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The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.

Join Dallas Hartwig and Pilar Gerasimo for this series of smart, rollicking, no-BS conversations about healthy, happy, conscious living — plus real-life "experiments" to help you discover the practical shifts that work best for you.
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The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.
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Now displaying: 2016
Dec 12, 2016

It's hard to know what to believe. Online, in print, via TV and radio broadcast, the health media delivers a lot of mixed messages and downright confusing data. And as corporate interests increasingly shape and influence content streams, the more challenging it becomes to discern fact from profit-driven fiction. This week on The Living Experiment, we explore some of the dynamics that undermine accurate health-media coverage, and offer suggestions on how to navigate this often disorienting territory. We also suggest some experiments to help you become a better informed and more empowered media consumer.

"Health Media" Episode Highlights

  • The barrage of confusing and conflicting headlines, especially about food and nutrition (4:20)
  • The problem of health experts who resist admitting they got things wrong and refuse to update their conclusions (6:10)
  • The corporate influences at work in scientific research and health media (8:05)
  • How research published in respected medical journals is steered by funders with profit-driven motives (9:45)
  • The unholy alliance between an industry and researchers — and how the results influence policies and nutrition guidelines (10:45)
  • An example of an "authoritative" national institution that disseminates horribly misguided (but media-friendly) "healthy eating guidelines" for kids (11:20)
  • The disturbing shift away from high-quality reporting toward viral, traffic-producing posts, often at the expense of decent coverage (15:50)
  • The pernicious influence of advertising dollars on media content, especially from food conglomerates and pharmaceutical companies (18:15)
  • Prevention magazine's bold move to remove all advertising from their printed publication in an effort to safeguard their reporting (21:50)
  • The importance of finding trustworthy experts and media sources, and Dallas's short list (24:45)
  • The problem with imposing conclusions from very specific research on the wider population (26:20)
  • Filtering health data using your own developed logic or philosophy (28:00)
  • Rote, media-repeated phrases like "fruits and vegetables" and "lean proteins" that sound healthy but can be misleading (31:55)
  • A caution about recommended "food swaps" that promote lower calories, less sugar, lower sodium and less saturated fat but are inherently unhealthy (35:15)
  • Pilar's trusted short list of health sources (36:05)
  • The functional medicine revolution, and the lack of media coverage (or hostile attacks) progressive physicians and researchers receive (38:45)
  • "Half of what we've told you is wrong, but we don't know which half" — the conundrum shared by responsible journalists and medical schools (41:30)
  • The power of lifestyle choices and changes that can limit or eradicate the need for long-term use of medications  (43:45)
  • The value of reading outside the mainstream media canon (including government agencies and associations) (46:10)
  • How health messages on television are influenced by industry priorities (48:35)
  • How advertising drives magazine content, and why ads that disagree with editorial coverage may actually be a good sign (51:20)
  • Looking more closely at "expert" sources (their associations, sources of industry connections or funding, and any boards they serve on) (53:20)
  • Why certain so-called "pro-science" and "watchdog" websites tend to be questionable sources of information (54:20)
  • The wisdom in consulting multiple trustworthy sources and avoiding being whipsawed by headlines, trends and fads (59:00)
  • Self-experimentation for testing health recommendations — tracking what works or doesn't work for you over the long-term (1:00:55)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (1:06:53)

This Week’s Experiments

Dallas suggests:

Read an article or two that peaks your interest from the list of trusted resources (see the Resources section, below) and choose something practical to change as a result. For example, replace margarine with coconut oil and butter.

Pilar suggests:

1) Read Experience Life magazine's article, "Decoding Health Media" to get a better understanding of the contemporary challenges media consumers face, and how you can overcome them.

2) Notice key words and phrases in health media, on product labels, and in advertising, noticing how they influence your assumptions and choices.

  • Keep your eye out for features and seals that make a product sound healthy even when it may not be.
  • Watch for phrases like "light,"  "wholesome," "low-fat," "zero cholesterol," "air popped," "contains whole grains," and "baked, not fried" — then read the label and challenge the underlying assumptions.

Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/health-media/

Dec 5, 2016

Eating out offers many potential benefits – tasty food, fun with friends, and a break from cooking – but it can also lead to pitfalls for your well-being. This week on The Living Experiment we unpack the challenges of eating out, including the hidden world of food suppliers, cuisines built for profit rather than health, and misconceptions about gluten-free menus. We provide suggestions for taking command in making educated food choices – how to identify restaurants that value good food sourcing and think outside the box when ordering from a menu. To make eating out a life-giving experience, we offer experiments that encourage exploration and creativity in your dining adventures.

"Eating Out" Episode Highlights

  • Getting past "I can't eat anything" and "I must eat everything" mindsets, and making empowered food choices instead (3:30)
  • Embracing dining as a pleasurable experience vs. an exercise in self-denial and "nutritionism" (6:30)
  • Scoping out and supporting places that make healthy food from good sources (8:10)
  • The value of knowing the types of restaurants that work for your preferred eating approach (9:30)
  • A caution about "greenwashing" — industrial factory-farmed foods as "farm fresh" or sustainably/humanely raised when they aren't (11:55)
  • What your server can tell you about a restaurant's real values (12:30)
  • Keywords to try when using mobile apps to search for healthy places in unfamiliar locations (13:30)
  • Items to look for — and avoid — when browsing a menu (15:10)
  • Mixing-and-matching to create an edible meal almost anywhere (18:15)
  • Creative solutions for ordering vegetables when they're not well represented on the menu (20:30)
  • Clues that a restaurant is sourcing their food consciously and imaginatively — or not (25:15)
  • Industrial supply-chain insights — the reality of where most restaurants get most of their food (26:50)
  • Strategies for gluten-free dining (29:30)
  • How not to be a prisoner of gluten-free menus, and how you can expand your healthy GF options (32:20)
  • The tyranny of the menu, and how to advocate for your own best interests (34:50)
  • The problem with kids' menus (36:20)
  • Pre-nibbling veggies as a damage-control strategy for iffy restaurant situations (39:00)
  • Deciding about alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages with meals (40:15)
  • Dessert as an optional pleasure (45:20)
  • Dessert alternatives (49:40)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (53:00)

This Week’s Experiments

Dallas suggests:

The next time you go out to eat, try a new restaurant by asking for recommendations.

  • If you're traveling, ask a local or use specific search terms in an app like Yelp.
  • If you're at home, ask a friend for his or her faves (based on your stated priorities).
  • Strive to find a place offering locally-sourced or farm-to-table food.

Pilar suggests:

Ask for food swaps that suit your preferences, and through practice, expand your comfort level in asking for what you want.

  • If an entrée comes with two sides (like a potato or rice or pasta plus veggie), consider swapping out the starchy option for another non-starchy vegetable.
  • If you like the looks of a protein-based starter option, order that and combine it with extra veggies or other sides.
  • Ask about available fresh green vegetables that might not be listed as side options but could be easily and simply prepped for you (per Dallas's trademark request, "Can you cook me something green?")
  • Asking for what you want gets easier (and more addictive) every time you do it.

Get full show notes and resources at: http://livingexperiment.com/eating-out/

Nov 28, 2016

This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about "mansplaining" — that dynamic where men sometimes explain things to women in condescending, clueless, or less-than-respectful ways.

Perhaps a man persists in explaining something that a woman already knows. Perhaps he talks over her attempts to express her own point of view. Or perhaps he holds forth in some way that generally does not honor his listener as an equal.

Mansplaining has become a popular term and a hot topic over the past few years, and because it's such an common source of stress and strife in our world, we also see it as an important and under-recognized health issue.

So in this episode, we talk about the origins of the word "mansplaining." We share our personal experiences with it and discuss how increasing our awareness of it can help men and women communicate in more constructive, mutually satisfying ways.

Finally, we serve up some experiments to help you notice how mansplaining might be showing up in your life — and what you can do about it.

"Mansplaining" Episode Highlights

  • Dallas's eye-opening (and sometimes disturbing) journey through Rebecca Solnit's book, Men Explain Things to Me (4:00)
  • Defining the term "mansplaining" — via examples and Solnit’s own words (9:00)
  • How the mansplaining dynamic can create a chronic, internalized stress that may manifest as physical illness (11:10)
  • Pilar's experiences with mansplaining at work (12:55) and in a dating relationship (15:25)
  • The ways that women's pent-up frustrations may suddenly surface, and why those eruptions tend to have less-than-healthy outcomes (18:15)
  • How mansplaining was modeled and adopted in Dallas's family (20:10)
  • The devaluing of women's experience and knowledge, by both the man doing the mansplaining and the woman being mansplained to (21:25)
  • A recent mansplaining incident in Pilar's current relationship (23:30)
  • Practical solutions for men and women, beginning with awareness (26:10)
  • Pilar's perspective shift transitioning from a women's college to a workplace where men ran the show (26:55)
  • Dallas's key takeaways from his new awareness of mansplaining — the consequences of devaluing the unique and critical perspective of half of the human race (28:35)
  • The intersection of three themes from episodes of The Living Experiment — shame, scarcity mentality, and mansplaining (31:00)
  • The value of asking "interested" vs. merely "interesting" questions, and how this can help produce richer, more rewarding conversations (32:45)
  • The physical reactions women may experience in response to mansplaining scenarios  (35:45)
  • In-depth analysis of the two options for responding to mansplaining — suck it up or intervene (36:30)
  • When responses to mansplaining lead to lose-lose scenarios (38:05)
  • Finding context for the frustration (39:10)
  • Dallas's call to men to take responsibility and change the dynamic (41:15)
  • The importance of evaluating the stress and depleted pleasure caused by mansplaining, at work and at home, whether you're a man or a woman (42:15)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (43:55)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas suggests:

1) For men: Pay attention to how you speak to women, notice when you're mansplaining, and own up to it in the moment it happens.

  • The woman may already be frustrated, and you may have already damaged your conversation and relationship. Call yourself out and take responsibility.
  • Behavior change is important, but even more powerful is stopping and acknowledging the behavior in the moment because it defuses harm and allows the tone of the conversation to reset.

2) For women on the receiving end of mansplaining, intervene with the man in a constructive way. 

  • Share how you are feeling, raise the issue, and indicate that you want to advance the conversation together in a mutually respectful way.
  • If you notice anger rising, ask whether it's commensurate with the situation or a disproportionate response driven by your personal history.
  • Recognize that blasting the man doesn't help solve the problem of the millennia behind you. He may have no idea that what he's doing is being received by you as disrespectful; he may have been trying to impress you with his knowledge or share something he thought you'd find helpful and interesting.

Pilar suggests:

1) Read Rebecca Solnit's thought-provoking essay, "Men Explain Things to Me", to get a sense of why this issue matters so much, and carries so much social, emotional and political charge.

2) Start noticing mansplaining on television, the radio, or wherever you overhear conversations.

  • Witnessing it occurring around you allows you to observe it more objectively and consider how you might handle it if you were to find yourself in a comparable situation.
  • Seeing examples through the lens of history (watching period pieces, on Mad Men, etc.) can help make you more aware of when it's happening in your own midst.

Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/mansplaining/

Nov 21, 2016

We are big fans of coffee. We dig its flavor, its aroma, its health benefits, its feel-good buzz. We also know it's easy to overdo, particularly when we're rushed, stressed and depleted — which is precisely when all that caffeine is most apt to do us biochemical harm. In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we look at both the upsides and downsides of coffee, explaining how it affects both your body and brain from the moment you take a sip. We suggest ways to fine tune your coffee selection and habits, and offer our thoughts on the pros and cons of the burgeoning “butter coffee” trend. Finally, we present some experiments to help you make more conscious coffee decisions in your own life.

"Coffee" Episode Highlights

  • How caffeine is metabolized by your body (and a tip for enhancing the duration of its effects) (5:05)
  • Why coffee has the title of “single greatest source of antioxidants in the American diet” (7:55)
  • Research that links coffee with reduced risk (or delayed onset) of Alzheimer’s disease and type-2 diabetes (9:50)
  • How genetics affect your caffeine metabolism rate, and implications for how beneficial or harmful coffee may be for you (11:00)
  • The relationship between low-grade, chronic stress and heart palpitations or "jitters" while drinking coffee (12:35)
  • From the Experience Life magazine article, “This is Your Body on Caffeine” — a timeline of what happens in your body over the 12 hours after you drink coffee (13:40)
  • First 10 minutes: Stimulation and alertness (14:30)
  • 30-45 minutes later: Peak energizing effects, slowing ability to absorb dopamine, and increased urge to go to the bathroom (15:20)
  • 1-5 hours later: Release of adrenaline, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, and break down of caffeine by the liver (16:20)
  • Caffeine intake and trouble getting to sleep (18:15)
  • The interaction between stress, coffee, and appetite (21:10)
  • How oral contraceptives and smoking affect your body's ability to process caffeine (22:50)
  • After 12 hours: Withdrawal and headaches that pass within a few hours if you drink enough water (25:05)
  • The butter-coffee and "Bulletproof" trend: What it is, the theory behind its potential benefits, including impacts on cognitive performance, blood sugar, and energy levels (25:30)
  • Why subbing coffee for food is not a sustainable weight-loss or health-improvement solution (28:00)
  • How a strategic whole foods eating plan can help you achieve better results (34:45)
  • Decaf —  choose organic or skip it entirely (37:20)
  • Social and environmental issues around coffee and whether fair trade, organic purchases make a difference (38:30)
  • Challenging our current crazy coffee culture — jumbo drinks with five shots of espresso and several pumps of artificial flavors and sugar syrups or artificial sweeteners added to the mix (39:50)
  • The high cost of using coffee to power sleep deprivation, or to overcome our natural ultradian rhythms (42:15)
  • If you're not already drinking coffee, should you start? (43:40)
  • Regulating your caffeine intake to manage anxiety and avoid panic attacks (44:45)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (47:25)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas suggests:

Take a three-week break from coffee and all caffeine to assess your relationship with it and its effect on you.

  • Habitually consuming caffeine desensitizes you to its effects.
  • For athletes looking for a performance boost, try reintroducing caffeine shortly before competition to get its full cognitive and physiological performance-enhancing effects.
  • Evaluate how obligated you are to add a sweetener or fat source to your coffee. If you don’t like it without those additives, either you aren’t drinking good coffee, it’s not prepared well, or you don’t actually like coffee as much as you like your coffee condiments.

Pilar suggests:

1) The next time you go into a coffee shop, order a "small,"  not a grandé, venti or super-jumbo-big-gulp.

  • Put your attention on the experience of consciously tasting and savoring that small-size cup (and notice how few people order a "small" anything anymore).
  • Avoid adulterating your coffee with all sorts of added flavors (caramel shots, etc.).
  • If you like having "cream" in your coffee, have real cream (preferably heavy vs. half-and-half); pass on the fat-free, skim or low-fat milk, and bypass the weird chemical substitutes.
  • You probably won't see heavy cream as an option unless you ask; many places stock it for whipping cream, and don't put it out for customer use unless requested.

2) Experiment with different ratios of cream to coffee.

  • Try adding a little more fat than you normally would, and then cutting back on sugar (if you normally add it). See how it impacts your enjoyment and satiety.
  • Choose better coffee — better sourced, better roasted or better prepared. It may reduce your desire to add sweeteners and flavors.

Get full episode notes and links at http://livingexperiment.com/coffee/

Nov 14, 2016

Every season has its gifts, but we live in a culture that prefers to celebrate the bright, “go-go” energy of summer. Without the haven of a winter recovery cycle to replenish us, though, we get depleted, overstimulated, and overwhelmed. So in this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we talk about the important and under-appreciated aspects of the winter season. We explain how you can observe its traditions by strategically adjusting your mindset, sleep schedule, food, fitness activity, and more. Drawing on ancient wisdom and modern-day science, we suggest some experiments to help you make the most of winter in your own world.

 “Winter” Episode Highlights

  • An overview of where winter fits into Chinese Five-Element Theory – associating everything in nature and our lives with a season and element, each with its own implications (6:00)
  • Fall associations: Metal (element), grief (emotion), and the experience of emptiness – a big, metal bowl with receptive space (7:00)
  • Winter: Water (element); fear (emotion); the experience of introspection, dreaming, creativity, and exploration — many “what if?” possibilities filling the empty bowl (7:20)
  • Spring: Wood (element); anger (emotion); the experience of clear, conscious choice and directed energy — a bamboo shoot emerging straight from the water (8:30)
  • Summer: Fire (element); joy (emotion); the experience of flourishing, sharing the bounty, including everyone in the celebration — the blossoming of the bamboo shoot in a beautiful display of plenty (9:40)
  • Change of season: Earth (contains all the elements), empathy (emotion), the experience of sharing from a place of surplus – redistributing resources, then returning back to emptiness with a bigger metal bowl, stronger structure, even greater possibility (10:00)
  • The "cult of the light" — our imbalanced cultural celebration of the bright, energetic, and productive (masculine "yang" energy) at the cost of the equally-important quiet, slower, introspective, restorative aspects of life (feminine "yin" energy) (11:05)
  • How ignoring the energetic downshift from summer into winter leaves us depleted and resentful, with nothing to give in our relationships (13:35)
  • Your body’s clear signals and the subtle, systemic maladies that indicate you’re suffering from a lack of seasonal replenishment and restoration (15:15)
  • An introduction to Dallas's seasonal model for health – three key components of sleep, food, and movement (16:35)
  • The pitfalls of using stimulating screen time to ignore the changing light/dark cycle in winter, which is nature’s nudge for you to become introspective and get more sleep (17:00)
  • Life-giving activities for the winter, including the Danish concept of hygge that encourages intimacy with yourself and other people (19:30)
  • Summer movement vs. winter movement – seasonally-harmonious fitness activities (24:00)
  • How giving yourself a cardio break in winter can actually make you healthier (26:40)
  • Thinking about winter exercise routines as a fitness foundation for spring and summer (28:00)
  • Refraining from "should-ing on yourself" – why saying "could" instead of "should" is more empowering (32:15)
  • High-intensity interval training: Short, hard anaerobic conditioning suggestions for the winter – outdoors or indoors – with appropriate work-to-rest ratios (34:20)
  • Hearty food ideas for winter using locally- and seasonally-available sources, including high-quality animal proteins and fats; robust, durable, starchy root vegetables; and sturdy, leafy greens (36:45)
  • Breakfast and the "year-round smoothie conundrum" – replacing cold morning smoothies with hot, healthy, hearty whole foods  (40:00)
  • Slow cookers (the perfect winter kitchen appliance) and soups and stews (the perfect winter meal) (42:00)
  • Debunking myths about dietary fat and why it’s OK (and healthy) to eat fat in moderation and without heavy carbohydrates — particularly in winter (45:00)
  • An explanation of dietary cholesterol vs. serum cholesterol and why consuming eggs and meat isn't the primary driver of cholesterol troubles (47:15)
  • The synergy of sleep, movement, and food – increased rest + strength and power exercises + a diet of more meat, fat, and starchy vegetables = greater winter health (49:50)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (53:50)

This Week’s Experiments

Dallas suggests:

Progressively adjust your bedtime to get more winter sleep.

  • Starting in November, go to bed a half an hour earlier with each successive month, continuing with this strategy until spring.
  • Resist the urge to maintain your summer sleep schedule, which will likely net you hours less sleep than your body wants and needs.

Pilar suggests:

1) Add more seasonal vegetables to your shopping list.

  • Choices include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, beets, and rutabagas; dark, leafy greens like kale and chard (fresh or frozen); fennel (roasted or in stews); sweet potatoes, squash, carrots (whole, not baby carrots!), parsnips.
  • Heat-caramelized veggies are a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth: Toss them with olive oil, add a little salt and pepper, and roast them in an oven or on a cast-iron skillet.

2) Swap night-time TV watching for some other low-key, constructive or creative activity, even if it’s just for a half hour and one night a week to start.

  • Use the time to read, write, journal, declutter an area (like your fridge).
  • Take a bath, do some yoga or stretching, or indulge in other self-care activities.
  • Options like vision boarding, guided meditations or journaling can prime you for rich, insight-provoking dreams.

Get resources and other helpful links at livingexperiment.com/winter.

Nov 7, 2016

Shame is universal. It touches every age, gender, and ethnicity — from a child who wets the bed to a presidential candidate who is caught off guard in a debate. Shame operates at your core, often playing out in a debilitating combination of aggression, withdrawal, and perfectionism. But how can you address shame if you have difficulty acknowledging or talking about it? In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we discuss shame openly, flushing it out of hiding and into the light of day. We talk about where shame comes from, how men and women feel it differently, and how it impacts relationship dynamics. We also suggest steps to shift from shame toward self-acceptance and insight.

"Shame" Episode Highlights

  • The life-long and inescapable human condition of shame (3:25)
  • Defining (and differentiating) shame and guilt (6:30)
  • The three primary behavioral expressions of shame (7:25)
  • Secondary and tertiary consequences, including communication problems (7:50)
  • The subtle differences between imposing shame and offering compassionate guidance (10:00)
  • How shame that develops very early in life can manifest in our adult lives and relationships (12:50)
  • Perfectionism as a response to childhood shame (14:25)
  • Shame as a potential outcome of a religious upbringing (15:15)
  • How your own sense of worth influences the way you accept or judge others (17:55)
  • Dr. Marilee Adams’ "Choice Map" and the two paths — judger or learner — we can take in any stressful situation (18:45)
  • Gender-specific shame triggers and responses (23:55)
  • Dallas's early experience with shame, and the shadow it cast (26:00)
  • Pilar's experience of shame resulting from childhood sexual abuse (29:50)
  • How (and why) we make sense of irrational thoughts and situations, and why that's not always healthy (31:00)
  • How shame shows up in human behavior (33:50)
  • Dr. Brené Brown’s outing of the universal, destructive experience of shame (37:45)
  • Shame-based morality vs. the natural consequences of potentially problematic actions, such as over-consumption of porn or food (38:45)
  • The power of acknowledging and exposing sources and feelings of shame (42:20)
  • How Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy can help people evolve traumatic experiences (44:20)
  • “De-cloaking” — risking the truth about yourself with close friends, and the positive feedback loop that can create (47:10)
  • How to re-frame and diminish shame with self-awareness and compassion (53:00)
  • Making peace with your life experiences — good and bad — to more fully understand and accept yourself and others for who they are (55:40)
  • How a difficult divorce can catalyze the work of self-discovery (57:25)
  • The vicious cycle of poor communication between men and women – women's unarticulated desires leading to men's misguided efforts to fulfill them  — and how to reverse the pattern (1:00:00)
  • Framing failure without shame rather than denying failure happened (1:05:00)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (1:08:20)

This Week’s Experiments

Dallas suggests: Identify and compassionately acknowledge your shame.

  • On a piece of paper, write “I have shame about . . .” and list all of your feelings of shame. On the last line of the page, write, “And it’s OK.”
  • Calling shame by its name and accepting yourself sets the stage for growth.

Pilar suggests: In the moments you feel shame, change the questions you ask.

  • The next time you're tempted to go down a path of self-retribution (e.g, why am I so stupid; what's wrong with me; what will people think?), ask neutral, non-judging learner questions such as: “What just happened?” “What’s useful here?” “What do I want now?” “What would I like to have happen?” “What can I learn?” “What am I actually responsible for?” “What’s possible?” “What are my choices?” “What would be the best use of my time, energy, and attention now?”
  • Embrace shame-tinged experiences as fertile ground for growth and self-honoring rather than self-reproach.
  • Look for opportunities to reframe shame-based experiences from your early life to reclaim your sense of worth as a human being now.

Get resources and other helpful links at livingexperiment.com/shame.

Oct 31, 2016

Sitting on our butts — it's something most of us do for hours on end. We sit at our desks and in meetings. We sit while parked in front of screens at home. We sit while eating, drinking and socializing. We sit while driving cars and riding in planes and trains and — well, pretty much everywhere, most of the time.

Given how much of our lives we spend sitting, it’s worth knowing how it affects our bodily systems — not just our musculoskeletal health, but our metabolism, biochemistry, and more.

One expert quoted in The Washington Post asserts that after 30 minutes of sitting, your metabolism can slow by as much 90 percent, and that after two hours, the good cholesterol in your blood stream can drop 20 percent. Yikes!

So in this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we offer insights into the damage done by prolonged sitting, plus an explanation for why simply swapping sitting for standing isn’t an ideal solution, and some simple, doable ways to keep your body in motion at healthy intervals throughout the day.

"Sitting" Episode Highlights

  • "Sitting (and maybe standing?) is the new smoking" – seeing beyond conflicting and confusing headlines (2:50)
  • Why the real problem is being too sedentary for too long – and why extended bouts of standing, while better than sitting, still spell trouble (4:00)
  • The motion-based muscular contractions required for your circulatory system to return blood to your heart (5:30)
  • The chronic musculoskeletal imbalances that arise from being too still for too long (7:50)
  • Why unseen postural muscles matter, and the importance of their endurance, not just their strength (10:05)
  • The vicious cycle of sitting in a chair and decreasing endurance (11:00)
  • Yoga and ball chairs – litmus tests (and training tools) for postural-muscle stamina (12:00)
  • Mushy abs, a weak back, feeble gluteal muscles and tight hip flexors — the high costs of chair time (12:45)
  • Sitting's impact on your upper body – a concave chest, shallow breathing, and a craned neck position (15:15)
  • The "medicalization" of poor lifestyle practices and “the tyranny of the diagnosis” that dissuades us from addressing the real root causes of our health problems (16:20)
  • The hormonal and metabolic pitfalls of a sedentary lifestyle, and the hazardous combination of sitting a lot and eating a carb-heavy, high- refined-grain diet (17:25)
  • How even very short periods of movement can have giant positive effects on insulin sensitivity (19:30)
  • Potential benefits of shifting to a standing desk or sit-to-stand desk (24:10)
  • The bare-minimum frequency at which you need to be moving (25:00)
  • A shout-out to the “Pause” episode of The Living Experiment, and how to leverage your ultradian rhythms for more regular activity breaks (25:45)
  • Creating a standing desk from available stuff, or advocating for healthier office accessories (27:15)
  • How to incorporate standing or walking into work meetings (28:45)
  • The big picture: Planning your next life move in favor of your health, happiness and satisfaction (33:10)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (35:25)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas suggests:

Establish a rule: If you’re going to watch TV or play video games, stand up while doing so.

  • From a standing position, you’ll find yourself moving around more often – you simply won’t want to stand stationary for the full duration of a one-hour show.
  • If you're standing while watching, you'll also be far less inclined to consume passive entertainments for prolonged periods.

Pilar suggests:

Take a look at the environments where you spend most of your time seated – both at work and at home – and evaluate how you might be able to adjust or redesign those spaces to encourage more frequent and regular movement.

  • Create a standing work station in your office by stacking up books or bringing in a platform.
  • Set out a yoga mat, kettle bell, bands, or weights near where you work to inspire you to incorporate movement into your day.
  • At home, assess how your entertainment area is set up: If your living room is designed around watching TV, that's what you're going to do. Rearrange your furniture to encourage conversation, reading, cuddling, doing creative projects or looking outside instead.

Share the Love!

If you're enjoying The Living Experiment, please tell your friends about it (check out the "Share This" widget and other social-media tools on this page). People are always looking for great new podcasts, and your personal recommendations mean a lot.

We'd also love to have you connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter — share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.

Resources

PLUS ...

Oct 24, 2016

We live in a culture that encourages us to consume far more than we create. That's a dynamic that directly undermines both our health and happiness. Learn why, and how you can achieve a more empowering balance.

Creativity — whether preparing a delicious meal or exchanging witty banter with an old friend — can bring deep satisfaction. Consumption — whether enjoying a fine wine or a riveting Game of Thrones episode — can also be a delightful experience.

But when creativity- and consumption-based pleasures get out of balance in our lives, our health and happiness start to suffer. Giving without receiving can be exhausting, while consuming without producing can feel aimless.

In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we explore the dynamic relationship between creativity and consumption, the historic events that have led to our modern-day imbalance, and some strategies for establishing a healthier equilibrium.

"Creativity vs. Consumption" Episode Highlights

  • Defining, in thought-provoking terms, the key concepts of consumption (3:05) and creation (3:35)
  • Dallas's observations of behavior changes in people on the Whole30 program, and how they inspired his interest in the creativity/consumption dynamic (4:40)
  • The virtuous cycle of making positive changes that boost your self-confidence (8:10)
  • An evolutionary mismatch: how our DNA is hardwired for a balance of creativity and consumption very different from how we’re living today (9:50)
  • How Pilar's personal experience of the consumption/creativity imbalance motivated her to create Experience Life magazine, and the confirming feedback she got from readers (10:35)
  • A historical overview of the shift from creation to consumption (12:40)
  • The Agricultural Revolution, and how it changed our fundamental rhythms of life (14:25)
  • The impact of trade and transactional relationships on the rise of consumerism – “What can I get for myself from you?” (15:05)
  • The Industrial Revolution, and how mechanized production translated to less work for more goods, creating the economic forces that shaped consumer society (15:40)
  • How the overconsumption of stuff has led us to want more of everything and affected our interpersonal relationships (18:00)
  • The evolutionary drivers behind the desire to accumulate things (19:35)
  • The inverse relationship between creation and consumption, and the damage caused by mindless overconsumption (22:15)
  • How changing one small thing, whether nutrition, activity, sleep or mindset, can lead to profound life transformation (23:40)
  • Meditation as a means of combating harmful consumption patterns (24:10)
  • The dopamine loop activated by digital experiences, and how instant gratification creates a need for increasingly amped-up rewards (24:50)
  • Research on how simple, hands on tasks can help counteract addictive tendencies (27:30)
  • Lessons of the "trust-fund rat study" — how rats that didn’t have to work to find their food ended up more sick, fat, and depressed than rats that did (29:40)
  • Upgrading your media consumption (31:45)
  • Dallas's "More Social Less Media" program – balancing creative social interaction with mindful media intake (33:15)
  • The value of examining our effort to get love and affection from other people (34:40)
  • Why cooking a meal with another person can be a profoundly uplifting experience (36:55)
  • Suggested experiments for the week (38:20)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas suggests:

Identify one or two places where you mindlessly over-consume, and pick a creative replacement activity instead.

  • Examples: Join a book club, plant a vegetable garden, pick up a musical instrument, or write in a journal.
  • “If your goal is ‘reduce consumption,’ be more creative; if your goal is ‘be more creative,’ reduce consumption.”

Pilar suggests:

1) Reduce your in-car media consumption, and instead make a creative effort to drive with exceptional kindness and generosity.

  • Minimize dependence on music, news, texting, and phone-based interactions.
  • Drive with the most awareness and thoughtfulness you can muster; rather than thinking about others as obstacles in your way, be on the lookout for how you can assist and support others during your commute.
  • Examples: Anticipate people who might be trying to merge into your lane, slow down, and wave them in; make up kind and compassionate stories about the iffy behaviors of other drivers.
  • Recognize that you can choose the attitude you want to adopt in any given moment, and how this gives you the opportunity to improve your own and others' experiences.

2) Swap some TV time in favor of an activity that improves your personal environment or quality of life. 

  • Invest at least part of your habitual media-consumption time (even a half hour) in the service of your own happiness.  Look for some small way you can creatively contribute to own real-life daily experience or sense of wellbeing instead.
  • Examples: Declutter a messy area, reorganize and arrange the bedside table to be more beautiful, vacuum out the silverware drawer, or clear out long-expired spices or supplements. Deal with some small annoyance or toleration you've been putting off.

Share the Love!

If you're enjoying The Living Experiment, please tell your friends about it (check out the "Share This" widget and other social-media tools on this page). People are always looking for great new podcasts, and your personal recommendations mean a lot.

We'd also love to have you connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.

Resources

  • The Story of Stuff, a 20-minute, fact-filled look at the dark side of our production and consumption patterns — and the origins of our consumer economy.
  • Dallas’s blog article, "Porn, Shame, and Doughnuts", which digs into the psychology and physiology of addictive behaviors and instantly-available stimuli.
  • The Living Experiment episode on "Addiction", which touches on how simple, creative tasks can help to overcome dependencies.
  • The Trust Fund Rat Study as explained in a Scientific American article by Dr. Kelly Lambert (the study's author) exploring the link between hands-on pursuits, increased resilience and decreased depression.
  • On Being, a podcast by Peadbody-Award-winning journalist Krista Tippett exploring what it means to be human and how we can live our best lives in the 21st century.
  • The Minimalists Podcast — Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus's ongoing discussion about living a meaningful life with less stuff.

PLUS ...

 

Oct 17, 2016

From a health perspective, what comes out of your body is every bit as important as what goes in. So we think it's high time we gave poo the respect it deserves.

Look, we know, it's an awkward topic. And that's why it's so rarely discussed among friends, lovers and family members, or even with health care professionals.

The problem is, when we don't talk about it, we don't learn about it. And when we don't learn about something as important as healthy digestion and elimination, we get into serious trouble.

That's why more than 60 million Americans suffer from constipation, and far many too many endure oppressive bowel related discomfort, toxicity and related inflammatory diseases.

So in this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we have a frank conversation about feces, defining what’s “normal” — in frequency, form, and yes, even aroma. We also offer some helpful counsel on identifying and resolving common poo problems, and more.

Even if you're a little grossed out, you're not going to want to miss this essential wisdom for improving your digestive process, your elimination experience, and your overall health.

"Poo" Episode Highlights

  • How your poop reflects your health, and relates to the condition of your skin (7:00)
  • Some basics about frequency, effort and more (8:10)
  • The relationship between your diet (especially fiber) and your defecation (11:10)
  • How a lack of dietary fiber undermines elimination, causing recirculation of polluted bile, with inflammatory and cholesterol-raising results (11:35)
  • The surprising range of serious health conditions that can develop from poor elimination and overstressed detox pathways (12:15)
  • How gas, belching, and bad breath can result from waste that ferments in your gut for too long (13:40)
  • A word on microbiome disruption and Dr. Elson Haas’s graphic warning against letting methane gas build up in your system (14:20)
  • Using the Bristol Stool Chart to assess the shape, texture, and quality of your poo (16:10)
  • Signs and causes of constipation, including stress and food intolerance (18:05)
  • The German “poop shelf” and the value of examining your stool (20:20)
  • GI tests as a diagnostic tool for identifying the underlying causes of digestive and skin problems, allergies, and asthma (21:20)
  • Tips on what you can do about constipation and diarrhea – food, fiber, water, and fat intake (22:45)
  • Examining the effect of your stress, lifestyle, and schedule on your bowel movements (24:40)
  • Ramifications of not going when you first feel the urge to go (24:55)
  • The smelly signals poo sends (29:00)
  • Some pro-poo minerals (32:05)
  • The interdependence of sleep, stress, and GI motility (33:10)
  • Experiments for the week (38:50)

This Week's Experiments

Pilar suggests:

1) Incorporate a good-sized serving of fresh, non-starchy, leafy-green, or other fibrous vegetables with each meal of the day.

  • Fiber is essential for moving things along and for escorting polluted bile out of your system.
  • Examples: Add a handful of fresh greens or sautéed kale to your breakfast. For lunch, add a salad or a side order of vegetables. For dinner, add an additional serving of vegetables prepared in some yummy way.

2) Notice and immediately respect your body's first-inkling signal that you need to poop.

  • Whenever you notice the urge to go, go right then. Don't delay, allow yourself to distracted, avoid it, or wait for a more convenient time.
  • Ignoring or de-prioritizing your body's signals can lead to constipation and significantly undermine your health.

Dallas suggests:

1) Drink at least one to two glasses of lukewarm water within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning;

  • Drinking warm water in the morning — ideally, before coffee — improves GI health and hydration, facilitating elimination with zero effort, zero cost.

2) Consider using a Squatty Potty

  • The Squatty Potty is a small platform that elevates your feet on either side of the toilet, allowing you to get into a more natural squatting position for easier and more complete bowel movements.

Share the Love!

If you're enjoying The Living Experiment, please tell your friends about it (check out the "Share This" widget and other social-media tools on this page). People are always looking for great new podcasts, and your personal recommendations mean a lot.

We'd also love to have you connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.

Resources

Oct 10, 2016

Can you ever have “enough” — money, time, energy, love? Do you trust that you will have enough in the future? Do you believe you are enough, right now, just as you are?

Your answers to those questions can have a profound influence on your health and happiness.

In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we examine the opposing mentalities of scarcity and abundance. We explore how they affect our experiences in the present moment, and how they can impact our future.

Research suggests that worrying about "not enough" — or even focusing on on imaginary "not enough" scenarios — can reduce both our available IQ and our ability to respond to real-life challenges.

As Pilar says, “scarcity mentality tends to produce scarcity results.” That's why we're excited to offer up insights and experiments to help you evolve your mindset in more rewarding directions.

“Enough” Episode Highlights

  • The scarcity-fear connection, and its hidden costs (2:45)
  • Why scarcity thinking is almost always about the future (3:30)
  • Research by a Harvard economist shows how even imagining scarcity scenarios can undermine your mental capacity (4:40)
  • Scarcity as a self-fulfilling prophecy: How fear of "not enough" sets you up to lose (5:45)
  • Discovering the origins of scarcity mentality in childhood experiences (7:10)
  • Why grasping for love, attention, and affection tends to alienate, rather than attract, other people (10:20)
  • The physiological underpinnings of scarcity — including the effect of stress-escalated cortisol and adrenaline (11:10)
  • Scarcity and self-worth — the shame inherent in feeling inadequate (15:00)
  • Connecting with a mindset of abundance, in which there's enough for you and everybody else, and everyone can win (16:00)
  • Pinpointing where your anxieties lie and connecting them to scarcity-based beliefs (18:00)
  • How mass-media sows discontent and can slay our self-esteem (19:00)
  • Pilar's experience of measuring her body against an unachievable feminine ideal — even as a small child (19:45)
  • The "never enough" machine: How consumerism drives perennial dissatisfaction (20:20)
  • Dallas shares his experience of challenging the rational basis of another person's fiscal anxieties, and the inherent narcissism in being obsessed about scarcity (21:00)
  • What a person with an abundance mentality looks like, and how it feels to be that person (25:30)
  • Shame/vulnerability researcher Brené Brown’s concept of sufficiency (27:10)
  • How rushing conveys scarcity — how to be more present with your family by changing your point of view about time (31:15)
  • Simple mantras to connect you with the abundance you already have (35:30)
  • Dispelling scarcity via Byron Katie’s process of self-inquiry; her four key reality-challenging questions (38:00)
  • Practicing presence and gratitude by acting as if you have enough and asking “What am I missing?” (41:00)

This Week’s Experiments

Dallas suggests: Explore and reframe your scarcity-driven feelings.

  • Notice when you begin to experience a negative emotion of fear, worry, anxiety, or stress.
  • Ask yourself whether that feeling is rooted in some perception or projection of scarcity — the notion that you somehow aren’t enough or will not have enough of one thing or another — whether now, or at some time in the future.
  • If the answer is yes (and it almost always is), challenge that belief by saying, out loud or to yourself: “Right here, right now, it’s enough. Right here, right now, I’m enough for me.”
  • Try that reality on, and see how it feels.

Pilar suggests: 1) Adopt a posture of plenty; and 2) ask, “What am I missing?” 

  • Pick a moment when you are inclined to feel scarcity, whether around money, time, attention, affection, or any other area.
  • Notice how that feeling inclines you to physically and emotionally contract. Decide to instead hold your body in a posture of plenty and generosity.
  • Uncross your arms and legs, lean forward, allow your face and neck to relax, soften your eyes, unclench your hands, breathe slowly and deeply —  as though you have plenty of everything and nothing to fear.
  • Notice how adopting this different posture shifts your experience and perception, particularly if you’re relating to another person.
  • Another experiment: Ask yourself the question “What am I missing?” in two different senses.
    • 1) What am I longing for in this moment; what do I really most want and need? (Hint: It may be something other than what you originally thought you were craving.)
    • 2) What good things am I not seeing? What positive experiences or opportunities are available to me in the present moment that I may have overlooked?
  • Getting real about what you actually want and need (vs. chasing some second-best thing) and noticing what you currently have can help you challenge scarcity-based perceptions and enjoy a more positive present-moment experience.

Visit livingexperiment.com for links to Resources!

Oct 3, 2016

In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we dig into the fundamentals of Paleo and Primal eating approaches — their origins, similarities, and differences, plus practical steps for integrating them into the way you eat today.

We also examine the modern nutritional reductionism that led us to think about food as merely a sum of its parts (macronutrients, calories, and so on) rather than considering the value and integrity of whole foods in their natural state.

In addition to evaluating the differences between Paleo and Primal dietary strategies, we explore their key principles in the context of the larger ancestral nutrition movement — arguably the most significant dietary trend of the past two decades.

Contrasting the hunter-gatherer diets our ancestors consumed for most of human history (2.6 million years) with the more processed and grain-heavy diets we've embraced over the past 10,000 years, we offer up insights about why some foods seem to reliably produce health and vitality, while others consistently produce distress and disease.

"Paleo vs. Primal" Episode Highlights

  • How Michael Pollan figures in — and our personal Pollan stories (3:00)
  • Why most humans tend to thrive on ancestrally-inspired diets (7:40)
  • A brief history of the Paleo movement and the influencers who helped shape it (11:50)
  • Guiding principles for eating within Paleo and Primal frameworks (14:30)
  • Commonalities between Paleo and Primal, and key nuances that distinguish them (16:55)
  • How commercial, industrialized, processed "Paleo" foods have diluted the Paleo movement (18:25)
  • Focusing on the 85% we agree on — vs. the 15% we fight about (19:00)
  • Signs of hope on the food landscape, and reasons to be wary (24:30)
  • Ancestral-diet disharmony: Eggs — included in most ancestral diets, and a common modern-world allergen (27:00)
  • The importance of individual self-experimentation over rigid dietary dictates (28:10)
  • The common-ground essentials of ancestral eating — what's in, what's out, and what's still the subject of debate (dairy, alcohol, legumes, etc.) (29:40)
  • Why even healthy foods can cause serious digestive and immune problems for some people, and the importance of respecting your own system (35:15)
  • The difference between short- and long-term dietary interventions, and the importance of tracking your body's response over time (38:00)
  • Why focusing primarily on weight loss rarely leads to sustainable health improvement (43:10)
  • Our response to "just tell me what to eat!" — a hierarchy of ancestrally-inspired food recommendations that work for most people, most of the time, over the long haul (45:00)
  • Recommended experiments (54:15)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas encourages listeners to take on the Whole30 nutritional program:

  • The 30-day, intensive experiment will help you discover the healing power of whole foods, and help you explore which foods do or do not agree with your body.
  • Eliminate common problem foods (see Whole30 site, link below, for instructions) for 30 days. Over the subsequent weeks, systematically reintroduce them while noting how each affects you.
  • Consider doing the experiment with a friend for better support and motivation.

Pilar suggests going a week without grains or sugars:

  • Remove all grains and added sugars from your diet (not just flour-and-starch-based products like bread, pasta, cookies, and crackers, but also whole-kernel grains like rice, quinoa, and millet).
  • Replace them with extra servings of brightly colored vegetables, which deliver healthy complex carbohydrates, plus fiber and anti-inflammatory, pro-healing phytonutrients.
  • Notice how replacing high-glycemic foods with high-nutrition ones helps balance your blood sugar, improves your energy, and reduces cravings while also improving your overall sense of well-being.

Share the Love!

If you're enjoying The Living Experiment, please tell your friends about it (just click the "share this" tool on this page). People are always looking for great new podcasts, and your personal recommendations mean a lot. We'd also love to have you connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.

Resources

PLUS ...

Sep 19, 2016

Wrapping up our successful first season, we offer a big picture view of what we see as the top 10 fundamentals of healthy, happy living, and how they fit into five key domains of wellbeing. We point out some of the essential connections between all these considerations, and we explain why each of them matters — especially those elements commonly overlooked or underemphasized by the conventional media. If you’re looking for a quick tour of what healthy living looks and feels like, you’ve come to the right place.

Episode Highlights:

  • Pilar outlines five dimensions of health and healthy living (4:40)
  • Dallas and Pilar share their top 10 biggies (fundamentals for being the most vital human you can be), in no particular order (7:40)
  • #1: Whole food nutrition and hydration (8:00)
  • #2: Rest and recovery (10:20)
  • #3: Healthy movement (12:00)
  • #4: Face-to-face intimate social connection (16:25)
  • #5: Empowered role in directing and managing your own healthcare (19:35)
  • #6: Minimal exposure to toxic chemicals, environments and relationships (25:10)
  • #7: Appropriate balance of stress/challenge and recovery/repair opportunity (29:00)
  • #8: Positive growth-and-learning mindset (32:15)
  • #9: Time in nature and the outdoors (35:50)
  • #10: Conscious, discerning relationship with media and marketing (39:00)
  • The art of conducting (and being) your own "living experiment" (43:55)

Share the love!

If you're enjoying The Living Experiment, please tell your friends about it (just click the "share this" tool on this page). People are always looking for great new podcasts, and your personal recommendations mean a lot. We'd also love to have you connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, share your thoughts, stories and reflections there.

Resources:

PLUS ...

Sep 12, 2016

This week on The Living Experiment, we consider the pros and cons of “Fitspo” — short for Fitness Inspiration — that stream of idealized-body imagery and imperatives that dominates a lot of social media feeds these days. We question whether this supposedly aspirational torrent of photos, messages and hashtags is doing health-seekers more harm than good. We challenge the notion that chasing an aesthetic ideal and comparing your body to others’ is likely to be a lasting, positive source of motivation. And we explore a demonstrated correlation between increased exposure to social media and lowered self-esteem. We wind up with some simple experiments you can run in your own life as a way of relating more consciously to the Fitspo memes and messages you’re likely to encounter, and as a way of reconsidering the impact they might be having your own health and happiness. 

Episode Highlights:

  • The Fitspo phenomenon that's flooding our social media feeds (3:25)
  • The important difference between internal and external motivations (5:30)
  • Why Fitspo tends to increase anxiety and lower self-esteem (6:45)
  • How supposedly inspirational pop-culture memes and messages are negatively shaping our self-image (8:15)
  • How to spot and deal with the onslaught of “you’re not good enough” messages we’re slammed with daily (10:30)
  • The problem of chasing superficial body ideals at the cost of your long-term health (14:30)
  • Why buying into a perfect-body fantasy is unlikely to get you what you really want (19:10)
  • Dallas shares his own history as a skinny, scrawny kid, and how he came to terms with his own best body (22:15)
  • Evaluating whether your social media feeds reflect your real-life goals and priorities (24:35)
  • When you’re the one posting Fitspo — how to get more conscious about what you're sharing, and why (26:40)
  • Experiments for the week (29:40)

Weekly Experiments: 

Dallas suggests: Notice the Fitspo images you come across. How do they make you feel about yourself?

  • Pause at images of fit bodies on social media and in advertisements. Ask yourself: do these make my life better?

Pilar suggests: Think about ditching social media feeds that don’t match your real-life goals and values. Ask yourself how your own Fitspo posts you.

  • Go through your social media channels and consider deleting and un-following any feeds that post images or messages that don’t serve you (and particularly those that make you feel worse about yourself).
  • Look at your own profile and social feeds. What messages are you sending with your fitness posts? Do they reflect who you really are and what you care most about?

Share the love! 

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there. 

Share the love!

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there.

Resources:

PLUS:

 
Sep 5, 2016

On this episode of The Living Experiment, we’re talking about “Addiction” — what that phenomenon is all about, and how to address the sometimes-subtle dependencies that may show up in your own life. We address everything from physical and psycho-emotional attachments to food, exercise, emotional drama and social media to entrenched end-of-day drink rituals — even porn. We also help you reflect on the dynamics that can drive your own addictive tendencies, so you can start to shift them in ways that work for you.

Episode Highlights:

  • Our all-purpose definition of addiction (3:10)
  • Cool neuroscience — the pharmacy inside your brain (7:00)
  • How the biochemicals associated with stress feed our dependencies (8:35)
  • Figuring out the root causes of addiction, and noticing how our culture helps create them (15:00)
  • The connection between addiction and lack of human connection  (19:50)
  • Breaking the addictive cycle with mindful practices and conscious choices (22:00)
  • The satisfaction problem — why it's hard to get "enough" porn, doughnuts, and social media (28:45)
  • The connection between women's "food" issues and a lack of sensual satisfaction (31:00)
  • How guilt and shame drive self-destructive behaviors (33:10)
  • Shifting our addictive tendencies (37:20)
  • The importance of tracking the outcomes of your choices (39:30)
  • This week’s experiments (41:55)

Weekly Experiments:

Dallas suggests: Why do you do what you do? Identify your addictions.

  • Using our definition of addiction, take a look at your own behaviors. Do they make your life better? Are you doing them even though they’re harming you?

Pilar suggests: Challenge your daily alcohol ritual, and observe your attachments.

  • If you usually have a drink after work, first sit down with a glass of water and just reflect on how you are presently feeling (body and mind). Then notice how it might feel to do without the wine, beer or cocktail on this particular day. What does the drink represent? What are the feelings that come up when you even consider withholding it?

Share the love!

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there.

Resources

 

PLUS …

Aug 29, 2016

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re celebrating power of the pause — the importance of taking regular breaks, and the rewards of getting into agreement with our bodies’ natural energy-production and repair cycles. We reveal the biological necessity and scientific importance of ultradian rhythms —the regular fluctuations between output and recovery that allow our bodies to maintain optimal energy, focus and vitality. And we offer practical guidance on recognizing your body’s “need a break” signals, and building more brief, health-supporting pauses into your day.  Whether you want to improve your energy, metabolism, hormonal balance and mood, minimize stress and inflammatory conditions, or just want to get more good stuff done during the course of the day, ultradian rhythm breaks are your best friend. Here’s how to make the most of them…

Episode Highlights:

  • Why trying to be consistently productive all day long doesn't work (3:00)
  • Circadian and ultradian rhythms in the body and why they matter (6:30)
  • Why managing time is less effective than managing energy (11:00)
  • “You need to have a valley to have the next peak” - the rules of the ultradian healing response (12:00)
  • The scientific research behind ultradian rhythms (13:00)
  • How to know when you need a break, and the wide range of break options (15:00)
  • How our go-go-go corporate culture undermines productivity and creativity (22:05)
  • The relationship between ultradian rhythms and key health factors (26:00)
  • How taking regular breaks can reduce emotional reactivity and improve willpower (27:30)
  • Simple ways to pause during the day (30:20)
  • Key takeaways (42:10)
  • Experiments for the week (44:00)

Weekly Experiments:

Dallas suggests: Drink a glass of water each time you take a break. 

  • Set an alarm if you need initial reminders to break; effects of good hydration will encourage subsequent breaks.

Pilar suggests: Book two 15-minute interval breaks to check in on your body. 

  • Aim for one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon break every day for a week. Start by noticing how you’re feeling; bonus points for then taking the break your body wants.

Share the love! 

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there.

Resources:

  • Check out the ultradian rhythm chart at Pilar's blog (pilargerasimo.com) to see how your energy rises and falls throughout the day.
  • Visit The Energy Project blog for more information on managing energy to improve productivity.
  • Can't turn out all the lights? Consider getting some blue blocking glasses.
  • Sign up for our newsletter so you can stay up to date with us and get notified when a new episode is available.
  • Subscribe to The Living Experiment on iTunes so you can automatically get new episodes when they come out.
  • Sponsor link: Check out Brian Johnson’s “ Habits 101”  Master Class for FREE at livingexperiment.com/habits.
Aug 22, 2016
 
This week on the Living Experiment, we’re talking about travel—the real challenges it poses for health-seeking people, and smart things you can do to make it easier on your body and mind.Dallas starts by sharing about his recent run-in with hotel bed bugs. Then we get into the more typical array of pesky problems that most health-concerned travelers face, from limited food options, disrupted sleep, and excessive seat time, to dealing with special temptations, increased stress and social isolation. We share some of our best tips and tricks for pre-trip preparation and also for rolling with whatever conditions you’re faced with out on the road, up in the air, and while stuck in random hotels. We wrap up with some easy experiments you can try out on your next trip. 

Episode Highlights:

  • Why traveling (especially for work) can take a huge toll on your health (3:25)
  • Dallas shares his unfortunate encounter with bed bugs (4:45)
  • The challenges of healthy eating on the road, and why planning and preparing so important (8:00)
  • Why breakfast is a big deal (11:00)
  • Packing “low-maintenance” food for the trip (12:15)
  • Pilar’s "Quick-Trick Snack Stack" (14:50)
  • The special lure of cravings on the road (16:20)
  • Finding healthy options away from home (19:00)
  • Consider bringing some condiments (23:10)
  • Weighing your options — eating junk vs. not eating at all. (25:00)
  • Getting to sleep in weird hotel rooms (27:30)
  • The worry of waking up on time (32:55)
  • Why relying on TV to wind down or fall asleep is a bad idea, and how to avoid it with a bedtime ritual (34:15)
  • Staying "regular" when you are off your normal schedule and out of your normal environment (39:30)
  • Fitting in exercise (or not) (41:30)
  • The value of getting out and about (46:50)
  • Being where you are vs. being consumed by your digital devices (48:30)
  • Experiments for the week (54:00)

Weekly Experiments: 

Dallas suggests: Tweak your hotel room for better sleep. Plus: Ask locals for on-the-ground advice. 

  • Lower the room temperature, use a white-noise app to cover ambient sounds, and get the room as dark as possible (blocking light from clocks, under the door, etc.).
  • Connect with the people in the community by getting their suggestions for what to do and where to go.

Pilar suggests: Avoid an unhealthy, mediocre breakfast by packing your own basic supplies. Plus: Mimic your home evening routine while staying in your hotel.

  • Bring nuts, seeds, flaked coconut, and dried fruit with you, and order fresh berries and yogurt as a base. Having eggs? Ask for a side of sautéed greens.
  • Make your hotel life feel more like home by maintaining your normal evening routine. Take a shower, unpack your suitcase, settle in.

Share the love! 

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there. 

Resources:

Aug 15, 2016

On today’s episode of The Living Experiment, we’re talking about seasons: the natural fluctuations your body goes through during the cycles of winter, spring, summer, and fall, and the nutrition, fitness and life-rhythm strategies you can use to stay healthier through all of them. Dallas shares his simple but powerful, science-based model for eating, moving and sleeping in accordance with the seasons.I offer up some insights about the value of observing nature’s ebb-and-flow patterns—rather than being driven by the non-stop madness of modern-day mass culture. Together we explore the ancient wisdom our human bodies still carry about patterns of dark and light, warm and cold, exertion and recovery. And of course, we wrap up with some seasonally appropriate experiments you can run in your own life.  

Episode Highlights:

  • How our human rhythms got out of sync with nature: the disorienting influence of electric lights, artificial temperature controls, jet travel, standardized daily schedules, and more (2:45)
  • How the agricultural and industrial revolutions radically de-seasonalized our diet, activity, sleep and other lifestyle patterns (5:00)
  • The value of embracing a nature-designed, seasonal model of health rather than a standardized, modern-era prescription (8:00)
  • The biological (hormonal, neurological, metabolic, immune) effects of circadian and seasonal rhythm disruption (12:00)
  • Strategies for getting back in touch with more seasonally appropriate rhythms (15:15)
  • Why eating locally and seasonally is a great place to start, and why seasonal oscillations (between lighter, plant-based, higher-carb diets and heavier, meat-and-fat rich diets) can make sense (16:45)
  • Why all this applies to you (at least somewhat) even if you live in a very consistent climate (21:00)
  • The difference between short-term "corrective" phased eating interventions and a more sustainably healthy seasonal approach, especially for the microbiome (24:00)
  • Following our intuitive appetites (rather than diet dogma) toward more seasonally appealing eating choices, and why summer is a fine time to eat fruit (27:20)
  • Beyond diet, changing your exercise approach (power, strength, speed, endurance, etc.) and sleep cycles with the seasons (29:40)
  • Moving beyond cultural programming and habitual repetition toward natural body wisdom (31:30)
  • Observing the yin and yang energies of winter and summer, and the transitional subtleties of spring and fall (33:00)
  • Dallas walks us through how he approaches seasonal eating, and why it's actually pretty easy (36:30)
  • The importance of giving yourself permission to listen to and trust your own body (38:50)
  • Timing your fruit intake — and why permanently cutting out entire food groups is rarely necessary (40:15)
  • A recap of the logic of the Seasonal Model (45:35)
  • Recommended experiments for the week (47:25)

Weekly Experiments 

Dallas suggests: Take a look at how well your current food/activity/sleep programs are coordinated.  Seek to correct any observed imbalances.

  • Assess your diet, exercise routine, and sleep schedule. Do they complement each other and the current season?
  • Brainstorm how you can better align these different factors for better results.

Pilar suggests: Look at the season that's coming into view and consider: What is one single, relatively simple thing I could do to accommodate this shift of season?

  • Trust your first instinct in deciding which specific change (an adjustment in food, activity or sleep) would be most impactful, appealing and doable for you.
  • Don’t stress about integrating a bunch of seasonal changes all at once. Make it gradual. Keep it easy.

Share the Love! 

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there.

Resources

Aug 8, 2016

In this episode of The Living Experiment, we talk about mornings - the challenges they present for many, and some smart strategies for redesigning them in ways that work better for you. Pilar shares the central elements of her flexible, minimalist morning practice, and Dallas shares his mindful coffee-making approach. We explain the underappreciated power of your first waking moments, and offer a fleet of suggestions for creating healthier, more rewarding mornings - without taking on a bunch of new, time-consuming commitments. Finally, we serve up some practical experiments to help you consciously reclaim your mornings so you can more successfully start each day on your own terms.

Episode Highlights

  • The value of creating a morning practice in a way that develops self-efficacy and gets your day off to a positive start (3:00)
  • How exposing yourself to your smartphone (or any mass media) first thing in the morning stresses you out, makes you vulnerable to unhealthy impulses, and robs you of your best ideas (5:25)
  • Pilar's low-key morning routine, and the value of rightsizing your daily commitment (9:05)
  • How Dallas uses a conscious coffee-making ritual to build some reflective centering time into his days (10:45)
  • The importance of savoring and noticing your practice experience — vs. "just doing it." (12:00)
  • How taking control of your morning sets up a successful day (19:10)
  • Think you are too busy for a morning practice? (23:23)
  • Dealing with barriers to establishing your morning ritual (26:15)
  • Good reasons to make your bed every morning (29:50)
  • Dallas's morning routine (33:40)
  • Feeling resistance, and doing it anyway — plus, the value of noticing how you are NOT doing it (37:00)
  • Claiming "you time" as a form of self-respect and self-preservation (38:45)
  • The art of moving purposefully into a restful state (39:50)
  • Permission to do it your way (44:30)
  • This week's experiments (47:20)

Weekly Experiments

Dallas suggests: Take a minute in the morning to mindfully make your bed.

  • Commit to making your bed every morning in a slow, patient, mindful way.
  • Take three deep breaths as a pause before the rest of your day.

Pilar suggests: Try adopting a 1- to 3-minute practice every day for a week.

  • Create a checklist to track your progress throughout the week.
  • Record the barriers you face when trying to complete your practice.

Share the Love! 

Each week, we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment  on Facebook,  Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there. 

Resources

 

Jul 31, 2016

This week on The Living Experiment, we talk about Lonely — the experience and stigma of that feeling, and the negative impacts it has on our well-being. We explore some of the reasons more of us are feeling lonely these days, and how we can get out of the vicious cycles that keep us more isolated than we’d like. We also suggest some experiments that help you create more time, space and energy for social connections that support your own health and happiness.

Episode Highlights

  • What is loneliness? Why do we get lonely? Dallas and Pilar share their thoughts (1:30)
  • How loneliness affects our lives and overall health (6:35)
  • Skin hunger (10:55)
  • Using television as a social crutch (13:30)
  • Recognizing loneliness and social withdrawal as a societal issue (15:00)
  • Untangling the knot of loneliness (20:25)
  • Social feeds as digital junk food — calories but no nutrients (24:30)
  • Why face-to-face contact matters (35:50)
  • Building the skills of assessing and alleviating your own loneliness (39:50)
  • Experiments for the week (50:30)

This Week's Experiments

Dallas suggests: Make your phone invisible in your living space.

  • Keep phones out of sight and silenced in the communal areas of your living space (living room, dining room, kitchen).
  • Try using an app that tracks your phone usage to become more aware of how often you’re looking at the screen.

Pilar suggests: Examine your weekly schedule. Where are there windows of opportunities for real human interaction?

  • Take a look at one week of your schedule and find the opportunities to have face-to-face connections with friends and family. Work events do not count for this experiment!
  • Find 15 minutes a few times a week to make yourself available to connect with strangers, like by sitting in a coffee shop without a cell phone or computer.

Share the Love! 

Each week, we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment  on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and share your stories with us there. 

Resources 

Jul 31, 2016

What's the difference between “Healthy” and “Hot”? We share what those descriptors mean to us, and how our definitions have evolved over time. We address the problem of hyper-perfected ideals in the media, the downsides of chasing aesthetics and metrics that don’t actually result in health, and we share some real-life experiments that can help you shift your own body-image ideals in a healthier, happier direction. 

Episode Highlights

  • Looking better vs. feeling better: Pursuing health (not just the appearance of it) for wise reasons (02:22)
  • Redefining “health” both mentally and emotionally (09:45)
  • What do we mean when we call someone “hot” and what’s that all about? (12:45)
  • Expressions of health as a signifier of potential-mate value, plus the evolutionary biology phenomenon of “faked fitness” (24:30)
  • Choosing good role models for health (36:45)
  • Reframing and refocusing your goals for health and fitness (40:00)
  • Experiments for the week (47:00)

Share the Love! 

Each week, we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment  on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and share your stories with us there. 

Resources 

Jul 31, 2016

Can you live a healthy life in an unhealthy world? Yes, you can. But right now, more than 97 percent of U.S. adults aren’t managing it. So if you are one of the few brave souls who are currently beating the statistics, or intent on beating them, that makes you a freak of sorts—in a good way.  We explore what it means to live outside the prevailing, unhealthy norms, and what it takes. We also share a little of our own “freak” stories

Episode Highlights:

  • What The Living Experiment is all about and what we hope you’ll get out of it (3:00)
  • Facts and Figures: Some disturbing statistics about the current state of U.S. health norms (7:15)
  • Reclaiming the word “freak” and choosing empowered difference in a context of unhappy, unhealthy sameness (12:15)
  • Getting to know Dallas and Pilar: Their childhood origin stories and how they got to where they are now (15:50)
  • Setting yourself up for success (39:20)
  • Experiments for the week (45:20)

This Week's Experiments:

Dallas suggests: The more stressed we are, the more convinced we are that there’s too much to do and never enough time. Can we disrupt the flow?

  • Every time you go to the bathroom, take two deep breaths
  • Inhale for four beats, hold for one beat, and then exhale. Repeat this twice
  • Turn the notifications off on your phone. Put it away and silence it when in the company of other people.

Pilar suggests: Start seeing the madness. Notice the crazy, manipulative stuff you're bombarded with on a daily basis, and begin questioning it.

  • Be on the lookout for how aggressively (or subtly) unhealthy products and mindsets are marketed to you everywhere you go.
  • Take pictures of disturbing or undermining messages on signage and billboards, or tear bad/silly/absurd advertisements out of magazines as a way of raising your media awareness.

Share the Love!

Each week we offer you a few life-shifting experiments to try on your own. We'd love to hear how they turn out, and what insights they provoke! Connect with The Living Experiment on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and share your stories with us there.

Resources:

  • For statistical details on the sorry state of U.S. health habits, read the study Pilar referenced, as reported in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings
  • Visit The Living Experiment to watch our background video and subscribe to our newsletter (so you can stay up to date with us and future episodes).
  • Sponsor link: Check out Brian Johnson’s “ Habits 101”  Master Class for FREE at http://livingexperiment.com/habits
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