The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.

This week on The Living Experiment, we consider the pros and cons of “Fitspo” — short for Fitness Inspiration — that stream of idealized-body imagery and imperatives that dominates a lot of social media feeds these days. We question whether this supposedly aspirational torrent of photos, messages and hashtags is doing health-seekers more harm than good. We challenge the notion that chasing an aesthetic ideal and comparing your body to others’ is likely to be a lasting, positive source of motivation. And we explore a demonstrated correlation between increased exposure to social media and lowered self-esteem. We wind up with some simple experiments you can run in your own life as a way of relating more consciously to the Fitspo memes and messages you’re likely to encounter, and as a way of reconsidering the impact they might be having your own health and happiness.  Episode Highlights: The Fitspo phenomenon that's flooding our social media feeds (3:25) The important difference between internal and external

On this episode of The Living Experiment, we’re talking about “Addiction” — what that phenomenon is all about, and how to address the sometimes-subtle dependencies that may show up in your own life. We address everything from physical and psycho-emotional attachments to food, exercise, emotional drama and social media to entrenched end-of-day drink rituals — even porn. We also help you reflect on the dynamics that can drive your own addictive tendencies, so you can start to shift them in ways that work for you. Episode Highlights: Our all-purpose definition of addiction (3:10) Cool neuroscience — the pharmacy inside your brain (7:00) How the biochemicals associated with stress feed our dependencies (8:35) Figuring out the root causes of addiction, and noticing how our culture helps create them (15:00) The connection between addiction and lack of human connection  (19:50) Breaking the addictive cycle with mindful practices and conscious choices (22:00) The satisfaction problem — why it's hard to get "enough"

This week on The Living Experiment, we’re celebrating power of the pause — the importance of taking regular breaks, and the rewards of getting into agreement with our bodies’ natural energy-production and repair cycles. We reveal the biological necessity and scientific importance of ultradian rhythms —the regular fluctuations between output and recovery that allow our bodies to maintain optimal energy, focus and vitality. And we offer practical guidance on recognizing your body’s “need a break” signals, and building more brief, health-supporting pauses into your day.  Whether you want to improve your energy, metabolism, hormonal balance and mood, minimize stress and inflammatory conditions, or just want to get more good stuff done during the course of the day, ultradian rhythm breaks are your best friend. Here’s how to make the most of them… Episode Highlights: Why trying to be consistently productive all day long doesn't work (3:00) Circadian and ultradian rhythms in the body and why they matter (6:30)

  This week on the Living Experiment, we’re talking about travel—the real challenges it poses for health-seeking people, and smart things you can do to make it easier on your body and mind.Dallas starts by sharing about his recent run-in with hotel bed bugs. Then we get into the more typical array of pesky problems that most health-concerned travelers face, from limited food options, disrupted sleep, and excessive seat time, to dealing with special temptations, increased stress and social isolation. We share some of our best tips and tricks for pre-trip preparation and also for rolling with whatever conditions you’re faced with out on the road, up in the air, and while stuck in random hotels. We wrap up with some easy experiments you can try out on your next trip.  Episode Highlights: Why traveling (especially for work) can take a huge toll on your health (3:25) Dallas shares his unfortunate encounter with bed bugs (4:45) The challenges of healthy eating on the road, and why planning and preparing so impor

On today’s episode of The Living Experiment, we’re talking about seasons: the natural fluctuations your body goes through during the cycles of winter, spring, summer, and fall, and the nutrition, fitness and life-rhythm strategies you can use to stay healthier through all of them. Dallas shares his simple but powerful, science-based model for eating, moving and sleeping in accordance with the seasons.I offer up some insights about the value of observing nature’s ebb-and-flow patterns—rather than being driven by the non-stop madness of modern-day mass culture. Together we explore the ancient wisdom our human bodies still carry about patterns of dark and light, warm and cold, exertion and recovery. And of course, we wrap up with some seasonally appropriate experiments you can run in your own life.   Episode Highlights: How our human rhythms got out of sync with nature: the disorienting influence of electric lights, artificial temperature controls, jet travel, standardized daily schedules, and more (2:45) H

In this episode of The Living Experiment, we talk about mornings - the challenges they present for many, and some smart strategies for redesigning them in ways that work better for you. Pilar shares the central elements of her flexible, minimalist morning practice, and Dallas shares his mindful coffee-making approach. We explain the underappreciated power of your first waking moments, and offer a fleet of suggestions for creating healthier, more rewarding mornings - without taking on a bunch of new, time-consuming commitments. Finally, we serve up some practical experiments to help you consciously reclaim your mornings so you can more successfully start each day on your own terms. Episode Highlights The value of creating a morning practice in a way that develops self-efficacy and gets your day off to a positive start (3:00) How exposing yourself to your smartphone (or any mass media) first thing in the morning stresses you out, makes you vulnerable to unhealthy impulses, and robs you of your best ideas (

This week on The Living Experiment, we talk about Lonely — the experience and stigma of that feeling, and the negative impacts it has on our well-being. We explore some of the reasons more of us are feeling lonely these days, and how we can get out of the vicious cycles that keep us more isolated than we’d like. We also suggest some experiments that help you create more time, space and energy for social connections that support your own health and happiness. Episode Highlights What is loneliness? Why do we get lonely? Dallas and Pilar share their thoughts (1:30) How loneliness affects our lives and overall health (6:35) Skin hunger (10:55) Using television as a social crutch (13:30) Recognizing loneliness and social withdrawal as a societal issue (15:00) Untangling the knot of loneliness (20:25) Social feeds as digital junk food — calories but no nutrients (24:30) Why face-to-face contact matters (35:50) Building the skills of assessing and alleviating your own loneliness (39:50) Experiments for the week (

What's the difference between “Healthy” and “Hot”? We share what those descriptors mean to us, and how our definitions have evolved over time. We address the problem of hyper-perfected ideals in the media, the downsides of chasing aesthetics and metrics that don’t actually result in health, and we share some real-life experiments that can help you shift your own body-image ideals in a healthier, happier direction.  Episode Highlights Looking better vs. feeling better: Pursuing health (not just the appearance of it) for wise reasons (02:22) Redefining “health” both mentally and emotionally (09:45) What do we mean when we call someone “hot” and what’s that all about? (12:45) Expressions of health as a signifier of potential-mate value, plus the evolutionary biology phenomenon of “faked fitness” (24:30) Choosing good role models for health (36:45) Reframing and refocusing your goals for health and fitness (40:00) Experiments for the week (47:00) Share the Love!  Each week, we offer you a few life-shifti

Can you live a healthy life in an unhealthy world? Yes, you can. But right now, more than 97 percent of U.S. adults aren’t managing it. So if you are one of the few brave souls who are currently beating the statistics, or intent on beating them, that makes you a freak of sorts—in a good way.  We explore what it means to live outside the prevailing, unhealthy norms, and what it takes. We also share a little of our own “freak” stories Episode Highlights: What The Living Experiment is all about and what we hope you’ll get out of it (3:00) Facts and Figures: Some disturbing statistics about the current state of U.S. health norms (7:15) Reclaiming the word “freak” and choosing empowered difference in a context of unhappy, unhealthy sameness (12:15) Getting to know Dallas and Pilar: Their childhood origin stories and how they got to where they are now (15:50) Setting yourself up for success (39:20) Experiments for the week (45:20) This Week's Experiments:Dallas suggests: The more stressed we are, the more convinc