In short
Danica Patrick discusses health transformation and chronic-disease prevention through food education, cultural change, and “biohacks,” plus her experience with breast implant illness and removal. She argues the U.S. is facing rising obesity/prediabetes and that public guidance should be flipped (e.g., not the food pyramid), with less conflict-of-interest in nutrition research.
Guest background
Danica Patrick, former professional race car driver, now health advocate and part of the Maha movement. She credits doctor Gabrielle Lyon (and her substitute Don Lehman) and emphasizes strength training and nutrition.
Key claims
Body signals intolerance via bloating/weight gain/water retention; no one dogmatic diet fits all; hydration and protein + lifting are foundational; seed oils/high-glycemic carbs are problematic; frequency/intuition and “energy” matter; breast implant illness can cause delayed autoimmune-like symptoms.
Notable examples
Her symptoms began after implant placement (7.5 years in), worsened over ~3 years, and improved within hours after removal; she describes oily face/scalp changes and rapid recovery. She also cites school gardening/nutrition education and notes 74% of nutritional research funded by food companies.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOUnderstanding Body Signals and Food
0:00 to 1:10
Learn about the signs your body gives regarding food choices and health.
“It's amazing what they can overcome and how it can heal itself, but that will run out.”
The Power of Authenticity and Energy
2:01 to 6:04
Discover the importance of authenticity and the energy it creates in conversations.
“Yeah, we had an off podcast podcast started talking about authenticity and the power of authenticity.”
Addressing America's Health Crisis
6:12 to 11:28
Examine the state of chronic diseases in America and necessary policy changes.
“sadly shocking and about the state of, you know, American chronic disease in America.”
Key Factors for Athlete Health
11:33 to 14:00
Explore essential health practices for athletes beyond training, including nutrition.
“What were some of the things outside of just the, you know, intentional mastery of your craft were really impactful on your career?”
Military Health Risks and Nutrition Funding
14:00 to 15:00
Explore the national security risks associated with poor health among military-age individuals and the influence of food companies on nutritional research.
“And I think that, you know, we didn't run our way here but we sort of walked our way into this position.”
Conflict of Interest in IndyCar Racing
15:00 to 16:00
Discuss the controversies in IndyCar racing related to team ownership and conflict of interest, highlighting the importance of optics in sports.
“He also owns a series and he owns the track.”
Fundamental Changes in Nutritional Guidelines
16:00 to 17:00
Debate the need for a complete overhaul of nutritional guidelines, starting with the food pyramid, and discuss education on healthy eating.
“But you know, sadly, I think very often, you know, it's the consumer is not educated.”
Sedentary Lifestyle Impact on Health
17:00 to 18:00
Examine how modern technology and sedentary lifestyles have changed children's physical activity and the long-term effects on health.
“And then you see some that were sort of kind of took it for granted and just let you.”
Nutrition and Athletic Performance
18:00 to 19:00
Discuss the differences in dietary habits among athletes and how intentional nutrition can influence performance and long-term health.
“And you can spend money on your health now or you can do it all later.”
The Payoff of Healthy Living
19:00 to 20:00
Highlight the importance of prioritizing health and nutrition early in life to avoid future health issues and hospital visits.
“I mean, I'm just going to be really simple.”
Show all 19 chapters
Personal Nutrition Strategies
20:00 to 21:00
Learn about the speaker's personal nutrition strategies, including protein intake and the science behind food choices based on individual responses.
“You always know what's good for you and what's not.”
Listening to Your Body
21:00 to 22:00
Discover how to interpret bodily signals related to food intolerances and individual dietary needs for better health.
“But yet on another note, let's say like I can eat broccoli and that's fine, but cauliflower, seems to make me feel bloated.”
Biohacking and Health Optimization
22:00 to 23:00
Investigate the concept of biohacking and various techniques for optimizing health, such as red light therapy.
“And those are signs that your body doesn't like what you're eating.”
Daily Health Practices
23:00 to 24:00
Explore daily health practices that incorporate traditional methods and modern techniques for wellness.
“And he's like, I need to like hack the body.”
Breast Implant Illness Discussion
24:00 to 25:00
Address the emerging recognition of breast implant illness as a potential cause of chronic diseases and the symptoms associated with it.
“It's like a face roller, but it's more of a plate and you drag it and it helps like with drainage of your face.”
Identifying Symptoms of Breast Implant Illness
25:00 to 26:00
Learn how individuals can identify symptoms of breast implant illness and the journey of discovering its impact on health.
“And what they did was they really started to enhance lymphatic drainage, exactly what you're talking about.”
Personal Experience with Breast Implants
26:00 to 27:00
Hear a personal account of living with breast implants, realizing health changes, and the decision to have them removed.
“And I think what happens is a lot of young women especially get breast implants because the symptoms of breast implant illness don't show up for months to years.”
Journey to Health: The Impact of Breast Implant Illness
28:00 to 29:55
Danica shares her personal journey with breast implant illness and the effects of removal.
“And I was like, that answers everything.”
Resources and Personal Expressions of Discomfort
29:55 to 30:24
Discussion on resources for breast implant illness and the varied personal symptoms.
“I mean, if you just look up breast implant illness, if you just sort of look, I mean, I have stuff that I've kept on my Instagram page about it.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Danica Patrick:Our bodies are miraculous. It's amazing what they can overcome and how it can heal itself, but that will run out. You will end up sick. You will end up miserable.
0:11Gary Brecka:Isn't it amazing how myopic and out of touch we've gotten with our own bodies? Because it signals to you. We often think that the things that we're allergic to are the ones that immediately flare up our nose or make our eyes water. But the truth is, you know, a lot of these things, after we eat them, you get the bloating, the weight gain, the water retention. Those are signs that your body doesn't like what you're eating.
0:28Danica Patrick:And there's a reason why so many countries out there don't accept our food, because it doesn't fit their criteria.
0:34Gary Brecka:You know what's interesting is the simplicity in food is where the magic is. And I think we overcomplicate food.
0:40Danica Patrick:I do believe that there's an energy to knowing and loving your food. I love cooking and I use good ingredients and I put love into it. And I do think that makes a difference. And I think fundamentally, most Americans want to be healthy, but truly just don't know where to start. It starts with caring about your food. Know what's in food as well. Learn how to garden.
1:02Gary Brecka:Learn how to love your food. What are some of the fundamental changes that you would love to see in our nutritional and healthcare guidance?
1:09Danica Patrick:I'm so grateful for modern medicine. I'm grateful for acute medicine, but I really think that health in general should be...
1:28Gary Brecka:Hey guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Brecca, where we go down the road of everything, anti-aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today here from the White House, we have a very special guest on. I'm really excited to run this with you. It is Danica Patrick, former race car driver turned health advocate and part of this Maha movement. Blessed to be on board with you during this movement. I'm really excited to get into this.
1:57Danica Patrick:You're doing such great things. We were just rambling for 15 minutes. Yeah, we had an off podcast podcast started talking about authenticity and the power of authenticity. I mean, I told you I've used the, you know, the statistic or study that you've shared that authenticity is 4000 times stronger than than love as a frequency. That is incredible. Like that's just this is, you know, what you're doing is making a big difference. and those kinds of scientific things. Because that's the thing, like we were also talking about the ineffable in a way and the feelings and intuition.
2:29Gary Brecka:Yeah.
2:30Danica Patrick:You know, you're starting to put science to the things that are, you know, a little more mysterious. Yeah, you know, I think we've always had
2:37Gary Brecka:sort of a fear of the unknown or how we dissuade the things that we can't prove. Things like faith and intuition and frequency. And if you don't believe in the universal law of attraction, for example, which I didn't for years, right? I thought it was just a bunch of like, woo-woo nonsense, you know? It's like, yeah, go smoke some more weed, dude. But when you start to really break down the science of it, I actually was reading, this is way off topic, but a scientific journal on frequency, it was a physics journal. And there's a law in physics called constructive interference. And it says, if two frequencies of equal wavelength meet, the size of the frequency doubles.
3:21Gary Brecka:And what it means is you can get energy from conversation. You can get energy from other people. They can also suck energy from you.
3:29Danica Patrick:Oh, this is what guides my life. The sucky bus, if you will. I mean, there are so many people here. And so I was making some jokes before about I work very closely with Gabrielle Lyon. And she's my doctor. Oh, I love Gabrielle Lyon. And she's also a very good friend of mine. Big shout out. And so she couldn't make it. So she's sending Don Lehman here in her place. And she's like, look after Don. introduce them to everybody, you know, help them like get in there to be able to make a difference and help out with some of the guidelines and whatnot. And Don said, well, I'm an introvert. And I was like, well, good, me too.
4:02Danica Patrick:We can just camp out in the corner and talk about wine and good restaurants in Chicago. But I was like, and anyway, the point is, is that the wrong conversation drains me very quickly. And I have so much less tolerance for it now, But the right ones do energize me. So I would call myself an introvert because I always get energy alone as a defining factor. But I absolutely I have no doubt that these interviews that I have lined up here before we do this beautiful signing this afternoon will give me energy because it's all stuff that's like so passion for such a passion for me. And I've lived it.
4:38Danica Patrick:Right. Like you have to. That's kind of what leads you down these beautiful, passionate routes is that they're part of your life and you've needed them at times. You know what's amazing is the rooms of the people that I'm in, people like yourselves, some of the most, you know, I just sat and talked to Dr.
4:55Gary Brecka:Oz, just some of the most passionate, purpose, mission-driven people. And it is so palpable when you meet them. You see it in their eyes. You feel it in their energy. And there's an energy around here and around this Maha movement that I can't really explain. I call it the Holy Spirit. I just call it a palpable energy from a unified vision, and you can absolutely sense it. Well, it's a collective. So there's a lot of talk, too, about the frequency of the planet elevating
5:31Danica Patrick:once it reaches a critical point, or there's the 100th monkey theory where it's like once the 100th monkey in a group knows a certain thing, it sort of transmits to everyone.
5:41Gary Brecka:Wow, I never heard that theory.
5:42Danica Patrick:And when you look at it, like here we are in this amazing White House set here. Right. We're in the White House. Maha has not been a sanctioned or it's not it. This is not a White House or a government program. This has been an independent movement that is now sitting right here because it has that passion that you're talking about. And authenticity.
6:04Gary Brecka:And what?
6:05Danica Patrick:And authenticity.
6:06Gary Brecka:Oh, thank you. So I want I want to run a couple of things by you, because these are. sadly shocking and about the state of, you know, American chronic disease in America. We know that we sadly are the sickest, fattest, most disease ridden nation in the world. We also are the highest spender on health care worldwide. And some of the public policy powerhouses that I've interviewed today and going to interview throughout the rest of the day are so mission driven at changing that. And I noticed that there's a narrative beginning to attack them, calling it pseudoscience, calling them chemophobes, you know, saying that there's a personal agenda.
6:45Gary Brecka:But this report, which is going to be released at three o 'clock today, I want to just read some things to you and get your thoughts on it. And this will be public in just a few hours. Over one in five children over six years old are obese. This is a 270 percent increase since the 1970s. The U.S. obesity rate is more than double that of the other G7 nations. And 80 percent of obese teens remain obese through their adulthood. More than one in four teens have prediabetes with rates doubling in just the last two decades alone. What do you think, I mean, as someone who has shifted from being a professional athlete, and that's not to say that you're not still a professional athlete, to being in the health advocacy space, what are some things that we can do from a public policy position from an educational position to lift the masses up and bring awareness to the masses and give them some tools that they can arm themselves with?
7:42Danica Patrick:It's a great question. And I think it really starts a little fundamental. It starts with caring about your food. It starts with maybe even growing some of your own food. Like what stops schools from, look, I think there's a lot of problems with school and the curriculum that exists. I don't use much of it. I'm glad I can read and write in that kind of thing. But, you know, so much of it, especially as it goes on is kind of worthless, I feel like, but gardening wouldn't be right. Understanding food and really understanding nutrition. And, uh, and that's some guidelines that are going to get redone.
8:17Danica Patrick:Let's hope, let's hope that, you know, Surgeon General Casey means future, future Surgeon General will come in and be able to, you know, push those things forward. And you guys will be able to all help organize what that looks like. But for there to be a true understanding. So plug that into the schools, plug that information in, learn how to garden, learn how to love your food, know what's in food as well. I mean, there's plenty of times that people I would think would know what's in food. They're like, oh, wait, there's no carbohydrates in chicken. I'm like, what?
8:45Gary Brecka:Yeah.
8:46Danica Patrick:So educating on that stuff would be incredible because you can't expect the mass of, you know, these companies to not try and still make money and not try and still sort of push their agendas of what they want. But you can change from the like at the core of humans awareness and knowledge what they're willing to buy and what they're willing to do. So so I think that if I have a shift that that that will help. I think that then when we get to sort of I think maybe what some of that's going to be in that bill is just the quality of things too, like, you know, the soil and, um, the, the, the quality of the seeds and all the different things and things that you add to it, whether there has chemicals in it or not, organic farming, no pesticides.
9:34Danica Patrick:I mean, that then becomes sort of the next phase of making it quality. But, uh, but I do believe that there's an energy to knowing and loving your food. Like I love cooking and people would say that my food's good. And I'm like, it's not always that exciting or complicated, but I use good ingredients and I put love into it. And I do think that makes a difference. So if you love your food, you're going to make good food and it's going to be better for you. And then you're going to energetically, you're putting that energy into it and you're putting that energy into your body. So I think that's some of the stuff that could change from a culture standpoint.
10:08Danica Patrick:And then the government can just take control of like how it's all handled because let's face it, not everyone's going to have a garden, not everyone's going to do that. But the stuff that you get in stores, it should be better quality. There should be a higher integrity to it all. I mean, there's a reason why so many countries out there don't accept our food, won't buy our food because it doesn't fit their criteria.
10:29Gary Brecka:Or even allow our food. They don't even just don't buy it. They don't even allow it to be sold. I mean, there are countries like Russia that where it's a felony to grow genetically modified food. So, you know, when you have principles like that around food that don't allow these things to creep into the food supply or you educate the populace or you don't allow slick marketing campaigns to sort of wordsmith their way around detrimental ingredients. I think you have the foundation.
10:57Danica Patrick:I think that Secretary Rollins, Brooke Rollins, is going to do a great job. She was just over in the UK working on a deal with selling our selling our meat to the United Kingdom, which they'll be happy about that because it's delicious. But also, I mean, I was I had a conversation with her even about going out to my winery out in Napa because it's organically farmed. And, you know, agriculture is very important and the quality of what it is is very important. So, you know, I think there's there's definitely things that government can do. But I think from a culture standpoint, it's about understanding what you're eating and loving that food.
11:32Gary Brecka:I mean, outside of mastering your craft and your career, how foundational was nutrition, exercise, sleep? What were some of the things outside of just the, you know, intentional mastery of your craft were really impactful on your career? What would you say were some of the non-negotiables?
11:53Danica Patrick:Non-negotiables. I mean, no drinking. I mean, the lack of sharpness in the next day after that kind of thing is, look, I think it has some medicinal.
12:02Gary Brecka:It could risk your life, too, behind the wheel at that speed.
12:04Danica Patrick:Yeah, drinking and driving is bad, okay?
12:06Gary Brecka:And drinking and driving 200 miles an hour is even worse.
12:08Danica Patrick:But even the night before, you know, just it can cloud your judgment, just make you a little foggy. I think hydration was super important. I wish I'd known then what I know now about hydration. Sea salt. I mean, I didn't, I like avoided salt in my food, just like that being a propaganda that I bought into. And now I, I mean, I salt beyond belief and I drink it all day. I mean, I drink element all day long. It's always, always in my water. So, um, hydrogen filling up.
12:40Gary Brecka:I got, I put them in every, every single.
12:43Danica Patrick:I bought, um, these filters to put at the house that, um, you attach, you can put them under the sink or you can attach them to, um, a faucet, but they give you hydrogen water as well as other kinds of things. kinds of water as well. So, um, so I think that being hydrated is like probably the most important thing. And as far as food goes, um, you know, eating clean and good, but you want to eat as close to the race as possible. I mean, I had a bus driver, so, um, and he would be in charge of making food for me before only meal he'd make was before the race. And that's just because I was at a driver's meeting.
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13:13Danica Patrick:I was busy doing meet and greets and different things. And then I need to basically eat, get changed and go to driver intros. So I didn't have time to make it. So he would, and it would always be just kind of something simple like sweet potatoes or rice and chicken and something like that.
13:26Gary Brecka:You know what's interesting is the simplicity in food is where the magic is. You know, I have a chef now too, and my wife loves to cook. And very often, like the fewer ingredients you put in, like you take a ribeye, put it in some grass-fed butter, throw some Baja Gold Sea salt on it, maybe some rosemary, like the best thing you ever eat. And I think we overcomplicate food and, you know, the industry is like selling us all these sauces with seed oils and we're putting seed oils on top of saturated fat and combining that with high glycemic carbohydrates. And I think fundamentally most Americans want to be healthy and would prefer to eat nutritious food but truly just don't know where to start.
14:07Danica Patrick:I agree. 100 % agree.
14:08Gary Brecka:And I think that, you know, we didn't run our way here but we sort of walked our way into this position. But when you start to look at the national security risk of having three quarters of our military age men and women unable to serve in the military due to poor health. Or when you look at 74 percent of our nutritional research being funded by by. Yeah, that's a problem. Food companies. And I'm not immediately painting them as sinister. I'm just saying that you can't have private industry funding public policy initiatives because there's obviously an agenda. If I funded it, I would try to get my podcast, you know, somehow, you know, it's it's just you have to take away that conflict of interest.
14:48Danica Patrick:It's never going to work out. It's never going to work out. You know, and similarly in IndyCar, actually, there was a big controversy with the team Penske. They were found to be illegal in qualifying. So they've been put to the back and now they've got huge penalties. Well, Roger Penske owns a team. He also owns a series and he owns the track. And so you like look at this and you're like, and I'm not saying that's why. But look, conflict of interest and optics matter. They matter.
15:12Gary Brecka:But what did they get put to the back for? There must have been something tangible. For being illegal, having an illegal part.
15:16Danica Patrick:Yeah. Oh, really? Illegal modification. Really?
15:18Gary Brecka:Illegal modification. Illegal modification. Okay. So, you know, I feel like this, there's a lot of hope and inspiration around this Maha movement within the administration. Because I certainly feel, and I wonder if you do too, that now our public policy leaders, these mission purpose-driven policy leaders really do have the best interests of the American people at heart. And what are some of the fundamental changes that you would love to see that you would be a champion of in our nutritional and healthcare guidance?
15:54Danica Patrick:For guidelines-wise?
15:55Gary Brecka:Guidelines.
15:56Danica Patrick:Well, I think the food pyramid's where you start. Everything needs to be flipped upside down.
16:01Gary Brecka:Yeah, exactly.
16:01Danica Patrick:I'd be happy to design it. I'd add some red wine in there.
16:04Gary Brecka:but um you mean you don't believe that lucky charms is more nutritious than grass-fed steak
16:08Danica Patrick:hmm i mean just that i thought that was a mushroom i mean the the you know marshmallows first that was that there was like a scale of like what's the most healthy and not it wasn't a pyramid but that when that came out last year was that last year i thought it was a joke i thought it was a
16:22Gary Brecka:joke too when joe rogan talked about it and i was like no this is you have to be kidding me you have to be, you have to be an idiot to believe it. Yeah. But you know, sadly, I think very often, you know, it's the consumer is not educated. I don't mean that they're poorly educated in general. We're not educated in school and grammar school. And we're not really taught how to eat. We're not taught about the fundamental basics of exercise. You know, you ever see the movies from the 50s where they just show recess during like Robert F. Kennedy, you know, his administration. It's like play find the fat person you know they were out on monkey bars and climbing walls and recess
17:02Danica Patrick:was 90 minutes oh man well now you've got phones it's a big problem and you've got video games and things like that and so it's uh it's it's it's a sedentary activity which is not good when when
17:14Gary Brecka:you were a professional athlete did you see that other you know athletes around you did you see the ones that were hyper intentional about their nutrition, their exercise. And then you see some that were sort of kind of took it for granted and just let you. And yeah, yeah, I did.
17:32Danica Patrick:Of course. Yeah. You saw the difference. And I'm not saying that their performance was necessarily. I mean, there were some great drivers that did not care at all about. They drank their Cokes and did their thing. I just think that there will be a long-term payoff. Our bodies are miraculous. You know that better than anybody. It's amazing what they can overcome and how it can heal itself and correct and overcompensate. But that will run out. You will end up sick. You will end up miserable. And you can spend money on your health now or you can do it all later. And so you can go for the quality of life and spend it now and enjoy your food, delicious food.
18:10Danica Patrick:Or you can be oblivious about it and go sit in a hospital because that's all you're going to do because you're sick and you can't move or you need a hip replacement. or whatever the consequences of your actions. And I think it's far wiser, obviously, to take care of yourself now. Health should really be, I'm so grateful for modern medicine. I'm grateful for acute medicine. I hope that no one gives me like rosemary or lavender after I've been in an accident and have an arm hanging off. I hope they're not going to try and fix me that way.
18:41Gary Brecka:Exactly.
18:41Danica Patrick:But I really think that health in general should be understood from a cultural shift standpoint. This is a daily discipline. It is a daily discipline to take care of yourself. And if you need modern medicine, God forbid, it's there for you. But this is not the solution.
18:56Gary Brecka:What are some of the non-negotiable habits that you've developed either as a professional athlete that carry over into your life now or that you've developed post-professional career that are sort of non-negotiable in your life?
19:09Danica Patrick:I mean, I'm just going to be really simple. I could go down a long list of various different things I do. But I think from a simple standpoint, eat your protein and lift weights.
19:18Gary Brecka:I love it. I love it. You know, I heard, you know, Dr. Gabrielle Line is like, I can hear her clapping in the background. You can hear her. I can hear her. We hear you, Gabrielle.
19:28Danica Patrick:I mean, she's got me into the best shape I've ever been in my life. Really? Best body composition, best biology, best everything.
19:35Gary Brecka:You know what I think she's done?
19:36Danica Patrick:And I always knew that was possible.
19:37Gary Brecka:She's been a champion for women lifting weights, which I think was always a man thing.
19:42Danica Patrick:and um i lift so much weight like i mean i'm doing like weighted pull-ups and huge trap bar deadlifts yesterday and you know i weigh 105 pounds like and you look amazing and it's pretty
19:54Gary Brecka:hard to get real real bulky yeah that's a girl especially one of the myths we have a tenth of
19:59Danica Patrick:the testosterone of you guys you know like it's pretty hard to get like super bulky so yeah i'd say from a simple standpoint those are the two most important things if you prioritize protein on my way here today i flew here i left the house and i made five eggs for breakfast that's what i have for breakfast wow which is 350 calories it's 35 grams of protein 35 grams of protein and 25
20:20Gary Brecka:grams of fat done yeah and you feel amazing right now right and you actually don't and and you feel full but you don't feel bloated and drained you know like a lot of times you put those high glycemic carbohydrates into your gut and you actually feel your mood your emotional state and your energy goes right out the window.
20:37Danica Patrick:You always know what's good for you and what's not. For a long time, I've loved like figuring things out and learning about myself. And I did these blood tests that showed the eggs were highly reactive in my blood. So there was probably seven or eight years I didn't eat them really. But they never made me feel bad when I did. And I was like, huh, well, I'm following the science. I'm following the science. And now I eat three to five a day and I'm the best I've ever been. But yet on another note, let's say like I can eat broccoli and that's fine, but cauliflower, seems to make me feel bloated. So like you, your body tells you what it needs.
21:09Danica Patrick:And it's very hard to make a diet out of that, right? We're all individually unique. So all I'm going to say is that the best way to know what's meant for you is that either, again, this is actually parallel to what we talked about before we started, which is what gives you energy, like people that give you energy versus depleted. Like if you eat a food and it gives you energy and helps you feel like your stomach does no discomfort, good for you. If you feel tired or bloated, not good for you. Just make it that simple.
21:35Gary Brecka:Isn't it amazing how myopic and out of touch we've gotten with our own bodies? I find that the more intuitive people are more intuitive also about their own bodies. I mean, because it signals to you. We often think that the things that we're allergic to are the ones that immediately flare up our nose or make our eyes water or give us the snivels. But the truth is, you know, a lot of these things, after we eat them, you get the bloating, the weight gain, the water retention, the gas, the cramping, the constipation. And those are signs that your body doesn't like what you're eating. And I completely agree with you.
22:08Gary Brecka:There's no one dogmatic diet that is good for everybody. That's right, because I've tried them all. The Blue Zones proved this too. No dogmatic diet. It wasn't like, hey, everybody that was on keto or paleo or pescadarian or vegan or vegetarian, they lived the longest. No, it was actually the people that ate whole foods that actually were genetically compatible with their biome.
22:27Danica Patrick:So simple. We love to complicate things, don't we?
22:29Gary Brecka:We sure do.
22:30Danica Patrick:We're meaning making machines.
22:31Gary Brecka:Yeah. I want to move on to biohacking because, you know, I'm called a biohacker. I call myself a biohacker. I don't even really truly know what it means.
22:40Danica Patrick:Well, I mean, Dave Asprey came up with the term.
22:44Gary Brecka:Dave Asprey did coin the term. Hacking your biology.
22:47Danica Patrick:Love Dave. You must know Dave. I love Dave. I love Dave so much. He's my favorite weirdo. I'm a weirdo, too. He's my favorite weirdo, too. But, you know, he was in tech. He was in tech. And he was like fat and out of shape and tried to work out all the time and eat vegan and he couldn't figure out why he couldn't lose weight. And he's like, I need to like hack the body. I need a biohack.
23:07Gary Brecka:That's it. I mean, that's all it means.
23:08Danica Patrick:You're just hacking the body with biology, biological, natural options.
23:13Gary Brecka:So are there any biohacks that you use on a regular basis? Red light therapy, cold plunging, sauna?
23:19Danica Patrick:Yeah. What do you like or love? I mean, probably the most normal one I use is red light.
23:24Gary Brecka:Okay.
23:25Danica Patrick:I'm a huge fan. A huge fan. I did it this morning to a panel at my mom and dad's house, which was where I was. I've got everybody red lights. They're here in D.C.? They live in Indianapolis, so I flew in this morning. But they have two panels, one in front and one in back, and I gave them. So just stand there. And while I'm doing it, because I love to stack, habit stack, atomic habits. I love to stack. I gua sha while I'm doing it and do some lymphatic drainage. So I think those are my two daily favorite things, red light and lymphatic stuff. So washaw is like where you like, you know, take like a crystal of some sort or it could be stainless steel or a rock.
24:05Danica Patrick:Kind of like a face roller? It's like a face roller, but it's more of a plate and you drag it and it helps like with drainage of your face. But then I go all the way down the neck to basically to here because, I mean, it kind of started because when I said that I was not always so healthy, I had breast implants. And you had them removed. Had them removed and that's when everything finally got better again. Well, it was at least the start of it. But I so I go literally down below my boobs. And then at the end of doing the gua shawing, then I hit the six points, the lymphatic points behind the ear, collarbone, under the armpit, stomach, groin and behind the knees.
24:39Danica Patrick:So I just sort of rub and tap. Yeah. And by the time that's over, 10 minutes is done in front of the red light. Yeah.
24:45Gary Brecka:Some of these some of these ancient Ayurvedic practices, you know, Ayurvedic medicine is the oldest form of medicine that we know of. It's even older than Chinese medicine, at least as far as we know. And it was based on observation. And a lot of what these Indian practitioners recognized was you could diagnose illness and disease through the tongue, through the eyes, through the skin. And what they did was they really started to enhance lymphatic drainage, exactly what you're talking about. Because the lymph system is static, right? There's no pressure behind it like the heart, you know, like the veins and arteries.
25:19Gary Brecka:So I love the idea of habit stacking. Maybe you and I are going to trademark the term bio stacking.
25:24Danica Patrick:Bio stacking. I love that. I love that too.
25:26Gary Brecka:Dave, your term's already outdated, buddy.
25:29Danica Patrick:We're going to build one. It'll be red light with a little, maybe we'll have a little jump, a little tramp on the bottom. Cause at the end I jump as well, just to like really do the full flush. And yeah, we'll, yeah, we can come up with something. I'm sure I love to dream up ideas and companies.
25:42Gary Brecka:I like that too. I want to take a quick one minute diversion. and I want to go back to the breast implant illness because it is now being recognized as one of the underlying causes in so many forms of chronic disease and unknown etiologies that are causing autoimmune conditions. And I think what happens is a lot of young women especially get breast implants because the symptoms of breast implant illness don't show up for months to years. They don't correlate it back to the breast implant. And I'm not saying by any means that they're all bad and they're all causing disease. But as somebody who has a fairly large female audience, it resonates very much with them because I've had hundreds and hundreds of clients that have seen autoimmune and this strange myriad of symptoms, everything from brain fog to hormone imbalance to weight gain and water retention, to fatigue, to crushing joint pain, to a lot of these what I would call blanket diagnoses, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia.
26:54Danica Patrick:It's anything.
26:56Gary Brecka:Chronic fatigue syndrome. Anxiety. What really are those? Depression, exhaustion. What was the trigger for you when you said?
27:04Danica Patrick:Yeah, how did I kind of identify? Well, I would say that it probably took about three years for me to really start noticing anything, And I, I had gained like five pounds out of nowhere. And I was like, I'm not doing anything. Were you highly athletic during this time frame? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is when I like just retired too. And I'm like, hmm, that doesn't really make sense because I've kind of been doing all the same stuff. It's like one thing if you take away like a huge activity every weekend, 40 weeks a year and go, well, maybe that's it. My hair wasn't doing so healthy. My face was starting to get more puffy.
27:33Danica Patrick:And I'm like, this isn't how my face looks. And I thought to myself, maybe my hormones are off. That was like the first thing I thought. But instead I dug deeper and I tried harder and I ate different, ate more vegan, ate less at times, worked out more. Like, you know, all of the things that I would normally, the lever I'd pull didn't work anymore. And then it was when I was beginning of 2021 and I lost my cycle. And so, and then when I lost my cycle, I was like, all right, this isn't healthy. So I went to the doctor and they're like, low thyroid. And I was like, that answers everything. That was not the answer to it.
28:03Danica Patrick:It was the tip of the iceberg. And so that kind of started the journey. And I spent about a year and a half. And then I'd say it was probably when I watched enough videos on YouTube and caught these sort of people talking about breast implant illness and what happened, how they felt. And then afterwards, and I was like, the things that they were saying just resonated. Right. You were like, those are my symptoms. I sensed the authenticity coming off of them. And I was like, it resonated with mine. And I was like, oh, it became like a knowing. I was like, OK, that's it. That's it. um and so then i got then then then i got them out but i'd say at three years i kind of knew and then it took about seven years before i really before i before i was like okay this is what i need to do so i had them in for seven and a half you got them in for seven and a half years
28:48Gary Brecka:and how quickly after the removal did hours like right as soon as i got home as soon as i got home
28:53Danica Patrick:hours like i'm maybe my face is shiny i'm not sure but like that never happened i came home and the first thing like i remember once i finally came out of my my drug haze um i uh i from being under anesthesia, I remember just watching TV and I like touched my face and I was like, oh my God, I have oil on my face. Wow. And my scalp was another thing that had been so dry and my hair wasn't growing. So anyway, my body started to like function again, like within hours. So then two days later I posted on Instagram about it, which obviously I never told anyone I got them in. And I just knew my mom was with me and I was like, should I do it, mom?
29:28Danica Patrick:And she was like, you're going to probably do it anyway. I'm like, you're right, mom. And so I shared it and And Good Morning America was at my house at the end of the week. Six days after I got them out, Good Morning America was at the house with my doctor and I talking about it for morning television. Good for you for being involved about that. Yeah, yeah.
29:45Gary Brecka:For women that are watching this that maybe are just starting to clue into this that this might be, is there anywhere they can go to get guidance or information?
29:55Danica Patrick:I mean, if you just look up breast implant illness, if you just sort of look, I mean, I have stuff that I've kept on my Instagram page about it. Um, but, uh, but there, there's a lot of resources out there now, just, I'd say, start Googling and YouTubing and you'll see a ton. I shared my story. Um, um, so you can find that YouTube video. Uh, but yeah, all I'd say is that, you know, you talked about the list of, of symptoms. It's anything. It's basically your own body's personal expression of I'm not happy.
30:23Gary Brecka:Wow. Right.
30:23Danica Patrick:And everybody's different because we have different pathways, different detoxification pathways, different diets, different exercise. So like not everyone's is the same. So my personal expression was just how my body expresses discomfort. Yeah.
30:36Gary Brecka:Danica Patrick, thank you so much for coming on The Ultimate Human. I can't believe we're here at the White House. You know, part of this Maha movement is amazing. It's such a blessing to be on the journey with great people and influencers like yourself. So thank you for giving us the time today.
30:49Danica Patrick:Let's talk about that business idea.
30:50Gary Brecka:Yeah.
30:51Danica Patrick:Until next time, that's just science.
From the publisher
Authenticity vibrates at a frequency 4,000 times stronger than love — and Danica Patrick’s health transformation proves it. When she finally listened to her body’s authentic signals and removed her breast implants after seven years of illness, her oil production, scalp health, and energy returned within hours. At 43, she’s in the best shape of her life following two simple protocols: eat your protein and lift weights. Your body tells the truth when you stop overcomplicating and start listening to its authentic frequencies.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
04:37 270% Increase in US Obesity Rates since the ‘70s
10:03 Healthy Foundation
11:57 Benefits of Simplicity in Food
13:49 Nutritional and Healthcare Guidelines
17:27 Non-Negotiable Habits as a Professional Athlete
21:03 Biohacking Practices
24:13 Breast Implant Illnesses29:45 Advice for Women & BII Awareness
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.
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