run. in our family and the deficiency can be. fixed. Two more things I want to ask you, Gary. I want to get your thoughts on this.
Tap water. What is wrong with tap water? And what is wrong with plastic bottles? We'll start with tap water. I mean. there are. two or three things that I think that. everybody should get out of their life, permanently out of their life. Tap water. is definitely one of them. And the. reason for this is that um it contains, you know, high amounts of fluoride, contains high amounts of chlorine. It. also contains microplastics. Um. very often now it contains high levels. of glyphosates and and even. pharmaceuticals, um which are very hard.
to filter out of out of the water. And you know, we have to decide if we. want to filter things before they get to. the temple. Or the temple's doing the. filtering. Let the temple be the filter. Um. and what's astounding to me is if you. ask just about anyone, what's the most. important thing to you, your business or. your health? They'll always say their. health. What's more important to you, money or your health? It's always their health. But when you just take one step further, and I do this with entrepreneurs all the. time. I was actually at a.
uh. an an event this week with uh. Daymond John and then it was. high level It was Tuesday night, but. Yeah, I was meant to be there. Oh, you were? I was traveling, yeah. I. couldn't be. Oh, okay. And this isn't to. pick on Daymond. He's a very good friend. of mine. I love Daymond. He's done a lot. for me and he's um and he's just an. incredible entrepreneur and uh he's been. a very, very good friend to me, but we. were. um in a room with um you know, entrepreneurs. And. if you went around that room and we. asked several of them, what's more. important to you, your business or your.
health? And they'd say, my health. Um. But then you bring them up. And you say. um. Well, you know, how much money did your. business make last month? $628,000. Um what was your net income? $142,400. How many employees do you have? Um 17. What's your hemoglobin A1C? Blank. Right, what is your. What are your testosterone levels? Blank. Right, so.
So true. We. our. intention is to put our health first, but our activity is is is very. different, right? And and I could have. asked them 15 more questions about their. income statement, their balance sheet, their P&L, their best marketing. strategy, where they're getting the ROI, what their you know, what their best. return is on Facebook ads or any number. of other things and they would have hit. every one of those metrics. Don't know. if they have a clinical deficiency in. vitamin D3 or not. They don't even have the most basic of. information. And so this goes back to you know, we we.
we need to put up an imaginary fence. around ourselves and start filtering. things before they make it to the. temple. Just consciously being. intentional about what we're letting. into the temple. It's very easy for me. to look at food and say um are you going. to serve me Mhm. or are you going to. steal from me? Mhm. Cuz if you're going. to steal from me, I'm not going to let. you into the temple. You wouldn't. knowingly let a thief into your house, right? And so tap water is one of these. things. Um you know, there are.
um fluoride uh which we know is. neurotoxic. And if you don't believe. fluoride is neurotoxic, just find a. you know, just find a uh. you know, a fluoride toothpaste uh label. in your house. If you're using Crest or. Colgate. or any toothpaste with fluoride and flip. it over and look at the back cuz there's. a required FDA warning on there and it. says if more than an amount used for. brushing is swallowed, contact poison. control immediately. It also says keep out of reach of. children um under 6 years of age. Um and. it also says do not use more than a.
pea-sized amount. So, if you swallow. more than a pea-sized amount of fluoride. toothpaste, you are supposed to contact. poison control immediately. You will get. four times that amount of fluoride in. six 8-oz glasses of water. So, why. wouldn't I call poison control at the. end of every day when I'm drinking six. 8-oz glasses of water? Have one. According to the previous disclosure, I. should call poison control at the end of. every day and let them know I've been. micro poisoned. There is a um an. interesting um uh study that was. published by the National Toxicology. Program in in in March of 2023. And they.
they were able to pull this data. um from the CDC through a through a. Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. And what it found was in 52 of the 54 uh. uh. studies that they reviewed. and in nearly every municipality in. America that had fluoridated water, they. found an inverse relationship between IQ. and fluoride. So, in other words, as. fluoride went up, IQ went down. So, the more fluoride in the water, the. lower the pre-pubescent IQ.
And if that's not enough data, ask We. have to ask ourselves, well, where does. fluoride come from? Well, fluoride is fluorosilicic acid. Fluorosilicic acid is a byproduct of. phosphate fertilizer production. It's. also a byproduct of aluminum production, but the majority of the fluoride that we. use in municipal water supplies comes. from phosphate fertilizer production. It. is the waste from phosphate fertilizer. production because if we leave it in. in phosphate fertilizer, it burns the. root of plant. And actually, so.
so, we can't keep it in cuz it kills the. plant. So, we take it out and we have a. big stockpile of fluorosilicic acid. So, what are we going to do with it? Well, let's dump it into the municipal water. supply because there is marginal. and I would call it weak. evidence that we can remineralize. the enamel. with fluoride and stop tooth decay, which you can also do with. hydroxyapatite and other things that are. safe. And um so we dump this into the water. supply, but now the evidence is clear. that this neurotoxin in small doses over.
time, it's not the dosage determining. the poison, it is the cumulative dosage. determining the poison. Um and and you. one of the challenges that I find with a. lot of governmental regulatory. guidelines is that there are safe levels. of mercury, right? There are safe levels. of fluoride, there are safe levels of. cyanide. Um. but our bodies clear these at different. levels. Nobody got mercury poisoning. from one piece of tuna fish, right? They. got mercury poisoning because they ate, you know, small doses of mercury over. prolonged period of time. So fluoride is.
one of those things, tap water is. definitely one of those things to. permanently get out of your life. I use. something called an an Echo water. filter. And uh it's a four-stage RO filter and. then it actually adds. um. hydrogen uh to to the water on the way. out. Um and because the water is. demineralized, I just remineralize it. with a with a salt called Baja Gold. Salt, but you could also use Celtic Sea. Salt. I like the Baja Gold because it. has all 91 trace minerals and they test.
it for microplastics and whatnot, but at. just about every grocery store chain in. the world has Celtic Salt. So you get. four-stage RO filter your water, add. Celtic or Baja Gold Sea Salt to your. water to remineralize it. Um. and you're covering the bases of of not. missing one of the 91 nutrients, 16 of. which are essential for human function. Amazing. So what a great answer. I'm. hoping no one please stop drinking tap. water today. Yeah, yeah, please. It's it is the worst. thing in the world. to the, you know, Yeah, daily call to.
poison control. Yeah, poison control. I mean, that is. like, you know, you just think about. just these things that we're so. conditioned to do on a daily basis and. we're like, "Oh, this doesn't mean I. don't feel any different." And then it. just adds up and accumulates. Why would. I want to put something into my mouth. consciously that if I swallow it, that. to call the poison control center for. it? And then you think, "Well, how much is being absorbed in my gums? How much You know, the thinnest skin in. the body in your body is in the floor of. your mouth." And it is fraught with. blood vessels. One of the best delivery. mechanisms besides. the you know, oral the first pass. metabolism is sublingual.
Um so so now I'm drinking tap water all. day and then I'm sublingually. And then, you know, the second thing that's in. there is chlorine. And I did a really. interesting. video on my Instagram the other day and. people do it really made an impact a. ripple effect. I went to the faucet and. I filled up two glasses with tap water, clear glasses of tap water and just set. them on my counter and I have my um. one of my heads of production just take. four fingers and hold them down in one. of the glasses and he held them there.
for about a minute. Um and he took his fingers out. And by. the way, you can do this. Um the kit to. do this you can order on Amazon for six. bucks. And then I took a chlorine testing kit. and I put drops of chlorine in in one. glass and I put drops or drops of the. chlorine tester in in the other glass. One of them tested very high for. chlorine. One of them tested as having no. chlorine. And so the question is where did the. chlorine go? Well, it was absorbed into his skin in. just that 60-second period. And so that's how good the that that.
transdermal it will absorb that chlorine. and you can do that you can get a. chlorine testing kit for about six bucks. on Amazon. Just try it. Take your tap. water, you'll never drink it again. Take. two glasses of tap water, fill it up, put it on your counter, put your fingers. down in one glass of tap water for 60. seconds, take them out and test both for. chlorine. You'll find whatever glass you. put your. fingers in tests for no chlorine. Now, imagine that's fluoride, microplastics, and and other things. And and you know, when we talk about plastic bottles and. microplastics, you know, BPA's the.
bisphenols. these these BPA's were. until the '60s they were used as a. synthetic estrogen. So it was used in. female hormone therapy, labor induction, um. and other forms of female hormone. therapy. Now, how some scientists with way too much. time on his hands realized that if you. actually mix a petroleum-based product. with this synthetic estrogen, um this. bisphenol, this BPA, that you'll make. the surface of the plastic more viscous,
um and therefore, you know, like oils. and waters and fluids and things won't. stick to it. Um how they figured that. out, I'm not sure I'm not sure how that. combination occurred, but make no. mistakes, the BPAs are synthetic. estrogens. Um and there's. some indications that there is enough. BPA inside of the lining of an of a. non-BPA-free. can of like um tomato paste, for. example, which acidic foods leach it. out, heat leaches it out, to actually. shift a woman's menstrual cycle.
So, from ovulation to luteal or. follicular to ovulation. So, imagine. that you could actually just be eating. a food with enough bisphenols in it. that, not disclosed on the label, that you. don't know are in there because it's. leaching from the plastic, to actually. shift your menstrual cycle. That is. astounding to me. And so, um yeah, plastic plastic bottles is one. that I would. try to get out as much as you can, too. Gary, I love We've covered so much great.
ground today that we've. never covered on the show before. So, I. want to say a big thank you to you. Super welcome, man. There are so many. things that I know that everyone's going. to be listening to this. There's so many. actionable things I know that people can. practice straight off of this episode. We end every episode of On Purpose with. a final five, and these questions have. to be answered in one word to one. sentence maximum. Wow. So, Gary Brecka, these are your final. five. Why didn't you tell me about this so I. could have had like a really cool. answer? So, question one, what is the best. advice you've ever heard or received?
The best advice I've ever heard or. received is you if you want to. shrink your problems, grow your purpose. Mhm, beautiful. Very aligned. Uh second question. Next time you come to the show, we're. going to talk about that, cuz you have. to come back. This is amazing. Uh second. question, what is the worst advice. you've ever heard or received? You're perfect the way you are. Mhm. Question number three.
What is something that you used to. value, but you don't anymore? Wealth. Question number four. How would you define your current. purpose in life? I would define it as God-given. And fifth and final, if you could create. one law that everyone in the world had. to follow, what would it be? To pause before you speak. Mhm. That's great. Gary Brecka, everyone. If.
you don't already follow The Ultimate. Human podcast, subscribe online, follow. him on Instagram. Make sure you share. your greatest takeaways with us both, tag us both, whether you're using X or. Instagram or TikTok, whatever it may be. I want to see what you're playing around. with, what you're testing, what you're. experimenting, and what you're applying. to your life. If you've listened to this. episode, I want you to choose one thing. that resonates with you. Just one habit, just one practice, and I want you for. the next 7 days to commit to yourself, promise to yourself that you're just. going to do it. Just as it is for 7.
days, experiment with it, and then tell. me and Gary what it was like. Gary, thank you so much. Super welcome. I really enjoyed this. You are a purpose. You are fantastic at. what you do, and I'm so grateful to. spend time with you, man. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you. If this year you're trying to live. longer, live happier, live healthier, go. and check out my conversation with the. world's biggest longevity doctor, Peter. Attia, on how to slow down aging and why. your emotional health is directly. impacting your physical health.
Acknowledge that there is surprisingly. little known about the relationship. between nutrition and health. And people. are going to be shocked to hear that cuz. I think most people think the exact. opposite.
