Raw Dairy, Red Meat, and Saturated Fats Healed Me – Will Witt on Breaking Free from Fake Health

Imagine being the age of 20-ish and getting diagnosed with a health issue that is associated with 60-plus-year-olds. That is the story of our next guest, Will Witt. Welcome to Everyday Ancestral. I'm your host, James Barry. Will Witt was diagnosed with gout at the age of 24. He dealt with it differently than how his doctors told him to do it, and he is now a completely different person. Will Witt is a 2-time national bestselling author, international speaker, and certified health coach. His videos have over a billion views online, and now he serves as the CEO of Pure Basics and founder and president of Do Not Comply Health. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his dog Rocky. And make sure you stick around in this episode because Will and I talk about something that he started doing a while ago. And I started doing about a month ago and I'll just give you a hint and it has to do with hair. Thank you. And please enjoy Will Witt. You talk about health over fake politics, and I would love to better understand What fake politics are, what your experience was politically prior to where you are now, and what was that transition?

So I worked for the last about 7 years in the political world. I feel like I did a lot of great things and worked with a lot of great people who are also doing awesome stuff. But it came to a certain point recently, a couple years ago, where the politics just seemed like it was more so the people in the political media, in actual politics, and the political programs and think tanks, whatever it was, were not doing it because they actually cared about the people or pushing the ideas or the values or the morals or whatever it was. It was about elevating themselves. It was about, oh, like, let's look, here's this latest leftist video on, you know, some transgender person, and let's just make a reaction to it. Not because I want to actually get this information out there, but because, oh, I'm the first one who actually saw this video and I'm going to post about it and say, Oh, look how crazy this is. You know, it was just like an echo chamber of people at a certain point where they were just getting mad at things, trying to find the craziest videos just to show that they were on this team. Like when I first started out in the conservative political space, there weren't really people doing what I was doing in like the conservative influencer, I guess you could call it. And now it's just like everywhere you turn, there's someone doing it. You know, it's gotten so saturated. And so for me, I started having some health problems as well. At about the age of 25, I was diagnosed with gout, which was absolutely horrible. Felt like I was walking around with rocks in my shoes every day. It was incredibly painful. And it wasn't until I found out about raw dairy and more saturated fat and red meat, cuz the doctors obviously weren't helping me. I had to do all this research myself and it completely changed my life. And I've been gout-free for years and years now. 3 years now. I'm not that old yet.

You're still a young guy.

Yeah, still young. Make it sound— well, when you say you have gout, people are probably thinking, oh, you're 45, 50 years old.

Well, I was just gonna say that. I mean, gout is really considered an, an older person's health issue. And it sounds like you did the exact opposite of what the medical system tells people how to deal with the symptoms of gout.

Oh yeah. I mean, they told me, my doctor, when I went, cuz I didn't know any better at the time, right? I was living in LA and just living like anyone else, you know, like a normal 24-year-old, 25-year-old guy. And they said, you know, cut out the red meat. Start eating more vegetables. They didn't mention anything about lifestyle, like getting out in the sun or more movement in your life, or, you know, just even living your life for purpose, you know, whatever it is. There was nothing like that. It's always when you go to the doctors nowadays in the American medical system, it is, okay, here's your symptom. Here's how we stop your symptom. It's not, why do you have this symptom? Why do you actually have this problem in the first place?

Going back to what you were commenting about the politics If I'm interpreting what you're saying correctly, it's very ego-based. People are very set on making themselves look right or fitting a specific narrative, as you mentioned. It feels like though, even the health industry is kind of stuck in this place. They're just focusing on how do I keep a certain facade going, or how do I keep this certain message going, but they're not actually supporting health the way they seem to be making us think they are? And I'm thinking of like the American Heart Association, any cancer associations, like from your political experience and then your experience in health these days, do you feel like these are hypocritical institutions?

Oh, of course. I mean, the American Cancer Society, I mean, just even you're mentioning that, talking about what they say, 50% of people in their lifetime are going to get cancer and then they give the treatments and all these treatments do is make them tons and tons of money in chemotherapy and radiation therapy and cancer removal surgery and all these things when there are like ways that people have dealt with cancer for a long time that are natural type of remedies. So yeah, these people are total hypocrites. But you know, one thing that I said a lot in my political career that I think still stands true, whether it's politics, health, anything like that, is when you are going and calling out hypocrisy on these types of people, it doesn't really change anything because the people in power don't care that they're hypocritical. They're in power because They took power, not because they, you know, had the best facts or logic or anything like that. So when we come and we say, oh, they're hypocrites for doing this, we're just making content where we're calling out their hypocrisy, it doesn't change the fact that they're still the ones metaphorically holding the gun to your head. So what I always tell people and what we have to do is that you have to change the structures in place by either yourself being a leader and a role model for people, or by getting coalitions of people who have those kind of values and pushing people to actually change their lifestyles. I mean, that's even more so important in the health space because it's like, let's say RFK Jr. and Trump and all these people, it completely changes and everything is healthy now and it's all so great. You're still going to have tons and tons of people who never move, who never get in the sunlight, who still eat garbage, even though the government is doing things to change, just because they don't have that agency to go and do it themselves. So it's really about people actually making the choices themselves instead of just calling out the people who are doing these kind of things, because at the end of the day, you can only control yourself. And if you're able to do that, then that's the most powerful thing you can do.

Wholeheartedly agree. How does one do that? What have you found actually helps people to motivate within themselves to kind of look in the mirror and take that first step?

Well, I think when it comes to the health stuff, I'm sure you understand that people who deal with health problems are probably going to want to change their stuff. I mean, for me, my catalyst was getting gout. For someone else, it might be horrible skin issues or diabetes or heart issues. You know, maybe their doctor said, oh, you need to go on a statin or something like that, thinking that all this cholesterol is bad for them and, and not actually understanding how the LDL and HDL and all the pathways work and all this kind of stuff. You know, there's all these different things. I think it really comes down to most people will have to experience something themselves first before they actually make that change.

That has been my experience as well. People do not make food or dietary changes unless they themselves get sick or someone they love gets sick or dies. And I'm always trying to figure out like, well, is there a way to support change before that happens? Because sometimes when that happens, you're done. Like, you're too late.

I was reading the other day that it's like 49% of people in America have 1 or 2 chronic illnesses, but it's still not changing. So it takes even more, I think, than just, you know, having one of these ailments to actually make the changes in your life. It really takes like a motivated personality where you actually want to do something different. Not everyone's going to be like that person. You know, it's like I'm starting Pure Basics, which is, you know, the online farmer's market and all that kind of stuff. But it's, it's not going to be for everyone. There's still going to be a ton of people who go to the cheapest store and get the cheap China plastic stuff that's horrible for them, or the food that's horrible for them, just because they don't want to make that change. I think a lot of people are just actually very scared to do so.

Yeah. Now you have your foot in the political world, in the health world. Like, how are you navigating between the fake news or the science-based thinking? And I'm doing the air quotes because I find it fascinating that so many people either defend pharmaceutical companies and some of these institutions that have been proven to kind of not be as effective as they're selling themselves. But then I'm also equally surprised when I see big influencers standing behind scientific principles and convinced that they are correct. When, if you look at historically, it's pretty hard to find any science that's been 100% correct. Like, I, I always use the example of even back in the day, they bloodlet George Washington because they thought that, well, that was the science of the day of what you do. But now we look back and realize, oh, he probably just had a common cold. Had they not bloodlet him? He probably would've lived. It's hard to truly get behind modern science and defend it. How are you navigating those rough waters?

Well, I feel very much like we're living in Brave New World. You know, in the political world, people are always talking about, oh, it's like 1984 now with everything we're doing. I don't really feel that way. I feel much more like Brave New World where it's positive reinforcement for the negative behaviors that you do, for the, whether it's immoral actions or unhealthy actions or, being controlled as a slave type of actions. You get positive reinforcement for these kinds of things. When I'm navigating things and thinking of that, and I'm looking at what is ABC News saying or Fox News or any of these kind of people, and it wants to make you feel a certain way, then my guard goes up and say, well, why do they, why are they putting this out there? Why is this making me feel like either I need to be a part of this group or that I need to hate somebody else or fight against somebody else? And when I kind of get that flag inside my head, I think, Let's slow down and, and do something different. You know, for me, I mean, I don't even watch the news that much. I remember, it's so funny cuz I was so into the political stuff and I was at the health food store and a guy who works there, he knows me and he comes up and he says, oh, Will, what's going on? I'm like, hey man, what's going on? He's like, are you watching the debate tonight? I'm like, debate tonight? What are you talking about? He's like, oh, the presidential debate. I was like, oh, I had no idea that was even happening. You know?

Wow.

Like, that's kind of just the life that I'm living now cuz it seems like That is just not really all that important to me. And I think most people put way too much stake in these things as well.

That's a powerful point. So what is important?

What's important is your own health, your spirituality. That goes into more than just like your religion, but your purpose, your mission, your guiding principles, all these kinds of things. And then your family and your community. I think those are probably the most important things that you can really focus on. I think that if everyone was to focus on those kinds of things and really hone in on them, you wouldn't need the political stuff, right? I feel like people get so hung up on the political stuff because they don't have these kind of great things in their lives that they would actually focus on. You know what I mean? It's like, why do you need to worry about what these mouthpieces are talking about, things that don't even affect you, you know, halfway across the country when you have great health, an amazing family, an amazing community, you're purpose-driven in all the things that you're doing. Like those things kind of fade away at that point. They're not so important, but when you don't have those things, it's like, well, then these people know that they can pick you up for their political cause and make that your purpose, make that your meaning, and guide you into this conundrum of being one of their slaves. I mean, there's really not a better way to put it, but that's what happens. You become part of the party and then you're stuck.

Yeah, it is very fascinating. I, I was recently meditating on the fact, you know, I used to live in LA. Clearly you don't still live in LA, right?

No, I'm over in Florida, but I lived there for about 5 years.

You know, they just had those, those horrible fires and I felt so torn because on a certain level, to your point, if I looked outside my window on the East Coast, there was no sign of fire. My reality was not what they were experiencing yet because of this very synthetic form of awareness that we get, because technically our nervous systems are not built to know what is happening around the world. We were not designed like that, right? We're more designed to deal with our immediate community. So when we're getting exposed to these things, to your point, that are halfway around the world or on the other side of the country, is that actually healthy for us? Like, are we being helpful to them? Are we being helpful to us? Is it important to be more empathetic in that moment? You know, and that it changes like the priority and makes it more about like, oh, we should be thinking and praying for those other people. Or do you think it's healthier to just almost in a sense kind of put blinders onto this modern way of awareness or a world awareness and just focus on what's in your heart and what's in your view?

Yeah, that's a really, I think, difficult question, quite the philosophical question, but I think what it really comes down to is that If you are looking at the world and seeing tragedy and struggles and things and caring about it in a genuine way, then I don't see nearly as much of a problem as that as the people who are just using it as a means of, again, giving themselves purpose or feeling a part of a group. All of this stuff goes to me really back to group identity. I think the way that our ancestors lived, being a part of the group was survival. If you were not a part of a group, you were dead on the savanna, you know, getting eaten by a saber-toothed tiger or whatever it was. The group identity is everything. And these people, the elites in charge and all these people know that they can take advantage of those, you could call them instincts, of us wanting to be accepted by a group for survival. If people are going online and spending all their time looking at these things, even if they're tragedies and, or whatever it is and knowing about it, but it's only so that they can get some sort of validation to feel like, oh, I'm in the know, then I think it really goes downhill very fast. And it's just information overload. You have the access to the information right on your phone at any time that you want. But the thing that's different about what is going on in your phone versus like, I remember being a kid and going and like, if I needed to know something, I would go into the encyclopedia or read it in a book or like reference it or something. And it's like, that's real learning. You're actually learning something. But when you can just look something up on your blue light screen all day long, that's not real knowledge. It's just information overload. That is a major problem, I think, because people aren't really learning anymore. They're just getting information.

It's almost like we get stuck in reaction mode, right? Not action, but reaction. And to your point, we start to build an identity around that. Oh, like, oh, I'm so, I feel so much pain. And so you're always the person that feels for everyone else, but you're not actually doing anything with that. If anything, it's potentially just wrecking your nervous system.

Yeah, that's 100% correct. It's very easy to get tied into these things, and most of these things are actually very Unconscious, I would say. I would say that a majority of the behaviors that we make as humans every single day are unconscious. I believe we make up to 35,000 choices every single day, just even moving your arm like this or whatever it is that you do. Most of these choices are unconscious and they come from just a very deeply ingrained and rooted behaviors that we have from our ancestors from thousands and thousands of years. And the people who are in the media or in politics or even in the health space or whatever it is, know how to tap into these things and use them as means to make people volatile and controlled.

This self-awareness is fascinating to me because you are young. And in a sense, that awareness, the intuitiveness that you're talking about does take a lot of self-awareness and separation from what we've been taught or potentially what we're immersed in societally. You actually left college because you felt like it was pushing an ideology that didn't align with you. Which is kind of what you're talking about is like being aware of when things aren't really aligned within us. Right. So was there like a specific moment that made you realize you had to walk away? Or do you think that self-awareness was just always in you? What happened to help you actually tap into it?

I've always been a very introspective person. I've always been a very independent person my whole life. If there was something that I needed to handle, I handled it by myself. If there was some sort of task that needed to be done, I would do it myself. I never really was someone who asked for help. And so because of that, first of all, made so many mistakes and I've been a massive idiot a lot of the time. And so because of that, I've learned so much. And so what I really feel like a lot of this self-awareness that I feel like I now have comes from having to rely on myself so much and seeing so many wrong choices that I have made. No one has controlled me or made me do anything. It has all been choices that I have And done, some good, some bad, and saying, okay, this is the life that I'm living and experiencing and all these kind of things. What actually is the best path forward? And then when I can look at myself and the behaviors that I do, and then also kind of put that onto other people and they, and see like, oh, well, maybe they're doing this because they actually suffer from this insecurity in this area or a lack of confidence here, or they're doing this because they're lacking this sense of value or whatever it is. It's like, I can see that very well. I think all this has really just come from me being really stupid for a long time and figuring out what actually I believe works.

But even for you to say that, there has to be a release of ego. When we can admit that we're wrong, that's a huge evolutionary process because not everyone can do that, right? You've been Putting yourself, you know, under public scrutiny for a while now since you were very young. And it's like, that does take a certain confidence, but it takes something different for you to admit when you're wrong or when it's not working. And which seems to me like you've been doing consistently. So was there a certain catalyst that happened that made you kind of wake up from what you were doing and switch gears to this kind of more open, vulnerable, less ego place?

I'm not exactly sure. When I started out in politics, I was 20 years old and I moved to LA and it was like a completely different world. And I was starting to very quickly gain a lot of attention and a lot of popularity and things. And for sure, I was doing things just solely to get views and likes and stuff like that. You know, I was pushing good values and I felt like I was doing good things for people, but there definitely was that degree of of me seeking validation from my followers or from the video views and all those kind of things, and you become addicted to it. I can see why there's so many people in this space now and just in influencer space and things. It feels really good when you have all these people saying things. But with that being said, it also feels really bad when you have thousands and thousands of people coming and saying, this is the worst thing ever and you suck and you're terrible and I hate you and In my early years of doing this, that would really drive me down.

So how did you deal with those moments of self-doubt?

In those moments, I'll be honest, I didn't really deal with 'em all too well. I kind of just ignored 'em. I never really actually tried to handle those kind of things or get out in front of it.

And you didn't like go to drinking or did you numb them? I mean, did you follow any vices?

Yeah, I definitely drank. That was, that was definitely my vice. For a long time. I don't really drink anymore. I still like, when I write, I like to have a little bit of whiskey, you know, sometimes. But other than that, I'm not too big of a drinker now. But yeah, I mean, when you're living in LA as a 21-year-old and, and the whole world is at your fingertips and people are starting to watch you and all this stuff, yeah, you're going out and drinking and partying and women, you know, whatever it is, doing all this stuff and just feeling like you're on top of the world. But then like the next day everyone hates you and you're like, well, my life is horrible and meaningless now because all these people hate me. And it's like, You have to realize that the majority of these people who are in the media world are getting their entire sense of self-worth based off of other people. And I was, I was Will Witt, you know, I was the Will Witt. I wasn't Will, the guy who I am inside and every, on my actions that I do when no one's around. I was the Will who was in front of the camera making the videos, talking to people on the streets, writing books, whatever it was, that was me. And so it came to a point where I finished my first book and I was moving out to Florida and I just, I became just so much like less caring of those kind of things. You know, I started a newspaper out here and I got a ton of hate for a lot of the Florida political stuff I was doing. And it just got to a point where I was like, I just don't care anymore what these people are saying because I have self-confidence in myself. Like these people who are in the media, the influencers and stuff, they're the most insecure people on the planet. You won't find more insecure people than what they're doing because I know, because I was one of those very insecure people who was getting all of my validation off of other people. But it got to a point where I was like, man, I just don't, I just don't care anymore.

Was there something that happened? Was it the gout or can you pinpoint it on a very, you know, a specific transition point?

If anyone has read my second book, they'll understand this, but I did some very intensive counseling for things that I dealt with as a child, sexual abuse as a child, all sorts of horrible things. And I'd never really dealt with that too much. And it wasn't until about 2 and a half, 3 years ago when I was moving out to Florida and really starting to get into it. And I said, man, I got, I gotta figure this out. I gotta handle this. I can't be doing the things that I'm doing and feeling unhappy and looking for validation in places that I shouldn't be looking for validation. And so I did very intense counseling with a lady who was just, oh my goodness, lifesaver. Love this lady. And that was for me, like, Probably the catalyst that did it, because she essentially showed me that no matter what happens, it's going to be okay. You know, you don't need to be worried all the time. Life is going to happen whether you like it or not, and realizing that it is okay is okay. Like, not worrying so much and having confidence in yourself and not being so scared or ashamed or any of these kind of things, and that completely changed my life. And then once that happened, it's like Stopped my newspaper, stopped doing a lot of the political stuff because I didn't want to do anything for validation. And so it's like, now if I'm posting a video on my social media or I'm talking about a brand or a product or something like that, it's because I actually believe in it. I really believe in it. Like, I was on the phone, I won't say who this is, but, you know, with a partner that we're partnering with for Pure Basics. And she was like, well, we'd love if you could share some of this stuff out there that we're doing and do an influencer post on your story. And I'm like, she's like, we'll talk about pricing. I'm like, I'll just do it. I'll just do it for free. Like, you don't have to pay me to do it. I believe in what you guys are doing. I'll just do it. And that's how I've been operating. And it feels so much better. It feels so much better than the way before.

It sounds like you have tapped mission. Does that feel correct?

Yeah. Influence people to the good. As much as I can do that, you know, this kind of Dennis Prager's mantra on a lot of things. And he was my mentor over at PragerU in California. And it's just influence people to live better lives to the good.

Regarding the therapy you went through, was there a specific type of, was it a specific type of therapy or was it just talking through with having the right person mirroring back to you what you were saying? Or did you do anything specific, specific modality therapy or anything like that? Just out of curiosity.

Yeah, there definitely was that. There was some EMDR and some things like that. She was just very, very understanding woman with all the things that she was doing and really knew me and, and everything I was, I was all about and what I'd gone through. And she was just so helpful and, and wonderful, which I feel like you don't really find. I'm not huge on, on therapy, which is funny cuz I'm also going and getting my master's now in clinical psychology as well to—

No kidding.

And help people myself. But that's because I feel like so much of therapy and psychoanalysis and all these things are completely backwards and wrong.

That's fascinating that you're now going, you've been inspired to go into schooling for that. What about it feels wrong in terms of how it's being done and how do you want to change it?

Well, I think that so much of therapy and again, psychoanalysis today is so focused on the me aspect where it's like, oh, it's all about me and my feelings and I got to fix that. And if I fix that, I can be this fixed person and all these kinds of things. And then it diagnoses you with some sort of problem. And now you feel every single day like you have some sort of problem when in reality, all this kind of stuff when it comes to psychotherapy should be about purpose. It should be about mission. It should be about people finding the confidence in themselves to actually do amazing things, right? So it's like if I were to set up a practice, I probably would never do something where I'm sitting down with someone for 60 minutes and talking to them about how they're feeling. I would want to set up someplace like a ranch or You know, a farm and people who have dealt with trauma and things can come together and they can live on the land and they can do things, build things with their hands to build up confidence in themselves. These are the kind of things that I feel like are actually healing for people, like actual real-world things that give them the ability to feel like, oh, I can actually handle the world around me and I do have worth on this planet. You know, especially with the nihilistic existentialism that people are facing right now in this country. I mean, it's the I would say that is the malady of my generation, is nihilism. And getting people to understand they do have self-worth, it's not meaningless, the world is a beautiful, wonderful place, is imperative to fixing psychology and therapy.

Why do you think self-worth for your generation is such a hot topic? Do you think it's the tech and the social media stuff, or the exposure to, once again, kind of what we were already talking about, exposure to things that aren't really in your world but are in Outside of yourself?

I definitely think it's social media and stuff. It's creating people who are constantly comparing themselves to others. But, you know, we were talking before about group identity and groupthink and all these kind of things. How can you have self-worth in the person that you actually are when everywhere you go, more so now than ever before in history, there is some sort of group for you to join that is online, unconscious. It doesn't matter what it is, political, health, Environmental, school, just ideas, ideology. You know, it's like there are so many groups and it has atomized people to essentially not even be individuals anymore. We are just another member of some sort of group. And so social media has exacerbated that. The rise of the internet has done the same. And I think that if people can really get back to that individuality and find this is what makes me, me, I'm different than this person, I'm different than that person. This is my life purpose. This is my, my role with Whether it's Christianity or whatever sort of spirituality they have, I can find that, then they're going to be unstoppable. You have no idea what you can accomplish when you say no to all these different things, but people don't want to say no because it's really scary to, to be on your own and do your own thing.

Yeah, absolutely. You label yourself a primal nutrition expert. How did you come up with that? And then What does that mean to you?

Primal is the brand. So Primal, Mark Sisson's brand, he has a health coaching, what'd you call it? Service or not service, but certification program. Exactly. And so I went through his program. It was fantastic. I finished that about 2 months ago, got my certification. And for me, Primal is very much just like, you know, it's very in line with this ancestral movement of just simplicity, being intuitive. Like again, All these people talking about health stuff all the time. And it's like, you got to do things this way and you got to do it that way. For me, and what I think Primal did really well, and just kind of this new health movement is like, what feels right? What is intuitive? Like, when are you hungry? You should eat when you're hungry. You should eat things that actually make sense that came from the earth. You should get out in the sun. You should move your body a lot and do things that are fun. Like these kinds of things is very intuitive. Like anytime I feel like people are having to mold their life around doing some sort of program or diet or something like that, you're just setting yourself up for failure because it's not intuitive. You're having to reshape your life into something that it really isn't. You know, of course, like the intuitiveness also comes with practice. Like someone who's 300 pounds eating horrible and never moving, it's not gonna feel super intuitive to get up and eat healthy foods and stuff, but it comes with time and it becomes very easy where you're not thinking of like, Oh man, I gotta eat healthy today. It's like, oh man, I can't wait to make this. After a certain point that just switches over and it all just becomes very natural because that's what you were designed to do.

I use the word a lot, mindfulness, that to get there or to be in that, we have to be mindful, almost initially overly mindful to eventually kind of get to a place where you don't have to think as much about it, but you're just being it. I have to imagine that that's kind of what you do, right? Like initially when you were changing your lifestyle with gout, you had to be very mindful of the changes and maybe now they're a lot easier and you don't have to think about 'em as much. If that's true, what would you say would be the first kind of 3 things that in general people should be mindful about?

Oh yeah. It's like, I remember I started doing walks every day. Every time after I eat, I would walk. And at first I would walk for like 45 minutes. I'd do like 6,000 steps after lunch or something. And before I had like, have you ever heard of like an invisible fence? It's for your dog. So like you can let 'em out and they have this collar that shocks them if they go past the fence. And I would just do that every single day and just let the dog out and I would never go out and walk or anything. So when I first started walking a lot, now I'm getting like 10,000 to 11,000 steps every day. It felt really strange and I'm like, man, this is weird. But then like it becomes part of your routine and you're doing it every day and it's like, oh man, this is awesome. I love doing it. I'm getting the sunshine. I'm with my dogs. I can hear nature. You know, it's fantastic. And so walking is definitely number one that I would say people should do.

When you said you could hear nature, so you weren't playing music in your ears, you weren't kind of tuning out the world, you were actually tuning into the world.

Yeah, at first I was doing music when I would go and do my walks or even taking business calls and things like that. But I've recently, over maybe the past month, 2 months, have not really done that at all just because I feel kind of out of touch with the world when I'm blocking it off with music and things, especially I'm listening to music all the time, so I don't need to be doing it on the walk when I'm actually going outside and outdoors. But yeah, walking is number one. I think it feels so good and helps you lose weight and Epigenetic effect on your bones and your muscles and all these kinds of things that they actually need to work. Sunshine, of course, is so important. And then one that I think is less talked about is actually doing physical things that are fun, competitions, play, things like that. For me, it's rock climbing and disc golf. My girlfriend and I, we're going rock climbing today. We can't wait to do it. It's going to be so much fun. It feels so good to like figure something out in your brain. Like figuring out a puzzle or winning something or anything like that. It's different than anything else. You know, you can't get that really like lifting weights or walking or something. So yeah, going out and doing fun things that are physical like that, everyone should start doing that.

Yeah, I love that. I wanna shift gears a little bit to the hair thing. We connected about this already, but I just, I've been really curious to dive into this topic cuz I think it, it really goes against What we're taught, what we're about to talk about. And it really does force that question of intuitiveness and really just like kind of breathing into something that most people are not doing, but yet it makes so much sense. And what I'm talking about is you recently stopped washing your hair with shampoo, any shampoo. And after you and I talked, I also Started doing that. Before I share kind of my experience, can you share kind of why you made that decision? And I'm sure you got a lot of pushback when you put it out there. Once again, it's not what people are made to believe you should do. So why did you choose to do it?

Yeah, I'm like a caveman. So I use no shampoo or conditioner, no deodorant, no toothpaste, just basically like a Neanderthal out here. But It just feels right. It just feels really natural. Like, I feel my hair, it feels soft, it doesn't feel dirty. I don't smell unless I eat badly. My teeth feel great. Like, everything just feels really naturally good. And you find that once you put these products on and are doing it all the time, you're dependent on them. I don't think our bodies were designed to need these kinds of things. Why would my body need to be washed every single day and my hair and all these kind of things, like what kind of evolutionary benefit is that to have to depend on these products? There's just nothing like that. And so for me, it just felt very right to not use them. And I'm not sure about you, but for me, I'm— my person who got me into all this, who was the biggest influence on me, was Dr. Weston A. Price. Reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration was a life-changing book. And you find that like all these tribal people and Eskimos and the people in the Swiss Alps and the Tibetan people up in the mountains, you know, drinking Yak milk and all these things. Like they don't do these things. Like they don't shampoo and they don't, you know, they don't have toothpaste and they don't have deodorant and stuff. Like they are just the most healthy people in the world because of their diets and their lifestyles. Constant movement, animal fats, animal foods, raw dairy, limited amounts of grains and things like that. Most of them even no grains. And these are the healthiest people. They don't have— Cancer. They don't have cavities. They don't have heart disease. They don't have any of these ailments that we in the West struggle with. And then it's like, I post that I'm not doing these things. I don't use shampoo, any of these other things. And people are like, you're crazy. You're gonna get so sick.

They think you're lying, right? They also think you're lying.

I'm like, I'm sorry that it looks so good that you think that I'm lying. You know, but it's like, this is the truth. I haven't used it in over a year. It's been about a year and a month now. I feel great.

And you don't do anything at all, not Egg yolk or any, nothing?

Nope. Just water. And I don't use products or anything like that either. So.

I have to say, so I've been doing it, gosh, when did we last talk? Was that a month ago? Yeah. So I've been doing it for now a month. And what is interesting is my hair definitely seems thicker. Your hair also looks very thick. You shared this in your video. There's a little bit of a process almost. I have to imagine like the way when you left college, there's an unlearning, like there's almost a unwinding of the body's dependence on these things and the loss that comes from using all these chemicals to your body reregulating to its natural rhythms. Can you talk about that in-between step?

Yeah. So if you chose to do no shampoo, and this is going to be harder for women, there's no doubt about it. They have longer hair. And also, you know, women just naturally care more about these kinds of things than men do. It's just the truth of the matter. You will have a detox period. One of the things that shampoo does, shampoos and conditioners, is they rinse off all the natural oils that your body produces. It's the same with body soap. If you're using body soap all over yourself every single day, you're destroying the natural oils that your body naturally produces. And so your hair and on your scalp and everything, when you are stopping the use of shampoo, it's going to overproduce those oils. So you're essentially going to be having very greasy hair for, for you with shorter hair. So, you know, someone like me, it might be 2 weeks, 3 weeks. For women, it could be up to a month, 2 months even of going through this kind of detox phase. But once you actually get over that hump, you'll have amazing, incredible hair. You know, like there are stories of women doing this and not doing any shampoo and their hair is so thick and voluminous and amazing. Like it looks incredible. Like when you actually look at these people not using anything. And of course people always say like, you can use shampoos that don't have any parabens or phthalates in them or any of these toxic fragrances and stuff like that. And that's fine if that's what you want to do. That's better than the alternative. But for me, it was just like, why even do that? I don't need anything. My body takes care of itself. If I am fueling my body with really good foods, my body's going to take care of itself. It doesn't need any sort of supplementation in that way. It just does what it's supposed to do.

I don't use any deodorant as well, and I don't smell as either And I definitely believe it's cuz of the clean diet and then not using chemicals. I think it's fascinating about the women though, because when I was talking to my wife about this, she, she was just like, I was like, well, it's working for me and I, it could be because I have short hair and my hair's shorter than yours. So I was like, we now know that with really short hair like mine, it works. Your hair is longer and it works, but you know, women with long hair that it actually works for, cuz she was convinced it wouldn't work for a woman with long hair and she's like. Well, I knew people in college that never did it and their hair was greasy and gross.

Well, again, it also comes down to your diet. So if you are eating poorly, like your body doesn't have the, essentially you call it the building blocks to actually protect your body, right? So it's like something like if for me, I don't use toothpaste and I don't brush my teeth like religiously, like a lot of people do. If I wasn't drinking raw milk and getting all the calcium and vitamin K2 and all these other things that I'm doing. I truly think my teeth would be a lot worse, but because I'm fueling my body with these kind of things, then you don't necessarily need these things that Western medicine has told you that you need. So if you see someone and they have—they're trying this out and saying no shampoo, no conditioner, the grease won't stop, and all these kind of things—and it's really bad, it's probably because of their diet. But if they are eating well and doing things right and getting sunshine on your head too, you know, you can even do red light therapy and stuff like that if you. really want to. I don't personally do that, but you know, you could. If you're doing that, then you're going to be okay because it is just, it's just naturally how it works. There's just no other way around it. It's just naturally, that is how your body functions. And if you're giving it the building blocks to do what it naturally does, there's just no way that it wouldn't do that.

Yeah. I think you bring up a really good point is that you can't do one without the other. You really do have to incorporate them both. The diet has to come if you're going to not use things in your hair or for your teeth. Absolutely. You touched base on the kind of 3 must-haves just for lifestyle. Let's actually recap that. So the walking, remind me the other 2 you said.

Sunshine.

Sunshine.

Play.

Play. Thank you. So walking, sunshine, play. What would you say are the 3 food ones?

Top 3. The number 1 is raw milk. There's no other way around it. I love raw milk. It is my favorite thing in the whole world. So I go crazy for it. My girlfriend and I, we actually did a 5-day, this was last year, did a 5-day raw milk fast. So we drank nothing but raw milk every single day for 5 days. No water either. For me, my body weight, it was 6 ounces every 30 minutes. You're also doing baths. And this was from, I got this protocol from a book by a doctor from the 1930s, cuz raw milk used to be prescribed by doctors for all sorts of issues and ailments. For hundreds and hundreds of years, raw milk was used as medicine. Now it's seen as, oh, it's gonna give you bird flu and kill you. But raw milk is so good for you. It is nature's perfect food. That is almost number 1, 2, and 3 to me because of the benefits that it has.

You did it for how many weeks?

Oh, only 5 days.

Oh, 5 days. What did you see in those 5 days?

I felt very relaxed at first. You get very bloated. I would say it's difficult, but my skin felt really good. One of the protocols that you're doing with the raw milk cleanse is you're also taking baths. So you're taking daily baths to sweat and detox and all those kinds of things. And my digestion felt really good. It just felt really nice. Like I felt really serene, I guess you could say, you know? I only did it for 5 days, so it's not like I'm getting like crazy benefits or anything like life-changing. But with any of those kinds of detoxes, for me, I felt just like really on the level, like felt really calm and cool.

I won't pretend I'm not a fan of raw milk. I am. But just to play devil's advocate, what about the people that are always like, well, why not baby calves? Like, that's something like even humans only use breast milk up to a certain point. And so that argument of like, we don't need milk as an adult, we only need it up to a certain age and particularly translate that to cow's milk that we don't need it. So how do you defend your choice?

In a way that's somewhat of a like indefensible question in the sense of like how people always ask it. But like at the end of the day, when you look at the healthiest people across the world, 99% of these people Raw dairy is part of their diet. I mean, you look at the Maasai tribe and what they're doing with goat's milk and leaving it out. They literally leave the milk out for a week and it's called clabbered milk, you know, and then they drink it. Or the, again, the Tibetans and they're drinking yak milk and doing all sorts of stuff with it. It is the staple of these kinds of diets because of all the benefits that it has. You know, humans have different guts than a lot of other animals that wouldn't go and drink milk from someone else. You know, humans can actually handle the enzymes that are within milk. Raw milk, not pasteurized milk, but we actually have the capabilities to handle these kinds of things and make all of the nutrients in milk bioavailable. Whereas another type of animal that doesn't have these same type of processes can't actually use it. So because of our unique system and our unique stomachs and things like that, we are able to process raw milk much, and raw dairy in general, better than any other animal. I think that it just has all these things in it that are, again, perfect for you. It's a perfect food. It literally sustains life. And there's really nothing better for you than raw milk.

Awesome. So raw milk, number 1, what would be number 2 and 3?

After raw milk, it just all goes downhill from there. You know, it's all you need. In that Protocol book, it was so funny because it was talking about a guy, and if anyone wants a really good book about milk, it's called The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmidt. It's amazing. Everyone should read that. But there was like a guy—

Untold Story of Milk by what's the author again?

Ron Schmidt. Yeah. It's a Weston A. Price Wise Traditions partner book as well. You guys can check it out. But there was a guy in there who lived for 40 years just on milk. That was all he had for 40 years. I mean, it sounds a little boring to me at the end of the day, but I mean, so cool. The other 2 things, I eat a lot of red meat, you know, but everyone's kind of talking about red meat when it comes to, you know, the fat on the red meat and the organs. Obviously you're the man when it comes to the organs and stuff like that, you know. That stuff is amazing. And I've been using your seasoning. My girlfriend, we love it. It's fantastic. Thank you. We're using it all the time on eggs, on meat, on potatoes, whatever it is. So we're really liking it.

And you're feeling good as you use it?

Yeah, we're loving it. Feel great. Feel really, really good. I would say one thing that people don't always take into consideration that is somewhat obvious, but not so obvious is that people are eating fruit all the time. And, you know, a lot of these kinds of new health influencers, like you should eat fruit, it's good for you. And I agree, but People are eating out-of-season fruit. And I think that eating in-season fruit is imperative to actually working with the way nature intended, right? When you're eating this fruit that is growing out of season, it's lack of nutrients, lack of flavor. It's not really right for you. You should be looking at, like, for now, citrus isn't in season. So my girlfriend, she does grapefruit. I do mandarins and stuff like that. Lots of lemons and oranges and things. Eating in-season fruit, I think, is going to be a lot better in the long run than trying to do fruit that is out of season. Because a lot of times it's GMO and not made locally and stuff like that, and has lost all its nutrients just by virtue of being in the grocery store and losing 70% of its nutrients. So yeah, try and eat in-season and local when you do that.

How far do you take that though? Because for example, region, right? So West Coast season very different than East Coast season. How granular do you look at that?

I'm not going to say here that I'm perfect at it or anything. Like I try and do my best that I can. And obviously people have to work within their, first of all, budgets. And second of all, what's available, you know, I'm not saying don't eat any fruit if it's not in season, but if you can and you can prioritize it, I think that's definitely imperative to be able to do.

Have you done any study Because when I was in culinary school, it always surprises me that this doesn't get talked about very much. Okay. If you're eating fruit, that's fine, but when you eat it is key. So meaning a certain time of the day, and then also separate from, let's say like protein, because they digest differently, you know, and doing it before protein, because the digestion time is about 30 minutes, whereas protein's something like an hour and a half or something. Right. So what about that stuff? Do you put any emphasis on that?

I have. Yeah. So for myself, what I do, I eat fruit in the morning and fruit's basically my breakfast. So I eat fruit up until about whenever I get hungry for an actual meal, usually around 11 or noon, but I'll eat fruit in the morning. Dates. I love dates, in-season fruit, berries, stuff like that, that actually have, you know, higher micronutrient content than some other fruits like that. And then maybe have some fruit later in the day, but for the most part, I'm doing fruit all in the morning. But again, at a certain point, it comes to be like, what is actually intuitive? What is actually just normal? And it's like, you know, I know with like the Ray Peat stuff and like Healing Your Metabolism by Kate Dearing and stuff like that, they're saying that you need to pair carbs, fruit with proteins and fats all at the same time. If you're eating any of it, it should all be paired at the same time. But for me, it's like, think about our ancestors. Were our ancestors thinking like, well, I can only eat this fruit that I just found on the tree now because I just ate this, you know, it's like you're just doing what feels right with the whole foods that, you know, are actually good for you. Yeah. That's what it really comes down to for me.

Absolutely. And I find as well that we can read as many books as we want, but at the end of the day, it's like, well, how does your body react to it? You know, and I find when I mix my fruit with too many things, like I don't feel good. Like I get gassy. So it's like, well, that's to me an indication that it doesn't work. For me, but when I eat fruit alone, it's fine. Like I don't have any issue. I do notice if I eat too much fruit, I feel bloated. But if I don't, you know, just one little bit, I'm good. So there's a lot of that kind of mindfulness extends to not only what you're putting in your mouth, but also how is your body reacting to it? Right.

That's exactly right. Yeah. So again, you're familiar with the Weston A. Price stuff. Like they'll talk about some people are more alkaline. Some people are more acidic. And then, you know, depending on what happened in your prenatal environment, even your childhood environment with the type of stuff that you had can affect tastes and dietary choices and all sorts of stuff that come on into your adult age. You know, it's very important to look at yourself individually and don't think like, oh, I need to be like this guy and only eat honey and black coffee until 3:00 PM and then eat a pound of ground beef at 5:00. It's like, think about just what works for you. If you find that you have some coffee with some raw milk, maybe a little bit of fruit in the morning, and that works well for you as your breakfast and you feel good and energized and you're able to build muscle and all these kinds of things, like, don't worry about what someone else is doing. Just feel good in the way that you're doing it. But you know, everyone wants to sell you a program or an idea, so they got to make money and tell you that this is the right way. So I guess for my health coaching, it's kind of difficult because I'm just like, just do what feels good, you know? But. Really, I think that's what it comes down to. Everyone's a little bit different.

As we wrap up here, will you tell us about Pure Basics Collective?

Of course. Yeah. Pure Basics Collective is what we are calling the first online farmer's market where we are taking small businesses like you, like with Pluck, and doing one-stop shop marketplace where you can get anything in a single cart checkout. So imagine kind of like Target or Walmart where you walk in and you can get bedsheets and cleaning supplies and food and snacks and skincare and makeup and all these different things all in one place. That's what we're trying to do with Pure Basics, but for the healthy, simple, nontoxic ingredients. You know, I always think about my sister in this situation. She asks me about a million questions every single day about health. And she's like, well, should I buy this? Can I eat this? Can I do this? How should I do this? Every single day. And I'm like, well, what if we just had one place where all of this is right there in one place and you don't have to ask these questions? Because even you go to Whole Foods or you go to Sprouts and you look on the label and it says organic, clean, natural. And it's still a bunch of crap. It's not stuff that you would want to put in your body. The greenwashing is insane. So we wanted to create a place where there is no greenwashing. It's actually simple. Pure Basics is that marketplace that's taking all of these small businesses and putting them in one place where you don't have to think twice about the ingredients of the stuff you're putting in your body, putting on your body, sleeping in, that you give to your family. It is all very much the best of the best. So working with myself and a couple of other health experts to make sure that we are vetting every product that is coming through our site.

I know we've talked about this, but just to articulate it for anyone listening or watching, emphasis for Pure Basics Collective is ingredients, mission, and anything else. Simplicity.

It comes down to simplicity. You know, like when we're looking at ingredients of stuff or what something is made of or how it's made, We're looking at what is just the most simple solution for this. Like you might find a product that looks pretty good and then there's some ingredient in there and you ask the question like, well, why, why is that in there? Because you could take this ingredient out and it's, and it would be completely fine. You don't need this ingredient. Like looking at cleaners, for example, you know, like that's a one that we come across a lot with people asking to come and list with us. And it's like, well, you have all these great ingredients. You're making it out of baking soda or you're doing it with vinegar and lemon or whatever it is. And then you have this weird thing in here that I can't pronounce. It's like, why'd you even put that in there? You don't need it. And so for us, it's like we would tell that person, sorry, we can't have your product because it just doesn't make sense. If it's not simple, actually simple, kind of minimalist in that sense, then it's probably not going to be on Pure Basics.

Yeah, it's fascinating because there's a lot of stuff sometimes, like the industry is very antiquated sometimes where People didn't even know why they were instructed to do it this way. And then, you know, as you dig deeper, even the people that instructed it said, well, that's how it's always been done, right? That's their answer. Sometimes in the culinary world, you'll see like wheat in meatballs or wheat in as thickeners in soups. And you're just like, well, why did you do wheat? Couldn't you do something else like arrowroot or something? And they're like, well, but this is how it's always been done. Like, They don't actually know why or how to change it. Kudos to you though, for amplifying the companies that do know how to change it and/or who are doing it simpler with a priority towards ingredients that we can recognize and that are mission-based in trying to truly help people.

Thank you, man. I appreciate that a lot.

Yeah. And we're honored to be in the Pure Basics Collective as well. Thank you so much for joining Everyday Ancestral. This has been a really great conversation. I love kind of geeking out on this stuff. So I appreciate that you do as well. We're going to put all the links in the show notes, but where would you like people to find you to learn more? And should they want to reach out, how can they do that?

Yeah, you guys can find me on all social media at The Will Witt, and Witt is W-I-T-T. And then for Pure Basics, it's purebasicscollective.com. And our Instagram is just @purebasicscollective.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Well, have fun today rock climbing with your girlfriend. And thank you again for just having the courage to step into the unknown and be willing to mess up, but doing so because your intention is to help. So thank you for modeling that.

Well, thank you, man. You're doing a great job too. And I'm super happy to be on this show.

Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. You can find the show notes, links, and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com. That's eatpluck.com. And hey, if you know someone who'd get something out of this, share it with them too. Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.