Bulletproof Radio

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest defies aging by pushing the limits of his own endurance as an athlete and adventurer well into his sixth decade. After a 20-year hiatus from competitive fitness, Robert Hamilton Owens took it up again at age 50. By age 65, he felt ready to take on five of the world’s toughest endurance events. IN. ONE. YEAR. He competed in an 8-day race over 200 miles across Greece; a combination run/ocean swim event lasting more than nine hours; an Ironman Triathlon; seven marathons in seven days on seven continents; and a 50-hour challenge modeled after a Navy SEAL-style Hell Week. Yet, Robert says; “I'm an average guy. And what I learned in this process was that if an average person will continue to do the right things and persevere, they'll do far more than they think they can ever do.” In our conversation, we talk training styles, grit, toughness, and what it takes to find your “why” and keep going. That includes being vulnerable and asking for help.“Most people will hit a natural mental ceiling,” Robert says. “Your mind is geared to protect you. You think thoughts to protect you, you don't want to be hurt. And yet to get to the places you want to go, you're going to have to go through pain; mental pain, emotional pain, relational pain, financial pain, situational pain. And you don't want pain. None of us do. But the only way to grow is to embrace that pain.”Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest tackles a topic in her newest book that has far-reaching implications for just about every aspect of human health—sugar. And she talks about it a way that's really useful because sugar is an emotional, psychological, and physical and biochemical thing all at once. Not quite heroin but not that far away.“Sugar has the tightest grip on us, right?” Michele Promaulayko says. “Even the "healthiest" people I know have a problem with sugar. As I was developing “Sugar Free 3,” every single person I spoke to said, "I need that." And they all do need it because we're a nation of sugar addicted people.”We discuss the insidious ways added sugar shows up in our food supply and how we’re unintentionally consuming it because it’s hiding in so many foods. “The frenemy,” says Michele in “Sugar Free 3: The Simple 3-Week Plan for More Energy, Better Sleep, and Surprisingly Easy Weight Loss!”. “And that’s exactly what sugar is. … Sure, it acts life your most supportive BFF, there for you at all hours, especially the late nights when you think you need it most. But when you stop to really thing about it, sugar takes way more than it gives.”In our conversation, Michele suggests genius ways to use aromatherapy to curb cravings, gives practical tips on how to reset your palette, and recommends ways to loosen sugar’s grip. You can find even more tips in the book or on the new video series platform Sugar Free 3 on Openfit.Michele is an award-winning print and digital editor, journalist and author. As the former editor-in-chief of Comopolitan magazine, Yahoo Health, and Women’s Health magazine, she has been an influential voice for health, wellness, and women’s issues for two decades. She’s now editorial-director-at-large for THE WELL—a new health ecosystem—where she continues to be a leader in the modern wellness conversation.Enjoy the show! 

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is a scientist and entrepreneur in the field of genomics who is regarded as one of the most innovative leaders in the emerging personalized medicine and lifestyle genomics space. Mansoor Mohammed, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer of The DNA Company, is considered to be a pioneer in medical genomics. He’s a classically trained molecular immunologist who has received academic and industry awards, published numerous papers, and holds patents in the general fields of molecular diagnostics and genomics research.“Functional genomics is about understanding the DNA behaves in every definition like a language,” Mansoor says. “It has vocabulary, i.e., the genes. But it also has grammar, sentence structure, syntax, nuances. You've got to be able to read genetic structure at the holistic level.”Listen on to learn more about how advancements across the exciting field of functional genomics are influencing personalized medicine and how The DNA Company is approaching female hormone health.“We've chosen female health as our primary initial focus, and more specifically, taking a functional genomics’ view of the mechanisms that drive hormone health in women,” Mansoor says.Enjoy the show! **Special Offer for Bulletproof Radio Listeners**The DNA Company is offering a free 30-minute consultation with a clinician with the purchase of either the Male or Female Hormone Profile. Once your report is ready, one of The DNA Company’s trained clinicians will review your report and answer any questions you may about your results.  Enter "DAVE" in the clinician code section during check out and you will receive a link to book your free consultation when your report is ready. Once The DNA Company receives your completed saliva sample, you can expect delivery of your reports within 6 to 8 weeks. Access the Female Hormone ProfileAccess the Male Hormone ProfileFor clinical practitioners who want to register for The DNA Company’s Functional Genomics Training Program, access the waiting list here.

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is Lance Dalleck, Ph.D., a professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado.Lance's research validates the science behind CAR.O.L. FIT AI, a game-changing exercise bike that delivers peak fitness in just 40 seconds. And you don't even have to break a sweat.He shares some interesting findings that support the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training on the CAR.O.L. bike, an AI-powered, interactive exercise bike with self-learning algorithms. CAR.O.L. stands for CARdiovascular Optimization Logic. You may remember that I talked with the CAR.O.L. FIT AI co-founders on episode #615 of Bulletproof Radio about how to hack your cardiovascular system with the CAR.O.L.“With a 20-second sprint, you're increasing your energy demand above rest substantially,” Lance says. “That's a severe disruption to your homeostasis. And as a result of that, you're putting in motion a variety of upregulation of metabolic pathways that allow you to provide energy that will regenerate ATP so that you can keep sprinting for 20 seconds. And the research is pretty clear that we've identified that minimum time that turns on these pathways, 20 seconds, two bouts a day, and that's sufficient.”Lance teaches in both the Exercise and Sport Science and High-Altitude Exercise Physiology programs. He researches primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases through evidence-based interventions like exercise and nutrition and quantifies the energy expenditure of outdoor and non-traditional types of physical activity. His research into CAR.O.L. culminated in a paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: “Reduced Exertion High-Intensity Interval Training is More Effective at Improving Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cardiometabolic Health than Traditional Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training.”Lance has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, delivered 30 conference proceedings, and written 10 book chapters. He is on the Scientific Advisory Panel for the American Council on Exercise.Enjoy the show!**Special Offer for Bulletproof Radio Listeners**To receive $150 off your purchase of a CAR.O.L FIT AI-powered, interactive exercise bike, enter promo code "DAVE" at checkout.

This episode of Bulletproof Radio was recorded live with Dr. Andrew Weil at True Food Kitchen in Phoenix, Arizona.Dr. Weil is an internationally known pioneer and leader in integrative medicine. He is a recognized expert for his views on living a healthy lifestyle, his philosophy of healthy aging, and his critique of the future of medicine and health care. “I am absolutely convinced that the mind and body are one thing, they're not separable,” he says. “And that one of the greatest limitations of modern medicine is that it sees the mind and body as separate. And if it recognizes the mind at all, it doesn't admit that it can influence the body.”A Harvard-trained medical doctor, he is the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. The Center is the leading effort in the world to develop a comprehensive curriculum in integrative medicine. He champions the use of medicinal plants and alternative medicine, as well as the reform of medical education.Dr. Weil also is a clinical professor of medicine and a professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona and the author of more than a dozen books on health, wellness and optimal living.Enjoy the show! 

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, Peter Diamandis is here talking with me about the speed of the future—and how it’s here and now.Peter’s mission is to elevate humanity to the next level. His primary focus is on accelerating breakthroughs in products, companies, and industries to solve some of the world's greatest challenges. In the past several years, Peter has had several breakthrough technologies in different sectors including 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, computation, drones, materials science, health, energy, the future of work, and robotics.“What we can do, what the average person can do these days is extraordinary and we don't think about it,” Peter says. “It's amazing how powerful we are, how much access to capital we have and computational power and knowledge and what we can do with that if it's focused.” His newest book, co-authored with Steven Kotler, The Future is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives, is a follow-up to his best-selling books Abundance and BOLD.Peter is known as the world's best expert in incentivized innovation and has worked in several Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, and captained various industry in the past 15 years. He’s the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions.He has won multiple awards including the 2010 Economist "No Boundaries" award for "metainnovation”—steering innovation in the way people innovate. Enjoy the show! And if you like what you hear, check out episodes 448, 449, and 552 on daveasprey.com.

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I’m taking with Kate Northrup. As an entrepreneur, best-selling author, speaker, activist and mother, she has built a multimedia digital company by doing less and working fewer hours—all while raising two small kids.In her newest book, “Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Busy Moms,” she says a resounding no to the addiction of busyness and debunks the myth that personal worth equals productivity.“We might be doing things just because we're upholding some standards that if we really were to check in with our hearts and souls, they're not actually bringing us joy,” she says. “So, I believe things need to either bring us results or bring us joy. If they don't bring us results or joy, they have no business in our lives.”I’m excited to talk to Kate about how she balances practical data with the important soul work to manage her business, her energy and her life. I’m especially intrigued with how she manages to “bend time.”Enjoy the show!

YuIn this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I’m at the Beverly Hilton in L.A. with my good friend Dawson Church, Ph.D. Today we’re going to dive into brain wave—what they are, why their frequencies are important and what they do in various emotional states, from stress to meditation.You’ll find out how brain growth is influenced by “the power of our behavior, of our beliefs, of our practices, of our spiritual practices, of our emotional states on our brains,” Dawson says. “We are reshaping our brains with every thought we think, with every emotion we feel, with every meditation session we do.”Some background you should know about Dawson: He’s an expert tapper—not of the dancing kind, but rather the emotional freedom technique kind. (EFT for short.) He’s also been on Bulletproof Radio before. In episode 474, we talked about all things tapping and he led me through an EFT session on that podcast. He has conducted dozens of clinical trials and founded the National Institute for Integrative Healthcare to promote groundbreaking new treatments. He’s studied the effects of meditation on the brain and tapping as a technique to help people heal from physical, emotional and mental challenges.As an award-winning author and researcher, his book “The Genie in Your Genes” linked emotions and genetics. His follow-up book, “Mind to Matter” examined the science of peak mental states. We discuss his forthcoming book, “Bliss Brain,” and the surprising science of the brain he discovered in his research and study of brain waves.“One of the big mysteries of neuroscience for decades was that the brain activity doesn't fluctuate by more than 5% up or down, day or night,” he says. “When you relax, your brain doesn't relax. Your brain activity just stays at the same high level.” … “When you're not doing a task, the brain sees all this unused spare capacity and it says, "Great. Let's grab this." And it grabs it to such a consistent degree that we call that the default mode network.”Listen on to learn more about brain activity and the fascinating way it bridges your consciousness.*This episode contains a mini session guided by Dawson that is a allows you to quickly access an altered state of consciousness.Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I’m talking with Ben Pakulski in person at Alpha Labs. Ben is a retired professional bodybuilder and former Mr. Canada who now educates people all around the globe on the benefits of an intelligent and holistic approach to muscle building and its effect on thriving health, longevity, upgraded consciousness, self-confidence and an overall positive outlook on life. He also hosts the podcast “Muscle Intelligence” and is the creator of the best-selling muscle-building program MI40. “I want to empower people to realize that the story they tell themself as to why they are the way they are now is not necessarily reality,” Ben says. “It's just the way you've adapted to your environment and your scenarios. You can change. I think that's the big messaging behind what I do is I want to empower people to change their body and change their mind, and realize that no matter what it is in this world, you can do it. You just haven't figured out the steps yet.”Ben uses a unique mindset-based approach to muscle-building. Listen on to learn about all the benefits of muscle, how to maximize your results in a healthy way, and the role of mindfulness in gaining muscle. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I have a fascinating guest who teaches people the tools and techniques required to experience pleasurable sex. Women's Health Magazine calls her, "the Headmistress of Pleasure," and Cosmopolitan calls her a “Sexpert Extraordinaire." Layla Martin studied human sexuality and human biology at Stanford and then spent a decade learning from Tantric masters in the jungles of Asia. She combines modern science with the effective practices of Tantra to inspire people to heal trauma or shame and fully awaken their sexuality. “Humans need access to these mystical states of awareness,” she says. “It's not something just privileged or woo-woo or something for yoga class; it's something that people need to be operating at the highest level of neurological health.”As the founder of the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, Layla teaches people how to experience more epic sex and legendary love through her trademarked VITA™ Method. She has a potent approach to up-leveling sex and life, and she shares her practices on her YouTube channel, which has nearly 90 million views to date.So, if you’re ready to upgrade your sex life, listen on for this and more of Layla’s advice: “Being connected to your body, understanding your energy system and having an ability to feel heightened sensations all contribute to being excellent in bed.”Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, I’m talking to a guest who by all outward appearances had it all. A member of the “one-percent,” Gerard Powell made his millions from creating and selling multiple companies. But his life was a mess in many ways, and he battled multiple addictions.In his new book, “Sh*t the Moon Said: A Story of Sex, Drugs, and Transformation,” he says, “My many addictions during those years—drugs, alcohol, sex—were certainly destructive to myself and damaging to the people around me. But if there was anything good about that behavior, it would be the fact that I was seeking a different state of consciousness. I was seeking it in all the wrong places, but at least I was a seeker.”Through plant medicine he mapped a psycho-spiritual path that helped him overcome his addictions and achieve lasting peace. Today, Gerard shares his journey and life-changing experience with ayahuasca—as well as how he now brings what he’s learned to others.Gerard now is a consciousness thought-leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and inspirational speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, which is a go-to destination for a spiritually awakening experience. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, Dr. Steven Gundry is back on the show with new research about how food is affecting our kids. He’s a renowned heart surgeon, celebrity doctor, and medical researcher with a focus on curing modern diseases via dietary changes. You may know him from his New York Times best-selling books, “The Plant Paradox” and “The Longevity Paradox.” You can listen to Bulletproof Radio episodes #417 and #604 for more information on those topics.In his latest book, “The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook: 80 One-Pot Recipes to Nourish Your Family Using Your Instant Pot, Slow Cooker or Sheet Pan,” Dr. Gundry revisits his foundational approach and expands it to include the latest nutritional science for kids. He also offers families practical tools for transitioning to the Plant Paradox lifestyle.As busy and often tired parents with a multitude of responsibilities, we may say to ourselves that it’s ok to grab fast food or order take out. “Well, it's not okay,” says Dr. Gundry. “The studies show the sooner we start our kids eating properly, the sooner you set them up for a lifetime of successful health.”Listen on to learn more about the brain-gut-behavior connection and find out ways to protect your kids’ microbiome.Enjoy the show!

This episode of Bulletproof Radio was recorded live at the Genius Network. My guest spent years researching how trauma affects our minds and our lives. In doing so, he began to understand that events and experiences throughout our lifetime continue to play a role in how we experience life in the present. “Trauma is a glitch, it's an error message,” says Don Wood, Ph.D. “If you think about something that happened to you 10 years ago and you feel fear or anger, or you feel an emotion, then that's affecting you.”He also realized that there was a better way of treating the issue. “Teaching people to live with, manage and cope with the daily stress doesn’t fix the problem,” Don says. “The solution comes from understanding its source and providing a long-term permanent solution.”So, Don developed a more efficient and effective solution for trauma using modern advancements in the study of neuroscience and cutting-edge proprietary techniques. The result has been the development of the Inspired Performance Institute and the creation of a revolutionary approach to performance improvement.Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is Tara Swart, M.D., Ph.D., a neuroscientist, medical doctor, leadership coach, and bestselling author. She works with leaders all over the world to help them improve their ability to manage stress, regulate emotions, and retain information. She’s a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management where she runs the Neuroscience for Leadership and Applied Neuroscience programs and is an executive advisor to some of the world’s most respected leaders in media and business. She specializes in sectors that face unusual levels of stress or change. She’s also an online columnist for Fast Company and Forbes.  She helps high performers achieve their peak brain performance. I’m excited to talk to her about her new book, “The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain,” which explains how to rewire the brain’s pathways to make lasting, positive changes in people’s lives.Part of that rewiring focuses on mental resilience and adversity capability.“Our ability to endure and bounce back from adversity is a capability that can be built into our brain,” Dr. Swart says. “And there are certain factors that help to really incorporate that into our tool kit. Because of things like the natural loss aversion of the brain, we have to override that with a different form of thinking.Dr. Swart also is intrigued by the three-way transmission of information between the limbic system, gut neurons and the gut microbiome. “Bacteria are using us as avatars to get whatever nutrition or resource they need to be able to survive, to multiply, then transform,” she says. “The way that helps leaders from a pathological angle is if you’ve got an addiction or a terrible craving, understanding that it could be the bacteria in your gut that's causing that, not you. And I think that level of separation helps people to step back and think…”Listen on to learn more about gaining greater clarity about your own intuition and the untapped potential of your brain.“I think that whole process of evolving and challenging your beliefs and embracing new ideas is really important,” Dr. Swart says. “I think my niche is to be able to represent based on current modern scientific thinking. How some of those things, like the law of attraction, manifestation, visualization could actually help us to have a slightly better life than the one that we have at the moment.”Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest, Teri Cochrane, CN, CCP, shares exciting discoveries about how our food choices influence how our genes are expressed. We discuss her research on epigenetics and nutrigenomics, and how eating wild-caught, wild-fed proteins can lead to better health on a molecular level. “Just eat based to your genetic blueprint and where you are on your health continuum,” she says. Teri is an integrative practitioner and thought leader in personalized health care. She specializes in complex health conditions in private clinical practice. She has developed her own methodology that integrates a multi-level nutritional approach—including biochemistry, nutrition, genetic tendencies, herbology, and counseling—to develop a bio-individualized plan for her clients. As the author of the “The Wildatarian Diet: Living as Nature Intended,” Teri helps us look at the malabsorption of protein, fat, and sulfur, and how these “big three” tamper with our gene expression. She also takes aim at protein abnormalities.“Disruptors such as pathogens, mycotoxins, stress, amyloids and inflammatory foods work together to impair body balance,” Teri says. “We have found a direct link between amyloids, mycotoxins and these health disruptors in the acceleration of disease.”Listen on to understand how to choose food that’s just right for you and how to get your body back in balance.For Bulletproof Radio Listeners: Learn how to hack your meal prep with the free Wildly Easy 7-Day Meal Prep Guide. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, what interests me most about James Clear is that he’s researched habits in the context of human potential—he’s always searching for the answer to a central question, “How can we live better?” He’s a writer and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement. His best-selling book, “Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones,” is grounded in meticulous research and details how habits can help people fulfill their potential. “Your habits compound over time as they start to layer on top of each other and increase over time,” James says. “But your decisions—if you imagine your life is like a string of decisions—those decisions can compound for you or against you, too. The benefit of making a single good choice is fine, but the benefit of making a string of good choices can be significantly better. You're really trying to string those two together.”His work has appeared in many media outlets, including Entrepreneur and Time magazines, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and on CBS This Morning. He also is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies, and his work is used by coaches and players in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is Dr. James Gordon, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist and a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, anxiety, and psychological trauma. He founded and now serves as executive director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine—an organization that focuses on life-changing therapeutic work with individuals, families and groups. Dr. Gordon explains that trauma is a human experience, not a pathological anomaly. His new book, “The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma,” helps people understand their own capacity to heal themselves.“The premise is that what we're teaching about self-awareness and self-care—and also encouraging people to get support from other humans—is fundamental to the understanding and treatment of all trauma,” he says. For more than 25 years, he has led teams in relieving population-wide psychological trauma: during and after wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa; after climate related disasters in Louisiana, Texas, California, Puerto Rico, and Haiti; in communities affected by school shootings; and with active duty U.S. military and veterans and their families.Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest, Dr. Andrew Miller, is an internationally recognized expert in the interactions between the brain and immune system as they relate to stress and depression. “Inflammaging is one of the hottest topics in immunology right now because we recognize that much of what drives the process of aging in the brain and much of what drives many of the illnesses that eventually do people in, are driven by inflammation,” he says.  “So, we're talking cardiovascular disease, we're talking about diabetes, we're talking about cancer, we're talking about neurodegenerative disorders.” … “All the modern ills that we as a society are grappling with right now.”Dr. Miller is the vice-chair of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Behavioral Immunology Program at Emory School of Medicine. His research focuses on the underlying mechanisms by which inflammation can cause depression in humans and non-human primates. Additionally, Dr. Miller and his group conducted the first clinical trial examining the efficacy of an immunotherapy for the treatment of depression. Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is an accelerated learning expert and founder of the Superhuman Academy. Jonathan Levi is a serial entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker born and raised in Silicon Valley. Since 2014, he’s been one of the top-performing instructors on the online learning platform Udemy. He’s reached more than 250,000 people in 205 countries and territories. His latest book, “The Only Skill That Matters,” details his own journey and the techniques that anyone can use to learn faster. “As you know, the brain is the most complex object in the known universe,” Jonathan says. “So a simple, ‘Hey, here's how it works. Here's how it likes to process information. Here's what makes information more memorable to it. Here's how to retain and maintain your knowledge’—it’s life-changing for people.”In our conversation, we talk about tangible hacks you can start using today to upgrade your own learning.Enjoy the show!

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, my guest is a chief … officer. (That’s not a typo—and I love it.) I talked with Lou Reese at the recent XPrize Visioneering conference. He loves all things vision and believes in creating environments in which we can reach our potential to be disruptive originals. He’s one the co-founders of United Neuroscience and a member of its board of directors. The company is a global team united against chronic disease with leaders in neurology, immunology, drug development at the helm. United Neuroscience is passionate about democratizing helath and delivering science-driven innovation that is accessible for all. Lou’s work focuses on hacking the immune system. It’s critical work.In 2018—for the first time in human history—“what killed us was things that our body made inside rather than things that were harmful coming from outside,” Lou explains. “The exogenous is no longer the primary enemy, the endogenous is the primary enemy.” Specifically, chronic illness is now our No. 1 killer.Listen on to learn about the ground-breaking solutions Lou and his team are developoing.Enjoy the show!