Steve Harvey: Overcoming Sugar Addiction, Getting Your Energy Back and Making An Impact | TUH #011

Had high blood pressure, pre diabetic, leaky gut, immune disorder. I'm in horrible shape. I heard there's this guy named Gary and I heard he can do some incredible stuff. I found out about you on a Thursday. I got you on the phone on a Friday. On Monday, I was sitting in y'. All. I'm 66. Gaining muscle is not supposed to be happening.

I recently joined this journey with you about seven months ago.

The best seven months. Ultimate Human.

Welcome back to the Ultimate Human Podcast. I'm your host, Gary Brecke, human biologist, where we go down the road of everything. Anti aging, longevity, bio optimization and everything in between. Today is an extraordinarily special day for me, not only because I'm being joined by my wife on set today, but because we have a very special guest, someone I'm proud to call a friend. He is an entrepreneur, a New York Times bestselling author, an Emmy award winning TV producer. He's got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is a philanthropist, a comedian, a game show host, a talk show host. He runs his own radio show. He's arguably the most powerful voice in media and he is a Christian man and an all around just great dude. I am super happy to welcome the one and only Mr. Steve Harvey to the Ultimate Human podcast.

Of all that stuff you said, I.

Was like, the whole podcast is just the introduction.

It's waiting on the one and only. That's all. Somebody got mad at me one time. They said, man, how you had the audacity to call yourself the one and only. I said, well, you know, another one. I mean, I'm not, that's not an arrogant statement. You know, everybody's one of one. So that's true.

Well, you are definitely one of one. And, and we've had an amazing journey together and I think a lot of people are, are familiar with your story, your struggles and you know, in younger, in life, meaning that nothing was handed to you. Your career really took off late in life, in your late 30s. But I'm not sure that so many people are aware of your health journey. You know, the, the amount of time, the effort to energy that you, you put into, into your health and your, and your body. I recently joined this journey with you about seven months ago and it's been one heck of a journey, the best.

Seven months, because the rest of it was tough, you know, because I think maybe on my radio show I might have said it to some people, but I had a lot of problems. I discovered last November, December, I was out of the country. And I just wasn't feeling myself, man. So I just, I told my wife and you know, we went to a doctor in a hospital and saw a doctor in a hospital at Cleveland Clinic. There's a Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi.

I did not know that.

And so I went over there because I grew up, used to work across the street from Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. So I felt comfortable, it's top notch facility over there. And I went to the hospital and man, I found out a series of things that I had that was wrong and I didn't know, man. I wasn't sleeping well at night. I had severe sleep apnea. Had I did the overnight test at the hospital, I spent the night in the hospital, took the sleep apnea test, found out I scored a 29, which is extremely high. Severe sleep apnea. I ended up discovering I had high blood pressure, I was pre diabetic, I had leaky gut, I had Jorgensen or something like that. Immune disorder. I didn't know what that was. And I had something else. I had. That's a lot.

Well, that was a lot. Yeah, that was almost as much as your podcast introduction.

And I was really sitting there, man. I was feeling as bad as I've ever felt. And I work a lot, so I'm like a machine. I know how to just do my work. But on my lunch break, I'd had to lay down. As soon as work is over, I was done. I was exhausted the whole day. I was taking a five hour energy shots. Oh boy. I remember two of them a day just to try to get myself through it. And nothing was working until seven months ago.

What were their solutions for you, if you don't mind me asking? You don't have to.

Well, you know, I mean, I mean like most people, you know, they. They do what they do, you know. Sadly, you know, not too many people focus on the cure. It's more about treatment than anything.

Band aid approach.

And so they gave me some high blood medication. They gave me a CPAC machine. I started sleeping on a CPAC machine. I hated it. It was just horrible.

I never liked strapped to your face like the one that seals around your nose.

Come on man, you gotta turn around. I tried all kinds just to kinda win your nostril. Then it kind of just went across your face. Then I put the mask on. I tried everything, man. I was sleeping on CPAC machine. I was taking high blood pressure medication. I had been trying to fix this leaky gut for quite some time and thought I was doing it because I had been taking some supplements for a couple of years, you know, and so that was it. But it was just medication, right? My vitamin D was low. I couldn't seem to get it up. My red blood count was low. I couldn't raise the red bloods in my body. I was just a walking mess, man. And I. I couldn't lose weight. I was trying everything, man. I was watching calorie count. I got a chef, I got a trainer, you know, I got an infrared sauna. I got everything I could think of, man, to try to make it work. And nothing. I. I mean, man, nothing was working, man.

Yeah, I remember. I remember. I actually remember the phone call from you March of this year. And I forget exactly how you came came to us, but I remember the phone call because I got off the phone call and I was talking to Sage. I said, man, this guy is on a mission. I can tell that he's committed and he's had it because we talked. You said, listen, man, I'll fly anywhere, anywhere in the country that you are.

And.

And you want me to come to Miami? I'll be there in 48 hours.

I'll tell you. I found out about you on a Thursday. I got you on the phone on the Friday. On Monday, I was sitting in your office.

That's right.

How did you find out about us?

Actually, a young lady that works with my wife as her personal trainer from Australia. She's very astute, very. She's always on YouTube. She's always. She's the most medical person I've ever met. And so she's like a sponge for information. And she. I was sitting in the kitchen one day talking to him and. And she said, Mr. Harvey, you just look like you're over it. And I said, I am. She said, you look so dejected. I said, look, I'm doing the workouts, I'm eating the food, I'm counting calories. I'm doing all this here. I ain't losing nothing, man. I'm not losing anything. And it's frustrating. She said, I've been online of this guy named Gary, Gary Rappa. Wonderful. You know, she had that.

Is that your Australian accent?

It sound like in England, but that's all I know how to do.

That was a good child.

And she said, I've left him an email, but I left another guy that bought this company called 10X Grant Cardone. And I said, grant Cardone? What do you mean you left him an email? I'm waiting on him to return the call. I said, well, I know Grant. I've done his 10x conference. And so I picked up the phone, I called Grant. He picked the phone and said, hey, Steve, what's going on? I said, man, listen, here's the deal. I'm in horrible shape. I heard there's this guy that you've worked with named Gary, and. And I heard he can do some incredible stuff. This young lady showed me a video. I. Look, man, I'll go do all of this. He said, man, this is great. You're going to love it. I'll tell you what to do. He said, wait a minute. Let me put you in contact with him. And then that's how I reached out to you all.

That's right. Yeah, yeah. Remember, he put us both on the phone. You were down there 48 hours later, and we started this journey. And, you know, a lot of people that are listening are. Have probably walked in those very same shoes. You know, they've reached that point of frustration where they're doing the diet, they're doing the exercising. They just don't feel right. They're on medication. You know, I. I looked back. I was telling you at lunch today, I looked back at where we started in March and where we are today, and it is astounding to me, the different human being that is showing up today versus what. What showed up in my unit in March. It is.

It is just not just physical. Yeah.

You know, everybody sees what's going on in the outside. You know, you. You look great. You're thinner. I know that you're. You know, your.

Your stylist is.

Your stylist is not happy with us because I've taken in all your suits.

Oh, no, he's very happy.

I was going to say that's job.

He thinks the skinnier you are, the better your life will be. He's.

He's having fun.

Yeah. He's a supermodel, so he's got a whole another. I'm sitting up here going, partner, you're.

Getting some glares off camera right now.

Oh, this dude. Right? But that's his world. He likes fashion, so he. He's excited, but he's mad at me because I don't want to get the suits taken in as tight as he wants.

Right. You know, they like that European look, that snug look, but you got to show it off.

When you had that American gut for a while, you don't.

Yeah.

You don't really focus on, you know, wearing really tight clothes unless they just look tight. That's what was happening.

So I was, you know, I was telling you earlier that, you know, the. The leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease is something called metabolic syndrome. And we know that cardiovascular disease is a leading killer in the world. And when you have metabolic syndrome, it's when you have any two of the five things that you just mentioned, and that's high triglycerides, high blood fat, elevated insulin, you're hyperinsulinemic, elevated blood sugar, abdominal obesity, and high blood pressure. And. And also the, you know, low healthy cholesterol, HDL cholesterol. And when I looked back at the labs in March, you had five of five of those things.

I had all of them.

All of them.

I was in trouble, man.

Yeah. And today, last month, you had none. You had zero. You were zero for five.

I don't know if you remember this, but that day, I told you, please take a before picture because you're going to have an after photo.

You told me. I got him.

You got.

You got it. We're going to roll that up on the B roll the podcast here.

And just think, that was just six months. I mean, it's. We're only in months.

You know, it's like when you've tried everything and, you know, I'm a disciplined person. If I make up my mind to do something I. I can use.

I have noticed that. Absolutely.

If I tell you I'm going to.

Do it, you were committed.

You pretty much know. You told me, just give me 70 days.

Yeah.

Look, man, I've come on 70. Okay, cool. To fix the rest of my life and weeks, you know, I got 70 days. Look, I lost weight before. During COVID I went on this special program, lose 21 pounds in 21 days. And I did it.

You did.

Lost 25 pounds in 21 days. Wow. I followed it to the T. You intermittent fast. You stop eating at 8, you eat again at 12. They send your food in the bag to your house. It was doing covet, so I couldn't go anywhere. TV was shut off. So I wait on this bag, and at 12, I could eat, but I could only eat 1,000 calories a day. You're starving yourself and you weigh yourself every day, Sage. I was sitting on that stage, getting on that scale every day, weighing myself, you. And boom, the weight was dropping off. But when I stepped on my inbody machine, which tells you how much body fat you have. Water, muscle tone, tissue, y' all lost his weight, man. And on the 21st day, I couldn't wait to get off this program, but I had lost this weight But I had lost so much muscle tone.

Right.

I was under a hundred pounds of muscle. Oh, my God. A third of the weight that I had lost was my muscle. And, you know, muscle is your currency.

As you get older, your metabolic currency.

You know, and so I did it. So when you said, give me 70 days, you know, when people hear that, you know, hey, man, just do this for 21 days. Give up sugar, man. I can't. You can. Yes, you can. And you, you put me on a paleo diet, but you, you reduced all these sub. I was taking 32 pills a day, Right. You gave me. But here's where it started. I had already done a gene test.

Yeah.

I just had never done anything with it.

Yeah. So you're not supplementing for deficiency.

You said, I need a gene test, but I, I didn't know it, but in my medical records, I had it.

Yep.

And then you did my blood work. All this on that Monday. Right. And you said, Thursday, I will have everything you need.

Yep.

Everybody. You did not lie.

You know, but what's astounding is, you know, we went in that period of time from the body fat percentage in the 30s to now 18.

18.6.

18.6.

So awesome.

What? What? And how much muscle did you lose, Steve?

Zero.

Zero.

How much did you gain?

Gain 1.2 pounds of muscle.

Yes. Yeah. This is amazing because most of the time, a third of that weight loss is lean muscle mass.

And look, we lose any muscle mass. 6. Like, gaining muscle is not supposed to be happening.

It's not easy.

But you took my gene work and you looked at my genes and you were telling me stuff about me that I don't know how you knew because I didn't give you medical reports. No, you just took blood work and looked at the genes.

Right.

And you said, this is what's wrong. This is what's wrong. This is what you have. This is what you have. And I went, whoa. And you started supplementing. What do you call it? Gene deficiency.

Yeah, for deficiency. I mean, most problems just for the sake of supplementing. But we started supplementing for specific deficiency in your body. And it was almost every other week I was talking to you and you were like, man, I am sleeping so much better. I got so much more energy at the office. I'm not dragging ass during the day. I dropped the five hour energy.

Energy.

Oh, because those are terrible for you. Per your genes, you can't have the main ingredient, which is called cyanocobalamin, which is a cyanide based B12 and that was messing you up more than you realize.

Oh, man. And I'm. I'm taking two a day.

Yeah.

Because I'm on Family Feud. I'm on the radio, I got a judge show. I'm just trying to stay functioning because I got to be sharp.

Right.

And it gave me that joke.

Yeah, but then it would make you crash.

But, man, I was hurting.

Yeah.

You know, I remember I said, I know the only thing getting you through the day is your own stubborn willpower.

Because I'm just. Look, I got a lot of dog in me now that I do have. There is a dog that resides in me and I use him all the time. And. But what you did was you educated me on myself and my body because I didn't know. The main thing you taught me that I really learned was you said, there is no one fix for everybody.

That is true.

You take this pill that'll cure your this, this, this, and this. No, man, Everybody. You could take this type of vitamin D and it'll do you nothing.

Right.

I've been taking vitamin D pills and my vitamin D was like a what, a 19?

Yeah, 19. Half the lowest end of the range.

What's it now?

69. I looked at 96.

Thank you, Amelia. I didn't even know she was in here.

I didn't see behind the couch There he.

69. 96. Dude.

Triglycerides were elevated. They're normal now. Insulin was in the pre diabetic range. Insulin resistance, they call that. That's normal now. Your 3 month average of your blood sugar was pre diabetic. It's in the low end of normal now. Your healthy cholesterol is elevated. Your lethal cholesterol is down. The blood pressure, last time we took it, had normalized. Clearly, the abdominal obesity is going away. You went from 5 of 5 to 0 of 5. And I think the message for people listening to this podcast is given your schedule and your lifestyle and your travel and the amount of demands that you have, you had to, number one, make the time, number two, make the commitment to it. And. And what I want people to know is how hard was it? And now how likely are you to go back?

Well, here's the deal. You talk about my commitment, but the two most important things you have, everybody has the two most important things is your health and your time. If you out of either one of those, you in a world of trouble.

That is true.

You're out of time, you're gone, you out of health. Even if you here, you sick. What is this? So you Got to prioritize. Right. And look, it requires a discipline. You know, look, you're not going to change without discipline. You can't be successful without a discipline. Most successful people understand that, but most people who go to school and graduate from high school, you have to be disciplined to get a degree. You have to be disciplined to get up and go to the post office every day. You got to be disciplined to get up and carry mail every day. You gotta be disciplined to be a United Auto worker all day. These are disciplined people. Yes, I was all of that. You know, I worked in the automobile industry. I've been. You have to be disciplined to wake up and take care of your family. Yeah. So we all have it in us. It's just the commitment that you want to make. Yeah, but it's an important commitment, you know, Come on, man, you gotta do something to fix yourself. Because if I had five of those markers and I knew none of this before, if I had five of those markers, two, you're in trouble. You're at risk. I had all five of them. I'm pretty much was just getting ready. Yeah. You know. You know, to just check it in. And that goes against everything I want. Because I want to live a long time. Right. Hell, I just got this money. I'm trying. Yeah. I got to start thinking of some.

Stuff, you know, what are some things that, you know, on this health journey, what are some things in your life that.

That.

That the health journeys enabled you to do? Like, what has this journey been like impacting your career, your. Your family, your relationships?

First of all, my energy is completely different, totally turned around. My sleep has completely turned. I've never been a big sleeper. I just don't believe in it. Right. But I've never been a big sleeper. But I had sleep apnea, which helped me not be a big sleeper. Because waking up, not breathing, two, three times a night, right? And my wife would go, you know, sometimes, Steve, when you're snoring, you stop snoring and you just cut off, start gasping.

Scary.

And you know, and then you wake up and you go.

And now she's not sleeping because she's.

Because she's watching me. So because of this, I no longer sleep. I'm off cpac. I don't sleep with that. I no longer take high blood medication. You know, I'm rested, I'm sharper. My mental focus has come back. Just look, man, to be able to walk around like, I still kind of dress like a fat boy, you know, because I'm like, I've trained myself over the years to blouse my shirt a certain way. You know what I mean? Hide it a bit. I still know all the tricks and my stylist always goes, Mr. Hurd, you don't have to do that anymore.

Exactly.

You know, button your shirt and tuck it in. You know, I wouldn't tuck my shirt in because, you know, I didn't want it protruding. You know, it's just created a freedom for me and a level of. And that's the vein part of it. But the feeling that I have on the inside is what I'm gonna tell you the biggest thing. And I know this will throw a lot of people off.

Hey, guys, I think the most important website you may ever go to is theultimatehuman.com. that's the theultimatehuman.com because on this website we can directly interact with one another. You can give me suggestions for podcast guests and topics that you'd like to see me cover. You can ask me any question that you'd like. More importantly, you can sign up for my entirely free newsletter. It comes out every single week. I write this so I can get the information to the masses on how to live a healthier, happier, longer, chemical free life. You can also sign up for a pre order of my book. And if you'd like to take the genetic test that I talk about all the time, it's available there too. And lastly, you can even see all of the products that I use in my daily life for a chemical free, healthy living style. A lot of people ask me, you know, what do you use in your daily life, Gary? What do you brush your teeth with and clean your countertops with? Well, it's all there if you'd like to see it. And you can again ask me any question that you'd like and get my free newsletter, theultimate Human Dotcom. I promise you that information will help change the trajectory of your life. And now back to the ultimate human podcast.

Because I'm. You know, when you talk about sugar, sugar is really a killer. That processed sugar, root of all evil is horrible out here, man. And it's got a lot of people sicker than they have to be. I can truly say after 70 days of this program, I had cured something that I didn't think I would ever be able to shake. And that was my love of sweets.

Awesome.

I mean, look, man, I was a sweet boy, that I was a junkie. Pie, Cake.

What was your go to?

Ice cream.

Ice cream.

Ice cream. I love. I still love it. But I found.

Think about it.

Every meal, man. Like, I gotta have it.

Yeah.

Dessert, cake, pie, peach cobbler. Peach cobblers. Like, it's like, it's amazing, you know, and so. But I found out some things about my body when you gave me that gene test. And with the diet you put me on, I don't even call it a diet because I could eat any meat I wanted to. Beef, fish, chicken, you know, turkey.

Contrary to popular belief, your blood labs improved. Eating meat, fish, now chicken, now you eat clean meat.

Only clean meat?

Yeah, it's got to be clean.

If it's not grass fed, if it's not from an Amish farm, or if it's not from these farms in Georgia where they have grass fed. And I buy them right there, you know, and we. The chef goes there and gets there. I eat all organic vegetables.

Amazing.

I only eat single ingredient food. You know, fish has one ingredient in it. Fish.

Fish really don't need to do much more than that.

That is true. Chicken, garlic, throw some lemon on it. Impossible. Burgers sometimes has like 31 different things.

And so once I did that, and I gave my body a chance to be able to process the stuff. Because when you put stuff in your body that it can't process, what does it do with it? Well, it stores it because it can't process it. You all taught me a whole different way. So I went on pretty much Paleo. Now I gave up dairy because I had this leaky gut, right? And when you got leaky gut, you can't have dairy. So I got off dairy. You took me off beans and wheat. I couldn't have any flour, stuff like that. I couldn't have anything that was fortified or enriched.

Wow. Come on now.

Speaking language. I'm so proud of you.

Let me tell you something so good, like you bring a little tear to my eye.

Listen, man, these are words that sound delicious.

Yeah.

Fortified. You go, wow, that's rich. Enriched. Yeah, I want to be rich.

Yeah, I want to be rich.

And you go, it's enriched. Is fortified. This is dope, man. Yeah, it is good marketing.

It's good advertising.

And it's perfectly wrong for you. And once I learned that my body cannot produce. What is it? Folic. Folic acid.

Folic acid.

My body cannot produce that. I mean, it can't process, process, process it. Now why am I putting it in here? And if you flip that label over and it says folic acid, you need to put that thing down, throw it in the trash. And. And if this is the mag. Single ingredient Food really helped me because I can't read that good. No way. So if you. If you turn the label over and you can't pronounce the word, you probably don't need to eat it.

Exactly.

That is so true.

Because if you can't say fish, you probably don't need to eat none. No. Damn.

Now, you know your health journey began before we met, and you're a co founder of a product I'm a huge fan of called Elevate. You talk to me a little bit about the inspiration behind that product and what your mission is with that product, because I know that you put a lot of effort in. Into.

Hey, man, I did. Because the one thing I knew that greens were good for you, I knew that. Now, I'm not a vegan by any stretch of the imagination. I tried that once. That was like an experiment out of hell. You know, I just struggle with being a vegan. And this is not slamming vegan, because more power to you. But that just ain't me. I just didn't. I just kept trying to figure out what God had gave me these teeth for. You know, if I'm just mashing these vegetables up in the top of my mouth. So I just knew I had to have greens, but I was taking greens. But just some days I just couldn't gag it down. I was just trying, but I. I don't know. Listen to me, man. I know kale is good for you.

Don't want it every day, but you.

Ever tried to just eat a kale salad?

It's tough.

I mean, man, you really got to. You almost got to get on all fours to do it. You just. You got to be a God. You got to be animal eating kale. And so I knew it was good for you. I was juicing it, right? I was buying bunches of it. And I was making kale, spinach, broccoli, celery, and. And I knew because it could get down to the cellular level and help you out. But I said, man, can anybody make this thing taste good? And so I just happened to throw that out one day on the radio, and I got a call from somebody that works for me named Crystal. She introduced me to the scientist named John Lyons from Harvard. And I sat down with him, and he said, tell me what you're trying to do. And I said, hey, man, I want something that's good, good for you. Has to have all the right stuff in it, but I want it to taste good, but I want it to have all the essential greens in it. That you take. And he said, all right, let me. So it took about a year and a half. He sent me some stuff to taste. I was going, listen to me, I know you're a scientist, but I told you this got to taste good, right? What is this?

This does not taste good.

You know, this is real close to gorilla urine. This right here. This right here.

I imagine this is how gorilla urine would taste. Yeah, I've never actually had personal experience.

I didn't have, but I would imagine that's what it's been tasting like. So he laughed a little bit and we kept trying and they finally came up with it. And we came up with this vitality daily greens that you take on a daily basis. And it just started going like gang bangers. And a lot of people started taking it. It increases your digestion, makes it better, increases your metabolism. It helps, you know, get rid of brain fog. It's just a really, really good product, man. I started taking it, man. I started feeling better, but I needed some more because, you know, you can feel better, but you can feel good without losing weight. And it wasn't a cure for high blood pressure. It wasn't a cure for sleep apnea, but I just started feeling better. And so then we just developed a product. We got it out on elevateyou.com it started doing gang bangers and then Walmart came along, said, hey, we've heard about this. Let's put it in stores. We went online and in stores and then we created some special stick packs for Walmart and it took off.

And so how long has this been in? Because this is only 2022 that you launched, right?

No, it came out 2023.

Oh, 2023.

It came out this year.

So the idea was incepted in 2022, but you hit the shelves this year.

It's selling that well in Walmart on.

And it makes sense because I think people are. Not everybody can afford these types of foods, you know, and doing a daily juice of spinach and kale and all broccoli and everything. And people don't really have the time for it or they get into it for a little while and then it just sort of fades away.

Well, that's what the crazy part, because you get, you know, if you want to, you don't really blend the juices. You got to get a juicer and everything. It does take a certain amount of time. So I simplified it and did with the skin.

And it gets expensive too. So to be able to just compact it and take it to Go.

Yeah.

So now that you're on this health journey, talk about your morning routine. Like, what is an average day for Steve Harvey?

Look like you want what I do.

This is a big one.

Now, the last time you actually shared some of this with me, it took me to my knees.

Yes.

Now, this is when I met Jerry and Sage. They introduced me to the 10x health protocol. And that right there has been the game changer for me. So here's my routine in the morning. Let me walk you through it. First thing, I wake up and I take these. My amino drink. That helps me when I work out to burn the fat instead of my muscle. So I keep my muscle. I drink my amino drink. Then I take my three supplement pills first thing in the morning. A peptide and a couple of pills. I take three pills in the morning with my water, and I take my undertone little peel that I take in one that dissolves onto your tongue. That's the first thing. Then we go, oh, yeah, here it comes. To a wonderful, beautiful, dark place. I go downstairs, dark, dark place. And I cold plunge. I've been on this program now, total 200 days. Today was my Amelia. Today was number 160. 100.

You've only missed 10 days.

So we.

Don'T have to tell her.

I've done. I. I think my number is really like 180.

That's not bad.

180, 175. Because I've traveled, missed some travel days, got to a hotel, didn't get it set up in time, lost a part or something like that. But here's the deal. I wake up in the morning, I have a permanent cold plunge pool in my house. I go downstairs. The science is the water has to be minimum 58 degrees, and then you can go as low as 50. There is no science that says you need to do it any colder. People do it for ego. You can do it, but there's no science that says it works better. Your protocol says to get in this water, minimum three minutes, maximum six, right? And I am here to tell you, if you get in the water first thing in the morning at 50 degrees, it is more than a notion to say no. Look, man, you ain't just. You ain't. I'm telling you.

I remember when you called me, you said I walked. Walked up to it nine times today, bro. Nine times.

I called Gary. I said, gary, I can't climb in this thing, man.

You did.

Cause I. Because the. The hardest time over the phone, the second time. Cause you know what's fitting to happen. The first time I got in, it was just like diving into a pool of death. The second time, why would I knowingly kill myself? And so it. It's a chance challenge to get in that water, man. I don't want to make people think, you know, oh, you just go down there and get in. So wonderfully refreshing. No, no.

It sucks every time.

And after 100 and almost 180 of these, I'm telling you the part I have not mastered. And I even talked to you about this today. And how many have you done? Probably thousands.

Yeah, thousands, probably.

He's Super.

I'm like 180, right? Yeah. So imagine this, by the way.

It never gets easier.

No, bro, it doesn't. I've asked you. It sucks every time because putting my feet in it don't bother me. It's lowering your groin, growing. You can call it. Let's just call it the groin. It's lowering your lower extremities. And they hit that water, they're not happy. And, oh, my goodness, the boys are not happy.

Not happy.

And they run to warmth. And so you sit in there and everything, and you hyperventilate and all the way up to here, and then you get your shoulders in it, and you sit there from three to six minutes. And, like, I keep my underwear on when I do it because I cannot deal with looking down there and not seeing anything. And. And I have a vagina that's not just uncomfortable.

Yeah, they are. They have definitely run, too.

I love warmer pastures. I have a special love for that. Yeah. But I don't want one myself, buddy. I mean. But I got to tell you, man, that cold plunge has been a game changer for me.

It is.

And I have a discipline about it now where I have to get it done. But it. It's. It's more than a notion, man. It's not easy to do. I'm not going to tell people that. People say, do you recommend it? No, I don't, because I don't think the average person is going to do it because, you know, you tell people that I don't like cold water. Okay, who does? Right? And you talk.

Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. You know, most people would pursue comfort much more aggressively than they pursue.

Okay, what'd you tell me? The water temperature at your house can get as cold as what, probably in the 60s.

Are you talking about in Colorado?

No, not. No, no.

Oh, In Miami.

Yeah. 70s, 70s.

Your water. So when you take a cold shower, cut on all cold water. That water is about 70 degrees.

Yep.

That's not what we're talking about here, right? No. I cut this puppy down at least to 58 to 50. That's a 20 degree temperature change. That's a huge jump. And most people say they don't like, but once you. When you do it, your favorite phrase is. It becomes your drug of choice.

Yes.

I tell you that's your favorite phrase.

Yes.

And I'll give you an example. The other day, I didn't get in it in the morning. I did my radio show, I came back home, and I was telling Amelia, I said, man, I'm just lethargic today. I don't feel like doing nothing. And then I went in and I started lifting weights in my gym, trying to give myself a little energy. And I got a workout in. And then I said, you know what? I looked over to the cold plunge and I got on in it, and I went and I got in it, and I suffered getting in. And once I got out, man, it brightened my whole day.

This is what I try to tell people. And look, if you don't have the money to spend on a cold plunge, start by all means with cold showers. Because one of the things that people are going to pick apart on this podcast is they're going to say, I don't have the money to do what Steve did. And you do, because you're taking a shower every day and you have some other equipment. And every time we talk about a piece of equipment, I try to tell people ways that they can get similar or nearly the same advantage for free. Exposing their skin to sunlight, learning how to do breath work, taking a cold shower versus getting in a cold plunge. And then when the time affords itself and you can buy a piece of equipment like that, then by all means, get one.

But hey, man, look, I got buddies that do this right here. They run a bathtub full of cold water. And every night on the way from work, they grab a bag or two of ice, that's all you need, and they drop it in there. They squish it around till it melts. And they got a temperature gun that you can get at Home Depot or Lowe's, and you aim it at the water and you. And if you want a little bit colder, just drop a little bit more ice in there, switch around. When they get that water down to 56, they jump in and they go and no. Okay, well, who wants to go get two bags of ice every day? Okay, well, who wants to live longer? You know, it's just a real simple choice, man.

Right.

That's how we started. He was driving me kind of crazy, actually. Kept coming in with the bags about advice. Then he realized maybe if I bought it, would. You bought an ice machine?

I put an ice machine in our house.

Like a commercial sized ice machine in.

Yeah, Barb ice machine.

So then he'd just, you know, scoop it out of there. And then that's when the research, you know, started for the ice plunge.

Wow. I got a buddy that made. He took an old deep freezer.

I've seen that too. People at Costco, I'm always worried that I'm gonna get electrocuted. I guess you could unplug it right before you get in there. But. But yeah, I think you can get those things for like four or five hundred bucks.

Right. And yeah, he don't, he don't have a plug on it.

Oh.

I didn't tell you how he got deep freezing, picked it up over somebody's corner and he fills it with cold water. But the insulation keeps it kind of cold.

You can drop the top and keep it.

And that's what it does. So here's my routine.

I get up, start the cold plunge.

Every morning I cold plunge, take six minutes because I do the full six. It has been a great benefit to me because like you taught me, nothing you can't. Nothing burns calories like cold water submersion. So true. And so I get through with that and then I do my oxygen bag. The 10x oxygen bag is about 8ft tall. You know, I put my mask on, I get on my bike, on my treadmill, and it takes me about 15 minutes of breathing 95% oxygen.

Percent oxygen.

I finish that and then I go lay in the light bed. The light bed therapy. Now, like you say, if you don't have the money for that, there are alternative, there are light panels you can buy that are way less expensive. You know, you could do that, go.

Out in the morning and expose your skin to first light. The first 45 minutes of the day, zero.

And it costs you nothing.

Right.

So it's ways to do it. Right. But for me, you know, because I've been very fortunate, I'm able to buy these things because I don't have the time to do a lot of stuff. So once I do that, finish the light bed, then I go to work, I go to do radio, and then I go to the set to do Family Feud, the judge show, whatever. And I have a PMF mat that I sleep on that you ordered for me. I sleep on that 30 minutes at night, 30 minutes when I wake up. You don't even know it. You don't feel a thing. You just hit the button and go to bed. I set my alarm clock while I wake up and have my morning meditation. I hit the button, I lay there and meditate. I get up, that's my day. That's the routine.

I have to give your wife some credit because when we first met you, you had, you had something that she.

Had the light bed already the last.

Two years, our version of the light bed. And you didn't want to get in.

It because you didn't understand the benefits of it.

He didn't understand the benefits.

Why am I getting in here?

Right.

And what does it do? It's just light.

Right. But I love that she tried at least to get you on board for it. She was way ahead.

Really knows that. And she bought this stuff. She had a couple of them. She had an oxygen bag too, but it was an outdated version. We lost parts to it.

She was, I was actually surprised. Marjorie was pretty far down the road in terms of her understanding of biohacking and bio optimization. I mean, when I was talking about labs, she was right there with me the whole time. She had a red light therapy bed, she had the oxygen, the multi step oxygen bag, sauna bed too.

Am I wrong?

Sauna bed in there too. They had a. She's got. She's.

But I love that she was so excited when we first met and she knew all of these things already and, and it was great.

Everything she had been telling me.

Yes, exactly.

Cuz I wouldn't even get in the light bed. What is that for old people? She said, Steve, you're 66.

Yeah. Now, you know, you're on this health journey. Things have massively changed for you. You have your core businesses and you have your labors of love. And I know one of your labors of love is your ranch. And I know that you've been able to combine your ranch with your philanthropic work. The Marjorie and Steve Harvey Foundation. Tell me a little bit about the foundation and what the mission is and the direction that that's going.

The foundation, the Stephen Marjorie Harvey foundation is about the uplift and edification of young people. We deal with young people from the ages of 13 to 18. Her girls program is quite different. It's open to all, it's open to anybody. Any, you know, doesn't matter about your financial background, doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter about you. If you have a single parent home or married couples. She just brings girls together. Her philosophy is, if I take a young lady who's underprivileged and put her around a lady that's privileged, I'm going to give me two things accomplished here. I'm going to let this young lady see that there is a better life. And then I'm going to let this privileged person see you don't understand how well you have it.

I love that.

I love that.

Maybe you should learn how to reach back and drag somebody to where you are.

Pushing these people apart, maybe bring them together. I think her country could use so much more.

That is her philosophy. My philosophy with the boys a little bit different. When I buried my father when I was 43, man, when I was leaving his funeral, while actually at the funeral and I was sitting there looking at my favorite person up there in that casket, I said, man, what in the world would I have done without this dude right here? It's no way I would be who I turned out to be without this dude. And when I got on the plane and left his funeral, I was kept thinking about that. I said, man, what do little boys do that ain't got no daddy? Yeah, that's got to be rough. So these single mothers out here that's got these boys and they trying to turn them into men, how they're accomplishing this? Because I know how daunting of a task that was. So after that I said, you know what? I had a ranch in Dallas. I said, man, I'm gonna start bringing boys out there from single parent homes headed up by women from 13 to 18 from underprivileged backgrounds. And I'm. I'm gonna help shape them.

Love that.

And that's how it started.

Yeah.

And that's how the whole.

So you bring them to the ranch?

I bring, I fly them in, drive them in, bust them in, whatever I gotta do, I only bring them, I bring a guardian with them.

Oh really?

They have to have a guardian, a mother, a grandmother, aunt, somebody. Because I have programming for the parent just like I have programming from the boys.

And this takes place on the ranch.

And everything takes place on the ranch. I got a new ranch outside of Atlanta here down in Barnesville, Georgia. I actually bought the Chick Fil a ranch. Chick Fil a had this ranch called the Rock Ranch. I actually purchased that from him. And what's amazing, how God really works, you know, my mama used to always say, when you ask God for something, remember God gives you exceedingly and abundantly over all you think or Ask. She said, that's an important scripture, Steve. So I was asking God for a ranch close here to Atlanta so I could drive within an hour, hour and a half. And I wanted 300 acres because I had 100 something before. I said, I want 300 acres, man. That's huge. And I get it right. And God got his hands on it, and he said, okay, I'm gonna get you a ranch that's an hour 15 from your house, and I'm gonna give you 1600 acres.

That's incredible.

So that's what we ended up getting. And we took the ranch and I sold it to my foundation. I leased it to my foundation for $1 because my foundation couldn't afford something like this. If I'd have spent that kind of money on that ranch, people would have been. I donated $30. I ain't donating for you to buy no farm, you know, so Marjorie and I bought it ourself.

Okay?

And then we donate it or give it to our foundation for a dollar. Right now the goal is to build it out with dormitories, a stem center, a theater, fishing lodge, a gymnasium. And we Want to sleep 300 boys.

Or girls all at a time.

All at one time. But right now what we have to do is. Cause I can't afford to do all of that right now is we put up huge tents. We have a huge tent that sleeps 200.

Okay?

And then, you know, we bring in some other. We bring in those VIP toilets and we bring in those VIP showers where you can go in the bathroom and close the door and use the bathroom and have wash facilities, and then you can go take a real shower. It's not like porta potties or nothing like that. Out on a construction site. You actually flush, have running water, all like that. And we set them up and we keep them down there for the week, and we feed them, we clothe them, we house them, and we teach them and we train them, and you give us your boy for a week, and we'll turn. We'll give you back a much better young person. Really love that. And it works. It works.

What's the application process like? I mean, do you have a team?

It goes through the foundation website, Stephen Marjorie harvey.org and you just apply. Everybody knows on the radio show I say we're now taking applications for. And what happens is we get thousands of requests, but we only got room for 200 right now, 300 right now. But when I get this dormitories facilities built. Right now, I'm looking for a Builder who can come in and maybe do some prefabricated houses for me, or I was waiting on the United States army who promised me to help me if they could let me have some of those refurbished houses that they have on base for boot camp, I could put it up. But building brick and mortar right now is a little bit expensive for us, and we're having a tough time putting that together, but we gonna get it done.

I love this.

And these are week long programs at a time, and it doesn't cost the family anything.

No. They don't have to fly, they don't have to pay food, they don't pay for clothes. I clothe them, I feed them everything for a week. And once I get this place built, I'll be able to do more than one week a year. Wow. All those remote camps that I do right now, I'll be able to bring them in because I have the housing already taken care of.

So if somebody wanted to make a donation or participate in the ranch, how would they do that? Is there a way? Foundation.com Stephen mark.org Amelia.org.org Right, Stephen. Marjorie Harvey foundation.org Somebody out there gonna help.

Somebody will.

I think most important thing, man, is I need somebody who has an honest way that we could put up some affordable housing to house these kids. If not, I gotta keep pitching this tent. It. But, you know, it's kind of hard, man.

So, you know, we were, we were on our way up here to do the podcast with you, and we were talking about some fun things that we, we thought we'd like to do on the podcast. And since you've been the host of Family Feud for so long, we, we thought we'd actually turn you into a contestant.

Oh, God. Oh, yeah.

On the, on the family food.

So can I tell you something? Yes. I'm a great host.

You're not good at the answers.

Not really a good Family Feud player. See, thing with me is I don't know what the answers are going to be. I wait on you to say something that I know ain't up there.

That's where I shine. That's where he's good.

Yeah.

That's what they pay me for. All right, so what y' all got?

So we think, Mike, if you get three out of five, a good cheat day. Nice cigar. So I want you to envision what you would be munching on.

Pizza.

Pizza.

Oh, you haven't had that in seven months. I know that.

Go ahead and get ready, Gordon. Get ready. I'm finna nail this three out of keto crust pizza.

Paleo crust.

I want no paleo crust.

The first one I know you're gonna get because we've already talked about it. So he. We'll start. We'll start with the easy to get.

Yes.

Okay. Name something you never get used to in your protocol. That's an easy one.

Oh, the cold plunge poo. You can't. There's nothing you can do, folks. I recommend doing it, but prepare yourself.

Yes. Cuz you never get used to it.

Hey, man. Stephen H. Smith. He called me after he did the first one. My buddy was.

He told me what you said.

It was a near death experience.

The same thing. He's like. And you know, he talks. He's like, gary, I. You have no idea how much I hate the cold. I am not getting in that thing. I was like, you can do it. And I remember he called you and you were like, turn that temperature down and get all the way into your shoulders, man.

I got it like 70. No, no, no. It don't work until you get to 58. No, I'm gonna try this. 60. You wasting time. Yep. And you know we frat brothers, so I get on him, man. What's up? Yeah, you f to do this here.

So, yeah, he called me back. He said, stevie, Steve gave me a tongue lashing.

Yeah.

And so I'm gonna do it. And.

And he does a lot of competition.

Between circle for six minutes too, now.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, cuz. And then he said, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna try to do 3. Hey, man. 6. What you talking about?

Don't wimp out.

That's what you call a good friend right there.

Exactly.

That's what you call a good friend.

Funny.

All right, we got second. Nup. So I have a question prepared here.

So next question. What is the ingredient in American bread and pasta that you should avoid?

It is called F O L, I C. You cannot eat that, baby.

Folic acid.

F O L I C. You cannot eat it. Can't get it. Pizza, here I come.

Two for five.

Need three out of five. I'm gonna nail it all and get some ice cream too.

All right, don't push it now.

Now we're going to take a wild left turn. Oh, we're going to take a wild left turn here.

Okay.

We're going to bring you out to the ranch.

Okay.

To the lake.

Okay.

What is the best lure to catch a bass on?

A bass? Yes, a best lure.

What is the best lure? Lure.

It depends on water temperature. It depends on the color. It depends on the current. It depends on where you at. Depends on the depth of the water. But plastic soft lures are the absolute best. And you can't miss with a worm. A plastic worm.

Is it first aid?

Plastic worm, man. Come on now.

That's bass, baby. That's bass, that's bass. Plastic worm is the number one lure you can't miss.

Plastic worm.

What do you do? Jig it along the bottom?

Well, you bounce a little bit different. If I know it's covered down there, I kind of raise it up a little bit. It let it come up and fall. Yeah, yeah. I try to double jerk sometimes. Make it post, you know, anything to attract them. Make sure it's got a little swirly tail. I like it with a little swirl tail on it.

So is this something that you'll teach the kids, boys and girls?

Oh, yeah. They all fish. A lot of them are fishing for the very first time. Most kids catch fish for their first time. It's a shot. Yeah. We got big gangster dudes.

Get excited.

Get a fish. Oh, I can't put my finger in my. What?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

You've been fighting all week down here. You've been threatening. Come on, man.

So it's big, and they don't like to grab that slimy fish with their bare hands.

No. I'm gonna cry.

Or the worms, too. Hooking a worm for the first time is intimidating.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My dad used to. We used to go camping out in Colorado, and he would make us tie our own flies, and we go fly fishing, and then.