301. 300th Episode: How to Strengthen Your Immune System with Wim Hof, Barbara O'Neill, Kelly Slater & More!

300 episodes ago, I had a simple dream: put life-changing information on a platform for free and watch what happens. Today that has turned into 300 conversations with people who have almost nothing in common. A nightclub owner. An 11-time world champion surfer. A grandmother with 25 grandchildren. A two-time UFC champion. A man who has walked into the ice nearly every day for close to 50 years. Two people working on the food supply from inside the federal government. My own wife. And an author whose biggest book has a curse word in the title. CLICK HERE TO BECOME GARYS VIP!: ⁠https://bit.ly/4ai0Xwg⁠ Thank you to our partners A-GAME: “ULTIMATE15” FOR 15% OFF: http://bit.ly/4kek1ij AION: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4h6KHAD AIRES: "ULTIMATE20 " FOR 20% OFF: https://bit.ly/4a3Duze BAJA GOLD: "ULTIMATE10" FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/3WSBqUa BODYHEALTH: “ULTIMATE20” FOR 20% OFF: http://bit.ly/4e5IjsV COLD LIFE: THE ULTIMATE HUMAN PLUNGE: https://bit.ly/4eULUKpCYMBIOTIKA: "BRECKACYM30" FOR 30% OFF: https://bit.ly/4tjyluP GENETIC METHYLATION TEST (UK ONLY): https://bit.ly/48QJJrk GENETIC TEST (USA ONLY): ⁠https://bit.ly/3Yg1Uk9 GOPUFF: GET YOUR FAVORITE SNACK!: https://bit.ly/4obIFDC H2TABS: “ULTIMATE10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4hMNdgg HEALF: 10% OFF YOUR ORDER: https://bit.ly/41HJg6S PEPTUAL: “TUH10” FOR 10% OFF: https://bit.ly/4mKxgcn SNOOZE: LET’S GET TO SLEEP!: https://bit.ly/4pt1T6V WHOOP: JOIN & GET 1 FREE MONTH!: https://bit.ly/3VQ0nzW Watch the “Ultimate Human Podcast” every Tuesday & Thursday at 9AM EST: YouTube: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RPQYX8⁠ Podcasts: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RQftU0⁠ Connect with Gary Brecka Instagram: ⁠https://bit.ly/3RPpnFs⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://bit.ly/4coJ8fo⁠ X: ⁠https://bit.ly/3Opc8tf⁠ Facebook: ⁠https://bit.ly/464VA1H⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://bit.ly/4hH7Ri2⁠ Website: ⁠https://bit.ly/4eLDbdU⁠ Merch: ⁠https://bit.ly/4aBpOM1⁠ Newsletter: ⁠https://bit.ly/47ejrws⁠ Ask Gary: ⁠https://bit.ly/3PEAJuG⁠ Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction: 300 episodes, one conclusion 02:26 - David Grutman on success and ego 04:56 - Wim Hof and the first ice 06:35 - Barbara O'Neill on immunity and sleep 08:01 - Sage Workinger on menopause 09:22 - Kelly Slater on flow and feeling 12:07 - TJ Dillashaw on rebuilding 13:54 - Calley Means on hospital food 16:50 - Mark Manson on full potential Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. It is not intended for diagnosing or treating any health condition. Always consult a licensed healthcare professional before making health or wellness decisions. Gary Brecka is the owner of Ultimate Human, LLC which operates The Ultimate Human podcast and promotes certain third-party products used by Gary Brecka in his personal health and wellness protocols and daily life and for which Ultimate Human LLC and / or Gary Brecka directly or indirectly holds an economic interest or receives compensation. Accordingly, statements made by Gary Brecka and others (including on The Ultimate Human podcast) may be considered promotional in nature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Today is our 300th episode and I'm very, very, very proud of that. And a lot of that goes thanks to you guys. Somewhere along the way, I've sat across from a nightclub owner, an 11 time world champion surfer, a woman with 25 grandchildren, a two time UFC champion, my own wife, a man who's walked into the ice every day for 50 years, two people trying to fix the food supply from inside the federal government, and a guy who wrote a book with a little curse word in the title, 300 episodes, eight guests today, but really 300 people who trusted me with their story and millions of you who trusted me with your time. If you had told me when I started all of this years ago, that these completely different people coming from completely different lives

• 0:42Speaker 00

  would land on the exact same conclusion about the human body, I'm not sure I would have believed you, but they did. And if I'm honest, that's the only reason why I still do this. Not the numbers, not the attention. It's watching people who have nothing else in common, agree on the same handful of things that actually keep a person alive and well. Let's get into it.

• 1:13Speaker 00

  Hey guys, welcome to the Ultimate Human Podcast. Today is our 300th episode and I'm very, very, very proud of that. And a lot of that goes thanks to you guys. Somewhere along the way, I've sat across from a nightclub owner, an 11 time world champion surfer, a woman with 25 grandchildren who still treats a nail wound with a grated potato, a two time UFC champion who rebuilt his body from the ground up, my own wife, a man who's walked into the ice every day for 50 years, two people trying to fix the food supply from inside the federal government, and a guy who wrote a book with a little curse word in the title, and different religions, different politics, different corners of the world, but most of them have never met each other and never will. And that's the whole point of today.

• 1:58Speaker 00

  Because if you had told me when I started all of this years ago, that these completely different people coming from completely different lives would land on the exact same conclusion about the human body, I'm not sure I would have believed you, but they did. Every single one of them. And if I'm honest, that's the only reason why I still do this. Not the numbers, not the attention. It's watching people who have nothing else in common, agree on the same handful of things that actually keep a person alive and well. Let's get into it. We started this list with the guy who sat in this very chair for my very first episode. David Grutman didn't come to the show to talk about running nightclubs. He came to talk about what actually holds a life together, and that's relationships. Here's David. Where do you think a lot of entrepreneurs that have their head down,

• 2:42Speaker 00

  sort of shoulder to the grindstone are going wrong in, in building the foundation of their business?

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Where do they go wrong? I think, um, you know, one thing I really like to talk about, Gary, with this whole thing is I've had more issues with success than I have with failure. I think that's one thing in the book that they don't tell you in school and in life. Everyone's like, oh, you know, everyone gets up and they talk about their failures, their failures, their failures. And of course I've had many failures. I have great success, but I have many failures. And what people always want to harp on is, you know, oh, I, you know, I failed, but I got back up and I did it. And yeah, of course, that's, that's how we are as humans. I don't know many people that, that did it once, failed and didn't try to get back on the horse. Okay, that's fine.

• 3:31Speaker 01

  But what they don't, people don't talk about enough is, once you're on top of the world, how do you, how does that affect you? Because that's where for me was the most challenging, right? I opened live, I was on fire. That's when your ego comes out. That's when you think you're unstoppable. That's when you don't ask for help because, oh, you know it all. Look at you, you're on top of the world. Why would you need help? And that's also when you get very cocky and you forget about where you came from.

• 4:01Speaker 00

  Did you recognize that?

• 4:03Speaker 01

  Oh, I took a really good friend of ours, Wayne Boyts from Reserve, to say to me one time, hey, my man in the middle of, you know, and Liv was just kicking off. He's like, um, you're not, you're not saving lives. It's not heart surgery you're doing here. It's a nightclub. And I'm like, okay, you're right. And then, uh, as you're so cocky and your ego's so driven, but you know, the ego's a funny thing, Gary, because the ego drives you to do things that you, that normal people wouldn't do and things. And if you wrote it down on a piece of paper, probably didn't make sense, but you did it anyway because that was your ego. And that's what changes the world, right? That's, those are the things that where the miracles come out. It also is the thing where, again, you don't ask for help and you don't look at things in a business sense.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  You just do it for ego and that later on hurts you later on. So it's having the people around you that keep you focused, but also in line.

• 4:57Speaker 00

  Same idea, different language. Wim Hof didn't build his life on relationships with other people. He built it on control, the kind most of us were told we don't even have over our own bodies. Here's the moment that changed everything for him.

• 5:10Speaker 02

  I saw a, by gut feeling the ice on the, it was winter time in Amsterdam in a park and a thin layer on the ice and I felt attracted to go in. Why I did not know, but I looked around, I stripped myself of the clothes. I went in and there I felt without words, this is it. I was looking for this without knowing I had found what I was actually looking for in books. And it is the cold. The cold that opens up a deeper realm of the physiology, both in the brain and in the body.

• 5:53Speaker 02

  But back then I did not have any scientific knowledge about this. I just felt it that way. I'd felt euphoric afterwards, the whole day long. The other day I came back with the expectation, oh, it's maybe not gonna feel so good. Like yesterday, that is just, yeah, a new thing and all. I went in and it happened again. And since then, 17, almost 50 years ago, I am every day in the ice when I can. Yeah. When I'm traveling or something, sometimes I cannot, but that's all right. Because it changed my life. It changed the circuitry in my brain.

• 6:36Speaker 00

  If Wim Hof taught the world to control the breath, Barbara O'Neill has spent her life teaching people to trust the body. 25 grandchildren deep into providing the basics that still work today. Here's the woman they call the grandmother of the world. How do we strengthen our immune system?

• 6:54Speaker 03

  That's a good question.

• 6:55Speaker 00

  What is it?

• 6:55Speaker 03

  Very good question. It needs us to be well hydrated and that's water. And it needs us to go to bed, ideally a couple of hours before midnight, because that's when our batteries, our body, our immune system, our cells revive and recharge. Healing accelerates at twice the rate in those two hours and about one or two after midnight. And that's where, that's where many people are missing out. And nourishment, it's like asking my sons, a lot of them are tradesmen builders, to do an extension on my house, but I've just got the cheapest building materials. Even though they're good tradesmen, how can they build without proper building material? Same with our body.

• 7:39Speaker 03

  We need to give nourishment, ideally in organic foods, high fibers, great proteins, great fats. Hopefully fat phobia is out of most people's minds today.

• 7:51Speaker 00

  I thought high fat caused cardiovascular disease.

• 7:54Speaker 03

  Oh, no, that's been, that's been proven wrong. But probably one of my favorite, and I do it wherever I can, is that cold dunk every morning.

• 8:04Speaker 00

  Really?

• 8:05Speaker 03

  Oh, yes.

• 8:05Speaker 00

  Now, this one is personal. My wife Sage sat down with me to talk about something nobody wants to talk about on camera, and that's menopause. And I'll be honest, we had a lot more fun filming this than either of us expected to. But there was quite some time before the hormone therapy where we were in the thick of it.

• 8:22Speaker 04

  We were really in the thick of it.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  I did a lot of apologizing. Here's my advice for menopause. If you're a man and your wife is in menopause, as soon as you wake up in the morning.

• 8:32Speaker 04

  Just say you're sorry.

• 8:33Speaker 00

  Say you're sorry.

• 8:34Speaker 04

  Just for waking up.

• 8:35Speaker 00

  Just for waking up.

• 8:36Speaker 04

  Because you probably did it wrong somehow.

• 8:37Speaker 00

  You probably did it wrong. Maybe you, maybe you sniffled.

• 8:40Speaker 04

  Messy.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  Maybe you moved the bed too much when you got out of bed. Maybe your feet hit the floor so hard that it was rude and inconsiderate. And we're just rude and inconsiderate. We're like bears. And so when we wake up, we get out of bed.

• 8:56Speaker 04

  Or you're just like giant children that are just loud and messy.

• 9:01Speaker 00

  Yeah. Definitely don't burp.

• 9:03Speaker 04

  No, don't do that.

• 9:05Speaker 00

  Don't, don't leave dirty dishes in the sink. If you wash the laundry and fold the laundry, put it back where it belongs, not in the wrong place. So yes, you can wash the laundry, you can fold the laundry, and you can put it back where it doesn't belong. And then everything is wrong. From hormones to waves, 11 time world champion surfer Kelly Slater came on this podcast and barely talked about surfing at all. He talked about what it actually feels like to be that connected to something bigger than yourself.

• 9:34Speaker 05

  I think anyone in their own way can find that, you know? They say you're in the flow or whatever, flow state. But, but in surfing, it's kind of more personal because you and the ocean, and there's not other people playing this game that you're in.

• 9:46Speaker 00

  There's a lot of danger.

• 9:47Speaker 05

  Yeah, and there's all that stuff too. And that's, that's.

• 9:51Speaker 05

  That's, yeah. Well, that adds to it.

• 9:53Speaker 00

  How many sharks in 100 foot waves?

• 9:54Speaker 05

  That's, that's part of what drives, you know, there's, there's definitely adrenaline junkie and all of us surfers that, that love it like that, you know?

• 10:03Speaker 05

  But there is a thing where you don't feel like you're, there's no time between the, the thought and the action, or there's, you're not even thinking, you're just feeling. And when you, when you really are feeling like what he's just saying is like, he's just going by feeling. That's what we were talking about earlier with, with great whites. You know, great whites on the west coast through into the fall, they, they stay in California and then they, they migrate south. They think that they mate out off of Mexico and then some of the females go to Hawaii and blah, blah.

• 10:32Speaker 00

  That's just so wild.

• 10:33Speaker 05

  But so how does a great white find its way down to that place out in the ocean where they mate in the breeding grounds area, or you know, maybe one of the islands off Mexico they go to, and then swim underwater for a couple thousand miles and find Hawaii?

• 10:46Speaker 00

  That is.

• 10:46Speaker 05

  Tiny dots in the middle of the ocean. So there's, there's this, I, I think humans, I think most humans nowadays with what we have with technology and, and the way life is and how fast paced things are, we've lost that feeling to some degree. And so with surfing, I think you have such a connection with nature and you're, you're back in it all the time and you crave that thing. It's a, it is a drug.

• 11:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:11Speaker 05

  You know, it, it's, um, I remember I got hired to do this thing with Disney one time where I went and spoke to a bunch of people. They were having a convention and I was telling them how I'm, I am an addict. I just got addicted to something healthy.

• 11:25Speaker 00

  Right.

• 11:25Speaker 05

  And, and I did compare surfing to a drug and I felt a little weird about saying that at a Disney convention, whatever. But I was like, it really is.

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Cold plunging my drug of choice, but yeah.

• 11:34Speaker 05

  Exactly. But it's, yeah, I, I think everyone, everyone has, uh, everyone desires to feel deeply, you know? But I think we all have our emotional reasons why we're scared of that with relationships and stuff like that. And then with our life being so fast paced, you're not really connected. Most people don't do something where they have those kinds of feelings very often. And surfing, it's not hard to get that. It's, it's a, it's a rush, you know? Whether it's just the speed of the wave or you're riding nature.

• 12:06Speaker 00

  Kelly Slater stayed on top of a sport for three decades. TJ Dillashaw got knocked all the way down. Two blown shoulders, a suspension, an identity stripped away overnight. Here's the walk back.

• 12:17Speaker 06

  Um, it takes, it takes a strong mental fortitude to be able to do it. Um, I feel like a lot of people maybe would've got broken and just did something else, but I think that mental toughness that has turned me into a champion has also got me back into the, the line. And I also, I also felt like I had to do it, right? Cause I was being questioned so much. It was like, I have to come back. Like I have to.

• 12:39Speaker 00

  Have to come back and.

• 12:40Speaker 06

  Improve myself. Yeah.

• 12:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 12:42Speaker 06

  So there's a little bit of that that fired me up as well too, like wanting my identity back, wanting my self-purpose back.

• 12:48Speaker 00

  Cause two years is not that long of a time when you start thinking about dual sur- shoulder surgery. If you stop training and let yourself get out of shape a little bit, maybe you were drinking, you were taking pain medication, you know, you're in kind of a dark place. But then you have to, from that ground zero, back into the octagon is not that long of a timeframe, maybe a year. Um, right? And, um, so where was your family in all this? Like, were they like, hey TJ, it's okay if you don't want to go back? Was your wife like, you're a world champion. I want to support you all the way. Like where, what other support systems did you have going on? Or was this just all inside of TJ's head?

• 13:26Speaker 06

  Mostly it was inside of my head, but I do have a, a rock of a wife that is supportive. We've been together for 20 years now, all through my like wrestling career. She's seen like all of it. Um, she knew my mindset. She knew I was, that was never a question if I was going back. That was just like, she knew that, right?

• 13:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:42Speaker 06

  She knows my personality. She knows my mentality. Like I don't, I don't shut off. I don't, I don't stop.

• 13:48Speaker 00

  Right.

• 13:48Speaker 06

  Um, so that was nothing, but she's always been a rock there to support me.

• 13:51Speaker 00

  Not every guest on this show is talking about their own body. Some of them are fighting for what's on your kid's plate. Callie Means and Kyle Diamontis are inside the federal government right now, trying to fix the food supply. And this is the story that stuck with me the most.

• 14:05Speaker 07

  This announcement is an example of what Kyle's team and Secretary Kenny's team throughout the government is doing. So we ask, you ask about Almaha framework. We ask, where is government spending money and how can we influence and nudge the system into a better direction? So we've talked about school lunches. We've talked about military food. Hospitals are a big one. So hospitals are dependent on Medicare, Medicaid funding. Their, their, their lifeblood is government funding. And if you go to, every patient knows, as you've talked about, I was at Stanford Hospital with my mom, the Mayo Clinic with my mom. They served her Coca-Cola and she was a diabetic, dying of a metabolic condition from cancer. It is absolutely disgraceful what hospitals are serving patients. And

• 14:49Speaker 07

  we have asked a simple question to hospitals, which is why is the government paying you trillions of dollars, over a trillion dollars, almost two?

• 14:59Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 14:59Speaker 07

  Why are we paying you this to serve food that is fueling the chronic diseases that 90% of those payments are going to? 90% of healthcare spending, of the government healthcare spending goes to treating metabolic, chronic diseases that are highly tied to ultra-processed food.

• 15:19Speaker 00

  And highly preventable.

• 15:20Speaker 07

  Food, sugary drinks, refined carbohydrates, fried food. It's what hospitals are serving. So what can happen? CMS can issue conditions of participation. They can write letters saying what we expect for paying these trillion dollar plus of government money. And for the first time, the government is issuing a letter to hospitals saying, if you're going to take government money, you cannot be serving diabetic and obese patients sugary drinks. Cut down and eliminate the refined carbohydrates, serve whole grains and, and, and cut, you look at the food. It's all fried inflammatory food. Let's get whole food protein. So it took the principles of the dietary guidelines and we're pushing that on hospitals.

• 16:02Speaker 00

  Love it.

• 16:02Speaker 07

  And the hospitals are billing Medicare and Medicaid up to $400 per day for food, the government. So this is not an affordability issue. This is just a common sense issue.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:13Speaker 07

  And frankly, as Kyle said, and I credit the hospital CEOs, they've come to us and he said, this is ridiculous. They've actually welcomed it and we're working with them on voluntary commitments. Um, for just general food that they serve at the hospitals. Hospitals are the largest employer in the United States. More Americans are employed in the healthcare hospital system than any other industry. So actually.

• 16:33Speaker 00

  This trickle into the cafeterias.

• 16:34Speaker 07

  Yeah. It trickles into healthcare workers being sicker than the average American. And that's, that's tens of millions of people. So, so, so this is a very important act for patient health, but also just general American public health, because tens of millions of Americans are eating at hospitals every day.

• 16:50Speaker 00

  And we'll close it out with Mark Manson, because after 300 episodes about biohacking and supplements and blood panels, it's worth remembering that none of it means anything if your mind isn't lined up to. So I, I wind down all of my podcasts by asking my guests the same question. And there's, there's no right or wrong answer to this question. But, um, what, what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

• 17:11Speaker 05

  Oof. I'll give you a T-shirt if you get, if I get the right answer.

• 17:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:17Speaker 05

  Oh man, the pressure's on. The pressure is on.

• 17:22Speaker 08

  Cotton fits night.

• 17:25Speaker 08

  I would say being the ultimate human is to live in alignment with your full potential, both physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

• 17:44Speaker 00

  300 episodes, eight guests today, but really 300 people who trusted me with their story and millions of you who trusted me with your time. I'm not going anywhere. If anything, I want to bring you more people, more perspectives, more of everything that actually works. So here's my ask. Subscribe, follow, whatever the platform calls it, because I'm not done. I've got a lot more guests to bring you, a lot more conversations about health and biohacking and everything in between. And I want you along for every single one of them. Thank you for the 300 episodes. Here's to the next 300. And one more thing before you go. These episodes are a starting point, but your questions are specific to your body, your blood work, your life. That's exactly why we created the Ask Gary Anything.

• 18:27Speaker 00

  For 27 books a month, you can get me, my protocols, my research, my answers on demand, whenever the question hits you. And if you want to take it further, the VIP community is where I work with people directly. Both are linked below. The best investment you'll ever make is in the vessel you live in. And until next time, guys, that's just science.