Episodes

Most people assume they’re being proactive about their health because they get an annual physical and a standard blood panel. A few numbers come back “normal,” the doctor gives a thumbs-up, and that’s the end of the conversation. The problem is that those labs are often incomplete and disconnected from how people actually live, train, eat and recover. Many of the markers that matter most for long-term metabolic health and inflammation — like fasting insulin and high-sensitivity CRP — are r...

The general consensus on sauna bathing is that it’s a powerful tool for longevity, recovery and metabolic health. More sessions, higher heat, longer durations — all of these strategies are commonly assumed to produce better outcomes. But after hearing Paul Saladino question whether sauna use can add unnecessary stress for people who already train hard or live under chronic pressure, I felt it was worth taking a closer look at when sauna therapy is best leveraged and when it might do more harm...

You can do everything right on paper — organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, regenerative — and still end up eating the very compounds you were trying to avoid. That’s the blind spot I’m digging into in this episode: the ways food gets contaminated during processing and packaging… often without the consumer noticing, and without small farmers even realizing they’re doing it. The most vivid example is something most people would never question: A turkey can be raised well, harvested cleanly, ...

It’s been just over eight weeks since my meniscus surgery, and I wanted to share a transparent update on what’s been working, what hasn’t, and how my knee is performing now. In this episode, I walk you through the entire healing process: the early tightness and inflammation, what I learned from ignoring recovery during our homestead move, how my MCL tear is progressing, and why rotational stress is still the last piece I’m rebuilding. I also highlight the recovery tools, supplements, movement...

Most of us don’t realize how quickly the urge hits. You sit down at the DMV, nothing is happening yet, and your hand is already halfway to your pocket. Reaching for our phone has become so automatic that we barely notice it, even though it shapes much more of our behavior than we’d like to admit. In this episode, I look at that micro-moment — the half-second between feeling an urge and acting on it. Your brain wants relief from boredom or discomfort, and the phone promises it instantly. Bu...

For years, my blood pressure readings at routine checkups came back higher than I expected, even though I train hard, sleep well, and pay close attention to recovery. I wasn’t hypertensive, but those numbers never matched how I actually felt — and the rushed way they were taken didn’t inspire confidence. After all, when a measurement happens over a sweater, with no rest period, and within seconds of walking through the door, it’s hard to trust the result. That disconnect is what led me ...

We’ve been using Eight Sleep at the Kummer house for years, and in many ways it’s been an incredible tool. The pod keeps the bed at exactly the right temperature through hot Georgia nights; lets us set different temperatures for falling asleep, the first half of the night, the second half, and waking up; and it tracks sleep, HRV, heart rate, respiratory rate, and even snoring. From a comfort and data perspective, we’ve genuinely loved a lot of what it can do. This episode isn’t an endorsement...

Coffee can be both a tool and a toxin, depending on how it’s grown, prepared and used. In this episode, I take a closer look at caffeine and coffee through a practical lens — what science says, what I’ve experienced, and what really determines whether that morning cup helps or harms you. Caffeine blocks adenosine, which makes you feel less tired and can improve focus and performance. I’ve noticed that benefit myself when coffee happens to precede a workout, though I’ve also learned the hard w...

A few days ago, Kathy asked me to listen to a parenting podcast by Dr. Becky that stopped me in my tracks. In it, the host told a story about planning a movie night as a kid — driving to Blockbuster, hoping the film you wanted wasn’t already rented, and learning to deal with the disappointment when it was. That memory hit hard because it reminded me just how much patience was once built into daily life… and how little patience is required today. When everything is on demand, our kids rarel...

When Consumer Reports recently claimed that protein powders contain "high levels of lead," it sparked fear and confusion. In this episode, I break down what's actually going on, including how heavy metals end up in supplements, which types are most affected, and how to protect yourself without overreacting. Plant-based protein powders like rice, pea, soy and hemp often have the highest levels of contamination. These crops naturally absorb metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium from soil and wa...

Shop the Amazfit Balance 2 here: https://us.amazfit.com/ After nearly a decade of wearing an Apple Watch, I finally ditched it. Not because I stopped caring about health data, but because I realized the device was working against the simplicity and freedom I value. Plus, no matter how many times I toggled it into airplane mode, the Bluetooth stayed on — meaning constant EMF exposure right over a major artery. Add to that the Apple Watch’s short battery life and the never-ending need to ...

Most conversations about the environment fall into polarized camps — either denial or panic. But living responsibly doesn’t have to be political or extreme. In this episode, I take a practical look at what stewardship can look like at home, from how we grow food to how we build, heat, and maintain the spaces we live in. For our family, that means raising chemical-free produce and livestock, managing soil through regenerative practices, and thinking about proximity so we can walk, bike, and re...

A few weeks ago, I found myself driving home late after a long day of hauling gear to our new property — hungry, tired, and joking with Kathy that if we were a “normal” family, we’d just pull into a McDonald’s drive-thru. Of course, we didn’t, but that comment stuck with me. Could there be a future where eating at McDonald’s wouldn’t feel like poisoning your body? It sounds absurd, but after hearing that McDonald’s plans to invest $200 million into regenerative agriculture, I’m not so sure anymo...

When most people think about blood pressure, they think about a once-a-year reading at a doctor’s office. But one measurement on one day doesn’t tell you much about your cardiovascular health. Just like a single fasting glucose number doesn’t reveal your metabolic state, a one-off blood pressure check is largely meaningless. Blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day based on stress, sleep, exercise, hydration, and countless other factors. And even more important: the cuff on your arm measu...

Most people with gut issues get fed the same script: It’s genetic. It’s lifelong. The best you can do is try to manage the symptoms. But in this episode, holistic nutritionist and physician consultant Josh Dech pushes back on that conventional wisdom, arguing that what we typically call “autoimmune” disease is often a sign of the body protecting itself from toxins lodged in tissue – not a genetic defect that leads the body to attack itself. After working with hundreds of Crohn’s, colitis and s...

I recently spent a week in Austria, bouncing between my grandparents’ farmhouse and the alpine trails I grew up on. And it hit me how stark the contrast is between the foundation they built and the environment kids are growing up in today. My grandparents are 92 and 93, still living on their own. They had decades of clean food, pure alpine water, long days outside and zero WiFi. And then, over the last 10-20 years, an Americanized creep of seed oils, ultra-processed snacks and glyphosate star...

Most people have been told at some point that the way to “detox” is to buy a cleanse, live on juice for a week, or chase down some supplement that promises to pull toxins out of the body. But the reality is very different. In this episode, I unpack what detoxification really looks like, and explain why your body already comes equipped with everything it needs to keep itself clean — provided you don’t get in its way. How does it work? Instead of imagining the liver as a sponge full of toxin...

In this episode, I explore whether following an ancestral diet and traditional eating habits is enough to keep us healthy today. While our grandparents thrived on simple meals, the reality of modern food quality, hidden environmental toxins, and processed foods inflammation paint a different picture. I share how chronic stress and health challenges, along with changes like A1 vs A2 milk casein, affect our bodies in ways past generations didn’t face. We’ll look at why homesteading health problems...

In this episode, I share a fascinating 1950s endurance experiment with rats that uncovered what researchers called an “anti-fatigue factor” in beef liver. The results highlight why organ meats like liver are nature’s ultimate multivitamin and how even small micronutrient deficiencies can wreck ATP energy production, mitochondrial health, and overall performance. I’ll walk you through what the study revealed, how it ties into modern fatigue and performance issues, and why I believe high-quality ...

For years I thrived on two large meals a day – a late-morning breakfast after training and an early dinner. And the results spoke for themselves: stable blood sugar, excellent insulin sensitivity, low body fat, and plenty of energy. But I began noticing a drawback. Those evening meals, heavy in protein and fat, kept my digestive system working for hours after I went to bed, raising my heart rate, lowering my HRV, and occasionally causing acid reflux. Shifting dinner earlier didn’t help much, ...

Snoring isn’t normal—it’s a warning sign. In this episode, I sit down with Alex Neist, founder of Hostage Tape, to talk about the real dangers of mouth breathing, why quality sleep starts with your nose, and how mouth taping changed his life (and saved his marriage). We cover everything from snoring solutions and sleep apnea natural remedies to the science behind nasal breathing benefits and how to mouth tape for workouts. If you’ve read Breath by James Nestor, this conversation takes it to the ...

Ten years ago, our bathroom shelves were packed with scented candles, colorful shampoos, and convenience-store deodorants. They smelled fresh and felt clean — but eventually we learned what those synthetic fragrances and long ingredient lists were actually doing to our bodies. From phthalates to parabens, many common personal care items contain compounds that mimic estrogen and disrupt your hormones. And once we understood how those ingredients affect fertility, weight, mood, and long-term healt...

In this episode, Kathy and I unpack how we reduced our exposure to environmental toxins—from improving tap water safety and installing water filtration systems, to replacing plastic containers and upgrading to non-toxic cookware. We talk about chlorine exposure in showers and pools, how we built a more toxin-free home, and why choosing organic food and chemical-free living matters more than you think. Got questions or already making changes at home? Drop a comment—we’d love to hear from you. ...

When most people think about saving the planet, they picture cutting back on meat and eating more plants. But what if the story we’ve been told about how plant-based diets equate to sustainability is missing half the truth (and hiding a massive environmental cost)? In this episode of the Primal Shift Podcast, I pull back the curtain on the industrial food system most people never see. From the 90 billion honeybees trucked across the country each spring to pollinate almond trees to the 7.3 ...