"Eating These SUPER FOODS Will HEAL YOUR BODY"| Dr.Mark Hyman & Lewis Howes

1. 0:00 – 4:49

   Why Food Is Confusing and How It Drives Society's Problems

   1. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:00

      You don't get heart disease. You don't get diabetes. You don't get dementia. You can get a cold, [laughs] but you don't get these things.

   2. LHLewis Howes0:08

      Right.

   3. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:08

      And it's a very different way of thinking about disease.

   4. LHLewis Howes0:10

      Mm.

   5. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:10

      It's a systems problem. It's how the body is out of balance. It's a way of working with the body that looks at the body as a whole-

   6. LHLewis Howes0:18

      Right

   7. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:18

      ... dynamic interacting ecosystem that you can change by taking out the bad stuff and putting in the good stuff.

   8. LHLewis Howes0:25

      Right. [upbeat music] Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. We have the legendary Dr. Mark Hyman in the house. Good to see you, sir.

   9. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:48

      Thank you, Lewis.

   10. LHLewis Howes0:49

       Very excited. The last time you were on was two years ago, actually.

   11. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:51

       Two years ago, talking about fat.

   12. LHLewis Howes0:53

       Talking about fat.

   13. MHDr. Mark Hyman0:54

       [laughs]

   14. LHLewis Howes0:55

       And now we're talking about Food: What The Heck Should I Eat? is the new book. Make sure you guys check it out. New York Times Best Seller already. Crushing it and helping a lot of people. The no-nonsense guide to achieving optimal weight and lifelong health. So what should I eat? You know, you were talking about this before, that every day we get, uh, multiple times to vote on what we wanna put inside of our body-

   15. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:17

       Yeah

   16. LHLewis Howes1:17

       ... right?

   17. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:17

       Yeah.

   18. LHLewis Howes1:17

       And what we should be eating. Um, and we have control over this.

   19. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:21

       Mm-hmm.

   20. LHLewis Howes1:21

       Or I guess most people do, right?

   21. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:23

       Most people do. Not everybody on the planet, but most people do have choice about what they eat and what they put in their bodies-

   22. LHLewis Howes1:27

       Right

   23. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:28

       ... and how it impacts everything that matters in the world.

   24. LHLewis Howes1:30

       Hm. How does it impact everything?

   25. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:34

       Well, I wrote this book because people are confused. Like, they don't know what to eat. They're hearing paleo, vegan-

   26. LHLewis Howes1:41

       Oh

   27. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:41

       ... keto, low fat, high fat, low carb, high carb, raw, whatever.

   28. LHLewis Howes1:44

       No sugar.

   29. MHDr. Mark Hyman1:45

       No sugar. [laughs] It's like there's no, uh, you know, there's no soda diet that everybody believes in. But pretty much everything else, you know? [laughs]

   30. LHLewis Howes1:52

       Right.
2. 4:49 – 7:34

   Food's Effect on Behavior, Kids, and ADD

   1. MHDr. Mark Hyman4:49

      And then, of course, there's the social issues. People don't understand that the quality of the food we eat, the processed food, the refined oils, the sugars, the chemicals, the additives affect behavior. We know, for example, Lewis, that in prisons if you give people a healthy diet in prisons, they will reduce violent crime in the prison by 56%. If you add a vitamin supplement, it goes down by 80% because they're all nutritionally depleted. I mean, I had a patient, not a patient.

   2. LHLewis Howes5:17

      Hm.

   3. MHDr. Mark Hyman5:17

      He was a, I don't know, he was a, a guy who was in jail. He was a murderer. He wrote me a handwritten letter years ago. He said, "I followed your program in jail."

   4. LHLewis Howes5:24

      No way.

   5. MHDr. Mark Hyman5:24

      "I realize I was a murderer. My behavior was so violent my whole life, and when I changed my diet, I became a completely different person. I realize it was what I was eating, and now I, I, I'm so thankful for having my life back."

   6. LHLewis Howes5:37

      So you think our diet also determines our behavior?

   7. MHDr. Mark Hyman5:40

      Absolutely. There's clear evidence about that. I was just reading a study the other day that showed that people who eat a lot of carbohydrates and sugars and starches have much more violent behavior.

   8. LHLewis Howes5:49

      Hm.

   9. MHDr. Mark Hyman5:49

      We know that people who eat refined oils, which we now have 10% of these as our calories from soybean oil. It's in everything. It's not necessarily put in our food, it's in every packaged, processed food. That has led to increase in homicides and violence and suicides around the world, and we've gotten higher on these refined omega-6s and low on omega-3s. So the evidence of how it affects behavior, mood, poverty. It keeps poor communities down. And then the food industry targets these communities disproportionately. So you have all these things happening at the same time, and then kids. Kids can't learn in school because-

   10. LHLewis Howes6:21

       Mm-hmm

   11. MHDr. Mark Hyman6:21

       ... they're eating Doritos and Coke and they can't actually focus and learn, and their behavior's all erratic and they're on these chemicals which alter their behavior. That's why, you know, one out of six kids has some neurodevelopmental problem, which is enormous, right? ADD now affects, you know, one out of 10 kids. I think, um, I think 14% of kids have ADD and about one in 10 kids-

   12. LHLewis Howes6:41

       Wow

   13. MHDr. Mark Hyman6:41

       ... are on medication.

   14. LHLewis Howes6:42

       You think ADD can be, uh, removed if we have a better diet? Or is that something different-

   15. MHDr. Mark Hyman6:49

       Absolutely

   16. LHLewis Howes6:49

       ... to do with the brain or-

   17. MHDr. Mark Hyman6:50

       I, I... No, absolu- no, it's not a brain problem. It's a body problem, and the body problem is caused by our diet and by environmental toxins. And I've had hundreds of ADD patients who've transformed their lives. I mean, I, I just, uh, we were talking about the Broken Brain documentary series I did. I had a guy, I was in a, New York, uh, Russian bathhouse the other day, [laughs] so I come in, I saw your series. I've been on ADD medication my whole life and it-

   18. LHLewis Howes7:11

       Mm

   19. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:11

       ... helped me get off my medication. I mean, we, we see this. So you've got health, you've got the economy, you've got social justice and poverty issues, you've got climate, you've got environment, you've got education. It's all connected. And the issue is that most people don't connect the dots, number one, and most people don't realize that we're in this situation because of money in the food system-

   20. LHLewis Howes7:32

       Mm-hmm

   21. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:32

       ... that's driving our policies.

3. 7:34 – 11:22

   Industry Money, Sponsored Science, and Food Marketing

   1. LHLewis Howes7:34

      Right. You were mentioning how, you were mentioning how, uh, you know, there's some press hits that you do, I won't mention who, but that would say you can't talk about certain things because of a sponsor that's funding-

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:45

      Oh, yeah

   3. LHLewis Howes7:45

      ... the program.

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:46

      Oh, yeah.

   5. LHLewis Howes7:46

      So you can't talk negative about one brand or one product-

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:50

      No, no

   7. LHLewis Howes7:50

      ... or because of that, yeah.

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman7:52

      That's right. I was told, "Well, you can't cover this subject because we get our funding from this sponsor." I can tell you a story from the past because the show's not on the air anymore.

   9. LHLewis Howes7:59

      Sure. [laughs]

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman8:00

       Uh, it was the Martha Stewart Show. And I was on the show and, uh, w- I worked with a producer and we were talking about getting healthy and working out and detoxing, and Martha had her trainer there. And the producer says, "Well, we're gonna have to do a bit as part of the segment on dairy and how dairy is such a great sports recovery drink."

   11. LHLewis Howes8:16

       No way.

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman8:17

       Yes. And so I was like, "You know, I'm just sorry to tell you, but there's-

   13. LHLewis Howes8:21

       [laughs]

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman8:21

       ... all this evidence that that's not true." So I downloaded all the scientific papers documenting the science behind the fact that dairy isn't a sports drink. And he's like, "Mm, I know, but, uh, we kinda have to because this spot is sponsored by the Dairy Council."

   15. LHLewis Howes8:37

       Oh my gosh.

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman8:38

       And then the, the... If you're ever on television, you know that the experts don't get notes. They don't get cue cards. They don't get teleprompters. They have to know their stuff. [laughs] Well, this woman, who was the trainer, had all these cue cards that was being held up about dairy with all the bullet points of why dairy is such a great food and sports drink. It's insidious, so we think we're getting news, we're thinking we're getting authentic-

   17. LHLewis Howes8:58

       From experts, too

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman8:59

       ... from ex- doctors-

   19. LHLewis Howes9:00

       From doctors or specialists or experts-

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman9:02

       And-

   21. LHLewis Howes9:02

       ... and we are influenced by these experts.

   22. MHDr. Mark Hyman9:04

       Huge. I mean, the evidence is so clear that, you know, the industry is heavily funding science, and they're funding corrupt science. So if you look at the data, for example, artificial sweeteners, 99% of the studies done by the food industry show that they are safe. 99% of the studies on artificial sweeteners done by independent scientists find that they're not safe.

   23. LHLewis Howes9:23

       Mm.

   24. MHDr. Mark Hyman9:24

       You know, if you're, a industry funds a study, they're eight to 50 times more likely to find a positive benefit for their product.

   25. LHLewis Howes9:30

       Right. Right, of course.

   26. MHDr. Mark Hyman9:30

       Right? Whereas you look, you look at the, at... And then you look at the, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetic Association, the American Nutrition, I mean the American Nu- Nutrition Dietetic Association. These are all funded by the food industry. I mean, if you look, it's Coca-Cola, it's Pepsi, it's Cargill, it's, it's frightening to see how much money is. You have Trix cereal for kids as a heart healthy cereal. Cocoa Puffs.

   27. LHLewis Howes9:54

       Mm.

   28. MHDr. Mark Hyman9:54

       Lucky Charms. I mean, Trix has seven teaspoons of sugar, red dye, blue dye, yellow dye, you die, you know? [laughs]

   29. LHLewis Howes10:01

       Yeah, right. [laughs]

   30. MHDr. Mark Hyman10:02

       Like, it's all in there and it's a heart-healthy food. Why? 'Cause they get $300,000 for every time they put that check on a box.
4. 11:22 – 13:52

   Root Causes of Disease and Food as Medicine

   1. LHLewis Howes11:22

      And do you think that all inflammation, chronic pain, and disease is, can be eliminated from the foods we eat or is caused by foods?

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman11:32

      I think, I think-

   3. LHLewis Howes11:33

      Besides having, like, a car accident or something.

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman11:35

      Yeah. There, you know, I'm a functional medicine doctor. You know, run the Center for Functional Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. And so we look at the root causes of disease, and there are many, right? There's environment, there's lifestyle, there's genetics, all affect these various-

   5. LHLewis Howes11:47

      Stress

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman11:47

      ... systems in your body, right? So we always say there's five causes of all disease based on how they influence your genetics and combined with your lifestyle. Toxins, so environmental toxins, that's not your fault. That's just the fact that we put 80,000 chemicals in the environment without testing them. We have 3,000 food adds we eat every year. As Americans, about three to five pounds of it, which is frightening. And, you know, there are heavy metals and pesticides everywhere. So it, we're exposed to a lot of toxins. They make people sick. Infections, which we can get, whether it's viral infections and bacterial infections, Lyme disease, tick infections. Uh, allergens, which are increasingly common and, or food sensitivities, things where your body's creating an immune response, whether it's gluten or dairy. Those are big. And then poor diet and stress. All of those are contributing to disease. But by far the biggest cause is food.

   7. LHLewis Howes12:36

      Really?

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman12:36

      By far. Uh, and, and it affects... I mean, we [laughs] what's amazing is it's not, it's not just, like, a little bit. It's like you say, "Oh, my migraines or my arthritis or my irritable bowel." People don't connect the dots between how they feel and the food they're eating. And then when you switch, people have transformations very quickly.

   9. LHLewis Howes12:53

      Yeah.

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman12:54

       You know?

   11. LHLewis Howes12:54

       They notice it quickly.

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman12:55

       Quickly, yeah.

   13. LHLewis Howes12:55

       Yeah.

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman12:55

       I mean, and this-

   15. LHLewis Howes12:56

       Pain goes away, the weight goes off, all these things

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman12:58

       Yeah, I mean, I always say food is medicine. It's not just like a medicine. It works faster, better, and cheaper than almost any other drug. I mean, we have people who are off insulin who are type 2 diabetics within a week.

   17. LHLewis Howes13:08

       Wow.

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman13:08

       You know? And, and get off all their medications. I mean, there was a huge study just published on a ketogenic diet intervention for type 2 diabetics. Now, I don't think ketogenic diets are right for everybody, but in the, in extreme situation where your metabolism is so broken, it can help reset things.

   19. LHLewis Howes13:22

       Mm.

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman13:22

       Basically reducing carbs to 30 grams a day, 70% fat, and help in the context of a healthy plant rich diet. And they were able to get 100% of the people in a year over diabetics off of the main diabetes medication and 94% off insulin or dramatically lower, with an average weight loss of 30 pounds, about 12% of body weight. And this is unprecedented in the research because food i- if you know how to apply it in the right way at the right dose for the right person, it's the most powerful drug.

   21. LHLewis Howes13:51

       Mm. Yeah.

5. 13:52 – 20:09

   Vegan vs. Animal Foods, Muscle, and the Meat Research

   1. LHLewis Howes13:52

      Now, here's the thing. You talked about in the book that you've been studying food for 35 years.

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman13:57

      40 now. I c- I- [laughs]

   3. LHLewis Howes13:58

      40 years

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman13:58

      ... I was like, "Oh, I did the math." I, it's nine, 2018. I was starting in 1978 in college.

   5. LHLewis Howes14:03

      [laughs]

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:03

      And I'm like that old. [laughs]

   7. LHLewis Howes14:05

      Here's the thing. You've got 11 New York Times bestselling books. You've probably done how many books total?

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:10

      20.

   9. LHLewis Howes14:11

      14. 14 books, uh, 11 New York Times, including this one, Food: What, What The Heck Should I Eat? And for 40 years you've been studying food, and you say even the experts are confused by the science.

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:22

       They are. They are.

   11. LHLewis Howes14:23

       So how come you're-

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:25

       How come, how come I figured it out? [laughs]

   13. LHLewis Howes14:26

       How come you know all the answers-

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:27

       I don't think-

   15. LHLewis Howes14:28

       ... after 40 years and-

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:28

       Yeah, I don't think I know all the answers, but I don't have a bone to pick.

   17. LHLewis Howes14:31

       Yeah, yeah.

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:31

       In other words, I haven't spent my life dedicated to the low fat diet. I haven't been dedicated my life to-

   19. LHLewis Howes14:36

       Paleo or-

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:37

       ... veganism.

   21. LHLewis Howes14:38

       Yeah.

   22. MHDr. Mark Hyman14:38

       I mean, I, I'm looking at, like, what works. And the other thing I know is that I'm not an academic. Well, I do research, but that's not how I started. I'm a practicing doctor. So what's happened over the years is the latest thing comes in, I try it, see what happens, see what happens to the patient. So seeing tens of thousands of patients, doing thousands and thousands of lab tests over the years, seeing what happens when people change their diet and how their biology responds, that's the best laboratory you'll ever see.

   23. LHLewis Howes15:03

       Right. Right. Results.

   24. MHDr. Mark Hyman15:04

       And I even, I even notice on myself. I was a vegetarian for 10 years, and I see pictures of myself when I was 28, and I am so scrawny even though I ate really healthy. I ran five miles a day. I did yoga all the time. And I look at myself now doing far less exercise, and I am far more muscular and have more muscle mass than I did when I was 28, 'cause I learned how to change my diet.

   25. LHLewis Howes15:24

       Mm.

   26. MHDr. Mark Hyman15:24

       And we know that, that the right kind of high, high fat diet and, and, and adequate protein actually increases muscle mass.

   27. LHLewis Howes15:32

       Wow.

   28. MHDr. Mark Hyman15:32

       Yeah. I mean, I, I literally just got off the phone with a friend who says, "You know, I went on a vegan diet, and three days into it, like, I can't lift anymore." [laughs]

   29. LHLewis Howes15:40

       Yeah. But then you see some, like, you know, athletes that are all vegan-

   30. MHDr. Mark Hyman15:44

       Mm-hmm. It's true
6. 20:09 – 23:38

   Three Food Principles and the Pegan Diet

   1. LHLewis Howes20:09

      Now, what are the three basic food rules that you live by?

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:12

      Me?

   3. LHLewis Howes20:13

      Yeah.

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:14

      Well, you know, I always, I always joke because I, I used to teach a lot at churches and I go, "If... Ask yourself one question when you're shopping. Did God make this or did man make this?" Right? Did God make a Twinkie? No.

   5. LHLewis Howes20:26

      [laughs]

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:27

      Did God make an avocado? Yeah.

   7. LHLewis Howes20:29

      Right.

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:29

      Pretty simple rule.

   9. LHLewis Howes20:30

      Yeah.

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:30

       And you can even take that to its logical extreme. Did God make a feedlot cow? No. Did God make a grass-fed cow? Yes, right?

   11. LHLewis Howes20:38

       Sure.

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:39

       So you can kinda go down the line on all that.

   13. LHLewis Howes20:42

       Wow.

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:42

       That's the first principle. The second principle is we should be eating mostly a plant-based diet.

   15. LHLewis Howes20:45

       Yeah.

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:45

       We call it plant rich. I call it plant rich.

   17. LHLewis Howes20:47

       It's about 80/20, right? Is that what you

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:48

       Yeah.

   19. LHLewis Howes20:48

       80/20?

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman20:49

       80%, 70% of your d- pla- of your foods on your plate should be lots of vegetables, nuts and seeds, fruit, whole foods. And the third principle is we need a lot of good fats. Avocados, olive oil. I think there's controversies about some things. Nuts and seeds are good, but then there's the whole saturated fat debate which we can get into, or refined oils. But essentially, we need a lot of good fats, low starch and sugar, plant-rich diet and, you know, stay away from processed food.

   21. LHLewis Howes21:17

       Yeah. Now should that be true for everyone or does it depend on your, your body type, your-

   22. MHDr. Mark Hyman21:22

       Yeah

   23. LHLewis Howes21:22

       ... blood type, your genetics?

   24. MHDr. Mark Hyman21:25

       So I, I jokingly call this the pegan diet, right? Because I was sitting on a panel with s- friends of mine, one was paleo, one was vegan. They were fighting and I'm like, "Listen, guys. You're paleo, you're vegan, I must be a pegan." And I was joking. And then I, it occurred to me that, you know, there was more in common than there was different.

   25. LHLewis Howes21:38

       Yeah.

   26. MHDr. Mark Hyman21:39

       That we could come up with these general nutritional principles that nobody's gonna disagree with, right? Nobody thinks we should be eating a lot of starch and sugar. Everybody thinks we should be eating more plants. Everybody thinks if we eat animal protein, that we should eat only sustainably raised or harvested-

   27. LHLewis Howes21:51

       Mm-hmm

   28. MHDr. Mark Hyman21:51

       ... or, um, you know, grass-finished protein. That we should eat fish, but it should only be fish that's low in mercury and toxins, that doesn't overfish the oceans. If it's farm-raised, it should be sustainable. We should eat lots of good fats. I mean, there are a few outliers who still are holding on to low-fat dogma, but the train has left the station [laughs] on that one.

   29. LHLewis Howes22:08

       Yeah, yeah.

   30. MHDr. Mark Hyman22:09

       And so there's these simple pr- that nobody thinks we should be consuming pesticides and herbicides and GMO, that we should be having three pounds of food additives per person every year. I mean, nobody thinks we should be eating those things. Like, nobody's gonna say, "Okay, I think you should have more butylated hydroxytoluene with your salad."
7. 23:38 – 25:58

   Voting With Your Fork and Changing the Food System

   1. MHDr. Mark Hyman23:38

      And I also talk about how do you eat, not just for your own health, right? But what is the f- overall footprint of-

   2. LHLewis Howes23:44

      Mm

   3. MHDr. Mark Hyman23:44

      ... the food you eat? What's the health footprint, the economic footprint, the carbon footprint, the environmental footprint, the ac- educational footprint, the national security footprint, and even poverty and social justice footprint of what you eat? Because there are things we can't change as individuals. We can't end nuclear war. We can't-

   4. LHLewis Howes24:02

      Mm-hmm

   5. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:02

      ... you know, single-handedly, you know, end climate change. But w- we can change what we eat, 'cause we do it all the time.

   6. LHLewis Howes24:11

      Yeah.

   7. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:11

      And the choices we make matter. I mean, I was just with the vice chairman of Pepsi, who's my new best friend. [laughs]

   8. LHLewis Howes24:17

      [laughs]

   9. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:18

      You can imagine. We had a great time together. And you know, we don't agree on a lot of things.

   10. LHLewis Howes24:22

       Right.

   11. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:22

       But, uh, it was fascinating listening to him talk about what's happening in the company as they're trying to shift to meet the consumer demand.

   12. LHLewis Howes24:29

       Really?

   13. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:29

       So they're like, "How do we create special..." And he in- introduced me to this engineer who was working for him. "How do we create special types of packaging that's compostable but that keeps the food fresh? We don't need to use preservatives or artificial ingredients, and we can have whole foods that we distribute globally." And I'm like, "Wow, that's a great thing to be looking at," right?

   14. LHLewis Howes24:47

       Right.

   15. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:48

       So they're thinking. And he, and he said, "I was also asked to, uh, talk to the USDA annual meeting, the go- uh, the agriculture department." And I'm like, "Yes, Pepsi." [laughs]

   16. LHLewis Howes24:57

       Right.

   17. MHDr. Mark Hyman24:58

       But they, they, he's talking about regenerative agriculture. He's talking about how we're losing water by our farming practices. We're losing soil. We need to change that. And they have enormous power, 'cause they're, you know, c- count their bottling facilities-

   18. LHLewis Howes25:10

       Yeah

   19. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:11

       ... that they out- They're probably the number one food company in the world, up there with Nestle.

   20. LHLewis Howes25:17

       Right. Right.

   21. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:17

       And they are interested in doing this. And I'm like thinking, "Wow, here's the vice chairman of Pepsi talking about regenerative agriculture." I'm like, "Holy cow." You know, there's-

   22. LHLewis Howes25:25

       It's pretty cool.

   23. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:25

       Yeah, 'cause they're-

   24. LHLewis Howes25:26

       They want to make an impact.

   25. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:27

       Yeah, they can have an impact, but it's, it, they're responding to the demands of the culture.

   26. LHLewis Howes25:32

       Mm.

   27. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:32

       They're responding to people who are voting with their forks. So-

   28. LHLewis Howes25:35

       Right

   29. MHDr. Mark Hyman25:35

       ... it's a hopeful message. You not only get to change yourself, but you get to impact everything. I mean, imagine if everybody in the world for one day had an eat-in where they only ate real fresh whole food, and they didn't shop or buy anything in a package that's processed in any way, and didn't go to any fast food restaurants, and just ate at home and cooked their meals together.

   30. LHLewis Howes25:51

       Be a game changer.
8. 25:58 – 27:38

   Emotional Eating and the Power of Community

   1. LHLewis Howes25:58

      Now, as a functional medicine doctor, I believe that you, uh, you're more of like a therapist for a lot of people too. They come to you with all their chal- They feel pain in one thing, but there's something else-

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:07

      It's all connected

   3. LHLewis Howes26:07

      ... that's affecting them, right?

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:08

      Yeah.

   5. LHLewis Howes26:09

      What do you think is the main thing that they're feeding themselves, maybe that's not food-

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:12

      Yeah

   7. LHLewis Howes26:12

      ... that affects them on the pain or their body or-

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:16

      Yeah. I think people are feeding their feelings a lot of time. I mean, it's a ... You know, food has such an effect on mood. It's so connected to how we think and feel. And so when we're feeling sad or depressed, we can stimulate our biology through food, whether it's caffeine or alcohol or sugar or other chemicals in food that actually stimulate our brain to sort of feel better for a minute, right?

   9. LHLewis Howes26:38

      Yeah.

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:38

       And so we do that.

   11. LHLewis Howes26:39

       Yeah.

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman26:39

       And we're human, and we don't understand the difference, and we don't know what's going on. We don't see we're in this vicious cycle. Um, and it's tough, and people have hard s- lives and hard situations, but I believe in the power of community. I believe in the power of each other to h- help support the change. It's gotta happen that way, and that's what we do. We work with communities. We work in churches. We help people become empowered in schools to actually start to do this together.

   13. LHLewis Howes27:02

       Mm-hmm.

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:02

       And it's so much more fun. It holds people accountable. It inspires people to change, and it works. And if we look at behavior change, which is the biggest thing we're talking about here-

   15. LHLewis Howes27:11

       Yeah

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:11

       ... the hardest thing to do is on your own.

   17. LHLewis Howes27:14

       So hard.

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:14

       I always say friend power is far more powerful than willpower.

   19. LHLewis Howes27:18

       Mm. It's way easier to stay consistent when something with someone else supporting you, an accountability partner, a coach, whatever it may be-

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:24

       Yeah

   21. LHLewis Howes27:24

       ... than trying to do it on your own.

   22. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:26

       Absolutely.

   23. LHLewis Howes27:26

       It's almost impossible to do it on your own.

   24. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:28

       Right. Right, and that's why people listen to your podcast and-

   25. LHLewis Howes27:30

       Right

   26. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:30

       ... seek out these things, because they're looking for some connection to something that they can hold on to, that inspires them-

   27. LHLewis Howes27:34

       Yeah

   28. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:34

       ... that uplifts them, that gives them an idea of how, how they can be better.

9. 27:38 – 31:30

   Personal Challenges and the Next Phase of His Work

   1. LHLewis Howes27:38

      What's the biggest challenge you face in your life right now that you could improve on or get better at?

   2. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:43

      Health-wise?

   3. LHLewis Howes27:45

      Anything.

   4. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:45

      Um-

   5. LHLewis Howes27:46

      You know, you're this, this top expert, super credible doctor, Cleveland Clinic. Seems like you got it all figured out, but what's the thing, either personal or fitness or-

   6. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:56

      I mean-

   7. LHLewis Howes27:56

      ... emotional or-

   8. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:57

      Yeah, I mean, I think-

   9. LHLewis Howes27:58

      ... that you can improve on.

   10. MHDr. Mark Hyman27:59

       Well, I'm, I recently got married and I have the most amazing wife, and I'm just growing and growing and learning in how do I be, like the best version of myself? How do I be fully expressed and honest and in integrity and, like, value what's actually happening? And I think that's, like, my most important work. Uh, a lot of my career I just focused on my work, work, work.

   11. LHLewis Howes28:20

       Yeah.

   12. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:20

       And I'm like, I'm like, "Wait a minute. You know, this, this, something else here going on." [laughs]

   13. LHLewis Howes28:24

       Right. So what's the biggest challenge you face with this new chapter?

   14. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:29

       Um, I think, uh, my phone. [laughs]

   15. LHLewis Howes28:32

       [laughs]

   16. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:33

       So I actually, uh, I'm g- I'm giving, uh, I'm, I'm giving her for our anniversary present a box.

   17. LHLewis Howes28:39

       [laughs]

   18. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:40

       Which is a little, like, like sealed box that I'm gonna put my phone in when we're together.

   19. LHLewis Howes28:45

       For what, an hour?

   20. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:46

       No, for a weekend.

   21. LHLewis Howes28:47

       Wow.

   22. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:48

       Or longer.

   23. LHLewis Howes28:50

       Okay.

   24. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:50

       You know? And I'm gonna tell my assistant if she needs anything to call her phone. [laughs]

   25. LHLewis Howes28:54

       [laughs]

   26. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:54

       If it's an emergency.

   27. LHLewis Howes28:55

       She gets her phone, yeah.

   28. MHDr. Mark Hyman28:56

       But I'm like, I, it's a, it's a symbolic, but it's like-

   29. LHLewis Howes29:00

       Yeah.

   30. MHDr. Mark Hyman29:00

       And, and it's sort of invasive. And I'm like, you know, nothing is that important that should interfere with our human connections.
10. 31:30 – 34:50

    Diseases as Systems Problems: What Medical School Got Wrong

    1. LHLewis Howes31:30

       Graduated. But you got into it 40 years ago.

    2. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:33

       Yeah. Well, I got into-

    3. LHLewis Howes31:34

       Gotcha

    4. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:34

       ... nutrition when I went to college.

    5. LHLewis Howes31:35

       Gotcha. Okay. So 31 years you've been, is it called licensed doctor or what are you called, certified doctor?

    6. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:40

       Yeah, I'm a, I'm a, I got my MD degree in 1987.

    7. LHLewis Howes31:43

       Degree. Okay. Uh, 31 years ago. I'm curious, what were the beliefs that you had going in 31 years ago that was industry standard, that was like-

    8. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:53

       Yeah

    9. LHLewis Howes31:53

       ... this is the belief of medicine or food or-

    10. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:56

        Yeah

    11. LHLewis Howes31:56

        ... the body-

    12. MHDr. Mark Hyman31:57

        A lot of that-

    13. LHLewis Howes31:58

        ... that, that is, that you believed in-

    14. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:00

        Yeah

    15. LHLewis Howes32:00

        ... so wholeheartedly but now you've realized 31 years later is completely false?

    16. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:05

        Well, actually, I have ODD. You know what that is?

    17. LHLewis Howes32:09

        What's that?

    18. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:09

        I'm odd.

    19. LHLewis Howes32:10

        [laughs] Yes.

    20. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:11

        And I was weird from the beginning.

    21. LHLewis Howes32:14

        Uh-huh.

    22. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:14

        So I was a vegetarian in college. I was a yoga teacher before I was a doctor.

    23. LHLewis Howes32:18

        Oh.

    24. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:18

        I studied systems thinking in college. I studied alternative systems of healing and medicine from around the world. My thinking was already there, and I was studying herbal medicine. I was-

    25. LHLewis Howes32:29

        Yeah

    26. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:29

        ... gonna go to China. I spoke Chinese, so I was gonna go to China and study Chinese medicine. But I didn't wanna-

    27. LHLewis Howes32:33

        Oh

    28. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:33

        ... grow in a s- up in a communist dictatorship. So I basically said, "I'll try medical school [laughs] and see if I like it." And I was fascinated with the body, and I really never went away from it although I did really take it all in. I, I had to suspend all my criticism, disbelief, and just learn it as a system.

    29. LHLewis Howes32:52

        Mm-hmm.

    30. MHDr. Mark Hyman32:53

        And then I could unpack it. And so then I began to sort of unpack it and discovered functional medicine early on. And since then I've just been focused-
11. 34:50 – 38:07

    Genes vs. the Exposome and Social Networks

    1. LHLewis Howes34:50

       Now, is there anything now that you believe in that you think will eventually be debunked in 30 years or 10 years or 5 years that you're like, "This is the truth. This is the facts. But who knows, maybe there's not enough research or science or proof in that, and in 30 years it'll be different."

    2. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:08

       I think it's gonna turn out that our genes aren't as important as we think.

    3. LHLewis Howes35:12

       [laughs] 'Cause that's where a lot of this stuff is coming from-

    4. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:15

       Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

    5. LHLewis Howes35:15

       ... the genes, it's all about your genes.

    6. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:16

       Oh, the, 'cause we are in the genomic era-

    7. LHLewis Howes35:18

       Your father, your grandfather. Yeah

    8. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:19

       ... in the omics era, in genomics and proteomics and metabolomics and all this stuff. And-

    9. LHLewis Howes35:24

       In terms of genes aren't important in terms of disease or in terms-

    10. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:26

        Yeah

    11. LHLewis Howes35:26

        ... of like-

    12. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:27

        I think that for that, the diseases that we're seeing. So yes, if you have Huntington's chorea or you have Down syndrome or you have, you know, some horrible inherited genetic condition that's a dominant disease, which is we call autosomal dominant. It's a type of genetic single gene mutation that's kinda fixed, although you can modify, all those people do. Um, I'm talking about the rest of the chronic disease we have. And I think, you know, it turns out looking at the research that your ZIP Code turns out to be more important as a determinant of your health than your genetic code.

    13. LHLewis Howes35:58

        Hmm.

    14. MHDr. Mark Hyman35:59

        That your friends and your f- and your social network is a bigger determinant of your health than your family. So we know from Christakis' work at Harvard looking at obesity that people who are, uh, obese, they're more likely to be obese if they have obese friends than if they have obese parents.

    15. LHLewis Howes36:16

        Hmm.

    16. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:16

        Right? Or siblings because it's our social connections that drive our behavior. If you're, if you're eating, you know, fries and soda and burgers and watching TV all day and all your friends are doing that, you're more likely to be overweight. If you're going to yoga and drinking green juices, you're gonna probably be healthier when-

    17. LHLewis Howes36:34

        Yeah

    18. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:34

        ... if all your friends are doing that, right?

    19. LHLewis Howes36:35

        Right.

    20. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:35

        So if your friends are modeling healthy behaviors. And we live in a totally peer, socially driven world.

    21. LHLewis Howes36:41

        Yeah.

    22. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:41

        I mean, look what happened with the Me Too environment. All of a sudden it was okay to say the truth.

    23. LHLewis Howes36:45

        Yeah.

    24. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:45

        And then you had, like, millions of women speaking up-

    25. LHLewis Howes36:47

        Right

    26. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:48

        ... because it was okay. It was socially acceptable. The peer group said yes, you know? That's how powerful.

    27. LHLewis Howes36:54

        Yeah.

    28. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:54

        And I think, I'm hoping for that kinda change around food.

    29. LHLewis Howes36:56

        Right. So you think genetics don't play as much of a role as we think.

    30. MHDr. Mark Hyman36:59

        No, I think we're gonna, we're gonna be disappointed by the Human Genome Project. It's already failed to give us a lot of what we hoped it, it would, it would give us.
12. 38:07 – 41:41

    Three Truths, Acknowledgment, and Definition of Greatness

    1. LHLewis Howes38:07

       couple questions left. Make sure you guys get the book though before we finish up. Food: What The Heck Should I Eat?, The No-Nonsense Guide to Achieving Optimal Weight and Lifelong Health. Make sure you guys pick it up. New York Times bestseller. It's crushing already. Um, this is called the three truths. I don't know if I asked you this last time.

    2. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:23

       You might have.

    3. LHLewis Howes38:24

       Maybe, but we'll, we'll do it again and see what comes up. So imagine your final day. You live till you're 300 years old-

    4. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:30

       Okay

    5. LHLewis Howes38:30

       ... 'cause you- 'cause you're the fountain of youth right now.

    6. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:32

       [laughs]

    7. LHLewis Howes38:33

       Almost 60, right?

    8. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:34

       Almost 60.

    9. LHLewis Howes38:34

       58, is that-

    10. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:35

        Pretty sad.

    11. LHLewis Howes38:36

        Yeah, almost 60.

    12. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:36

        I'll be 60 next year.

    13. LHLewis Howes38:38

        You look like you're 25 and in the book. I love it. Um, 60 next year?

    14. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:42

        I thought I should. Yeah.

    15. LHLewis Howes38:42

        Wow.

    16. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:43

        Well, nine- 2019, I'll be 60.

    17. LHLewis Howes38:44

        I hope I look like you when I'm 60.

    18. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:46

        [laughs]

    19. LHLewis Howes38:47

        Um, but you're gonna live for as long as you want and imagine it's your f- final day and you choose the day. You've done everything you wanna do. You've-

    20. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:54

        Mm

    21. LHLewis Howes38:54

        ... done it all and you say, "You know what? It's time for me. I'm ready to go."

    22. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:58

        Yeah.

    23. LHLewis Howes38:58

        You go on your terms.

    24. MHDr. Mark Hyman38:59

        Yeah.

    25. LHLewis Howes39:00

        You've written 75 New York Times bestsellers.

    26. MHDr. Mark Hyman39:02

        [laughs] God forbid.

    27. LHLewis Howes39:03

        You know, every topic you can imagine, there's a book out there that you've come out with. You've done everything you wanna do.

    28. MHDr. Mark Hyman39:08

        Mm-hmm.

    29. LHLewis Howes39:09

        But for whatever reason, you have to take it all with you.

    30. MHDr. Mark Hyman39:11

        Mm.

Episode duration: 41:53