The LONGEVITY Doctor: Are You Actually HEALTHY? 70% Of The Population Is NOT | Dr. Peter Attia

You talk to a person the day before. they're going to die, they would give. anything and everything for more chance. at life. The best-selling author and host. The number one health and wellness. podcast. with Jay Shetty. Could you walk us through what it feels. like. to think you're healthy, to maybe even. feel you're doing okay, but in reality. there's something going on behind the. scenes? Yeah, I mean I think there were two sort. of things that were a wake-up call for. me and neither of these things happened. immediately. I think it's just sometimes.

the realization that happens. immediately. So the first one is I'd. always been an athlete my whole life, in. insanely active, potentially even you. know, active to an unhealthy level. And. you know, the focus of that obsession. had always shifted, but at the point in. the story that we're talking about at. this point I was sort of a ultra. distance swimmer. So I was, you know, probably in the water swimming 24 to 28. hours a week plus you know, other types. of training. Yet, you know, I found out,

this is probably around 15 years ago, that well, actually on top of that I was. sort of insulin resistant, I was. overweight. And again, not that I didn't. know I was overweight, you sort of can. realize that, but but that I was sort of. insulin resistant and you know, that's. sort of the first step on the way. towards um type 2 diabetes. It was. really at that time that I also I think. confronted my own family history. So. just within my genes, the. acknowledgement that you know, basically. every man in my family died prematurely. of heart disease. Now and in some cases. very prematurely in their 40s. Those two.

realizations in my mid 30s, which also. happened to coincide with the birth of. my daughter, which was my first child, was a real wake-up call and the. realization that, you know, I needed to. figure something out so that I didn't. just, you know, march down the footsteps. of what seemed to be my destiny. And. even then, you were in the medical. profession, right? Or no? Yeah, although I had actually left. medicine at this point. So after 10. years of medical training, including. medical school, I became sort of. disillusioned with medicine and left. So, at the time that I'm having this.

realization, I'm actually in the world. of finance. and quite far from medicine. What was. your biggest fear at the time? Like, if. you could take yourself back to that. moment, like, what was the. fear that you had? Yeah, that I wouldn't be around to, you. know, be with my grandkids and things of. that nature. Because I think, you know, prior to my daughter being born, I. didn't really think I would be the kind. of person who would find any joy in. having kids. And that changed in an. instant the second she was born. I'm. sure there are lots of people who can. relate to that, probably more so men. than women, I think, because the switch.

is a little more binary when we have. kids. And then the thought of, you know, I'm not going to relive this in 30 years. with grandkids, um I think that was. probably the thing that was the most. motivating factor. Wow. Yeah, it it. needs that kind of incentive to get. activated. And the reason I asked that. question is everyone who's listening or. watching, I want you to think about what that. fear, what that challenge is for you, because often fear isn't a great. motivator to keep going, but it's a. great place to start. And and our health.

almost starts there sometimes. Like, I. remember that. I remember feeling like. Superman when I was in my early 20s. And. then all of a sudden having certain. health challenges. I got into chronic. fatigue. I had polyps in my throat that. had to be lasered out. I lost my voice. for a few months. And that wasn't. life-threatening, but it was. life-altering in the sense that I. couldn't communicate in the same way. It. was different getting my voice back and. not feeling like it was as strong or. powerful. And then having gut issues and. inflammation issues and acid issues and.

all of these things again, like, they. weren't. it's not that my life was going to end. that year, but it's like you start. thinking long-term and you start. thinking about living a unhealthier, harder life. When is the right time for. people to consciously start actually. investing in their health? And I'm going. to caveat that with what is generally. happening in happening in the different. decades of our life? So, what's. happening between 0 to 10, 10 to 20, 20. to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, and when is. the time when you have a bit more.

control and ability to shift the. trajectory of your health bar any of. course major complications or or. surprises. I've never actually been. asked it that way, but the way you asked. it kind of makes me think about. different things. The aging process. in some ways uh there are some aspects. of it that are moving in the wrong. direction the moment you were born. In. other words, the the moment a fetus. comes into this world, there are certain.

aspects of aging that are only getting. worse. There are others that are not. So, you. have to imagine now they're talking. about different things. So, I'll give. you an example of each. Something that's getting worse the. second you're born. is the damage to your arteries. So, we. call this process atherosclerosis. This. is what leads to heart attacks and. strokes. Heart attack and stroke is the. leading cause of death in the United. States for both men and women and. globally for both men and women. But it. takes an awfully long time. That's why. you've never heard of a baby having a. heart attack. That's why teenagers don't.

have heart attacks and people in their. 20s it's almost unheard of they would. have a heart attack. But the disease is starting right away. And we know this because when we've. looked at people who have died. prematurely from other causes, car. accidents, homicide, suicide, and you. look at their coronary arteries, you. already see evidence of disease. So, we. know that this is happening right away. and it's simply a matter of time until. it reaches a critical level that results. in disease. And of course, everybody's. accelerating at a different rate based.

on many factors, genetics, um smoking, high blood pressure, metabolic health, all these other. things. But point being that's something. for which you could technically argue. it's never too soon to start prevention. Then there are other things in which. we're actually getting better and better. and better until we reach a certain. point and then we start to demise. An. example there might be sort of cognitive. capacity. So, we might have our greatest. neuroplasticity in the first few years. of life, but we're also building on that. and if we're in the right environment,

we're exposed to the right things, we're. actually getting, you know, better and. better and better at our fluid. intelligence and that probably reaches. our peak sometime in our third decade. So, that's something where, you know, you're actually getting better and. better and better and then it slowly. starts to decline. Mhm. And then there. are all sorts of things that are. mixtures of these things. So, for. example, your physical capacity, your. muscle mass, strength, power, type two. muscle fibers, cardiorespiratory. fitness, all of those things are also. increasing in capacity. Again, depending.

on which of those things we're talking. about, if it's, you know, power and. explosiveness, that probably peaks early. in the third decade. If it's strength, that peaks a little bit later. Peak. cardiorespiratory fitness, again, in. your 20s and then those things will. start to decline. What's undoubtedly. clear is for you and I, we're pretty. much in decline. So, most people. listening to this are in a state of. decline and part of the objective, I. think, ought to be to slow the rate of. decline as much as possible. But, there's another aspect to your question.

that I think is very important, right, which is like at what point should you. start putting effort into this? And that's a very difficult question. because it encompasses a couple of. things. When you talk to a person, let's do this as a thought experiment. You talk to a person the day before. they're going to die. I mean, they would. give anything and everything. they have for more chance at life. Despite how high their motivation is, there's no runway left. Conversely, if you went into a high.

school and talked to a bunch of freshmen. and said, "I've got the program for you. that is going to add 15 years to your. life." I mean, they couldn't be less. interested, right? So, there's a sweet. spot somewhere where. I almost think people need to go through. a little bit of decline, kind of like. what you described. It wasn't. life-threatening, but you just need to. realize that you're fallible. Mhm. To. sort of say, "Hmm, I can project this movie forward a. couple of decades. I've now mature. enough to maybe see my parents, see my.

grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, people's health deteriorate and realize. that's. a bit of a reality check that it's. coming for me, but yet I still have long. enough to bend the arc of my life." And. so, I think those are the two curves. that we're trying to intersect. Yeah, that's a great answer and I and I. appreciate that. I feel the same way. Unfortunately, it always comes through. some sort of pain or some sort of. reality check or wake-up call that gets. us going. And it's interesting what you. were saying about cognitive function and.

ability as well. There were studies that. I. read that said that the average age of. most successful entrepreneurs is 37. And. it's fascinating because we live in a. world right now where everyone wants to. be a successful entrepreneur by the time. they're 21 or 25 and we put these. artificial pressures on ourselves when. actually there's so much more to it. In. the genetics versus environment debate, what have you What's the latest in that. space of like because I think we're not. You said you dove into your family's.

history. I think most of us are not. fully aware of our family's history even. though every time I saw a doctor growing. up, they'd always ask, "Is there this in. your family's history? Is there that?". First of all, how aware do we need to be. of our family's history? How important. is that for people to figure out? And. second of all, what is that breakdown. between genetics and personal. environment and career and work? You. know, I think actually family history is. such an important thing. It's one of. these things that we stress to the nth. degree with our patients. So much so. that, you know, it takes them weeks.

sometimes to gather the information that. we want to know because we want to know. and we give them. 10 questions for each member of the. family. So, your parents, your. grandparents, your aunts and uncles, your siblings, like. we want to know everything. Do they have. high blood pressure? Do they have high. cholesterol? Do they take this. medication? Do they take that. medication? What was their cognitive. function like in the last decade of. their life? You know, what type of. cancers did they have? Did they have low. bone density? You know, do they have. osteoporosis? I mean, we really want to. understand every detail about it. And I.

think a big part of the reason why is. contrary to what. maybe people believe, a genetic test. does not give you that information. So, if if you and I went out and got a. genetic test, and I don't just mean an. you know, over-the-counter genetic test, like 23andMe, but I'm saying if we went. out and got the best whole genome. sequence money could buy, we spent. thousands and thousands of dollars, and. literally looked at every one of our, you know, 20 to 30,000 genes, we still wouldn't be able to impute from.

a risk standpoint what you can gather. from a very well-collected family. history. And the reason for that is most. genes by themselves are not. deterministic, which really gets to your. second question. So, if most genes are. not deterministic, they need something. in the environment to sort of trigger. them. Furthermore, most conditions that we. care about are polygenic. It's easy to. think of the sort of Mendelian monogene. type conditions. They get a lot of.

attention, and they're important, to be. sure, but the vast majority of things. that people care about, cancer, heart. disease, dementia, they are not really. just related to a single gene, and in. many cases we don't even know what the. collection of genes look like. So, genes. matter, but I think we're going to get. the majority of our information by. understanding our family history in. terms of susceptibility, and the. environment matters greatly. And. the extension of that is, of course, you. have great agency over that. Yeah, and. what is the best methodology for getting. the family history in a complete,

comprehensive way that's actually going. to give you the better information? It. can. if members of the family are deceased. So, for people your age and my age, you. know, our grandparents, I mean, at least. for me, my grandparents are long gone. So, it's, you know, do your parents. really remember? And part of it just. comes down to are they being prompted by. the right questions? Now, again, to be. honest, in my family history, I have. very limited understanding of. grandparents because, you know, they just died long enough ago. and frankly, I don't think my parents. were necessarily great historians of. this. In my case, where the bulk of my.

understanding came from was that my dad. came from a very large family. You know, there were 10 kids, two that died young, so eight that survived to adulthood. And. there, I was able to elucidate really. good information and really understand. that there's something very bad going on. with respect to heart disease. On my. mom's side, I could also see some issues. with her two siblings as well. That also. gave me a sense of, you know, what some. predispositions might be. Mhm. Where can. people find those questions or how can. they connect with that.

You know, that's a good question. I I. don't We We have a program that we've. developed called Early, which is like a. digital product that is our practice. I. know that it is within there. Got it. Yeah, yeah. So, people like look for. Early. I I don't know if you I should. know how to do this. If you go to like. earlymedical.com, there's a way to find. it. Got it. Got it. Okay, perfect. Yeah, no, I think that that kind of practical step. is so needed because. one of the biggest things when I was. talking to my team and talking to the. community about health, one of the. biggest things that came out is.

they were just stuck on where to start. Like, I don't know where to start. I. don't There's just too much information. out there. It's oversaturated. Everyone's telling me to do this and. that. And it's almost like, well, let's. figure out your genetic history. Like, that's a great place to start because. that's where we came from. Yeah, this program Early is divided into. 12 modules. We think each module would. take you about a month to get through. And that's the first or second module. I. think the first module is setting your. goals and going through of this type of. exercise. Then the second module is, okay, how do you get your family.

history? How do you take that. information and extract what the. implications are for you and then go. from there? What's your take on like. full body scans and that kind of. testing and how often should it be done. because I think again what's happening, I was talking to. some younger people in our audiences, Gen Z, and it was just like going to see. a doctor has become like not even a. thought. And I could see that in my. generation, but I remember my parents'. generation, like my mom will still call. me up and be like, "Have you seen the. dentist every 6 months? Like have you.

been to the doctor every 12 months?". Like, you know, my mom will still do. that with me, but I find that that kind. of culture is diminishing day by day. because of a lack of trust, because of a. lack of transparency, so many different. things. Could just be laziness and complacency. What is your take on getting checks, which checks, how often, and I guess the. question is how do people know how. healthy they are? And early is a great. plan, but from the other point of view. It depends on the type of scan. So, for. example, there are certain scans that.

are going to be very helpful at. predicting risk from heart disease. So, for example, a coronary calcium scan for. the heart or a CT angiogram for the. heart. Those are tests that I don't. think are absolutely essential, but they. can be very helpful if you're trying to. further stratify risk. You referred to a whole body scan, so. the best example of a whole body scan. that I think provides value is an MRI. The reason being is an MRI doesn't have. radiation, whereas a whole body CT scan. or a PET scan. would have. staggering amounts of radiation. We. would never want to do that just from a.

screening perspective. But of course, not all MRIs are created equal and. anytime you're doing a screening test, you have to be aware of something called. sensitivity and specificity. And these. are really important parameters. We've. put out a lot of content on this because. I think it's very confusing for people. So, sensitivity is the capacity of a. test to detect something if the. something is present. So, if you're. looking at a sensitivity of an MRI. scanner for cancer, the the sensitivity.

is how likely is this to detect cancer. if cancer is present. So, on the topic of whole body scanners, MRIs are very sensitive. And again, not. all MRIs are created equal, but I'm. assuming we're talking about the best of. the best. Yeah, yeah. That's good news. Means if. you go into an MRI scanner and you have. a cancer, the MRI is quite likely to. pick it up. Now, it does have some blind. spots, and every screening test has a. blind spot. So, a blind spot that's. worth acknowledging for an MRI is a. small calcified breast cancer. That's.

easily going to get missed by an MRI, and that's why it's not a substitute for. mammography. A woman would need to do. both. The next parameter of of a screening. test is the specificity. This says, how. likely is this test to give you a. negative result if indeed the condition. is not present. So, it's the mirror. opposite of sensitivity. Here is where those whole body scanners. are abysmal. They have very low. specificity. Mhm. What that translates. to in English is they have a lot of. false positives. I always tell patients,

look, if you're going to go and get. these scans, and we advocate that our. patients do, but they we we do it in a. much more kind of robust way where it's. part of a multiple system of screening. tests so that we're covering the bases. of everything and trying to attach to. the strength and weakness of each study. But when it comes to that MRI, we say, look, there's a really good chance. you're going to come out of this test. and there's going to be some false. positives we're going to need to chase. down. So, I always feel bad when people sign. up to do these scans and they aren't.

aware of that because it generates. sometimes more stress on the back end. Yeah, yeah. I I went through that. We. had an MRI done and they found like. almost like a group or a cluster of. things in an area and they were like, "Oh, that could be. cancer." Then I had to go and a um. endoscopy as well, and luckily they. found it was nothing. But I remember for. that week before, I was like, "That's. it. It's all over. Here it is." Like, you know, I need to. Whereas I think sometimes if you're told. up front, "Hey, Jay, there's like a 15%.

chance. didn't I was not told up front. we're going to and we we want to make. sure our patients understand it. And by. the way, a subset of our patients, probably 10%, decide, "I don't want to have the scan. because I don't want to cope with that.". yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it was real. I was like, "All right, I'm going to. have to get focused on figuring this out. cuz it sounds bad." And I didn't have. that layup, as you said. And it's it's. really interesting. And and that's what. I find so fascinating today, right? Like, there's managing your health, and. then there's the stress and the pain.

that comes with figuring your health. out, whether it's the overexposure to. too much information, whether it's bad. information in the past. And then we're. like, "Oh, we'll just forget it. I don't. want to do any of it." I mean, that's. what I feel your book does, and that's. what your work does, is trying to help. people figure out, "Well, let me give. you all the information. Here's how you. can know what's good for you and test it. for you and right for you." One of the. things that I love that you talk about. is you talk about the need to get rid. of, you know, just focusing on a random. diet or following a random diet, and. actually looking at like eating habits.

and patterns that work for you. And so, just putting a little footnote for. everyone who's listening, the book will. walk you through how to make sense of. how to know what is right for you, what. is wrong for you, whether you should do. something, which I think is like the. biggest anxiety driver for so many. people when it comes to their health. When it comes to food, I think fasting. has become trendy, it's become a big. thing that everyone's talking about. Uh, you know, we hear so much about every. single diet in the world, there's always.

a new one that's coming on the surface. How have you helped people one-on-one. actually discover what's right for them? Because I found that my eating patterns. are very different to the trending. habits of how to eat food and even. fasting. Yeah, I mean I think the first. thing is as you said, it's just letting. people understand that the less you can. pay attention to social media fads and. your newsfeed on Google or whatever, the. better. 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. Most. people think that nutrition is the most. important pillar of health. And the reality of it is outside of very. extreme states, that's that's really not. true. And the very little bit we know. about nutrition just frankly speaks to. the challenge of scientific inquiry into. something as difficult as nutrition to. study. And the reason for that is you. can't study us as humans very well. We're very messy subjects. So we're not.

like mice where. you know, you can put us in a cage and. control what we're eating and follow us. through the duration of our lives. It. doesn't work that way. So when you're. trying to make inferences about. nutrition in humans, you have to rely on. poorly controlled studies called. epidemiologic studies which are fraught. with all sorts of limitations that I. talk about in the book. Or if you're going to control the study, you can only do it for a very short. period of time. There's only a short. period of time in which I can control. exactly what you're eating.

So as a result of that, we don't know a. lot. So I always want to start with what. do we know? Well, we know that protein. is a very important macronutrient. There. are four macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and alcohol. People kind. of forget alcohol, but some people don't. understand it's very caloric and so it. constitutes a source of energy. It's the. worst macronutrient, but nevertheless, it's you know, you'd be amazed sometimes. people are getting like 15 to 20% of. their calories from alcohol if they. drink enough. So protein is really important and it's. not a source of energy the way. carbohydrates and fat is, but it's a.

structural macronutrient. And so I. always start with that and say, "Look, rule number one is you have to make sure. you're getting enough protein. Uh and. this is especially true if you're over. 50. Cuz if you're over 50, you start to. become resistant to the effects of. protein. That's called anabolic. resistance. And loss of muscle mass in. people over 50 is a significant driver. of mortality. Uh and a and a significant. driver of a poor quality of life. You. know, if you really start to think about. it, even if a person is of sound mind and.

they're not, you know, suffering from. some intractable diseases later in life, a great source of misery is simply being. physically unable to do things. Mhm. After that, it really comes down to. what do we understand about energy. balance? Well, we understand that too. much nutrition, I call this. overnutrition, is bad. And that the body historically. uh developed lots of tools to store. energy cuz that's what allowed us to. evolve the way we did.

And up until, I don't know, 100 years. ago or so, that was a great skill to. have. It's now uh thwarting us in an in. an environment of too much food. So, now. this ability that we had, this. superpower basically to store excess. energy, has become a liability. In the. United States, certainly, the vast. majority of people, probably over 70% of. people are overnourished. And that's the. thing that's driving a lot of their poor. health. If you're overnourished, you. have to correct that problem. The way to. correct that problem is to eat less.

And there are three strategies to do. that. One of them is to deliberately go. about cutting calories. That's called. calorie restriction or CR. The other one is called dietary. restriction. That means limit certain. things within the diet. And if you are. restrictive enough, that will indirectly. also reduce total intake. And then the. third is fasting or time-restricted. eating where you create a narrower and. narrower window each day in which to. eat. All of these things can work, and all of. those things have significant.

limitations that you as an individual. practicing this need to know. Yeah, it. was incredible. I was looking at the. just history of the design of plates and. cups randomly. I don't even know how I. got there. How much bigger they're. getting? Just how much bigger they're getting. And it was insane for me to think that. the way plates are designed, the way. cups are designed, the way anything's. designed transforms how we consume. And. it's fascinating to think that just. because of a larger plate size, we're.

now eating larger amounts and we think. it's normal in our time. Whereas someone. else would have think we were feasting. I'm sure you still get back to Europe. all the time, but. like look at the difference in portion. sizes when you're in, you know, Italy. versus the United States. It's It's. comical what a difference it is. Yeah. I. remember as a kid coming to the States. and obviously when you're a kid, everything that's big is better. Yeah, yeah. And I remember like pulling over. at the gas station and I'd see like this. massive like, you know, jumbo thing to. fill your drink up in and like, you.

know, forever refills or whatever it is. And just that as a kid, I was like, this. is the coolest thing in the world. And. now you're looking and you're like, wow, that's you know, there's no need for. that. So it's it's fascinating also how. these cultural shifts and cultural. changes have made some of these things. harder for us today. So you said CR, DR, and TR. Those Those are the three that. people need to experiment with each of. those because. basically if you are in that. over-nourished camp, you need to employ. some combination of CR, DR, and or TR.

Mhm. And if you're adequately muscled, that's you just you can just focus on. that. If you're inadequately muscled, you have the added challenge of needing. to boost protein intake. to match strength training while. engaging in CR, DR, TR. Yeah. But the. rub of it is, that's it. Yeah. You know, the rest of it the alphabet soup of. diets is just it's all noise. I just. encourage people to to fixate on the. trend and just think about those. different things because, you know, look, each of the alphabet soup diets.

fits into some form of DR. I mean, and that's true whether you're talking. carnivore or vegan or everything in. between. Those are just forms of DR and. they can all be effective. But you have. to be aware of the limitations of each. and make sure you're circumventing them. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I I think. that. one of the things that there's a lot of. question marks around as well from the. community that they were asking was. nutrition which you've beautifully. clarified there, but nutrition versus. supplements and the need for.

supplements. And I think I would love to. hear your takes on supplements that are. working, types of supplements, types of. ingredients, types of. chemicals that are making a difference, natural supplements, too. I'd love to. hear your thoughts on nootropics because. I'm just hearing about nootropics. everywhere right now. Adaptogens as you. just tried as well. We've been We've. been focusing on adaptogens. I'd love to. Let's talk about your take on great. supplements that everyone needs to take. Not not a brand, but I mean like. specific and then your take on. nootropics and adaptogens. That would be. fantastic.

I mean, I definitely do take some. supplements. I'm always careful to kind. of make disclosure. So, one thing I do. supplement, I take something called AG. And I'm an investor in AG, but I've been. taking it long before I invested in it. and I know the founder very well. I'm. very under the hood of exactly how their. products are made and sourced. And for. folks who aren't aware, AG is like a. green that you, you know, just mix in. with water. I drink it every morning. They sponsor the podcast. Oh, do they? Okay. Okay. Cool. And my approach to. that is if you buy the thesis that we.

need to be having X amount of vegetables. a day. And let's be clear and be transparent. I. can't guarantee that that is true. Because we don't know. That's another. example of something that the. epidemiology tells us is true, but there. are many confounders there. But my view is that it's better to err. on the side of that's probably true than. the than the counter. So, if you buy the. thesis that you need X amount of. vegetable a day,

I actually find it very difficult to do. that. without exception. There are lots of days I can, but there. are enough days that I can't. So, my. view of a supplement like AG is it's my. belt and suspenders approach. It's It's. basically my way of guaranteeing that by. 7:00 in the morning I've met my needs. And then, if I have a salad for lunch. and dinner as well, perfect. I went a. little overboard. But, that's better. than the reverse to me. So, that's one. And and AG specifically, talking about. that kind of a supplement, that's a. vegetable focused supplement. Not all.

supplements are That's right. specifically focused on that. So, that's. that's specific to AG. Yeah. Yeah. There's another supplement I take, which. is a probiotic. Now, no one has been a. more. vocal critic of the probiotic space than. me. I have generally viewed it as a. space that has demonstrated no efficacy. despite all the intentions in the world. In the past year, I have sort of changed. my take. So, there was this study that. came out that looked at a certain type. of probiotic and noted that a certain.

type of bacteria in it would help with. the production of something called. butyrate, and this was actually helping. with glucose disposal. The results of. the study actually were pretty. impressive. It was a relatively short. study, a 3-month study, but it. demonstrated in the group that was. actually taking this probiotic, and this. was in a blinded randomized trial, that. these patients with type 2 diabetes had. a significant reduction in in blood. glucose. Even though I don't have type 2. diabetes, I sort of subscribe to the. idea that everybody benefits from lower. blood glucose, including those without.

diabetes. So, that's a probiotic that I. take. I don't have any involvement with. the company. The company's called. Pendulum. Um but, I take their I take. their glucose control probiotic. Can you. walk us through a bit on glucose. control? Because I think that's still an. area that. for people who are not as well informed, that that's an area that I I learned. about probably in the last year and a. half that has changed what I eat first. thing in the morning. It's changed what. I'm eating at different times. Like to. me, I was just like, "Oh, if I need a. boost of something, as long as it's a. healthy sugar, it's fine." Not only to.

realize that, you know, causing spikes. in my blood blood glucose levels. So, could you walk us through that a little. bit? You know, glucose is this. essential, very simple carbohydrate. It's kind of the final common pathway of. most carbohydrates. There are other. simple carbohydrates as well, fructose. being one of them. So, sugar, for. example, table sugar is a is a molecule. of fructose and a molecule of glucose. But, glucose is the is the most abundant. carbohydrate final breakdown product, and it's very highly regulated. At any.

point in time, you're walking around. with you know, if you haven't eaten that. day, somewhere between 4 and 5 g of. glucose in your blood. Maybe say 4 to 6. g of glucose in your blood, which is. just over a tablespoon or a teaspoon, rather. So, tiny, tiny amount. But, you're using it constantly, and. therefore your liver is constantly. putting more out into your circulation. ever so delicately. And the balance of that is so fine that. if that level were to be just twice as.

much, if you were to go from 1 tsp tsp. to 2 tsp, that would be consistent with. having type 2 diabetes. So, type 2. diabetes is a condition where an. individual can't control the amount of. glucose in their blood. This is very problematic because. glucose, when it becomes too high, starts sticking to proteins, and it starts causing damage. all over the place, but primarily to. small blood vessels. So, blood vessels. in the heart, blood vessels in the. kidney, in the brain, if you're in if.

you're you know, in the extremities of. the toes. That's why people type 2. diabetes are more susceptible to. amputations, kidney disease, heart. disease, strokes, Alzheimer's disease, all of these things. Anything that. compromises blood flow and oxygen. So, it turns out that even if you don't. have type 2 diabetes, and that today is. just defined by a threshold of average. blood glucose above 140 mg per. deciliter, even if you are not in that category, it. still appears that your mortality goes. down the lower your average blood.

glucose. So, meaning within the normal. range of glucose, lower is still better. People sometimes say, "Well, does that just mean, you know, you should. never eat a food that raises blood. glucose?" No, that doesn't necessarily. mean that at all. What it means is you. need to be mindful of matching your. glucose consumption to your capacity to. dispose of glucose. And those are. factors that are of course um highly. impacted by how much you sleep. So, sleep interruptions in sleep.

dramatically reduce your capacity to put. glucose into your muscles, which means. glucose levels get higher. It also has to do significantly with how. much you exercise and how much muscle. mass you have. So, people can have. completely different uh tolerances for. glucose, and I think I write quite a bit. about this, which is, you know, basically trying to understand your your. glucose tolerance level comes down to. matching it with. your insulin sensitivity, muscle mass, activity levels, sleep, stress, et. cetera. Mhm. Absolutely. Thank you so. much. Sorry, and I cut you off from. moving forward.

So, so just to go back to this other. point quickly. So, there are lots of. other supplements that I think can be. really valuable. I think B vitamins are. very important, especially methylated B. vitamins. Vitamin D is very important. Many people I think don't have. sufficient levels of vitamin D. I think. the data on vitamin D, we could do an. entire podcast on that. The clinical. trials looking at vitamin D levels are. really poorly done clinical trials. And. so, I think if a person looks at at the. literature, and the literature says. there's no evidence that vitamin D. really helps, I would argue pretty. strongly that those trials haven't asked. the right question and weren't designed. correctly. So, my view is it's better to.

probably err on the side of caution and. make sure your vitamin D is probably. somewhere between about 40 and 60. And. if you're not achieving that through. natural uh exposure to sunlight, which. many people are not, then you're. probably better off supplementing. There. are a couple of other supplements I. really believe in, and I think magnesium. is a very important one, and I think you. have to be thoughtful about the form in. which you take magnesium. So, you can. take magnesium in a slow-absorbing form. or a fast-absorbing form that's poorly. absorbed, technically. And I think we. need both, right? So, I think that um.

like a uh poorly absorbed magnesium. would be like a citrate, glycinate, or. oxide. And those actually really help. with bowel regularity. So, for anybody. who's a little bit constipated or just, you know, kind of needs to be a little. bit more regular, we always want to have. in anywhere from 2 to 500 mg of one of. those forms. Conversely, I think. virtually everybody also benefits from a. slow-absorbing form of magnesium. The. brand that I like is called Slow Mag.

Again, I don't have any affiliation with. any of these companies unless I'm. disclosing it as I did with AG. That. actually, you know, so, uh. most people, if they. notice, "Oh, I have a little bit of. cramping sometimes, or, you know, I'm. getting little palpitations called PVCs. sometimes," those get a lot better with. magnesium supplementation. So, so, I. think most people benefit from that. There's another type of magnesium that. I'm a fan of called magnesium. L-threonine 8, which is magnesium paired. to a transporter that gets the magnesium. into the brain. I think there's. reasonable evidence. I wouldn't say it's.

incredible, but I think it's quite good, that magnesium L-threonine 8 is. beneficial to the brain and and might. even have some capacity to reduce the. risk of dementia. Before bed, I tend to. rely on ashwagandha, which I believe you. said is in there. So, I take a big dose. of ashwagandha and uh glycine. And um. again, I take that magnesium L-threonine. 8. And those are kind of things that I. think uh help with reducing cortisol and. making it a little easier to sleep. Then.

the final supplement that I do think. most people benefit from, and there are. probably many others, but I'm just sort. of going through a few that I can think. of, would be fish oil. So, most people. probably don't consume enough marine fat. to get what I think are ideal amounts of. EPA and DHA, which are two very special. types of fats called omega-3. um fatty acids. And um EPA and DHA. I think the balance of evidence is is.

quite strong that they're both. beneficial to the heart and the brain. EPA probably a little bit more for the. heart, DHA probably a little bit more. for the brain. I take a brand that I've. had tested because you always want to be. careful about contaminants here. And. it's So, it's a it's made by a company. called Carlson's. Again, I have no. affiliation with them, but I take their. EPA and DHA um daily as well. That's a. fantastic summary for anyone who's who's. looking. I I take all those things. Yeah, yeah. You know, I think that's a.

brilliant summary, and I I really hope. everyone who's listening and watching, you know, get those checks and tests. done and and grab those supplements. because again, I like what you're saying. that it's all about airing on the side. of caution, right? It's it's almost like. protecting yourself, being safe, rather. than assuming that A you get this or B. it doesn't really matter. You know, is. it that we used to find these. supplements in other forms before or as. humans have we always ignored this and. now we've suddenly figured it out or has.

our lifestyle just got so stressful and. intense that we're needing more of all. of this to support the pace at which. we're moving? Yeah, it's a great. question. I do think that the supplement. world is such a slippery, dirty world. that I always want to throw out a. disclaimer, which is when I talk about. these things, I'm also very diligent. about the brands that I buy. So, again, I have no affiliation with any of these. entities, but having looked at. third-party testing, I find the brand. Jarrow, j a r r o w, the the brand Pure.

Encapsulations to be two of the most. reputable companies out there. So, I'm. basically always going to try to buy. from them if I can, even if I'm paying a. little bit of a premium. Your question is a very good one, and I. don't know how much you've paid. attention to kind of the field of. regenerative agriculture, but it's a. topic that interests me quite a bit, and. the more I've read about it, um the more. I've come to realize that I I actually. think part of the problem is our food. today is far less nutrient dense than it.

once was. And so, I do think that many. of us don't get the same quantity and. density of nutrients today that we did. for the same caloric intake, say 50. years ago. And the proponents of regenerative. agriculture would argue that the a big. part of that has to do with soil health. So, as the health of the soil has. deteriorated with more tillage, more. fertilizers, less crop rotation, all of these things, the net result of that is the plants.

themselves are less healthy. So, when you're eating a plant, you're. getting less nutrient density. And of. course, when you're eating meat, if. you're an omnivore, the meat is also. less healthy and less nutrient dense. because it's eating a less nutrient. dense plant, which is growing in a less. nutrient dense soil. And so, the old. adage that, you know, it's hard to be. healthier than the animal you eat, which. can't be much healthier than the plant. it eats, which can't be much healthier. than the soil it grows in, brings this.

whole thing full circle. And so, I. suspect that that plays a pretty. significant role in it, coupled with the. changes in our lifestyle, right? So, many of us would have got sufficient. vitamin D, for example, in the past. because we would have been outside more. and we would have been active more, and, you know, today we aren't as one. example. Are you seeing the rise of more. regenerative farming and places to buy. regenerative vegetables or is that. Yeah, I mean you have even a thing yet. No, it absolutely is and and there there.

there are there are some great places. You know, certainly one of my sincere. hopes is that. you know, we see we see a greater and. greater movement to scale this because I. I I do think regenerative agriculture is. not only what I think of as one of the. most important ways in which we can. improve human health through nutrition, um but but for folks who are also. concerned with with climate change and. the effects of anthropogenic CO2, regenerative agriculture probably has. more potential to attenuate that than.

anything else inclusive of electrifying. the entire transportation grid. Mhm. And. that's a pretty bold statement. It is. It's very bold and that's what I want to. dive into it, too. Like, what gives you. confidence to make that bold statement? Like, what have you seen that has given. you that conviction? It really comes. down to understanding the capacity for. plants to fixate carbon. I'm sure. everybody understands, you know, the. basics of how how CO2 works, right? So, why. why is there a concern with the. combustion of fossil fuels? Because when.

you're combusting a fossil fuel, whether. it be coal or natural gas, you're taking. carbon that was sequestered billions of. years ago in the form of fossilized, you. know, organic matter and you're now. liberating that carbon dioxide out. So, how do we get carbon dioxide back in the. system? Well, plants do that. So, plants. have a capacity to do something that no. animal does, which is they fixate. carbon. So, they fix fixing carbon. literally is just a chemical process of. taking a carbon out of the out of CO2. and attaching it to another hydrocarbon.

The way that regenerative agriculture. works is by storing more and more CO2. and carbon specifically in the soil. So, right now, the way conventional. agriculture works, when you're. constantly tilling the soil, you're. leaching carbon out of the soil. And so, you know, when you look at the. mathematical models that look at how. much carbon could be brought back into. the ground and sequestered, i.e. brought. out of the atmosphere, it's more.

significant than the carbon that's being. put out through the combustion of fossil. fuels. The reason I'm particularly. excited about that is you're basically. getting two wins for the price of one, right? So, you're reducing atmospheric. CO2. but doing so in a manner that's also. very positive for our health because in. doing that, you're increasing the soil. health and by extension then the. nutrient density of plants and. ultimately animals and ourselves. What's. your take on regenerative agriculture.

versus lab-produced. vegetables and meats? yet to see any evidence that. laboratory-produced. meats and vegetables. meats and vegetables can be done really. well at scale or that they are. particularly. certainly any more viable in terms of of. the nutrient density. I think in part it. comes down to the complexity of soil. There's a great book I would recommend. for people who want to go really deep on. this. I believe the book is called What. Your Food Ate, and it's it's a wonderful. book. It's a it's a bit of a deep dive.

It's a nerdy book. It's not light. reading. And they go into incredible. detail about David uh Montgomery, is. that it? Yes, and there's another author as well, a female. Ann Yep. Ann Biklé? Yep. Once you get under the hood of how. complex soil is, so for example, many. people talk about the human gut biome. And uh you know, we talked a minute ago. about probiotics, right? Well, the human. gut biome is really complicated, and we. haven't figured out a way to perfectly.

model it. I mean, maybe we're just getting to the point. where we can figure out if we add a. little bit more of one bacteria, can it. make a difference in in the direction. that this thing goes? Well, turns out. that soil is probably even more. biodiverse and complicated than the. bacteria in our gut. And so again, I just think it's very. difficult for us to sort of play. super farmer and think that we can kind. of replicate what nature has figured out. for you know, literally a billion years. Well, see see yeah, so your.

understanding is actually that we don't. know enough. about the complexity of the soil, which. is actually what is impacting the. quality. of the vegetable or hence the And all. the way up the chain. Yeah. Hence, even if we can produce a. vegetable or meat in a lab, it won't have that same. that that's my take on it, which says. nothing about the which says nothing by. the way about the scale factor. I think. at the end of the day scale matters. Like I mean, food.

I I think it's safe to say agriculture. is the second largest industry in the. world. Mhm. Just in terms of like the magnitude. of what it takes, you have to have. solutions that work. broadly. And And by the way, I think. that's still. there are certainly proponents of. regenerative ag who say it can be. scaled, but I think that's an open. question still. Regenerative agriculture. being scaled. Can it be scaled to meet the needs of. the entire world? Yeah. What are the challenges with. scaling that? It's a totally different. infrastructure to truthfully, right?

It's not going to rely on as much. automation. So for example, like you're. not going to be able to rely, you know, so so one of the hallmarks of. regenerative ag is you're not using. fertilizer. Uh you're not So you're not. using the nitrogen of a fertilizer, you're actually using the nitrogen of. the animals. Another one is you're not. using pesticides. So you're crop. rotating instead of using pesticides and. allowing, you know, the crops themselves. to generate resistance uh by cycling. them and not letting the pests get used. to the same crop. Not to, you know,

belabor the point, but all of a sudden. the industry that is now dominated by. the the pioneers, the Cargills, the. Monsantos of the world, it's going to. have to look very different. So, I think. that's a big challenge is going from big. to little and then scaling little, if. that makes sense. Where are the places. like if people are fascinated to. Have you been out to any of the. regenerative agriculture farms or any. places. Yeah, yeah, there there's there's one. outside of Austin. There's actually one. here in California. So, there's not that. many. There's like there I mean, there.

there's So, the one out in California is. called There's a documentary made about. it called I think the documentary was. called Biggest Little Farm. Mhm. It's. not too far from here, by the way. Okay. And my kids were obsessed with. this. So, we like watched this. documentary like, I don't know, 15. times. But, you'll get a sense of what. it looks like. But, yes, no, I mean, you. you I think everybody can find. regenerative farms near them. So, really. it's just a question of helping farmers. understand why ultimately it is in their. best interest to do this. So, economically it makes more sense. But,

look, it's going to require the. government completely changing incentive. structures and changing the way they. subsidize certain crops today. It's a. big shift. Yeah. What's your take on. people trying to create little farms in. their home? Like they're they're like. mini growing Yeah, I mean, look, I think. it's wonderful. I think if you can grow. your own vegetables, I mean, we have a. vegetable garden and there's no question. that the the the the vegetables we grow. taste infinitely better than anything. we're going to buy at the grocery store. And how do you take care of the soil in.

in your area? Or you're saying because. it's untouched, it naturally has Yeah, I. mean, we use we compost our own stuff. So, but it's, you know, look, it it's. not even big enough to completely feed. us. So, you know, it's it's there's work. that goes into this. And I and I have. friends that that do have the time and. effort to at least, you know, support. themselves fully. That's beautiful. Yeah, I love that. You know, my wife's. really My wife's really big on that. She. wants to build a little vegetable garden. in the back right now in in the same way. because that's one of her core beliefs. as well. So, Just just this past weekend.

I was I I had to put all this chicken. wire around the fence where our garden. is because these squirrels are figuring. out a way to get under the fence and. they're like eating all the tomatoes and. the peppers and stuff and it's like my. son who's eight, this is his project and. it just drives him nuts when the. squirrels are getting them. So What a. great age to like get connected to the. So so great. Yeah, it's the land and to the soil and. to growing. That's so beautiful. I love. that. Yeah, we've had a gopher problem. for for years here and it's like it's.

always ruining the lawn and I'm like, well, if I plant vegetables here, those. vegetables are going to be gone. Yeah, you you have to be you have to be smart. about it. Yeah, yeah. Incredible. I I want to make sure that everyone. knows the book dives into. cancer, Alzheimer's. We talked about we we're going to dive. into exercise in a second. We talked. about diet, you know, eating less, eating patterns. I want to make sure. because I don't want to. either repeat things that are already in. the book or repeat things you've talked. about in other interviews and so I just.

want everyone who's listening to know. that that you know, it dives into. multiple key diseases that we're all. struggling with today and the biggest. challenges. One thing I wanted to talk. to you about which I think you really. wonderfully highlighted was this. challenge between physical health and. emotional health. And you talk about the need for. prioritizing emotional health as well. And I found that so much of my. subtle emotional health was so based on. physical health. So what I mean by that.

is. I found at one point in doing all of my. checks and tests that and by the way, I. was doing I was functioning at like a. really optimal level. I was just feeling. tired. And when we did my test, we found. that my vitamin D was at a 10. This was. around two, three years ago. And I. realized the majority of the challenges. I was having was because I was sleeping. We rented a home during COVID. We moved from our apartment and when we. rented this space, I never slept well in.

that space because. it was just. the most like noisy loud area because. there were it was it was in the middle. of. uh too many animals, too many things at. night like going through the. floorboards. Like it was an old old. space, and so there was like I was. waking up multiple times, which I don't. usually go through. And so I started to. find that a lot of my emotional. challenges, whether it's fatigue, irritability, um you know, stress because of that.

environment was causing emotional. challenges, but it was actually all. coming from a physical space, if that. makes sense. For sure. And and I think. so often these days I find a lot of us. are just trying to solve everything in. our mind rather than recognizing that. often it's a chemical, it's biological, it's it's physical. Uh so I want to just point that out to. people because I think a lot of us are. like, "I could have done anything to. change. I was working out. I was trying. to sleep right. I was doing everything I. possibly could, but because my vitamin D. was at a level 10, there's not much you can do instead of.

take apart from taking vitamin D. supplements. How where are you saying. this relationship, where are you seeing. this relationship between emotional. health and physical health? Well, they're absolutely linked, and. you know, I think that one of the things. that I've observed, you know, my. therapists will always ask me at the. beginning of a session is, "How are you. doing physically?" Mhm. Uh so are you in. pain? Mhm. Right? Is Mhm. you know, is. your shoulder bugging you? Is your back. bugging you? Do you have like an ulcer. in your mouth or something like like.

literally something like that. How are. you rested? And how much stress are you. under? And the reason I think is those. things exacerbate vulnerabilities that. we have. on the emotional side, on the mental. side. So if you take an individual in. two parallel the same individual in two. parallel universes, but in one situation. they have lots of issues going on. physically, right? So, they're not. well-rested, their vitamin D is low, they're in pain, and you have another.

individual for which everything is. physically uh firing on all cylinders, and you present them with the same. emotional distress, you're going to see. a completely different response. That's. a big part of why I think it does matter. to keep your physical health in order to. optimize your emotional health. But, I. would also argue that you could still. have your physical health in perfect. order. and. you know, not becoming close to. addressing your emotional health. When you use the term emotional health, what.

does that constitute for you? I try to. distinguish it from mental health, right? I think mental health is a subset. of emotional health, but it's the. perhaps the more medicalized piece of. it. So, in in medicine, we use something. called the DSM, the diagnostic and. statistical manual. I think we're in. version five. And that's the one that codifies. psychiatric illnesses, right? Everything. from depression, anxiety, different. personality disorders, and all sorts of. things like that. And those things. clearly matter. But, I'm talking about. something that is applicable to. everyone, whereas those things might.

only be applicable to people who would. meet diagnostic criteria. So, emotional health in the sense the. way I think about it kind of encompasses. your relationships with other people, your sense of purpose, fulfillment, happiness, joy, spontaneity. All of these things that. every human should be thinking about. because every human is a part of those. things. In my case, you know, so the so. the book is written basically it's 17. chapters. 16 of the chapters are me,

you know, writing about it as the. doctor, the scientist. And then the last. chapter, which is about emotional. health, is me actually just writing. about my personal experience and my own. well, transformation I think would be an. understatement. You know, I think that. the most important lesson. for me in the past decade has been that. all the health stuff that's. that makes up most of that book, how do. you reduce your odds of getting cancer, how do you reduce your odds of getting.

heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, how. do you make sure your muscles work. better in the last decade of, you know, the all those things, they're very. important. But if you're miserable, none of it matters, right? If your relationships suck, none. of it matters. And I can't state that enough, but I I. couldn't have understood that a decade. ago. You know, I had to personally. experience things going really wrong. I. had to nearly lose everything to realize.

I've really missed the plot here. And if. I don't get this stuff addressed, then. the rest of this outliving doesn't mean. anything. What was the wake-up call for. you or what was the Uh I mean, I think. if you know, it was essentially almost. losing my family, right? It was just. being so so selfish and so such an awful. person that, you know, I I I finally. woke up and realized how much I was. hurting everybody around me. And I was. confronted with that and confronted with. the reality that I had no choice but to.

go away and get help to to sort of. address my own. reasons for why my coping mechanisms. were so negative. What what made you so. selfish and awful? Like, where did that. come from? Well, I mean, again, at the. time I had no clue, but but I also at. the time I don't think I was even privy. to understanding. what um. what I was doing. But but obviously, as. I as I. talk about in the chapter when I. What I basically learned is I think a.

lot of my adaptations had to do with, you know, certain things in my. childhood, some of which were, you know, I describe as kind of big T trauma and. some of which are frankly just little T. trauma, but but collectively they just. produced a response, an adaptation. I. talk about this sort of model of trauma. where wounded children become adaptive. children. And adaptive children are there to. protect the wounded children, and I. think that's. a remarkable trait of us as humans, right? We are very resilient. The. problem is that a lot of those. adaptations become maladaptive in adult.

life. And I think that's really what I was. dealing with was so many of my. adaptations, you know, for example, control, drive, perfection, anger, all of those things. served me quite well as a child, but as a husband and as a father, they. were not serving me well anymore. And. all of the good that came from those. adaptations, for example, a strong work. ethic, a desire to to to do good,

was was more being done for the wrong. reasons. It was, "I'll show them. I. will, you know, I will matter. My my. self-esteem will be based on. performance, etc.". And I think all of that had to be turned. on its head. For me, that was sort of my. journey was learning how to undo all of. the. maladaptive behaviors to try to keep the. good parts of the adaptation and then. shed the the the harmful ones. Why do.

you think it takes us Thank you for. sharing, by the way, and I I know you're. going to more depth in the book, and I I. find this fascinating, and I think. people I'm so happy that you address it. because I think people find it. especially fascinating from coming from. you. because. often they're just seen as such separate. things and separate pursuits, but for. you to unifying them is is really really. interesting. Why do you think it takes. so many of us so long. to address the very root cause of so. much of our problems? And you partly.

covered it there that some of these. things become superpowers in the. material world. Like they're phenomenal. at. you know, manipulating the outside world. through control and uh perfectionism, etc. But then in the inner world and the. the family tends to suffer from that. Why does it take us. so long to look backwards almost to look. forwards in both our genetic Yeah, yeah. background and our also genetic trauma. in that sense. I don't think.

we want to. uncover painful things unless the pain. that we're confronting is greater than. the pain we're going to. encounter by doing so. That's probably. my simplest thought as to why. I just. think that. like how many people without ever having. experienced dental pain would go to the. dentist, right? Like you do as a kid cuz. you're sort of told, but. but when I think about now, like why do. I put so much effort into taking care of. my teeth? It's because I've learned how.

miserable it is when. um when I don't. I think. until you experience enough discomfort. in the present, and in my case that came through the. circumstances I write about, the pain of. turning around and going back and. exploring what happened and why and and. then embarking on the corrective steps. and learning a whole new language and a.

whole new set of skills. I mean, there's we in chemistry we call that the. activation energy of a chemical. reaction, right? So, you know, every. chemical reaction has to overcome sort. of some sort of activation energy. And. the higher that activation energy, the. less likely that reaction is to take. place. So, enzymes, which people have heard, what's an. enzyme do? An enzyme or a catalyst will. make that reaction more likely. It. lowers that barrier to activation. So, I. think what we need in in life are.

catalysts. We need something and. unfortunately, I think sometimes it. often has to be painful, a loss, to to force us to do that. I make a. point when I showed up in the first. rehab place I went to, there was this. there's a woman that I met there who. could sort of see from the look on my. face that I wasn't happy to be there. She just said to me in in a manner that. was just so perfect. She said, "Hey, nobody shows up here on a winning. streak." Yeah, yeah. And that's just. 100% true. Mhm. How how did you help the. people around you that you cared about.

be patient as you went through your own. journey? Because I feel like. it's really interesting when we are. trying to solve our own wounds and pain. It's already so hard. But because we've. taken on responsibilities or. commitments, whether that be in a. marriage or as a parent or even as a CEO. or a boss or whatever it may be, it's. like. all of a sudden you have so many other. commitments. that you had taken on even before you. realized you had to work on yourself.

Did you find yourself helping them while. you helped yourself to. be around and be supportive as opposed. to like tap out and say, "You know what, we don't want to be around.". Because I think we often look at like. how are people helping us in our time of. struggle, but sometimes it's like we. already committed to them and then we. realized that. Does that make any sense? It makes a ton of sense and I I I will. tell you I think it just speaks to how. fortunate I am and perhaps why I feel I. have an obligation to talk about it, which is I just think I was really lucky.

and that the people around me stood by. me and let me go through this and and. gave me the chance to do it and stood by. me. Because I don't I don't think many. people would have. I really, you know, I've said this to my wife many times. I. describe her as like, you know, sort of. Hall of Fame wife who didn't really need. to stick by me. I think she had enough. reasons to leave and take my kids away. and just say to hell with that guy. And. that she didn't, I will forever. pay that forward. And I think the same. is true of people that I worked with who.

knew I was struggling. I think deep down. believed. that I was not a bad person. I was a. good person who did very bad things and. that I deserved another chance. I wish I. could say I was supporting them on that. journey, but I don't think I was. I. think I was just reeling in pain and. lucky that they stood by me. Well, thank. you for sharing that. That's That really. hit me. That's. you know, don't expect people. would uh you when you're falling, but if. they stand by you, never let them leave.

your side because I think most of us. could probably. the fortunate ones attest to that. I. would say that about my wife, too. I'd. say that about my parents. I'd say that. about the people that I'm surrounded by. that sometimes I haven't had the. capacity to help them as I help myself, even though I want I intend to. But the. problem sometimes is we do the other. extreme where we demand them to help us. That's the balance. It's like the. gratitude that you're displaying right. now is is actually like the right I. think a wonderful balance because we do.

either or. We either go, "I'm going to. solve this myself and I don't need. anyone." or I want my family to solve my. problems for me. yeah. And like we live in one of those. extremes and you're actually saying, "Well, I had to help myself. I had to. admit I didn't have the capacity to help. them at the time, but now I'm just. grateful and I'm humbled by the fact. that they stayed here." Like there's. some there's some beauty to that. And uh that that really resonates. It's. probably four years after one of the. events that I write about in this book,

which was when my son almost died, I was. talking to. Esther Perel and I was just saying, "I. don't think I could ever. forgive myself for what I did." And she. said, "That's okay. I think it's okay. that you remember this for the rest of. your life. I think there's a degree of. humility you need to carry with you. forever." And. I I think that was really a wise thing. to say, right? Like I think it would. have been easy to have said, "No, no, no, no, no, you should just forget about. this and move on." But she's like, "No,

you should remember this forever. This. is the humility you need to remember.". And And she described it in a very. eloquent way, which was, "You need to. understand that there's a monster in you. and he's never going to go away. I'm confident you will keep him in the. corner for the rest of his life, but don't ever take an eye off him. Yeah. And don't ever think that just. because you're better now, you're better. for life. This is a constant process.". Yeah. And And remembering that. there's a monster in you, but you are.

not that monster. That's right. Yeah, he's over in the. corner and you have the You are the one. in charge of whether he stays in that. corner. Yeah, it reminds me I remember. in my. early experience of living as a monk, I. said to one of my monk teachers, I was I. said, "I just feel like I'll never overcome my. ego. Like it just is too big. Like it. There's There's too much to deal with.". And it's not that it's coming out in an. externally gross way that it's. manifesting, but I I can I know it's. there. You know, we've trained in. self-awareness and and I can see it. And.

he said to me, "Yeah, it's always going. to be there." He goes, "It's It's not. going anywhere." And he said, "It will. always act as your anchor and ground you. and humble you, even when you soar to. new heights or whatever else your life. brings to you, that you knowing that. it's there is actually what will help. you." Right. You know, stay grounded, which is such a. beautiful reminder as opposed to like. ego death and we're going to crush it. And it's interesting with the health, too, right? With emotional health and. physical health that from what you said, the first thing you said today was,

you know, there are certain things from. the moment you're born that that's it. It's already going in the wrong. direction. And we often think of like, "How do I. end this? Or how do I start this? How do. I finish this?" And it's like, well, most things are just in motion. They're. not beginning or ending. They're just. Yeah. already happening. And as you said. earlier, we're trying to slow it down or. we're trying to be aware of it or. we're trying to monitor it. When you. were speaking about your family there. and you were talking about that.

emotional well-being, there was. something that came to mind. There were. these two beautiful words you used which. one of them is used a lot, but one of. them not so much. But you talked about. joy and spontaneity. And I love the word. spontaneity. I think it's. not used enough when we talk about. emotional health. Joy is used, but the. challenge I find today when I'm talking. to people is that we're so overexposed. to whether we it's whether chemically. we're talking about dopamine or whether. we're just talking about like like fun,

pleasure, instant gratification, which. we've talked about for such a long time. that everything feels boring almost. It's It's hard for people to get to a. state of joy or spontaneity. I find that. a lot of people have a sense of like, "What What's there to look forward to?". Or like, "Oh, well, nothing's that. great. It's okay." Like, you know, whereas before and now it's like it. feels like you've got to up the. results so hard. And the problem is even. when you up it, like you're thinking.

that happiness is in Europe on that. yacht. Right? And it's like even if you. got there, it won't actually even live. up to that experience that you put in. your mind. Right. Because it was never about the. physical manifestation of it. It was It. was the idea that you've overexposed. yourself to so much pleasure that now. even the highest pleasures don't satisfy. or suffice. How How do we work on that? Like, what. is the health and emotional version of. approaching that problem? I wish I knew.

I mean, and I think you're addressing. one of the most important questions. And. this is something I I really struggle. with because. you know, for me, I And I was just. talking about this with someone earlier. today. I think about the next decade of. my life, this amazing time where I get. to be with my kids the most because, you. know, as you're probably aware, the the. data are pretty clear that once your. kids leave for college, the amount of. time you will get to spend with them is. is quite small. I think it works out to.

basically you have a total of 19 years. with your kids, 18 of which occur. until they leave for college. And then. one year is the sum total of time you. will spend with your kids the rest of. your life on average. So, I look at that. and I think I regret the time I've. wasted so far. Right? But so so that's. the stuff I talk about. And now I'm here. in the future. I think, "Wow, the. greatest source of joy I really. experience is with my family. That to me.

is what spontaneity is, right? Spontaneity for me is an important The. reason I brought it up is. I'm a very rigid person by nature. Part. of control for me is rigidity. Deviating. from my plan is a very hard thing to do, but I also realize it's a very important. thing to do. So, like I'm the kind of guy who makes. lists on weekends. Me, too. Right? Like there's just ev-. like there's a list of 12 things that. have to be done on Saturday and eight. things that have to be done on Sunday.

And you can imagine that that that. rigidity takes any spontaneity out of. life. And one of the great things I've learned. is how to. screw the list sometimes. The other day. when I went to get, you know, had to go. to Home Depot to get all the chicken. wire to do the thing like that. Wasn't. on the list that day, but I could see. that my son was upset that the squirrels. were eating his tomatoes. And I was. like, "You know what? I'm I'm supposed. to be doing X, Y, and Z. Let's go to. Home Depot.". Yeah. I think interestingly, anyone who.

who does that, which I'm sure is. everybody listening to this at some. point can experience that, those are probably the things that bring. more joy than the yacht in Ibiza. It. doesn't mean that you should never go on. the yacht in Ibiza. I think it just. means yeah, I think it just means that. don't dismiss the stuff that's right in. front of you. And again, for most people. I really do believe connection is that. thing. Like just having intimate. connection with friends and family. probably provides more of that.

than any of these other kind of material. things. Yeah. And and I think what you're saying is. actually true. And I and I want to. clarify that point, too, that I actually. think that when you are. not missing the simple things that are. right in front of you, then when the big. material thing is right in front of you, you won't miss that either. That's. that's the point I believe. Like I think. that if someone is grateful. for where they're at and what they see. and what they experience and are able to. immerse themselves in it, then the same.

happens on vacation, the same happens on. the yacht as as our thought experiment. Like the idea is is that the ability to. experience a flower as a thought. experiment in the most immersive way. allows you to experience a garden, which. allows you to experience a forest, which. allows you know, it's it's that you. can't really fully experience the forest. if you didn't know how to experience a. leaf. That idea of that much immersed. And I've and I've personally experienced. both the presence and absence of those.

experiences where. sometimes I'm walking up and down here. or or doing my morning hike. and you completely miss the view. because you're on your phone or even if. your phone's not there, you're thinking. about something. And then and then. second you look up and you're oh, wait a. minute. Like this was right there. And. so you I think we all experience. presence and absence and I found that. beautiful th- we think beautiful things. will make us more present. But actually we'll be absent even in.

beautiful things if we're not present. for the small things. And I've seen that. again and again and again. Uh and in. your example, I want And I'm just I'm. only picking at this because I think. there's so much lived experience in what. you're saying and and the scientific. background helps, too. It's like. how have you also not ended up because. it sounds like your kids and your family. is just so important to you. It's just. beautiful. And I think that's true for. so many people. But again, I find that a. lot of the people that I'm talking to. are living at the other extreme where. they're like, "Jay, I am so giving in to.

everything my kids want to do and my. family wants to do that I don't even. have any of my own habits and. disciplines, right? Like for you, going. to get chicken wire was a spontaneous. moment of love for your son who's. worried about this project that he. loves. Whereas for some people, all. they're living in is not spontaneity, but in urgency. And and then they're not. getting I was speaking to a friend the. other day and they were telling me, "Jay, I wake up at 6:00 a.m. But what. hap- And then I was kind of walking.

through their schedule with them for the. day and helping them map habits.". And they were like, "I don't know what. And I was like, "Well, when do you start. cooking lunch, for example, that they as. part of their day they have to do?" And. they were like, "12." And I was like, "So, what happens between 6:00 a.m. and. 12:00 noon?" They're like, "I don't. know." And I was like, "What do you. mean? Like you don't know? Like that's 6. hours of time. Like where does it go?". And then they were like, "Emails, phone. calls, random people call, random things. happen. It's all like I'm like, "Wow, you're waking up pretty early, which is. amazing. But now all of that 6 hours is. just lost in kind of moving. How have.

you found that balance between like, "I. love my children. I want to be there, but I also need to do everything I say. in this book, which takes time and. energy?" I don't want to necessarily use. myself as an example because I also. realize like I have some really good. things going for me, which is I have. like an amazing spouse, and I have an. amazing team, and all of these things. But what everyone around me has figured. out is if you want to get the best out. of me as a husband, as a father, as a. friend, as a boss, as a colleague,

whatever it is. If you want the best. version of Peter, he also has to be well-rested, he has to. be eating well, he has to be exercising, he has to be doing the the things that. he has to do every day for his mental. health. I am actually quite structured. when it comes to that stuff. So, I'm. very routined with how I do things. So, I do not take a single call or meeting, with very rare exceptions, once a month. there's an exception to this rule, before 11:00 a.m. Mhm. I am scheduled without a break from.

11:00 to 5:00 every single day. Mhm. So, I have 6 hours of pure scheduled, that I. consider that not my time. That's my. patient's time, that's my team's time, that's me giving 30 hours a week to. everybody. I get up at about 6:00, from. 6:00 to 11:00 is really sacred time. So, 6:00 to 7:00 is just coffee with my wife. and playing with the kids. So, my. daughter, of course, no, she's still. sleeping, but the boys.

we're playing board games, doing. puzzles, having coffee, doing whatever. From 7:00 to 8:00 is work. Just get the. emails done, uh read whatever I need to. read, etc., etc. From 8:00 to 11:00 is. hobby plus exercise. So, every day I'm. either in the simulator driving or. shooting my bow and arrow, and then I'm. exercising. From 5:00 till about 7:00 is. family time. So, I'm usually cooking. dinner, playing with the kids, going to,

you know, jiu-jitsu, whatever it is, and. then 7:00 till 10:00 is some combination. of family time plus work, and that's. where there's has to be some. flexibility. Like, how much more work do. I need to do? And the price I pay for. that is I have to work on weekends, too, right? Why? Because, like, I'm forcing. the time to be spread out, and so that. means like yeah, there's just you know, there's other things I'm going to have. to make sacrifices around. But I guess. my point of that is you have to kind of.

try to take hold of the schedule a. little bit and sort of say like there. are certain things that are. non-negotiable. So not exercising is a. non-negotiable. Not having some time. with my family is a non-negotiable. I rarely travel anymore. I used to. travel 20 days a month. I travel two to. three days a month now. Just very. deliberate and conscious decisions about. how I want to spend my time and the. importance of you know, taking care of. my body in an effort to take care of.

everything else. Absolutely. No, it's and and I. definitely I agree. I don't think we. want to use ourselves as examples or you. know, as as the way to do it because. everyone's so personal. I think it's. just useful understanding that that. structure is needed for that. spontaneity. What might be more helpful. for people to understand how I. communicate this with my wife. So my. wife is that person who will put. everybody ahead of herself. So what I. have to help my wife do is realize hey, like you need to go for a run too. because that matters a lot to you. And.

you need to go out with your friends and. have drinks. Mhm. once every two weeks because that. matters or you need to go and get a. mani-pedi with your daughter. and actually relax. I'll pitch in and do. this other thing because I really feel. strongly about you doing that. And. that's not something I would have done. before. Before I would have just sort of. said hey, it's awesome. You're doing. everything great. So I think as a spouse you want to sort. of. really understand that as true as that. is for me, it's just as true for her. I think that's the key thing and uh and.

I we don't have kids, but I can. definitely say on a relationship level. it's like just because your partner can. do something and is doing something. doesn't mean that you should just accept. that as reality for the rest of time. And I see that that's one of the biggest. challenges in relationships is people. feel like their role is assumed because. of what they've done in the past, but no. one checked with them as to whether they. were okay continuing to do it or whether. they felt good doing it. And we think,

well, they should tell us if they don't. like it. They would they would tell us. like I would tell them. But often you. find that someone's so ingrained in. playing a role that they've even. forgotten that they have needs or or who. they could be or can be or they feel. this overbearing burden or urgency in. their role that they just can't. disconnect from it. So, yeah, I I think. that's a great point to highlight. Peter, I mean, there's so many I really. do want to talk to you if if you still. have the time. I really do want to talk. to you about cancer or maybe Alzheimer's.

as well because we went on a different. direction which I wanted to go into um. which I loved, but I I want to talk to. you about cancer just because. I lost. I've lost three people in my life to. cancer. I lost my uncle who was my. mother's brother when I was around. gosh, maybe I was around. maybe just about to be 18 or something. like that. He had throat cancer and it. was tough to see him go through that. It.

was the first time someone in my direct. circle I'd kind of witnessed the journey. of someone like struggling, going. through pain, and and then, you know, dying at a at young age. He was like 57. years old. And then I saw my one of my. probably my closest friend. uh who I lived as a monk with and he was. still a monk when he passed away. And he. had colon cancer and. he was like my age like he died 2 years. ago now, so like that he was a bit old.

maybe a couple years older, so like 35. around around thereabouts. I believe. some of that was genetic which we found. out afterwards or like during the. process and he went through tons of. cycles of chemo and like he tried. everything. Like that guy had spirit and. resilience and and everything and it, you know, it was tough. And then I lost. my spiritual mentor to brain cancer. um in the same time frame uh during the. year of COVID. So, I also missed. both of these people's funerals because.

I couldn't go back to London cuz you. couldn't fly at the time. So, anyway, all of that to say I've just lost so. many people to cancer and I think that's. just not uncommon, which is even worse. in one sense. Like, I think everyone. who's listening is like, "Yeah, Jamie, too." And so, I think it's so important. to talk about because. I don't know. is it one in three? One in two? Is it I. don't know what what the stats are, but. because it's so common, because it's so. normal now and just someone having. cancer, but at the same time it's the. most painful news in the world because.

you kind of feel like you know where. it's going to go. What have we seen as. proven ways of preventing. and confronting cancer. um both holistic and, you know, traditional medicine. You know, the way. I sort of think about it is there are. three things to be thinking about, three. three categories. So, the first, as you. said, is. what steps can you take to prevent. cancer? The second question is, if you. get cancer, how can you catch it as. early as possible? One thing we really. do know is that.

if you treat a cancer earlier, your. chances of beating it go up. And the. longer you wait to treat it, meaning the. later you catch it, the worse your odds. And then the third question is, if you. do find cancer, what are the ideal. treatment strategies? Let's start with. the first question, and this is the. least satisfying because we don't know a. whole lot about what's causing cancer. So, we know. two things for sure. We know that. smoking is a big driver of cancer, and.

we know that obesity is a big driver of. cancer. Now, obesity is a a of a. misleading term because it's just kind. of a overly simplistic way to think. about what's actually happening. The data say obesity, but really what it. means is insulin resistance and. inflammation. Those are two hallmarks of obesity that. are present in 70-80% of cases of. obesity. And if you look at the data more. closely, that's what's actually driving. cancer. So, it's not actually how much.

fat you have on your body, it's more how. much fat is in certain parts of your. body that are metabolically problematic. But after those two things, smoking and instead of obesity, I just. prefer to say poor metabolic health, we. have some one-off examples. We know that. there are certain types of exposures, pesticide, you know, certain types of. pesticides, for example, certain type of. toxins. But those don't account for the. significant majority of them. So, for. many people, cancer is still a mystery.

In other words, whatever it cause. whatever caused the initiation of the. genetic mutations that ultimately led to. a cancer that the body was not able to. on its own remedy, is still a bit of a black box. And some. very prominent cancer biologist actually. just argue that it's bad luck. In other. words, it's a stochastic process. So, our genes are constantly replicating, but when mistakes are made, mutations. occur, and some of these mutations drive. cancer. And there's broadly speaking two. types of mutations. There are mutations.

in tumor suppressor genes, so these are. mutations in genes that are there to. stop cancers when cancers appear. And. then there are mutations in what are. called oncogenes. These are genes that. propagate cancer. So, mutations in any of these things can. actually lead to cancer. So, once you. sort of accept that you're going to do. everything in your power to not get. cancer, which is to say you're not going. to smoke, you're going to be as. metabolically healthy as possible, you're going to exercise, sleep, do all. those things right. The next most.

important thing is thinking about your. strategy for cancer screening. You know, this is where I probably differ. significantly from the mainstream, you. know, establishment view, which is is actually kind of. you know, not that aggressive on cancer. screening. I would argue that we have to. be very aggressive on cancer screening. provided we can get our minds around the. problem we discussed a little while ago, which is we understand that there's. going to be the harder you look for. something, the more likely you are to. find something that isn't relevant. But. if you understand that going in and. you're willing to accept that risk and.

evaluate each finding in a thoughtful. way, I think. that for most people, psychologically. and physically, the benefit is is a net. positive one. And so that means looking at things that. are, for example, with a colonoscopy, doing it earlier and more frequently. than is the standard recommendation. The. standard recommendation is not to begin. till you're 45. We would recommend that everybody, even. without a family history, begin at least. 5 years before that. It also means repeating colonoscopies.

more frequently, especially in the. finding of certain types of polyps. Whole body screening you talked about. with certain types of MRIs. We also use. something called the liquid biopsy, so. it's a blood test that looks for really, really small fragments of DNA in the. blood and can identify the presence of. cancer and the tissue of origin. Now. again, none of these tests are perfect, so each of these tests have things that. they're going to miss, but the idea is. that the more you're layering these. tests, the better your odds are of. finding something earlier. And then the. final point is, okay, well, what are the. strategies you know, if should you have.

cancer? And this is where I think we. just have a little bit more promise now. than we did a decade ago. So, a decade. ago, cuz this is the first time I did. this analysis, in the previous 50 years, so from, you know, 60 years ago until 10. years ago, the overall survival. improvement in cancer was about 3%. Wow. It was abysmal. But in the past 10. years, it's been about another 8%. Mhm. And while that doesn't sound remarkable, and the implication of that is half the.

people who are diagnosed with cancer. today will still die from cancer. It's. the biologic insights and the trajectory. that we're on right now that gives me. much more hope. And that is. primarily based on a couple of things. The first is the field of immunology has. really taken off. The tools that we have. to harness the immune system to attack. cancer have become so dramatic. Mhm. Immunotherapy, right? That's right. That it really is.

I think within the next decade, which I. know seems like an infinite amount of. time for someone who's got cancer right. now, we're really seeing changes that I. think are going to allow immunotherapies. to go from the niche place that they. occupy in only working for certain types. of cancers, like melanoma and kidney. cancer, to being able to go after the. holy grail of cancers, which are what we. call the solid organ epithelial tumors. Breast, pancreatic, colon, lung. These.

are the big cancers that do the majority. of the killing. 50% of cancer deaths are. just five cancers. Lung, colon, breast, prostate, pancreatic. That's more than 50% of all. cancer deaths. Until you have a solution. for those, we're not we don't have a. solution for cancer. Got it. And I do. believe that we are really moving in. that direction. We've touched on this. point a few times of almost the stress. about stress for health. And that's a.

really interesting way of thinking about. it. It's like the stress of oh, I need. to work out today. The stress of I need. to have my supplements today. The stress. of I can't sleep. Why am I not sleeping, right? Like we stress about the things. that are good for us. How have you helped your patients? How have you coached them through that? How do you guide people through that? Because I think a A of people go, well, then I'm just not going to do anything. because at least then I'm not stressed.". I don't think that's the wisdom in what. you're saying. I don't think you're.

saying, "Well, yeah, there is better not. to have any stress at all." How do you. help people to engage and. you know, use that stress in a healthy. way or how do you guide patients through. that stress? I mean, I think every. patient's different and I think you have. to sort of get to know the person a. little bit and figure out what what's. the underlying issue. So, I I do think. that there are a lot of people who. frankly self-sabotage. Going back to. kind of like where I was, I mean, my. self-destructive behaviors weren't. coming directly at the expense of my. physical health. They were coming at the.

expense of my emotional health. But, I. actually think there are a lot of people. who have very similar stories to mine, but their manifestation is it's coming. at the expense of their physical health. They are sabotaging their ability. They. they're coming up with a million excuses. why they can't eat well, they can't. exercise, they can't do this, they can't. do that. And so, you have to be able to. get to the root of the problem. And. so, there are many patients where we. just think, "Look, you're not going to. get better without trauma-based. therapy." Like, until you come up with a way to care.

enough about yourself to stop punishing. yourself in this way because I do I. think people punish themselves in. different ways. You could almost argue I. used to punish myself by overdoing all. of those healthy things. Like, some of. the exercise I was doing was actually a. form of punishment. So, on the surface. you'd say, "Boy, that guy's really. healthy." But, no, he wasn't. Another. thing I always think about is. when we're in the spirit of trying to. build new habits, sometimes perfect is. the enemy of good. Typically, what I. want is a win. And I think that what.

people just need is a win. And it. doesn't have to be the biggest win, it. just has to be a win. So, if you're. looking at a person. for whom nothing is optimal, don't try. to fix all things at once. Pick the one. thing that you think they have the. greatest odds of being able to make a. difference on and just work on that and. accept the fact that the other things. will continue to be sub optimal, but you. develop their confidence in that one. thing. How about for 20 minutes a day. you do something active? You go and walk. for 20 minutes a day. If you're talking. about a person who's never lifted a.

finger, that would be a huge win and you might. do that before you get into the details. of this type of training or that type of. training or we're going to tweak your. nutrition and optimize your protein. intake. I mean, that's just overwhelming. and you're probably just more likely to. fail at everything and create kind of a. compensatory negative reaction. But. again, I I I I don't think there's a. paint-by-numbers approach. I think you. in the way we do it with patients, I. think you just have to treat everybody. individually. And by the way, when. something's not working, you have to. accept it and pivot and try something.

that is. I think that's the keyword, pivot. Yeah. That's the keyword. Everyone. Peter Attia, the book is called Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. If you. don't already have it, please go and. grab a copy. I I highly recommend it. Of course, today's conversation's been fantastic. I've tried to touch on topics that Peter. may not have been asked about in a. million different interviews. He's got. fantastic interviews out there on so. many awesome podcasts as well. So, if. you're more interested in the parts we. didn't cover, please do go and watch. those and get informed. Peter, it's been. such a joy sitting down with you today.

Honestly, there's been uh moments where. I've been mind-blown and moments where. I've been taken aback and. felt really, you know, in my body and. really present where my feet are and I'm. just really grateful that we got to have. this conversation. We got to share so. much incredible insights with our. community today and I want you to make. sure that you tag me and Peter on. Instagram, on TikTok, on Threads. with what you're learning, what you've. taken away, what are the things you're. going to apply and practice with, what's. something you're going to experiment.

with this week. That would make me. really happy is that you just take one. thing away from this and you're like, I'm going to try that out. Going to. figure this out for myself. That would. be an awesome place to start. Peter, we. end every episode with a final five of. fast five. So, these questions have to. be answered in one word to one sentence. max. Uh so, Peter these are your final five. or your fast five. The first question is. what is the best health advice you've. ever heard or received? Exercise every day. Second question, what is the worst health advice you've.

ever heard or received? Do a cleanse. Ah, interesting. Why? That's Yeah, okay. Well, I just think. that you know, I've seen I've seen some. of those things go really bad where. people, you know, get really mucked up. and dehydrated and I've I've seen people. actually take in some chemicals and. compounds that dramatically alter liver. function tests and things like that. Wow, okay. All right. Question number. three, what's something you're currently. trying to unlearn? Continuing to work on. perfectionism, you know, unlearning or. or detuning it. Question number four,

what's something that you're a very big. proponent of but a lot of people may. disagree with you and you're like. they're like, "Hmm, not sure about it.". Maybe the importance of very. heavy strength training in. postmenopausal women. Interesting. Let's. let's dive into that cuz that's that's. fascinating. I'm really glad how. specific you went. That's great. Women. postmenopause are so unbelievably. susceptible to osteoporosis and. osteopenia with the loss of estrogen.

Unfortunately, many women in that. situation are not getting hormone. replacement therapy and so they're. doubly susceptible to it. I think. there's just a a cultural belief that. you know, women don't need to lift. weights and if they do, it's very light. But the truth of it is you really need. to lift heavy things to make your bones. stronger. And that doesn't mean it has. to be complicated stuff like squats or. deadlifts or things like that, but you. know, one of the most important things. is carrying, doing a farmer's carry. So, holding very heavy dumbbells in your. hands and walking. So important and it.

doesn't matter how old you are. Got it. Great. Fifth and final question, if you. could create one law that everyone in. the world had to follow, what would it. be? You must go into nature for at least. an hour a day with no electronics. And just be. Just be outside, be in. nature, but be. untethered to. electronics or obvious distractions. Beautiful. Peter, that's fantastic.

Thank you so much again for your time, your energy, your presence today. I hope. this is the first of many times that. you'll come back on on purpose. And. again, if you don't already follow. Peter, Peter, where's the best place. you'd like people to find you? I know. you're on Instagram and YouTube and. everywhere, but. Yeah, I think everything is Peter Attia. MD is is all the handles everywhere and. uh yeah. So, thank you very much. I. really appreciate this. Thank you. If you loved this episode, you'll enjoy my interview with Dr. Daniel Amen on how to change your life. by changing your brain. If we want a. healthy mind, it actually starts with a.

healthy brain. You know, I've had the. blessing or the curse to scan over a. thousand convicted felons and over a. hundred murderers, and their brains are. very damaged.