The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Max Lugavere On How To Maintain Your Health & How Small Changes Can Have The Biggest Impacts

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

#447: Today we are joined again by Max Lugavere. Max is a filmmaker, health and science journalist and the author of the book Genius Kitchen: Over 100 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Make Your Brain Sharp, Body Strong, and Taste Buds Happy. Max returns to the show to discuss how we can optimize our health and well being in the most productive way possible. To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by Better Help We want you to start living a happier life today. Get connected online to licensed therapists at accessible prices to make sure yu are taking care of your mental health. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at www.BetterHelp.com/skinny This episode is brought to you by Zocdoc No one knows what you’re looking for in a doctor better than you. And no one’s better at giving you the tools to find the perfect doctor than Zocdoc. Zocdoc is a FREE app that shows you doctors who are patient-reviewed, and take your insurance. Search for a top-rated doctor today. Many are available within 24 hours. Go to www.Zocdoc.com/skinny and download the Zocdoc app for FREE.search for a top-rated doctor today. Many are available within 24 hoursand are available when you need them. This episode is brought to you by Sakara This year, turn your resolutions into reality. Whether you’re looking to try plant-based eating, build an empowered body, boost skin’s glow, or simply feel your very best, Sakara makes it easy to create rituals that last. Sakara is a wellness company rooted in the transformative power of plant-based food. Their menu of creative, chef-crafted breakfasts, lunches, and dinners changes weekly, so you’ll never get bored. And it’s delivered fresh, anywhere in the U.S. And right now, Sakara is offering our listeners 20% off their first order when they go to www.sakara.com/skinny and enter code SKINNY at checkout. To Get 2 Months Free of Obé Fitness click HERE or use code SKINNY2 at www.obefitness.com when signing up. Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. That's right, the product line. So we are completely sold out of ice rollers right now, which is so wild. I highly recommend that you guys go on and pre-order them because I'm scared that when we get the orders in, they're already going to be sold out from the pre-orders. I have a code for you guys if you want to grab an ice roller and ensure that you get it. And that is pinkicequeen. You get 15% off. While you're there, definitely pick up the razor. I've been obsessed with shaving my face. I've been doing it on Instagram story. I shave with the hot shave cream. It's so easy to use them both

together. And what it does is it really allows your skincare to penetrate and your makeup looks so much more glowy. So the move is to go on and use this code. We don't do codes a lot. Pink Ice Queen, 15% off. You're going to grab the razor. You're going to grab the hot shave cream. You get that in the mail. And then you're going to pre-order your ice roller because I get so many DMs about people who are mad when it sells out. It sells out quick and it sells out fast. So I highly recommend you guys go check out the site, shopskinnyconfidential.com. Thank you all for your support. And I hope you love the products. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie.

And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Aha. As I mentioned, 90% of people have some type of metabolic illness and metabolism at the end of the day is how our bodies generate energy. So if you're not sleeping well, you're likely going to have a slower metabolic rate. If you're constantly dieting and in a calorie deficit or doing cardio to burn calories, right? Your body's going to become more efficient at burning calories. So it's going to burn fewer of them because your body doesn't want to starve to death, right? So making sure that you're not doing chronic cardio, making sure that you're sleeping well, making sure that you're

prioritizing protein and foods that are nutrient dense. Also making sure that, yeah, you're nutritionally replete. Today, 90% of adults are deficient in at least one vitamin or mineral. So whether that means taking a multivitamin or increasing the quality of your foods, I think all of those things can help. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. That clip was from our guest of the show today, Max Lugavere. Second appearance on the podcast. He's got a new book coming out called The Genius Kitchen. And keeping up the wellness theme of March, I guess this has kind of been, I mean, it didn't plan it to be this theme, but it is this theme. I have another really strong

wellness episode for you. Love having Max on the show. He is a wealth of knowledge. We cover a lot of ground in this episode. Oh, we talk diet. We talk fitness. We talk tongue scraping. We talk so many random niche things in the wellness world in this episode. I asked him kind of everything. This is one of those episodes that you are going to want to take notes on. I was taking notes. I have a page full of notes just from interviewing him. So on that note, let's meet Max. Max is a filmmaker, health and science journalist, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book. It is called Genius Foods, Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life. It was published in eight different languages, and he's also the host

of the number one iTunes health podcast called The Genius Life. He's also single. I just thought I'd throw that out there. On that note, let's welcome Max back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. Okay. So it's 2022. We're all trying to be as healthy as fucking possible. Right. We all want to get wellnessy. What are five tangible tips that you can give us? They could be anything. It could be food.

It could be drinking supplements, herbs, cold plunging, whatever. Oh, man. That we can be doing to improve our immunity. Let's talk about immunity. Yeah. Immunity is so important, especially today, right? Well, so one tip that I think I could offer your audience that's fairly novel, doesn't really get talked about a lot, is why we ought to slow down when we're chewing our food, but not just to benefit our digestion, to benefit immunity, to benefit our metabolic health, which is so important.

You can't really talk about immunity these days without touching on the value of metabolic health. And today, 9 in 10 adults have some degree of metabolic illness, which is kind of shocking when you think about it. Nine in 10 adults, right? But one way to really bolster metabolic health is simply to slow down when you're chewing and in particular to slow down when you're chewing produce, so fruits and vegetables. And the reason for that is fresh fruits and vegetables have compounds in them called nitrates, which when we chew them, the nitrates in those vegetables and fruits get reduced, turned into basically a compound called nitrate. They remove an oxygen molecule. So it's kind of science-y, but that in return creates nitric oxide in our blood vessels. So oral bacteria, so we have bacteria in our mouth

and our small intestines and our colonic environment. In our mouths, the bacteria reduce nitrate from fruits and vegetables, turn it into nitrate, which then becomes nitric oxide in our blood vessels, which is a powerful vasodilator. So it increases blood flow all throughout the body. It's great for sexual function. It's important for metabolic health. It's involved in insulin sensitivity. And so if you're eating, for example, a salad really fast, like on the go, you're short-changing the ability of your food to have a cardioprotective benefit and a metabolic health boosting benefit. God damn it, Max. I just ate freaking celery with peanut butter and wolfed it down in the car right before this episode. And also Michael eats faster

than anyone on the planet. He makes me uncomfortable. My cortisol is so rised. Keep going. Yeah, I'm a fast eater too. But now when I chew foods like beets, which are a very high and concentrated source of organic nitrates,

arugula actually per calorie has the highest concentration of nitrates. I want to slow down because I know that the bacteria in my mouth are responsible for basically promoting this nitric oxide pathway, which is going to boost blood flow all over the body to the brain. It also reduces blood pressure. So this is kind of a tangent, but related. I posted recently on my Instagram that people shouldn't use antiseptic mouthwash frequently

because antiseptic mouthwash kills the bacteria in your mouth that cause that reduction of nitrate to nitrite that can then negatively affect this nitric oxide pathway. And so just the use of mouthwash one time can actually increase your blood pressure. They've shown that using mouthwash after exercise reduces the benefits that exercise typically would have on blood pressure, so the ultimate lowering of your blood pressure. mouthwash after exercise reduces the benefits that exercise typically would have on your,

on blood pressure. So lower the ultimate lowering of your blood pressure. And there have been studies that have shown that people who frequently use antiseptic mouthwash, so I'm talking twice a day or more, have a 50% increased risk of developing type two diabetes and a 100% increased risk. So double, doubling their risk of developing hypertension via this pathway. Wow. Yeah. It's super interesting. Nitric oxide is like this really powerful. Well, you're right. I think you're the first person that's come on the show that's talked about this. Everyone who is wearing dentures that's listening. You also probably have to be careful because I know with dentures, you use

mouthwash a lot. And also you're putting your dentures or your retainer in that stuff that soaks it, which is I think antiseptic. I don't want to be ageist, Lauren, but how many people are listening to this show with dentures? Dentures, probably not many. You never know. Not many. Okay, so. Now I'm going to get shit on. So out of my five, you did two. You said really chew your food, slow down, Michael. I'm going to remind you of this every day. And then. And avoid frequent use of antiseptic mouthwash. That is such a good tip. Let me ask you a quick question. Is this every kind of food? I mean, there's probably a benefit

for every kind of food, but you're highlighting that there's specific foods that you have to even be more intentional about, like arugula, beets, these types of things. That's the perfect follow-up question, Michael. And the truth is, slowing down is important for whatever it is that you're eating because we actually begin digestion before the food even enters our mouth. It's called the cephalic phase of digestion. So cephalic means our head. So as we're perceiving the food, smelling the food, looking at the food, our digestive processes get going. And then once we start chewing, we have enzymes in our saliva, but also our bodies ramp up production of insulin, which is a hormone involved in packing away calories. We begin to pump out digestive

juices like hydrochloric acid and pepsin, which is involved in protein breakdown. So slowing down is really important. It also helps to register the food that we're eating. So if we eat fast, we're more prone to eating more calories because there's a lag time between the time that it takes. There's a lag in the time that it takes for ghrelin, which is the hunger hormone, to make its way from our stomachs up to our brains. And ghrelin is basically secreted by the stomach when it's empty. And that valve gets turned off when the stomach is stretched. So this is one of the reasons why dietary fiber is so satiating because it mechanically stretches out the stomach and it causes that hormone ghrelin

to stop being released by the stomach. And ghrelin, again, hunger hormone. But there's a lag time. It doesn't happen instantaneously. So this is one of the reasons why if you're on any kind of weight loss plan, which I know many people are, many people aren't, that's totally fine. But you really want to make sure that you're slowing down so that your brain has the opportunity to register the meal that you're currently eating. That makes so much sense. One of my girlfriends, Ingrid, she's a wellness expert and she's from France. And one of her things is she always talks about ghrelin and slowing down. She calls it a word. If you said it, I would like something with asphyxiation or something. I don't know the word. Anyways, she always talks about it, but she was comparing how in France, that's obviously one of the things that they do when they have lunch.

They sit down for an hour and a half. They're enjoying their food. Whereas in America, we're in the car eating celery and peanut butter and stuffing it down our face. Yeah. Yeah, it's totally true. I mean, eating slow. There was a study in Japan that found that eating slow, when calories were controlled,

that it actually boosted the thermic effect of feeding. So the amount of calories that are burned off via chewing and digestive processes alone was actually increased just from slowing down after calories were controlled. So it really is an important and effective way to not only get more from your food, especially if you're spending a lot of money on food, right?

I tend to shop at Whole Foods and spend a fair amount of money because the quality of the food that I'm eating is something that I value in my life. But to know that you're shortchanging your food, you're getting less bang for your buck by eating that food rapidly, I think is a really important thing for people to know about. And also the fact that those hunger hormones are really important

when it comes to helping us regulate our appetites. I got another kind of question for you here. It's going to step back. Two years into the pandemic, you're one of those guys that I would probably look to when I'm like, oh shit, okay, what do I do? I really want to boost my immune system. I want to boost my health.

Like when shit first hit the fan, what were you personally doing? Like what were some of the practices that you started implementing? Okay, I got to get healthy here. He still has three more tips too. So he can include those in his three more tips. I'm not going to let him go. I want to know his three tips. No, I'll bring it.

To offer another tip and also to answer that question, I think prioritizing protein, dietary protein is really important. I'm a big advocate of the consumption of protein. I think it's super, super important as like the primary staple on the plate. And that's because protein is the most satiating macronutrient.

So when people think of macronutrients, we have carbs, protein, and fat. You can overeat until the cows come home with carbs, with fat, with some combination of carbs and fat, which typify ultra-processed foods. So if you walk around the supermarket and you look at packaged, ultra-processed junk foods, they are some combination of carbs and fat. That's pretty much what they are. They tend to be diluted in protein. And protein, it's not only the most valuable macronutrient, but it's the most satiating.

So our hunger mechanisms are dictated for the most part by our necessity for protein-containing foods, amino acids, which we would die without them, and also the nutrients that high-protein foods contain. Fiber is also satiating, but it's not because we have a biological necessity for fiber. We actually don't. It's satiating because it, again, it mechanically stretches out the stomach.

But we have innate hunger mechanisms that are turned off when we ingest protein. I have a question about protein, just like a tangent really quick. My latest favorite way to get protein, and I want to know Max's opinion on this, is hemp seeds. I found that three tablespoons of hemp seed has 10 grams of protein, which I'm not like a big, big meat eater. So that was very exciting for me. I like meat. I just don't like,

I'm not constantly hungry for it. Do you like hemp for protein? Hemp is a good source of protein. I believe it's a complete, it's a fairly complete protein. There's also some healthy fats in it, good source of dietary fiber. You know, I'll throw some hemp seeds. Actually, I love throwing hemp seeds on if I'm making like grain-free pancakes,

which is like one of my favorite, like Sunday morning meals. Hemp seeds are a great topping. But the problem with plant-based sources of protein is that, well, there's a few problems. They tend not to be very high quality for a number of reasons. One is that they tend not to be as digestible as animal-sourced proteins. They tend to be low in certain amino acids that you then have to supplement with either

other plant sources of proteins or a plant-based protein powder. For example, plant proteins tend to be low in leucine, which is the amino acid that is most important for promoting muscle protein synthesis, which is found in abundance in animal proteins. And the other problem with plant proteins is that you get a lot of non-protein calories from plant proteins.

So for example, lentils, legumes are a great source of plant protein. However, it's also important to acknowledge that along with the protein in lentils, you're also getting a lot of starch calories and the like. And so for people who are on, you know, who are weight conscious, and again, that's not everybody,

but that is a significant portion of the population. You have to be mindful of these non-protein calories. I imagine you get a lot of pushback from the plant-based community or vegan community on, you know, promoting, you know, meat proteins over plant proteins. Scientifically, if you were just going

to address those people and answer back, you know, if they were saying, hey, you can get all your protein sources from plants, like what is the, what are the typical, you know, answers that you go backwards? Yeah, I mean, I have no problem with supporting people

who are on plant-based diets. I just, I think that it's important to acknowledge like why we, why we take on these diets, why we institute them. And I think that

the best reasoning that I've found for, for, for adopting plant-based diet is that you just don't like to eat animals. Like,

I think that that's the best reason that there is. Like your reason, you said you just don't like eating meat. That's a perfectly fine reason. If somebody doesn't like to do something, it would be creepy for me to try to convince them otherwise. I like it.

I just, like, I'm specific about it. I'm not just going to eat any kind of meat from the grocery store. Like, I want all the, like, little boxes checked if I'm going to sit down and enjoy it. No, I like the argument that you're going with. There was like, morally, if you have something, like, against eating animals, like, I'm fine with that you're going with. It's like morally, if you have something like against eating animals, like I'm fine with that.

What I personally sometimes take issue with is when people, they take that stance and then they argue points that are not valid or not based in truth or science. 100%. I feel the same way. Every single morning without fail, you know, I do light movement and hydration. So I open the shades, I meditate, I hydrate, and I move. And when I hydrate, I do the same thing every single day. I do a lot of ice water. Sometimes I'll throw mint in it, lemon, ginger, and then I add my chlorophyll drops always. And those are by Saqqara. You know this. Saqqara is a wellness company

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Yeah, so it's not controversial that animal protein is the highest quality source of protein. We have the DCAAS, which is the latest gold standard measurement used to assess protein quality. And animal proteins are by far the highest quality in terms of their digestibility that we can ingest. Soy is actually pretty high quality. Soy is up there. It's almost about 1.0 on that score, which is right around where you'll find chicken and eggs and beef and stuff like that. So soy is actually a great protein source. Then you got to ingest lots of soy and where's that soy coming from? And is estrogen so bad for men? I would think it would be. I think that the soy is estrogenic story has been a bit overblown to be honest. Yeah. Well, I've looked at meta-analyses and they don't seem to move the needle.

Like in randomized control trials. And I don't personally eat soy. So I have no dog in that fight. I certainly wouldn't eat it as my sole protein source. Why don't you eat soy? Well, because first of all, I don't like it. And second of all, it's not as high quality as animal-based protein.

So if you're having sushi, will you order a certain sauce on the side or will you just not have soy sauce? No, I'll do soy sauce. I'll do soy sauce. I'm not like opposed to it, you know, in moderation. You're just not like eating tofu. Right. I'm not eating tofu.

Or soy milk. Right. But I, with my sushi, I'll use a gluten-free tamari sauce. That's organic. The issue with soy is that it's one of these crops that's so heavily sprayed that if you're just eating it in a restaurant without knowing where it comes from, knowing whether or not it's organic, for example, that's not something that I would mess with. But in terms of a protein digestibility standpoint, it's pretty high quality. It also has a fairly high amount of leucine. So it's not an ideal, but yeah, it's

not the end of the world if that's like your protein source and you choose to consume it in moderation. But I do think that the hormone issue has been a bit overhyped. So back to that original question, when shit first hit the fan, you're like, okay, I got to really boost the immune system. Not that you always take care of yourself, right? So we should point that out. But were there certain things that you're like, okay, I'm doubling down on these efforts or I'm, you know, tripling down on these supplements or whatever, you know? Yeah. We had so little knowledge at the beginning of the pandemic that I just reverted to what I know is going to be good for the body. And it's like doubling down on sleep, making sure that my sleep duration, sleep quality is sufficient. I tried to keep up

with the exercise as best I could, even though all the gyms got shut down. So I was doing a lot more home workouts. I got a jump rope. I taught myself how to jump rope just so I could get some light cardio in there. I bought a boxing bag. You turned us on to Minju. We all started boxing. I turned you guys on to Minju. Yeah. So I started taking boxing lessons, which is cool. Shout out to Minju. If you're in LA, he is an amazing boxing coach. Go follow Max on Instagram and look up Minju. Yeah. If you guys need amazing boxing coach. Go follow Max on Instagram and look up Minju. Yeah. If you guys need a boxing coach. He's great.

LA-based boxing coach. He taught me to box. So exercise, I continued with eating all the foods that I know, what I call genius foods, the foods that are most supportive of metabolic health. I was spending a lot more time sedentary and indoors. So I became a lot more mindful of glycemic excursions, the foods that I would eat

that would send my blood sugar through the roof because I wasn't really doing much. I was just around my house. What were those type of foods? Because I'm sure there's a lot of people that including myself that are eating them. Yeah, I mean, I just, I cut down on the starches. I cut down on the starches

and I began to prioritize foods that were high in omega-3 fatty acids. There was an issue, and this was pretty evident early on in the pandemic, that COVID can cause blood clots in people, can lead to thrombosis in people. And so I double down on foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids

because high dose omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to prevent blood clots. Incidentally, I also take high dose vitamin, high dose omega-3s before like a long flight to help prevent. What are some of those foods to get really granular? Like give us some of those foods that we can grab on the go.

Yeah, well, I don't know if people are gonna wanna grab this on the go, but like fatty fish, wild fatty fish is like a great, so if it's like a canned fish, like canned sardines or salmon jerky, those are all good options. I have sardines. Oh, salmon jerky sounds gross,

but I get it. Yeah. It's some can be gross. Some can be good. Like the Trader Joe's salmon jerky, very fishy, but I've had like a, like a maple salmon jerky

that was really good. Just eat like three sardines and plug your nose. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, that's, I'm going to go home and eat three sardines in front of you and just then try to kiss you.

So then you can do that and then I'll still plug my nose. I'll be like, do you want a blowjob after I eat three sardines? Oh, God. I don't need some fishy dick, man. What else? Yeah. Grass-fed beef is a decent source.

It's way lower than fish, but you still get a small amount of omega-3s in grass-fed beef. Egg yolks are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Also, I supplement with fish oil. I think supplementing with a high quality fish oil is one of the best things that you could do for your brain health. In pill form or the liquid form? In pill form. Yeah. I find that I would be too afraid of the liquid form oxidizing because there's greater risk of exposure to oxygen every time you open up the bottle and close the bottle. So I take pills and I occasionally will crush them to taste the oil to make sure that it's not oxidized. Because a fresh fish oil

actually wouldn't taste fishy at all. It would just taste like, you know, it's the same reason that when you go to the fish section of the supermarket, it doesn't smell like fish. It doesn't smell like the seaport because fresh fish oil shouldn't actually smell. If you're on vacation, like you are now, or you're traveling, what are some things that you bring in your toolbox? Oh, man. So I tend to travel with fish oil. I always bring protein powders with me. So I'll go to... Favorite brand. Man, it's hard to say. Maybe one.

There's a brand that I currently buy, no financial affiliation, but it's called Muscle Feast. Okay. Which is like... Muscle Feast. It's a funny name. I just found them on Amazon and they have a 100% whey isolate, which is what I buy. I buy whey isolate and it comes from grass-fed cows, which is actually... You're kind of wasting your money when you buy grass-fed whey isolate, which is what I buy. I buy whey isolate and it comes from grass-fed cows, which is actually, you're kind of wasting your money when you buy grass-fed whey protein because what a cow eats primarily dictates the quality of its fat. And whey protein isolate is basically, it's more or less a fat-free product. So that's how I actually use my money to vote ethically or to support ethical farming practices.

Like I'm supporting the feeding, the pastured feeding of cows. And grass-fed cow isn't going to come from the factory farm system, even though that's not actually influencing the nutrition of the protein powder that I buy in any significant way. But I'm spending more for it

because I like to vote with my dollar. What else is in your wellness toolbox when you travel? I like to bring, I bring. What else is in your wellness toolbox when you travel? I like to bring, I bring a supplement with me wherever I go called astaxanthin, which is supportive of eye health, brain health, but it also promotes skin health. And it's been shown that it can help reduce

photo aging of the skin. And usually when I travel, for the most part, unlike this weekend in Texas, it's like to a sunny place where I tend to be spending more time in the sun. and usually when I travel, for the most part, unlike this weekend in Texas, it's like to a sunny place where I tend to be spending more time in the sun. And so astaxanthin is a great skin-boosting supplement, and it can help prevent sudden burns and things like that. Although I try not to get sunburned.

I don't rely on astaxanthin as a sunburn prophylactic, but really, really powerful longevity. It's good for the eyes too. Really good for the eyes, really good for the brain. Yeah. It's actually a longevity supplement. It was highlighted in this interesting paper from Bruce Ames, who's like a noted anti-aging researcher and expert in particular in micronutrients. And astaxanthin was one of these compounds highlighted in the paper as a longevity, pro-longevity agent. So I've been taking astaxanthin for years at this point. I like that a lot. I'll take digestive enzymes with me on the road just because I know

that I'm going to be eating foods that are outside of my typical dietary pattern just to ease the burden. Sometimes I'll take vitamin C. I get these glutathione packets. But generally, I try to keep it... I don't travel with a ton of supplements. I think my basic, the foundation of the travel supplement pyramid for me, it's like fish oil. It's a high quality protein powder, astaxanthin. That's pretty much it. Something that we're seeing everywhere and that we're hearing a lot about in the wellness community, a lot of buzz is peptides. Do you have an opinion about peptides or do you not know enough about it? I don't know. I don't know enough about them. I know like a lot of people are using these like epimoralin, sermoralin, they're like growth hormone analogs

or they actually, they promote the secretion of your own growth hormone. So they basically like spur your pituitary gland to release more growth hormone. Is that good for you though? Like it just sounds a little... I wouldn't mess with it personally, personally. But I know a few people that are on it and I think that they seemingly get good results from it. If you're

exercising really hard, what growth hormone does is it promotes recovery, faster recovery. Well, there's different types. If you're just talking about specifically growth hormone here, there's different types of peptides. Right. I know. I'm just asking about growth hormone. That's pretty much like the extent of my knowledge on that topic. I really don't. Yeah. I thought you would know something though, and you did. You knew it. A little bit. Yeah. A little bit. I wouldn't mess with them, at least at this point. But for people who are going hard in the gym and they have a certain body image to uphold on social media, it makes sense why they would go that route. Because what growth hormone does is it strengthens

your connective tissue, your joints. That's why it's so good for recovery because those are the aspects of your limbs, like ligaments and stuff like that, that get the most beat up from routine training. How do you personally, when you're at home, bookend your day? So how do you start your morning? What are some wellness-y things that you do? Could be anything. And then what are some things that you have to do non-negotiables at the end of the night? Wow. Before I go to the morning and nighttime routine. Well, morning routine. Be honest. I don't care if it's 400 pages. Yeah. Damn. Well, morning routine for me, I wake up, I look at my phone. I shouldn't. I shouldn't look at my phone. But at this point, I've been habit stacking. And it's been a process, but I've been really trying to meditate in the mornings. I've been seeing a therapist for the past year, which has been a really interesting experience. And one of the things that she told me to do is to start meditating. And I've been trained in meditation. So I took a course on Vedic meditation, sort of like TM. It's like mantra-based

meditation. And I haven't really done it ever since I took it. It just became this thing. It's like when you buy a treadmill, it just becomes like an expensive clothing rack. That for me is what meditation has become. So now every morning I try to do that for at least 10 minutes. I don't always do it, but one of the ways that I've reduced the friction for myself, which I think is really... When people try to adopt new behaviors, they've got to really create... They've got to lower the bar for themselves and ease the friction.

And so the way that I've done this with this new habit that I'm trying to develop is I keep a yoga mat unrolled by my bed all the time. So I don't unroll it and then roll it up when I'm done. It's just always there. So in my head, there are no barriers to just sitting on it and like getting the 10 minute meditation out of the way. So I wake up in the morning, I go pee and then I go like do it, try to do a 10 minute meditation. Thank you for letting us know you pee. Yeah. That's a part of it. Yeah. I get it. Painting the picture.

Yeah. Painting the full picture. She wanted, yeah. She said be specific. I get it. She likes the picture. Yeah, yeah. Painting the full picture. She wanted, yeah. She said to be specific. She likes the details. Yeah. So then I go downstairs and I usually will hydrate, drink some water. Lately, I've been putting some chlorophyll drops in my water in the morning. I think chlorophyll, honestly, the reason why I bought it

is because it was on sale at Whole Foods, but I do know that chlorophyll is a great source of magnesium. Chlorophyll looks a lot like hemoglobin, which is- She's giving me the death stare because she's always dropping chlorophyll in my, every time we travel, she's dumping chlorophyll looks a lot like hemoglobin, which is- She's going to be the death stare because she's always dropping chlorophyll in my, every time we travel, she's dumping chlorophyll in my water.

Because it also takes away altitude sickness. Oh, does it? Yeah, well- Cures it. Well, interesting. I didn't know that, but it does look a lot like hemoglobin with the exception that at the center of the hemoglobin molecule, you have iron.

And at the center of chlorophyll, you've got magnesium. So it's just amazing, amazing how nature conserves all these interesting chemical archetypes. I just love this so much, having this podcast, because when Michael and I first started dating, he would wake up and brush his teeth with Crest and then be on his way. And now he has a 40-step wellness routine in the morning. It looks so different from when we first started dating. Because this podcast has slowly helped me manipulate him into being who I want him to be.

I talk to guys like you and girls all the time. I'd have to be kind of a dumb shit not to pick up something or whatever. Before it was just like literally lights on. Go on Max about your morning routine that I'm using. Might even skip the pissing. Man, I love that. So, okay. Chlorophyll,

both of your guys' teeth look great, by the way. So, chlorophyll, which I've been enjoying. There's a little bit of peppermint oil in it. I find it to be really refreshing. And then I throw some salt, some Redmond Real Salt, which is a mineral-rich form of salt in my water. Sleep is a dehydrative event, so I want to make sure that I'm rehydrating when I wake up in the morning. And then, I mean, almost at the same time as I'm downing that concoction, I'm either stepping outside onto my porch or going by a window and making sure that I'm getting a good amount of bright ambient light in through my eyes. I feel like this is something that a lot of people are talking about now, but circadian biology really is important. There's no organ system that's not

influenced by the 24-hour timer that we call our circadian rhythm. And so, anchoring that rhythm relies on us exposing our eyes to ambient light in the morning,

whether it's from the sun or artificial light, as long as it's sufficiently bright. But the sun's the best, right? The sun's the best. Well, but, you know, some people-

The DMV light that you turn on in my kitchen is not the best. So don't give me that face. I want to win a point here, Lauren. Max, let me win a fucking point here. I'll mediate, okay.

If you wake up before the sun, or even right now, you know, like the sun, you know, doesn't rise here till like 7, 25, 7.30. If you're, we're up, we have a kid, so we're up at six. It's like that hour and a half, you know, I'm not going to sit in the dark.

I do flip on the lights pretty bright once I'm like up and moving because I want to get, I want to start the circadian rhythm. Yeah. I think that's totally reasonable. I like it dimly. Because if not, you're in the dark.

I don't love artificial light. Sure, but if you don't have natural light, that's the only way to start kicking it into gear because if not, you're in the dark. Right, you don't want to be in the dark. I just hope I wake up when the sun comes up at seven. That's my ideal time to wake up. Yeah.

I don't have a two-year-old, Ben Larn. I do also find it uncomfortable to wake up when it's completely dark outside. Oh, it's so uncomfortable. How does no one talk about it? It's so uncomfortable. It just doesn't feel right. Do you guys just wake up like that because of the kid or? Yeah, kid, dog.

Wow. That's what's happening. No, normally everyone wakes up at seven, but sometimes she wakes up at five and sometimes she wakes up at six. Wow. And then you send them downstairs so mommy can meditate. But we personally, both of us have been really trying to like go by that circadian rhythm biological clock.

And like, even at night, like walking when sunset's going or in the morning walking when the sun's rising, like looking into like getting natural light. And it's honestly helped our sleep. I think like we've gotten the best sleep we've ever had in the last month. Yes. Yeah, it's important.

You want about a thousand lux or more of light to enter your eyes. There's actually an app, I forget. It might even be called Lux, a light meter app for the smartphone that lets you measure ambient light. I don't know how accurate it is, but you want to get about a thousand lux of light

in through your eyes because that's what basically ticks off what's called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is this tiny region in the hypothalamus of the brain, which is the part of the brain that's like the most reptilian. It's the most responsible for our most primordial urges, like the urge to procreate, to eat, to drink. And so that switch that gets flipped basically sets forth that 24-hour timer.

And it's the most powerful setting mechanism of our body's circadian rhythm. And it relies on light, at least a thousand lux. And you don't have to stay in the light for too long. It could be 15 minutes. But as long as you get that bright light in first thing in the morning or somewhere close to that, you'll be okay. Even if it's overcast outside, you're still getting way more than a thousand locks. Recently, we had an incredible therapist. She wrote, maybe you should talk to someone on the podcast. And she stressed the importance of therapy. Now, therapy is like a whole thing.

We all know this. We have to get in our car. We have to drive there. We have to check in. We have to run into someone in the waiting room. And we have to go in. And then we have to get back in our car. We have to drive there. We have to check in. We have to run into someone in the waiting room. And we have to go in. And then we have to get back in our car, whatever, whatever, whatever. And I also run out of gas a lot. So I would rather do therapy in an efficient way. And that is BetterHelp. It is online therapy that you can do from the comfort of your own home on your couch. Absolutely amazing. I think this is genius. So they do video, they do phone,

they even do live chat sessions with your therapist. So sometimes I remember when I was younger, sometimes I wouldn't want to be sitting across from a person. It was more comforting to just talk on the phone. So I really like that they just do a phone call sometimes. It's more affordable than in-person therapy. In-person therapy can be so expensive I also remember when I was younger going to therapy and it was a lot of money and to be able to do this in an Affordable way is absolutely insane. You're matched with your therapist in under 48 hours and i'm telling you I think you're gonna love it Give it a try and see why over 2 million people have used better help online therapy

You can talk about all different kinds of issues with them. They will accept anything that you want to talk about. Give it a try and see why over 2 million people have used BetterHelp Online Therapy. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp and the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast listeners get 10% off your first month. You are going to go to betterhelp.com slash skinny. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P.com slash skinny. Betterhelp.com slash skinny. Okay. So you've peed, you've ideally meditated, you're drinking your chlorophyll peppermint water on your porch. What's next? Next, I typically will then, well, then I'll do a little bit of work. And then about at about 1030 in the morning is when I typically go to the gym. Sometimes I'll throw some coffee in there. I'm not like a daily coffee drinker anymore. I used to be, but I felt like coffee was, caffeine was screwing

up my, just my energy levels. And so I cut that out. I did a bit of like a coffee detox, caffeine detox, which I highly recommend to people. I'm like the biggest advocate of getting off of coffee for people who are dependent on it, at least temporarily. And then what I do typically is I'll just go to the gym because in the morning you've got, we benefit from this diurnal cortisol spike,

which is essentially nature's caffeine. And so that's, to me, that's like the prime time in the day to hit the gym. And so that's, to me, that's like the prime time in the day to hit the gym. And so I feel super energized. I'm also, I don't really eat before my workout. So, you know, my body, I feel like I'm, I get this like energy boost from the fact that I'm not digesting something. Like I feel like really light on my feet. And I know that, you know, from an evolutionary standpoint, it wouldn't make sense if we would be, if we would get, if we would have like less energy when food ceased to be around, right? We'd have to have actually like more energy so that we could then go and find the food,

procure the food. And so to me, there's something like really ancient about like working, you know, having a workout, physically working for my food, you know, from the standpoint of exercise. That's really interesting. That's cool. Yeah. And then afterwards, rewarding myself with a huge serving of protein, some dark leafy greens, what have you. So that's sort of like my morning on a perfect day. And your night?

Man, my sleep routine is pretty... I've got it pretty dialed in at this point, which is going to make me sound... It's probably why I don't have a girlfriend. I was going to ask, you sleep. No, get really detailed because mine's really dorky too. So I want to hear yours. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. So first off, in my bedroom and in my bathroom, at night, I don't put on any of the lights. So it's essentially dark. It's like, I'm like a hunter-gatherer. You do that? You do that? No overhead lights? No. I yell at Lauren and say,

turn off the overhead lights and you're gone. This is a therapy session. When I first started dating you, you didn't know what a dimmer was. Well, that's true. But there's a lot of, like I said,

my morning routine before was get up, run out the door. My bedtime routine was just pass out. Max is doing couples therapy. Sorry, go on. So you're not a light person at night. Go ahead.

Yeah. Well, I do have a lamp by my bed, but in the lamp, I went to a light bulb store and I bought like a cheap red light bulb. So I have a red light bulb and a lamp on my bed. When I flip it on, it makes my room look like a strip club. It sounds lascivious. It's not. It's just like, because I know that that's going to be the most soothing for my eyes before I get to bed. I put down my blackout curtain. I don't have blackout curtains, but

my curtains are pretty dark. I try to make my room as dark as possible because we now know, thanks to research, that even low light exposure, even while we sleep, can lead to reduced cognitive function the next day. So I try to make it as dark as possible. And then I try to get the temperature down because I know that we sleep best when our bedrooms are cool. And to further that goal, I have like a mattress pad that goes over my mattress that cools my mattress down. It was one of those like oolers or whatever? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I have one of those. So that's all like up and running. Then I basically in the dark, I go, I floss, I brush, which is super important, dental health. And then I get into bed. And my pre-bed, my like immediately before I go to sleep routine,

I put on, I use those like nasal strips that expand your nasal passageway because breathing through your nose is really important. So nose breathing is like, you know, I used to think that whether you breathe through your mouth or through your nose, it was just a means to an end. It didn't really matter. It was just getting oxygen into your lungs. But when you actually, when you breathe through your nose, oxygen, it, it moistens the air that you breathe, it warms it. And it also causes, we talked about nitric oxide earlier on in the episode, but you have what's called nitric oxide synthase in the

blood vessels of your paranasal sinus, which when you run oxygen over those structures, you create nitric oxide, which helps to oxygenate your body. It helps, again, to reduce blood pressure. It really helps you get more, I think, from sleep to make sure that you're breathing out of your nose. So just to open up the airways a little bit, I'll use one of those nose dilating strips.

And then I tend to tape my mouth closed. So I'm a fan of mouth taping. I don't necessarily... Is that because you struggle to breathe through the nose or because you just want to reinforce nose breathing? Because I've heard it both. Like we just had a breathing expert or breath expert on the show.

We're talking all about this. And I know a lot of people are going to that tactic because they literally can't breathe out of their nose or their mouth breathers. Yeah. But are you doing that just to reinforce or because you struggle? Well, I think at first I started to create the habit because I definitely

didn't always breathe through my nose when I would sleep. I just, you know, I would wake up sometimes there would be like drool on the pillow. It's not, you know, it's not sexy, but I know that I, that, that sometimes I would breathe through my mouth. So just to get into the habit, to know what it really felt like to breathe out of my nose exclusively over the night, I would, I started taping my mouth. And I feel like it's something that you can train yourself to do. So at this point, I use it sometimes. I don't feel like I need to use it every night anymore.

It is uncomfortable to breathe out of your nose when you're congested, obviously. So you want to make sure that you're keeping your head elevated. That can help reduce congestion and the like. But I do find that it's like, I think it is helpful. Honestly, when I tape my mouth, I do feel like I'm more rested the next day. I was talking to a friend and this is like a complete anecdote.

So I don't have any data to back this up, but I was talking to a friend and we were talking about sleep tracking devices like the Oura Ring. And he was saying that he had one and that he noticed that on nights that he wouldn't tape his mouth, his heart rate, his overnight heart rate would be higher.

And that when he would, on the nights that he would tape his mouth from, again, looking at the data that he would get, his overnight heart rate would be lower. So all things considered, that's a major win. If you can reduce your resting heart rate overnight simply by taping your mouth closed. So I don't, again, have any data to back that up.

It's an anecdote. Specific brand or type of tape you're using? You could just buy, I mean, I go to Amazon and I get like, I spend 10 bucks and I get 120 of these things that they just go over the front of your lips. But you can literally just bought those. Yeah, those. I just bought them.

I haven't tried it though, because I'm scared. I'm going to suffocate in my sleep because I sleep, I breathe through my suffocate in my sleep because I breathe through my mouth. Did you not get scared the first time you did it? It's like an X, right? It just goes over the front and you can still breathe through the sides of your mouth. You can even talk through

the sides of your mouth. Okay, Claire. Do you know who Claire Greaves is? I feel like you would like her. She's a wellness expert too. It rings a bell, but I don't. And she said the same thing as you're saying about this mouth breathing thing. So there must be really something. There must be something going on. That's three people that we like and respect.

So you sleep every single... You've like tapered off a little bit because you're training yourself, but you tried at first to sleep every single night. Yeah, I mean, yeah, definitely. And I'll go in and out, but I noticed that I do feel more rested on the mornings after the nights where I use that.

Are there, Lauren, if you're going to try this, are there ones that make it so you can't talk? There's ones that make sure your dick can't fit through the hole, I'm sure. Oh, burn. Okay, so you've got your mouth tape on, you're in your bed. Is there anything else that we're missing out on

that we need for sleep, optimal sleep? This is going to be totally like person to person variable, but I like to sleep on my stomach and sleeping in the prone position is supposed to be really good for your cardiorespiratory system. It's not good for your face though. It's not good for your face apparently, or your back.

It's not as good for your back. Because wrinkles. Yeah. We talk about this in my book for skin. Yeah, I say to sleep on your back because- That makes sense. It's, listen, here's the thing. When you're sleeping, you're sleeping. You probably, you can't be like, I move.

I don't know about a lot of people. I can't be like, only sleep on my back. But I try to only sleep on my back. I've tried to sleep on my back. Because in the past, I've suffered from like low back issues and every, you know, functional movement guy, PT says sleeping on your back is the best for your back. And I've tried to sleep on my back and I just can't. How do I sleep? So you sleep like face down or is it side? I sleep face down. There's no way you sleep face down, face in your mattress? No, no, no. Prove it on Instagram. I'll be like, fuck, we got a psychopath in the studio.

No, I sleep, my stomach is down and then my face is like turned to the side. And then I've got like my arm under my head and I sleep. But here's another thing, which is why. Because listen, if I walked in your room and you were face down on the mattress. No, that'd be weird. You'd be like, okay, this guy's serious.

No, I sleep. I canceled the interview. I'd be like. No, not like that. I sleep with four pillows. So I sleep with two flanking me so I could prop interview. No, not like that. I sleep with four pillows. So I sleep with two flanking me so I could prop up my hips, which actually makes it better for my lower back.

And then I sleep with a pillow under my head, obviously. And then I sleep with a pillow over my head. This is very involved. Yeah, it's very involved. I create like a sleep fort for myself. I was, yeah, it's a lot. I mean, I was like dating a girl a couple months ago and I had to like explain that this is how I can't, you know, I don't really like to sleep any other way.

Like this is like, I'm the most comfortable like this. I don't think it's weird. I think that if I met a guy, which I did, Michael, and we had no sleep routine when we met. No, but I would, listen, I mean, I would have fucked you. I know I've been married for a long time and I can't keep dating advice anymore, but I was, I would have fucked her. I know I've been married for a long time and I can't keep dating advice anymore. But I would just disclose the sleep port thing right off the bat. Like first 10 minutes of the date. Be like, listen, we need to get this out there

because this ain't going to work without my sleep port. And then you find the right girl that's into it. Because I feel like if the girl's not into it right off the bat. I'm into your sleep port. No, no. We do a whole thing. This type of girl would be into the sleep port. No, I think like it's inspiring

to have a wellness wind down. Here's what's going to happen after this show. A wellness wind down. Yeah, you got to be into the, if we're going to date, you got to be into the sleep fort. Max is single.

Go to his Instagram. If you're single, he's tall. He's good looking. He's on his second book. He can teach you to be healthy. He can tell you genius foods. He's going to remind you to eat your omegas,

your sardines. Yeah, listen, we just weeded out all the girls that aren't into sleep farts. Who the fuck needs those girls anyway? No, no, no. I think everyone should run to his Instagram. I feel like, yeah, sorry. We've actually played match. That's it.

It's done. I feel like I'm in it. Hold on. I did this once. This is a story I've never shared on air. I did this once with one of my friends, Taro, a four sigmatic. And I said, everyone run to his Instagram.

He's single. He's this, he's that. He's like a total catch. He would share this too. And he ended up meeting a girl who is amazing. She is so beautiful. Did you know her beforehand? She was like-

She heard his episode. We knew mutually of each other. We followed each other on Instagram. Lovely girl. And they ended up connecting and they're married with a kid now. Amazing. We're getting married.

So don't think that maybe Max will be on the third time with a girl that is in a tent in his sleep cave and they're both sleeping on each other's stomach. But listen, what we did there was like, listen, we got our weird friend, Tara. He loves fucking mushrooms.

And like, here's what's up. Tara, if you're listening to this, I love you. I love Tara. Tara. He loves fucking mushrooms. And like, here's what I'm just going to tell you. If you're listening to this, I love you. I love Tara. Tara's awesome. That's the power of the skin combination. Wow. Guys, I'm counting on you out there.

Go run to Max's Instagram. We just went on a full, you know. Mega tangent. Yeah. But that's pretty much it, I think. Yeah. I love it all. I'm obsessed with it all.

I think all those little tactics and tools make such a big difference in the overall wellness. So habit stacking, you mentioned that. Can you explain exactly what that is for someone that doesn't know and how they can use that in a wellness-y way? As listeners of this show know, I have been on somewhat of a health kick lately. We also move cities. And with that move and this health kick, we needed to be able to find quality doctors. You move cities and you have no clue what to do, nowhere to go. And that's why I love our new partner, ZocDoc.

If you want quality doctors introduced to you directly online to find exactly what you want, exactly what you're looking for, for your specific health needs, which is rare these days, then you need to check out ZocDoc. What I like about this app specifically is the people who created it found the major pain points in healthcare and all the things that weren't working and they were like, enough. So they made booking an amazing doctor pain-free. So many times it is so annoying to book a doctor. So you can go on and you can read up on local doctors. You can get verified patient reviews and see what other real humans had to say about their visits. So you can go to ZocDoc.com and you choose a time slot, whether you want to see the doctor in person or do a video visit. And just like that, you're booked and ready to go. And it's a free app that

shows you doctors who are patient reviewed. They can take your insurance and are available when you need them. You can read up on local doctors, get verified patient reviews. If you want quality doctors introduced to you directly online to find exactly what you want, exactly what you're looking for, for your specific health needs, which is rare these days, then you need to check out ZocDoc. So check it out today and go to ZocDoc.com slash skinny and download the ZocDoc app for free. Then start your search for top rated doctors today. Many are available within 24 hours. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C.com slash skinny, ZocDoc.com slash skinny. So check it out today

and go to ZocDoc.com slash skinny and download the ZocDoc app for free, ZocDoc.com slash skinny. Yeah, so habit stacking, I believe, so I haven't read his book, but I believe that it's a term that I just don't want anybody to think that I'm copying it. James Clear, I think, Atomic Habits, I think he's the guy who coined this. But it's basically like you have... There are a number

of points in the day where we already have routines in place. Everybody has a morning routine. Every human has a morning routine. Every human has a pre-bed routine. So rather than try to take on the gargantuan task of creating a new routine for yourself, if you're attempting to create healthier habits, you want to basically try to tag them along to routines that you're already doing, which is why the plugging meditation

into my morning routine was something that was at least somewhat, has been at least somewhat sustainable for me. Hopefully at this point, you know, everybody listening to this has some kind of exercise routine. But if you don't, maybe make it a part of your pre-bed routine to set out your gym clothes the night before. So that in the morning, it becomes a lot easier to enact whatever, you know, new fitness habit you're trying to set for yourself. It just lowers the friction. So that's what habit stacking is really all about, like lowering the friction. Maybe in the morning,

you're not prone to drinking water. Maybe you want to set the glass out next to your coffee maker so that it reminds you visually to drink water before you go to bed. Or maybe the electrolyte powder, keep it by your coffee machine. Maybe your supplements, maybe you're just not good at remembering to take all the supplements that your healthcare practitioner wants you to take. Or medicines. Set them out in a place that you can see them and integrate them into a routine that already exists in your month, it's not going to move the needle in any way on your health or well-being. You want to integrate these into your daily routine so that they become sustainable, so that you're doing them on a chronic basis. There's some small things, Lorne, that even like you talk about supplements, a lot of people like, I put the supplements in the same place as the protein powder.

So if I go to the gym and work out and I want that, then I'm getting a meal in, you have to... There's a supplement too, it makes it super easy. or so if I go to the gym and work out and I want that, then I'm getting a meal in. There's a supplement too. It makes it super easy. Or even little things like putting your phone in a place where it's charging and then next to your journal, like if you're not journaling, right? It's like instead of doing that,

you see your journal, like, okay, I have to do this thing first. Just like little tiny things that are not, they don't become cumbersome in the routine. It's just like, it's right there. I also think like just having like, for me, one, two, three, four, five, when I wake up,

like doing those one, two, three, four, five, like light, open the shades, hydration, make the bed, meditate, move. Like just having those pillars too is super helpful when you are doing anything, I feel, to go to those pillars because sometimes you wake up,

you're tired for us, the baby scream, like you just, to be able to, to go to those pillars. Because sometimes you wake up, you're tired. For us, the baby scream. To be able to have those go-to pillars, it sounds like it's very similar to habit stacking. It's really helpful. It's almost like having a foundation. Yeah, 100%. And I think oftentimes people suffer from analysis paralysis, right? Trying to decide what outfit to wear or trying to decide which of these supplements I'm going to take today or what I'm going to do once I get to the gym. But if you can just stack habits and lower the friction, lower the bar, I think it's going to… Anywhere that you can take the decision-making process out of your day and automate some of these processes and these habits, I think you're going to see big wins. That's like, from a diet standpoint, it's one of the reasons

why I love to prioritize protein. Because no matter what it is that I'm eating, I know that it's going to be either, it's going to start whatever entree I'm ordering, whether it's in a restaurant or at a hot food bar somewhere, it's going to start with a piece of protein. I know that that's going to be chicken or beef or fish, right? Like I don't have that many options there. I know on a daily basis, I try to eat at least, you know, one salad a day. Research out of Rush University shows us that people who eat one and a half, I believe, one large salad comprised of dark leafy greens every day have brains that perform up to 11 years younger. So it's a really great habit to set for yourself. I want to talk about the brain. I want to spend a good amount of time talking about brain health and foods you can eat. Because I'll even just give

an example. We're starting to see people that have had COVID or recovered from COVID, they lose taste, they lose smell. There's things like a lot of these, I don't know, is that neurological? Yeah, those are neurological symptoms. But I'm starting to think a lot more now. I have a dad similar to your age, probably getting a little bit older. And I start to think, okay, I want to keep this guy young, keep his brain sharp. But then I started thinking even for myself, diseases like Alzheimer's, dementia, obviously tragedies and things that a lot of families go through. I think you've probably been touched, but I've been touched by it. And I think like, okay, that's in the genetics. What are things now that I can do to be preventative

to start, you know, getting ahead of that? What are things I can eat? That's such a good question. And yeah, I mean, my mother had a form of dementia, which is what motivated my life work really. It made me realize my purpose. I mean, I think from the standpoint of the brain, you have to talk about exercise first

because it really is a form of medicine. There have been a number of studies that have shown us that exercise can help prevent progression to more severe forms of cognitive decline. Any kind of exercise or specific type? Most of the exercise recommendations actually tend to focus on aerobic exercise. And the reason for that, I think, is because it's a lot easier to get a mouse to run on a treadmill than it is to get a mouse to lift weights. And so when researchers are looking to see the effects that exercise has on the brain, they'll get a mouse to exercise,

they'll compare it to a control sedentary mouse, and they'll sacrifice the mouse and see what exercise did to the brain. They'll look in the memory center and things like that. So I think that there's a bias in the literature for aerobic exercise. And aerobic exercise is great. And I think it should definitely be done. But I think that anaerobic resistance style training is super important when it comes to the brain. We're now seeing actually, there was a great study that came out very recently that found that among people that were genetically at high risk for developing Alzheimer's disease, frailty was the key determining factor that determined a person's risk and increased risk for developing alzheimer's by threefold so that was the determining factor in this group so what people

with the same genetic risk profile high genetic risk for developing alzheimer's disease those who are less frail more robust more strong had a third of the risk of developing alzheimer's disease and how do we prevent frailty we We make our bodies strong, right? So we go to the gym, we exercise, lift weights, whatever that means, eat a protein-centric diet. I think that's so crucially important. We also know that exercise boosts growth factors in the brain like BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

We know, I mean, for sure that this is expressed when we do aerobic exercise, but we're starting to see that it also gets expressed when we do resistance training as well. There have been correlational studies that have shown that people with stronger legs, stronger grip strength, have better brain function. So making sure that your body is as strong as possible and run the opposite direction from frailty, I think that that's a really important thing to do from a lifestyle standpoint. From a dietary standpoint, I mean, I've become less focused on macros like

carbs and fat. And I think the most important thing for somebody to do is to minimize their consumption of ultra-processed foods, like the packaged, processed, refined grains, foods that are made with grain and seed oils like canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil. I think that that's all really important. Prioritize extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil, it's a total brain food. I mean, it's as anti-inflammatory as low dose ibuprofen. It's been shown in animal models to help the brain more effectively clear out the plaques or the proteins that can aggregate

and form the plaques that we associate with Alzheimer's disease. Also large randomized control trials like the PREDIMED study show us that you could consume up to a liter a week for better cardiovascular health, better neurological health. So I'm prioritizing extra virgin olive oil. Damn, a liter a week. It's a lot.

It's a lot. Yeah, but that's what Dr. Gundry says too. He's huge on that, on olive oil. My question is, and I'm sure- How do you get a liter a week down? It's hard, but- Can you cook in a pan with olive oil? No one can answer this question for me. Definitively, you can. Yeah. Okay. So it's not bad to heat it up.

It's not bad to heat it up. Low to medium heat. So those hash browns that I made the other night had a big chunk of olive oil, but they were hash browns. Who knows what the fuck were in those hash browns? Oh, man. Which brings me to my next side note question that I asked you off air. I just have to know what is a good brand for non-toxic cookware. This is a question that I think so many people want to know.

This episode is all about wellness and health, so it is fitting that we tell you about Obey Fitness. We just had the founders on the podcast, and man, I am so into this and I really think the audience is going to be into it. They have daily live classes and 8,000 on-demand options for you to work out, have community and meditate at home. And nobody has an excuse anymore because when we're going to get to in a second, we have an offer for two months for free.

Two months for free from your home, 10 minutes a day. You have no more excuse. Let's get it together. Let's get it in order. Here we go. Obey. This is what I did. We've been traveling. We're in LA right now and I haven't had a lot of

time to work out. So I'm walking outside and then I'm doing their express 10 minute workouts. So I literally was working out on a towel on the ground the other day. Zaza was watching Paw Patrol and I just squeezed it in and it was so easy to do 10 minutes. Everyone has time for 10 minutes. Tony Robbins says, if you don't have 10 minutes to yourself, you don't have a life. They have 20 plus classes types to choose from, and there's always something new. So they have strength training, Pilates, sculpt, yoga, HIIT. I really, really like their Pilates classes. I've done them many times. I would highly recommend. And what I like to do sometimes is I'll put the class on mute and I'll listen to a podcast at the same time.

You can do two things at once. There's really, like I said, no class on mute and I'll listen to a podcast at the same time. You can do two things at once. There's really, like I said, no excuses. No equipment is necessary. That's why it was unbelievable to be able to be on the floor with a towel and just have no equipment. Of course, if you're craving more structure, they also have like a 30-day program. They have all different kinds of things on their site. And what the founders are doing with this program is truly incredible. Wherever you are in your fitness journey, you can jump right in with two free months of Obey. Just use code skinny2 at obeyfitness. That's O-B-E fitness.com to get started. I think this is an incredible offer for every single person who's listening. You get two months free of Obey. Code skinny2 at obeyfitness.com. Yeah, that's a hard question to answer. I mean, stainless steel and cast iron are the best choices. So I will cook a lot with cast iron.

You just have to know how to season it, but that's not difficult to do. In my new cookbook, Genius Kitchen, I offer very precise instructions on how to do that so that you have a cast iron pan for decades. I mean, these things are like unbreakable and they're so great. They're very healthy for premenopausal women, great way to add iron to your diet and they're non-toxic cast iron pan. So I'm a huge fan. Occasionally when you cook, oh, and also cast iron pan, if you season it properly, they can be non-stick. A lot of people are afraid of using a cast iron pan because they've had messy experiences with them.

But if you season them the right way, you can actually make them nonstick. Now, I have no financial affiliation with this company, but there's a nonstick pan called Green Pan. I don't know if they... I haven't looked at any

certificate of analysis, but what they promise is no PFAS substances. So PFAS are per and polyfluoroalkylated substances, which are endocrine disrupting compounds that are typically found in nonstick pans. And they promise not to use any of those. So do I trust them implicitly based on their claim?

No. So I've bought one and I'll use it for like the occasional scramble and like something where I know that like making a mess is likely. So I have one of and I'll use it for the occasional scramble and something where I know that making a mess is likely. So I have one of those in my house. But for the most part, I try to use my stainless steel pots and pans and my what's called cast iron.

Is there a brand stainless steel or does it matter? It doesn't matter. You just want to use good stainless steel. We have stainless steel, right? Okay, okay. I'm good. I don't have a fucking melt on. Some of them use nickel.

You want to make sure that they're nickel free. But for the most part, if it's stainless steel, it's pretty good. I have to ask you before you go, how do we boost our metabolism? How do we boost our metabolism? I have to ask you that question. Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, building muscle is kind of a textbook answer. Your muscle accounts for 20% of your basal metabolic rate.

Like weightlifting. Weightlifting, yeah. And muscle is energetically expensive to maintain. So just having more muscle on your body actually increases your basal metabolic rate to some degree, not by a huge margin, but in a small and significant amount.

You can also, again, prioritize protein. Protein has the highest thermic effect of any other macronutrients. So carbs and fat both burn off about 5% to 10% of their own calories via digestion alone, but protein is about 33%. So when you eat protein, which is four calories per gram, you're basically getting about a third of that as a free ride. So that's one way of boosting your metabolism. Also opting for whole foods as opposed to ultra processed foods. So the more natural, for lack of a better term, food is, the less processed the food is, it's going to take more energy from your body to digest and assimilate. So that's another way of boosting your metabolism. I mentioned

earlier that there was this very small Japanese study, but worth mentioning, I guess, that found that just slowing down increased one's metabolic rate. Lif, but worth mentioning, I guess, that found that just slowing down increased one's metabolic rate. Lifestyle factors also matter, like sleep, making sure that you're sleeping appropriately can help. I think the issue with people feeling like they have slow metabolisms,

it's not that we want to... The goal shouldn't be to boost our metabolisms, but it should be rather, I think, to look to our diets and lifestyles and find where we are comprom boost our metabolisms, but it should be rather, I think, to look to our diets and lifestyles and find where we are compromising our metabolisms. As I mentioned, 90% of people have some type of metabolic illness and metabolism at the end of the day is how our bodies generate energy. So if you're not sleeping well, you're likely going to have a slower metabolic rate. If you're constantly dieting and in a calorie deficit or doing cardio to burn calories,

your body's going to become more efficient at burning calories. So it's going to burn fewer of them because your body doesn't want to starve to death. So making sure that you're not doing chronic cardio, making sure that you're sleeping well, making sure that you're prioritizing protein and foods that are nutrient dense. Also making sure that you're nutritionally replete. Various micronutrients play a role in supporting your metabolism. So making sure that you're eating foods that are not nutritionally impoverished. Today, 90% of adults are deficient in at least one vitamin or mineral. So whether that means taking a multivitamin or increasing the quality of your foods, I think all of those things can help. If you could wish the world to

all have one food in their diet, like one, if you could say everyone needs this one food. Oh my God. It's a one word answer. Like sardines, like one food. What would it be? Oof. Damn. I don't know.

You're the guy to ask this question to. But just one's almost impossible. Just one. One is so hard because it's like, there's not a single food that's going to like give you all of your... Okay, three. Three is easier. Three is easier.

I'm going to say grass-fed beef. Okay. Yeah, I'm a big fan of grass-fed beef. Super nutrient dense. You might need to make me a grass-fed steak tonight. Yeah. I mean, you guys are in Austin. Like, yeah.

What are you doing? There's a few places we can go. Okay, what else? I would say in tandem with that, eggs. And I go because nature's multivitamin. When an embryo is developing, the first structure to assemble is the nervous system, which includes the brain.

So literally everything in an egg yolk, mother nature has deemed important to growing a neonate's brain. Okay, that's a good one. Yeah, so big fan of eggs. And then I guess avocados. Probably preaching to the choir, probably a lot of

avocado lovers out there. I have a feeling we got a big avocado group in this listenership. No, let's give those three foods to Zaza tonight. Okay. That's a great... I asked that so I could give it to the baby. Oh my God. Those are amazing baby foods. Okay. Yeah. Perfect baby foods. Your book, your new book is coming March 29th. It's called Genius Kitchen, Delicious Dishes That Make Your Body Stronger and Brain Healthier. Yes. Tell us about it, why we need it. Oh man. So this is like a two-in-one book. First of all, it's a cookbook, right? But I really wanted the cookbook not just to be an amalgamation of recipes. I wanted it to be significant. And so it's part kitchen resource and wellness guide. And so in it, I break apart

all of the major food items, dietary categories like dairy, salt, water, plants, meat, fish, eggs, to help readers determine what is going to be the best choices for them. So there's about 200 pages of really solid information in there. I also talk about how to optimize digestion. Because as I mentioned, if you're not digesting your food properly, you're really shortchanging your ability of your food's ability to nourish your health. So optimizing digestion, how to pick non-to Cookware, and other kitchen utensils, all part of the book. And then we have over 100 plus recipes of dishes that will, in no small way, really boost your brain health, improve your metabolic health. And the primary ingredients used in all of my recipes are low cost, easily accessible.

It's really important for me to not make my recipes too convoluted or to use foods that are inaccessible to most people. I mean, I'm very cognizant of the fact that I live in LA and I have all this access to all these incredible brands and supermarkets and the like, but my passion really is to move the needle on people's health in between the coasts and to democratize in a way health and cognitive wellness. So delicious recipes, easy to prepare, and also a wellness guide that I think will be really helpful for people. So it's called Genius Kitchen. Also lots of great photos. Pictures of me. I'm kind of self-conscious because I'm on the cover of the book, but you know. I'm telling you guys, he's

tall, he's single, he can cook for you if I was dating you I'd be like just tell me what's on the menu and just make you cook for me all day long just that how annoying would I be after this we'll make a sleep fort for two

sleep fort for two cook some steaks where can everyone find you pimp yourself out to the audience you're so sweet I'm on Instagram at Max Lugavere I host my own podcast

called The Genius Life and pick up Genius Kitchen it's available everywhere books are sold but you can also go to Sweet. I'm on Instagram at Max Lugavere. I host my own podcast called The Genius Life. And pick up Genius Kitchen. It's available everywhere books are sold, but you can also go to geniuskitchenbook.com for direct links. I love the stuff you post on social, man. I get a lot of value following you. Oh, dude. Yeah, I do. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, he's a great follow on Instagram if you're into wellness. And I feel like you niche down a lot, which is great. Thank you for coming on. That's so informative. Come back anytime and go listen to his other episode that he did. Michael, we'll leave it in the show notes. I was looking at it right before we started. I'll link it right now. That was fun. That was another fun one. That was on October 27, 2020, episode 303. Wow. Just over a year ago. Yeah. How to heal your mind, strengthen your body. Max is single and ready to mingle. Go follow're so sweet thank you guys do you want to win a signed copy of max's book all you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest instagram at lauren bostick and make sure you're following at tsc podcast super easy i hope you guys have the most productive monday ever cheers this episode was brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. We have a code for you. We don't do codes a lot. Go pre-order

the ice roller. It's out of stock right now, but it should be in stock soon. Also grab the hot shave razor and the shaving cream. It's the first ever women's facial shaving cream. You are going to love it. All you have to do is type in code PINKICEQUEEN for 15% off at shopskinnyconfidential.com.