ReWild Yourself Podcast - Daniel Vitalis: Recent Episodes
Daniel Vitalis
ReWilding is — in its essence — a celebration of our natural selves. It is about living a life aligned with our biology and experiencing the sheer pleasure of fulfilling our biological drives. Daniel Vitalis is leading the modern ReWilding movement by reconnecting individuals with their intrinsic wild and sovereign nature, inspiring them to rise to the heights of their boundless potential, and empowering them with ancient and modern strategies for vigorous living. He has spent the past twenty years avidly researching how modern humans can approximate the hunter gatherer life-way for greater health and personal development. His philosophy has helped thousands of people to rediscover their inner physician, their inner teacher, and that part of themselves that is free and independent to think, to feel, to perceive and to lead. He has delivered ReWilding presentations and workshops around the world and was also featured in the widely acclaimed film “Hungry For Change.” He is the creator of FindASpring.com a resource helping people find fresh, clean wild water wherever they live, and the founder of SurThrival.com a brand pioneering a lifestyle of health and adventure. Join us as Daniel Vitalis and guests inspire you to look at things from a fresh — yet never “new” (remember it's ReWilding, a 200,000 year old approach!) — perspective, all designed to awaken your wild, authentic self. Find more at www.DanielVitalis.com. Podcast song credit: Song Title - Animal | Artist - Jenny and Johnny | Writer - Johnathan Rice
North America’s Forgotten Fruit — the Pawpaw — is an excellent reminder that adventures in wild food are still available to us! Andrew Moore is here to share his journey seeking out the largest edible fruit native to the United States. In Andrew’s book Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, he explores the past, present, and future of this unique fruit, traveling from the Ozarks to Monticello; canoeing the lower Mississippi in search of wild fruit; drinking pawpaw beer in Durham, North Carolina; tracking down lost cultivars in Appalachian hollers; and helping out during harvest season in a Maryland orchard. Along the way, he gathers pawpaw lore and knowledge not only from the plant breeders and horticulturists working to bring pawpaws into the mainstream (including Neal Peterson, known in pawpaw circles as the fruit’s own “Johnny Pawpawseed”), but also regular folks who remember eating them in the woods as kids, but haven’t had one in over fifty years.
Andrew’s hunt for the wild pawpaw led him on quite the adventure, and in this episode, he gives us the lowdown on the pawpaw, its history and its modern-day revival. We take a look at pawpaw culture and discuss how it’s being cultivated and used today. Andrew certainly inspired me to hunt down the wild pawpaw, and I hope you’ll consider pursuing a wild food adventure of your own in the new year! Enjoy, and I’ll see you next week for the final episode of our podcast season!
Brian Fagan — one of the world’s leading archaeological writers — is back on the show! Brian was born in England and studied archaeology at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was Keeper of Prehistory at the Livingstone Museum (Zambia) and, during six years in Zambia and one in East Africa, was deeply involved in fieldwork on multidisciplinary African history and in monuments conservation. He was Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1967 to 2004, when he became Emeritus. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading archaeological and historical writers and is a widely respected popular lecturer about the past.
In this episode, Brian talks to us about his latest book Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization and shares the fascinating insights he uncovered on the history of fishing. In his research, he found that fishing (for sustenance, not sport) rivaled agriculture in its importance to civilization. We discuss the historical timeline of fishing, early fishing equipment and how fishing became a commodity. Brian also shares his thoughts on the future of wild fisheries and the ocean ecosystem. Enjoy!
Arthur Haines is back on ReWild Yourself Podcast! Arthur is a good friend and our most esteemed frequent guest on the show. Arthur is a forager, ancestral skills mentor, author, public speaker, and botanical researcher. His work merges the material knowledge of present-day people with the ecological knowledge of ancestral people. Arthur’s mission is to help people develop deep awareness of and connection to nature, promote individual health and foster self-reliance. He is a fellow Mainer, and he hunts and gathers from our abundant local landscape to feed himself and his family.
In this episode, Arthur and I share — from the heart — our thoughts on a prominent and relatively recent phenomenon in our modern-day culture: the loss of respect for real-world experience/age-based wisdom and the valuing of modern cultural norms over biological norms. We’re often asked if eating wild food is a privilege, and we share our views on this and the true meaning of privilege. With a shared mission of promoting an egalitarian society that actively participates in ecology, practices ecoculture, fosters personal sovereignty and emboldens thoughtful interaction with fellow Homo sapiens, it is our hope that you listen to our viewpoints with an open mind and keep this conversation going in the ReWilding community!
Tristan Gooley returns to ReWild Yourself Podcast to guide us through the lost art of reading nature’s signs. Tristan is an author and natural navigator. He teaches people to re-awaken their senses and tune into their ancestral ability to navigate across a landscape using the signs that nature provides. Tristan has led expeditions in five continents, climbed mountains in Europe, Africa and Asia, sailed small boats across oceans and piloted small aircraft to Africa and the Arctic. He has walked with and studied the methods of the Tuareg, Bedouin and Dayak in some of the remotest regions on Earth. He is the only living person to have both flown solo and sailed singlehanded across the Atlantic and is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Geographical Society.
In this episode, Tristan explains how — once we learn to use nature as a compass — we can create a natural navigation map based in ecological knowledge. We also discuss Tristan’s latest work and the importance of purposeful nature engagement. Tristan gives us practical tips for re-awakening our senses to the natural world and simple techniques for getting started in natural navigation. Tune in, and be inspired to interact with your local landscape in a new and more intimate way!
In the final installment of our invasive species series, we hear from Tao Orion — author and permaculturist — for a new perspective on invasives that links restoration with thoughtful habitat design. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Tao has dedicated her life to the art and science of regenerative living. She has a degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture and has studied under some of the world’s leading permaculture teachers. She co-owns Resilience Permaculture Design with her husband. Tao offers an alternative conversation on invasives with her book, Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Perspective on Ecosystem Restoration. She believes that deep and long-lasting ecological restoration outcomes will come not just from eliminating invasive species, but through conscientious redesign of these production systems.
In this episode, Tao shares how we can look to permaculture to inspire solutions to non-native invasive species and ecosystem restoration. She explains the restoration movement and imparts fundamental ecological knowledge to give context to our on-going invasives conversation. We also discuss ways to have meaningful conversations about invasive species without the divisiveness that can often arise from this controversial topic. Tao leaves us with some excellent strategies to participate in species and land stewardship as foragers with the goal of moving towards regeneration in ecosystems. Enjoy, and let’s keep this conversation going!
“Rewilding holds out hope of a richer living planet that can once more fill our lives with wonder and enchantment.” -George Monbiot
Prolific author George Monbiot joins us to share his niche in the world of rewilding: rewilding the land. George is an investigative journalist who writes a weekly column for the Guardian and is the author of a number of bestselling books, including Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life where he passionately advocates the large-scale restoration of complex natural ecosystems.
To begin our conversation, George takes us back in time to the riveting adventures that began his career in investigative journalism. We cover a lot of ground in this interview, including how his work evolved to covering the large-scale ecological issues of our world, what rewilding means to George and his take on de-extinction. George also presents his argument in favor of fake meat as an option to feed the world’s population and why he does not feel that agriculture of any kind — including regenerative agriculture — is sustainable. While our opinions differed on some things, it was fascinating to hear George’s viewpoint on these controversial topics. Enjoy our conversation exploring George’s important work as an advocate for the rewilding of our earth’s ecosystems!
Toa Hunter Gatherer embodies the new generation of hunter-gatherers with a true connection to the natural world. From a very young age, Owen Boynton — Toa Hunter Gatherer — has been passionate about wild country, learning the habitats of the animals with a sense to always want to stay connected. Born in Te Urewera, the ancestral home of the Tuhoe people also known as “children of the mist," Toa's hunter-gatherer bloodline remains strong. Kaitiakitanga — guardianship for the natural world — guides Toa’s compass in life and work. Toa’s inspiring TV series “Toa Hunter Gatherer” focuses on sharing the traditional knowledge and techniques that have been lost since using modern ways to source kai, or traditional Māori food.
In this episode, Toa shares from the heart on what it means to him to be a “full circle” hunter-gatherer. We get to experience hunting in New Zealand through Toa’s lens as we discuss the animals he hunts and the history of their introduced invasive species. We get to hear his perspective on conscientious hunting and gathering, from hunting terminology to “real trophy hunting” to showing reverence for elders. Toa affirms that — no matter what our ancestry is — we can all find connection to our place on this earth through participating in ecology and being devoted guardians of the natural world. Hunt - Gather - Provide!
Doniga Markegard is a rancher with a background in ecology and permaculture, and she’s here to share how regenerative agriculture can help to restore the biodiversity of prairie grasslands while simultaneously producing grass-fed, nutrient dense meat.
In her youth, Doniga was mentored by some of the leading wildlife trackers, naturalists and Native spiritual elders. She spent years alone and with a small group of passionate youth in the Western Washington Wilderness learning the ways of the ancestors, immersing in nature, bird language, survival skills and wildlife tracking. Fast forward to today, she now stewards 10,000 acres of land in California where she — along with her husband and four children — owns and operates Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC raising grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork and dairy. Doniga is passionate about large-scale restoration of Western Rangelands through cattle grazing, and she and her family have developed grazing and conservation management plans that encourage a resilient and diverse landscape.
Doniga believes that humans are an integral part of the complexity of life, and in this episode, we hear how her family stewards land based on the principles and patterns found in nature. She takes us back in time to her wild childhood and her time spent tracking wolves in Alaska and Idaho. We discuss living with apex predators and her unique perspective on ranching alongside wolves, as a rancher with an ecological background and passion for wildlife. We also hear about her family’s misleading feature in the controversial film Cowspiracy, which sheds a grim light on the credibility of this film’s message. Tune in for a refreshing take on sustainable, holistic agriculture and Doniga’s captivating evolution from wild child to conservationist and rangeland steward!
It was an absolute pleasure to talk with Lori McCarthy — a third generation Newfoundlander — about the importance of preserving cultural food heritage for future generations. Lori has dedicated her life to preserving the cultural food of her homeland, Newfoundland and Labrador, through her company Cod Sounds and the Livyers Cultural Alliance. Her core values embrace locally sourced regional cuisine and this is reflected in her food experiences and through her cooking school.
Newfoundland and Labrador have a rich and fascinating history — grounded in the cod fisheries that once sustained them. Lori gives us a firsthand look at the land she calls home and shares how deeply the collapse of the local cod fisheries affected the fisherman and surrounding communities. Today Newfoundland and Labrador are home to a thriving food and restaurant industry, and Lori is at the forefront of keeping the area’s traditional, local and wild food in the spotlight. Lori’s work is incredibly inspiring and serves as a model that we can all learn from. Lori encourages us to join together with people from our local community to celebrate our local ecology and our own unique cultural food heritage — and to work together to pass this treasured knowledge down to future generations!
Ben Falk returns to ReWild Yourself Podcast to add his perspective to our invasive species conversation series! Ben lives in an intentional, resilient, forage-able ecosystem on his homestead in Vermont's Mad River Valley that he designed and continues to evolve. As someone who works closely with his local landscape, he is intimately enmeshed with both native and non-native invasive species and has valuable input on this complex issue.
Ben — an innovative permaculturist and intentional ecosystem designer — developed Whole Systems Design as a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. Life as a designer, builder, ecologist, tree-tender, and backcountry traveler continually informs Ben’s integrative approach to developing landscapes and buildings. Ben has studied architecture and landscape architecture at the graduate level and holds a master’s degree in land-use planning and design. He has conducted more than 300 site development consultations across the US and abroad, and has facilitated dozens of courses on property selection, permaculture design, and resilient systems. Ben is also the author of the award-winning book The Resilient Farm and Homestead.
In this episode, Ben and I grapple with some of the critical questions of the invasive species conversation: Who has the right to be considered native to a specific ecosystem when we are all native to this planet? Can we eat our way out of the invasive species problem? How do we define natural? Ben brings a balanced viewpoint to our invasive species series. He believes — as do I — that the conversation on invasives can be hugely advanced by active ecosystem participants (rewilders!). Tune in, and let's continue to be conscientious participants in the conservation of our ecology!
Living in a society that promotes the idea of painful childbirth as the norm, it’s hard for many to imagine that childbirth does not only not have to be painful, but it can actually be orgasmic. Debra Pascali-Bonaro is here to shed light on the myths of childbirth and remind us that birth can be full of pleasure and delight.
Debra has trained thousands of doulas and birth professionals around the world in the practices of gentle birth support. She is the creator and director of Orgasmic Birth, a documentary that examines the intimate nature of birth, an everyday miracle. She sees the powerful role birth plays in women’s lives when they are permitted to experience it fully. Debra is a sought-after inspirational speaker, chair of the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization, and co-author of the book Orgasmic Birth, Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth Experience. Her newest baby Pain To Power Childbirth is an online childbirth class that will provide you the keys to move from pain to pleasure in childbirth and beyond!
An orgasmic birth is not defined as literally having an orgasm during birth — though that’s certainly possible! — rather it describes an overall birth experience that is safe, satisfying, gentle, joyous and pleasure filled. In this episode, Debra shares how mothers can create a birth ambiance that sets them up for a nurturing birth in any setting. We discuss the industrialization of birth and what the typical cascade of medical interventions looks like. Debra also explains the importance of staying connected to your sexuality during birth and many more invaluable pieces of information in this fantastic conversation. It’s time for orgasmic birth to become the cultural norm! As Debra so lovingly puts it, let’s “dance our babies into the world!"
As modern hunting and gathering as a movement and a way of life gains momentum, we need continue to discuss, define and evolve what it means to be a conscientious hunter-gatherer. Kevin Kossowan — documentary filmmaker and creator of the gorgeous and thoughtful series, From The Wild — joins us for a conversation on all things hunting and gathering. His series From The Wild is a Canadian-based documentary series following a group of food industry friends exploring the wild foods that surround them — putting them face to face with the adventures and uncharted culinary territories that wild foods offer.
From Ruffed Grouse to Shaggy Mane mushroom to Moose to Brook Trout, Kevin does not shy away from any of the wild food kingdoms, and in today’s episode, Kevin shares what he’s learned over years of procuring wild food from his local landscape and shares his thoughts on some of the leading ethical debates in the hunting and gathering world. Kevin is a fellow conscientious hunter-gatherer, and as such, it was interesting to hear his thoughts on assigning culinary value to different wild foods, processing the dispatch of another life and the radical range of differences in motivation and ethics in the hunting world. We also get into the topics of bow vs. rifle hunting and hunting in your local ecology vs. traveling to experience the wild foods of novel ecological landscapes. As we collectively forge this new path as hunters and gatherers with a deep connection to the land that provides for us and a passion for sustaining that land for future generations, Kevin offers his unique perspective from his adventures hunting and gathering the wild landscape of Alberta, Canada.
Tim Spector — a Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and microbiome researcher — spent three days eating like a hunter-gatherer with the Hadza in Tanzania and dramatically changed the diversity of his gut microbiome. He wrote about his experience in a recent article for CNN, and we brought him on ReWild Yourself Podcast to share his story and explain the importance of gut diversity for robust health.
Tim is also the Founder and Director of the TwinsUK Registry at Kings College, London — the richest collection of genotypic and phenotypic information worldwide — and has recently been elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has published over 800 research articles and is ranked as being in the top 1% of the world’s most cited scientists by Thomson-Reuters. He held a prestigious European Research Council senior investigator award in epigenetics and is a NIHR Senior Investigator. His current work focuses on omics and the microbiome, and he directs the crowdfunded British Gut microbiome project. He is a prolific writer with several popular science books and a regular blog, focusing on genetics, epigenetics and most recently, microbiome and diet.
In this interview, Tim brings us up to speed on our current scientific understanding of the microbiome, what his research has uncovered and how we can apply this knowledge to our own diet and lifestyle to achieve a healthy microbiome. Ultimately, Tim has found that the key to a diverse and healthy gut is to ReWild Yourself — eating a species-rich diet of foraged foods and interacting with the natural world (translation: exposure to plentiful and diverse microbes). Tune into our conversation for an in-depth outline of the trillions of bacteria that inhabit your human animal, and learn how you can cultivate a healthy, robust community of beneficial gut bacteria.
As the prevalence of ticks and tick-borne illness continues to grow, particularly in the northeastern United States, the modern hunter gatherer (and all who enjoy spending time in the natural world) must be acutely aware of the risk of tick exposure when out on the landscape and have a comprehensive tick strategy in place. Dr. Stephen Rich is here to take us on an intimate tour of the tick and how we can best mitigate our risk of tick-borne disease.
Dr. Stephen Rich is a Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Laboratory of Medical Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is also the Director of Tick Report, a fantastic and accessible tick testing service for public individuals and agencies seeking more information about the risk of dangerous pathogens.
In this interview, Stephen guides us through the most common tick species and where to find them, as well as the life stages of the tick and the various stages of tick bite prevention. Stephen gives us the lowdown on why we’re seeing a massive increase and what appears to be a northward migration of ticks in our environment. We also discuss the various tick-borne illnesses, with a special focus on Lyme disease, and what we can do to prevent contracting these illnesses if we are bitten by a tick. This information is so vital for all of us who enjoy a relationship with the natural world! Please enjoy this illuminating conversation with Dr. Stephen Rich, and share this podcast with friends and family that could benefit from a better understanding of ticks and tick-borne illness!
Nadine Artemis is back on ReWild Yourself Podcast to discuss how to reveal and revive your natural radiance by embracing “renegade” beauty. Nadine is the creator of Living Libations, an exquisite line of serums, elixirs, and essentials oils for those seeking the purest of the pure botanical health and beauty products on the planet. She is the author of Holistic Dental Care: The Complete Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gums and soon-to-be-released Renegade Beauty: Reveal and Revive Your Natural Radiance--Beauty Secrets, Solutions, and Preparations. An innovative aromacologist, Nadine develops immune-enhancing formulas and medicinal blends for health and wellness. Nadine’s fresh paradigm for beauty and her natural approach to health presents a revolutionary vision; it allows the life-force of flowers, dewdrops, plants, the sun, and water to be the ingredients of healthy living and lets everything unessential, contrived, and artificial fall away.
In this episode, Nadine guides us through the concepts of “renegade” beauty, beginning with the foundational piece of health, wellness and beauty: our microbiome. Most modern skincare and self-care products are laden with toxic ingredients that may offer a quick fix to an issue but overlook the root cause, and often have detrimental effects on our bodies and our environment. Nadine encourages us to harness the power of our plant allies and the elemental forces of nature to simplify our self-care routines and allow our natural radiance to shine through. While we focus on many women-specific topics, there is something for everyone in this interview!
Our bodies are a walking ecosystem that we share with trillions of microbes. While the majority of these microbes are native and beneficial, you might be surprised to learn that many of us are harboring parasites that can be the root cause of symptoms like chronic fatigue, brain fog, depression and more. Evan Brand is here to share the truth about parasites, how to test for them and how we can restore the ecology of our human animal. Evan is an Author, Podcast Host and a Louisville, Kentucky-based Board-Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner and Nutritional Therapist. He is passionate about healing the chronic fatigue, obesity, and depression epidemics after solving his own IBS and depression issues. He uses at-home lab testing and customized supplement programs to find and fix the root cause of a wide range of health symptoms.
In this interview, Evan and I discuss how to take a conscientious approach to many of the obstacles to robust health we face in our modern times. Our conversation leads us down many pathways — from glyphosate exposure to parasites to caffeine and stress response to mitigating the effects of EMF. Get out your notebooks for this one, folks, as Evan shares countless resources with us for our own personal investigation!
Today’s show explores terroir — the flavor of place. Discovering the wild flavors of your local bioregion is a smart and ecologically interactive way to intimately engage with your place and add context to the story of your food. Pascal Baudar — wild food researcher and a self-styled “culinary alchemist” — joins us to share his unique and inspiring niche in the wild food world: wildcrafted terroir.
Based in southern California with access to many different ecosystems (mountain, desert, chaparral, and seashore) and 700+ different wildcrafted ingredients, Pascal is a brazen wild food experimenter who combines his knowledge of plants and his local landscape with the innovative techniques of a master food preserver and chef. Pascal was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in L.A. by Los Angeles magazine, and his locally sourced wild ingredients and unique preserves have made their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, Chris Jacobson and Niki Nakayama. He is the author of The New Wildcrafted Cuisine, an incredible book of culinary concepts and ideas featuring recipes and preservation techniques using a local terroir.
Pascal is here to change how we think about wild food. He invites us to experiment with the wild ingredients in our own local bioregion and shares some examples of how he creatively crafts wild cuisine from the landscape he calls home. You’ll hear the wide variety of uses for wild sage, how he makes his own salt and how he uses insects in his wild ferments. Pascal’s work is rooted in love of place, and I hope he inspires you to infuse more local wild terroir into your own wild food plate.
Water — our most vital resource — is a topic that is quite often on our minds. There are the global water issues such as the fact that 783 million people do not have access to fresh water, droughts throughout our planet are becoming more wide-spread and the biodiversity of our oceans is declining at an alarming rate. There are the issues closer to home, like (for us in the United States) the droughts in California and the recent water crisis in Michigan caused by contaminated municipal water, potentially exposing over 100,000 residents in the city of Flint, MI to high levels of lead in their drinking water. And then there are the more personal water issues, such as considerations over what’s the best, most healthful water for us to drink and how much water is ideal for one to consume in a day.
Our relationship with water has profoundly impacted our history, and Brian Fagan — archaeologist, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and prolific author — is here to share key pieces of our shared history with water and how we can reflect on this history to help solve water crises of the future. Brian was born in England, was educated at Cambridge University (BA (Honors), MA, and PhD) and worked in Central Africa as an archaeologist and museum curator before coming to the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1967. He is the author of numerous articles and general books on archaeology, ancient climate change, and most recently histories of water, ancient seafaring, and the changing relationship between humans and animals. Brian is regarded as one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and lectures about the past, especially ancient climate change, all over the world.
In this interview, Brian artfully weaves together the history of water and humankind. We discuss the timeline of water issues and cover some of the most prevalent water issues plaguing our planet at this time, as well as Brian’s predictions for what we can expect in the future. This interview is not a doomsday report, as Brian’s message is a wake-up call for our species that is filled with hope for our planet and Homo sapiens (the wise ones) and our ingenuity and adaptability. It is a call to regain the reverence for water that our ancestors possessed!
"How you live is how you die," Dr. Scott Eberle — a physician specializing in end-of-life care — tells us in today's interview. Having spent many years at the bedside of the dying, Scott has learned some important lessons from those participating in their final rite of passage, and he's here to impart a bit of that wisdom with us today, inspiring us to live and die more consciously.
Dr. Scott Eberle is a medical director of Hospice of Petaluma in Petaluma, California, as well as an experienced teacher and author, and a wilderness guide. Together with Meredith Little of the School of Lost Borders, he co-created “The Practice of Living and Dying,” an innovative wilderness curriculum exploring the human experience of being a mortal animal.
In this interview, we explore the practice of living and dying and what it means to be a mortal animal. Consciously approaching life and death calls for us to "confront the difficult questions" and "have the difficult conversations" right now, and Scott shares how he has integrated these practices into his own life. We discuss Scott's experiences working in hospice, thoughts on death acceptance, the common regrets of the dying and much more. If you’re a mortal animal, you’ll want to hear this conversation!
What a pleasure it was to speak with lifelong forager and pioneer in sustainable commercial wild food and mushroom foraging, Connie Green. Connie founded one of the very first and largest wild food businesses in the U.S., Wine Forest, where she still resides as “head huntress,” overseeing a beautifully rich and diverse selection of wild foods furnished to top chefs, restaurants, retailers and consumers. Friends of the forest, Connie and her team believe that wild food harvesting goes hand in hand with a love and respect for the ecosystems where these delectable wild edibles grow.
In this episode, Connie takes us back in time through the landscape of foraging over the past few decades and shares how she got her start in the commercial foraging business. She illuminates the commercial side of the foraging world with a focus on what she considers to be the secret ingredient in bridging the ancestral practice of hunting and gathering with modern gourmet cooking: sustainability and ethical harvesting practices.
We also explore some tactical “in the field” topics, such as Connie’s indispensable foraging equipment and her recommendations for how to get started foraging. Tune in and be inspired — or re-inspired — to participate in your local ecology by hunting and gathering from your landscape!
Joe Roman — conservation biologist, author & editor ’n’ chef of EatTheInvaders.org — joins us for the second interview in our informal series on the topic of invasive species. Joe’s research focuses on endangered species conservation and marine ecology, and he is a researcher at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont and a Hrdy Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. His website EatTheInvaders.org is dedicated to fighting invasives one bite at a time and is an incredible resource for hunter gatherers who are interested in being apart of the culinary solution to the biological problem of invasives.
In this interview, Joe gives us the status report on global species extinction and shares some potential solutions to conserving our earth’s biodiversity through extirpation of invasive species. We discuss the impact individuals (and commercial operations) who hunt and gather can have on extirpating invasives from their non-native range, as well as the role government management plays in this issue. Joe gives us tactical advice for proper harvesting of invasives and for keeping our ecological impact on native biodiversity as low as possible when we’re out foraging. Peppered throughout our conversation are edible invasive species that you can learn more about and start harvesting right now! We cover a lot of ground in this interview, including a fascinating glimpse into the domestication of the ocean.
Joe’s outlook — based on years of dedicated research and time spent in the field harvesting & eating invasives — is realistic but also quite hopeful. Tune into this conversation to gain a better understanding of the current landscape of invasives!
How can you create conditions that are private, safe and unobserved for yourself during childbirth? This question is a core message behind the work of Dr. Sarah Buckley — author of the best selling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering and mother of four home-born children. Dr. Buckley is a New-Zealand-trained GP/family physician with qualifications in GP-obstetrics and family planning and currently combines full-time motherhood with her work as a writer on pregnancy, birth, and parenting.
Women were biologically designed to give birth in the wild, and oftentimes, the conventional maternity care system does not effectively support the ancestral and biological needs of a woman during childbirth. Dr. Buckley spent seven years researching and synthesizing the scientific evidence on the hormonal physiology of childbearing. She found that the science confirms the innate wisdom of a laboring woman — following your intuition can allow your hormones to guide you on the pathway to a healthy, gentle birth.
In this episode, we unpack how women can tune into their innate birthing wisdom as Dr. Buckley guides us through the hormonal physiology from pregnancy all the way through to the first days spent with their newborn baby. We discuss preparing for labor, hormonal gaps, choosing a healthcare provider, breastfeeding, bed sharing and so much more. Enjoy!
Sam has authored two award-winning books on foraging, Nature’s Garden and The Forager’s Harvest, and he’s soon-to-be-releasing a third volume in his Forager’s Harvest series, Incredible Wild Edibles. He has taught foraging and field identification for more than two decades. Besides lecturing and writing, Sam is an advocate for sustainable food systems who owns a diverse organic orchard in northern Wisconsin and harvests wild rice, acorns, hickory nuts, maple syrup, and other wild products.
For Sam, hunting and gathering is not just a passion he pursues on the side, it is life. That may sound unattainable in our modern world, but tune in, and you’ll see that Sam’s approach is practical, comprehensive and well within reach.
In today’s show, we delve into "the management of natural ecosystems to enhance their production of useful products," or as Sam calls it, Ecoculture. Think “agriculture” and “permaculture,” but rather than tending to crops, we foragers tend the wild. Nature is productive, resilient and, perhaps most importantly, it includes humans. Rooted in our ancestry, hunting and gathering is how we cultivate relationship with our ecology, gain sovereignty from the agriculturally-dominated food system and protect the biodiversity of our planet for future generations. Tune in as Sam guides us through the principles of Ecoculture, and learn how you can get started stewarding your local landscapes right now.
Stephen Jenkinson is back on ReWild Yourself Podcast to stretch our minds and hearts as he shares with us a bit of his elder wisdom on restoring real human culture. Stephen is a teacher, author, storyteller, spiritual activist, farmer and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School, a teaching house and learning house for the skills of deep living and making human culture.
In our last interview (Episode #34) — a humbling conversation for me — Stephen shared insight into dying wise in our death phobic society. In today’s conversation, we focus on living wisely and meaningfully in our modern culture of self-hatred, entitlement, unwillingness to live deeply and lost connection to what makes us human.
He leaves us with an empowering message on living a purposeful life, not just for ourselves, but for our collective culture and future generations. As Stephen so perfectly puts it, "Now is the time for work, not the time for getting paid.”
Can we eat our way out of our "invasive species" dilemma? Jackson Landers thinks that's part of the solution. The issue of invasives is becoming more prevalent as these species continue to spread, causing ecological destruction and the loss of native species and habitat all throughout our planet. As foragers and hunters, we have the opportunity to assist in the management of these non-native invasive species by targeting them when hunting and gathering.
We’ve been discussing invasive species throughout this season of ReWild Yourself Podcast, and today’s interview will be the first in an informal series investigating the topic.
Our guest Jackson Landers is here to share his personal experience with eating invasives. Jackson is an author, science writer and adventurer based out of Charlottesville, Virginia, specializing in wildlife out of place. His most recent book, Eating Aliens, chronicles a year and a half spent hunting and fishing for invasive species and finding out whether we can eat our way out of some ecological disasters. In this episode, he recounts some of the interesting invasives he’s enjoying hunting and eating — from armadillo to lionfish. We discuss the true definition of invasive species, the effectiveness of hunting invasives as a form of eradication and how you can get involved with invasive species management. Enjoy this interview, and let’s keep this conversation going as we explore managing invasive species through hunting and gathering together this season!
Author and practiculturalist Ben Hewitt is back on ReWild Yourself Podcast to give us a peek inside his adventures in building a lifestyle living with and from the land. Ben resides on a thriving 100-acre homestead in Vermont where he and his family explore back-to-the-land living, permaculture design, wildcrafting, traditional skills and alternative education paths for their two sons.
In this episode, Ben shares on the evolution of his family’s personal journey as modern homesteaders. We discuss alternative childhood education and how his sons’ education paths have evolved in some unexpected directions. We also get into the topics of community-based living vs self-sufficient living, harvest sharing and how to strike a balance between foraging and farming. Ben’s non-dogmatic approach to this lifestyle is refreshing, and he has some wonderful insights for those aspiring to build their own ReWilded homestead.
I’m often asked for advice on career opportunities in the world of ReWilding. Many people feel stuck in the rut of a 9-5 and dream of doing work in the world that’s fulfilling, meaningful, adds value to the lives of others and is in line with their personal beliefs and values. I’ve spent over a decade setting up a lifestyle where work and play blend seamlessly. It is a beautiful thing to wake up each day and do work that fuels you with passion, drive and purpose. I’ve seen health and wellness “trends” come and go over the years, and I’ve found the ones that stand the test of time are those rooted in our ancestral biology. Natural movement is one such niche of the ReWilding lifestyle, and today’s episode instructs on how you can get involved with natural movement as a career path.
Danny Clark — MovNat Performance Director and Master Instructor — is here to share a bit about the MovNat Trainer Certification program with us. MovNat is more than a system of natural movements, it is a training platform for enhancing the efficiency of your motility — walking, running, climbing, crawling, bounding and vaulting, lifting and carrying. It is a ReWilding approach to movement, placing its emphasis on retraining the brain and reprogramming our movement software.
I’ve personally attended the MovNat Level 1 and 2 Trainer Certification courses and can vouch for the caliber of instruction and value received (and fun had!). What I learned from MovNat has helped me to become more efficient in how I move through day to day life. In particular, it has immensely improved my efficiency in hunting and gathering, which I explain more about in this show. If you are interested in a starting a more meaningful career path and are passionate about natural movement, now is a great time to get involved on the ground floor of this budding industry!
Why do I eat wild? There are many reasons behind my choice to eat wild and many levels at which this question can be answered.
Eating food is perhaps the most intimate act we perform, as my friend and regular podcast guest Arthur Haines so eloquently expresses in his lectures. The food — the organisms — you eat literally becomes your body. And, as we know, the dietary choices we make have vast implications on our environment as well as ourselves. Food, and where it comes from, reaches right to the heart of what it means to be human. Our dietary choices today deeply impact the future generations to come. Knowing this, it’s so important to be conscientious about the food we consume and how we choose to interact with our interconnected web of ecology.
In my first solo episode of the season, I unpack what eating wild — and living a modern hunter-gatherer lifestyle — means to me personally.
Caitlin Doughty — mortician, author and death acceptance advocate — joins us for a candid and humorous exploration of our mortality. Caitlin is on a mission to help our death-phobic society overcome anxieties about death and make death a part of life. She sheds light on all areas of death and the dying process in her popular Youtube channel “Ask a Mortician” and New York Times best-selling book Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. She founded the death acceptance collective The Order of the Good Death and co-founded Death Salon. She also runs Undertaking LA, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit progressive funeral home that empowers families to have a closer relationship with their loved one’s death.
In this episode, Caitlin guides us through our rights — post mortem — and encourages us to consider a question not many are prepared to face: How would you like to die? Throughout our human history, families were responsible for the care of their own dead; the practice of transferring death care to a funeral home is a relatively new custom. Caitlin illuminates the non-funeral home & natural death care options that are available to us — at-home funerals, embracing decay, death doulas, natural burials and conservation cemeteries. Empower yourself to embrace the natural process of death and meaningfully interact with the dying process.
Thomas J. Elpel is an author, builder, conservationist and a pioneer in experiential education. Inspired by his childhood adventures exploring and foraging the wild lands of Montana with his grandmother, Thomas developed a passion for the natural world at a very young age. He has dedicated his life to igniting this same passion in others and is a living example of the ReWilding lifestyle.
In this episode, Thomas and I discuss the importance of developing a deep and interactive relationship with nature. He elaborates on a concept we often discuss on ReWild Yourself Podcast — conservation through use. In order to be true advocates for conserving ecology, we must participate in it; not just observe it. Thomas shares how we can foster our connection to nature and find our place in the ecosystem through hunting, gathering and learning primitive skills. He also shares a bit about life as a hunter-gatherer in Montana, including a fascinating story about a wild bison harvest in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I hope this interview inspires you to get out there and connect with YOUR local ecology! Enjoy!
My dear sister Chloe Parsons joins us on ReWild Yourself Podcast to talk all things motherhood. Chloe blends her unique experience as a nutritional therapist, MovNat trainer and a mother of two to invigorate modern women with renewed perspective on health and happiness. She works with clients and actively shares her learning experiences in health, mothering and life as @wholly.chloe on Instagram.
In this episode, Chloe and I open up about a very intimate subject: our miscarriage stories. We share our own unique experiences with miscarriage, how it affected us and how we processed our reproductive grief. Additionally, Chloe recounts her firsthand experience with pregnancy, childbirth and mothering two children and discusses the philosophies that guide how she mothers. We also get into the topics of breastfeeding, menstruation, the importance of family and how Chloe incorporates movement into day to day life with her two children. If you’re a mother, mother-to-be or aspiring mother, this interview is for you!
In past episodes of ReWild Yourself Podcast, I’ve explained why I’m not a vegan (ReWild Yourself Podcast #94) and, instead, why I’m a conscientious omnivore (ReWild Yourself Podcast #100). In my personal quest for the most natural diet for the human animal, I was a vegan for about 10 years, and The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith was an impactful read for me as I transitioned back to an omnivorous diet.
I’m thrilled to have Lierre Keith — former vegan, best-selling author and environmentalist — join us to share about her experience with veganism. Lierre spent 20 years eating a vegan diet, and in that time, she did significant damage to her body. Only when she began to introduce animal foods back into her diet — eating a more balanced, omnivorous diet — was her body able to heal and regenerate. Lierre also explains the destructive history of agriculture and why veganism is not the answer for ecological restoration of our devastated prairies and forests. This is an important conversation for all of us interested in eating the optimal human diet while living with a light ecological footprint on this planet!
Dr. Jack Wolfson “The Paleo Cardiologist” joins us on ReWild Yourself Podcast for a lively conversation on everything from natural heart health to vaccines to geoengineering. Dr. Wolfson is a board-certified cardiologist who believes bad nutrition and toxins create heart health problems. At his practice, Wolfson Integrative Cardiology, he uses in-depth testing and targeted nutrition to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease — treating the whole person, getting to the cause of the issue, instead of treating only the symptoms.
Dr. Wolfson is bold, honest and passionate about awakening the world to wellness and a holistic approach to healthcare. In this episode, he breaks down the landscape of holistic cardiology and how he works with patients who are transitioning from conventional cardiology to a more natural approach. Our interview also takes us into some taboo areas — the vaccine debate and geoengineering, in particular — and Dr. Wolfson and I share our personal beliefs surrounding these topics. Please listen with an open mind, and as always, do your own research and use your intuition to come to your own personal conclusions. Enjoy!
Dr. Nicole Apelian joins us to share about her experience living with Lions and the San Bushmen in southern Africa. Nicole is a scientist, mother, educator, researcher, expeditionary leader, safari guide, herbalist and traditional skills instructor. Nicole’s background is as diverse as it is impressive. She has worked as a game warden with the US Peace Corps, spent time tracking and researching lions in southern Africa and she’s developed strong relationships with the San Bushmen tribe through years of living and working with them. A passionate educator, she currently leads yearly tracking & bird language expeditions through the Kalahari alongside the Naro Bushmen. Nicole continues her work with the San Bushmen to help them find strategies to preserve their traditions and is currently cataloging indigenous plant uses with a community of Naro Bushmen who regard her as family.
In this episode, Nicole gives us a peek inside the world of the San Bushmen tribe. We learn who they are, how they structure their tribe, how the relationships between men and women work and how they raise their babies. She also shares some of the horrific obstacles they’ve faced over the years and how they’re recovering today.
Our conversation traverses a myriad of fascinating topics. We discuss what it’s like living with a predator, cultural appropriation and the romanticizing of the hunter-gatherer lifeway, Nicole’s time spent surviving alone in the wilderness, the future of modern day indigenous tribes living in their traditional lifeway and much, much more.
Our feet are so much more capable than many of us are aware, and innovative podiatrist Dr. Ray McClanahan is here to share how we can attain strong, flexible, proprioceptive and resilient feet that engage their world meaningfully.
In his 18 years as a podiatrist, Dr. Ray has learned that most foot problems can be corrected by restoring natural foot function. His practice, Northwest Foot & Ankle in Portland, Oregon, allows him to care for those who find their highest joy when in motion. He is also the inventor of Correct Toes, silicone toe spacers designed to place each toe in the correct anatomical position in relationship to each other and to the ground.
In this episode, Dr. Ray shares the history of wearings casts (aka shoes) on our feet and the foot ailments that are caused by modern footwear and lifestyle. He breaks down our basic foot anatomy and the vast capabilities of the human foot when allowed to function in its natural form. He also gives an overview of what the journey to robust foot health looks like and the steps we can take to achieve this. Tune in for an in-depth discussion on this foundational piece of our overall health and wellness strategy!
In part two of the Way of the Sea Huntress, professional spearfisherwoman Kimi Werner shares the beautiful story of her relationship with her local aquatic ecology and what led her from competitive spearfishing to spearfishing for food. Coming full circle, one of the most important parts of spearfishing for Kimi is getting to prepare her harvest to share with her loved ones and community. Tune in for an inspiring story of a woman dedicated to her craft and passionate about a healthy, sustainable future for our global community. And if you enjoy this conversation, check out part one where Kimi and I go deeper into her spearfishing hunting practice!
The ocean has long been a source of sustenance, inspiration and adventure for Kimi Werner. Free diving to the ocean floor on a single breath to catch each day’s meal, Kimi is intimately connected with her local ecosystem. Her passion for spearfishing and ocean ecology has led her to be a heart-driven voice for conscientious hunting and conservation.
Growing up off the grid in an isolated part of coastal Maui, Kimi was introduced to spearfishing by her father, who freedove for her family’s primary food source. Discovering her passion for free diving later in life, she went on to become the U.S. National Spearfishing Champion.
While there are many complexities to identifying as a hunter, Kimi believes that conscientious hunting is a meaningful way to have true connection to where our food comes from. We discuss this, as well as the role hunters play in restoring the earth back to balance. For those who are interested in the more tactical, day-to-day elements of Kimi’s spearfishing practice, you’ll enjoy hearing Kimi break down her spearfishing kit, the fish to table process, her favorite smoker grill and more!
“…The modern day renewal of rites of passage is essential not only for the health of the individual, but also for the health of our communities and for the planet." - School of Lost Borders
Petra Lentz-Snow has guided vision fasts and wilderness rite of passage programs for over 20 years and is currently serving as Co-Director and Board Member at the School of Lost Borders. A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual that marks a transition into a new life stage. Some rites of passage occur naturally over the course of your life and others are brought about by crisis or a significant change in your life. The modern day renewal of rite of passage ceremonies, initiated by organizations like the School of Lost Borders, gives us the opportunity to intentionally step into our lives more fully and reclaim our indigenous soul.
In this episode, Petra gives us an in-depth look into the purpose and process of rites of passage, both naturally-occurring and intentionally sought out ceremonies, such as guided vision fasts. She takes us through the many different types of rites of passage, discusses why crisis is crucial for growth and shares about the role of the natural world in rite of passage. Enjoy, and be prepared to soak up Petra's deep, healing wisdom throughout this conversation.
Chris Morasky is a wildlife biologist with 30 years experience teaching Stone Age skills and nature connection and is considered one of the top Stone Age skills experts in North America. After many years spent living in the wilderness and small communities of British Columbia, Idaho and Utah, Chris left his primitive lifestyle and transitioned to living in the metropolis of Los Angeles. Through this experience, Chris has gained a unique perspective on the intersection of ancient skills and future technology, and he’s here to tell us why it’s essential for humanity to understand how to merge the wisdom of our ancestors with the ideas and technology of the future.
In this episode, Chris encourages us to look at the bigger picture philosophies of ReWilding. While learning how to tan a hide and start a friction fire are valuable skills, the true purpose of ReWilding can sometimes get lost in these minute details. Chris shares how we can use primitive skills, nature connection and indigenous wisdom as doorways to healing and gaining a better understanding of our interconnectedness.
"Scientists mapped the human genome a decade ago, but we still haven’t mapped what’s in human milk.” —Jennifer Grayson
Jennifer Grayson — breastfeeding mother and author of Unlatched: The Evolution of Breastfeeding and the Making of a Controversy — has made it her mission to find out how & why we've moved away from breastfeeding as a society and to identify what needs to happen for human milk to once again become the human norm.
In this eye-opening conversation, Jennifer takes us on a journey through the timeline of our attempts to re-create breastmilk and the industrialization of feeding our babies. While breastfeeding has been making a comeback in the last few years, this natural, ancestral practice is still considered controversial and taboo in our society, and Jennifer shares what we can do to help normalize breastfeeding once again. From the sexualization of breasts to the risks of not breastfeeding to the lack of societal support for breastfeeding women, we cover a lot of ground in this interview. Tune in for an education on our first and most fundamental experience as human beings.
Simon Thakur is the creator of Ancestral Movement — an approach to embodied practice aimed at radically transforming and expanding the sense of self, by exploring and rediscovering patterns of movement and awareness that are part of our species’ history, both recent and ancient.
In this episode, we explore how to open up the realm of infinite expression with our bodies through a basic understanding of mirror neurons, body-mapping, comparative anatomy and animal mimicry. While that might sound complex, Simon explains that "As we explore, we find that the body is full of layer upon layer of extraordinary, ancient, ancestral power – four billion years of adaptation and embodied knowledge – and we start to anchor this understanding of shared ancestry and vast evolutionary timescales in the actual feeling of the body itself."
Simon encourages us to become aware of the structural and behavioral similarities we share with other living creatures through developing our sense of empathy and body awareness. We also discuss the current status of the Australian indigenous lifeway and how to learn to understand the language of nature. Tune into this fascinating conversation with Simon Thakur to learn more about the possibilities of your own human animal.
"Two billion people in 80% of the world’s countries consume insects as part of their daily diet, and entomophagy has been practiced by those cultures for thousands of years.”
In today’s bonus ReWild Yourself Podcast episode, I talk with the creators of the new documentary film The Gateway Bug, Johanna B. Kelly and Cameron Marshad. Johanna and Cameron are passionate about entomophagy and its potential to massively improve the sustainability of our current broken food industry. During the making of The Gateway Bug, they learned the ins and outs of the booming American edible insect industry, and they give us an inside look into the current landscape and what we can expect in the future. I hope this interview leaves you inspired to begin including edible insects in your diet!
During the winter season, we tend to spend more time indoors. This winter I’ve been spending my indoor-time honing some ReWilding skills — such as my hand drill practice (friction fire), tending to my fishing lines (for ice-fishing), and processing foods from the fall harvest. My partner Avani and I like to watch a movie, documentary, or episodic show while we carry out the rhythmic processing of our acorns into flour. While there’s some obvious irony in the idea of using modern media to “inspire” ReWilding, video has all but replaced the stories told by our elders around the fire each night. I am always on the hunt for fresh, inspirational media and thought I’d share a few of my favorites — some new, some old — with you!
My friend Nora Gedgaudas — author, nutritionist and repeat ReWild Yourself Podcast guest — joins me to discuss the essential nutrient that our bodies literally evolved to eat: Fat. In her latest book Primal Fat Burner (coming soon to a bookstore near you!), Nora refutes the popular mainstream belief that saturated fat is the culprit of disease and shares how dietary fat is actually crucial to vibrant physical and mental health.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode as Nora guides us through the ancestral diet we are built for, the nutrients we need to acquire from animal-sourced foods and cultivating a foundational metabolism. We also get into some fascinating side tangents — from ethical issues in the world of natural foods to corporate funding of veganism to alcohol to feminism. Enjoy!
Season 2 of ReWild Yourself Podcast is coming to a close, and I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for your support this year! This episode is debuting on the Winter Solstice, a time of the year when many of us are reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the upcoming journey around the sun. In 2017, I’d like to encourage you to renew your ReWilding vow and become a master of the elements. I take you through each element — Earth (food), Water, Air, Fire — sharing my personal resolutions, as well as my suggestions for how you can resolve to upgrade your life and strengthen your relationship with each element.
In each episode of ReWild Yourself Podcast this season, I’ve been asking each guest the same question: What is your prognosis for the future of the human species? I recap on the answers we’ve heard this past year and share my current thoughts on the topic.
Now I’d love to hear from you! What are your resolutions for the New Year? How will you ReWild Yourself?
Summer Bock believes that good health starts in the gut, and she is dedicated to helping people heal their digestive issues naturally. You have about three pounds worth of microbiota lining your gut that is active, diverse and affects way more than just your digestion. In this interview, Summer is here to share how you can for keep your gut strong, healthy and motile. We discuss her top strategies for repopulating gut flora, how stress affects your gut health and what you can do about it, how to remineralize your body and we even get into the growing trend of fecal transplants.
This interview is a great reminder that we need to eat from all Four Kingdoms: Animal, Plant, Fungal and Bacterial. I hope it inspires you to infuse your diet with more fermented foods and cultivate a healthy, robust gut flora.
Arthur Haines — botanist, taxonomist, primitive skills practitioner and a regular guest on ReWild Yourself podcast — is back on the show, and we have some VERY exciting news to share with you. For the past year, Arthur has been pouring his heart into writing a book that is a foundational education in human ecology and the ReWilding lifestyle. From the diet of Homo sapiens to a look at civilizations past to expanding comfort zones through hormesis, Arthur takes us through the book chapter by chapter, hitting the highlights of each topic as we go. At the heart of the book, and Arthur’s message, is something many of us feel — the missing lynchpin: a need for sustainable and rejuvenate ReWilding community.
In the past few shows, I’ve been hinting at an online program Arthur and I have put together for the upcoming winter season. This program will be a great way to stay connected with Arthur and I — and the ReWilding community — throughout the winter months. We’ll dive into study together and support one another in keeping ReWilding motivation high. In this episode, we share all the details on how you can get involved. I hope you’ll join us this winter!
Nadine Artemis is a trailblazer in the new paradigm of women’s self care, and in this interview, she lays out her favorite practices to nurture the female body. Nadine is the founder of Living Libations — an exquisite line of lotions, potions, scents, creams and essential oils that I use personally — and a regular guest on ReWild Yourself podcast.
In our past two interviews, Nadine has detailed her Stop, Seal and Seed method for dental care and skin care, and in this episode, she shares how women can apply this method to vaginal care. We learn what conventional female body care products and practices to avoid and Nadine’s favorite natural alternatives. We also discuss breast health and care, and Nadine reveals some fascinating information on breast cancer that is important for every woman to explore. Nadine’s nourishing self care practices are simple, low maintenance and accessible to all. Ladies (and the men who love them), I hope you enjoy this interview!
As an avid barefooter, I’ve tried countless barefooting shoes over the years, but none compare to Vibram FiveFingers. I’ve been a fan of FiveFingers for some time — they have allowed me to develop a foot dexterity, nimbleness and strength that I didn’t know was possible! It was so exciting to get a chance to talk to Vibram’s Director of Sales and Distribution, Chris Melton.
Chris shares the story of Vibram's early beginnings, how FiveFingers came to be, the evolution of some of their most loved models and what we can look forward to from them in the future. Most importantly, he answers every Vibram fan’s burning question: Is it pronounced Vee-bram or Vy-brum?? Whether you’re a loyal Vibram FiveFingers aficionado or a fan of barefooting in general, this show is for you!
Our brains produce new brain cells throughout our entire lives through a process called neurogenesis, and in this podcast, Dr. Brant Cortright is going to share what this means for our brain health and how we can enhance the way our brains operate. Dr. Cortright is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies, specializing in cutting-edge brain health and neuroscience-informed depth therapy.
When we increase the rate of neurogenesis, we see things like improved cognitive function, better memory, less stress, more energy and increased immune health. When we decrease the rate of neurogenesis, however, we see the opposite: poor cognition and memory, increased stress and anxiety and decreased immune health. In this interview, Dr. Cortright discusses the diet and lifestyle components — which mirror the ReWilding diet and lifestyle — that are crucial for your neural development. He shares some interesting information on sleep, and we also get into the effects of substances like caffeine, cannabis and mushrooms on brain health. Tune in for a fascinating discussion — rich with actionable information — that can help improve the functioning of your human animal!
How much of your movement are you outsourcing? Biomechanist and best-selling author Katy Bowman is back on ReWild Yourself podcast to share how we can transition to a more movement-rich lifestyle by outsourcing less of our daily needs and operations.
Katy is passionate about Nutritious Movement, "a whole-body movement program that utilizes Movement Micronutrients, Movement Macronutrients, and habitat (lifestyle) changes to nourish all trillion of your body’s parts.” In this interview, we cover some of the valuable material in Katy’s new book Movement Matters where she dissects our cultural sedentism and the issues with our convenience-fueled society. We discuss simple ways to enter the world of foraging, how to stack your life to make the most of your time and energy, the luxury of exercise, movement ecology and more.
What is the mind? How does the mind differ from the brain? These are some of the questions Dr. Daniel Siegel explores in his second appearance on the ReWild Yourself podcast. Dr. Siegel is a noted neuropsychiatrist and New York Times best-selling author, and he has just released a new book that delves into consciousness, subjective experience and the self-organizational properties of the mind. In this episode, we go deeper into some of the topics we covered in our first conversation. We discuss how Dr. Siegel navigates the worlds of science and spirituality in his work, how brain activity differs from the mind, our perception of time and his hopes for his work in mindsight and personal transformation
Over the past year, I have fully immersed myself in the hunting side of the modern hunter gatherer lifestyle. From trout and deep sea fishing to hunting wild turkey, black bear and coyote, my experiences harvesting wild animals to put meat on my table have been profound and life-changing, and I’d like to share my story with you. As a conscientious omnivore, I’m always striving to develop a closer relationship with the food I consume. Through hunting and gathering bio-regionally, I’m able to participate with my local ecology and develop an intimate relationship with the place I call home. In this solo episode, I detail the reasons why I hunt and share a bit about how I got started and how you can too.
Deep gratitude to my mentors, to the wild creatures who have become part of my body and to you for your support of my journey to deepen my connection to my local ecology and ancestral heritage.
Are you eating what you think you are? As a modern hunter gatherer, I am quite conscious and meticulous about the foods I consume. I base my diet on a Four Kingdoms approach (eating from the animal, plant, fungal and bacterial kingdoms), and I strive to source the majority of my food bio-regionally. I still shop at Whole Foods and occasionally dine at farm to table-style restaurants, of course, and I was shocked to learn of the rampant food fraud that extends to seemingly reputable grocers and eateries.
Award-winning food journalist and travel writer Larry Olmsted wrote a comprehensive exposé on fraud in the unregulated food industry, and he is here to reveal some of the industry’s most adulterated foods. He teaches us how we can be more vigilant consumers as we navigate grocery store aisles, food labels and restaurant menus.
Julie Angel is a filmmaker, author and photographer who documents the current ‘age of athletisiscm’ with a focus on Parkour, MovNat, buildering and much more. What’s buildering, you might be asking? I thought it was a typo at first, too, but Julie explains this small, but passionate, subculture as we get into the fascinating world of urban movement mavericks.
In this interview, Julie takes us back to the early beginnings of Parkour. In researching her Parkour-themed PhD thesis, she spent time on the streets getting to know the Yamakasi — the original group of Parkour practitioners — and got an up-close and personal look into the lives of these interesting characters who shaped the modern Parkour movement. To me, Parkour represents human wildness breaking free in domesticated landscapes — the human animal in movement across urban habitat. City dwellers, take note, this can be a unique way for you to utilize your environment for your natural movement practice! At the heart of Parkour, is a message of looking past the limitations of our environment, our innate, primal drive for sovereignty and embracing our intrinsic wildness.
What a treat it was to talk with primatologist and biological anthropologist Craig Stanford. If you’re a regular listener of ReWild Yourself podcast, you probably know how deeply fascinated I am with the great apes. I think they give us a window into understanding ourselves biologically, into understanding our wildness and even help us to glimpse into our origins.
Craig — author of sixteen books and over one hundred scholarly and popular articles — has studied chimpanzees extensively, studying their hunting behavior in Tanzania in collaboration with Dr. Jane Goodall, studying chimps and mountain gorillas in Uganda and more. He takes us on a journey to the meeting place of primatology and anthropology. He breaks down the social behaviors of some of the great apes, focusing on chimps and bonobos, and shares some of his controversial findings on the popularized "peaceful bonobo" research. This interview provides context to many of the themes we discuss on this podcast and was my favorite of the season. If you’re interested in ReWilding, I think you’ll find our conversation fascinating.
Leila Darwish, community organizer and grassroots bioremediation expert, joins me on the podcast to give us an inside look into the promising possibilities of bioremediation to heal our earth’s most damaged landscapes. Bioremediation is the use of biological agents to remove or neutralize contaminants; allying with living systems to detoxify contaminated environments.
Leila has worked as a community organizer in Canada and the US on campaigns such as tar sands, fracking, nuclear energy, coal, climate justice, water protection, and more. Her energy and optimism in the face of these devastating environmental issues is inspiring. In this interview, Leila shares an overview of bioremediation and how it’s successfully being used to recover many toxic landscapes in North America, how she remains positive, governmental outlook on bioremediation and much more. Perhaps most importantly, she shares how we can get involved with bioremediation on an individual level; she certainly left me inspired to do so!
"The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it. All too often these ill-conditioned implicit beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives. We create meanings from our unconscious interpretation of early events, and then we forge our present experiences from the meaning we’ve created. Unwittingly, we write the story of our future from narratives based on the past." ― Dr. Gabor Maté, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
Renowned speaker and bestselling author Dr. Gabor Maté joins me for a powerful conversation on addiction and takes us into the heart of where trauma originates. With years of both scientific research and direct interaction with patients challenged by hard-core drug addiction and mental illness in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Dr. Maté offers a unique and authentic perspective on the topics of addiction, mind-body wellness and ADD.
In this interview, Dr. Maté illuminates how our modern society perpetuates trauma by fostering a culture of disconnection and dissociation. From childhood trauma to trauma passed down to us from the generations that went before us, many of us carry unresolved trauma that often materializes in addiction. Addictive behavior goes beyond hard drug and alcohol addictions; our society is wrought with addictions to things like caffeine, less-than-optimal foods and dissociative behaviors, such as watching TV.
So how can we heal and become the most authentic version of ourselves? Dr. Maté sheds light on some of the traditional healing modalities he has found to be successful through years of wide-ranging experiences. With lots of golden nuggets on topics like death awareness, spiritual-bypassing and authenticity strewn throughout, there is something for everyone in this insightful conversation.
Stefano Tripney is a contextual movement coach and MovNat certified trainer who creatively bridges the inner workings of the mind and body with our collective external landscapes in order to explore, learn, experience, and play with the world and our place in it. Earlier this summer, Stefano and I spent a week together hiking through the forests of Maine, gathering wild foods, fishing and foraging wild water.
In between harvesting wild pine pollen and trout fishing, we sat down at the ReWilding headquarters to discuss Stefano's philosophies on being a more capable human. During this fun and wide-ranging conversation, we get into the correlation between movement and cognitive ability, how to stay motivated to train, moving through dynamic and texture-rich environments, unstructured play, forest bathing and much, much more.
"Don't confuse me with being anything else other than proud. Proud to be a hunter. It's time we stop apologizing for how we get our protein. This is who we are. Unless you’re a small time rancher, small time farmer, a hunter or fishermen... you really have no idea where your food comes from. Most people don’t even think about it. Well, we think about it. ” —Donnie Vincent
Donnie Vincent — explorer, biologist, conservationist, and sportsman — explores some of the world’s most remote lands, sharing stories of his expeditions through a variety of films that inspire conservation and a love and respect for wild places. Donnie is here to share some insights on hunting that, for many of you, may be surprising. He sets the record straight on the stereotype of the “typical” hunter, and sheds light on the passion for ecology and conservation that most hunters possess. We also get into some helpful tips for getting started in hunting and the practicality of procuring meat for yourself and family through this avenue. No matter what your views on hunting, I think you’ll enjoy and resonate with Donnie’s message.
This solo episode is a comprehensive breakdown of my experiences with barefooting. As a long-time barefooting proponent, I’ve traversed thousands of miles of various terrain with bare feet or minimalist footwear, and I’ve learned quite a bit about the often unknown and under-utilized capabilities of the human foot. I detail my experiences wearing minimalist footwear in challenges like the Tough Mudder and GoRuck, as well as during my recent backcountry hunter course. I break down my favorite minimalist footwear brands, unpack the myth of arch support and share some not often discussed benefits of barefooting that I’ve discovered over the years. Note: This podcast is best enjoyed while walking barefoot on a forest trail.
Radiant sense-visionary Nadine Artemis — creator of Living Libations — is back on ReWIld Yourself podcast! In this interview, Nadine gives us a complete breakdown of how to properly care for our skin with the Stop, Seal and Seed approach. She shares what dietary and self-care practices are proven to produce healthy, glowing skin, as well as what hygiene products and foods are less-than-optimal. You’ll learn why bacteria is your skin’s best friend, the popular skin care product that you most want to avoid, Nadine’s core skin care recommendations and so much more. Consider this an owner’s manual for your largest organ!
My long-time friend Mike Adams aka the Health Ranger joins us on the show to discuss lifestyle tips for the future human in the modern world. Mike is an outspoken consumer health advocate, award-winning investigative journalist, internet activist and science lab director. Mike lives his life with purpose and integrity, and his passion shines through his prolific work.
Mike shares his latest research and findings on some of our modern toxicities like GMOs, glyphosate and radioactivity, and he offers his top lifestyle strategies to maintain resiliency and robust health in our post-industrial world. We cover a lot of ground in this interview, and we do venture into some areas of our current collective reality that are less than savory. Though we don’t go too far down those rabbit holes, these are subjects that, I feel, are vital to bring into our on-going discussion as we learn to navigate and adapt to our ever-changing wild, urban and virtual environments. This conversation is a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy!
Ben Falk joins us to discuss permaculture and the art of regenerating landscapes. Ben is an author and the founder of Whole Systems Design, LLC, a land-based response to biological and cultural extinction and the increasing separation between people and elemental things. He shares about his experiences using permaculture to create edible landscapes and set ecosystems in motion. Ben, a former eco-warrior, has turned his passion for our earth into a beautiful dedication to healing the trauma of the land.
My good friend Luke Storey has spent the past 20 years developing and refining a robust way of life based on the principles of nature and spirituality, while embracing technology and modern convenience. Luke is back on the show for an in-depth conversation on vulnerability and authenticity in our edited modern world.
The health and personal development world tends to be filled with public figures projecting polished positivity and motivation, and while all of that has its place, true change is often inspired in others when you share vulnerabilities and shine light on your own shadows. Luke and I cover a lot of ground in this episode — from mentorship to podcasting to breatharianism to spirituality — but we continue to come back to this topic of authenticity and the rich fulfillment that comes from being true to your authentic self.
Tom Myers — the originator of the Anatomy Trains Myofascial Meridians — joins us on the show to teach us a bit about our anatomy and how the highly complex fascial network works in our bodies. According to Anatomy Trains, fascia is the biological fabric that holds us together; it’s the 3-D spider web of fibrous, gluey, and wet proteins that hold them all together in their proper placement.
I met with Tom up at the Anatomy Trains headquarters in Maine, and in this interview, Tom shares his incredible philosophies on a wide range of topics. Our conversation traverses human domestication, the potentials of integrating movement with virtual reality, how we can train the movement of the next generation, stress and much more. Enjoy!
"To deny that humans are predators is comparable to rejecting that humans are communal organisms."
— Arthur Haines
In a recent podcast episode (Why I'm Not a Vegan - Daniel Vitalis #94), I shared my personal experience with veganism and discussed the core reasons why I think we need to reexamine the Vegan approach. After this show aired, I received an outpouring of feedback from you — thank you to all who listened and took the time to write me! As promised, I invited Arthur Haines — botanist, taxonomist, primitive skill practitioner and regular guest on ReWild Yourself podcast — to join me to discuss some of the refutations I received in response to the Why I’m Not A Vegan episode.
Arthur and I shed light on many popular meat-eating myths and get into some interesting conversation on sustainable eating, speciesism, omnivory, animal husbandry and looking at the big picture. We bring to the discussion our combined academic and experiential perspectives for a comprehensive look at an often polarizing topic.
If you’ve been following my adventures this summer, you’ll know that I’ve been really into foraging wild protein, particularly fish, from my local landscape. I’ve grown to love the Tenkara fishing — a minimalist fly fishing method that originates in the mountains of Japan. Daniel Galhardo — founder of Tenkara USA, the first company to introduce Tenkara outside of Japan —joins us to share his passion for Tenkara and the world of trout fishing.
"A rod, line and fly. Line connects to the tip. Easy casting of a fly to spots where the fish are, intuitive landing. That's tenkara in a nutshell," according to Tenkara USA. In this interview, Daniel guides you through the basics of getting started fishing Tenkara. We discuss barriers to entering the world of fishing, fishing ethics, the complex world of Western fly fishing vs the simplicity of Tenkara and so much more. Whether you’re an avid fisherman or completely new to fishing, I hope this interview inspires you to check out this intuitive and minimalist method of fishing!
What is the best location for a ReWilder to live? I’m asked this question quite often, and in this episode, you’ll learn some important criteria to consider when thinking of where you want to live long-term. Joel Skousen — pioneer in the preparedness movement, author and publisher of the World Affairs Brief — joins us to discuss strategic relocation.
From potential environmental and governmental threats to ReWilding lifestyle requirements, there is much to factor in when strategically relocating. Do you want the freedom to homeschool or practice alternative medicine where you live? Do you want to have access to wild places to forage, fish or hunt? Joel shares grounded insights from his comprehensive work in analyzing some of the best (and worst) places to live in the US for your best chance for long-term, optimal living. He ventures into some conspiracy areas at times, but this interview is primarily focused on providing you with a practical perspective on selecting your ideal ReWilding location. In the introduction to the show, I add some of my own personal criteria for an ideal living situation. As you listen to this show, be thinking of what criteria you would add to Joel’s list to lead a life rich in the culture of the NeoAboriginal!
Jake Steiner — holistic eye guru & natural vision health advocate — learned how to naturally improve his -5D myopia and, in the past decade, has helped thousands of others get their healthy eyes back too. In this episode, Jake is here to give us the lowdown on myopia and how it isn’t actually a disease at all, but instead a contrived illness created by mainstream optometry. The cause of most nearsightedness is (surprise!) staring at screens, small text and the like for extended periods of time. You may be surprised to learn, however — especially those of you with eyesight issues — that myopia can be reversed. This interview is full of insights, tips and strategies on how you can do just that. Tune in to learn Jake’s unique, holistic approach to healing eyesight!
Amanda Archibald is a trailblazer in the field of Culinary Genomics — a unique interface between the culinary arts and genomic medicine — and her work is literally changing how we translate the science of nutrition. Science has proven that our lifestyle and dietary choices shape our epigenetic health. In this interview, Amanda details what lifestyle characteristics and foods can produce beneficial gene expression in your body and potentially help you to live a longer, healthier life. She shares some powerful insights on the topic of Social Genomics and the importance of community for epigenetic health that I think you’ll find particularly interesting. Learning how your daily habits and choices literally shape you on a genetic level is a vital tool to add to your toolkit!
Why aren’t I a Vegan? I get asked this question all the time, and in this solo episode I break down the core reasons why I think we need to reexamine the Vegan approach. I consider myself to be a conscious omnivore and promote a Four Kingdoms approach to diet (eating from the animal, plant, fungal and bacterial kingdoms). In my personal quest for the most natural diet, I was a vegan for about 10 years. In this show, I’ll tell you a bit about my experience as a vegan, why I started eating animal foods again and why long-term veganism is an experiment and maybe not an appropriate diet for a healthy, robust human ape. In the end, I give a strategy for those who still want to see the world go vegan, and explain how they could best achieve that!
Have you ever wondered what your local landscape was like in years past — before sidewalks, stop signs and modern buildings? In this episode, Dan Flores — author of American Serengeti andCoyote America — gives us some context about the history of our North American landscape and ecology. No matter where you are in the world, though, the story he shares is pertinent and relatable. In our very recent past, the Great Plains region of North America was a wild and undomesticated landscape rich with megafauna. Dan shares a bit about how the forces of domestication shaped the ecology of the Great Plains we know today and the promising conservation efforts going into the ReWilding of the American West.
As we often discuss on this show, developing and maintaining a connection to the elements — fire, earth, water, air — is a vital component of a beneficial overall health strategy. Direct, personal connection to your water source is a topic I’m particularly passionate about, and I’ve offered strategies and best practices for procuring your own spring water in a previous episode of the podcast (Why I Forage Wild Water - Daniel Vitalis
80). Gathering your own spring water is not always possible for everyone,
for various reasons (location, lack of time, etc), so for all of you on the West Coast, I have an exciting service to share.
Fountain Of Truth Spring Water is sourced from the pristine Opal Springs, which emerges from the earth in the high desert of Central Oregon. Today’s guest, Mukhande Singh, bottles this water in glass jugs at the source and delivers, chilled, right to the doors of spring water drinkers along the West Coast. In this interview, he shares his experience with stewarding a spring and how you West Coasters can take advantage of this wonderful service.
Brian Mackenzie is a human performance and movement specialist, and the innovator of the endurance, strength and conditioning paradigm. Originally, I brought Brian on the show to talk with him about performance breathing (which we do discuss!), but our conversation ends up traversing some fascinating terrain on the topics of harmonizing with the natural world, conditioning your body for adaptation through hormesis, how practicing discipline can actually give you more freedom and why specialization is less than optimal
Ladies, this is the show you have been asking for! I’m so excited to have Jeannine Tidwell — co-Founder and co-Director with her husband, Tim Corcoran of Twin Eagles Wilderness School — join us to discuss women’s rites of passage. We had Tim Corcoran on the podcast a few weeks back to tell us all about men’s rites of passage, and we received numerous requests to have a follow up show with his wife Jeannine. In this interview, Jeannine shares about mentorship, courage, feminine wisdom and so much more. Enjoy!
Bone broth is a vital food for the human animal. Rich in protein, collagen, gelatin, glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and key minerals & amino acids, this golden elixir protects your joints, heals & supports your gut, maintains healthy skin, boosts detoxification and supports your immune system.
Jordan Rubin — NYT bestselling author, founder of Garden of Life & respected natural health expert — joins us for a bonus episode to talk about the benefits of bone broth and an exciting new SurThrival product launch. Jordan has helped to innovate and shape the modern nutritional supplement industry, and SurThrival is proud to partner with him to bring you a unique new supplement: Bone Broth Protein.
My good friend and mentor Arthur Haines is back on the show to cover the topic of community. In our popular “How to Feed Your Human” series from last season of ReWild Yourself podcast, we briefly touched on the topic of community and so many of you reached out wanting us to go deeper. In this interview, Arthur joins me in-studio to delve into this fundamental and vital topic to the ReWilding lifestyle
Nadine Artemis — creator of Living Libations & author of Holistic Dental Care: The Complete Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gum — is on the show today to discuss the components of a successful self-dentistry practice. Our teeth and gums are alive and capable of being rejuvenated, often without the intervention of conventional dentistry. In this interview, Nadine clears up many common myths about our teeth and dental environment and details how we can holistically care for our teeth through diet and her 8 Step Self-Dentistry protocol.
"Awareness is the gateway for feeling the texture of lived life." —Dr. Dan Siegel
In this episode, the fascinating Dr. Dan Siegel joins us for a conversation on the human mind and mindsight. Dr. Siegel — Harvard graduate, professor at UCLA & New York Times bestselling author — has lectured for the likes of the Dalai Lama, the Pope and the King of Thailand.
"Mindsight is a term coined by Dr. Siegel to describe our human capacity to perceive the mind of the self and others." In this interview, Dr. Siegel explains how we can literally change our brains by developing the skill of mindsight, interconnectedness and how relationships and social networks work in the brain, and the importance of integration (the linkage of differentiated parts of the brain). Prepare to have your mind expanded!
As I mentioned in Wednesday's show with Shawn Stevenson, this week we're bringing you a bonus episode of ReWild Yourself podcast! This interview, while a bit product-focused, is also rich in vital content; if you enjoyed Shawn’s interview, this is a great supplement.
I've been hinting about my new bed for a while, and after 6 months of sleeping on it, I'm finally ready to detail my experience. Today I'm talking to Claus Pummer of Samina Sleep Systems. Claus is an expert on all things sleep, particularly setting up an ideal sleep environment. He’s here to share how we can optimize our sleep sanctuaries, give insights into sleep psychology and to take us on a tour of what I think is the healthiest bed on earth!
Shawn Stevenson — bestselling author and creator of The Model Health Show — is back on ReWild Yourself podcast to motivate us to make sleep a primary focus as he details his latest sleep research. Sleep has been a big focus for me as of late. I find I’m able to get more out of my day if I allocate a larger portion of it to getting quality sleep. In this interview, Shawn provides us with some powerful takeaways, including one important piece on the sleep—gut health connection that was completely new to me, and I think you’ll find particularly fascinating. I hope our conversation inspires you to create a nightly sleep practice that rejuvenates your mind and body.
Today’s show is all about getting the most out of your experience on planet earth. Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author and host of popular weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, joins us to discuss health, habits & happiness. You’ll learn why there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to formulating habits; rather habit formation is unique to you and your personality. In this takeaway-rich episode (grab your notebooks for this one, folks!), Gretchen lets us in on the secrets to habits and happiness she’s learned over years of research and observation.
Tim Corcoran is co-Director of Twin Eagles Wilderness School, an organization he co-founded with his wife, Jeannine Tidwell, as a vehicle to support his life’s work of facilitating deep nature connection mentoring, cultural restoration, and inner transformation.
In today’s episode, Tim takes us deep into the true essence of ReWilding. This interview is such a great reminder of why it’s so important to foster our connection with nature and all living beings. Tim discusses nature immersion, community-based approach to education and the importance of Rites of Passage for men and boys. I hope you come away from this interview inspired to reconnect with the natural world!
My personal health strategy is based on the 4 elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire. The food I consume, the air I breathe, the solar energy I take in, the water I drink.
I’ve been gathering my water from springs for the past decade, and today I’m going to share a bit about my personal water strategy and the spring water gathering best practices I’ve learned along the way!
ReWild Yourself Podcast is BACK, and we couldn’t think of a better way to kick off Season 2 than with the zany and lovable Bug Chef, David George Gordon.
David is the award-wining author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook and has been designing delectable insect dishes for quite some time. With spring upon us (in the Northern Hemisphere), the opportunity to forage insects is drawing near, so now is the time to familiarize yourself with this ancient practice. In this interview, David shares some fascinating facts on the history of entomophagy, as well as some practical advice for getting started with eating (and enjoying!) insects.
In the third and final installment of the How To Feed Your Human series, Arthur and I cover the fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential food groups. This is one of my favorite conversations with Arthur to date! Topics range from adaptogenic mushrooms to lacto-fermented foods to the loss of firsthand experience and so much more.
I hope this series has inspired you to reclaim your genome and begin to live a lifestyle with the Neo-Aboriginal of the future in mind!
As you know, this is the last episode of the ReWild Yourself! podcast before we take a brief pause to reformat and revamp the show. What an incredible journey this podcast has been thus far, and I cannot wait to connect with you again in early 2016!
Episode Breakdown: * Fungi are not plants * Immune-modulating components of fungi * Cultivated vs. wild mycelium * Pick your favorite fungi game * Civilization is an alcoholic * Eating scoby's * How to get probiotics in your diet * Favorite lacto-fermented foods * Getting dirty with soil microbes * Elemental food * Cold plunging and cryotherapy * The loss of firsthand experience * Importance of staying in motion * Vital experiential foods for the healthy human * Putting stress in perspective * Spending time in natural settings * Being eco-centric rather than ego-centric
How many plant species do you eat on a daily, seasonal or yearly basis? Before you answer that question, consider this: broccoli = kale = kohlrabi = cauliflower = cabbage = brussels sprouts = collard greens. They’re all variations of the same plant species, Brassica oleracea!
The average American is eating far fewer plant species (roughly 30 a year!) compared to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. In this podcast episode, you’ll learn the importance of diet biodiversity and how it can affect your day-to-day functioning and, ultimately, your genetic expression.
Arthur Haines is back on the show for the second installment in the How To Feed Your Human series! As a professional botanist, Arthur’s knowledge of the plant world is immense, and so we get into some pretty fascinating material, including wild foods, diet biodiversity, seasonal eating, anti-nutrients and much, much more. In part one, we talked animal foods, and you can listen to that episode here.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for the next installments in this series where we will discuss fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential foods!
Episode Breakdown: * Cultivated vs. Wild * The endless medicinal qualities of wild plants * Brassica oleracea and diet biodiversity * Never-ending growing season * Dietary diversity = dietary sufficiency * What kind of DNA fragments do you want floating in your body? * Engaging your senses to develop a personal connection with your landscape * Fiber’s many purposes * A flourishing microbiota doesn’t come from a capsule * Plant-based Omega 3 Fatty Acids * Anti-nutrients * What are tannins? * How to consume nuts, seeds and legumes * White bread vs, wheat bread * The power of antioxidants * How to bring more wild foods into your diet * Herbal medicine * Closing thoughts
Arthur Haines is back on the show! Arthur is both a mentor to me and a good friend, and he has been fundamental to many of the concepts presented on this podcast. As I mentioned last week, we’ll be taking a break from the podcast while we carry out a major revamp behind the scenes. Our very first podcast guest on ReWild Yourself! was Arthur Haines, and so I cannot think of a better way to close out this chapter than an interview series with Arthur. In this episode, we begin a discussion on how to feed your human, and Arthur presents the fundamental food groups for the ideal diet of the human animal. In part one, we focus on animal foods! Stay tuned for the next installments in this series where we will discuss plant, fungal, bacterial, elemental and experiential foods!
Episode Breakdown: * Help! I’m lost! * Sleep podcast recap * Food group paradigm * How to achieve healthy genetic expression * The placebo effect * The new “food groups" * Food Group #1: Animal foods * Importance of consuming DHA * Fluid intelligence & Vitamin B12 * Eating pastured foods * Foods from the sea, and how to consume fish safely * Managing stress for better epigenetic health * Daniel’s & Arthur’s favorite animal foods * We’re not eating food; we’re eating life
In a culture that praises work and getting the most out of the day, sleeping tends to be under-rated and, often, looked down upon. Seeing as we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping, it’s about time we start treating sleep as an intentional practice rather than hitting the pause button on life. Arthur Haines is back on the show to share some fascinating scientific research on the sleeping habits of wild, indigenous peoples. The research results are in: quality sleep can have tremendously positive effects on your health and well-being. I hope Arthur’s grounded perspective inspires you to put focus and energy towards your personal sleep practice!
Episode Breakdown: * A new path * Conscious sleep practices * When is the best time to go to sleep? * Did hunter gatherers sleep through the night? * Correlation between temperature and sleep * Effects of light and color of light on sleep * The importance of fire * Rising at the same time each day — consistency is key * Sleep for the cure * The many benefits of melatonin * Bedding and grounding * Thoughts on grounding technology * Noise * Concluding thoughts + wrap-up
Every year in the United States, about 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease, according to recent studies. Symptoms of Lyme range from early on fever, achy joints and fatigue to long term severe migraines, short term memory loss and inflammation of brain and spinal cord. In this episode, Earth poet and award-winning author Stephen Harrod Buhner joins us to discuss this silent epidemic, how to avoid it and what to do if you contract it.
We discuss his recently updated book, Healing Lyme, where he outlines leading scientific research, tests and treatment for Lyme disease. Stephen also shares his potent herbal protocol for treating Lyme, which has an amazing success rate: "75% of those who use the protocol as a core treatment regimen (along with other herbs and supplements as symptoms dictate) feel that they are cured."
This interview is filled with helpful and crucial information for those infected with Lyme, have loved ones infected with Lyme or who live in areas where Lyme ticks are common!
Episode Breakdown: * What is Lyme Disease? * Zombie ticks * Sophisticated bacteria * Be proactive * Antibiotics * How a robust immune system can help you ward off a Lyme infection * Diagnostic testing for Lyme * Stephen’s herbal protocol recommendations * Can apitherapy help minimize Lyme symptoms? * The problems with Western medicine practices * Lyme co-infections * The longterm effects of Lyme on life * Entering the Lyme Wars * Stephen’s GoFundMe for the revised edition of Healing Lyme * Key trigger symptoms of Lyme * We’ve exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth
This the most vulnerable and intimate interview I’ve ever shared publicly. I’ve decided to release the full unedited version, where I share deeply personal moments from my fairly traumatic childhood, because I think it’s important that we begin to have this conversation.
But first, let me introduce you to this week’s guest: My friend Neil Strauss is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Game, Rules of the Game, Emergency, and Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead. Most recently, Neil has published an incredibly powerful piece of work called The Truth: An Uncomfortable Books About Relationships. In this book, Neil shares some very intimate and personal moments from his past that shed light onto his adult relationships, which made me feel comfortable to share a bit about my past here. The theme of this show is mommy/daddy issues: we all have them — even those with seemingly perfect childhoods.
Please have compassion on me, my family and yourself as you listen in. Thank you for being here and allowing me to share so openly!
Episode Breakdown: * Why Neil wrote The Truth * What The Truth is all about * Daniel’s feelings on sexuality * How your relationships with your parents can heavily influence your adult relationships * Neil and Daniel dive into Daniel’s childhood * A bit about Neil’s childhood story * An intimate, transformational experience for Daniel and his mother * A book about recovery * Elders and olders * Finding your sexual species * Long term happiness vs short term pleasure * Finding Neil and his work
John Gray is the leading relationship expert in the world and best-selling author of “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.” His books have sold over 50 million copies in 50 different languages around the world.
In this fascinating conversation, we discuss the philosophical and physiological components of polarity in men and women, and how to use polarity to create richer, more fulfilling relationships. John shares many insights he’s learned from his own personal relationship and experiences (and years of research, of course), and he offers countless strategies for increasing testosterone in men and oxytocin & estrogen in women. John is a true expert in his field, and this interview is brimming with juicy nuggets of information — you may want to listen more than once!
Episode Breakdown: * Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus * Women, work & testosterone * How to double your testosterone in a week * Ejaculation and celibacy * Balancing polarity within ourselves * John’s first sexual experiences * Mastering sexual energy * The big “O” (oxytocin) * How men and women handle stress differently * Ladies first — how the female orgasm works * Processing emotions * The benefits of a monogamous relationship * Conscious Men * Why schedule sex? * Endure and contain * John’s advice to women for bettering their relationships * Sharing emotion is feminine; complaining is masculine * Connect with John * A tip from John on active listening in relationships
Jeff Kober is an actor/author who has spent much of the last 35 years studying metaphysics and meditation here in the US as well as in India. In this show, our conversation travels through a variety of topics, including Vedic meditation, the ego and the relationship between money and spirituality. This past year, I’ve picked up a daily meditation practice that has had profound impacts in my life, so it was exciting to talk to someone with 14 years of consistent daily meditation!
I had such a great time speaking with Jeff whose authenticity and grounded-ness shine through in this interview. Enjoy, and let this inspire you to delve into the world of meditation if you have not already!
Episode Breakdown: * How Jeff got interested in meditation * Happiness and meditation * Jeff’s personal meditation practice * How mantras work * What does 14 years of meditation practice look like? * Ego and meditation * The Kali Yuga age * The animal mind * Buick’s unique happiness campaign * Jeff’s role in The Walking Dead * Money and spirituality * How to connect with Jeff and his work
What is your personal self-protection strategy?
In this show, we’re joined by Craig Douglas aka “SouthNarc”, an incredible teacher in the world of self protection with a background as an undercover narcotics agent and former commander of his agency’s SWAT team. Craig is here to talk to us about protecting ourselves against predatory violence using some of the most important tactics to have in your personal self-protection arsenal: situational awareness and verbal skills to de-escalate situations. He shares some fascinating insights on how to identify a “bad guy,” as well as his thoughts on weapon-carrying. I hope this podcast inspires you to develop a more robust self-protection strategy!
Always practice situational awareness!
Episode Breakdown: * A bit about Craig’s work * Technologically-connected, but physically-disconnected * Craig’s time as an undercover police officer * What is a “bad guy”? * Museum martial art * Situational awareness * What to do when someone is too close * Unequal initiative event * Craig’s thoughts on weapon-carrying * How to work with Craig * Do you have the ability to keep someone from imposing their will on you?
“What I am capable of, anyone can learn.” -Wim Hof
Wim Hof — "The Iceman" — is internationally renowned for his countless ice endeavors that range from being up to his neck in a cylinder filled with ice cubes for over 90 minutes, swimming large distances under polar ice, running a marathon barefoot to climbing the Everest in nothing more than a pair of shorts.
Wim has pioneered a practice of breathing and cold immersion that has allowed him to set countless world records and can help you to harness your inner strength and achieve robust health & well-being.
In this episode, Wim shares from the heart on his journey confronting the cold and how his practices can help you become a better version of yourself in a very short time period. Our conversation was particularly powerful for me, as I’ve been playing around with Wim’s breathing and cold immersion techniques since we’ve spoken and have felt immediate positive effects. I share a bit about my experience so far in the beginning of the show!
I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!
Episode Breakdown: * What Wim is capable of, anyone can learn * The Wim Hof Method * Wim’s journey in confronting the cold * Getting out of our comfort zones * Tuning into your primitive, animal self * Dealing with suppressed emotions that arise when practicing the breathing techniques * Controlling your pH through breath * What temperature does Wim keep his home? * Generating energy through deep breathing * Enjoying life to the fullest * Using Wim's breathing techniques to improve sex * How Wim sees the future of our world
Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Luke Storey on setting up a holistic strategy for lifestyle design! Luke has spent the past 18 years developing and refining a robust way of life based on the principles of nature and spirituality, while embracing technology and modern convenience.
In this segment, we focus on our strategies for movement, sleep and meditation! If you missed it, check out part one where we break down our personal strategies and adaptations to modern life using a four elemental structure: Earth, Air, Water, Fire.
Episode Breakdown: * Integrating useful movement into your lifestyle * Optimizing your sleep routine in urban environments * Luke’s tactics for falling asleep when not tired * Pillow-less sleeping * The discipline of meditation * Spiritual connection through meditation and entheogens
Luke Storey #64 - In this week's podcast, my good friend Luke Storey joins me for an intimate, peer to peer conversation on setting up a holistic strategy for lifestyle design. Luke has spent the past 18 years developing and refining a robust way of life based on the principles of nature and spirituality, while embracing technology and modern convenience. Luke and I apply many of the same lifestyle principles to our very different lives, and in this rap session, we have an awesome time discussing our personal strategies and adaptations to modern life. We break it all down for you using a four elemental structure: Earth, Air, Water, Fire. We cover a ton of valuable, actionable information here, and so we’ve split up this episode into two parts. In part one, we get into our strategies on diet, water, air and sunlight. Stay tuned for part two (coming out next week) for our discussion on movement, sleep and meditation!
Couples in the Paleolithic world would never have fantasized about running off by themselves to their own little retreats in the forest. No Stone Age lovers would have imagined in their wildest dreams that they could or should be “everything” to each other. That way lay death.
― Stephanie Coontz, Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy
Stephanie Coontz is a marriage historian and author of seven books on marriage and family life. In this podcast, she takes us on a tour through the evolution of marriage and intimacy throughout human history. We discuss everything from egalitarianism to “the one” to polyamory vs. monogamy. This show is enlightening and adds another piece to the puzzle as we continue to dissect the mating styles of the human animal, here on the ReWild Yourself! podcast.
Episode Breakdown: * The way we never were * Are we hardwired for egalitarianism? * The quest for in-laws * Marrying for love * The soulmate fantasy * Individual needs vs group needs * Sex and marriage throughout history * Monogamy vs non-monogamy * The story of divorce over the ages * Today’s marriage statistics * The changing roles of men and women in a marriage
Most of us are exposed to an abundance of artificial blue light on a daily basis, via our modern technology (lamps, cellphones, computers, TVs, etc). Our bodies physiologically respond to light from the blue portion of the spectrum with a state of wakefulness, via the suppression of melatonin production. This constant stream of artificial blue light is wreaking havoc on our circadian rhythms.
Today’s guest, a physicist, is one of the leading experts on this topic — Dr. Edward Carome. In this episode, you’ll learn how blue light interacts with our bodies by suppressing melatonin-production and some surprising, and not often discussed, effects this can have on us. Dr Carome relays some excellent strategies on how to minimize blue light exposure, particularly in the evening hours. Whether you are using these blue-light-producing modern devices on a daily basis or not, the information in this interview is extremely important! Enjoy, and please share your thoughts in the ReWild Yourself! Facebook group! I’d love to hear what strategies you are utilizing to safeguard your circadian rhythm!
Episode Breakdown: * Dr. Carome’s background in light * The effects of blue light on the pineal gland * Artificial light from our modern devices * Dr. Carome’s experience with melatonin * When to use blue-blockers to support your circadian rhythms * The powerful effects of melatonin * Amount of blue light in LEDs, Incandescents, Tungstens and other bulbs * Do short bursts of blue light at night cause melatonin production to cease? * The best blue-blocking products and how to use * Crisper focus outdoors wearing blue-blocking glasses * Concluding thoughts