Healthy Lifestyle Episodes

Bryan Johnson was diagnosed with autoimmune gastritis in 2026, and within a day the internet had already decided it was his vegan diet — I don't think it's that simple. In this episode I break down what autoimmune gastritis actually is, why Bryan's own data (crashed ferritin, failed iron absorption, a second autoimmune condition since he was 21) points to something deeper than food alone, and why both sides of this argument — "it's the diet" and "diet has nothing to do with it" — are missing th...

My testosterone is 312 ng/dL. By most standards, that's low. But instead of panicking, I sat down and asked myself a simple question: is it actually a problem? In this episode, I walk through my own testosterone journey from TRT and hCG to where I've landed today, and why I'm not rushing to fix a number just because it's low. I look at the tradeoffs I've noticed between higher and lower T: appetite, libido, resting heart rate, HRV, even risk-taking. I also lay out the honest self-assessment I...

I'm 44, running multiple businesses, homeschooling my kids, and managing a 45-acre homestead. And I'm in better shape now than I was a decade ago. Not because I have more time. I don't. But because I stopped relying on motivation and built systems that work regardless of how I feel on any given day. In this episode, I walk you through the six pillars I use to stay in peak health during the busiest chapter of my life: nutrition anchored in animal protein, strength that comes from living and...

Most of the mushroom supplements you'll find on Amazon are ground-up fruiting bodies or myceliated grain in a capsule. AHCC is something entirely different. It's a patented fermented extract from shiitake mycelia that has been used in over 1,000 cancer clinics worldwide, backed by more than 100 published studies, and studied specifically for its effects on natural killer cells, HPV clearance, autoimmune conditions, and liver disease. I'd never heard of it until Mimi Lindquist introduced me to it...

The other day my brother-in-law asked me a simple question: if you could go back to age 25 knowing what you know now, what would you do differently? The answer turned out to be anything but simple, because every change I'd make would unravel the chain of events that led me to where I am today. If I hadn't gotten into computers at 12, I probably wouldn't have gone into IT security. Without that career, I wouldn't have started my own company, moved to Switzerland, transferred to the US, met my ...

The main argument I hear when I encourage people to improve their diet is that healthy food is expensive. Compare the cost of a pound of grass-finished beef to fast food and the difference looks stark. But cheap food is the most expensive thing you'll ever buy. In the 1960s, the average American spent about 17% of their income on food. Today it's 10%, the lowest of any country on earth. Over roughly the same period, healthcare spending went from 9% of the economy to 18%. Food got cheaper and ...

Why bother with organ meat when you can just have a ribeye? After all, steak is already one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. It's a fair question, and one I get all the time. The ancestral health world has generally answered it with "because our ancestors did" or "because predators eat the organs first," and while those things are true, they don't actually tell you what you need to know. The real question is how much more nutritious is an organ than a steak. Is it 10% more? ...

For years, I thought that if you eat right, ditch the seed oils and live a clean ancestral lifestyle, you become basically bulletproof in the sun. Just walk outside shirtless in July, no sunscreen, no problem. Your inner caveman will handle it. And to be clear, I still think diet matters enormously. But this spring I've been burned a few times, and it forced me to rethink my approach. What changed is that we moved to a larger property last fall and started homesteading at a completely differe...

If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know I've had strong opinions on diet, training, and what belongs on your plate. Some of those opinions I've walked back. Not because I was wrong about everything, but because I've learned more, lived more, and stopped clinging to ideas just because they were mine. How you handle being wrong says a lot more about you than how confident you were when you thought you were right. And when you build an audience or even just a social circle a...

All plants are toxic to varying degrees. I haven't changed my mind on that. But recently our oldest daughter came up with a business idea: – making salves from plantain leaves infused in beeswax and olive oil for their antibacterial properties — and it got me thinking about the role plants actually play in our household despite the fact that we're very much an animal-based, meat-centric family. The truth is, we do eat plants. We always have. The foundation hasn't changed — meat, organs, eggs,...

Learn More: Support your nutritional foundation in a toxic modern world with MK Supplements: Use code YOUTUBE for 20% off your first purchase → https://mksupps.com New York Times Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/climate/glyphosate-roundup-retracted-study.html Thank you to this episode’s sponsor, Peluva! Peluva makes minimalist shoes to support optimal foot, back and joint health. I started wearing Peluvas several months ago, and I haven’t worn regular shoes since. I encourage yo...

The general consensus on sauna bathing is that it’s a powerful tool for longevity, recovery and metabolic health. More sessions, higher heat, longer durations — all of these strategies are commonly assumed to produce better outcomes. But after hearing Paul Saladino question whether sauna use can add unnecessary stress for people who already train hard or live under chronic pressure, I felt it was worth taking a closer look at when sauna therapy is best leveraged and when it might do more harm...

It’s been just over eight weeks since my meniscus surgery, and I wanted to share a transparent update on what’s been working, what hasn’t, and how my knee is performing now. In this episode, I walk you through the entire healing process: the early tightness and inflammation, what I learned from ignoring recovery during our homestead move, how my MCL tear is progressing, and why rotational stress is still the last piece I’m rebuilding. I also highlight the recovery tools, supplements, movement...

Most of us don’t realize how quickly the urge hits. You sit down at the DMV, nothing is happening yet, and your hand is already halfway to your pocket. Reaching for our phone has become so automatic that we barely notice it, even though it shapes much more of our behavior than we’d like to admit. In this episode, I look at that micro-moment — the half-second between feeling an urge and acting on it. Your brain wants relief from boredom or discomfort, and the phone promises it instantly. Bu...

For years, my blood pressure readings at routine checkups came back higher than I expected, even though I train hard, sleep well, and pay close attention to recovery. I wasn’t hypertensive, but those numbers never matched how I actually felt — and the rushed way they were taken didn’t inspire confidence. After all, when a measurement happens over a sweater, with no rest period, and within seconds of walking through the door, it’s hard to trust the result. That disconnect is what led me ...

A few days ago, Kathy asked me to listen to a parenting podcast by Dr. Becky that stopped me in my tracks. In it, the host told a story about planning a movie night as a kid — driving to Blockbuster, hoping the film you wanted wasn’t already rented, and learning to deal with the disappointment when it was. That memory hit hard because it reminded me just how much patience was once built into daily life… and how little patience is required today. When everything is on demand, our kids rarel...

When Consumer Reports recently claimed that protein powders contain "high levels of lead," it sparked fear and confusion. In this episode, I break down what's actually going on, including how heavy metals end up in supplements, which types are most affected, and how to protect yourself without overreacting. Plant-based protein powders like rice, pea, soy and hemp often have the highest levels of contamination. These crops naturally absorb metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium from soil and wa...

Most conversations about the environment fall into polarized camps — either denial or panic. But living responsibly doesn’t have to be political or extreme. In this episode, I take a practical look at what stewardship can look like at home, from how we grow food to how we build, heat, and maintain the spaces we live in. For our family, that means raising chemical-free produce and livestock, managing soil through regenerative practices, and thinking about proximity so we can walk, bike, and re...

A few weeks ago, I found myself driving home late after a long day of hauling gear to our new property — hungry, tired, and joking with Kathy that if we were a “normal” family, we’d just pull into a McDonald’s drive-thru. Of course, we didn’t, but that comment stuck with me. Could there be a future where eating at McDonald’s wouldn’t feel like poisoning your body? It sounds absurd, but after hearing that McDonald’s plans to invest $200 million into regenerative agriculture, I’m not so sure anymo...

When most people think about blood pressure, they think about a once-a-year reading at a doctor’s office. But one measurement on one day doesn’t tell you much about your cardiovascular health. Just like a single fasting glucose number doesn’t reveal your metabolic state, a one-off blood pressure check is largely meaningless. Blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day based on stress, sleep, exercise, hydration, and countless other factors. And even more important: the cuff on your arm measu...

I recently spent a week in Austria, bouncing between my grandparents’ farmhouse and the alpine trails I grew up on. And it hit me how stark the contrast is between the foundation they built and the environment kids are growing up in today. My grandparents are 92 and 93, still living on their own. They had decades of clean food, pure alpine water, long days outside and zero WiFi. And then, over the last 10-20 years, an Americanized creep of seed oils, ultra-processed snacks and glyphosate star...

Most people have been told at some point that the way to “detox” is to buy a cleanse, live on juice for a week, or chase down some supplement that promises to pull toxins out of the body. But the reality is very different. In this episode, I unpack what detoxification really looks like, and explain why your body already comes equipped with everything it needs to keep itself clean — provided you don’t get in its way. How does it work? Instead of imagining the liver as a sponge full of toxin...

In this episode, I explore whether following an ancestral diet and traditional eating habits is enough to keep us healthy today. While our grandparents thrived on simple meals, the reality of modern food quality, hidden environmental toxins, and processed foods inflammation paint a different picture. I share how chronic stress and health challenges, along with changes like A1 vs A2 milk casein, affect our bodies in ways past generations didn’t face. We’ll look at why homesteading health problems...

In this episode, I share a fascinating 1950s endurance experiment with rats that uncovered what researchers called an “anti-fatigue factor” in beef liver. The results highlight why organ meats like liver are nature’s ultimate multivitamin and how even small micronutrient deficiencies can wreck ATP energy production, mitochondrial health, and overall performance. I’ll walk you through what the study revealed, how it ties into modern fatigue and performance issues, and why I believe high-quality ...