The Highwire with Del Bigtree - DR. FAB MANCINI – HEALING FROM WITHIN

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Dr. Fab Mancini joins Del to discuss real-world strategies for achieving better health naturally. From his latest book “Self Health” to insights drawn from years in health advocacy, Fab lays out empowering, practical steps to reclaim your health and vitality, without waiting for permission from the system.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

I'm savoring this moment of being back. I'm also really excited to bring on someone that has really been a sounding board for me for years. Even back when I was on the doctors, I met Fab Mancini. But when I was sitting down in the canyon, I was thinking about, you know, what's the future by camp? What do I want to do next? I really want to start doing work not only that points out all the issues like they're harvesting your organs while you're still alive. I want to also bring positivity. I want to start talking about all the things that we can do to make our lives better, to make us healthier,

and ways we can help our friends get on that track to health, which is so important. Fab Mancini is one of the most inspiring people in that space. He's been, you know, as I said, doing the maha thing before there even was a maha. No one shares that positive vibe better and better information. This is Fab Mancini. Let's give a warm welcome to Dr. Fabricio Mancini. Dr. Fabrizio Mancini. Welcome to Dr. Fab Mancini.

We're joined now by Dr. Fab Mancini, a healthy living expert. I'm here with chiropractor Dr. Fabrizio Mancini. He's an internationally acclaimed inspirational speaker. He's an author. He's an educator. He's a philanthropist. And he's the president of Parker University in Dallas, Texas. I became a chiropractor by profession.

Then I studied acupuncture. Then I started studying all the healing arts, energy medicine, nutrition. And I started understanding that there was so much to the story. that I was never told in school. Over 90% of our chronic illnesses can be preventable. I wanted to be in the space that I could teach people how to change their mindset towards health and begin to choose every single day of their lives

so they can have better health tomorrow. Our bodies are self-healing and self-regulating. So that means that we're already born to heal naturally. Ultimately, the only person in 38 years that I've been in this space that can actually heal, is the person itself. I don't want people to think that just because I'm getting older,

I'm going to be feeling worse. I mean, right now I'm going to be 60 this year and I am healthier in every aspect than I was in my early 20s, but that's a conscious decision that I make every day. As long as you have life, you have hope. And as long as you make good choices today, you can look forward to tomorrow

and give yourself permission to realize you're here with us, Make it count. Well, Fab's got a great new book, self-health, great concept. And he joins me now, Fab, it's really great to have you here. I can't believe self-health was available. Like, that's genius, first of all. I love this book.

We'll get into it. I love how simple, you've always been so good at just bringing things down to just the essential nuts and bolts. But just tell me just why write a book right now? Why did you decide you've written so many books? How does someone like you decide, you know what we need a new book? You know, it's interesting because I had a brand new book coming out in January on personal development. I saw during the pandemic people having a very difficult time pivoting and getting back to their normal lives. But then when I saw that RFK got selected as HHS secretary, I felt like I needed to put my energy, my 38 years of experience into a book.

that would allow to empower the individual to realize that when he hears, they hear reversing chronic disease, I want them to know that this is possible. It's 90% of the cost of the United States healthcare system. We might as well do something about it. But then I realized that the one person that can really move the needle faster than anyone is the individual themselves. So that's my gift to them to realize this is how I can do it every single day.

You know, that was one of the things, you know, as I was working with Robert Kennedy Jr., is this idea of making America healthy again. And the hard part is, you know, really when we would have Maha events, you were at a couple of them. You know, you'd look across the room and I was like, these are mostly gorgeous, healthy people are on the latest, you know, diet trend and, you know, getting into biohacking. It was like a room full of biohackers. But how do we get to those friends of ours, right? Those people that aren't reading the same books. And that's what I really think you've achieved here. It's entertaining, but it's really easy to understand.

And as much as what, I mean, for me, you know, I'm one of those people, and I think we're like, I'm between two or three different diet concepts. That one worked this time. That one. But now I'm using all of them. They don't work together. There was something about the book that getting back to simplicity. It reminded me of a golf swing.

I think I would say this backstage. Sometimes when your game's just gone all to hell. And sometimes I just think, you know what, forget about all the lessons and all of the things. I just say to myself, it's a soap on a rope and I just got to get that thing to hit the ball. And there was something about that here, like things you could do on a daily basis. Just today make this slight adjustment that was so tangible. It was a great reminder for me, but I thought, my God, this is such a non-invasive book to give to our friends that are just starting to wake up. want to be told that they're unhealthy or that they're a mess or that this is some long journey,

want something that they can just do today to feel good, and I think you've really achieved that. Well, I think that when we see this is getting so alarming, especially when we see our children so sick, over 40% of our children have a chronic disease. Now, chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, immune disorders, you name it, there are things that most people, the average person, doesn't really understand. They evaluate their bodies based on their symptoms, right? And if they have a symptom today, they're going to say, what can I do today to try to alleviate this symptom?

But for years, I've been in this. I mean, in fact, I was going to be a medical doctor, and I was introduced to preventative medicine, natural health sciences, chiropractic acupuncture. And at that time, I realized this was even before wellness, that the key to health is that the choice of being healthy or not is a choice of the individual. And if I can teach you a lifestyle that can allow you to be healthier, then we can prevent the majority, according to the science of these conditions.

But most people in the early days were thinking, oh, genetics is the one that is going to determine. If my grandparents and my parents had the disease, I'm going to develop that disease. And I never subscribed to that because I saw. so many people get well by making simple changes in their life. And they don't take a lot of changes. But what I notice is that when you make one positive change in your life, it leads to another positive change and another positive change. And that's all I'm hoping and praying that they will get out of this book,

that they realize that every choice I make today will either feed disease and get me closer to chronic disease or it's going to go the opposite direction and it's going to make me healthier. What I'd like to is, you know, there's sort of simple chapter as every chapter ends with for the next 30 days. Here's week one, week two. So these little challenges, just up your game, then add this. But each chapter sort of stands on its own. You could just flip through and like one was on metabolic health. This is a term I'm hearing a lot in the biohacking world, metabolics. What does that actually mean? I think we hear these things and it sounds like you read it on a label like, oh, let me buy it. I guess. you know, metabolism, but why is there so much focus on it and how do we do? Like when you say it's about self-health, how do I affect my own metabolic health? And that's a very good question. The reason that I did a whole chapter of metabolism is that according to science, over 85% of the chronic diseases somehow are associated with your metabolic function. But most people don't understand what metabolism is. It's really the function of the body.

is how the body functions. So if you want to regulate your hormones, your metabolism is what allows that to happen. If you want to decrease cognitive decline and you want to be focused and you want to have the ability to remember, metabolism plays a strong function there. If you want to have a gut that is healthy and your digestive system working perfectly,

without your metabolism working in good standing, that will never happen. So I wanted them to understand that this is something that they need to pay attention to. And the way that I describe it to people is just getting tuned with your body. If you're eating something today that did not make you feel good, then maybe consider changing that tomorrow and not repeat the same thing. But I find that most people, because they are somehow enamored with a food that they enjoy, maybe emotionally gives them satisfaction, maybe it makes them feel good, whatever the case may be, I want them to understand

that if they don't feel good about it and they keep repeating it, that's your metabolic function being decayed slowly to the point that leads to chronic disease and all of a sudden now your body's broken. One of the things too that's coming up a lot, which I find interesting, is I used to only hear insulin in terms of diabetes. I was just like, well, if you're a diabetic, you've got to think about this thing, insulin. I've spoken to many, you know, diet experts now, and they're making us all focus on this idea of insulin. Why? Why are we, why was that always just a diabetes thing, but now it's really about our own personal health? Well, we have to understand that insulin is a hormone that regulates the sugar in the body. So that hormone is very critical because sugars

is how the body breaks down to create energy and many of the positive functions of the body. So the way I look at insulin is actually like a traffic light. If my traffic light is working well, I can manage the traffic very well. But if all of the sudden I overwhelm it and then it goes out, then you're going to have a traffic jam. So that leads to three diabetes. Well, first of all, type 1 diabetes, which means your gallbladder now is going to say, hey, I'm going to stop producing insulin, right, which is a natural process because we got way too many sugars in the body. And then you got type 2 diabetes, which is already been shown to be reversed, right?

and the majority of Americans have it, which is unfortunately, and now we see that one out of three children, according to the CDC, has developed pre-diabetes. It is. You know, so we need to understand that we have to take control of that traffic light, first and foremost. And the way we do that is by managing the sugar intake into our diets, because the more sugar that we put into our diets,

the less that the body will function naturally, and that will create this diabetes type 1, Diabetes type 2, and more importantly, this pre-diabetes, and now we're seeing an early childhood, which will lead to more chronic diseases in the future. Yeah, it causes all sorts of inflammation, and it leads to, meaning not even appears diabetes, so many other issues down the road,

as you said, the chronic disease epidemic, which Robert Kennedy Jr. I've been talking about it. I want to talk about one of the chapters that I thought is why you're so good at what you do. You make it palatable was alcohol. I think that the big, I mean, you know, I'll be the first one to say, I like a glass of wine with a friend out of dinner. I actually, you know, I was a waiter for 20 years that taught me to really get into where is it grown? How does it made?

How long was it in oak barrels? So, you know, there's a sense there. And every time you read in a health book, it's like it makes it your enemy. I really appreciated how you handled that conversation, which is. is, you know, this isn't your enemy, but why don't you make it, you know, an experience that you don't do every day, you know, pick the amount of days that you're going to sort of say, and then when you do it, there's things you can do. What was your recommendation of just while you're drinking, just make it a more healthy experience?

Well, when I started looking at the statistics of how much alcohol really costs us in the health care system and us personally, on a personal level for me, I grew up with an alcoholic father. So I saw the determinants more from an emotional perspective and the ability of my dad not being able to connect with us as a family and not being able to work effectively, right? So that was one component. But then when I started looking at the literature and the new science, I started recognizing that WHO said that over three million deaths happened because of alcohol-related issues, right? So then I started saying, okay, but alcohol is a social component of society. So I don't want people to feel like they have to give up something that they enjoy. But then I came up with

very simple rules. Like in business, we use the 80-20 rule, right? 20% of the activities that I do yield to 80% of my success. Well, why not do that with alcohol? Why not drink 20% of the opportunities that you have of drinking, but at least put 80% where you're going to drink maybe water or club soda. If you find yourself in a party in a social gathering, you can always put cranberry juice and a soda and a lemon and it looks just like the best cocktail. But also remember now we have what is called mocktails. And I love it because you got people with these sexy drinks and everybody's like, what is that? And they just say, the name of the drink, nobody asks, how much alcohol is in there or whatever.

So you can still feel like you can be social. But for me also, I feel like the less alcohol that we have, the more that we can be healthier long term. Everybody's looking for longevity. Well, this is one of the sources that I found can actually keep you from truly not only getting older, but enjoying the quality of your life as you get older. That leads to my next question, which is, is there a difference between longevity and quality? You know, I'm not, I'll say, like, I go to longevity conferences. I don't need to live to be 120 years old. I want to enjoy my life.

I don't want to avoid every food on the planet. But I want to be healthy as I possibly can in the years that I'm here. Is there a difference? Is there two different roles you play, one that's like the long-term journey or one that's like best case, be as healthy as you can while you're in it? Well, I find that longevity has become extremely popular the last 15 years. And it's one of the most Google board searches, which I found pretty interesting. And whenever this was coming into the space and, you know, I trained a lot of doctors and they

were asking me questions about how much should I put longevity into my practice? And I realized, well, you got to put a lot of. lot of it because that's what the public is demanding. So for me, it was never about how long am I going to live. You know, you got the blue zones around the world that everybody's talking about, what are their behaviors? And that led to new diets and new things like cold plunges, right, showing the benefits of that. But for me, it's about quality of life. Because if you make good decisions today and you make your quality of today better than yesterday, you're going to live longer no matter what because it can't help it. Your body's going to be healthier. You're going to be

able to regenerate faster. And that's one of the main things that this new field in medicine called regenerative medicine has really opened up a new world to realize that degeneration is the reason why we get older, why we have wrinkles, why our hair changes color, why we curve down. That's why our bones get brittle. But there's a whole world called regeneration. Regenerative medicine and says, well, if you use lifestyle behaviors like more sleep, better food, more movement, all of these things have been associated to allow and use to live longer and have a higher quality of life. So in science, we use the word telomeres, you know, and everybody's saying, oh, you know, our telomeres, they're like the encaps of our chromosomes. So what that means

is that our genetic makeup is protected by these encaps, because as we get older, they get smaller, And then they get brittle at the end. And then our expression is actually weaker. But then think of it like your shoelaces. You know how we have that little plastic at the end? That's exactly what they are. They protect our chromosomes in order to live a longer life, but also protect our genetic expression.

So then we can be as healthy as we can be that particular day. Fantastic. One of the biggest issues that you brought up is children. Yeah. how we're raising our children. How do we, I mean, there's just, it seems like everywhere they turn. There's just more garbage. There's toxins everywhere. You know, what is your sort of message to parents? Because it can just be so daunting. It's hard enough to handle your own health. And then to also be like, you know, my kid, I'm not even with them when they're in the schools.

So what's your message to parents on? Well, I pay attention because the statistics are alarming. And when you look at the numbers, you realize that we've never had a generation of children. that is as sick as this one. In fact, they have said, statistics have shown, that this generation of children will have a shorter lifespan than our generation.

So I see parents burying their kids every single day, every single week. That is inconceivable to think that you're not going to outlive your children, but it happens every day. So all I'm saying is encouraging the parents to take a little bit more responsibility, to pay attention to what they prepare for breakfast, right?

instead of all these sugary, fruit juices, sugar-loaded, cereals, all of the things that the kids want because of the commercials, right? Why not make them an egg or an omelet? Why not bring them into the kitchen and say, hey, let's cut an avocado together? Why not cut some fruit and create a fruit plate before they go to school? In the book I wrote about the parent health mirror concept, and that is that children and parents should look at themselves as the mirror reflection. of their children. So whatever the parents will say or do is pretty much what your children will do. So if you pay attention to your behavior, how well and how healthy are you living your life? Are you focusing on health conscious behavior, attitudes, vervage when you talk to your

children? Are you making sure that your daily routines like exercise, right? Are you going out there and exercising and maybe inviting your kids to go for a walk? talk about how important walking is today. You don't need an expensive gym membership, because if you walk about 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day, you can actually not only increase longevity, but more importantly, reduce chronic disease by a great deal, just by simply walking. So make health a family affair, so you have an opportunity to break the cycle and hopefully allow those kids to have a longer lifespan that we have instead of the opposite, which is what's currently right now in American households.

My last question for you, which you deal so beautifully in this book, though, is talking about how so many of us want to get back on the road to health, right? I want to start that diet. I want to, you know, and it just always feels like too busy tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm going to do it. After this weekend is over. After the wedding, after the birthday party, I know I'm going to, you know, you've dealt with all sides of this, the mental health side of it.

What is the biggest obstacle for most people that gets in the way of they're really taking that step to start moving in the right direction? You know, it's interesting. As a doctor, we get trained on cellular health, right? So we look at the body from a cell perspective. As an individual, if I make a selective choice today to have an own healthy meal, I don't think it's going to matter that much. So I'll do it again tonight and I'll do it again tomorrow.

And I'll say, well, I'll get back to that diet. I'll start doing this tomorrow. I'll get in the gym instead of being intentional to realize that every choice is either driving you towards chronic disease or driving you away from it. And my main message to them is to pay attention to your choices and make sure that you live like if you have a 24-hour cycle. Don't wait until tomorrow to do what you need to do today. So at the end of the day, you can go to sleep and say, you know what?

I feel good that I didn't have any carbs today. I feel good that I didn't overload my body with sugar. I feel good that I slept an extra two hours. I feel good that I worked out today. Even if I do jumping jacks or push-ups, something minor, right? Or I went from a bicycle, right? I feel good about that. And then once you go to sleep, then the next morning when you wake up, do it again.

And do that 24-hour cycle. In the book, I use the 30-day challenges because most studies show that you have to do something daily for at least 21 days to 30 days to make it a habit. So the 30-day challenge is really to push somebody as to what is the latest science say that this is the mindset and behaviors every single week. and I give you only three or four, as you know, very simple, that if you do this week one, and then you do this week two, and then you do this week two, and then you do this week three, and then you do this week four, by the end of the month, hopefully you have built a habit, and you will do it again and again. And I did that after every chapter, because I really want this book to be action

and not necessarily just thought process. Most people know that they can be healthier. Most people know what they have to do to be healthier. they just don't do it because they think it doesn't matter that they have another year. Right now, the latest statistics show that over 76% of Americans were personally bankrupt because of a health issue. This is bankrupting families across America. It is important.

It matters. It is my passion. It should be their passion. Fab, I love you. Thank you for writing this book. Thank you for being such a great sounding board for me for all. all these years. I really appreciate it. We're going to hold you for off the record because one of the things you're great at too is talking about finance and business. And I think so many

of us are struggling. How do we take that next step in business? So I want to have a little bit of conversation about like maybe how we can just sort of, you know, get our businesses cranking to. But hey, everybody, this really is a great book, especially. You may think you've got it all. You've got it all happening. This is a great reminder. What I love is it's one of those books that has maybe it takes three to five minutes to read a chapter. And then you could literally just say, I'm just going to remind myself with that chapter for the next 30 days and just take these little steps to make a difference.

But it's really great for your friends and family members that are looking to get in. You're just not going to find a more pleasant way to start making shifts in your life that really will, I think, start them on a path that is going to be fantastic. So love this book. Get out there. Grab it for your friends.

It's a great gift. Thank you.