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Jay Shetty Podcast

How To STAY YOUNG Forever: Top Habits To LIVE LONGER & Prevent Disease | Mark Hyman & Jay Shetty

Today, I am talking to Mark Hyman, MD. Dr. Hyman is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, and founder and director of The Ultra-Wellness Center.

Dr. Mark HymanguestJay Shettyhost

Jan 2, 20231h 6mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

A “disease-producing culture”: how modern life stacks the deck against health
Dr. Mark Hyman argues that many defaults of modern society push people toward disease rather than health. He frames ultra-processed diets, sleep deprivation, unnatural light exposure, and gut-damaging inputs as systemic forces that accelerate illness.
- •Modern life is described as automatically producing disease through diet, sleep loss, and environmental exposures
- •The gut is repeatedly emphasized as a central vulnerability impacted by today’s food supply and drugs
- •The conversation sets up the idea that culture-wide defaults—not just individual choices—drive health outcomes
Ultra-processed food: what it is, why it’s addictive, and how it raises mortality risk
Jay asks about a statistic from the book on ultra-processed food and mortality risk, and Dr. Hyman explains what “ultra-processed” means versus ordinary processing. He describes ultra-processed food as engineered, evolutionarily novel “food-like substances” that trigger disease pathways.
- •Jay cites Dr. Hyman’s claim that every 10% of diet from ultra-processed food increases risk of dying by 14%
- •Dr. Hyman distinguishes acceptable processed foods (e.g., fermented foods, canned foods) from ultra-processed foods
- •Ultra-processed foods are described as reassembled industrial ingredients designed to be highly triggering and harmful
- •Dr. Hyman calls ultra-processed food addictive and inflammatory, linking it to multiple age-related diseases
- •He also claims food quality affects behavior and societal outcomes, citing reductions in violence when diets improve
What’s aging us faster: stress, sedentary life, toxins, sleep, and lost community defaults
Jay asks what accelerates aging, and Dr. Hyman connects “young forever” to living with purpose and service. He contrasts Blue Zone-like environments—where healthy behaviors are built into daily life—with modern settings that promote stress, isolation, and unhealthy inputs.
- •Dr. Hyman says the goal of staying young is to show up fully for relationships, service, and meaning
- •He contrasts Blue Zone defaults (whole foods, natural movement, embedded community) with modern disease defaults
- •He describes chronic stress, sleep deprivation, unnatural light timing, and toxin overload as accelerants of aging
- •He emphasizes cultural imbalance toward constant achievement and individualism over savoring and connection
Foundational self-care: simple starting points (food, movement, stress tools, sleep)
Jay asks where overwhelmed people should begin, and Dr. Hyman outlines basic levers that compress morbidity and extend healthspan. He prioritizes real food, exercise (especially resistance training as people age), stress reduction, and sleep quality before “extra layers.”
- •Dr. Hyman cites research on “compression of morbidity” and the impact of weight, exercise, and smoking
- •He recommends starting with basic self-care: food, exercise, stress reduction, and sleep optimization
- •He offers a simple heuristic: eat foods close to their original form; avoid foods made in industrial “plants”
- •He emphasizes adequate protein with age and describes muscle as central to aging well
- •He highlights resistance training as important and shares his own late adoption and progress
Habits crisis and the social contagion of health: why your circle shapes your outcomes
Jay frames the challenge as habits more than desire, and Dr. Hyman argues that community is a primary driver of behavior. He shares lessons from Paul Farmer’s accompaniment model and discusses research suggesting weight and behaviors spread through social networks.
- •Jay describes how habits and immediate gratification derail long-term intentions
- •Dr. Hyman argues in-person community strongly shapes behavior and health choices
- •He describes Paul Farmer’s “accompaniment” approach as a model for supporting behavior change
- •Dr. Hyman says chronic diseases are labeled “non-communicable” but functionally behave as contagious through networks
- •He shares an example of a church-based program using small groups that produced large-scale weight loss
Inflammation, aging hallmarks, and the ‘root causes’ framework behind disease
Jay brings up the hallmarks of aging and asks about inflammation’s role. Dr. Hyman explains a systems view: many diseases may share upstream biological drivers, and the hallmarks are downstream of more basic inputs—too much of what harms us, not enough of what we need.
- •Dr. Hyman describes many major diseases of aging as inflammatory in nature
- •He argues medicine often treats downstream “whack-a-mole” diseases instead of common upstream causes
- •He states that eliminating major killers like heart disease and cancer would add only a few years, compared to addressing upstream drivers
- •He offers a simple root-cause lens: illness comes from too much of harmful inputs or too little of needed ingredients
- •He lists key impediments (e.g., bad food, stress, toxins, microbiome issues, allergens) and key ingredients (e.g., nutrients, sleep, movement, connection, meaning)
Damaged proteins and glycation: how the body repairs, recycles, and ‘cleans up’
Jay asks about damaged proteins, and Dr. Hyman explains proteins as the body’s working machinery and messaging system. He links high sugar intake to protein damage via glycation and describes repair and cleanup mechanisms like autophagy and heat shock proteins.
- •Dr. Hyman explains DNA’s primary output is proteins, which run structure, signaling, and regulation
- •He connects sugar intake to glycation and the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs)
- •He relates A1C testing to measuring sugar-damaged proteins
- •He describes autophagy as a cellular cleanup and recycling process that breaks down and reuses damaged components
- •He notes heat stress (e.g., sauna) can stimulate heat shock proteins that help manage damaged proteins
From ‘pathology’ to ‘scientific wellness’: biological age clocks and measurable change
Dr. Hyman contrasts medical training focused on disease with a missing “science of wellness” framework. He introduces biological age measurement through epigenetic markers and claims lifestyle interventions can shift biological age over relatively short timeframes.
- •He says conventional medicine teaches pathology but not an equivalent framework for creating optimal health
- •He frames functional medicine as an “owner’s manual” approach: identify imbalances, test, and correct causes
- •Dr. Hyman introduces biological age tracking through epigenetic marks on DNA
- •He shares his own reported result: chronologically 63 but biologically 43
- •He references an intervention study he describes as reversing biological age within eight weeks
Brain fog, diet, and mental health: fixing the brain by fixing the body
Jay asks about brain fog and the link between physical inputs and mental health, sharing his own low vitamin D result. Dr. Hyman argues mind and body are inseparable in practice, describing how nutrition, toxins, and metabolism can influence mood and cognition.
- •Jay connects common experiences like brain fog to the need for practical health frameworks
- •Jay shares his vitamin D test result and Dr. Hyman connects deficiency to symptoms like depression, fatigue, and muscle aches
- •Dr. Hyman describes his earlier work on improving mental health by addressing physical contributors first
- •He discusses a psychiatrist’s reported case where a ketogenic diet coincided with major mental health improvement
- •He cites research he describes where replacing the standard diet with a whole-food pattern improved depression outcomes
Seven core biological systems: a systems-biology map for diagnosing imbalance
Jay asks for a top-level explanation of the book’s “seven core biological systems.” Dr. Hyman outlines a functional medicine approach that looks for imbalance across interconnected systems and then removes drivers while restoring missing supports.
- •Dr. Hyman frames a “systems biology” view of the body as an ecosystem rather than isolated parts
- •He lists core systems including the microbiome/gut, immune system, mitochondria/energy, detox, transport/circulation, communication (hormones and messengers), and structure
- •He connects these systems to older models of balance in traditions like Ayurveda and Chinese medicine
- •He gives a gut-focused example of removing irritants and pathogens and restoring nutrients and supports
- •He links poor baseline metabolic health to worse outcomes during COVID, emphasizing diet-driven inflammation and immune suppression
Real-world reversals, then the ‘Final Five’: simplest levers and food policy priorities
Dr. Hyman shares patient stories he says demonstrate rapid improvements from dietary change, including reversal of multiple chronic conditions. The episode ends with Jay’s rapid-fire questions covering best and worst advice, changed beliefs, small first steps, and a policy-level “law” focused on food quality.
- •Dr. Hyman describes a patient in a group program who he says reversed diabetes, heart failure, kidney issues, fatty liver, and hypertension through diet changes
- •He argues food can outperform drugs in impact and laments that “food as medicine” isn’t a paid healthcare intervention
- •In the ‘Final Five,’ he cites “eat food, not too much, mostly plants,” emphasizing real, whole food
- •He criticizes high-carb dietary guidance and says he changed his view on vegan/vegetarian diets due to protein and muscle needs with age
- •He suggests starting with one small change and proposes prioritizing nutrient-dense, whole food in agriculture and food policy

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