#59 - Mark Sisson: Revitalizing Your Health & Decoding Nutrition Secrets

Happy Friday! It is June 19th. Uh, if you're hearing my voice, this is Jorge Cruise and welcome to the Jorge Cruise Show. Uh, it is almost summer. Summer starts this weekend. I'm so excited. Uh, for me, summer is really, uh, not only is it a new, uh, season, hopefully to enjoy some great exercise and movement outside, uh, with COVID-19, uh, still a concern, obviously with our masks on and observing some social distance when necessary, obviously. I think we can get out there and have some great activity and some movement. And on today's show, we are sitting down with, with a man that has become kind of part of my family. I think of him as an older brother. He's 67 years young. His name is Mark Sisson. This is a second part interview that I did on episode number 28. So if you want to go back to episode number 28, we sat down and talked about the must diet for COVID-19 times and beyond. We picked up that conversation. And, uh, I think today you're going to learn not just, uh, how important what we eat can impact how you look, how you feel, how to improve longevity. I mean, this man at 67 has a better six-pack than me. If you watch the video version, which we're releasing tomorrow on YouTube and on Facebook and on IG, you'll see our abs. We did a little ab off, and, uh, and I'm almost there. I'm catching up to him. He's in phenomenal shape. He is a New York Times bestselling author. He's the publisher of Mark's Daily Apple. Uh, he's the creator of Primal Kitchen, uh, which has been a sponsor of the show for a while. But he and I have been friends for over 17 years. And on today's show, you're going to learn, uh, about good fats and how certain good fats can improve your tolerance for sun this summer, how certain bad fats can make you more photosensitive and cause you to burn faster. And we're going to talk about things that are pretty deep too about how our human diet for over 2 million years has been embracing animal fats. And I know that's controversial to some people, but I think at the end of this conversation, your mind will be blown. So I look forward to your comments and feedback. Um, now the show is brought to you by my website, JorgeCruise.com. We're doing our 2020 survey right now, and I ask you all to please take it because as my thank you, the first week in July, I'll be sending out a Belly Fat Cure online course as my thank you to you. It'll be over $100 value.. And it just takes a few minutes, 4 or 5 minutes, uh, fill out this survey and it helps me better know what you want me to talk about on this show, talk about in my books, on television. And all you have to do is go to my website, jorgecruise.com. That's J-O-R-G-E-C-R-U-I-S-E.com. And it's at the very top of the page. You'll see it there. We're also brought to you by Navitas Organics. You've heard me talk about these folks for a while because I really, uh, enjoy using their products to help me cheat the fast. As most of you know, I pretty much just these days eat one meal a day. I do about a 22-hour fast. A lot of my celebrities do 16 hours, so they do two meals. But whether it's 16 hours, 20 hours, or 22 hours of fasting, the way you turn off hunger so you don't feel hungry when you need that meal— I call it a flat belly meal— that will break your fast, I use Navitas Organic Chia seeds, 3 tablespoons with 3 tablespoons of avocado oil, 8 ounces of almond milk, unsweetened, or monk fruit usually, or stevia. Stir it, never blend it. And if you drink that, it expands in your stomach, via la tsud, it becomes like a pudding, and it won't break your fast. So I use that every day, and because I use it every day, it has to be organic. And a lot of companies say they're organic, superfoods are organic, but they're not. I trust these folks at Navitas. I've met the owners. They're the real deal. They've been doing this for over 16 years. So head on over to their website, to navitasorganics.com/cruise, my last name, C-R-U-I-S-E. And if you use that last name, my last name, Cruise, you'll get 30% off your entire order of organic superfoods, which can include things like maca root and wheatgrass. So check that out. We're also brought to you by Mark's site, Primal Kitchen, uh, and Primal Kitchen for me is where I've been getting my avocado oil. Mark is the man who taught me about avocado oil years ago, way before he even created this company. And his company is giving us a free chipotle lemon mayo made with avocado oil, which is anti-inflammatory. We're going to talk about avocado oil on the show today. You're going to learn about that, animal fats. You're going to learn about these industrial seed oils that break down your body, cause inflammation. But avocado oil is anything but that, it's the opposite. It's literally the secret oil to staying healthy and young, and it doesn't break your fast. So check it out, go to primalkitchen.com/jorgecruise and get your free chipotle lemon mayo at checkout, and enjoy. And on today's show, guys, it's Mark Sisson and I, we sit down. I invite you tomorrow to check out the video interview. You'll see Mark and I on Zoom, but this is an incredible, provocative conversation about health. With #1 New York Times bestselling author and my dear friend, Mark Sisson. So let's get started right now. It's a fact, 91% of us have a dangerous amount of belly fat. And it isn't just unsightly. When you have too much belly fat, you are more likely to suffer from aches and pains, low energy, memory loss, and poor sleep, which prevents you from performing your best at work, spending true quality time with your loved ones, and simply enjoying life. The good news is that you can cure belly fat and immediately start to work better, reduce pain, improve memory, and sleep better using simple shortcuts I've gathered. Hi, my name is Jorge Cruise, and I'm known as the 8-Minute Life Strategist to the world's busiest celebrities. I've been a fitness, nutrition, and high-performance living strategist for over 25 years, and you may have seen my work with Oprah Winfrey, Khloe Kardashian, President Clinton, Tyra Banks, Dr. Oz, Tony Robbins, or even Steve Harvey. My passion to find the best science-backed fitness shortcuts has allowed me to write over 30 books and become a multiple New York Times bestselling author with over 9 million books in print. And I know I can help you too. Welcome to the Jorge Cruise Show.

Alright guys, welcome to the show. I am so excited because we are here for part 2 of our conversation with Mark Sisson. If you guys don't know who Mark Sisson is, he is not only, in my opinion, one of the most legendary guys out there when it comes to nutrition, he's been a dear friend of mine for so many years. We had a provocative conversation less than 2 months ago personally, then we did a podcast which we hadn't done in a while, and he's in Miami, but today he's not in Miami, he's in Pacific Pacific Palisades. And so joining us from his home in Cali is Mr. Mark Sisson. How are you, Mark?

I'm great, Jorge. Good to be here.

Good to see you. I had to roll up my sleeves so I can show off my guns with you. Let's do a gun off for all the listeners and viewers right now.

Oh, Jesus.

All right. There you go. Look at this. That is the new 68, Mark, right? 67. Oh, 67. When's your birthday again?

Well, no, I'll be 67 July 14th. Let's not get ahead of ourselves now at this point. 67.

Oh, gosh. Well, and I remember from our last podcast, one of your big goals is when you turn 70, heaven forbid, then you want to really redefine that for the world, right, Mark?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Actually, one of my original goals was to be able to beat my 7-year-old grandchild in a 100-yard dash at whatever age that was. So, now I have a grandchild and so, when she's 7, I'll be, you know, 74. So, that's going to be some work. Anyway. You know, how does it feel to be a grandpa finally, right? You did it. It is awesome.

Well, your daughter did it, I guess. Your daughter.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. No, it is the best. I mean, I am over the moon. That is why we are here in the Palisades visiting. Yeah. You know, it is fantastic.

That is great. Well, I am super excited to pick up our conversation. Since we spoke, a couple of things have happened on my end. You know, I have been following this nutritional plan that you kind of You shook my world because I was eating a healthy diet, you know, definitely doing intermittent fasting, but then added more of what you talked about in The Carnivore Code, in the introduction to that book with Dr. Saladino, which I love his last name. Not that he eats a lot of salads, right, Mark? But Paul, and he and I have talked. He's going to be on the show. So thank you for the connection.

Sure.

And great book on that. And that was really about just me overcoming my concern about eating more meat, I think, because I was scared of it because of You know, you hear all these theories about not getting enough fiber and not pooping, you know, to be direct. Right. And all that is not true. We kind of set the record straight last time. So I've been really excited to embrace a little more healthy meat. And one of my things that I love that your office sent to me is this grass-fed beef skillet. And this is something that is fairly new. It's 2020, right?

Oh, yeah. No, this just came out in the last month or two. Yeah, we are making frozen meals now and the steak fajitas is one of, an example of one of our skillet meals. So, you just buy that bag. It serves 2 people. You heat it up in a saucepan for a couple of minutes with some avocado oil.

And then obviously the avocado oil, 18 grams of protein. I mean, this is basically good eating but done fast and, you know, all my Clients, none of them have time. They all like 8-minute workouts. They, the micro workouts that we talked about. And this now makes eating healthfully easy. You don't have to buy, I mean, you don't have to buy the vegetables, you don't have to buy the meat, you just buy the bag and thaw it out. And I feel like it's available only, is it, I think you mentioned last time you've got a partnership with Thrive, right?

Yeah, so right now you can get it on Thrive Market anywhere in the country if you just are a member of Thrive Market. Thrive Market, for those people who don't know, is a unique purveyor of healthy food. So it's kind of like Costco meets Whole Foods online. You sign up, you become a member, and then you can order anything that you could get at Sprouts or Whole Foods or any of the healthy stores, and you can have it sent to your house directly very quickly. And if the order is like more than $49, the shipping is free. They've been absolutely a godsend to people who've been trying to eat healthy over the past 3 or 4 months during this COVID thing.

Yeah, no, I know. Well, I thought today, speaking of the COVID we would pick it up because summer is almost here. It's here in a few days. Being that it's June and July is coming around the corner when summer will be in full gear, a lot of the listeners to the show were— they were so enthralled with our conversation about The Carnivore Code and these insights about eating good protein and the good fats and not being scared of that. And we talked about so many good things. I thought maybe you could give us a little update on the diet. But before we do that, since summer is here, I feel like a lot of people— I did a little survey recently.. And they wanted to know more about the diet, which I know we can talk about because that's your specialty. But they also wanted to know about summer and getting out there with COVID-19. And here in Cali, they're opening up the gyms again. I think in Pacific Palisades, have they opened them or almost?

No, I just got my notification from my gym. They're not opening for another 2 weeks, which is kind of a bummer. But I mean, I've been out a lot and I've been— I've been managing just fine without a gym.

Well, so let's talk about that because I think people right now, I think they're split. They want to keep their masks on, which we can do, and obviously 6 feet social distance if you need that, obviously, which it's law in certain areas. But I feel like how can we encourage people because summer's here and I feel like, you know, I've been getting out. I've been going here in San Diego to Blacks Beach and climbing the cliffs, the buffs, and reminds me of Runyon Canyon and all that. Combo, and it's as beautiful as Malibu. But I feel like not everyone is doing that. It's still very hush-hush. People don't want to really go out. And now that the sun is out, they're scared of the sun and getting burned and all that. So can you help us get motivated for summer here? Because I feel like, to a certain degree, you've been going out. Maybe you're still— are you still wearing your mask to some degree? I mean, obviously—

I don't believe in that. So I mean, I wear a mask when I'm supposed to inside. And certain things. But outside, it's almost the exact opposite. I think that, you know, the best thing you can do for yourself, first of all, is to get some vitamin D. Vitamin D is made naturally in the body when you expose your skin to sun. And when I say expose your skin, I'm talking about unprotected parts of your torso and your legs for not for a long period of time. 15 or 20 minutes is all you need. And then you can cover up and then you can put on the sunscreens. It's critical that people get vitamin D. One of the things that we're seeing as the data comes in on this COVID-19 deal is that people who have low vitamin D status suffer much more than people who have high vitamin D status. I mean, they get infected less often, and then if they do, if they do, people who have high vitamin D status get infected less often, and if they do, the symptoms are not as devastating as they are with low vitamin D status. I think it's really a very important thing to take into consideration as we move forward with this.

And I know you've moved not that long ago to Florida, and I think if anything, when I follow you on Insta and all that, I see you out there actively and you're not wearing— certain people will wear these long sleeve shirts and hats and glasses, I guess sunglasses are necessary on occasion. But tell them what you— we were talking before we started the show here about Sunscreen, because, you know, I obviously am getting to be 50 and I don't want to get a lot of wrinkles. You have great looking skin and you're tan and you've got— I mean, people have asked, what do you put on your skin? But what's your prescription for yourself with summer here and sunblock and what you just said about not overdoing it, but also making sure that you do enough, right?

Right. So, you know, I put sunscreen on my face. I don't want to get any more damage that I've gotten. Look, I've spent my life outside. I'm, as I say, I'll be 67 in a couple of weeks. And I'm, since I was 12 or 13, I've spent most of the nice weather outside with a shirt off, either working under the sun. I mowed lawns when I was 12 years old. I painted houses when I was 14. I was a contractor in my 20s. I mean, I was a runner and I ran without a shirt most of my running career and a lot of my triathlon career. So I've spent a lot of time outside. So my— the big thing for me is to cover my face. And then I— in Miami and even in California, like yesterday, I went and I paddled for an hour and a half. And I had— I wear sunscreen on my face and I wear dark glasses and sometimes I wear a headband to cover my forehead. But then I don't put anything on my— on the rest of my body and I don't wear a shirt. However, if I get more than an hour, then I put a shirt on and sometimes I'll put a long sleeve shirt on. I'm not trying to get burned. I just want to get the right amount of sun exposure to get the vitamin D that I feel that I need, not just for my immune system, but vitamin D is also important. It's actually, you know, the sun exposure is important for your mood elevation, right? And as we're finding with the amount of time that we've been the amount of time that we've been worried about our relatives, the amount of time we've been worried about am I doing the right thing with COVID the amount of time we've been worried about losing our jobs or losing our 401s in the financial devastation here, mood becomes a real consideration, right? So, that's another reason that I like and encourage people to get some amount of sun every day.

Yeah, no, and I think what you said is key. It's what I've been following. And I know if you're darker skinned, I've got a little Latin blood in me, and I know I have a lot of clients that are African American. American, you can go a little longer, I think, because you are classified as a white man, correct, Mark? You're pretty white.

Yeah, I'm not quite European, so I'm like, you know, Celtic Norse, which is, you know, about as light-skinned, fair-skinned, blue eyes, blonde hair, the whole thing. So, but I've built over the years an ability to tan, without burning, I pay very strict attention to it. I mean, I'm very careful about not burning. And I will add that one of the things that happens to people who tend to burn a lot is you can look at the diet and you go, well, if you're consuming a lot of industrial seed oils, if you're consuming a lot of soybean oil or corn oil or canola oil, those omega-6 fats that are in those oils and the way those oils are processed do not do you any favors when it comes to your ability to stay out in the sun. So people who are consuming large quantities of these seed oils tend to burn easily. And if you shift your diet away from those toward more naturally occurring animal fats— butter, lard, ghee, things like that— monounsaturated fats like avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil, even coconut oil, then your tolerance for the sun improves tremendously and goes up tremendously.

Now, this is something I've never heard. So you're kind of my— as Oprah would say, I'm having an aha moment here. So you're saying— and I know about seed oil, we know it's inflammatory, not just to our body, to our joints, right, Mark?

Yep.

But it's literally— it sounds like it causes a weakening of our ability to protect ourselves from the sun, right, Mark?

Exactly. Exactly.

Tell me a little bit more, because this is I didn't know about this. I didn't expect you to mention how diet can impact your sunscreen protection, let alone your overall immune. I mean, obviously, but remind everyone, because let's segue into diet for a minute. What you just said, a lot of people's mouths are still— I mean, I've talked about it enough in enough books to talk about, from avocado oil. I got a little squeeze bottle here. Isn't that cool? From avocado oil to, uh, like beef tallow. You got me on that because in The Carnivore Code Tell everyone about that book for a minute, Mark, because that diet mentions a lot of these fats that people are— they're like, "Oh, I can't do that because I'm going to have a heart attack." And I'm the guy that at one point, with Dr. Mark Hyman, had the honor of working with President Clinton, and he had a quadruple bypass. And for many years, he avoided all animal— everything.

He was vegan.

And that's— we know better now. He knows better now. We all know better. So how is animal fats— Is beef and all that going to be okay for us? And then obviously, just to talk a little bit of what we kind of recap what we talked about with that diet book, The Carnivore Code, because you wrote the introduction to it. And Dr. Saladino, I think, has done a really good job, but it's still, I would say, on the fringes where people are scared. They're like, they don't believe that. My kids, when I use beef tallow, they're like, Dad, it's too much. Do a spray. Use something light. And I'm like, no, I'm pouring it in there, you know, or I'll use avocado oil. But why are these fats okay to use, these animal ones and the avocado ones? Because I think people are scared of oil and fats still to some degree, especially the good fats, you know. And I think soybean oil, as much as it's inflammatory, it's in everything. It's in most mayo, right, Mark?

Yeah, it's certainly not in our mayo, but it's in most mayo. No, no. Yeah, yeah. No, the issue here is that fats Animal fats have been part of the human diet for, you know, 2 million years, uh, and, and the body expects them and knows how to deal with these, these naturally occurring saturated fats that you find in animals. We found over the last, uh, 2 decades that saturated fats are not as problematic as the medical industry, and particularly the cardiology industry, would have led you to believe over the years. So people's fear of saturated fat is diminishing somewhat. Ironically, what has happened over the past several decades, you know, we in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, as industry started to introduce olio and margarine and these fake, you know, spreads that you could put on your bread or your vegetables instead of butter, the fear was that butter was somehow harmful. Well, it turns out butter not only tastes better, but it's actually better for you. Than spreads like olive oil and margarine, partly because these contain these omega-6 fats that we just talked about. And they contain hydrogenated fats and oils to make them harder and make them, you know, and trans fats to give them the, you know, to make them have the character—

some of the characteristics of saturated fats mimic like butter, to mimic its to make it more solid, right?

Correct. So, what has happened as a result of that is we look at the processed foods that we find in stores today, and invariably these processed foods are using these industrial seed oils— soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, safflower, sunflower. These are all oils that have been so highly processed that they, they become antithetical to health. They're, they're actually bad for our health. And one of the reasons they're bad is that they they don't really enter the body as a, as a fuel substrate. In fact, they're just more of a type of a fatty acid that the body thinks it needs. But when it absorbs these highly processed fats and oils and then incorporates them into the cell membranes, because a lot of your cell membranes throughout your body and including your skin are supposed to be pliable and not rigid, and are supposed to have little access points where micronutrients can get in, or certain processes can happen through these access points. And these industrial seed oils, which get incorporated into your cells, then screw that up. And so one of the reasons that people become photosensitive— that is, they become more susceptible to light and UV rays and they tend to burn— is because the cells in their skin over course of many decades of consuming these harmful fats have— it's affected their skin in a way that it's not as receptive to the UV light that converts cholesterol into vitamin D, that, you know, causes an appropriate amount of melanin pigment to rise up and create a tan. And so all these things get disrupted because the diet contains so many of these hidden nasty fats and oils. So my challenge to most people is, look, read the label, and if you see soybean and corn oil and canola in your products, stay away. I think that these are some of the more insidious foods that we consume. In fact, you know, for the longest time I was sort of known as that anti-sugar guy. I was known as the guy that said, you know, stay away from sugar and you will be fine. Well, absolutely stay away from sugar, but now you have got to stay away from the industrial seed oils as well. So, Jorge, all foods exist on this spectrum of bad to sometimes pretty good, right? So, milk, dairy exists on a spectrum. 2% skim homogenized pasteurized, really horrible. I would not encourage anybody to consume that. On the other end of that spectrum, raw milk, butter, heavy cream, they're pretty good. They're actually quite good for you.

Organic when possible, right, Mark?

Organic, yeah. So, so those foods exist on a spectrum, right? Fruits exist on a spectrum. So berries like blueberry and raspberries that are tart, don't have much sugar. Those are fantastic. Eat those, you know, certainly with a certain amount of, you know, don't overdo them. But then on the other end of the fruit spectrum, there's a lot of citrus and melony stuff that has a ton of sugar in it that you may want to kind of stay away from. Well, when it comes to fats and oils, they exist on a spectrum. And at the one end of the spectrum, you're going to find the good stuff, the avocado oil, the extra virgin olive oil, the butter, the lard, the ghee. Those are what we would call healthy fats, and you would want to consume those. At the far end of the spectrum, again, we come down to the industrial seed oils, which would be the corn oil, the canola oil, the soybean oil, which you absolutely want to stay away from. And, you know, sometimes it's like, okay, I can read my label, right? And I can tell what I'm getting, or I can I choose to cook with avocado oil and get rid of all of the canola and corn oil in my house. But what happens when I go eat at a restaurant, right? And so that's— I ask people sometimes, you know, when I go to a restaurant, first thing I ask is if I'm going to order a salad, salad is, you know, what are the oils that you use in your salad dressings? And if they're using extra virgin olive oil, great, bring it on. But if they're not, and most times Even in great restaurants, they're not. I was in one the other day and I said, you know, I asked the waiter, what's your, you know, what are your, the bases, the oil bases for your salad dressings? And he said, olive oil. I said, could you go back and check with the kitchen? So he goes to the kitchen and he comes back and he says, yeah, it's an olive oil blend. So what does that mean? Well, it has olive oil and canola and soy. I'm like, okay, it's not olive oil. You know, and I just got, you know, I chose something else to order.

And it truly is, I mean, it's just because it's a financial thing. It's just cheaper not to use good oil.

Absolutely. No, that's exactly right. So even your best restaurants, you know, are trying to cut corners where they can and not because they're trying to be, you know, mean people or whatever. Most times they don't even know what they're doing. They don't know the, you know, sort of the nasty side effects of a lifetime of consuming these industrial seed oils. So that's kind of been my new push in coaching people, is to figure out where in your diet you have these, these hidden, insidious oils that may be problematic for you, even though you feel like you're eating clean, even though you're eating a lot of salads, for instance. Even though you've gotten rid of the sugary beverages and the processed grain products, and you still maybe are experiencing some health issues, it may be that you haven't really cleaned up that part of your diet that includes these nasty oils and fats.

It would be great if we could create some sort of resource or website where we could list restaurants. I recently did an interview with Dr. Andrew Weil, you know Dr. Weil?

Jorge Cruise.

He has these True Foods restaurants and they're very meticulous, you know, and obviously you've had, you've eaten at his restaurants before.

Yeah, yeah, no, the one in Santa Monica is fantastic.

Yeah, they're great stuff and he's going everywhere. He's finally hitting New York and all that once the pandemic is done. He's got like 36 of these and I feel like I trust him, I trust those restaurants, but man, I mean, I, I mean, you know, whether I'm going with a fancy client to somewhere in Beverly Hills or New York or whatever I feel like it's, it's as much as you may be paying, they're still cutting corners because I bet you're the only person that ever asked what the salad dressing is made out of, you know.

Now I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure it's a small number that actually ask, you know, because it's a very small number of people who even understand the implications of a diet that contains vast amounts. And, you know, if you, if you were to look at the standard American diet now, um, you know, 70% of it is processed foods. And of those processed foods, almost all of them contain some amount of, of an oil that I would find objectionable in, in my diet.

So, you know, that's why I created Primal Kitchen Foods, to create sauces and dressings and toppings, mayonnaise, you know, condiments and things like that that you could use and, and be confident that they only contain these good oils and, and are devoid and don't have these bad ones in Well, I think it's brilliant, and Primal Kitchen, I think, is leading the way, and I think people that understand how important this is for your health, I mean, it comes down to your skin, as we just talked about, these good oils, and it comes down to everything from aging to disease prevention. I mean, the list goes on and on, and I'm right with you about sugar, but I think we got that one down. I think people know that sugar is not good, but this oil thing, I think it's confusion. Is there anything that you recommend for someone out there that wants to learn more? I mean, obviously you've written some books, maybe one of your books and another book from a third party that, that is eye-opening on this so we can kind of spread a good word or two out there. What would you suggest as a resource, Mark?

Well, I'd say that anything by Dr. Cate Shanahan, and you can just Google her work online. She has— her first book is called Deep Nutrition. The more recent one doesn't come to mind immediately, but I've known Cate for a long time and she was an early pioneer in this industrial seed oil thing. In fact, she was on Bill Maher's show maybe a couple weeks ago talking about that and talking about these industrial seed oils. So she's getting the word out there. And then of course my book, The Primal Blueprint, my most recent book, The Keto Reset Diet, and Keto for Life. We all, you know, we talk a lot about these oils and how bad they are and and how you don't need to be beholden to them. You can find foods that don't have them. You just have to be mindful of it. Yeah, yeah.

And the great thing is, as we're transitioning from eating at home to maybe going back out, we can start at home. And for me, I sometimes carry these little jars with certain things. Like when I was in New York last year and I was working with the Housewives of New York, I would carry these little on-the-go from The Container Store, these little 6-ounce little jars, and I would put your oil in them. And use them to make any kind of food, you know, where it's a dressing, whether it was in— I'd make a flat belly meal with your, with your oil and chia seeds and a little unsweetened almond milk to kind of fill up. And it's easy. And the great thing is it's pretty shelf stable, right, Mark? You don't have to refrigerate avocado oil, right?

No, I mean, that's, that's one of the best parts about it. It's very shelf, shelf stable. And, um, you know, to your point, um, one thing you can do at any restaurant you will be able to find olive oil, extra virgin olive oil. So, if you just ask for olive oil and vinegar, you can make a dressing. I've gone to restaurants and I've asked for olive oil, vinegar, and mustard, and I've made a vinaigrette right at the table with ingredients that they had in their kitchen. So, you know, this is— it's not an impossible task. It just becomes sort of a fun challenge in many cases.

Yeah, and I think that's a great little prescription for people to follow and try this week and try this summer and to start utilizing. Ask about the oil, and if the oil is questionable, I mean, I hate to ask, but you basically tell them to make it naked, right? Right, Mark? You would make it no dressing and then ask for the olive oil on the side, some vinaigrette, and some mustard, right? Is that an easy way to do it, Mark?

Yeah, I think it's very easy. Yeah, sure.

So I think that's easy. And what, you know, people may give you those looks, but I think it's worth doing that. And I think I remember going out to the Soho House with you once, and we had that challenge, I think, with something or a beverage you were having. And, you know, you're the guy that sometimes brings in your own stuff like I do, so I never feel weird when I'm with you, Mark. But, you know, how do we get people to feel confident to do that? What's your mindset? Because I think that is something where people, you know, they're a little timid. They don't want to be like made fun of, but I always remind my clients that, hey, you're paying for this meal, right?

Oh, for sure.

No, right.

Yeah, no, no. And most restaurant operators are— they're very willing to accommodate your requirements. So, you know, I don't think it's an issue to ask for what you want. The big issue is understanding what it is that you might be getting if you don't ask. Yeah. And not— again, not the fault of the restaurant operators. They typically don't know themselves What they do know is that soybean oil costs 1/10 as much as extra virgin olive oil. So why don't they— if the customer isn't going to notice or isn't going to have a problem with it, why would they spend all that extra money? So these are the little hidden secrets that we're trying to uncover so that when you go out to eat, you can control all this in your house, clearly. You can get rid of all the nasty stuff. Good stuff. But when you go out to eat, you know, don't be sort of victimized by the exact menu. You can alter whatever it is that you're ordering in ways that I'm sure the kitchen will want to accommodate.

Yeah, no, I think it's just having that confidence in what you just said, you know, knowing that they're just doing it without that intention. And it's not like an insult. I mean, at certain restaurants I know they won't do that, but Obviously, you just have to say, if that's the point, I would say that you have some sort of health issue with soybean oil or canola oil, that you're just— I mean, I would just say you're allergic to it. I mean, that's fair to say. I think we are. It's inflammatory, right, Mark?

Well, I mean, in that regard, everyone is sort of allergic to it, right?

Yeah. So I think that's a legitimate way to kind of fix it. So I love that. That's such a simple fix. Mark, two things I wanted to ask you. People have been asking about beverages. And coffee, tea. Dr. Andrew Weil shared with us how 1 cup of coffee can really screw up sleep. I've been using now matcha. Can you share with us what you use in the morning? I mean, obviously you drink water, obviously, but share with us a little bit of your beverage world because I know you know how to enjoy a fine wine as well or a fine beer. Sometimes you bring your own stuff wherever you go, but talk to us about beverages right now because summer's here and, you know, people, I don't think drink enough water. I add a pinch of pink salt, either Redmond's sea salt or— it's not sea salt. Redmond's— it's like a Himalayan sea salt. You've seen Redmond's, right?

Yeah.

No, I love Redmond's. They're the salt kings, man. They got every kind of salt known to man.

Well, tell people what you do with your water and then take us a little further about your morning beverage if you have one, and then what you drink at night, about vino. I like Dry Farm wines. I know you've been a fan of theirs as well. But take us through some of your beverages for summer because I think right now with this heat starting, we need to hydrate and beverages are going to be in everyone's mind. Walk us through how that works for you.

So, I've written over the years, the last 20 years about how I'm not that concerned about overdosing on water. I let my thirst mechanism be the guide. So, I don't— I'm not the person who walks around with a jug of— a gallon jug of water. Right. With the intent of consuming that every day. If I'm thirsty, I drink water. If I'm not, I don't. I usually prefer— this is Mountain Valley sparkling, and so that's kind of my go-to. I don't even like the taste of water that much. So I'm, you know, I like sparkling water. I like cold sparkling water. I see you got your regular Mountain Valley there.

Yes, I had to go run and get it. This is the one I'm using. Show us the bottle again, Mark. We'll do the cheers.

Yeah, so I have the blue label. See, I got the blue neck on it.

Concerned ever about carbonation or is that just a myth? I know certain people said, oh, avoid carbonation.

Why would I be concerned about carbonation? I want you to give me the concern that you would have about carbonation.

I mean, you know, when you Google this, there are certain people, I'm not going to mention doctors, but I've heard from certain doctors that the carbonation has the opposite of what we want, which is oxygen in it. You know, it has what we exhale out and people, you know, I just feel like, I mean, you're not holding your breath with the water. No, no. You're letting your breath out.

I mean, right? Yeah. It's crazy. I, yeah, so I like the mouthfeel of sparkling water, carbonated water. So that's kind of my go-to during the day. I have a cup of coffee every morning. This is the remnants of the cup that I had this morning. So I start the day with a cup of coffee.

What's your preferred brand? Do you have a brand you use or does it vary?

I mean, you know, I just, I use, I have these There's a brand out in Malibu called Lux right near you, the Lux Coffee people, right? Yeah. And I like their coffee. I'm kind of a— I'm open. People send me coffee all the time, right? So I have people in the coffee business who send me their samples. So I'm never out of coffee and I like trying different types. But at the end of the day, the stronger and richer the better, right? So I start—

What's your limit on that? How do you gauge it so you don't overdose on caffeine?

I'm not susceptible to caffeine that much. So if I, you know, I have— I can have coffee at 3 o'clock in the afternoon if I'm on my way home from someplace and somebody wants to have a meeting at Starbucks. I'll have a triple shot with some steamed cream in it, right? I mean, it just doesn't affect me. It doesn't affect my sleep at all. So I'm not I'm not someone who's that susceptible to caffeine. Now, there are people who are. My wife is, and so she can't have coffee after noon, and so she sticks with tea and things like that.

That's very personal in that regard. Are you a big fan of teas, hot water with lemon, all that stuff, or you just—

No, no, I'm just— again, it's like too much work to fix hot water and lemon and all this stuff. I just— if I'm thirsty, I'll drink some water. If I'm thirsty— if I'm near some sparkling water, I'll have some sparkling water.

Do you add the pink salt to the water sometimes?

No, I don't. So what I do sometimes I have a friend who started a company called LMNT, Element, L-M-N-T, just those 4 letters. And they sell these packets of electrolytes that are sodium, magnesium, potassium, and some non— some natural sweeteners that are non-caloric and natural flavors. And they're great. So I add those every once in a while to If, like, I might, I might, in advance of doing a long, hard workout outside in the sun, I might drink something in advance that has collagen and some electrolytes in it, right? So that might be my pre-workout hydration drink. So I would be cognizant that if I'm going to go do 2 hours of Ultimate Frisbee in the 86-degree 80% humidity of Miami, yes, I absolutely want to hydrate, right? And I would get otherwise quite thirsty doing that. So I will prepare something like that. So I don't just add salt for the sake of adding salt. I have this blend, this LMNT blend that I add. And yeah, it's great. And then—

The good thing is about the water you drink, and this one as well, when I drink it like this, it's The key word there, it's spring water, right, Mark? And that has minerals in it. That's what we want to drink is spring water, right?

Right. Yeah, exactly. And then I drink Kavita sparkling probiotic water every once in a while. So I'll drink some of that. I will have— I have a— I like a beer once in a while, but I have a gluten issue. So I use Omission beer. I don't know if you've heard of Omission. But it gets rid of the gluten, so it's a gluten-free beer.

It still feels like a beer?

Oh my God, it's 100% a beer. And I use their IPA, I like their IPA the best.

And the brand one more time, spell it for us.

Omission, like they omitted gluten, right?

I like that.

And then at night, and we've talked about this, I drink a selection of wines from my friends at Dry Farm Wines. They send a case of wines every month to me. These wines are lower in alcohol, no sugar, no added ingredients, some of the nasty ingredients that are actually allowed by the FDA in this country. They have none of these added ingredients. They're very great, they're great tasting wines. They're not thick and heavy like cough syrup, like like some of the California cabs can become over time. So, yeah, I've put together kind of a nice little list of beverages that become my kind of go-to thing. I don't drink mixed drinks of any kind. Yeah, and I don't drink, pretty much I don't drink any hard liquor, even though I used to be an investor in a tequila company. I don't really drink that stuff. So yeah, that's kind of what I do.

Now, for people that are using vino, which I used to drink a lot of to help me sleep, and I enjoy it more in the day with a meal or something, like if I have an early meal. I had a little bit of Dry Farms yesterday. I love their stuff as well and mentioned them in the Cruise Control Diet book, and I met— had a couple of glasses of wine with Todd White, the owner of that company. He's a great guy. And I feel like it's important, but how close to bedtime do you avoid wine for sleep? And then in place of that, are you using melatonin, Mark, at all? Or what do you use to help you sleep? What do you think about CBD? What do you think of cannabis? Because now it's so much more of a legal thing. Talk about that, because I think that is a huge thing. That's the biggest puzzle piece at night for people is sleep. And you do sleep, right, Mark? I mean, you get good sleep.

Oh my God. I get 8.5, 9, 9.5, sometimes 10 during COVID Because I can. And it's— I sleep very well, so I don't have a problem sleeping. I go right to sleep at night. Sometimes my wife gets upset at the fact that she's still trying to go to sleep and I'm already— I'm out. But I do sleep quite well, and then I wake up in the morning fairly refreshed. So I would say in terms of— I don't drink late, you know, I might have my last If I'm having wine, you know, 8 o'clock would be the last sip I would have of wine. And then if I go to bed at 10 or 10:30, that's a 2.5-hour, you know, gap there. And I don't drink, you know, much wine. 2 glasses a night is kind of my intake. I don't overdo that. And as I say, I wake up. I don't use melatonin. On a regular basis. I do use melatonin when I'm traveling more than 3 time zones. So if I have to adjust to a new time zone, I want to reset my clock and go to sleep at the time, at what is bedtime where I am in the new location. I will take melatonin probably half an hour before I go to bed to make sure that I can readjust my my own internal clot there. Yeah.

And how about the CBDs and the medical marijuana that now has become kind of a thing? I mean, it's a big business, right? They say it's the new— the new alcohol business. I mean, people are my age, your age, they're all experimenting. What are your thoughts on that experiment?

I've tried it starting years ago, and I don't get any benefit from CBD. I don't quite understand. Mechanism there. And I'm not going to argue with people who say they have gotten benefits, but for myself, I don't really— I don't notice any difference in the products that I've used. So I'm waiting for, you know, better research to come out. And if that's the case, then maybe I'll start to use them. But for now, I'm— I sort of— I don't stay away from them because I think they're fairly harmless, but I just— I don't find any utility for myself.

Yeah, no, I think it's— the jury's still out and obviously it's very different everywhere in the country, you know, where sometimes it's allowed, sometimes cannabis isn't allowed, the CBD and all that. So it's an interesting thing. Well, let's end on this, Mark. Positive mindset. You are 66. I got it right. Soon to be 67. Still a youngster and you're going to make 70 look like 50, I think, or 45 probably. What is your mindset for anyone out there, whether they're almost 50 like I am, they're in their 60s, or maybe 60-plus, 70s, and they think it's, it's too damn too, too late for them to try any of this? They've been using canola oil their whole life. They've been drinking way too much. They're not, you know, they've just been eating carbs. They've been really following this pattern, and they're probably 10 or 20 pounds overweight, maybe more, and they think it's too late. How do we get people at any age, I mean young people too, I feel like some people give up. How do you keep that mindset in your head strong? Because I know you've never had this problem, but if you put yourself in their perspective, how would you get someone who's stuck right now to get off their butt and know that you can make a difference still? And, you know, I know the research is showing that we're going to live longer than any other generation out there. I think, I hope my grandmother looked to be 103. Why do I feel like you are going to live to be 103 or more? But if we, you know, and if you are just not even 70, that is 3 more decades you have got in front of you, Mark. I have got 50 more years, I hope. How do we get people to believe that? Because I think it is true. I don't know if you want to start with that and then what is the mantra we got to say to ourselves to make it happen today?

Well, first of all, I have seen hundreds of thousands of testimonials of people who have transformed their lives using the strategies that I write about. And invariably, they are people who are in their, not invariably, but a lot of them are in their 50s and 60s and 70s. So, when I get a testimonial like last week, a guy says, "I am 72 years old. I lost 105 lbs. in the last year." following your program and I feel like I have a new lease on life. Now, if you are in your 60s or 70s, most people are like, there is not enough time. It is, you know, it is too late. I missed the opportunity. The answer to that is absolutely did you not miss the opportunity, but this guy is now feeling like he can improve for the next 2 decades because he discovered that everything he is doing now is benefiting him. So, I have seen way too many people transform their lives, get off the meds at 50 or 60 years old, lose a lot of weight, improve their cognition by just shifting their diet. I have seen, you know, people whose mental health or their attitude, they went from being depressed and, you know, afraid to wake up every morning to being excited to jump out of bed and, and find out what the day has to hold for them. So, these are all very available things that you can do by shifting your diet and your exercise pattern around, and they don't require that you go all in from day one. In other words, if all you do is take a baby step and say, well, I am going to cut sugar out for the next month and see how I do with that. And then after that, I am going to start walking, you know, for 40 minutes, 4 times a week, and I will take baby— and I will figure out how that works. And over time, as these— you start to see the benefits of these little baby steps, then you get more excited about, wow, if that is what is happening just by making those small transitions, what would happen if I really took a bold step and cut out the grains and started to play around with fasting once in a while, with going keto? For a little bit, not the whole time, but just going keto a little bit, with maybe learning a new sport or going to the gym and lifting weights. I mean, all these things, they don't require that you go all in from day one. They're available to just kind of try one step at a time. And I think that's the real— that's the mantra, is that, is that, you know, there's always more that I could be doing, and yet I don't have to do anymore if I choose not to.

I agree, Mark. I feel like for me, I feel like the wake-up call of being 50 coming around next year is kind of like my 70 to you, right? I never thought I'd be 50. I never thought I'd have my kids now. One's 16, one's 13. They come in, you know, they're going to be with me for summer now. And, you know, I've learned to adapt, to give them their independence. Like, it's a mind blow for me. And I feel like I'm starting a new life. And I'm sure now that you're grandfather, that's mind-blowing. But there it is, right? I mean,. And it's such a great legacy to leave behind. And I feel like with these simple choices, you know, I was at a place, you know, when I wrote that book, the 8 Minutes in the Morning one, 20 years ago, I was overweight in college, fat. I never was an athlete like you. I was the guy that couldn't move.

I had asthma.

I had all these issues. I had to cut out all the sugar and milk and all that kind of stuff. And so many things I've evolved. And I feel like I'm going to show you this because I would never do this, but only to you. Because I have gotten, and you've seen some of my pictures. I sent you a picture yesterday. I was at the beach, right?

Yeah.

My stomach, I'm going to show it to you, has gotten almost to the Mark Sisson level where I'm getting, look at this, abdominal.

That's amazing. No, that's really, I noticed your pictures, Jorge.

Look at that. I have not had this in forever.

You're crushing it.

Yeah. I'm making this happen and at 50. Now, we did the gun off. Will you show us your abs, Mark? I hate to ask, but if I did mine. Show us some of your abs here because I know you have got some guns underneath here. How do you keep them strong like that? Come on now. Don't be shy. Let's see this. Look at this. All right. Say a few words so pump works.

There you go. OK. Woo! Abs are made in the kitchen, as we know. It is really, you know, you have abs. Everybody has abs underneath the layer of belly fat and you have been a belly fat you know, guy for a long time. You've been really talking about that concept. So yeah, the idea that you got to do a lot of sit-ups and crunches and stuff to get abs is— look, I never do any ab work. I'm just— I'm paddling, I'm doing— I'm using my abs for push-ups and for pull-ups and for paddling and for all the other stuff I do. I'm just engaging them. And, but mostly it's just, it's just diet. It's just—

I'm gonna have to come see you in Malibu if you're there, or Pacific Palisades. I'd love to do some paddleboarding this weekend because summer is on and it's going to be hot. And I feel like you have always talked about exercise, about making it more about play. Maybe end on that, Mark, because I think that's a mindset at a certain age after maybe college, people don't play anymore. Would you agree?

Right? Yeah. No, it's everything I do now. I try to I try to incorporate some play. So that's why I paddle. I was out paddling with dolphins yesterday. And then Sunday I've got my ultimate frisbee game here in Malibu. I'll play. Last week we played 10-on-10. It was amazing. It was like old, old home week. And so I look forward to those. Tomorrow, tomorrow being Saturday from where we are today, I'll probably ride my mountain bike with my friend Eric. I'm always looking for ways to to have fun and to play. I'm less inclined these days to go to the gym and grind out another workout.

I know.

I think that's called living your life. As much as we love a good gym, I think that's a myth that you need a gym to stay young or to have a body like what you have here. What I've learned here has really changed me. This has only happened since we had our talk during this COVID time. So, I feel like there's my silver lining in COVID and I feel like Do you have a silver lining that's helped you kind of improve your health? Just to end on that with this COVID, now that we're coming out of it, right?

No. Truth? No. There's nothing. I mean, there's not really a silver lining here for me. I can't wait till this is over. I'm just being brutally honest. Yeah.

Well, I agree.

I agree.

And I think we're almost through, right, Mark? I think this summer will be— it's definitely a unique summer, but I think hopefully by the start of the new year, we'll be back to business, shall we say, and I think people are realizing that there's so much they can do with their health from everything we've talked about. So I can't thank you enough, Mark, for constantly being not just a friend, but a compass in my life and in the lives of my listeners and readers and all that, because I really feel like you brought me to an awakening a couple years ago. I mean, more than 10 years ago with everything from the fasting to the avocados, to all the things we've talked about over the many years. So I think the best is yet to come, and I'm excited for the next, I mean, the next chapter in my life. I know you're excited about 70, so let's drink to that, Mark. Cheers, right?

Cheers.

Peace and purpose, my friend.

I want to invite you to join my Jorge Cruise Report. Comes out on Fridays, my favorite day of the week. And it's a good time to take this with you. A short little email that I send out on Fridays with 5 bullets that'll give you my best insights from the week on everything from an app to a website to a product I'm using to, uh, any kind of shortcut. And, you know, it's really my best shortcuts of the week. So if you want that, it's totally free. All you have to do is go to my website, go to jorgecruise.com/friday, sign up. It's totally free. Tell your friends, family, family. Sign up. We have over a quarter of a million people that have signed up for this, and it's something I really pride myself on keeping short. As you know, I'm the 8 Minute Life Strategist, so I'm not going to go long. I'm going to keep things short for you but effective and efficient, and you can do a lot in just, you know, in a short period of time. You know that that's what I'm all about. So again, the website is jorgecruise.com. I'll spell it for you. It's J-O-R-G-E cruise.com/friday, plural Friday. All right, check it out. It's there. It's free. I look forward to, uh, seeing you soon, and I'll see you on Fridays as well.

All right, take good care.

Peace and purpose.