Although making up 13 percent of the population, African Americans own less than 1 percent of the rural land in the United States. 

White Americans, however, own a staggering 856 million acres, which is about 98 percent of all rural property in the United States.

Wild, right?

So it's not crazy when I say that communities of color, low-income residents and other historically marginalized groups have traditionally faced barriers to accessing nature.

That's why Ancestral Health Radio is dedicated to, and promotes, inclusivity and social justice through transitional lifeways. 

Because it's the most disadvantaged and powerless people in our societies who are most likely to be affected by rising fuel and food prices, resource shortages and extreme weather events. We want to increase the chances of all groups in society to live well, healthily and with sustainable livelihoods.

We have to accept that although much progress has been made, there is much more work that needs to be done. And most of that work begins and ends with us, as an individual.

To rise above, you must first begin to ask yourself better questions. 

To help you do this, I've invited my friend Aaron Johnson on today's episode of Ancestral Health Radio.

Aaron shares insights into how we, as white Americans, can begin to breakdown cultural barriers that blind us from seeing the truth of our privilege.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• Why Aaron believes there are so few black people within the rewilding community,
• The first thing Aaron says you need to commit yourself to if you wish to become an ally to people of color,
• 5 questions that will help you critically examine your own relationship to blackness,
• And much, much more.

• Aaron explains what Holistic Resistance is and why it's become the focus of his work
• Why Aaron says he didn't know he was being prepared for this kind of work for the last 20 years of his life
• Is racism different where ever you go?
• Is there a right way to integrate and think about black people versus a dangerous one?
• Why Aaron doesn't do workshops of 100-200 people
• Is rewilding a privilege?
• Why white people never ask, "Who's not here?"
• Why Aaron says he's a walking contradiction

• Aaron unpacks the difference between loving a black person, dating a black person, and actually being close to a black person

• The silent suffering and exploitation of black women in the medical community

• Why Aaron is a big advocate for one-on-one or small group coaching

• The two things Aaron wants you to remember when asking yourself questions

• What Aaron does NOT want you to do when asking yourself questions to get close to blackness

• The three different levels to each of Aaron's questions, and how to "slow it down"

• James answers Aaron's first three questions

• Why Aaron says black people have a hard time being vulnerable around white people when talking about racism

• Why Aaron believes there are so few African heritage therapists

And much, much more.

Is the first person to live to 1,000-years-old, alive today? And if that's true, what does that inevitably mean for the future of the human condition?

One of the world's leading anti-aging researchers, Aubrey De Grey, (and strangely—my neighbor) believes that to be 100% true. Because, well, Aubrey's the one who said it.

And if what Aubrey says is true, would you then believe Arthur C. Clarke's third law, which states: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?

Meaning that modern technology can seem like literal witchcraft to the ignorant, or simple science to the learned. 

Popular mystery writer, Agatha Christie, once wrote, "The supernatural is only the natural of which the laws are not yet understood."

 And I agree. However...

Are we metaphorically "summoning the demon," as tech mogul Elon Musk fears?

The Guardian published an article on former vice-president of user growth for Facebook—one you may have read or, at the very least, heard about in November of 2017. The former executive said that he feels "tremendous guilt" over his work on “tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”

Chamath Palihapitiya said, "This is not about Russian ads.”

“This is a global problem. It is eroding the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other.”  

Historian and novelist Ronald Wright popularized what is called a progress trap.

The exact definition of a progress trap is as follows: 

The condition human societies experience when, in pursuing progress through human ingenuity, they inadvertently introduce problems they do not have the resources or political will to solve, for fear of short-term losses in status, stability or quality of life.

Many of the problems we're seeing now–whether we're talking about hunger or massive inequity–whether we're talking about climate change or the loss of biodiversity–have been driven over the last 250 years by a system of overproduction and overconsumption of stuff. 

You've probably heard Einstein's famous quote, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots." This quote, although popular on the Internet, is false.

Einstein did say, however, "I believe that the abominable deterioration of ethical standards stems primarily from the mechanization and depersonalization of our lives,” he wrote in a letter to his friend, psychiatrist Otto Juliusburger, in 1948, “a disastrous byproduct of science and technology. Nostra culpa!"

And In many ways science and technology have become the new religion of our time.

Karl Marx described religion as an opiate to the masses because it dulled the senses and kept people passive and accepting of a capitalist, industrialist culture warped on the idea of consumption and growth.

Freud, the father of modern psychology, argued that religion served to repress and sublimate an individual's desire into activities that serve the culture. This, Freud argued, produces neurosis and mental illness in those that civilization seeks to domesticate.

And so if we imagine technology as a drug, where its purpose is to manage pain and create sensations of calm and well-being, do we not forget that we are apart of the natural world, fighting for survival, just like everything else?

In many ways technology works much like religion, distracting us from our inevitable deaths with feelings of fleeting invincibility and immortality. 

(I'd like to thank my friend Julian Langer for that connection between technology and religion.)

Anyways, guys! This is part 2 of 2 of Privilege, Identity Politics, and the Transhuman Agenda with Daniel Vitalis.

All-in-all, this was a challenging conversation to navigate for both Daniel and myself, so please keep an open mind, ear, and heart.

So...

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• The three mishmashed values (—and science) that Daniel says he approaches the world with,
• Daniel's personal relationship with modern technology,
• Daniel's thoughts on merit, identity politics, and the transhuman agenda (i.e. "the cult of progress"), and...
• Much, much more.

• Daniel says he approaches the world like a mishmash of these three values—and science

• Sophia the AI robot, identity politics, and the challenge Daniel has with privilege and where it's going

• Daniel's thoughts on bio and nano technology

• What Daniel says his religion would be if he were to subscribe to one

• Why Daniel says people who practice animism today aren't the same as people who practiced animism in the past

• Are we in an augmented reality?

• Elon Musk, Space X, and artificial intelligence. Are we summoning the demon?

• Daniel's personal relationship with modern technology

• Daniel recalls the first time he saw someone walking down the street talking to themselves (on a hands-free cellular device)

• Why Daniel feels he's lost some of his intelligence (and what happened to it)

• Peter Thiel, the Bulletproof Conference, and how Peter (Thiel) sees the future state of humanity's relationship with technology

• The juxtaposition between The Bulletproof Conference and the 2017 Annual North American Rewilding Conference

• Daniel's foreboding observation about the Pixar's animated movie Wall-E

• Are we going into an age of biological denial?

• Daniel's thoughts on merit, identity politics, and the transhuman agenda (i.e. "the cult of progress")

• How modern technology, Daniel says, has effected humanity throughout the past few generations

• James mentions AHR episode #4 with Arthur Haines and the allegory of the cave

• How Daniel talks about his work

• What Daniel says is the theme of today's episode

• Why you won't hear Daniel use the word rewilding (...much)

Did you know that some scientists say that oaks produce more nuts annually than every other nut tree—both wild and commercial—combined?

Nuts, right? (Yeah, yeah—laugh it up. The pun was intended.)

Acorns, or oak nuts, are nutritional powerhouses.

Depending on the species, a single acorn can contain up to 18% fat, 6% protein, and 68% carbohydrate—with the rest just being water, minerals, and gut-healthy fiber. 

Acorns are also great sources of both vitamins A and C, as well as having a long list of essential and nonessential aminos acids. 

With those numbers, it’s easy to understand why the native people here in California never resorted to agriculture and why—interestingly—they never spoke of—or created traditions for—famine.

To speak more about this abundant wild food, I'm excited to introduce to you someone I've mentioned many times on Ancestral Health Radio before: Daniel Vitalis.

I waited for what seemed like a couple years for this interview... Which, by the way, is a solid two hours. So I decided to break it up into a two-part episode, so your ears can have something to munch on later.

Daniel's helped me, as well as many of my friends, better understand ecology through ancestral lifeways.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• Why Daniel says he no longer has a morning routine,
• The wild food Daniel believes is going to revolutionize food production (hint: It's "not a grain"),
• Why Daniel's use of technology scares him (and why technology should scare you, too), and...
• Much, much more.
• Episode Breakdown

  • Welcome Daniel onto the show

  • The significance of being a symbol and the impact that idea has on Daniel

  • Why Daniel separates the mundane intricacies of his personal life from his business life

  • Daniel's opinion on actors and sports figures as political commentators

  • Why Daniel says he's not the person to speak about productivity or systems related to entrepreneurship

  • How Daniel is currently prioritizing in his personal life 

  • Why Daniel no longer subscribes to the idea of morning routines

  • Why Daniel and his partner don't live together

  • Four of Daniel's daily practices

  • The one skill Daniel's currently spending most of his time on

  • Why processing food takes president over many facets of Daniel's lifestyle

  • Daniel's favorite foraging season

  • Daniel explains the anthroposcene era and its significance to modern hunting and gathering

  • Why Daniel says you'd be hard pressed to find any true hunter-gatherers these day

  • The wild food Daniel believes is going to revolutionize food production (hint: It's "not a grain")

  • The role grains have played in the civilizing of the modern world

  • What Daniel says is more exciting, and bigger work, than any one food

  • The two-pronged idea behind Daniel's episode, "Is Wild Food A Privilege?"

  • Daniel opens up and shares his traumatic background growing up in the United States

  • Why building a loyal team of people who share your vision can be one of the hardest things you can ever do

  • Daniel's thoughts on white privilege and America's self-correcting constitution

  • Why Daniel won't touch the topic of evolutionary and biological psychology 

  • Why we're currently fighting an information-based civil war

  • Daniel's personal conservation efforts

  • Why most of the people Daniel says he's inspired by are not people who specifically identify with the word rewilding

  • The four guests that have most impacted Daniel over the span of 175+ episodes of the Rewild Yourself podcast (Stephen Jenkinson, Dan Flores, Gabor Maté, and Neil Strauss) 

  • Why Daniel says he likes to find inspiration outside of the rewilding community rather than from within it

Think about this for a second: More Americans hunt and fish than play baseball.

What a trip, right?

That's more than 38 million Americans.

And if that doesn't surprise you, this will: 

Hunting—overall—brought in more revenue ($38.3 billion) than Google ($37.9 billion) or the Goldman Sachs Group ($36.8 billion).

Now ask yourself this question: "Why don't I hunt?"

Really think about this for a second. Mull it around for a few minutes, hours, days, whatever. But really think.

Is it because of the blood, guts, and sinew? Is it your ethics or morality? Is it the fact that you live in a city or suburb and feel like you don't have access to the wild spaces needed to hunt? Or, maybe, it's as simple as a lack of money for all that expensive new gear.

Whatever your reason, hunting is a huge undertaking in and of itself. Period. And for the novice not accustomed to growing-up in the hunting lifestyle, the process of learning and developing this fundamental life-skill can seem downright intimidating.

However...

Should you join me and accept the hunter's call to bravely enter the chase, you will be handsomely rewarded with the first-hand experience of accepting another animals life into your own. This experience often catalyzes into a deep, life-altering relationship between you, the natural world, and the entire two-legged and other-than-human community.

And to make this particular transition easier, I've invited my newest friend—Fisher Neal of LearntoHuntNYC.com—on today's episode of Ancestral Health Radio.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• The absolute first thing you should do if you're interested in learning to hunt,
• What a typical day of hunting might look like for the average hunter,
• The basic (yet graphic) process of how to field dress, skin, and butcher a deer—from start to finish, and...
• Much, much more.

Is it possible to heal trauma in our personal and family lives by connecting with our well, deceased ancestors?

Well...

Provided you possess a beginner’s mindset equipped with the right animistic framework, my guest today, Dr. Daniel Foor of AncestralMedicine.org, would say yes—you absolutely can.

This week, Daniel and I delve into practical animism: where ritual and ceremony are used as tools for personal, family, and cultural healing.

A few months ago I was surprised to receive an early copy of Daniel's magnum opus, aptly titled Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. Since then, I've probably recommended Daniel's book to nearly all my closest rewilding friends.

Why?

Partly because trauma—and ways we heal from trauma—was central to many of the topics shared at this year's first annual North American Rewilding Conference. It’s also worth mentioning that Daniel’s work was brought up several times throughout the two-and-a-half-day experience.

So, without further adieu:

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• How our well and unwell ancestors influence the living and non-living;
• How directly speaking with the spirits and other-than-humans can break centuries of colonialism, patriarchy, and scientism;
• How practical animism directly enriches our day-to-day relationships; and...
• Much, much more.

Have you ever thought of starting a homestead on your journey towards ancestral health?

How about composting or gardening?

Well...

Today is a special opportunity to help a community member whose passion is about dismantling the industrialization of people and food through the acquisition of abundant, sustainable, and regenerative homesteading skills.

Enter: John Moody of Steader.com.

John and I share a very similar mission, in that we understand there are skills and wisdom that need to be shared from the first-hand experience of elders within our community.

And that today is an amazing opportunity to support a movement that helps build the groundwork for those to come.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• Why John says he doesn't think you should be able to deal with health and nutrition if you have not read this book,
• John and Jessica's 18-month transformation and simple weekly strategy that helped them both go from your typical standard Americans to what some might call the crunchy-hippie-type,
• A few of the educational videos John and the Steader team have cued up for their Kickstarter campaign, and...
• Much, much more.

• John explains how his youth was riddled with health problems—typical of the average child who grew up in the 80's and 90's
• John greatly appreciates this author's early observations of how people aren't made to be divorced from nature
• The "click" for John came from a time when pharmaceutical intervention was supposedly the only solution for a painful duodenal ulcer
• The comical advise given to a then-single John by his college professor
• John's nutritional first-steps and book recommendations
• Why John says he doesn't think you should be able to deal with health and nutrition if you have not read this book
• John helps the audience understand what industrializing people and food over generations can look like
• John and Jessica's 18-month transformation and simple weekly strategy that helped them go from standard Americans to what some might call the crunchy-hippie-type
• Why John felt his family was being treated like cattle and the moment that hardened John's resolve against the powers that be
• Why John's new-born daughter, Abby, was almost labeled a biohazard by hospital staff
• How Whole Life Buying Club was the first whole food collective to win against a government raid
• John talks about his biggest project to-date: Steader.com
• John lists a few of the educational videos he and the Steader team have cued up for their Kickstarter campaign, and...
• Much, much more.

Can agriculture be a sustainable path forward?

This is the main question surrounding today's episode:

Can we use the same technology that, arguably, has been one of the single-most destructive advents in the epoch of human history to move or usher us forward into a time where we're projected to hit an all-time population density of 9.5 BILLION people by 2050?  

With global desertification, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreats, decreased snow cover, rising sea levels, declining arctic sea ice, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events…

What tools do we have at our disposal? How can we make an impact where it seems like none can be made?

That's what we're here to find out.

And why, in today's episode, my guest Doniga Markegard shares with us:

• Her amazing story of triumph as a child being taught traditional ecological knowledge through an experimental wilderness school in the Pacific Northwest,
• What holistic planned grazing is and what that means for the future of agriculture,
• Doniga dispels the jargon around grass-fed, finished, pastured, and free-range, and...
• Much, much, more...

• Doniga talks about her past with wildlife tracking and permaculture
• Doniga explains an ah-ha moment that came from a time when she was young and thrown from her horse
• Doniga briefly speaks about her time as a teenager in an experimental wildlife school in Washington
• Why Doniga tracked wolves in Yellowstone and what that meant for the biodiversity of the ecosystem
• Doniga talks about her new book (Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild) that is being released this fall
• Why Doniga is excited to work with Proprioception Press
• Doniga briefly shares a few experiences she has while traveling alongside wolves and other wild animals
• Why Doniga says her culmination of past experiences has led her to discover holistic ways of stewardship
• How Doniga's particular style of land management mimics the trophic cascade of predator, prey, and plants
• Doniga makes a big distinction between traditional ranch lifestyle and traditional industrialized agriculture
• The similarities between Doniga and Allan Savory
• Why tracking is so important and how that helps you develop your personal awareness
• Doniga mentions what she believes to be the sixth sense
• Why the Bay Area has is so prolific and why it may be a wild food foragers paradise
• Why Doniga says it's important that people realize that these grasslands evolved with grazers
• Why holistic land management is about people, planet, and profit 
• The difference between grass-fed and finished beef
• Why Doniga says Cowspiracy is extreme vegan propaganda

• Why Doniga has gripes about the word Organic

• The difference between traditional and conventional agriculture

• Doniga breaks down the problem of desertification and why we need grassland grazers to help build carbon in our soil

• Why practicing survival skills and challenging herself within the rigors of the wild helped shape Doniga into the steward she is today

• Doniga gives solid tips for the consumer to move forward with becoming a steward of the land herself

• And much, much more...

Did you know...

That the average woman uses 12 products per day containing over 168 ingredients (absorbing close to 4 and a half pounds of toxic chemicals a year)...

A man goes through 6 products with 85 ingredients...

A child is exposed to 5 products with 61 ingredients...

Whilst a teenage girl is exposed to a whopping 17 products with over 230 ingredients, every day...

Most of which are untested, unsafe, and scientifically and clinically unproven.

--

That's why it's important we pay close attention to what we put on our bodies just as much as what we put in our bodies, because, well... Not all products are created equal.

Enter today's guest: Nadine Artemis.

Nadine and her husband Rob run Living Libations, which is one of the premiere natural body care companies on the market.

Nadine's cosmetic creations exceed the recommendations for the FDA's Good Manufacturing Practices; use clear legitimate labeling; offer the highest quality oils and natural ingredients; are globally responsible; and never tested on animals.

In today's episode, you'll learn...

• How Nadine created Living Libations in a tiny kitchen while in university,
• Why you should immediately throw away your crystal salt deodorant and never, ever use it again,
• How Nadine suggests we take care of our teeth and gums using holistic dental practices, and...
• Much, much more.

• Nadine explains how she entered the world of natural health and body care while studying in university 

• Why Nadine says she hasn't touched processed food in 23 years

• James murders a Jack LaLanne quote about eating cake

• Nadine touches on the topic of self-directed learning and why the traditional education system fails so many

• Why Nadine was so fascinated with 18th century Europe and their knowledge of natural body care

• How Nadine's nose and pineal gland led her to discover faux oils and perfumes from other leading manufacturers in the cosmetic space

• Why most of the essential oils are produced for the food, flavor, and fragrance industries

• Why one drop of oil can have over 300 natural constituents and cannot be reproduced in a lab

• How Nadine started Living Libations in the kitchen of a tiny cottage

• How one of Nadine’s first products helped her friends who waitressed with these...

• Two elements James took from Nadine's body care practice as well as something he could have done better

• Why you should immediately throw away your crystal salt deodorant and never, ever use it again

• How Nadine suggests we take care of our teeth and gums using holistic dental practices (hint: stop, seal, and seed)

• And much, much more...

Guys, listen up...

About every two weeks, another language dies. Or, perhaps, a dialect. There are over 231 completely extinct languages and 2,400 of the world’s languages are considered to be in danger of dying out.

That's why today's guest—Willem Larsen of the College of Mythic Cartography—joins me on the Season 2 Premiere of Ancestral Health Radio.

Willem shares ways at how to look at story and language from an indigenous people perspective and how, if we wish to be heard in today's culture, the types of stories we need to build for ourselves.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn:

• How story enriches and illuminates our land,

• The error of identity and the impact language can have on our perception of self,

• How American Sign Language can help you become a better tracker and storyteller, and...

• Much, much more...  

• Willem shares the origins of his tracking career, 10 years prior to the College of Mythic Cartography

• How two authors challenged Willem to question his perspective about ecology and our place within it

• Willem's personal opinion of a well-known and controversial figure in the world of tracking

• Fact telling versus storytelling

• Willem shares the esoteric meaning behind the language of The College of Mythic Cartography

• Myths as holograms and the replication crisis

• Hunter-gatherer legal systems and the observation of currency as a tool for modern organization

• Willems tells us how story fundamentally illuminates and enriches our land

• Why Willem says many indigenous people are "forced" to speak in story

• Why Willem says maps are useful to the extent to which they leave things out

• Willem explains what the error of identity is and briefly touches on what some people might consider "religious" verbs

• What is English-Prime (or E-Prime) and why does Willem encourage us to play with this style of writing?

• The opposite of "to be" in indigenous languages is _____.

• Willem speaks about the robustness of American Sign Language and how ASL can help you become a better tracker and storyteller

• What Willem says the very first thing we can do if we want to hear our stories get heard

• Willem's newest project has to deal with how we view scientific culture but through an animistic lens

• Why Willem says there are more demands for heroes and heroines now than ever before

Did you know that more than an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease? And up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition.

Crazy, right?

Not only that, but women are five to eight times more likely to develop thyroid problems than men. And one in eight women will develop some form of thyroid disorder during her lifetime.

This is just another clear example of an evolutionary mismatch disease...

And the problem with trying to heal yourself and your thyroid is that most of the information will have you running in circles, including the (mis)information from the one you're supposed to trust the most—your doctor.

That's why I'm excited to have Elle Russ—host of the wildly popular Primal Blueprint Podcast and author of The Paleo Thyroid Solution: Stop Feeling Fat, Foggy, and Fatigued at the Hands of Uninformed Doctors—join me on today's episode of Ancestral Health Radio.

Elle and I discuss how you, the audience, can reclaim your health through a simple (although not easy!) ancestral approach to optimizing your metabolism.

In today’s episode, you’ll learn…

• The six basic blood panels Elle recommends everyone get tested for,

• Elle explains how your body uses both T4 and T3 hormones (and how to optimize them both),

• Why Elle says endocrinologists are the worst people to see for your thyroid, and…

• Much, much more.

• How Elle gave herself hypothyroidism through maladaptive lifestyle choices
• Why Elle wrote The Paleo Thyroid Solution and how she nursed herself back to health with a high fat, low carb diet
• Why Elle believes the majority of endocrine doctors are 100% uninformed and are practicing borderline malpractice with their thyroid patients
• The biggest problem with being undiagnosed with hypothyroidism
• The last annoying thing on every hypothyroid patient's mind
• Why Elle calls the thyroid the master gland
• What happens if your thyroid is working sub-optimally
• What Elle says this master gland is primarily responsible for and how it works
• How your body uses T4 and T3 hormones
• What Elle describes as the most optimal choice for thyroid hormone replacement
• Why Reverse T3 (RT3) is "a problem on the rise"
• Why most people with hypothyroidism have some degree of adrenal fatigue
• When Elle says you should—or shouldn't—get tested for underlying symptoms of hypothyroidism
• Where Elle recommends people go to get blood work
• Why Elle says you should, "RUN!" if your endocrinologist judges you based off this 1973 test
• Six basic thyroid tests Elle recommends everyone get
• Why it's more important for someone with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis to be on a paleo-primal lifestyle
• Elle explains the origins of natural desiccated thyroid
• Why endocrinologists and doctors were told Synthroid is the only treatment for hypothyroidism
• Why Elle says you shouldn't trust any doctor
• The difference between desiccated thyroid and thyroid glandular
• Why endocrinologists are the worst people to see for your thyroid—and what to do about it
• Why Elle says, "If your blood work is within range does not mean it's optimal. Period. End of story."
• What paleo, primal, and ancestral health all have in common
• Elle describes chronic cardio and why hot yoga 5 times a week can actually make you fatter
• The fat-burning sweet spot in regards to aerobic max (hint: 180 minus your age)
• Eat this to zap your hunger once and for all
• Why Elle thinks you should experiment with your protein intake
• Elle describes the benefits of caloric efficiency (and10 ways to achieve it)
• Why Paleo is cheaper than most people believe
• Why Elle feels she made peace with seven years of suffering with thyroid disease
• Why you need to get your thyroid checked before your doctor puts you on an anti-depressant or statin medication
• Selenium's critical relationship between hormones T4 and T3
• When you should supplement for specific micronutrient needs due to malabsorption versus maintaining proper ratios through whole foods