Shows
The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 120: Nutritious Movement with Katy Bowman This week we're talking about Nutritious Movement, the brainchild of our brilliant friend, biomechanist, fitness expert, and best-selling author Katy Bowman. Katy's term "nutritious movement" refers to the type of movement that nourishes, educates, shapes, energizes, and repairs us in ways that support optimal health and vitality. And, as Katy explains during the conversation, that does not describe most conventional fitness approaches. So here, Pilar talks with Katy about a great many science-y things very few of us have ever learned about movement and exercise, including some key differences between the two. Katy shares some misconceptions most of...2023-03-031h 17The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 119: Pandemic Era DiscoveriesThis week, we're talking about Pandemic Era Discoveries. Last winter, after two years spent in various forms of social isolation, Dallas and Pilar met up at an improvised San Diego studio to catch up live and in person. We compared notes about how we'd weathered the weirdness of COVID reality, where we're at now, and some of the most rewarding stuff we encountered along the way. From craniosacral therapy to cigars, from continuous glucose monitors to toe correctors, from garden plot puttering to nature-based spirit questing, we serve up some of our favorite COVID keepers, along with some of o...2023-02-151h 05
The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 118: Optimize with Brian JohnsonThis week we’ve got a special guest episode with Brian Johnson, the creator of Optimize and the Founder + CEΦ of Heroic Public Benefit Corporation. Brian has spent half of the last twenty-five years as a Founder/CEO and the other half as a Philosopher, creating hundreds of his PhilosophersNotes summaries of all sorts of brilliant books worth reading. As a Founder/CEO, he’s built and sold two market-leading social platforms. As a Philosopher, he’s served tens of thousands of people from every country in the world with his Optimize membership, and he has also trained over 3,500 people...2022-01-031h 10The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 117: Afro Flow Yoga with Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. JonesThis week, Pilar talks with special guests Leslie Salmon Jones and Jeff W. Jones, co-founders of Afro Flow Yoga. Leslie and Jeff created Afro Flow Yoga in 2008, fusing a new blend of expressive movement and rhythmic music from their own explorations of healing and their African-American and Caribbean heritage, in West Africa, Haiti and Jamaica. Leslie and Jeff describe Afro Flow Yoga as an embodied practice, integrating dance movements of the African Diaspora with meditative yoga and live healing music, promoting individual and collective healing in a compassionate, inclusive, non-judgmental and safe environment. In this conversation, Pilar talks with...2021-12-1648 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 116: Kitchen Whisperers with Dorothy KalinsThis week Pilar talks to a special guest — James Beard award-winning journalist, author, and food legend Dorothy Kalins. Dorothy is the founding editor of Saveur magazine and Metropolitan Home. She's also a celebrated cookbook creator and the author of a terrific new book, The Kitchen Whisperers: Cooking with the Wisdom of Our Friends.2021-09-291h 00The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 115: Make Time with John ZeratskyThis week on The Living Experiment we bring you an episode that has been a very long time coming — a special guest episode with New York Times bestselling author John Zeratsky. John is the co-author — with Jake Knapp — of two terrific books, Sprint (a popular business title from 2016) and Make Time: How to Focus On What Matters Every Day, which came out in the fall of 2018. In this episode, recorded in the fall of 2019, John and Pilar talk about both titles, and about the themes connecting them. From the value of creating clear mental space for our most pressing priorities...2021-01-181h 02The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 114: MidlifeThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Midlife — that fun and potentially funky moment when you realize you might well have fewer years ahead of you than you've already put behind you. It's a clarifying moment for many, and a moment of crisis for others. A moment when we realize that we may not have lived our own highest choices up until now — and that if we're going to make the rest of our lives more the way we'd like them to be, this is the time to make that happen. In the midst of all of this...2020-10-1559 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 113: Mini Update from PilarLife continues to be weird. So we are just rolling with it. This week on The Living Experiment, Pilar offers some updates and options for folks who want to stay connected and who are eager keep experimenting through the rest of 2020. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/mini-update/2020-08-3125 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 112: Rewilding with Daniel VitalisThis week on The Living Experiment, Pilar interviews a special guest, hunter-gatherer and rewilding enthusiast Daniel Vitalis. Daniel is a well-recognized advocate for what's known as rewilding, a term that he points out means very different things to different people. To Daniel, and also to Pilar, it means reclaiming and reconnecting with aspects of our own wild-creature origins, and for getting into a closer, more intimate connection with our natural world. Daniel visited Pilar's family farm in Wisconsin in summer 2019 to film an episode for his forthcoming TV series, called "WildFed." In the process, he collaborated with Pilar's partner...2020-08-2758 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 111: Moving ForwardThis week on The Living Experiment we're talking about Moving Forward in this unusual time in history. Thanks to COVID-19, we're still recording from a distance. Since we were last in the studio though, and even since the last time we did one of our COVID-edition Facebook Live episodes, so much has happened. We've seen new waves of conflict around the pandemic, as well as the murder of George Floyd and the historic calls for social and racial justice via the Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, we've been witnessing divisions widening, not just within our country, but within our...2020-08-061h 13The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 110: Autoimmunity with Dr. Terry Wahls This week our guest is Terry Wahls, MD, a physician and scientific researcher best known for her groundbreaking work reversing autoimmune diseases — including her own disabling case of multiple sclerosis, which for a time had her confined to a wheelchair with very little hope of recovery. But recover she did, and what produced her recovery was an experimental, systems-based approach that Dr. Wahls developed for herself. It combined a specialized paleo-inspired nutrition program with other functional medicine and lifestyle interventions — all aimed at healing her brain and nervous system, nourishing her mitochondria and rebuilding her physical resilience. Today...2020-06-301h 09The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 109: Health Transformation with Dr. Frank Lipman This week on The Living Experiment, our guest is Dr. Frank Lipman, one of the world's leading integrative physicians, a thought leader and innovator in the realm of disease reversal, and the author of a bunch of books, including his most recent, How to Be Well: The 6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life. Frank Lipman, MD, is best known for helping high-profile celebrity clients — like Gwyneth Paltrow — reverse stubborn and mysterious health problems. But his real passion is educating regular people about what they can do to intervene in their own health conditions, and helping them upgr...2020-05-061h 04The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 108: Functional Medicine with Dr. Jeff Bland This week on The Living Experiment we have an extraordinary guest, functional medicine pioneer Dr. Jeffrey Bland. Dr. Bland is something of an international legend in functional medicine circles. A preeminent scientist dedicated to systems thinking, and a thought leader intent on transforming health care as we know it. Dr. Bland is a former biochemistry professor who once served as director of nutritional research at the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. He worked directly with Pauling, a two-time Nobel laureate, and considers him a mentor. Dr. Bland is also the principal author of more than 120...2020-04-141h 00The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 107: The 4 Season Solution This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Dallas’s new book, The 4 Season Solution, which is now available in bookstores everywhere! In addition to recapping the central themes of the book, and hearing about the response it has gotten from early readers, we talk about the relevance of the book’s themes to the challenges so many of us are facing now. We explore the overall importance of seasonal living in relation to good health. And we also consider how incorporating season-appropriate adjustments can support the reversal of chronic conditions and diseases — by lowering inflamma...2020-03-131h 01The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 106: Chronic Disease ReversalThis week on The Living Experiment we're talking about chronic disease reversal. Over the past decade there's been an emerging clinical awareness, with increasing research support, that many diseases we've been told are progressive and incurable can in fact often be turned around — or at least significantly ameliorated — through systems-based functional and lifestyle medicine strategies. So here, Dallas and Pilar explore the approaches that are proving most successful in interrupting the chronic inflammatory processes involved in most chronic conditions. We highlight the exciting progress being made by leading practitioners who are disrupting the status quo and moving beyond conventional dise...2020-02-1843 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 105: Biometric Devices This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about biometric devices — the appeal these fascinating little gadgets hold and the distractions they can present. From Fitbits and Apple Watches to Muse Headbands and Oura Rings, we evaluate the ways knowing more about our own biomarkers and daily patterns can help us become better stewards of our bodies and minds. We explore how increasing use and dependence on these devices is affecting us all, and how their trending adoption is influencing our culture. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you become more conscious of the signal...2019-12-2043 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 104: Trauma 2 This week on The Living Experiment, we're talking, once again, about trauma - this time with internationally renowned trauma expert Dr. James Gordon. Pilar talks with Dr. Gordon about his new book, The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma, about how we tend to get stuck in traumatic experiences of all sorts, and how we can get ourselves out. Get full show notes and resources at http://livingexperiment.com/trauma-2/ 2019-11-2949 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 103: Love This week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Love — the romance, the heartbreak, the profound sense of connection that most of us are after. Both our desire for love and our struggles to navigate it are some of the biggest opportunities we have for growth, and for stress, both of which can have huge impacts on our health and happiness. So in this episode, we talk about how our childhood experiences help form our adult romantic patterns, about the dramas of first love, and about what both of us have learned as we’ve moved throug...2019-11-121h 00The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 102: Trauma 1 This week on The Living Experiment Pilar interviews a very special guest, clinical therapist and author Resmaa Menakem. We're talking about trauma, the effect it has on us as individuals, and also the impact it has on us in groups and as members of society. Resmaa's most recent book, My Grandmother's Hands, explores themes of ancestral and racialized trauma, topics informed by his personal and familial experiences, as well as his professional clinical expertise. Resmaa's insights are also informed by a broad array of cross-cultural explorations, including two tours in Afghanistan as a military contractor. Resmaa's teachings...2019-10-301h 38The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 55 (Rerun): AutumnLast week, after nearly a year away working on our books, Dallas and Pilar returned with a brand new "We're Back" episode of The Living Experiment. Soon, we'll be back again with a second new episode of the season. But in the meantime, by popular demand, we wanted to bring you a replay of our "Autumn" episode. This is the final installment in a series of episodes we’ve built around Dallas’s Seasonal Model of Health, which is also the topic of his forthcoming book, The 4 Season Solution. If you’ve listened to the other episodes in this series...2019-10-2157 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 101: We're BackThis week on The Living Experiment, we return from a nearly one-year recording hiatus with a report from the outer limits of book writing and creative life. Dallas unpacks the contents of his forthcoming title, The 4 Season Solution. And Pilar reflects, with unexpected emotion, on both the final push to turn in her book, The Healthy Deviant AND one of her most intense years on record. We both share some of the insights and appreciations that have come to us while we’ve been away, and of course, we offer you some experiments designed to help you take stock of...2019-10-091h 17The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 2 (Rerun): Healthy vs. HotHappy Spring, everybody! It's that time of year when our bodies come out of hiding, and when it seems like everybody has a plan for improving them. Bikini body workouts, beach-ready diets, perfect tan tips, the whole bit. So we thought that this might be a good time to roll out our "Healthy vs. Hot" episode. If you're at all inclined to feel like your body is not living up to external expectations, even when you feel healthy overall, we think you might find this one thought-provoking and helpful. Check it out, let us know what you think, and...2019-04-1252 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 42 (Rerun): Intimacy and ConnectionThis week on The Living Experiment, in celebration of Valentine's Day, we bring you a replay of the third in a series of four special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For more background on this series, check out the introduction to the first Lafayette Morehouse episode, "Resistance to Pleasure". In this episode, Pilar talks to teaching trio Judy St. John, Colin Selig and Janet Ribaldi about Intimacy and Connection - our human longing for it, the fears and social programming that get in the way, and the steps we can take to create the deeper...2019-02-1436 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 17 (Rerun): WinterEvery season has its gifts, but we live in a culture that prefers to celebrate the bright, "go-go" energy of summer. Without the haven of a winter recovery cycle to replenish us, though, we get depleted, overstimulated, and overwhelmed. So in this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we talk about the important and under-appreciated aspects of the winter season. We explain how you can observe its traditions by strategically adjusting your mindset, sleep schedule, food, fitness activity, and more. Drawing on ancient wisdom and modern-day science, we suggest some experiments to he...2019-02-011h 00The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 22 (Rerun): New YearThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about the concept of the New Year — from meaningless consumer hype to contemplative pursuits that really can make a difference. We explore the potential pros and cons of leveraging the New Year as an opportunity for self-improvement, and we share the approaches we like best for pursuing change in our own lives. From expert theories of change to the awkward realities of working on a goal that eludes you, we take a thoughtful look at New Year's conventions, and we offer some experiments to help you establish a...2018-12-271h 02The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 62 (Rerun): HolidaysThere’s so much merriment, so much anticipation, and yet … the holidays can also feel like a lot of pressure to perform, to conform, to consume. Here, we share our thoughts on navigating this season with your sanity and sense of inner peace intact. From challenging the shop-and-spend cycle, to speaking your truth without inciting unnecessary conflict, we advocate for creating a satisfying holiday experience — your way. And of course, we offer you some experiments to get you started in that direction, even as the holiday madness kicks into full swing. Get ful...2018-12-1139 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 100: BreakThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about taking a Break — the value of choosing to pause a project or commitment, and the factors you might consider in doing so. We share the reasons, after 100 episodes, close to a million downloads, and 10 full seasons of live-and-in-person collaboration, we’re choosing to take a breather from our established recording schedule. We reflect on both the demands and rewards that have come along with co-producing this weekly podcast over the past three years. We also share a preview of the projects and priorities we’re...2018-11-0647 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 99: Healthy Deviance 2This week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Healthy Deviance (again!), so we’re calling this episode Healthy Deviance 2. First, we explore the evolution of Pilar's notion of Healthy Deviance, reflecting on how it has taken ahold and become part of a larger conversation about how to be a healthy, happy person in an often unhealthy, unhappy world. Next, after Dallas dashes off to catch his flight, Pilar breaks down some of the key concepts of her forthcoming book about Healthy Deviance, which has now found a publisher, and is scheduled to be publ...2018-10-301h 17The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 98: CopingThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about coping — the base level, essential things we do to get through our days, particularly when we’re under pressure and stress. In a world that can lead us to feel helpless, reactive, and overburdened, it’s important to have strategies for calming our nervous system, for managing our internal and external resources, and for creating a stable sense of center. So here, we talk about how we wade through the craziness of everyday life, and the fundamental skills we use to stay aware and resilient even in...2018-10-1655 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 97: Introvert ExtrovertThis week on The Living Experiment we're talking about Introverts and Extroverts — from the different ways these two distinct types show up in the world to the sometimes perplexing ways they can relate. In the process we unpack our own introverted and extroverted tendencies, and we share expert insights on what both these types have to share with, and learn from, each other. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you expand your own awareness of introvert-extrovert dynamics and how they might be showing up in your own life. Get full show no...2018-10-0846 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 96: MotivationThis week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Motivation — the force that gets us to do, accomplish, and change the things we want to. And the force that sometimes fizzles without our really understanding why. So here, we talk about the nature and source of motivation, and the art of cultivating it in the service of our highest goals. From the dynamics that cause us to procrastinate and avoid fulfilling ostensibly worthwhile commitments, to the science behind making change even when change is hard, we explore the realities of harnessing the willingness to do w...2018-10-021h 06The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 95: MeditationThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Meditation — its near-countless benefits for body and mind, and also the real and perceived barriers that keep many from embracing it. From the challenges of making space for a regular practice, to the frustration that can set in when we attempt to calm our chaotic minds, we talk about the block-and-tackle of meditation and the many forms it can take. We also share our own experiences with meditative practices and the benefits we've found in exploring and expanding them over time. Finally, we offer yo...2018-09-2557 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 94: EnneagramThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about the Enneagram — a personal wisdom tool that has been transforming lives and relationships for thousands of years. The Enneagram is generally thought of as a personality typing system, and it does sort people into 9 primary types, but it's different from other personality typing systems in a variety of important ways. The central aim of the Enneagram is to help people understand their own and others' deepest motivations. It helps us develop our central strengths while working around our most challenging and potentially self-destructive tendencies. On...2018-09-1849 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 93: Weight LossThis week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Weight Loss — the myths, the methods, and the massive struggle it represents for the majority of Americans today. Starting with our own frustration with the muddled messages often broadcast on this topic, we strive to set the record straight. From the madness of trying to control one’s weight through low-fat eating, calorie counting, and “portion control,” to the sensible strategies that work a whole lot better, we share what we know, and what we wish more people knew, about the keys to managing your weight in...2018-09-111h 11The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 92: QuittingThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Quitting — the importance of knowing when to do it, and the stigma that so often accompanies that decision. From jobs and relationships, to projects and attachments, we talk about both the pain and the relief of letting go of the things we once decided to pursue. And we point out that quitting needn’t represent a failure or a referendum on your value as a person. Dallas makes his case for becoming an “expert quitter,” and Pilar shares some of the biggest, baddest, most formative quitting e...2018-09-0445 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 91: Childless by ChoiceThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about being Childless by Choice. That’s a decision that an increasing number of people are making these days, so the assumption that any given person is hoping to someday "get married and have babies" is increasingly a questionable one. And yet, those who consciously decide not to have kids are often confronted by the judgment of others. From opinion leaders who argue that not having children is "selfish," to relatives who are counting on you to carry on the family line, there’s no shortage of reasons you mi...2018-08-2746 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 90: QuestionsThis week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Questions — the value of asking more of them, and the potential of making inquiry a regular life practice. Rainer Maria Rilke once advised a young poet to "live in the questions," and that advice can serve all of us. So here, we share the questions we’ve found most helpful in keeping us on a good path, as well as the questions that tend to get us in trouble. From the reality-challenging questions that define Byron Katie’s "The Work," to the Learner and Judg...2018-07-311h 01The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 89: SuicideThis week on The Living Experiment we’re talking about Suicide — the fact that it has become tragically more common in recent years, and some reasons we think that might be. We also talk about how we personally view suicide, and what we’ve learned about it in our own lives. We share expert insights about the signs that someone near you might be having suicidal thoughts, and what you can do if you have been experiencing those feelings yourself. We unpack some different viewpoints, and some suggestions for how to process the though...2018-07-2359 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 88: OrthorexiaThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Orthorexia — an eating disorder in which a person becomes so obsessed with what they think of as “healthy” eating that they over-limit their diet and become unhealthy as a result. Dedicated healthy eaters sometimes write off orthorexia as nonsense, seeing the diagnosis as just another way of marginalizing the sensible choices made by many not to consume certain types of foods they are sensitive to, or simply don’t want to eat. But as we share here, orthorexia is a real thing — definitely not your garden-variety pic...2018-07-1753 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 87: FatsThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Fats — the role they play in healthy eating, and the fact that a lot of what we've been told about them is all wrong. From the healthy fats your body probably needs more of, to the inflammatory fats it most definitely does not, we share what we know about America's most misunderstood macronutrient. We explain why low-fat diets are generally not helpful for weight loss, and why saturated fats are not the dietary evil you've been led to believe. We look at the fascinating ro...2018-07-091h 12The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 86: SupplementsThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Supplements — why you can’t rely on pills and powders for all your nourishment, and why you still might want to take some anyway. We cover the value that both multis and targeted nutrients can have in filling dietary gaps, and why what works for your friend or partner might not work for you. We both share the supplements we take (or don’t), and we offer you some recommendations on the supplements that most of the smart doctors and nutrition pros we know suggest as basic...2018-07-0352 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 85: Imposter SyndromeThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Imposter Syndrome — that disconcerting sense you may not be entirely worthy or qualified to be doing whatever it is you are doing, and that accompanying sense of dread that it’s just a matter of time before everybody else figures that out. Imposter syndrome is a well-recognized phenomenon that affects almost all of us at one time or another, and it can be a significant source of chronic stress. So here, we talk about our own personal experiences with imposter syndrome. We also share what we’ve l...2018-06-2550 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 84: How We See The WorldThis week we’re talking about How We See the World. This episode started out as an answer to a listener question — and then morphed, evolving into a big rambling conversation about hope and doubt, energy and attention, agency and activism, and more. It became one of those conversations where you discover what you think and feel as you are saying it, and you have no idea what is going to come out of your own or the other person’s mouth until it does. It’s worth noting that within weeks of recording...2018-06-1953 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 83: Conscious Language 2This week on The Living Experiment, by listener request, we’re doing a special guest episode follow-up on the topic of Conscious Language, a subject we originally addressed way back in episode #66. Joining Pilar this week is Cat Thompson. She’s the teacher and friend who originally introduced Pilar to the study of Conscious Language. Conscious Language is about noticing and choosing your words with awareness. It’s also about recognizing that everything you say both reflects and influences your daily reality — your perspectives, beliefs, attitudes, energy, and intention. Here, Cat shares her expert insight...2018-06-1356 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 82: LibidoThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Libido — the nature of our drive for sensual and sexual contact, and the variables that can affect it, for better or for worse. We start from the assumption that a healthy libido means different things to different people, and that there is no "right" way to feel it, or do it. We explore some of the factors that influence libido, and the concerns that many people share about their own, from a lack or surplus of sexual desire to uncertainties about sexual performance. We t...2018-06-051h 12The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 81: Functional MedicineThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Functional Medicine — a systems-based approach to addressing the fundamental causes of disease and distress. Both of us have been immersed in the functional medicine movement for years — Dallas as a practitioner and Pilar as a health journalist — and we both see it as a science whose time has come. Here, we talk about what functional medicine is, and why this science- and lifestyle-based approach represents such an exciting evolution in healthcare. We touch on the tools, methods, and philosophy that make functional medicine so differe...2018-05-291h 29The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 80: This Messy Magnificent Life , Part 2This week on The Living Experiment, we bring you Part 2 of Pilar's conversation with New York Times best selling author and teacher, Geneen Roth. Geneen has been teaching and writing about conscious eating and living for the past 30 years. Her most recent book is This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide. Through keen observation, reflection, and some very funny asides, her work guides us to see our compulsions and self-sabotaging habits through more curious and self-compassionate eyes. It also helps us see the bigger picture of what we are doing here in the first place, and what...2018-05-011h 03The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 79: This Messy Magnificent Life, Part 1This week on The Living Experiment, while Dallas is off on adventures, Pilar has a very special guest: Geneen Roth. Geneen has written close to a dozen terrific books, including Lost and Found: One Woman's Story of Losing Her Money and Finding Her Life and When You Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull Up a Chair. She also teaches life-changing workshops all over the country. Most of Geneen's work explores the intricate, under-examined spaces between how we feel, think, act, and relate — to ourselves, to each other, and to the experience of being alive. In thi...2018-04-241h 04The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 78: ApologizingThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Apologizing — the reasons it’s worth doing, and the art of doing it well. We explore the value a good apology can have in healing conflict and shame, and the reasons our well-intended apologies sometimes don’t go as well as we’d like. We talk about the characteristics of good and not-so-good apologies, about private apologies and public ones. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you evolve your own apologetic skills and sensitivities in ways that work for you.2018-04-1759 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 77: FriendsThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Friends — not the kind we call “friends” social media, but the real, meaningful, human kind we connect with in person. The kind we care about deeply. The kind we count on for hugs, empathy, perspective, emotional support and fun. In a world where many of us feel painfully pressed for time, we’re barely connecting with our romantic partners and close family members, much less making time to forge and maintain meaningful connections beyond the walls of our own homes. So here, we talk about the difference...2018-04-1050 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 76: ReadingThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Reading — its potential for informing and enriching our lives, and its potential for becoming an escapist habit. In a world dominated by a non-stop stream of mass media and clickbait, is there still a place in our lives for real, deep, intentional reading? Is reading a paper book or long-form magazine article the same as reading on screen, or listening to books on tape? Has the ability to read, and ready deeply, become endangered in our culture? We address all these questi...2018-04-0349 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 75: DyingThis week on the Living Experiment, we’re talking about “Dying” — the fact that it’s something we’re all going to do, and the fact we tend to live in denial of that fact, often to our detriment. The age-old advice to live each day as though it was your last might be inspiring, but it is also rather impractical. The truth is, most of swerve back and forth between repressing all thought of death to being confronted by it, and then feeling — fleetingly, that it’s something we really ought to give more thought. So here, we dive i...2018-03-2759 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 74: NoiseThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Noise — its many sources, its surprising impacts, and the options we have for relating to it more consciously. From the difficulty of escaping noise in our modern environments to the effect it can have on our health, happiness, and quality of life, we talk about the underestimated toll that noise can take on our bodies and minds. We explore the important role quiet spaces have in supporting our wellbeing, and the opportunities we have for regulating the noise in our midst. Finally, we offer you...2018-03-2044 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 73: DatingThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Dating — it’s modern trials and tribulations, and the options we have for reclaiming it from the limiting realms of texting, swiping, and scrolling. In an era where face-to-face interaction is limited, and where an entire generation of people have lost track of real-life flirting, mingling, and conversational skills, many are bemoaning what they see as the sad state of dating, even as they are feeling constrained by its commoditizing conventions. So here, we make a case for challenging the superficial status quo, and for making r...2018-03-121h 16The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 72: AnxietyThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Anxiety — a condition that causes tens of millions of people to feel rattled by intrusive thoughts, oppressed by worries, or otherwise disquieted — sometimes to a disabling degree. These days, anxiety has surpassed depression as America’s number one mental health disorder. So here, we talk about a wide range of strategies proven to help, from nutritional interventions to self-calming techniques. We explore the underlying reasons anxiety is giving so many of us so much trouble. From the factors that have given rise to our high-stress...2018-03-061h 21The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 71: VacationThis week, on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Vacation — the benefits that regular breaks from work can have for our health, sanity and happiness, and the reality that most of us aren’t getting nearly enough of them. We look at some statistics that suggest many U.S. adults aren’t getting any paid vacation time, and many more aren’t making full use of the vacation time they have. We explore some of the reasons for that, as well the real costs to our health, wellbeing, and productivity. We also consider some...2018-02-0650 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 70: JudgmentThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Judgment — the critical opinions we hold about ourselves and others, and the sometimes scathing assessments we make as a result. From our natural tendency to disparage those who disagree with us, to the opportunities we miss when we make up our minds too quickly, we explore the territory between learning and judging, between connecting and distancing, between living in the questions and having all the answers. We suggest some ways of moving from self-righteousness belief toward open-minded inquiry, and we offer you some experiments to help you soften the judger within...2018-01-3057 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 69: ImpulseThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Impulse — that sudden urge to do or not do a given thing, and the ways such urges can take hold of us without our conscious permission. Whether from a hunger for excitement, or the depletion of our available willpower, our impulses can work against our healthy intentions, and against our better interests. They can also be a powerful indicator of how well we are coping with our current circumstances, and a barometer of our overall resilience. Here, we talk about the variables that infl...2018-01-221h 08The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 68: DeclutteringOn this week’s special guest episode of The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Decluttering. This is a follow-up on our "Clutter" episode from earlier in the season, in which Pilar promised to consult her decluttering expert and Feng Shui-certified sister, Andrea, for some of her down-and-dirty practical tips. Here, Andrea shares essential guidance on how to turbo-charge your decluttering projects, and how to avoid getting bogged down or overwhelmed in the process. Andrea has been a pro declutterer for decades. She regularly consults and teaches workshops on the topic, and she’s the feat...2018-01-161h 05The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 67: Purpose vs PleasureThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Purpose vs. Pleasure — the apparent tensions that exist between our pursuit of those aims, and the ways they can live in harmony. We offer philosophical and biological insights on the roles that both purpose and pleasure have in guiding human experience. We share how we’ve come to discern the difference between cravings and longings while honoring the real value of both. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you find the proper place for purpose and pleasure in your own life. P.S...2018-01-091h 03The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 66: Conscious LanguageThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Conscious Language — the art of refining your words to reflect your higher choices, and the value of becoming more aware of how your verbal expressions both reflect and create your reality. From the surprising power of key words and declarations, to the value of saying more of what you mean and less of what you don’t, we explore the ways language defines our experience, and how it shapes our connections with each other. We also offer you some experiments to help you become more consci...2018-01-021h 08The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 65: Eating MeatThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Eating Meat — the nutritional, ethical, and environmental questions that choice raises, and how we’ve come to our own answers. From the vegan-vs.-paleo propaganda to the disconcerting realities of factory farming, we consider both the pros and cons of meat consumption. We wade into some of the controversies and conundrums that polarize many well-intended eaters, and we shed light on some little-considered factors that we think deserve more attention. Finally, we offer you some experiments to help you explore on the question of how...2017-12-261h 26The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 64: ClutterThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Clutter — the oppressive burden all that excess stuff represents, and the some strategies for dealing with it constructively. We talk about clutter’s underlying causes and its real-life impacts. We explore some of its deeper meanings. And of course, we offer you some experiments to help you deal more consciously with the clutter that’s been collecting in your life. P.S. We also happily announce our new sponsorship by Experience Life magazine, and the special, discounted subscription offer and free e-newsletters now availabl...2017-12-1939 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 63: Sexual HarassmentUnwanted touches. Inappropriate jokes. Mortifying propositions. Depending on when and where they occur, they can all be forms of the abusive dynamic known as sexual harassment.. This week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about the recent spate of high profile sexual harassment revelations. We’re also talking about the much lower profile cases of sexual harassment that many of us have suffered — and witnessed — for as long as we can remember. We share our personal perspectives and experiences, including my own recent "hey-that's-my-thigh!" incident. We address the increasingly charged topic of physical contact and sexu...2017-12-121h 11The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 62: HolidaysThere’s so much merriment, so much anticipation, and yet … the holidays can also feel like a lot of pressure to perform, to conform, to consume. Here, we share our thoughts on navigating this season with your sanity and sense of inner peace intact. From challenging the shop-and-spend cycle, to speaking your truth without inciting unnecessary conflict, we advocate for creating a satisfying holiday experience — your way. And of course, we offer you some experiments to get you started in that direction, even as the holiday madness kicks into full swing. P.S. We...2017-12-0638 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 55: AutumnThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Autumn. This is the final installment in a series of episodes we’ve built around Dallas’s Seasonal Model of Health, and if you’ve listened to the others, you know they all include explorations of the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of the season. In this episode, we consider Autumn’s contracting energy. We look at how it encourages our bodies and minds to wind down the high energy of summer and, as Dallas puts it, "start coming home" for the winter to come. From sea...2017-09-2656 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 51: Winning CyclesThis week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the fourth and final episode in our special series featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For the background on this series, check out the introduction to Lafayette Morehouse Episode 1, on “Resistance to Pleasure.” In this episode, Pilar talks to teachers Boris Shekeloff and Sugar Goens-Baranco about a concept they call “Winning Cycles” — a friendly, productive way of asking for what you want, and of creating a positive experience for the other person in the process. A lot of the Morehouse philosophy focuses on creating and sustaining...2017-08-1636 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 49: SummerThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Summer — a season so full of potential, projects, and activities, it can leave you feeling exhausted. So in this episode, we talk about how to make the most of summer, while coming through it as healthy and happy as you want to be, and while setting yourself up for the fall season to come. Dallas shares wisdom drawn from his seasonal model of health, including tips for nutrition, fitness and sleep. Pilar offers a few summer insights for managing your physical and emotional energy. An...2017-08-0246 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 42: Intimacy and ConnectionThis week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the third in a series of four special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For more background on this series, check out the introduction to the first Lafayette Morehouse episode, "Resistance to Pleasure". In this episode, Pilar talks to teaching trio Judy St. John, Colin Selig and Janet Ribaldi about Intimacy and Connection - our human longing for it, the fears and social programming that get in the way, and the steps we can take to create the deeper sense of authentic connection that most of us...2017-06-1335 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 37: Win-Win RelatingThis week on The Living Experiment, we bring you the second in a series of four special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse. For more background on this series, check out the introduction to the first Lafayette Morehouse episode, "Resistance to Pleasure". In this episode, Pilar talks to Morehouse teachers Sugar Goens-Baranco and Boris Sheckeloff about the concept of Win-Win Relating. The now popular term "win-win," as Sugar explains, was actually coined by her father — Morehouse founder Victor Baranco — back in the 1960s. And as you’ll learn, he used it to describe a dynami...2017-04-2543 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 34: SpringThis week on The Living Experiment, we’re talking about Spring — the essential nature of the season, and the shifts your body wants to make in keeping with it. In a continuation of Dallas’s Seasonal Model of Health, and the season-by-season series we started this winter, we talk about the value of adjusting your eating, activity, sleep and social activities in ways befitting spring. We also explore the energetic and psycho-emotional dynamics you might be noticing this time of year, plus some insights from Chinese Five-Element theory, and the value of integrating rather than fighti...2017-04-0440 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 32: Resistance to PleasureIt's high time we had a serious talk about pleasure. Because it can have a huge impact on your health. And well, it's fun! So this week on the podcast, we're bringing you the first in a series of special guest episodes featuring teachers from Lafayette Morehouse, an intentional community founded in 1968 with the goal of maximizing the potential of its members, and on having life be, in their words, "as much fun as possible." One fundamental principle of Morehouse teachings is that they don't prescribe solutions or try to fix anybody (they think you're p...2017-03-2137 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 31: Saying NoThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about Saying No, that magical word that can set you free – or feel like a one-way ticket to a guilt trip that will never end. Whether it's declining a request or rejecting an offer, the discomfort we feel in saying no — or feeling that we can't — is an immense source of stress for a great many of us. It's also a necessity that none of us can avoid. So how can we get better at managing our authentic "nos" more consciously, and saying them with more clarity and conviction? How can we...2017-03-0738 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 28: Healthy DevianceThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about one of Pilar's all-time favorite topics: Healthy Deviance. It's a favorite because it's the subject of the book she's writing, and also an idea at the core of the work she's been doing for the past 15 years or so — including this podcast! So, what does it mean to be a healthy person in an unhealthy culture? What's required of us, and what's available to us, when we choose to reject the norms of a society that's making a lot of us sick and unhappy a lot of the tim...2017-02-1451 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 27: FastingThis week we're talking about fasting, the power of periodically foregoing food, and the significant health benefits that can proceed from doing it intelligently. Pilar shares what led her to embark on a seven day, medically-supervised water fast (yes, she consumed nothing but water for seven days, and lived to tell about it!). And Dallas shares what he knows about the increasingly popular intermittent fasting phenomenon. We talk about the potential pros and cons of fasting, and why it's not for everybody. We wind up with fasting experiments and suggestions you can try on your own, and offer up...2017-02-071h 33The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 25: Masculine and FeminineThis week on The Living Experiment, in what Dallas calls our "most terrifying episode" to date, we're talking about the qualities of masculinity and femininity. What does it mean to be masculine or feminine, and how do these traits both limit and empower us? We wade into this delicate topic in an effort to explore the rich territory of gender-associated characteristics and the complex relationships between them. We share our own experiences with masculine/feminine dynamics and we offer you some trait-related experiments to help you explore them in your own life. "Masculine and Feminine"...2017-01-241h 09The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 24: BusyBusy is the new black — and none of us are wearing it well. We're all over-scheduled, under-rested, rushing and running on empty most of the time. It's costing us in ways most of us don't even recognize. So this week on The Living Experiment, we talk about the epic burdens of busyness, and how we can get out from under them. We offer suggestions for reclaiming your margins and for managing your energy (rather hyper-controlling every last minute of your time). And we suggest some experiments to help you restore spaciousness and sanity in your life. "Busy" Episo...2017-01-1754 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 23: What Now?The start of a new year is a great time to re-evaluate and adjust the way you are spending your time and energy. So this week on The Living Experiment, we pull back the curtain on how we are doing that with one project in particular: the podcast itself. As a way of modeling a reflective and strategic process you can use in your own life, we discuss our original goals and intentions in doing the show, where we feel like we're on course, and where we feel we're losing steam or burning valuable time and energy (most...2017-01-101h 03The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 22: New YearFor many of us, the New Year is a fresh start, an opportunity to get a new outlook on life. This week on The Living Experiment, we talk about the nature of the New Year experience, from the "New You!" media frenzy to the tradition of setting goals and resolutions, to the value of investigating the motivation behind those desires. We share our favorite approaches for pursuing change in our own lives, and explore expert theories about why your goals may be eluding you. "New Year" Episode Highlights The New Year holiday as the caboose on th...2017-01-031h 02The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 21: Health MediaIt's hard to know what to believe. Online, in print, via TV and radio broadcast, the health media delivers a lot of mixed messages and downright confusing data. And as corporate interests increasingly shape and influence content streams, the more challenging it becomes to discern fact from profit-driven fiction. This week on The Living Experiment, we explore some of the dynamics that undermine accurate health-media coverage, and offer suggestions on how to navigate this often disorienting territory. We also suggest some experiments to help you become a better informed and more empowered media consumer. "Health Media" Episode Hig...2016-12-121h 11The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 20: Eating OutEating out offers many potential benefits – tasty food, fun with friends, and a break from cooking – but it can also lead to pitfalls for your well-being. This week on The Living Experiment we unpack the challenges of eating out, including the hidden world of food suppliers, cuisines built for profit rather than health, and misconceptions about gluten-free menus. We provide suggestions for taking command in making educated food choices – how to identify restaurants that value good food sourcing and think outside the box when ordering from a menu. To make eating out a life-giving experience, we offer experiments that encour...2016-12-0557 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 19: MansplainingThis week on The Living Experiment, we're talking about "mansplaining" — that dynamic where men sometimes explain things to women in condescending, clueless, or less-than-respectful ways. Perhaps a man persists in explaining something that a woman already knows. Perhaps he talks over her attempts to express her own point of view. Or perhaps he holds forth in some way that generally does not honor his listener as an equal. Mansplaining has become a popular term and a hot topic over the past few years, and because it's such an common source of stress and strife in our world...2016-11-2849 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 18: CoffeeWe are big fans of coffee. We dig its flavor, its aroma, its health benefits, its feel-good buzz. We also know it's easy to overdo, particularly when we're rushed, stressed and depleted — which is precisely when all that caffeine is most apt to do us biochemical harm. In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we look at both the upsides and downsides of coffee, explaining how it affects both your body and brain from the moment you take a sip. We suggest ways to fine tune your coffee selection and habits, and offer our thoughts on the pros and...2016-11-2155 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 17: WinterEvery season has its gifts, but we live in a culture that prefers to celebrate the bright, “go-go” energy of summer. Without the haven of a winter recovery cycle to replenish us, though, we get depleted, overstimulated, and overwhelmed. So in this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we talk about the important and under-appreciated aspects of the winter season. We explain how you can observe its traditions by strategically adjusting your mindset, sleep schedule, food, fitness activity, and more. Drawing on ancient wisdom and modern-day science, we suggest some experiments to help you make the most of winter...2016-11-1459 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 16: ShameShame is universal. It touches every age, gender, and ethnicity — from a child who wets the bed to a presidential candidate who is caught off guard in a debate. Shame operates at your core, often playing out in a debilitating combination of aggression, withdrawal, and perfectionism. But how can you address shame if you have difficulty acknowledging or talking about it? In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we discuss shame openly, flushing it out of hiding and into the light of day. We talk about where shame comes from, how men and women feel it differently, and how it...2016-11-071h 13The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 15: SittingSitting on our butts — it's something most of us do for hours on end. We sit at our desks and in meetings. We sit while parked in front of screens at home. We sit while eating, drinking and socializing. We sit while driving cars and riding in planes and trains and — well, pretty much everywhere, most of the time. Given how much of our lives we spend sitting, it’s worth knowing how it affects our bodily systems — not just our musculoskeletal health, but our metabolism, biochemistry, and more. One expert quoted in The Washington Post asserts that...2016-10-3139 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 14: Creativity vs. ConsumptionWe live in a culture that encourages us to consume far more than we create. That's a dynamic that directly undermines both our health and happiness. Learn why, and how you can achieve a more empowering balance. Creativity — whether preparing a delicious meal or exchanging witty banter with an old friend — can bring deep satisfaction. Consumption — whether enjoying a fine wine or a riveting Game of Thrones episode — can also be a delightful experience. But when creativity- and consumption-based pleasures get out of balance in our lives, our health and happiness start to suffer. Giving without receivin...2016-10-2445 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 13: PooFrom a health perspective, what comes out of your body is every bit as important as what goes in. So we think it's high time we gave poo the respect it deserves. Look, we know, it's an awkward topic. And that's why it's so rarely discussed among friends, lovers and family members, or even with health care professionals. The problem is, when we don't talk about it, we don't learn about it. And when we don't learn about something as important as healthy digestion and elimination, we get into serious trouble. That's why mor...2016-10-1743 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 12: EnoughCan you ever have “enough” — money, time, energy, love? Do you trust that you will have enough in the future? Do you believe you are enough, right now, just as you are? Your answers to those questions can have a profound influence on your health and happiness. In this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we examine the opposing mentalities of scarcity and abundance. We explore how they affect our experiences in the present moment, and how they can impact our future. Research suggests that worrying about "not enough" — or even focusing on on imaginary "not e...2016-10-1152 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 11: Paleo vs. PrimalIn this week’s episode of The Living Experiment, we dig into the fundamentals of Paleo and Primal eating approaches — their origins, similarities, and differences, plus practical steps for integrating them into the way you eat today. We also examine the modern nutritional reductionism that led us to think about food as merely a sum of its parts (macronutrients, calories, and so on) rather than considering the value and integrity of whole foods in their natural state. In addition to evaluating the differences between Paleo and Primal dietary strategies, we explore their key principles in the context of...2016-10-031h 00The Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 10: Top 10 Health BiggiesWrapping up our successful first season, we offer a big picture view of what we see as the top 10 fundamentals of healthy, happy living, and how they fit into five key domains of wellbeing. We point out some of the essential connections between all these considerations, and we explain why each of them matters — especially those elements commonly overlooked or underemphasized by the conventional media. If you’re looking for a quick tour of what healthy living looks and feels like, you’ve come to the right place. Episode Highlights: Pilar outlines five dimensions of health and he...2016-09-1946 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 9: Fitspo 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 exp...2016-09-1232 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 8: AddictionOn 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...2016-09-0548 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 7: Pause 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 infl...2016-08-2950 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 6: Travel 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 condi...2016-08-2259 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 5: Seasons 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 ca...2016-08-1551 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 4: Morning 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...2016-08-0849 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 3: Lonely 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 shar...2016-07-3159 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 2: Healthy vs. Hot 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...2016-07-3152 minThe Living Experiment: Rethink Your Choices. Reclaim Your Life.Episode 1: FreakCan 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 y...2016-07-3154 min