E23 pt. II: Ryan Kennedy: Natural Strategies to Become Your Optimal Self

0:10Maybe a last one regarding food. we talked about gluten but you haven't really told us what you think or what you've read and studied about gluten so is it that evil because there's a lot of different thought about gluten some people say it's actually not that bad some people say it's a scale but it has an intolerance to it but like some really big ones some like a small one what would you say about gluten that can help people think oh even if i'm not having gut problems or whatever i might like even try to remove it to see if it makes a difference or not. I always encourage people to experiment.

0:45If you have even the slightest inclination, this will help or that'll help. Give it a try, even just for a week or two. There's nothing you could, there's no harm in that. And if you feel better, that's all the data. It's all the proof that you need. But to answer your question, I think gluten is not great for human nutrition. It's just a, it's a protein found in wheat and other grains for people listening in. But I think the real problem, Kevin is the wheat itself. We have hybridized and genetically altered this crop wheat to where now it has so many chromosomes. It's like an alien molecule to our bodies.

1:17And I think that's what drives a lot of immune issues that causes things like eczema in the mouth ulcers you mentioned. I think it causes a lot of gut irritation and leaky gut and other issues there. I think it's the wheat itself. And I think gluten can be specifically problematic for people with intolerances. So you have celiac disease, you have gluten intolerance, you have people who are very reactive to gluten itself. And for those people, it's not good. Just if you're very reactive to eggs, you should not eat eggs, even if they're fine for other people. But I've had a lot of patients that thought they were gluten intolerant, not testing, just like they felt better.

1:54They had all these issues, they cut out gluten, the issues went away. I've had them try like an organic barley, which has gluten, but it was an heirloom variety of barley. So they've never been hybridized. They were totally fine. I had them try an heirloom variety of wheat called einkorn. This is the type of wheat that was grown thousands of years ago. That's like the OG stuff that's never been altered, never been genetically altered. They were fine. And it has tons of gluten. There's gluten. Yeah. So more than a gluten itself, it gets back to the quality of the food that you're eating and being very conscious of what you're eating and actually knowing and understanding what you're eating.

2:30That's right. You'll hear a lot of stories of Americans that go to Europe and eat bagels and croissants and pastries and feel fine. Then they come back to the States. I hear so many stories about eating normally in the US, I become fat and I'm going back to Europe and I'm losing weight. There is something crazy with this processed food and with the food in the US and probably other countries. But like, I hear that so much. No, it's the, it's a hundred percent true, man. And they'll come back to the States. They'll eat, they'll feel like shit. And the main difference, there's a lot of differences in the food quality, especially in certain parts of Europe.

3:03But one of the main differences with the wheat is that they use emmer, which is like einkorn. It's a non-hybridized heirloom variety of wheat. And that is significantly less inflammatory, significantly less problematic than the crap that we use in the United States. So I think to answer your question, gluten is not necessarily terrible for everyone if it's coming from a good source. And it's usually the foods themselves that have gluten that are a problem with the exception of if you have a specific intolerance or allergy to gluten, which sounds like you do and many people do. Yeah. Awesome. So the next topic that I really love is testosterone.

3:40I'm actually a big fan of using testosterone boosting herbs. I have 21 different herbs that I rotate every day to not develop tolerance to because part of this biohacking kind of journey for me was understanding the whole story about testosterone level decreasing the last 50 years. that's related to our lifestyle and food and how you can naturally increase that to feel amazing, basically. So what's the role of testosterone in a man's quality of life? Both men and women have testosterone. It's especially important for men, but it's also critical for women, for sex drive and libido and a whole bunch of other things.

4:17So it's somewhat applies to both genders, but for men, especially, many people associate testosterone, Kevin, with muscle building and bodybuilders and just like physique. But in reality, testosterone is critical for our daily energy, for our drive and motivation, for just wanting to get after it, having that vitality, having a good mental state, good mental health, good levels of just ambition to whatever it is. Maybe it's steered towards your business. Maybe it's steered towards being a great father, a great partner. Maybe it's steered towards eating healthy and making good choices and working out.

4:52That ambition. It's all linked. It's all linked to testosterone. and obviously other things as well, but that's a big driver of this. And when you have that vitality and that drive to get after it in life, everything becomes easier. It's freaking hard to work out and eat healthy and show up for your partner and run a business and be an entrepreneur if you don't feel like it. If you have no drive, no motivation, you feel low every day, it's freaking hard, dude. Whereas when you have that vitality, it becomes exponentially easier. and so that's a big component with testosterone that goes above and beyond just sex drive and muscle building and things that most people associate with it's obviously important for those things but it's also important for your mental state and your daily performance feeling calm take make better decisions sleep better is all linked basically it's all absolutely so how is the state of testosterone in male adults today and how does it compare to 50 years ago Dude, it's horrendous.

5:52Levels are declining like it's a freaking epidemic, bro. And there's a lot of reasons for that. But if you compare the average level of testosterone today versus 50 or 100 years ago, it's crazy. It's crazy how much we've seen declines. And you see it in our society. When you see like the average person and they got a big fat beer belly, they're overweights, they don't have any of this ambition we're talking about. They don't train. They don't do any manly shit. They just sit inside on the computer and watch porn and watch TV. and they don't do anything that's actually enhancing their testosterone.

6:22Do they have low testosterone because they're doing all that stuff? Or do they do all that stuff because they have low testosterone? Classic chicken or the egg question. I think it's a combination of both, but I think that they have low testosterone because of poor choices they made earlier in their lives. And then because they have poor, low testosterone, it keeps them in that cycle. It doesn't allow them to have the ambition or drive to make these better choices. And it's very difficult to lose weight. And it's very difficult to work out because they have low testosterone, but it was the poor choices they made from the get-go that led to them having low levels.

6:59And yeah, man, there's a lot of different other reasons as well, beyond just lifestyle, our environments, just the amount of chemicals and personal care products like deodorant, shampoos, toothpaste, a huge one. And these chemicals are classified as endocrine disrupting chemicals, meaning they disrupt your hormones. and many of them are mimic estrogen. And so they're not good for our health. And so guys using all these colognes and all this crap, all these chemicals, not good. And then you also have the lack of sensible sun exposure, which the near infrared light we get from the sun is one of the most profound things for our mitochondria, for our mood and for our testosterone.

7:36It's absolutely critical. That's why it feels so amazing to spend just 10 minutes under the sun. Dude, it's the best cure. It's addictive. It's the best medicine. Yeah. That's the next topic, actually, after testosterone. We'll get into that. Okay. So why did men experience such a huge decline in testosterone level over the last few decades? What happened? What you said, environment, the key, like, or the few key drivers, and what changed? Listen, there's a lot of things, dude. And there's not just one thing. It's the food system. All the processed foods and seed oils and garbage that's infiltrated the nutrition of so many individuals.

8:11It's the lack of movement and outdoor time and exercise. and just the ultimate vacation of humans, dude. We've removed people from the natural environment that enables us to thrive. We've put them inside cubicles under artificial junk light in front of screens, sitting on their ass all day, only to drive home in traffic, to sit on their ass more, watch TV, and then go to bed and do it all over again. And that is a recipe for feeling shitty, having poor mental health, having low testosterone, having poor metabolic health. It's honestly a freaking tragedy. And it's hard to pull out of that cycle once you're trapped in it Now you've got a house payment, a car payment, credit card debt, all these responsibilities and obligations.

8:49It's not as easy to just cut ties and say, fuck this. Absolutely. Yeah. But it's all part of the system and kind of the design of society, which is it sucks. But that's a big component to this. In addition to the environment and all the chemicals and there's over 90 ,000 synthetic chemicals that are produced now in today's world that were never around several hundred years ago. and so all these combine into creating the situation where testosterone levels are low and because of that there's a lot of men that are struggling mentally and physically what's the consequence of that especially in relation to their interaction with women and overall reproduction rates you know we could even go as far as asking what will happen to our economy if we make less babies because of this testosterone issue yeah that's a good point it's decreasing fertility, which is somewhat correlated to the testosterone, but also separate.

9:44And that fertility rates are declining massively. People are having a hard time conceiving. You have to be a certain level of health to make a new baby, to create life. And if you're missing a bunch of critical nutrients and you don't have that health status, it's hard to conceive a child with your partner. And there's other reasons, of course. And then as far as the impact it's having with relationships, I think that a lot of domestic violence, dysfunctional relationships, dysfunctional sex life, all these things come back to problems with your biology. They come back to imbalances in your neurochemistry, imbalances in your hormones.

10:21People don't necessarily want to feel this way. They don't want to do these terrible things, but they're fucked up, dude. They have these problems that they don't know how to fix and they don't have answers like what we're talking about on this podcast to guide them to make better choices to feel better, to live a better life, to take care of people that they care about properly and not lash out and have these, yeah, all these problems. And so they turn to cigarettes, vaping, alcohol, because it's easier and it feels good quickly. Exactly. It's a lot easier to numb yourself with alcohol than it is to do a sauna and a cold plunge and work out and get sun and do all the other things that make you feel fantastic.

11:03man yeah what are the best natural strategies to support testosterone levels as we age and so what are those and also when should people start thinking about that is you know is your 20s too early to start thinking about that is your early 30s too early because a lot of people might just think you're 25 or you're 32 like why are you talking about that for example me like people are like why taking all these herbs like you're 30 30 years old like it makes no sense like you're healthy you go to gym and i'm like because i want to feel even better but yeah but even not like i'd say people who don't think about all that stuff when should they start thinking about that stuff and what can they do naturally to support testosterone levels so you should start guys and for girls yeah yeah so anyone should start thinking about it as early as 19 20 years old in terms of testing your levels because there's a lot of guys there's a lot of women who have these hormone imbalances at early ages dude i have guys in their early and mid 20s and late 20s come to work with me in my practice that have testosterone levels lower than guys in their 50s because of all these things we're talking about so it's not just an age thing Yes, you should, in theory, Kevin, have really high optimal levels of testosterone in your 20s.

12:23They start to slowly decline in your 30s, 40s, and 50s. And as we get older, they go down. But the reality is so many dudes I work with have low testosterone, even if they're 27, 28 years old. And they're overweight, and they're having trouble losing fat and building muscle, and they don't have any energy or drive or motivation. So it's not necessarily just an age thing. There's a lot of other factors. So before you go do all these natural things, you're talking about herbs and things we're going to talk about of ways to boost it. You should get your levels tested. You can get a good hormone panel for 75 bucks blood tests.

13:00It's not that expensive. And the most important thing you want to run is not just total testosterone. It's free testosterone. You always want to run free testosterone because that's what's actually available, bioavailable in the body. You take total. And then a lot of it's bound up by proteins like sex hormone binding globulin. then what's left is your free testosterone. And that's actually the number that matters. I see a lot of guys with good total testosterone in seven, eight hundreds range, but they have high SHBG and their free testosterone is very low. And they're having symptoms of low T.

13:31You also ideally want to test your DHEA. DHEA is a precursor to testosterone and a precursor to all of our sex hormones. And if you have low DHEA, that's something that's very simple, really easy to supplement and fix to give your body more of the raw materials to synthesize more testosterone and have better hormone balance. So I would run free testosterone and DHEA as the main two markers. If you're only going to run two, like looking at total, looking at SHBG, looking at estradiol, these things can be helpful and are absolutely good to run in a good hormone panel. We'll have all of those. But if you were just on a budget and you're just like, what's the minimum I could run?

14:09I would run free testosterone and DHEA. It should cost you maybe 50, 60 bucks to run those two. If you go to a good lab company and that's going to give you an idea of, Hey, is this important for me to focus on right now? Now that would be more so for the supplementation, Kevin. I think every man should focus on the lifestyle stuff because the same lifestyle changes that increase testosterone are the same changes that make you healthy and fit and feel good day to day, like testosterone aside. And that would include resistance training, lifting heavy shit, doing some type of weight training is key.

14:43That would include the side exposure we talked about. That would include sauna and cold and doing some sort of contrast therapy where you're getting hot and you're sweating and you're getting cold, whether it's in a cold shower, cold plunge. Awesome, all awesome for testosterone. That would include movement and not sitting on your ass for prolonged periods of time. That would include good nutrition and not eating a bunch of sugar, starch, not drinking a bunch of alcohol. These things are terrible for testosterone. There's a number of lifestyle and dietary stuff that really impact testosterone.

15:14I'd say the number one, it's more important than anything I mentioned is sleep. If you're not getting good quality sleep, you could be doing everything else under the sun and your levels are going to suffer. So you got to prioritize sleep. It's truly the foundation of our health. And these practices, whether you're 18 years old, 28 years old, 38 years old, you should be focusing on these practices because they are going to help you be vital, fit, live a long, healthy life and perform at your best. And they'll also help with testosterone, but that's not the sole purpose of doing these things. How do you optimize sleep?

15:50Man, biggest thing is you You got to set yourself up for success. So many people get to the evening hours, put their head on the pillow and expect you to sleep like a champ, even though they did all the wrong things during the day. So starting from the morning, you got to get outside, get some morning light while the sun is at a low solar angle. That's going to anchor your circadian rhythm and getting that morning sunlight is going to help you sleep later on that night. Same with getting midday sun and spending as little time under artificial junk lights as physically possible. This is going to be very beneficial for your sleep.

16:22Wearing yourself out during the day by doing some sort of physical activity. Could be a walk or hike. Could be some weight training. Could be some sports. Could be anything. It's going to help you through your sleep that night. Not eating a late dinner. Eating an early dinner is going to help with your sleep. Having a good wind down evening routine where you're not watching action films and playing video games until midnight. Trying to actually turn off the screens, turn off the devices, read a book, do some deep breathing, do some stretching. have some intimate time with your partner. All these things are going to help enhance your sleep quality.

16:56And there's certain supplements, there's certain nutrients, there's certain other kind of more biohacking type gadgets and gear we could dive into Kevin. But those are the basic fundamentals that most people skip out on. And then they are like, why don't I sleep? Why can't I fall asleep? It's because you're doing all the wrong shit, dude, during the day. So you got to actually take action and the right things during the day. So by the time the evening comes, you feel tired, you feel ready for bed and you're able to sleep well. What about supplements to sleep? I have a magnesium, glycine, like what else would you say?

17:27Magnesium and glycine are both helpful and they could provide benefits in a lot of ways. I don't see, I love magnesium before bed. I don't see it having a massive impact on people's sleep quality clinically. Like it doesn't increase their sleep scores. It doesn't help them fall asleep really. It's just good for general health and has a lot of other benefits. And at taking it at night is a good time to take it. When it comes to supplements, I would say there's three that I've seen work really effectively. One is an amino acid called GABA. It's a common neurotransmitter, can help slow down racing thoughts, help you relax, help you get better sleep.

18:03And you want to look for a pharma GABA or something that actually is more bioavailable. Number two would be another amino acid called 5-HTP. This is the converted form of tryptophan and is really helpful for converting into serotonin and melatonin and ultimately providing relaxation and good sleep quality. This is actually a supplement that can be used as an antidepressant one sometimes too, no? Yes, because it's a precursor to serotonin, it can help with mood and can help with mild depression. It's unlikely to have a significant effect if someone has more moderate or severe depression, but it can help.

18:42And it certainly has no side effects. It has really no downsides. It's just a natural amino acid. And then the third thing I would say is melatonin. And melatonin is something that gets some controversy. Some people love it and say it's a miracle molecule. Some people don't like it and say you should steer clear of it. I fall somewhere in the middle in that I think there's a ton of benefits to melatonin. I think you could overuse some things and for certain people, they may not need it, but it could be very powerful supplementation for enhancing sleep quality and promoting sleep in people who are challenged with that.

19:15Now you have to get the right form of melatonin. You got to know what, how much to take for your body. You got to take it at the right time. There's certain nuances too, that people fuck up that cause them to not get much benefit out of the melatonin. Awesome. Last question about testosterone. how much do you like or know about TRT? Testosterone replacement therapy. I know that Joe Rogan, for example, and many other high-performing males are big fans of TRT, which is not natural, obviously. But you can get bioidentical testosterone replacement therapy, which isn't exactly natural, but it's pretty close.

19:50And I think it's fantastic depending on your age. I don't think young men should be using TRT because once you start taking TRT, It's a lifelong commitment. It's very challenging to take testosterone exogenously for one year, two years, three years, and then just decide, hey, I don't want to take this anymore and stop because your own production is going to just completely plummet. So you're not producing your own testosterone. Now your body is reliant on this exogenous testosterone. And for some people, they don't mind taking it the rest of their life. If it makes them feel great and it's a little better living through science, they're all cool for it.

20:27other people don't want to have to be reliant on anything. So it's a personal choice. The benefits of testosterone replacement therapy are amazing for older people. I say, because you don't want to take it. If you're in childbearing years, it will atrophy your testicles and it will decrease your sperm count. So if you're looking to have babies, like I want to have a lot of babies, then you should not be taking a bunch of testosterone because it's not going to help you with your fertility. If you're like 40, 50 years old, like Joe Rogan, I don't know how old he's probably in his fifties, he's not looking to have any more kids.

20:58It has a lot of benefits and very few downsides. If you're using an appropriate dose, you're not taking way too much. Now there are other drugs that, so you mentioned some of the herbal supplements, we could talk about those, but there's other pharmaceuticals that I think are more appropriate for younger men to ramp up their production of testosterone. HCG is one. Clomid is another one. There's certain peptides now that people can try that can help ramp up their body's production of testosterone without becoming ultra reliant on it, without it impacting your fertility. And so there's a lot of things in this world I utilize for people I work with.

21:35I always start with the natural stuff. I like the herbs, Tonga, Dai Li, Epimedium, bringing in key nutrients like boron and vitamin C, as well as zinc and vitamin D3 and creatine. And a lot of these very important nutrients that are important in the synthesis of testosterone. It's like, if you have vitamin D3 deficiency, or you're not getting enough magnesium, or you're not getting enough of some of these minerals like zinc and boron and selenium, good luck getting your testosterone up naturally, because those are important raw materials for the body to produce testosterone. Yeah. Always keep the, in your mind that the body is a holistic thing and you need to look at every angle.

22:16And if you're missing out a lot of these pieces, the main thing you're trying to work on or towards is not going to work because it's a whole thing. It's just not just taking one pill or another pill and just having the thing magically work. Dude, that's a great point. People have to remember nutrients work in synergy with other nutrients. And whenever there's studies looking at a certain vitamin and they're like, oh, it didn't provide any benefit. They'll take like a synthetic one is usually synthetic form of the vitamin, but let's just say they take like some vitamin E and they give people vitamin E and they're like, oh, that didn't actually provide that much benefit.

22:51What's dude, you gave them vitamin E on an empty stomach in isolation. So fat soluble vitamin needs to be taken with other fats. And without the cofactors and constituents it's, it uses to actually have its effects. You're not going to have any benefit. It would be like saying, Hey, Kevin, wood doesn't build a house. I have all this lumber and no house is being built. I said, no, dude, you need the windows, the doors, the roofing, the drywall, the paint, the flooring. You need all these things to build a house. You can have all the lumber in the world, but if you don't have the other things, the nails, the screws, everything else, good luck building a house.

23:22Our bodies are the same way, except infinitely more complex than a house. So whenever people take nutrients in isolation by themselves, it's never a good strategy. You always want it to be taken with the other cofactors and other enzymes and other types of compounds that help that nutrient performance actions and the proper food and a proper exercising routine and a proper sleeping routine and then all this thing is going to compound together to bring out the best version of yourself that's it dude that's it yeah you can't supplement your way out of a shitty diet a shitty lifestyle just doesn't work like that unfortunately yeah what What is muscle-centric medicine in relationship to longevity?

24:04So it's a philosophy that really highlights the fact that muscle is the organ of longevity. Our skeletal muscle mass. Most people think of muscle, dude, and they associate it with vanity metrics. Oh, you're going to flex in front of the mirror. You want to be an athlete or something along those lines. But in reality, muscle is the most important organ in our body that is going to determine how long we will live and how well we will age. So it's very important for locomotion, as I'm sure everyone can realize, going up and down the stairs, getting up and off the couch as we get older, stuff like that, carrying in groceries.

24:41But it's also very closely tied to our endocrine system. So muscle actually helps us increase testosterone, helps us enhance our hormonal balance. it's very closely tied to our cardiovascular system so our heart health so by having more muscle mass it increases our cardiovascular health it's very closely tied to our mental health when we exercise and we actually engage our muscle mass it releases these signaling compounds that are literally antidepressant signaling agents that go into the brain and can help quell anxiety quell depression have amazing effects on our mental health and when you start to look at the big picture, building muscle is one of the most foundational elements to overcoming the obesity epidemic that we suffer, our society is suffering from.