Gut bacteria produce between a third and a half of the small molecules in your blood, and in mice a single bacterial molecule, 4EPS, was 40 times higher in animals with autism like behavior and was enough to trigger anxiety and social changes.

• What to do: Feed your gut microbes now instead of waiting for a diagnosis. Eat a wide variety of plants (around 30 different ones a week), get plenty of fiber and polyphenols from foods like green tea and coffee, and protect sleep, exercise and stress management.
• Why it matters: Parkinson's patients often have constipation years or even decades before the movement symptoms, which suggests that in some cases the disease may start in the gut and travel to the brain. In mice, that causal link has been shown experimentally.
• How to apply it: Avoid unnecessary antibiotics and acid blockers, breastfeed if you can, and treat constipation as a signal worth discussing with your doctor. Do not expect a probiotic or a stool test to fix a brain condition on its own.
• Metrics: Fecal transplants cure C. diff infections in more than 90% of cases, against roughly 40 to 50% for typical approved drugs, with over 50,000 procedures performed.
• Tools: Next generation probiotics based on human gut bacteria, such as Bacteroides fragilis (present in 30 to 50% of healthy people), are still experimental.
• Risks: Commercial microbiome tests that promise personalized probiotics are not backed by science, because no one can say from a stool sample whether a microbiome is healthy.
• Exceptions: Once neurons die, as in the substantia nigra in Parkinson's, nothing done in the gut brings them back. Gut based approaches have more chance in modifiable conditions where inflammation and chemistry are involved.

Brain scans of people who were overweight or obese looked about 8 years older, and low estrogen, testosterone or thyroid hormone also sped up brain aging, so fixing metabolism, hormones and nutrition can visibly restore brain structure.

• What to do: Treat the brain through the body. Track cardiometabolic health, hormones and nutrients, and add a brain MRI with quantitative analysis plus Alzheimer's blood markers when family history or age 50 to 60 makes them relevant.
• Why it matters: Brain changes can show up about 30 years before Alzheimer's, and around 60% of people diagnosed with dementia have cardiometabolic problems. Scans show recovery after nutrition is restored, as in anorexia, where the brain improved most.
• How to apply it: Get a broad blood panel that includes vitamin D, iron, omega 3, heavy metals, insulin, thyroid, sex hormones, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid, then retest after changes to see your trend.
• Metrics: Alzheimer's incidence doubles every 5 years after age 70, from about 5% at 70 to 10% at 75 and 20% at 80. One APOE4 copy roughly triples risk, and two copies (about 6% of people) raise it 9 to 10 times. Key markers include p tau 217, amyloid beta 42/40, neurofilament light and GFAP.
• Tools: Functional MRI, PET, NeuroQuant brain age and brain charts, plus the Function Health panel. Sponsors named in the episode: Bon Charge red light mask, Paleovalley bars, Timeline Mitopure, Seed DS 01, BiOptimizers magnesium and Fatty15.
• Risks: A single marker or a normal structural MRI can miss the problem, because many psychiatric conditions show up in function, not structure. Imaging is more controversial than blood work.
• Exceptions: Only about 2% of Alzheimer's cases are directly genetic. APOE4 tilts risk but is not destiny, and its effect varies by ancestry.

Robert Greene argues that the sublime is not a rare event but a shift in attention: after about a minute of sustained focus on a single object, as Ouspensky practiced with a vase of flowers, the ordinary starts to look strange and alive, and months of practice changed how he saw whole streets.

• What to do: Practice self remembering. Pick a simple object, look at it for a full minute and tell yourself you will remember this moment. Repeat daily. Greene also meditates for 40 minutes every morning, and says meditation changes brain wiring.
• Why it matters: Splintered attention makes time feel too fast. Greene says childhood felt long because there was empty space between thoughts, and that a constantly interrupted mind is more vulnerable to influence and advertising.
• How to apply it: Keep your phone in a drawer while you work, write by hand when you need deep thinking (Greene filled over 100 notebooks), and spend time with things that are not human: a backyard, the ocean, a mountain, an animal. Experience first and report later, instead of filming everything.
• Tools: Handwriting, meditation, music listened to note by note, and journaling about your earliest memories to find your life's task.
• Risks: Filming a concert or hike splits your attention between living and reporting. Huberman also warns that drugs such as MDMA can attach strong meaning to trivial things.
• Exceptions: Not everyone has a clear childhood seed moment. Greene says finding it can take days or weeks of digging, looking at what you loved and also at what frustrates you.

Bone mineral density predicts only about 70% of fracture risk because a two-dimensional DEXA misses bone shape, and lifting challenging loads can thicken the femoral neck cortex even when hip density barely changes.

• What to do: Do two strength sessions a week built on a squat, hinge, push, pull and carry, add balance moves and keep up daily activity such as walking, dancing or shoveling.
• Why it matters: Bone mass peaks in your 20s and about 5% of the skeleton is remodeled every year, so the goal after 65 is to hold on to bone and prevent falls.
• How to apply it: Use 8 to 12 repetitions, pick difficulty rather than maximum weight, try walking lunges and step-ups, and add a few sets of 10 to 12 small hops if your joints allow.
• Metrics: BMD explains about 70% of fracture risk, FRAX estimates 10 year fracture probability, and CTX and P1NP track bone resorption and formation.
• Tools: DEXA with 3D hip analysis, FRAX, a machine circuit for beginners, Function Health tests, Prolon and Momentous creatine appear in the episode.
• Risks: Calling an X-ray bone on bone can scare people away from exercise, and heavy loads with poor form raise injury risk for beginners.
• Exceptions: For someone using a walker with severe arthritis, the goal is function and fall prevention, not bone density.

Dr. Berry argues that bacon nitrates are harmless because your salivary glands concentrate them tenfold and mouth bacteria turn them into nitrite and then nitric oxide, a vasodilator that relaxes blood vessels; in a study of 19 adults, an antibacterial mouthwash cut salivary nitrite by 90% and raised blood pressure within a day.

• What to do: Understand the nitrate to nitrite to nitric oxide pathway before fearing the word "nitrate". Berry notes that celery, beet greens and many vegetables carry 5 to 10 times more nitrates than Berry's bacon.
• Why it matters: Berry's point is that your body would not concentrate nitrates 10 times in saliva, and your kidneys would not hold on to them, if they were a poison. Berry links the nitric oxide effect to lower blood pressure.
• How to apply it: Stop using antibacterial mouthwash if you want to keep the mouth bacteria that convert nitrate into nitrite. Read the label: in the United States "uncured" or "no nitrates added" bacon can still contain nitrates from celery or beet greens.
• Metrics: 19 healthy adults took chlorhexidine twice a day, their salivary nitrite dropped 90% and their blood pressure rose within a single day. Berry also cites two drug company attempts at nitrate pills or inhalers that did not deliver enough benefit.
• Risks: This is one physician's view and it runs against mainstream guidance. The WHO's cancer agency classifies processed meat, including bacon, as carcinogenic to humans, and most health authorities advise limiting it.
• Exceptions: Berry says to watch oxalates if you rely on celery and beet greens for nitrates, which is not a concern with bacon, bologna or hot dogs. Chlorhexidine, not every mouthwash, was the product in the study.

An average American spends about 12.5 of their final years sick, disabled or in a nursing home, and this video blames chronic inflammation and chronic disease rather than age, which ten habits can push back.

• What to do: Pick one to three of the ten habits and start tonight: get labs, eat fat and animal protein first, cut sugar, grains and seed oils, lift something heavy two or three times a week and sleep at least 7 hours.
• Why it matters: Visceral fat is the most dangerous fat, and in a British Medical Journal study the weakest grip carried about one and two thirds the risk of death of the strongest grip.
• How to apply it: Measure your waist and height with a tape, take private photos every one to three months, fast 12 to 14 hours before blood tests, skip snacks, stand up and sit down every 10 to 15 minutes and raise the head of your bed.
• Metrics: Hemoglobin A1C, fasting insulin, triglycerides, HDL, hs-CRP, vitamin D 25, sex hormones, waist-to-height ratio, five timed floor rises and 10 seconds on each leg.
• Tools: A tailor's tape, light dumbbells, red bricks or 2 by 4 blocks under the bed legs and the Proper Human Diet community for accountability.
• Risks: Snacks of any kind, seed oils, alcohol and sugary breakfasts keep insulin and inflammation high.
• Exceptions: Some people do fine on 6.5 hours of sleep, and a first step can be as small as walking to the mailbox.

Sauerkraut is not a probiotic: a probiotic is a specific strain with a known genome and clinical or randomized trial evidence, while the live microbes in sauerkraut, kimchi or kombucha are just live microbes, and only some yogurt brands list strains backed by evidence.

• What to do: Pick supplements or yogurts that print the strain name, take them with food and swap products if you notice no change after a trial period. Eat varied fiber and a mix of ferments such as yogurt, kefir, sourdough, tempeh and sauerkraut.
• Why it matters: Strains of the same species can act oppositely (EHEC E. coli vs the harmless E. coli in your gut), and a 37 study review of fermented dairy found benefits for gut symptoms, serum TNF alpha and gut barrier function.
• How to apply it: Store probiotics cool, dry and away from oxygen. If you avoid dairy, use plant-based yogurt, water kefir or kvass, whose microbes also survive in the gut. Treat commercial stool tests as information, and talk to a doctor or dietitian about persistent symptoms.
• Metrics: 37 fermented dairy studies; kimchi vs cabbage over 3 weeks; fecal calprotectin for inflammation and zonulin for gut wall function.
• Tools: Strain labels and the US probiotic guideline; stool tests only to detect pathogens such as C. diff.
• Risks: Wrongly handled food can carry Clostridium botulinum, and washing produce does not remove all pathogens.
• Exceptions: Most microbes pass through rather than settle, so the benefit depends on regular intake.

A family physician with 22 years of practice says a keto carnivore diet, which they call a proper human diet, can heal down to the mitochondrial level and in many cases put severe mental health disorders into complete remission, based on patient stories rather than trials.

• What to do: If you live with anxiety, depression or brain fog, talk to your doctor and consider a time-limited trial of a keto carnivore diet built on meat, eggs and animal fat.
• Why it matters: The physician has seen patients on a handful of medications with side effects such as lost sexual desire, and reports hope returning once they changed how they ate.
• How to apply it: Eat the meat without buying supplements or products, note your mood, anxiety and mental clarity week by week, and do not change psychiatric medication without professional supervision.
• Metrics: Stories in the video include Todd, who describes symptoms gone in three weeks, and a person with schizophrenia discharged within a month or two after decades in an institution.
• Risks: These are testimonies, not controlled studies, so stopping prescribed medication on your own could be harmful.
• Exceptions: The approach is not only a weight loss diet, and people without a formal diagnosis but with constant fog and fatigue are also part of the picture.

GLP-1 medications quiet the constant mental chatter about food that doctors call food noise, and when people stop them, in roughly 60% of the people studied blood sugar, blood pressure and waist circumference climb back up as hunger returns.

• What to do: Treat obesity as a medical condition, not a character flaw. Ask your doctor why you do or do not qualify for a GLP-1, and combine medication with strength training, protein, fiber and a registered dietitian rather than waiting to "earn" treatment.
• Why it matters: Hunger is biology shaped by genes, hormones and environment, so shame does not work. The guest says some antidepressants, antipsychotics and steroids drive appetite, and menopause changes how fat is stored.
• How to apply it: If you feel nauseous or constipated on a GLP-1, aim for 25 g of fiber a day for women and 30 g for men, spread protein and fiber across the day, drink around 1.5 liters of fluid and do not raise the dose until symptoms settle. Struggling to reach your protein minimums usually means the dose is too high.
• Metrics: The new lipid guidelines for 2026 aim for LDL under 100, under 70 if lipoprotein(a) is high, and total cholesterol under 200, with screening from age 30. Roughly 1 in 10 women of reproductive age has PCOS.
• Tools: Cost Plus Drugs buys directly from manufacturers and GoodRx finds the lowest prices. The guest paid about $35 at CVS for Repatha with a GoodRx coupon.
• Risks: Compounded GLP-1s skip the FDA approval process and some are mixed with other ingredients. Stop the drug straight away if you become pregnant, and plan a two month washout before conception.
• Exceptions: Not everyone who asks for a GLP-1 qualifies. Someone with a BMI around 23 and PCOS may do better with metformin or a lower impact option.

Yes, you can be insulin resistant with normal blood sugar, because glucose is the last marker to rise while fasting insulin climbs first, and a fasting insulin under 5 is the target almost nobody tests.

• What to do: Ask for fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1C and fasting glucose, then check your waist to hip ratio and body composition instead of trusting glucose alone.
• Why it matters: One patient had glucose under 110 after two colas worth of sugar yet an insulin near 300, and doctors who test only glucose miss many cases.
• How to apply it: Cut starch and sugar, eat protein, fat and 30 grams of fiber, walk 10 to 20 minutes after meals, lift weights, sleep well and fast 12 to 14 hours overnight.
• Metrics: Fasting glucose 70 to 90, fasting insulin under 5, A1C about 5.0 to 5.2, post meal glucose under 110 to 120, waist to hip ratio under 0.8 for men and 0.9 for women.
• Tools: Function Health tests with an insulin resistance score from 0 to 100, a continuous glucose monitor for a few weeks and a tape measure.
• Risks: Statins, sleep apnea, chronic stress and artificial sweeteners can worsen insulin resistance or cravings.
• Exceptions: A glucose spike after eating is normal, and thin people can still carry hidden fat, so body composition matters more than weight.