Meta Health: Mindfulness Meets Metabolism

What can soccer superstar Lionel Messi and other older athletes teach us about the unique advantages of an aging brain, even while the physical body loses strength and endurance. Even if you aren't a fan of soccer or sports, you'll learn some fascinating ways to leverage a more experienced brain in the game of life.  The surprising performance metric that helps explain why Lionel Messi excels at a...

What if the constant stream of health advice, influencer content, and AI-generated authority is actually disconnecting you from your own body, intuition, and inner wisdom? In this provocative episode, I explore why blindly following experts (including myself) may be increasing stress, confusion, and having a negative impact on health and wellbeing for many.  Why "doing everything right" still lead...

Modern life is faster than our biology can handle. I personally have had to fight my own speeding problem. In this episode, I explore how living at a constantly accelerated pace can quietly trigger adrenaline, inflammation, and long-term disease risk, even in people who appear healthy on paper. We'll cover: Why your nervous system may have a biological speed limit The link between adrenaline and c...

This is an "Unplugged" episode—recorded directly into my phone, no intro music, no production polish. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and filtered faces and voices, I felt the need to share something raw, immediate, and human. I reflect on my mom's recent fall, the surge of urgency and vigilance that followed, and how I reframed my nervous system not as chronic anxiety—bu...

Modern health culture is obsessed with leanness, discipline, and optimization. But many people are getting leaner—and feeling worse or suffering surprising health consequences.  In this episode, I share my personal experience chasing single-digit body fat and how it led to increased stress, glucose instability, and accelerated aging despite "doing everything right." We explore why body composition...

In this episode, I uncover how family dynamics—both loving and dysfunctional—shape our stress patterns, emotional reflexes, and long-term metabolic health. I get personal, sharing my own experiences and those from the clinic and my program.  How your childhood emotional environment shapes adult health Recognizing 3 common family stress patterns  How family dynamics drive burnout, inflammation, and...

There's a quiet form of stress we mistake for normal — a constant readiness that silently drains our energy. I personally discovered it not too long ago, and in this episode I share how to spot it and take your power back. You'll learn: The brain science behind anticipation and anxiety How even a silent phone nearby burns glucose and attention Why this "always-on" state disrupts sleep and mood The...

Your mind never stops taking shots — so how do you defend your peace? In this episode I explore how to train your mind like an athlete, treating life as a continuous mental game where playing good defense is critical. We cover some of the following: Using an athletic framework to counter our conditioned self (aka ego) Learning to play great defense to protect the mind "Coach Ego" and the myth of m...

Your mitochondria and microbes are ancient communities that mirror how we live, connect, and find purpose. We keep turning to the outside to learn from others, instead of tapping into this profound inner wisdom. In this episode, I explore what these inner networks teach us about resilience, loneliness, purpose, and thriving from the inside out. You'll learn: Mitochondria origin story Lessons we ca...

Prompting AI chatbots is a new skillset humanity has recently acquired. In this episode we use our understanding of how LLMs (Large Language Models) work to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves in an effort to free our minds from ego. We'll cover some of the following:  How AI engines mirror the way our ego runs on old scripts and algorithms Why middle-of-the-night "why" and "how" questions us...

In my clinic, I'm seeing too many individuals with heart disease that's getting missed due to imperfect risk calculators and AI predictions. There are some serious blindspots in our current risk assessment tools. In this episode, we cover: The current risk calculators and why they often underestimate risk Typical examples of a mismatch between true and estimated risk Key blindspots risk calculator...

An entry from my journal and a passage from J.Krishnamurti inspired my latest episode, which views displeasure and discontent in an entirely new way. I share personal stories and lessons from my own life, and from the highly successful patients I see in my clinic who experience emotional and metabolic health challenges despite material success. Some topics include: The pleasure-displeasure cycle e...

In prior episodes we've talked about how suppressed emotions can activate the immune system and trigger disease. A critical skill is detecting these emotions and sensations as early as possible so you prevent emotional flickers from turning into full blown fires. In this episode we discuss some of the following:  Discover your body's "smoke detectors" (interoceptors) in the heart, gut, and lungs U...

Why are so many seemingly healthy young men and women getting heart disease? These are individuals with seemingly normal labs, no family history, who might even be exercising and eating relatively healthy, but end up with a heart attack or visible plaque on a heart scan test. In this episode we discuss: Surprise heart disease in seemingly healthy individuals Brief science primer on heart disease u...

That relentless inner voice—the one that replays past conversations, plans your next move, and won't let you sleep—what if it's physically affecting your health? In this episode, we explore the science of inner chatter, its surprising impact on your body, and how to reframe it to improve resilience and your overall health. We discuss some of the following:  The hidden science of subvocalization—ho...

If we only pay attention to typical risk factors, we will miss what I call the "surprise diseases" that affect so many of my patients and people I know. The heart attack or plaque (detected on a heart scan) in someone who exercises and appears otherwise healthy, the breast cancer in a woman with no family history, the autoimmune disease that appears out of nowhere. How can we avert these condition...

Meta Health is going to take a slight shift in direction with Season 2, as it incorporates more mindfulness, since it's not possible to fully optimize energy and wellbeing unless we recognize thought patterns that hold us back. I'm calling this the Season of Inner Change , and this episode gives you an overview on my refreshed approach to sharing my insights from the clinic, from my programs, and...

Peter was kind enough to allow me to re-release our interview from 2019 from his podcast, The Drive, Episode #69. Many people have found me through Peter and told me this was one of their favorite episodes. Aside from insulin resistance and metabolism, we end the discussion with a topic that really resonated with Peter, which is the impact of generational stress, social media, and devices on youth...

Is alcohol really a low carb, keto friendly substance like many ads and influencers claim, or is there more to it? Even if the glucose on your CGM (continuous glucose monitor) doesn't budge after a drink, there are real metabolic effects on glucose and body fat you should be aware of. Non-drinkers will benefit from this episode too since we cover some key metabolic principles, along with the follo...

In this episode I answer a question from a listener who is confused regarding whether breakfast is optimal or not optimal for health. Although intermittent fasting made breakfast skipping a common practice, there is nuance to this question. We cover some of the following: Benefits of breakfast skipping and why it's so common Downsides of breakfast skipping and how it can backfire Why I personally...

Our body has become an obsession that many of us are consumed by day and night. Hollywood and the fashion industry started the movement of creating unrealistic body standards, but now the growing number of celebrity and health influencers have taken this movement and put it on steroids. In this episode I discuss the following: Reframing the human body so we don't take it so seriously Unrealistic b...

Eating more protein is currently the mantra being shared by many health leaders and big food has caught on. Are we missing any potential risks in the midst of the high protein movement? This episode covers some of the following topics: Lessons learned from the low fat, low carb, and fasting movements How higher protein diets are being misused by many Understanding the important mismatch between pr...

Much of our emotional unrest results from the act of splitting our identity into multiple roles and different personas. In this episode I explore: What's the split? Why we split? Using imagery to visualize the split? My personal practices to quiet the mind Shifting towards unification  

I'm feeling an urge to shift my content in a new direction. I'm not giving up on discussing metabolism since that's a topic that is still very close to my heart, but at the age of 52 and after digging deep into insulin resistance for well over a decade, I'm sensing a different pull.  In this episode I discuss my internal transformation and how you too might have a different voice inside that is lo...

This episode takes a fresh look at the 3 fundamental molecular root causes of insulin resistance using some familiar storylines from prior episodes combined with some new story hooks to help you understand the science of insulin resistance. We cover the following: Quick review of insulin mechanism of action Summarizing the 3 root causes or what I call "-emias" of insulin resistance The inflammatio...