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Jay Shetty Podcast

Dr. Andrew Weil ON: Using Food As MEDICINE To Reduce Inflammation & HEAL THE BODY | Jay Shetty

You can order my new book 8 RULES OF LOVE at 8rulesoflove.com or at a retail store near you. You can also get the chance to see me live on my first ever world tour.

JSJay ShettyhostAWDr. Andrew Weilguest

Feb 20, 2023·1h 8m·Watch on YouTube ↗

📖 CHAPTERS

Chapter summaries

1. 1

   Daily Habits for Longevity and Preventing Cognitive Decline

   Jay Shetty introduces Dr. Andrew Weil and asks which diet and lifestyle habits support a longer, healthier life. Weil names avoiding refined, processed food as the first rule, along with physical activity, sleep, stress management, relationships and brain-protective habits. He and Shetty also agree that changing one thing at a time works better than global change.

   • •The first rule of healthy eating is to avoid refined, processed and manufactured food
   • •Chronic low-level inflammation is described as the root of most serious diseases
   • •Weil's practical advice for the brain: avoid head injuries, don't smoke, do word puzzles and try learning a language
   • •Small steps, like those in his Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, work better than global change
2. 2

   Anti-Inflammatory Foods: Broccoli, Berries, Tea and Turmeric

   Weil gives simple starting steps for an anti-inflammatory diet, including lightly cooked broccoli, berries, tea and turmeric. He describes fermented turmeric tea in Okinawa and the low rate of Alzheimer's in rural India.

   • •Cook broccoli about two minutes so it stays bright green and crunchy
   • •Berries and tea are rich in protective antioxidants
   • •Fermented Okinawan turmeric is more bioavailable and dissolves in cold water
   • •Turmeric is called the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory known, and rural India has a very low Alzheimer's rate
3. 3

   Lessons from Okinawa and Sardinia: Longevity Hotspots

   Weil and Shetty compare what they saw in Okinawa and Sardinia, such as natural daily activity, seasonal local food and strong social ties. Weil cites the MacArthur Foundation study of successful aging.

   • •Women far outnumber men among the oldest old, except in Sardinia
   • •Exercise in these places comes from farming, gardening and walking rather than gyms
   • •Shetty noticed seasonal, local eating and large, close-knit families in Sardinia
   • •The MacArthur study found lifelong physical activity and social and intellectual connectedness stood out most
4. 4

   Matcha: Weil's Story and Why It Beats Coffee

   Weil recounts first tasting matcha in Japan at 17 and how he later got matcha.com. He explains how shading the plants boosts its compounds and why he would like to see a tea culture grow in North America.

   • •Matcha plants are shaded for three weeks, increasing chlorophyll, antioxidants and L-theanine
   • •L-theanine has a calming effect and moderates caffeine
   • •Poor-quality matcha oxidizes and turns bitter, so many people haven't tasted good matcha
   • •Weil contrasts coffee's jangling effect and crash with tea's contemplative associations
5. 5

   The Green Mediterranean Diet

   Weil explains the Mediterranean diet and a recently proposed green version that cuts animal products further and adds polyphenol-rich foods. He notes it specifically recommends green tea.

   • •The Mediterranean diet has strong evidence for longevity and lower disease risk
   • •The green version reduces animal products and increases fruits and vegetables
   • •Polyphenols are antioxidants found in berries, tea and dark chocolate
   • •Weil finds it notable that the researchers were not promoting an agenda
6. 6

   Cooking Oils: Canola, Palm, Olive, Avocado and Ghee

   Responding to Shetty's question about canola and palm oil, Weil explains why he now avoids canola and kernel palm oil. He recommends olive, avocado and algae oil, and suggests ghee only as a finishing flavor.

   • •Commercial canola oil is contaminated with agrochemicals and processed with heat and solvents, creating carcinogenic products
   • •Kernel palm oil is high in unstable unsaturated fats and saturated fat
   • •Weil uses olive and avocado oil and mentions algae oil, which is high in monounsaturated fat
   • •He suggests drizzling ghee at the end and using cashew milk instead of coconut milk
7. 7

   Cannabis: Medical Potential and Weil's Personal Experience

   Weil explains why he prefers the word cannabis, describes its physical safety and medical uses, and recounts his own changing relationship with it. He tells of a very strong dispensary preparation that caused hours of delirium.

   • •Weil did the first controlled human experiments with cannabis in 1964
   • •It is physically very safe, with no calculable lethal dose, though smoking is not ideal
   • •Cannabis nurses use it for pain control and in hospice care, and Weil finds it hard to recommend preparations
   • •His own reaction changed from creative and fun to groggy and unproductive
   • •Modern preparations are much stronger, as shown by his frightening experience with an oil
8. 8

   Weil's Path into Psychedelics

   Weil traces his interest in psychedelics from reading about mescaline in 1960 to his time at Harvard and the people he met. He explains how the experiences shaped his philosophy of integrative medicine.

   • •A newspaper article about mescaline and Huxley's The Doors of Perception sparked his interest
   • •At Harvard he worked with Richard Evans Schultes and knew Leary, Alpert, Hofmann, Wasson and Shulgin
   • •He no longer uses psychedelics, having learned what he needed
   • •They shaped his view that changing internal reality can change external reality
9. 9

   What Psychedelics Are and Why Set and Setting Matter

   Weil defines psychedelics, separates them from ketamine and cannabis, and says their dangers are mainly psychological and depend on set and setting. He discusses their mainstream rise, therapeutic and spiritual potential, and his upcoming book, Psychedelics Can Save the World.

   • •Psychedelics are physically non-toxic; risks come from expectation and environment
   • •They sit in Schedule 1 despite enormous therapeutic potential
   • •Research covers MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for drug-resistant depression and addiction
   • •Weil hopes for a collective transformation of consciousness and more trained guides
10. 10

    MDMA: The Empathogen and Its Healing Uses

    Weil describes MDMA as a heart-centered, uniform experience that he sees as helpful for PTSD and relationships. He talks about lasting change, a monk's perspective from Shetty, and his own LSD-related cure of a cat allergy.

    • •MDMA produces non-defensiveness, calm and emotional openness, and is likely the first to become therapeutically available
    • •Weil has seen lasting changes, including relief from allergies and chronic pain
    • •Psychedelics have a self-protective quality: frequent use makes the experience disappear
    • •Allergies can be unlearned, as in his own cat allergy story
11. 11

    Psilocybin, Recreational Use and DMT

    Weil covers psilocybin's safety and therapeutic prospects and compares it with LSD. He then describes DMT, its toad-venom relative and the idea that DMT is an endogenous psychedelic.

    • •Psilocybin, from magic mushrooms, is the most researched psychedelic for depression, OCD and addiction
    • •Psilocybin lasts four to six hours versus 10 to 12 for LSD
    • •Weil would rather people use psilocybin than alcohol recreationally
    • •DMT is fast-acting and visual, and may be made by the pineal gland and involved in near-death experiences
12. 12

    Ritual, the Amazon and Lessons from Alcohol's History

    Weil discusses his trips to the Amazon and why the New World has so many psychedelic plants while the Old World used drumming and dancing. He says ritual contains harm, using the history of distilled alcohol as an example.

    • •Amazonian peoples use psychedelics ritually under trained shamans, with minimal abuse
    • •Old World cultures reached altered states through drumming, dancing and wakefulness
    • •Ritual is a powerful way to contain the harmful potential of substances
    • •Social norms like the cocktail party grew up to contain alcohol's dangers after distillation
    • •Alcohol is toxic to the brain and liver, and some women at genetic risk of breast cancer shouldn't use it
13. 13

    Chocolate to Morphine and Our Relationship with Drugs

    Shetty asks about Weil's book Chocolate to Morphine, whose main point is that there are no good or bad drugs, only good and bad relationships with them. They discuss chocolate, which Weil places at the top of his anti-inflammatory pyramid in moderation.

    • •Weil's central claim is that there are no inherently good or bad drugs
    • •Some substances are harder to form good relationships with than others
    • •Dark chocolate of at least 70% has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in small amounts
    • •The same relationship framing applies to technology, money and fame
14. 14

    Spirituality, Mind-Body Medicine and Consciousness

    Weil defines spirituality as acknowledging the non-material aspect of existence and distinguishes it from religion. He criticizes the materialistic paradigm in medicine, describes his daily practices of meditation and breathwork, and says consciousness is primary.

    • •Spirituality is acknowledging the non-physical, distinct from institutional religion
    • •The materialistic paradigm blocks acceptance of mind-body methods like hypnosis and guided imagery
    • •Weil meditates and does breathwork, noting breath and spirit share a word in many languages
    • •He believes consciousness organizes matter, and panpsychism is gaining respectability
15. 15

    Closing Thoughts and Resources

    Shetty and Weil wrap up the conversation, with Shetty praising it as an accessible overview. Shetty points to matcha.com with a discount code and Weil's books, including The Natural Mind and Spontaneous Happiness.

    • •Shetty calls the conversation the 'dummies guide' he wanted
    • •Listeners are directed to matcha.com with the code Jay
    • •The Natural Mind and Spontaneous Happiness are named as starting books
    • •A new Weil book is on the way, and both hope for a return conversation

Publisher timestamps

1. 0:00Intro
2. 3:20Do you know the first rule of healthy eating?
3. 7:24Dr. Weil shares some of the superfoods we can incorporate in our daily meals.
4. 11:52The amazing growth of matcha tea worldwide.
5. 16:52Let’s talk about the green mediterranean diet.
6. 18:07Did you know that cooking oils are processed differently?
7. 24:47Let’s talk about cannabis and its medicinal use.
8. 30:41This is how cannabis preparation has drastically changed over the years.
9. 36:17What are psychedelics and how can one have a positive experience with it?
10. 42:02Minimizing the risks and increasing the potential benefits of psychedelics.
11. 44:36Dr. Weil on empathogens and the promising results of this type of psychedelic.
12. 48:10Is there a spiritual potential to psychedelics?
13. 51:16The most common effects and benefits of psilocybin.
14. 53:44Another psychedelic variation we can learn more about.
15. 59:05This is what you should stop drinking alcohol
16. 1:01:21Let’s talk about the book: Chocolate to Morphine
17. 1:03:33There is a wide range of mind-body interventions and its possible connection to spirituality.
18. 1:07:18Born with the fascination of the mind and body wellness

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