The Curious Introvert

Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?

Courtney Conley, D.C holds a doctorate in chiropractic medicine & 2 bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology & human biology & is the founder of Gait Happens. Milicia McDowell, DPT holds a doctorate in physical therapy & has over 20 years of experience. Together, they are the authors of Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost your Health & Longevity One Step at a Time.

In this episode, you’ll hear the BEST kind of footwear (& why it lasts longer than what you’re buying right now), why strong feet matter & all the ways walking could make your life better for FREE.
 
 

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 130: BAREFOOT IN CANADA: REWILDING, BRAIN FOG & STARBUCKS

 Guests:

https://a.co/d/0c20BNFz 

https://www.drcourtneyconley.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/gaithappens/ 

https://www.instagram.com/drcourtneyconley/ 

https://www.facebook.com/gaithappens 

https://www.milicamcdowell.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/drmilicamcdowelldpt

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

5:57 Functional, minimal, or wrong?

12:34 Why minimal shoes outlast conventional ones

15:41 Stop fearing pronation

18:38 I went barefoot for a year

27:39 So why do podiatrists still say cushion?

28:45 Fashion is the real enemy

29:41 The status symbol on your feet

34:28 How strong should your big toe be?

36:17 Can walking really prevent dementia?

37:32 The 6th vital sign nobody checks

41:42 Is 10,000 steps a lie?

43:56 The step count that beats depression

45:09 What CrossFit and yoga can't give you

48:49 Do antidepressants fix foot pain?

57:27 Weighted vests: helpful or harmful?

58:13 Heel striking: good or bad?

1:00:00 Why some people bounce when they walk

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Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?

Rachel Bernstein is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Cult Specialist & the Host of the IndoctriNation Podcast. She has spent the last 35 years helping former cult members & those who have had loved ones in cults, focusing on emotional abuse recovery, identity repair & moral injury. 

In this episode she explains the psychology of political allegiance, why religion & politics always fuse together, thought stopping cliches & media influence vs media manipulation.

This episode originally aired August 18, 2025
 
 

If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 229: IS YOUR HAPPINESS BEING POLITICIZED? CULTURE, CORTISOL & THE BRAIN

Guest:

https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/rachelbernsteintherapy

https://www.instagram.com/indoctrinationpodcast/

https://open.spotify.com/show/1prXo4iIxUfjYpfX671cUD?si=3522f54be4ae456f

https://rachelbernsteintherapy.com/book--journal.html 

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

2:15 When We Get Vulnerable

4:18 Easily Offended, Easily Swayed

5:04 Are Parties Actually Cults?

6:19 High-Control Groups, Explained

8:13 The Death of Diplomacy

9:35 Identity Over Ideas

11:16 Why Religion and Politics Fuse

13:34 Thought-Stopping Clichés

16:34 Two Magnets, Same Playbook

18:35 The Theocracy Blind Spot

19:17 Allergic to Gray Areas

20:15 The Seven Mountain Mandate

22:32 Anything But Them

23:06 Education as the Antidote

25:35 Reacting vs. Acting

27:54 You're Being Played

31:12 Chasing Likes, Losing Truth

32:59 Data Mining Is Grooming

35:02 Nobody Taught Us This

38:31 Where to Find the Truth

42:10 Shrinking Your Data Footprint

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Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?

Dr. Sarah Wakeman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Sr. Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham. She is also the author of Treatable: Rethinking Addiction and How to Get Care Right.

In this episode, she shares why we hear conflicting messages on alcohol, why what “one drink” means is subjective, the actual health risks even for moderate drinkers, drinking stigma & what real sobriety means.
 
 

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 265: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE AN ALCOHOLIC? [REMASTERED]

Guest:

https://www.drsarahwakeman.com/

Book https://a.co/d/0afUgsLE

https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/

https://www.instagram.com/massgeneralbrigham/

https://www.instagram.com/drsarahwakeman/ 

https://www.facebook.com/MassGeneralBrighamInternational/?brand_redir=45556346121# 

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

1:04 — How People Measure Their Own Drinking (Spoiler: They Don't)

2:08 — Why the Science Is So Confusing: CDC vs. WHO

3:35 — What "Class 1 Carcinogen" Actually Means

4:39 — Why We Can't Study Alcohol the Way We Study Other Things

6:09 — What’s “a” drink?

11:04 — Does It Matter Why You Drink?

12:27 — The Capsule Wardrobe Approach to Alcohol

14:21 — Health Risks for Moderate Drinkers

16:08 — Breast Cancer and Light Drinking: The Uncomfortable Truth

17:42 — Toxic Load: Can We Blame the Country We Live In?

20:04 — The Challenge of Counseling Patients on Alcohol

25:00 — What Alcohol Does to the Brain

25:34 — Alcohol-Induced Dementia: How Would You Know?

27:17 — Alcohol, Anxiety & Depression: A Two-Sided Coin

29:10 — Dry January: Helpful Reset or False Start?

33:00 — Moral Incongruence and the Drinking Stigma

34:38 — The "Alcohol Puppy" in Your Brain: Dopamine & Reward

36:20 — The Endorphin Connection: Why Alcohol Feels Like a Painkiller

37:17 — Naltrexone & the Sinclair Method: Medicine for Moderation

39:22 — How to Talk to Your Doctor About Drinking

41:40 — The South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Experiment

44:00 — Is Alcoholism a Disease, a Behavior, or Both?

46:31 — Contingency Management: Rewarding Sobriety

48:23 — "The Opposite of Alcoholism Isn't Sobriety — It's Connection"

49:31 — Where to Find Dr. Wakeman & Her Book Treatable

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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Can you befriend someone OUT of racism? Are Klan members just misguided? Is racism a permanent state?

Daryl Davis is a musician & author. He’s also a black man who chooses to be friends with Klansmen. Over his lifetime, he has inspired over 200 Klu Klux Klan members to give up their robes. 

In this episode he shares about the boyscout parade where he got a race reality check, FBI files, the connection between travel & racism, his first encounter with a klansmen, his first KKK friend & true transformation in the age of cancel culture.
 
 
 

This episode originally aired April 29, 2024

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 134: HE VOTED OBAMA & JOINED THE KKK: the How & the Why (PART 1)

Guest:

https://klanwetalk.com/ 

NEW BOOK! https://a.co/d/06vMvFop

https://x.com/realdaryldavis

https://www.instagram.com/realdaryldavis/ 

https://www.facebook.com/realdaryldavis 

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

02:22 – Ambushed at a Boy Scout Parade

04:27 – The Day His Parents Had to Explain Hate

06:29 – 63 Countries, 50 States, One Missing Piece

08:14 – What Mark Twain Got Right About Prejudice

10:00 – The Fight in a Parking Lot at 2 A.M.

12:07 – Why the Cops Wouldn't Arrest Him

17:39 – "I Never Sat Down With a Black Man Before"

22:26 – The Question That Had Been Waiting 15 Years for an Answer

29:22 – A Bodyguard, a Gun, and a Bible in a Motel Room

32:50 – The Noise That Almost Got Someone Killed

37:02 – The Four-Step Chain That Leads to Destruction

38:30 – Why Diverse Companies Still Eat Lunch Segregated

42:49 – The Five Things Every Human Being Wants

45:07 – The History Books Left This Out

51:20 – The Year America's Racial Majority Flips

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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What's the difference between a fetish, a kink, and just really liking something? Where do fetishes come from?

Niki Davis-Fainbloom’s entire job is to help people make peace with their fetish. She holds a masters in psychology, studied sex therapy at the Kinsey Institute & has been working with clients for 8 years. She’s also the author of Fetish: smash taboos & celebrate what turns you on.
 
In this episode, you’ll hear about some of the more unusual fetishes, where fetishes come from, where we draw the line in ethical fetishes (Race? Disability? Yikes!), the difference between a kink & a fetish, why people hide what turns them on (& what happens when they don’t).

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 286: WHAT IS MEDICALLY ASSISTED SEX [REMASTERED]?

Guest:

https://a.co/d/0165o2Qg 

https://www.instagram.com/missbloomsexeducator/ 

https://www.facebook.com/niki.davis.7

https://www.nikidavisf.com/about-niki 

https://x.com/nikidavisf?lang=en

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

00:00:56 — What Actually Makes Something a Fetish (vs. Just Being a Preference)

00:03:50 — Fetish vs. Kink: What's the Difference?

00:04:27 — Unusual Fetishes: Vore, Macrophilia, and the Wet Floor Sign Guy

00:08:46 — Balloon Fetishes, Online Communities, and SizeCon

00:09:57 — Where Do Fetishes Come From? The Conditioning Theory

00:12:34 — The Baby Fetish, Pregnancy Kink, and Stress as a Factor

00:15:23 — Culture, Decades, and How Your Childhood TV Shapes Your Desires

00:17:02 — Japan's Panty Vending Machines: Normalization and the Fetish Question

00:19:47 — The Most Common Fetishes by Volume

00:21:21 — Sneezing Fetishes, Feet Everywhere, and the Can't-Unsee Phenomenon

00:25:15 — The Neuroscience of Foot Fetishes: Somatosensory Cortex and Amputation Studies

00:27:38 — Is There a Genetic Component? Dopamine, Novelty-Seeking, and Risk

00:30:11 — Disgust, Arousal, and Why Evolution Had to Make a Compromise

00:32:45 — Fetishes and Trauma: Separating Myth from Reality

00:34:28 — Rape Kink, Survivors, and Reclaiming Control

00:35:38 — Is Shame Part of What Makes a Fetish Work?

00:37:50 — Grindr at the RNC, Anti-Gay Preachers, and the Forbidden Fruit Effect

00:40:08 — Tools for Working Through Shame: Postponing Worry, Self-Compassion Letters

00:43:42 — How and When to Disclose Your Fetish to a Partner

00:50:51 — The Ethics of Fetishes: Race, Disability, and Objectification

00:55:21 — DSM Paraphilias, Non-Consent, and Where People Can Get Help

00:57:31 — AI Romantic Partners, Dirty Talk Experiments, and the Capitalism Interruption

01:02:32 — Niki's Documentary, the Book, and Where to Find Her

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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Could the very thing that makes America work also be what's quietly breaking us?

James F Richardson is a cultural anthropologist who has studied American society for twenty years. He’s also the author of Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and Its Hidden Discontents.

 
In this episode, we cover the impact of boundless optimism, options & the playground of autonomy. He speaks to the impact our individualism has on our work, mental health, friendships & romantic relationships.

This episode originally aired on October 7, 2024.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 192: AM I A BAD FRIEND/? 7 DEADLY SINS OF FRIENDSHIP

 Guest:

https://jamesrichardson.substack.com/ 

https://a.co/d/3cmICjE

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

1:10 Cowboy vs. Businesswoman Archetypes

2:13 Why the Founder Myth Wins

5:37 Innovation Without Asking "Then What?"

7:56 Is Restriction the Real Opposite?

8:44 Decades of Unlocked Life Choices

9:52 Failure Happens in Private

11:24 What Community Oversight Could Look Like

12:06 We Traded Neighbors for Apps

13:00 Stage-Gate Checks for New Businesses

13:45 The Untouchable 95% Fail Rate

16:08 Shame, American-Style

18:29 Radical Personal Responsibility, Examined

20:44 The Case for Individualism

25:00 "How Do I Make Friends?"

25:54 Friends as Entertainment

27:13 Open vs. Closed Reciprocity, Explained

31:29 James's Own Alienation Cycle

32:42 Asperger's, Therapy, and Energy Management

40:13 Where Does Responsibility End?

44:13 One Life Tip That Matters

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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How does a suburban dad end up addicted & sleeping in a Tenderloin doorway?

Tom Wolf was a suburban Dad & city employee when he became addicted to drugs. He soon found himself sleeping in a doorway in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco getting high every 90 minutes. 

 
 Now six years sober, he serves on the leadership council of Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions & is a bridge between the reality of the streets & the meeting room of policy makers.  In this episode, you’ll hear his story, the down and dirty about “live & let die,” Chinese fentanyl and Mexican cartel, if housing plus services is really the answer & should we follow the Portugal model?

This episode originally aired on September 9, 2024.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 317: LIFE IN THE VEGAS TUNNELS: CLOWNS, CRICKETS & CRANK [REMASTERED]

 Guest:

https://x.com/gooddrugpolicy

https://x.com/Twolfrecovery

https://gooddrugpolicy.org/papr/

https://www.facebook.com/gooddrugpolicy

https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundation-for-drug-policy-solutions/

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

1:07 The Foot Surgery That Started It

2:23 Buying Pills On The Street

4:21 Switching To Heroin

5:02 The OxyContin Crisis Origins

6:32 Should Purdue Pay?

7:38 Fentanyl's Chinese Precursors

9:09 Working For The Cartel

10:38 Arrested And Released

15:09 Why Not Get Shelter?

16:40 Using Every 90 Minutes

19:43 Housing Isn't Enough

22:20 Six Strikes And Jail

24:37 Sober vs. In Recovery

28:57 Portugal's Decriminalization Model

33:24 Decriminalization vs. Legalization

35:33 Could Plant Medicine Help?

39:25 Pivoting San Francisco's Approach

42:31 A Hostage Takeover Of The Brain

43:12 Alberta And Houston's Success

45:42 Closing Thoughts And Hope

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What if your "chemical imbalance" was never actually in your brain — but on your plate?

Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard trained psychiatrist who began to experience a host of mystery symptoms in her 40s, including fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, and IBS. 

 
When she got relief after experimenting with her diet, she began her path of nutritional studies & later became a nutritional psychiatrist. In this episode, she covers questionnaire collecting vs research, a warning about experimenting on yourself, chemical imbalances vs inflammation & 3 tests you can do at home.

This episode originally aired on July 8, 2024.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 251: FOOD ADDICTION: CHARACTER FLAW OR REAL DEPENDENCE? [REMASTERED]

 Guest:

https://www.instagram.com/georgiaedemd/

https://twitter.com/GeorgiaEdeMD

https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaEdeMd

https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiaedemd/

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

1:31 Skeptical Psychiatrist's Turning Point

3:11 Why Nutrition Studies Lie

5:38 Rethinking Chemical Imbalances

7:10 Metabolic vs Nutritional Psychiatry

8:52 Two Diets, Two Goals

11:12 Testing Diets in Prisons?

12:04 How Fast Results Come

14:05 Special Forces Eat Keto

15:00 Is Inflammation to Blame?

18:14 Try 30 Carbs a Day

21:02 Self-Experimenting Without a Doctor

24:25 Test Your Insulin at Home

28:58 Does Red Dye Cause ADHD?

31:06 The Chocolate Craving Mystery

34:00 Inside Food Addiction Research

39:32 Escape the Glucose Rollercoaster

42:11 Her 90-Year-Old Mom's Keto Win

46:08 Hope Is on the Menu

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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What happened to ontological shock?

Michael Glawson, PhD, is a philosopher of science and technology with a background in theology. He’s also the host of the podcast Anomalous Review & the UAP Studies Podcast. In this video, we cover the public’s love affair with cryptids, why new information is unlikely to smash our world view, ancient aliens, data vs entertainment & how the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies collects data.

This episode originally aired on April 14, 2025.

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 276: ARE ALIENS HUMANS FROM THE FUTURE? [REMASTERED]

Guest:

https://www.explorescu.org/podcast

https://www.instagram.com/michaelglawson/

[email protected]  

https://www.facebook.com/michaelglawson 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmglawson/ 

https://x.com/MichaelGlawson

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

2:14 UFOs as "the cryptid we're bored with"

3:24 The double-talk that primed us

5:56 Diana Pasulka and denominations of belief

8:00 The "aliens are demons" camp

9:19 The Alien Resistance Christian group

10:28 Why nothing smashes a worldview

12:24 Michael's personal crisis moment

13:57 Inside the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies

15:16 MUFON, NUFORC, and the data problem

16:53 300 best cases and emerging patterns

19:44 The missing taxonomy for non-human intelligence

21:09 The career risk of studying this openly

23:04 Defending the "petty" reputation concern

25:38 Philosophy vs. data as competing lenses

28:12 Why doesn't the public care?

28:40 Could disclosure hurt our "galactic reputation"?

29:22 The nuclear weapons parallel

30:39 The game theory of disclosure

33:48 UAP apathy vs. religious apathy

35:27 Kahneman's fast and slow thinking

36:23 Economic survival crowds out big questions

37:35 Why the NJ drones felt different

38:23 Michael's anatomy of the NJ drone panic

40:33 The Iran mothership claim debunked

41:07 The germanium-68 "missing nuclear material" myth

42:45 Thousands of unexplained military incursions ignored

44:35 If you could interview an alien

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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Should voters have to prove their competence? How do balance ethics & efficacy in the world of politics?

Dr. Jason Brennan is a Flanigan Family professor at Georgetown Business School who agrees that democracies outperform most historical alternatives, but suggests that some form of Epistocracy (meaning the rule of the knowledgeable) could be worth experimenting with. In other words, the more of an informed voter you are, the more weight your vote carries. 

He covers why democracy may not be as bullet proof as we believe, what the practical applications of epistocracy could look like, education’s disappointing impact on informed voting & the right and wrong way to become a more informed voter.

This episode originally aired on April 15, 2024

If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 136: VIRTUE SIGNALING. CAN WE MAKE IT STOP? NACHOS & NARCISSISM

 Guest:

https://a.co/d/3INKj7z

Sponsors: 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

3:05 What is epistocracy?

7:25 Is a "statistically informed" vote really informed?

8:52 When IQ tests get weaponized

11:00 Let citizens write the test

12:52 Why civic education backfires

13:37 The forgetting curve of civics class

15:47 Voting as a collective action problem

19:38 Do you have a duty to vote?

22:05 Reproductive rights and the bottle-in-the-ocean problem

23:45 Lottocracy: voting by lottery

25:50 Should we vote on issues, not parties?

26:41 Politics as tribal signaling

28:55 Your brain on politics

29:41 More parties, less tribalism

30:50 Duverger's Law and the two-party trap

34:28 How the electoral college shapes campaigns

36:09 Finding trustworthy information

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/

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