- Discipline is necessary for achieving success and dominating in any field.
- Addictions, even if not severe enough to require rehab, can still hinder progress and keep individuals stuck in mediocrity.
- Dopamine deficiency drives addictive behavior, such as addiction to sugar or video games.
- Addiction can shift from one form to another, as individuals seek to feel normal or avoid low moods.
- Passion and purpose must outweigh the distractions and addictions in order to achieve extraordinary success.
- Common vices like alcohol, weed, and recreational drugs can damage mental fitness and metabolic health.
- Elevated emotional states are driven by neurotransmitters bound to oxygen.
- Low oxidative emotions, such as anger and despair, do not require an elevated oxidative state.

- People often struggle to maintain elevated emotional states and tend to fall back into their default state due to their physiology.
- Some people try to reach elevated emotional states through drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, or shocking activities.
- Many people try various methods like journaling, praying, and positive thinking to maintain an elevated emotional state but struggle to do so.
- The absence of certain emotional states often begins with physiological issues rather than external factors.
- The creation of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine is essential for assembling certain emotional states.
- Anxiety is often caused by physiological factors like gene mutations and can be influenced by diet.
- Coping mechanisms like therapy and medication may not fully address the root cause of anxiety.
- Catecholamines, fight or flight neurotransmitters, play a role in anxiety and can be detected in urine.
- Understanding the biological nature of experiences can help optimize physiology and achieve extraordinary results.

- The speaker discusses the physiological response to perceived threats, comparing a real threat with an imagined one.
- They mention a genetic mutation called COMT that can impair the regulation of catecholamines, leading to anxiety.
- The speaker talks about the importance of proper supplementation and diet in regulating catecholamines and reducing anxiety.
- They discuss the impact of sleep, sunlight, and blood sugar control on overall health.
- The speaker emphasizes the negative effects of sugar consumption and its link to various health issues, including Alzheimer's disease.
- They mention that the brain can produce its own insulin and is addicted to sugar.
- The speaker emphasizes the importance of basic lifestyle factors like light exposure, proper breathing, and contact with the Earth's surface.

- Artificial sweeteners are addictive because they stimulate dopamine receptors.
- The body needs to convert nutrients into usable forms through a process called methylation.
- Deficiencies in methylation can lead to various health conditions.
- Supplementing with methylated vitamins can help fill in nutrient gaps.
- Understanding individual genetic variations can guide supplementation for optimal health.
- Methylation is connected to anxiety, poor sleep, and gut issues.

- Anxiety and gut issues are often linked due to a deficiency in methylfolate, which affects both catecholamine regulation and intestinal motility.
- Allergy tests and dietary changes may not resolve gut symptoms because it is the pace of the gut, not the contents, that causes issues.
- Nutrient deficiencies, such as methylfolate and vitamin D3, can lead to anxiety, sleep problems, and gut issues.
- Many chronic conditions can be improved by identifying and addressing nutrient deficiencies.
- Genetic testing can help determine which basic raw materials the body is deficient in.
- Folic acid is a man-made chemical and not naturally occurring in nature, while methylfolate is the form the body converts it into.
- Basic supplementation, such as vitamin D3, can be beneficial, but caution should be exercised with fat-soluble vitamins.
- Water-soluble vitamins can be easily excreted by the body and have varying natural ranges in the blood.

- The toxicity level of vitamins is not significantly different between 70 and 90, with the target range being 60 to 80.
- High-quality methylated multivitamins are generally safe to take, as they are in a ratio that the body can eliminate.
- Developing a consistent morning routine and going to bed at the same time every night is important for optimizing sleep.
- Waking with the sun and exposing the skin to morning light helps regulate melatonin and cortisol receptors.
- Within 30 minutes of waking, it is beneficial to go outside, do breath work, and hydrate.
- Sunlight through a window can still provide benefits, but having a routine is key.
- Breath work, such as Wim Hof style breathing, can be done anywhere and helps control circadian rhythm.
- Box breathing, a technique of inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding for four seconds each, can help calm the mind before bed.
- Avoid interacting with phones before bed and opt for reading instead.
- Consistency in bedtime is more important than a specific hour for optimal sleep.

- The speaker discusses the importance of routine and consistency, especially with digestion, for maintaining a healthy circadian clock.
- When traveling to different time zones, it is important to adjust your eating schedule to the local time and avoid eating during your normal sleeping window.
- The speaker recommends getting sunlight exposure and using sleeping tablets to help adjust to new time zones.
- Digestion is a blood and oxygen-intensive process, and diverting oxygen from the brain to the gut can affect energy levels.
- The speaker suggests fasting on airplanes to avoid diverting oxygen to the digestive tract and to maintain energy levels.
- When adjusting to a new time zone, it is recommended to avoid eating during your normal sleeping window for the first 48 hours.
- The speaker also discusses his own eating and fasting habits, including intermittent fasting and eating on a sun-based schedule.
- The speaker averages 6 hours and 3 minutes of sleep per night and mentions the possibility of a gene mutation called C-O-M-T affecting sleep patterns.

- Discipline is necessary for success and overcoming addictions.
- Dopamine deficiency drives addictive behavior.
- Passion and purpose are important for achieving success.
- Common vices like alcohol and drugs can damage mental and metabolic health.
- Maintaining elevated emotional states can be challenging due to physiology.
- Understanding the biological nature of experiences can optimize results.
- Proper supplementation, diet, sleep, and sunlight are important for overall health.
- Sugar consumption can lead to various health issues.
- Methylation and nutrient deficiencies can affect anxiety, sleep, and gut health.
- Genetic testing can help identify nutrient deficiencies.
- Consistent routines and exposure to sunlight are important for optimizing sleep.
- Adjusting eating schedules when traveling can help adjust to new time zones.
- Fasting on airplanes can help maintain energy levels.
- The speaker practices intermittent fasting and follows a sun-based eating schedule.
- The speaker mentions a potential gene mutation affecting sleep patterns.

- The speaker hopes that the anxiety issue can be resolved through methylation research.
- Excess catecholamines are linked to both anxiety and sleep problems.
- The speaker is interested in exploring the research on methylation genetic science and supplementing for deficiencies.
- They believe that mental fitness is more important than mental illness.
- The speaker is willing to undergo tests and follow-up to see if supplementation can help with anxiety.
- They have an obsessive amount of discipline and are focused on efficiency and effectiveness.
- The speaker believes that high standards and empathy can coexist.
- They emphasize the importance of discipline and relentless focus in achieving success.
- The speaker suggests setting small, achievable goals to build trust and discipline.
- Wanting something badly enough and taking action are essential for success.

- The foundation for success is desire and discipline
- Motivation is temporary, discipline is more important
- Cold plunges are used as a discipline exercise
- Emotional state determines future outcomes
- Controlling emotional state starts with optimizing biology and physiology
- Fatigue and low oxidative state affect personality and performance
- Attention deficit disorders are actually attention overload disorders
- Nutrient deficiencies can worsen or improve ADHD/ADD symptoms

- The primary nutrient that helps regulate neurotransmitters is methylfolate.
- Cold plunging is highly recommended and can help train the mind and body to adapt to uncomfortable situations.
- Proper foundation for mental health includes sunlight, sleep, blood sugar control, diet, and targeted supplementation.
- Lack of consequences in modern life can lead to scattered thoughts and lack of focus.
- External pressure can help prioritize tasks and improve focus.
- Clutter in the external environment can bother those with active minds.
- Anxiety and depression have physiological components that need to be addressed.
- Depression is not solely caused by low serotonin levels, but also by the gut-brain axis and neurotransmitter production.
- Prolonged use of antidepressants may not provide the desired results.
- The supply of neurotransmitters is tied to the gut-brain axis.
- Proper treatment for depression should address both external and internal factors.

- Arborists and botanists prioritize soil testing and nutrient deficiencies when treating plant issues
- The same approach should be applied to human health and mental disorders
- Mental conditions are often caused by a lack of necessary nutrients in the body
- Depression can be linked to deficiencies in SAMe, B-complex, and methylfolate
- Ancestral diets contained these nutrients, but they are lacking in modern diets due to pesticides and preservatives
- High sugar intake leads to high insulin levels, triglyceride buildup, and smaller, more dangerous cholesterol particles
- The size of cholesterol particles may not be as important as previously thought
- Cholesterol is a misunderstood compound and has been extensively studied

- The video discusses the potential dangers of consistently eating mercury-laden tuna fish and the importance of choosing a vitamin with natural B12.
- The speaker mentions the negative effects of fluoride in drinking water on IQ, citing a study by the National Toxicology Program.
- They recommend filtering tap water to avoid consuming fluoride, chlorine, microplastics, and pharmaceuticals.
- The discussion then shifts to the correlation between LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, emphasizing that it is not a linear relationship.
- The speaker mentions the importance of insurance predictive models in assessing risk factors for mortality.
- They refer to a company called Fasano & Associates, which specializes in life expectancy predictions based on risk factors.
- The speaker defends the use of life expectancy predictions as a statistical proxy for assessing the impact of certain behaviors on health outcomes.
- They highlight the accuracy of life expectancy predictions and the success of life insurance companies in predicting mortality.

- The speaker discusses the data and AI models used by life insurance companies to predict mortality rates.
- They emphasize the importance of specific mortality data, including the day, date, time, location, and cause of death for individuals.
- The speaker highlights the impact of modifiable risk factors on mortality rates, such as smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and loss of muscle mass.
- They also mention the role of deficiencies in nutrients like vitamin D3 and DHEA in hormone imbalances and decreased energy levels.
- The speaker points out the connection between exhaustion and poor sleep, both related to blood oxygen levels.

- The speaker is interested in methylation research for resolving anxiety issues.
- Excess catecholamines are linked to anxiety and sleep problems.
- Mental fitness is prioritized over mental illness.
- The speaker emphasizes discipline, efficiency, and effectiveness.
- Setting small goals and taking action are important for success.
- Cold plunges and optimizing biology and physiology can help control emotional state.
- Nutrient deficiencies can worsen or improve ADHD/ADD symptoms.
- Depression is not solely caused by low serotonin levels, but also by the gut-brain axis and neurotransmitter production.
- Proper treatment for depression should address external and internal factors.
- Mental conditions can be caused by nutrient deficiencies.
- High sugar intake and cholesterol are discussed.
- Tap water should be filtered to avoid consuming harmful substances.
- The correlation between LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular disease is not linear.
- Life expectancy predictions can be used to assess health outcomes.
- Modifiable risk factors and nutrient deficiencies impact mortality rates.

- The video discusses the relationship between sleep patterns, cortisol levels, and low blood oxygen.
- The speaker describes their own sleep pattern and expresses concern about bouncing between light and deep sleep.
- Testosterone therapy is mentioned as a potential solution for improving sleep and overall health.
- The importance of optimizing hormone levels, specifically testosterone, is emphasized.
- The speaker suggests checking DHEA levels, vitamin D levels, and a specific protein called SHBG to address testosterone deficiencies.
- The impact of nutrient deficiencies on hormone levels and overall energy is discussed.
- The potential benefits of AI and personalized nutrition plans are mentioned.
- The video concludes by debunking misconceptions about hormone therapy and its potential risks.

- Deficiencies in hormones lead to deficiencies in bone marrow production of red blood cells and hemoglobin, resulting in low energy levels.
- The Journal of American Urology highlights the risks associated with hormone therapy, but these risks have been debunked.
- Deficiencies in vitamin D3, DHEA, and excess protein SHBG can cause low hormones, low red blood cell count, and poor sleep, among other symptoms.
- Nutrient deficiencies can compromise the immune system and lead to repeated viral and bacterial infections.
- The medical industry focuses on symptom management rather than addressing root causes, leading to overuse of medications.
- Genetic tests can help identify nutrient conversion abilities and guide targeted supplementation.

- The speaker suggests using genetic tests to identify deficiencies and supplement accordingly
- Monitoring blood work for biomarkers related to glycemic control, hormone balance, and nutrient deficiencies is important for overall health
- Simple practices like breath work, sunlight exposure, grounding, and cold showers can have a positive impact on health
- Making small shifts in diet, such as replacing unhealthy yogurt with healthier alternatives, can improve nutritional profiles without a major budget change
- Genetically modified foods may have negative effects on human health, including potential DNA modification and reduced resistance to antibiotics
- Synthetic mRNA in vaccines can lead to continuous production of spike proteins, which can impair blood-brain barrier function and cause inflammation in blood vessels
- Genetically modified foods may lack bioavailable nutrients, making it important to prioritize nutrient absorption in our diets.

- The video discusses the mechanism of action of cancer cells and synthetic mRNA.
- Cancer cells no longer listen to instructions and continue to replicate and produce spike proteins.
- Synthetic mRNA is not biodegradable and lacks the mechanism to be broken down by the body.
- Normal RNA leaves the nucleus of the cell and delivers a message to create proteins, which is then dissolved.
- The body does not break down synthetic mRNA because it is synthetic and lacks enzymatic capacity.
- The video also briefly mentions the potential negative impact of genetically modified foods on DNA replication.
- The speaker acknowledges their limited knowledge on GMOs but highlights the importance of examining the effects of GMOs on DNA.

- The genome is being modified by altering the messages it contains
- Some synthetic sequences in the genome are not naturally occurring and may be evidence of manipulation
- Modifying DNA and putting it into the body without understanding its potential harm is risky
- It is important to understand the basics and consider nutrient deficiencies before assuming illness or disease
- Gary Brekka can be followed on Instagram or through his podcast, The Ultimate Human.

The video discusses the relationship between sleep patterns, cortisol levels, and low blood oxygen. Testosterone therapy is mentioned as a potential solution for improving sleep and overall health. The importance of optimizing hormone levels, specifically testosterone, is emphasized. The impact of nutrient deficiencies on hormone levels and overall energy is discussed. The potential benefits of AI and personalized nutrition plans are mentioned. The video concludes by debunking misconceptions about hormone therapy and its potential risks. The speaker suggests using genetic tests to identify deficiencies and supplement accordingly. Simple practices like breath work, sunlight exposure, grounding, and cold showers can have a positive impact on health. Genetically modified foods and synthetic mRNA in vaccines are briefly discussed, highlighting potential negative impacts on health. The video also mentions the importance of understanding the basics and considering nutrient deficiencies before assuming illness or disease.

Reclaim Control of Your Life Today: https://bit.ly/3PIdAH2

Get $150 OFF your incredible Cold Plunge tub when you use code IMPACT at https://bit.ly/ImpactPlunge!

I’ve got an episode for you that’s sure to be a game changer. Gary Brecka, a renowned human biologist, biohacker, and co-founder of 10X Health System is joining me for a conversation that’s going to set the record straight. 

If learning how to dominate, do the impossible, and unlock capabilities gets you excited, we’re going to lay out the path from dreaming about it to actually doing it.

You’re going to understand multiple ways biology is controlling your mindset and how discipline can cut through your bad habits. I always say, you’re having a biological experience, and Gary is bringing the science to back it up.

Ask yourself - what vices are destroying your potential? Sugar, alcohol, weed? Or is it gambling and porn. For sure we all have an addiction to control, and according to Gary, these vices make us inefficient at being able to succeed.

Join us as we journey down the path to winning. We'll delve into how dopamine deficiency drives addictive behavior, and reveal why it's not the high you're really chasing. Searching for normalcy can lead us to strange habits.

This is more than just an interview. It's a wake-up call to take control of your biological experience if you’re serious about the success you say you’re after. 

Are you ready? Let's dive in.

Chapter Markers:
[00:00] The Path to Winning
[00:30] Your Purpose Isn’t Big Enough
[11:15] Decoding Emotional States
[24:36] Basic Health For The Win
[37:15] Fix These Deficiencies
[51:06] Your Ultimate Morning Hack
[1:11:55] Superhuman Discipline 
[1:26:59] High Stakes for Clarity
[1:42:19] LDL, Longevity & Depression
[1:55:04] Predicting Your Life Expectancy
[2:05:54] Energy Hacks for Efficiency
[2:22:54] This Would End Health Care

Episode Quotes:

“The absence of dopamine is the presence of addiction.”

“Addiction has a tendency to shift and never really go away.”

“The passion has got to be greater than the problem.”

“A lot of times when people say they want to be an entrepreneur I think they really want to be rich.”

“If you are not at the razor edge of your abilities you will not do anything extraordinary” -Tom Bilyeu

“The Bible should say sugar is the root of all evil, not the love of money.”

Follow Gary Brecka
Website: https://www.garybrecka.com/ 
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/garybrecka/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gary_brecka  

Follow Me Tom Bilyeu: 
Website: https://impacttheoryuniversity.com/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomBilyeu 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/

If you're going to dominate and do things that others consider impossible, you're going to have to become capable of what others aren't, namely discipline.

You will have to relentlessly cut things out of your life for every 1 person that manages to generate success while regularly drinking alcohol, smoking weed, stuffing their face full of sugar.

There's a hundred thousand people that become too inefficient to succeed.

Today, human optimization expert Gary Breka and I discuss the 1 true path to winning.

So basically everybody has some kind of addiction, whether it's alcohol, sugar, social media, weed, any number of things.

And even if it's not bad enough to require you to go to rehab, it is going to be bad enough to slow you down such that you're stuck in a pattern of mediocrity.

That's the first time I've ever heard somebody say that everyone has some form of addiction, but I agree with you.

Probably not for the reason you think, but I do agree with you.

Give people your most compelling argument as to why those things are probably worse than they think.

Well because, you know, we used to say in the mortality space, and I was a mortality researcher for 22 years, that the absence of dopamine is the presence of addiction.

And if you look, for example, at sugar addiction, most people are not liking the taste of sugar.

The truth is most of us don't like sugar.

Because when we eat sweets, we actually get a dopamine reward.

We get an actual little endorphin reward.

If you look at the most addiction, the history of most addiction, if you've ever been an addict, or you've known a true addict, addiction has a tendency to shift and not really ever go away.

Alcoholics become drug addicts, drug addicts become work outaholics, work outaholics become workaholics, workaholics become gamblers.

So why does addiction have a tendency to shift?

Because you can cure the physical addiction but the dopamine deficiency drives the behavior like serotonin is 1 of the main drivers of mood dopamine is 1 of the main drivers of behavior that's why I often say you show me a child that can play video games for 14 hours a day I'll show you a future addict right They're generally not playing the video game because they they like the video game.

They're playing the video game because it makes them feel normal.

In fact, most addiction does not begin with the search for getting banged up.

You know, most addicts didn't wake up 1 day and go, I want to get really banged up.

They woke up 1 day and said, I want to feel normal.

And it was a search for normalcy that led to an addiction.

And then once they had a physical addiction, now they're running from a low.

If you talk to a true alcoholic, a true drug addict, very often that habit is continuing because they do not want to go off that cavernous hole that's right behind them.

And it's not that they are any longer chasing that high.

You know, a lot of people have a dopamine deficiency, which drives different types of addictive behavior.

And we have addictive behaviors that we would consider healthy addictions, right?

I mean, when I was a triathlete, I was never a professional triathlete, but I was a very competitive amateur triathlete.

I would say that 35 or 40% of the guys that I raced with were recovering addicts of 1 form or another.

You know, centuries, 100 mile bike rides, 2 and a half mile swims, 13 mile runs.

You know, this was their new addiction and they were psycho committed to it.

I know there's people that are gonna listen to this and they will not like the fact that I used the word addiction.

The reason that I use that is I think that there are things that we do habitually.

So from the classic definition of an addict, of somebody who will do something even in the face of it absolutely destroying their lives, I think that there's a, for the people that watch this show, there's probably a higher likelihood that they have a different avenue of thing that is softening the quality of their life.

And those are the things that I wanna call out and see map sort of your thinking around this.

So when I think about alcohol use, there's a lot of people that They can do it without it being addictive.

Like I don't have an addictive personality, but when I go in on something, I go way in on that thing.

And so I know people will go through a party phase.

So I'm always, when people come to me and say, hey, I wanna be an entrepreneur, I'm like, amazing.

If you really want that though, you're gonna have to sell your 20s.

So most people are gonna sell their 20s to partying.

you wanna be an entrepreneur, you're gonna have to quote unquote sell your 20s to that.

So you're gonna have to be in skill acquisition going hard.

And So if you've got somebody that comes home every day and they're smoking weed, they're going out, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, drinking, I have no moral problem with that whatsoever.

But in terms of if you want to do something extraordinary with your life, those 2 things are incompatible.

I mean, the passion has gotta be greater than the problem.

Right, so if that's the problem, your passion has to just far outweigh, I mean, that's not even in consideration any longer.

Right, I mean, you know, I feel extraordinarily blessed because I feel like through God's grace, 1 way or another, I found a career that I would otherwise do for free and somehow monetized it.

Like this doesn't feel like work to me right now.

I'm pumped to be here, I'm excited about this conversation.

When this is over, I can't wait to get to the next meeting, the next conversation, the next client, to talk about the next issue, because I'm just almost possessed by it.

And when I'm done, the end of the day, I'll spend 2 or 3 hours reading peer-reviewed science or looking at a journal article or watching a podcast on 1 of my mentors to try to further educate myself.

And I think a lot of times when people say I want to be an entrepreneur, I think they really want to be rich.

It's not that they really want to be an entrepreneur.

Because it took me 45 years to figure that out.

I spent the better part of my life until my early 40s being very inauthentic and really desperately wanting to be wealthy.

I was a mortality expert in the insurance industry, but I was spending my entire time predicting how soon people were going to die, you know, and predicting death to the month and allowing myself to believe that this was just data, and I couldn't have any effect on it, and these were just numbers, and this was just a spreadsheet, and I didn't cause it, and it wasn't my responsibility to get people out of this, it was just my responsibility to crunch the data.

And really, kind of all I cared about at the time was I just so desperately wanted to be wealthy.

And I had a major capitulation in my life, you know, when I realized that there were human beings on the other side of these spreadsheets and that this wasn't just data.

And when I left that industry and started focusing on people's well-being and stopped focusing on becoming wealthy, I became wealthy.

And now my focus isn't on wealth, it's on well-being.

And the wealth just seems to keep coming.

And so I think it's an interesting way that

So as somebody that has literally switched the direction of your life to help people with their well-being, what is it about some of the most common vices, like drinking or weed smoking or whatever that have become really just, you get a pass in culture if you do those things, or even some of it, quite frankly, is encouraged, what is it about those things that's going to damage somebody's, whether it's mental fitness as you call it, or just metabolic health, you've talked a lot about oxygen transportation and mitochondria.

Like, are devices that really mess people up, are they things that mess with oxygen transportation?

Like, what, what, or do you think that that's not true and people can drink and stay up late and do recreational drugs.

I'm not talking about somebody who's like shooting heroin.

that like culturally people are like, yeah, no, there's no big deal.

Well, number 1, I think they're a big deal, and I think they're a big deal because your purpose isn't big enough, right?

Because if the purpose is big enough, then that stuff pales so far in comparison that you don't like anything that would take me off my game even momentarily.

And I think you get a pass in society for it, sure.

But if we go really to the root cause of this or the root drivers of this, like if you said to me, Gary, what is a mood?

I mean, what actually are they in the human body?

Well, they're collections of neurotransmitters, right?

Like a recipe, bound to oxygen, at least the elevated emotional states are.

So if you think about, for example, all of the elevated emotional states, passion, elation, joy, arousal, libido, kind of all the, hell yeah, I won the lottery emotions.

They have oxygen as a part of their molecular structure.

All right, this is why nobody has ever woken up laughing.

Right, you haven't woken, no human being has ever woken out of a deep sleep laughing.

Why, because you don't have the oxidative state to experience laughter.

Sure, I mean, if you want to do a really cool experiment tonight, just pinch your spouse while she's in a deep sleep.

Yeah, no, I said you do the experiment, not me.

That's why I'm using you as the guinea pig Tom.

That's because anger and despair and jealousy and resentment, these are very low, not only are they low frequency emotions, but they're low oxidative emotions.

So they don't require an elevated oxidative state.

And So very often what happens is people have a hard time maintaining elevated emotional states.

So they reach elevated emotional states like a heart monitor, right?

Not like rolling hills where they can stay in an elevated mood for a prolonged period of time, but they reach it like a heart monitor and they fall.

It's because their physiology drags them into the state where it most comfortably exists.

So now it is harder to push yourself into these emotional states.

1 of the ways to get there is drugs and alcohol.

1 of the ways to get there is promiscuity or dramatic activity, shocking activity that actually gets you into that emotional state.

And this is why lots of people spend a lifetime doing the right things, like trying to journal, pray.

They try to put themselves in the right rooms.

And they can't seem to maintain that elevated emotional state.

It's because their physiology is dragging them back down into the state where you most comfortably exist.

And so now if we talk about, well, what are some of these recipes?

But let's say happiness is so much norepinephrine, so much epinephrine, so much dopamine, so much serotonin, boom, you have the emotion of happiness.

Okay, well, what if you have an issue in the gut?

Just methylating 1 of those neurotransmitters, right?

90% of the serotonin in our bodies is right here.

If you don't have it here you can't have it here.

So very often the absence of certain emotional states doesn't begin in the outside environment.

Like anxiety rarely begins in your outside environment.

It almost always begins with your physiology and you can prove this.

So let's say, for example, that you're having a difficult time methylating serotonin.

It means turning an amino acid called tryptophan into the neurotransmitter serotonin.

Or dopamine, the main driver of behavior, turning phenylalanine and tyrosine into the neurotransmitter dopamine.

You are missing a raw material that's required to assemble certain emotional states.

It's just like going to a bakery chef and saying, listen, you can bake whatever you want.

OK, well, it doesn't sound like a big deal, right?

You know, it's only 1 ingredient, but if you think of the number of recipes that that would affect, cookies, pastries, pies, brownies, you know, what have you, just by removing that 1 ingredient, It's no different than going to a human being and saying, you can be in whatever emotional state you want, you just can't use serotonin.

Okay, well that just wiped out a whole tier of emotion.

And that's why, you know, part of my message is about physiology and diet and what we can do to naturally restore proper methylation of neurotransmitters, the creation of these neurotransmitters so they are readily available for us to assemble mood so we don't have deficits that cause us to seek the types of behaviors that short-term spike those modes.

I have said many, many, many times on this show that I want my tombstone to read.

What I've said many, many times is on my tombstone, I wanted to say you're having a biological experience.

And the reason that I bring this whole thing up is that I think people fail to understand that they're having a biological experience, that they're going to experience their entire life through the lens of how they're maintaining their biology.

And any, I'll call it a vice, but I don't even think of it like that.

Anything that you're doing, whether it's just for fun, you're going out to hang out with your friends, you're having drinks because drinking makes me feel like I'm suppressing the urge to dance on a table.

And if it didn't have negative consequences to me from a longevity perspective, from an ability to think clearly perspective, I would do it a lot.

I have no moral problem with it whatsoever.

But you're having a biological experience.

And Once people understand that life is you trying to modulate your brain states, that's it.

Because it plays with your emotions in a way that we find pleasurable.

Because it plays with your neurological state.

Dude, I have seen videos of a moose getting drunk on fermented apples that have fallen off the tree or whatever they were.

It is just hardwired in animals to modulate their own neurochemistry.

This is exactly why we do drugs, why I say that people have addictions,

though most people will not think of them as addictions, you're trying to fiddle with the knobs on your brain, like that's what this game is.

And so I'm saying, hey, word, you're gonna fiddle with your knobs, we all are.

Be very careful that the knobs that you're fiddling with do not create a state where either you're constantly chasing something so you don't feel good, right?

So you have low energy and you're chasing just feeling normal, or you are getting to the point where you have brain fog and you can't think clearly because you've gone out and you've partied and you don't realize how long that takes to really get out of your system.

I mean just on and on and on people are doing things.

My own battle with anxiety, this is 1 of the things that made me so eager to have you on the show, I am utterly convinced that, not the sum total, but the vast majority of my anxiety is diet related.

Every time I figure out a piece of that puzzle, I'm like, oh my anxiety now has gotten less, gotten less, gotten less.

And so getting people to understand the things you do are going to matter a lot.

And if you're watching this channel, the odds are that you're trying to do something extraordinary in your life and I'm telling you right now as much as dude if you've never smoked weed and had sex it is a different sport it's amazing I love it the most yeah but because it has in I get this can be very controversial for me it if I try to do it frequently, I just, I'm so, lethargic is probably the right word, I just don't feel sharp, I don't feel sharp.

And if you are not at the razor's edge of your abilities You will never be able to do anything extraordinary and you're not going to be at the razor's edge of your ability unless you're doing all Kinds of things to optimize your physiology

In fact, you know when you look at anxiety, for example you ask most people what anxiety is, they describe the emotional state of anxiety, right?

A fear of the future, a fear of anxiousness, or they describe situations that they're in that actually can generate these fears, right?

And true situational anxiety does exist, but if you want to prove that anxiety is coming from your physiology and not from your outside emotion, you've got to ask yourself these 3 questions or ask somebody that you know that's suffering from anxiety these 3 questions.

And what you'll find is that it's actually not coming from their outside environment, what we usually call a cluster of symptoms.

And if you don't address the physiological root, then all you're left with are coping mechanisms.

Right, and the majority of what's available to people with anxiety are coping mechanisms, right?

Diazepam, zolipium nitrate, you know, Valium, Xanax, therapy, counseling, which I am not poo-pooing by any stretch.

I think people that get counseling or therapy, actually, It's a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.

But what I'm saying is, rather than learn to cope with what you have, why don't you dig in and get rid of it?

Because if you take another layer deeper and you say, OK, have I had anxiety on and off throughout my entire lifetime?

You ask most people that suffer from true anxiety, they'll say yes.

I've had it in 1 form or fashion on and off throughout my entire lifetime.

There's your first signs coming from your physiology, very likely coming from a gene mutation called MTHFR, which between 44% and 60% of the population has, which is directly why I agree with you that diet has a massive impact on anxiety, because methylfolate has a massive impact on anxiety.

And if you ask them a second question, can you point to the specific trigger that causes it?

Can you point to the specific trigger that causes it?

every time you start to feel anxiety, can you point to the specific trigger that causes it?

And the third question is, well, if you've ever tried anti-anxiety medications, have they worked?

And most of the time, they'll say, no, it just makes me feel like a zombie.

There's a dead indication that is coming from your physiology.

So now if we take it another step deeper and we say, well, then what is it in my physiology that is causing me to feel this way?

Well, there's a category of neurotransmitters in your brain and other areas of your body, and that's called catecholamines.

And catecholamines are fight or flight neurotransmitters.

Norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, ephedrine, which we also call adrenaline.

So these are fight or flight neurotransmitters.

And understand that the brain, as sophisticated as we'd like to think it is, it's actually not.

What the brain cares about is the brain cares about survival.

And so if you, for example, drove home tonight and you got out of your car and somebody was standing in front of you with a knife.

Your pupils would dilate, your heart rate would increase, your extremities would flood with blood.

You would start having a fight-or-flight response, which is a flood of catecholamines into the brain.

You're instantly prepared to fight or flight.

Your hearing gets more acute, which is why people that suffer from anxiety also don't like a lot of bright lights.

They don't like a lot of stuff going on, a lot of sensory input, right?

Because catecholamines heighten that awareness state.

You can actually pick these catecholamines up in the urine of people that are having anxiety.

Urinary catecholamines are directly related to the state of anxiety.

So First of all, we know that catecholamines are released into the brain, but what if I wasn't driving home and getting out of my car and having somebody stand in front of me with a knife?

What if I was just laying in my bed here in Los Angeles?

It's a pretty nasty winding drive getting here.

And you started thinking about getting eaten by shark.

So you're laying in your bed here at the top of this hill and you start thinking about getting eaten by a shark.

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