
Loading summary
A
Oh, hey, welcome to gift wrapping. Whoa.
B
So is Saldana.
A
Hey, can you wrap these please? Wow.
B
IPhone 17s.
A
You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone. I'm the worst.
B
I only got my mom a robe.
A
Well, it's better than socks.
B
So I have to trade in my old phone, right?
A
No AT T Mobile. There's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift. Incredible. In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my aunt Rosa. Forget that. Aunt Liz will be jealous. Sounds like my family drama. Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going? To T Mobile.
B
The holidays are better. AT T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No trade in needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and 4 eligible board ins on essentials for well qualified customers bought or.
A
Pay plus taxes fees and $35 device.
B
Connection charge credits and depends balance due. If you pay off early or cancel, contact US Finance Agreement. 256GB. $830 required.
A
Visit T mobile.com okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first. There last one. Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes. They go to a crumble cookie or McDonald's after church. That is not much different than going to a liquor store or even going to a strip club. All of our ancestors died at age 30. That's not true at all. That is just data that is skewed because western medicine is amazing. It's a godsend.
B
If you're watching or listening to this right now, this means this is your sign to come to the Bryce Crawford Live podcast store in 2026. We're bringing it to New Zealand and America at the front end of 2026. We're coming to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia. We're coming to Auckland, New Zealand, Phoenix, Arizona, New York City, Pennsylvania, Boston, Alabama, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, Sacramento, California, Los Angeles, California. And if you're a Mormon and you want to learn about Jesus and not Joseph Smith, we're going to be in Salt Lake City, Utah as well. A lot of them is sold out, but there's some that have low tickets and we want to make sure you get your seats. So go to jesusonthesthestreet.org tour, get your tickets, come out to the live podcast show, because I believe that God is preparing a word specifically for each city we visit. So go to jesusreet.org tour, get your tickets, and we'll see you guys in 2026 for the live podcast tour. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford Podcast. I'm Bryce, and today I am so excited. For today's guest, we have Santa Cruz Medicinals.
A
Let's go.
B
How you feeling, bro?
A
I'm feeling great. I'm so happy you're. You're in town. You're. You're not too far from me. So we're trying to make this happen, and I'm just really happy to be here.
B
Dude, I'm so glad you came on. Thanks for taking time. I. I was starting to tell you earlier. I'm. I'm currently in my fitness journey, about four and a half months in eating cleaner. My diet looks significantly better than it did before. Working out consistently, kind of creating these disciplines. And it's been. It's been so unique and so fun. And so I'm so glad that you're here.
A
Yes.
B
To kind of educate us and, and kind of dive into it, because I. I don't know a lot about health. I think it's easy to ignore it, and I think gluttony and dishonoring God with what you consume in your body and fitness and things like that is so neglected, ignored, misunderstood. And I just think you're an expert and passionate, and so I'm so, so pumped you're here, bro. Thanks for coming. Yeah.
A
I mean, we're going to give people a lot that they can take with them today and use. So there's going to be direct stuff that people, after listening to this podcast, will be able to turn the podcast off after it's done and go do action, like, take action on their body. And I think it's really interesting you say that, because one of the things that I'd also love to dive into is I just think we shouldn't, as Christians, as people who believe in God and Jesus, disrespect our own body. And I think there's lots of evidence in the Bible of that, and that's why I'm excited to talk to you and learn more about that. But that's been something. Health has been something that's been getting me back into my faith.
B
Wow.
A
And I think it's sort of unfortunate that we still have today. I was talking with a friend. And it's like, there's still people that leave church and they go to a crumble cookie or McDonald's after church. I want to get people today and convince them that that is not much different than going to a liquor store after church or even going to a strip club. I'm not. I'm not kidding. I think it should be viewed in a similar vein. Now, I'm not saying you. You can never eat McDonald's, you can never eat crumble cookie, but if you are someone who is not healthy or using it in a way where you are managing it, it's. It's very bad.
B
Wow. Okay. So that's. That was actually gonna be one of my first questions for you is. Growing up, I was never really a sweet eater. I never had the sweet tooth. My brother had the sweet tooth. So I never really. I never drank a lot of soda. I was mainly like a sweet tea guy every now and then, water and then would have a. Have something sweet once every now and then. As I got older, I started enjoying more things. But you're not saying that it's necessarily wrong to eat those things every now and then or. Or in maintenance, I guess you would say.
A
Yeah, I think it really depends on the person. So, like, we were. I was just telling you, we're at this crazy jiu jitsu event. There's these pro athletes there, and I was having a conversation with a pro UFC fighter, and he's like, hey, like, you know, I. I do like to have some sugar after I train. I'm like, that's totally fine. It's a different conversation Versus somebody who is 400 pounds, you know, and extremely overweight and putting their body and health at risk. Consuming sugar. You know, the traditional guidelines say something around 20 to 25 grams of processed sugar a day. You shouldn't get more than that. And people are going astronomically over that amount. And a really interesting thing. I mean, I. I've been getting back into my Bible.
B
Yeah.
A
People like you and Forest have really had me reopen my Bible, and we can get into that whole. That whole journey.
B
Yes.
A
But Corinthians 6, 19, 20. Use your body to honor God.
B
Yep.
A
So what are we really doing if we are disrespecting our body by being unhealthy? And that's why I want to see more healthy Christians. I think it should be a big thing. And then we get into sugar. Proverbs 25, 27 basically says, don't eat too much, honey. Don't eat too much Honey or always want praise. Now, honey is mentioned over 62 times in the Bible. I actually had you get me some, some honey.
B
Some raw honey.
A
Some raw honey. I think it's just an amazing food. But if we can extrapolate that to modern society, what would that really mean? Don't over consume honey.
B
Yeah.
A
Don't over consume sugar. Don't over consume things. And I think that's a huge problem we have in this country today.
B
I think so too. I think over consumption, like people going all in on the extremes, that's a, that's definitely a big problem. Like, I even subconsciously, like fell into. That was when I moved, when I got out of the amazing love and comfort of my home. And my mom's cooking, some nice Southern cooking. The green beans, the, the steak, the whole nine yards. And then I come and I don't know how to cook. It's easy for me to say, oh, I'm just gonna get canes twice a day, or, oh, I'm just gonna get this. This time's a day. And it wasn't until, seriously, I remember a year and a half I was in la. I looked at myself in the mirror one day when I was going to get in the shower and I almost wanted to cry. Not really out of insecurity, but it was just more of like a. I can't believe I've let myself look like this. I used, I wrestled for seven years. I shared that with you. I was in great shape even before I was a believer. And now as a believer, I started to realize kind of this idea that you're bringing to the table of, like, if I'm choosing to not honor God with what I eat and with fitness and with health, then I'm basically slapping God in the face and saying that I'm not grateful for the body he gave me.
A
Absolutely.
B
And so that's been kind of like my big wake up call. It's like, what does this look like? How do you do this? And even on the road, creating the discipline of like traveling a lot and going, okay, I need to eat right, I need to work out, I need to count my calories, my macros, my protein and like do that. And that's been a challenge, but it's been rewarding, you know? And so, man, I'm just, again, like, I'm, I'm super pumped about this. And I, I have a lot of people, I know that I'm excited for them to listen this.
A
Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, I really love how you just have a deep Knowledge of the Bible. And so I was like looking into a lot of these things before this episode. And discipline comes up a lot in the Bible. And I really think this is where people can start their fitness journey. If they're listening to this right now and they are overweight or they just are having some health issue, maybe it's a lack of energy or maybe they've been in shape like you have, and then they're like, I want to get back into shape. And a lot of it does come from discipline. And now one of the easiest things people can do to rewire that discipline and I talk about a lot is to have a brief morning routine. So, like, people need to wake up. And this is where prayer and gratitude can really be. It can be an amazing time to do that. Yeah. But also starting to get the body moving, getting outside, getting some sunlight and doing, I call 10 minute mobility routine is one of the best things you can do. So every single morning, I wake up and I hydrate, I do my prayer, I do my gratitude outside. I just get into my, you know, best self.
B
Yeah.
A
And then I go do my 10 minute mobility and stretching routine. And I've been doing that for over a decade.
B
No way.
A
Yeah. And it's one of the best things you can do because it just sets your day up.
B
And is your, is your, is your stretching? Like, is that. Is that just like you do the same stretches every day, just full body stretches? Do you do any, like that breathing stuff? Like, you know, Wim Hof, how he does those deep breathing? Do you ever do that stuff?
A
Yes, I have various breathing techniques that I practice and do to give people something usable today. In the morning, you could do some deep, hard breaths. In the morning. You want your cortisol to actually go up. People think of cortisol some bad thing in the morning, Your natural cortisol rhythm should rise and then fall throughout the day. So to tap into that in the morning, I do like to do some hard breaths, like to bounce around, do some mobility. I have the whole routine somewhere on my YouTube, but it's a variety of stretches and foam rolling and mobility routine that I've just kind of, you know, you're traveling a lot, you're sitting a lot, you're in planes, you're in, you know, planes, trains, automobiles, to spread the good word. So your hips are getting tight, your low backs getting tight, your shoulders are hunched forward. So I just sort of undo some of that in the morning and get to my best self. Whoa.
B
Yeah.
A
And then in the night I do a more calm, you know, stretching, mobility routine, maybe while I'm watching some TV with my wife. You know, it's just I'm chilling, and then through there before bed, I do relaxation breaths. And how you do that is you simply start to exhale longer than you inhale. So anybody can go on YouTube and type in 4, 7, 8 breathing. That's probably the most basic guided breathing there is to relax. That brings your heart rate down. And so when people have insomnia or they struggle with this stuff, I'm like, do 10 minutes of four, seven, eight breathing, where you're breathing in for four, you're holding for seven, you're breathing out for eight. That reliably brings your heart rate down. And then, you know, do your prayer. Keep artificial light low, and you'll see these things that people struggle with, like, insomnia go away.
B
Wow. Well, this. I'm. My brain is just in so many lessons right now.
A
I'm extremely passionate about all this stuff.
B
Well, bro, I think that's. I think that's the best. And I'm so excited. I think, man, whenever I think about Christianity, like, yes, it's spiritual. We believe in a cosmic God who created everything that exists outside of time and space. But something like honoring God with your body takes a lot of practical action steps.
A
Yes.
B
So I love that this episode's gonna have a lot of practical stuff. And before you were coming on, when I was looking into gluttony in particular in the Bible, it's oftentimes associated with idolatry. And I don't think people realize that when they're dishonoring God with their body that they're actually worshiping the very thing that they're dishonoring God with their body with. So if I'm dishonoring God with my health, then I'm worshiping the food that I'm eating because I'm turning to it for comfort. I'm turning it for satisfaction. And. And, you know, I remember the first month of my health journey when I began to eat clean. I. I didn't eat, like. I didn't eat any, like, sort of carb. I don't know if that was good or bad, but I was just eating, like, meat and veggies, basically. Grilled chicken, veggies, whatever. After the first month, I had my first bite of a sweet something.
A
Yeah.
B
And it messed me up.
A
Yep.
B
And then I remember I had my first day or two that I got out of my workout rhythm when I was traveling and just crazy sleep schedule and it was once I was healthy, my body hurt when I wasn't being healthy, but my body got so acclimated to the unhealthy lifestyle and the processed food I was eating that after. I mean, yet it. It sucked the first month getting it out of my body.
A
Yeah.
B
But then when I even just got out of the routine, like, oh, I didn't run one day. Yeah. My body, like, I didn't feel right. And now it's become this weird thing where it's like, if I don't work out or run or do my routine, like, I bet you you've been doing it for a decade. If you miss a breathing or stretching, bro, I bet your body feels so weird.
A
Yeah.
B
But it's crazy because that was an indicator going, this is how I was designed. I was designed to glorify God with my body in a healthy way. I was designed to do that. So, like, let's. Let me zoom out for a minute for you. Like, where. Where are you from? Where'd you grow up? Have you always been passionate about health? Like. Like, let us dive into that.
A
Absolutely. So I grew up in the Bay Area, California. I grew up in Palo Alto and then moved to Santa Cruz eventually. And that's why the company is called Santa Cruz Medicinals. Started it there. And we have the other company, Santa Cruz Paleo. So that's the name.
B
And what's the difference between the two?
A
Medicinal. Yeah. Santa Cruz Medicinal is just overall the brand name. And then Santa Cruz Paleo is like, are the name of the products and brand on Amazon.
B
Nice. Got you.
A
But the page is Santa Cruz Medicinals. Yep. And I have sort of always been into health. You know, I played sports growing up, and so I was always interested in health. And it's so funny, man. I mean, I'm getting more into my faith lately, but yeah, grew up going to church. My parents brought me to church, and eventually I just, you know, rebelled teenager and just stopped going to church. I don't want to go. This is stupid. This is boring. I'm not going. I don't like the people there. I hang out with other people. And in high school, I definitely. Towards the later years of high school, I struggled with a lot of things. I've talked about it a lot. Some drug addiction, a lot of alcohol use. We just was in a group of friends who. We grew up really fast.
B
Yeah.
A
You know, and around that time, I lost two really close friends in high school. And luckily from there, I mean, this one girl who sadly took her own life. I was close With. And my friend was really close so that he was dating her. Shortly after that, he died of a drug overdose. So one, two, they die like very fast. The girl's mom did an open casket funeral and she basically sat us there. And her purpose of doing that was like, this is the path you are going down. I know this is brutal, but I want you guys to go look at Sarah Riojas one last time. And this is. She was. And that was one of the most beneficial things ever, in a way, because I did stop that behavior from there.
B
That was. That was the thing that kind of initiated the train.
A
Stopped doing drugs after that. I mean, you know, college, little. Little weed, little alcohol, stuff like that. But it really caused this sort of end of that for me, luckily. And then I really started to get obsessed with health after I Went to St. Mary's College in the East Bay for one year. Ended up dropping out of there. Just still like kind of going through stuff, traveled a little bit. And I went back to college and went to UC Santa Cruz and I started getting my degree in anthropology. And at this time, I would say with faith, I was. I was like, I believe in God, I do believe in Jesus. But I was getting really into science. I mean, I was getting going into anthropology, where you study the history of the world. And I was really into medical anthropology, study some science stuff, some public health stuff. So I think you probably encounter this a lot where people want to have this idea of science, right?
B
Yeah.
A
So this is the way the world works. So how can you explain these supernatural things? Yeah, Jesus came back from the dead. Well, science wouldn't say that. Right. So I do believe in God. I believe. You know, I'm not like full atheist at this time. I'm like, how can this even work?
B
Yeah.
A
And then through anthropology. It's funny how it works. I was taking a class and you really dive into the actual history of Jesus and you see some of these things where there's real historical evidence. And a professor in one of my classes said something very interesting. We're having a conversation about Jesus. And he was like, there is not any anthropologist or historian that is legit that thinks Jesus did not exist. And so that got me really interested, like, okay, like, maybe I need to dive deeper, deeper into this.
B
Yeah.
A
So that's kind of the. Some of the journey I've been on the last couple years of diving back in Nice, I'd say. And as far as health goes, you learn where we came from as Homo sapiens, you learn sort of how we're supposed to live, you learn about all these beautiful tribes across the world. You know, hunter gather tribes that still exist today. And while they have their issues, almost all of them have amazing health. So they don't struggle with obesity, diabetes. The rates of depression and anxiety are extremely low. Some of them don't have a word for insomnia. We just did a piece on this island, Kitava, where this anthropologist spent time and his thing was skin health. He worked with some dermatologists. They don't have a word for acne. So these, these conditions that plague our society. Yeah. Plague our study. Sometimes they do not have a word for it. And people will try to pooh, pooh this and say, but all of our ancestors died at age 30. That's not true at all. That's like one of the day one anthropology lessons. That is just data that is skewed because western medicine is amazing. It's a godsend.
B
Yeah.
A
We have figured out a lot of things and infant mortality and stuff like that is high in a lot of these tribes. So the real way is once you actually get past 10, 12, 13, 14 years old, oftentimes these hunter gatherer tribes, they'll live to 75, 80 years old. In some areas, like traditional Japan, some of the blue zones commonly to 100 years old.
B
Yeah.
A
So that's amazing. There is real health. And when you blend those two, a little bit of western medicine with our ancestral wellness and stuff, we know.
B
Yeah.
A
You can experience perfect health.
B
Whoa. Yeah. I remember seeing a video one time on like tick tock of this like tribe chewing on like, it kind of looked like bamboo, but it cleaned their teeth.
A
Oh yeah.
B
And they just had like great teeth.
A
Yeah.
B
But they were some like random wild tribe. And I was like, what in the world? Yeah, that's so interesting. That's not the first time I've heard that either about, about other societies and cultures not having words or like things not existing over there. And a lot of it kind of honing back in on the food.
A
Yeah.
B
Which is interesting. And you said earlier, you said that the food that the health has kind of pointed you back to faith a little bit. Like kind of. How so?
A
In so many ways. So one of the main things I was just talking, one of my buddies about is I was on a plane years ago trying to read this deep book on mitochondrial health, Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. And it honestly confusing stuff. This book was very difficult. The guy who wrote this is obviously an insanely high level specialist.
B
Yeah.
A
In this book, bro, he writes I was an atheist. I did not believe in any religion whatsoever. Since understanding this, his PhD and stuff, he's won awards. He goes around and give lectures and give me chills. I'm getting chills right now. He writes a whole section of the book about how he now has given his life to God and Jesus because his understanding of the mitochondria. He says there is no way scientifically, if you want to say there's no way that this. There's not intelligent design here in something above what we understand. Yeah. So that caused him to. To really look more into his faith and in his religion. And so I think we see a lot of that sort of happening. Hi, Moses. You're so cute. You know, Andrew Huberman has a viral clip right now. Stanford neurobiologist. Yeah, same thing. He's like, yeah, once. Once you understand a lot of this stuff, you start to really think like, there's no way.
B
Yeah.
A
There's no way. There's not something bigger than us play here.
B
Yeah. My biology teacher, one of the first things he taught us my freshman year of high school. Do you know about mitochondrial Eve? Do you know about that? Every human being shares 99.98% of the same mitochondrial DNA.
A
Wow.
B
So that means that every human being mitochondrial DNA comes from your mother. So somewhere in the family tree, we have to have a relative that we stem from that we receive the mitochondrial DNA from. And so they call it mitochondrial Eve because Adam and Eve stemming from the garden, kind of being the forefront of the human race. And so that got my wheels turning right there for sure. And he even. He encouraged me so much because unfortunately my biology teacher's wife had passed away to cancer. And this was one of the questions I wanted to ask you. He believed that through your diet, you could cure cancer and end cancer. Do you believe you can cure cancer through what you eat?
A
So it really depends on the type of cancer and what's going on there. We had an oncologist named Dr. Connealy. She has an amazing clinic over there in Orange County. When anybody close to me mentions that they have somebody dealing with cancer, I say, please, if you can. If you can't afford it. Unfortunately, this medical system is very expensive and tough. Go there. Use her as a resource. She has a book, amazing book. Dr. Connealy. She uses a multitude of modalities to treat cancer. So the way that medicine is going to go and a lot of people can actually take advantage of this, like now, is if she gets somebody into her office, it's treated differently. Like western medicine will. And she'll sometimes use chemo. She's not like, you know.
B
Yeah.
A
Not using modern technology.
B
Yeah.
A
But it will be a litany of lab tests. So she'll do a GI map test, figure out what's going. Your gut microbiome. She'll do a whole hormone panel, figure out what's going on. You're so. You're so sweet. Aren't you the sweetest little, little dog. I love it.
B
He loves.
A
And she'll basically run all these lab tests that unfortunately the insurance model of healthcare won't run. And you can really figure out what's going on in somebody's body. So do you have mold toxicity? Do you have a parasite in your gut? Do you have a lack of good bacteria in your gut? You can see this stuff. And unfortunately, western medicine is not catching a lot of that. So she has some amazing stories of somebody coming in, they're getting cancer over and over again. And they'll run, for example, organic acids test, it's called. And they'll see you have Lyme disease and a bunch of mold spores basically living in you. They'll get rid of that, the cancer goes away.
B
Whoa.
A
And the traditional medicine, it's not their fault. It's not like doctors out there are bad people. They're amazing people. But we have this insurance model of healthcare. So the problem is if I, let's say I'm your doctor, you come in, you're using your insurance to go and talk to me, and you go, you know what? I'm feeling okay, but I got some gut issues. Just like minor, just like, don't feel perfect. The doctors and I say, okay, they might give you some advice here and there, but they're not going to run the state of the art GI map test where you do a full sequencing of your gut microbiome. If I as a doctor gave you that, I could get sued.
B
Why?
A
I just gave a healthy. How old are you?
B
21.
A
I just give a healthy 21 year old a GI map test and build insurance. That's fraud. That's medical fraud. It's not in their lexicon of being able to give that to you. Whoa. Okay. And so now what happens is, let's say you have something that's very common that shows up on that GI map test. Just came up for a friend and we had it treated, called H. Pylori. This is a bacteria that lives in a lot of people's gut. When it gets too out of control, it can cause gut issues. Yeah, well, we know what happens when H. Pylori goes untreated? This leads to ulcers. What happens when those go untreated? You get stomach cancer. So the problem with the medical system today is you'll have people going in way too late. You'll have an ulcer.
B
Wow.
A
And it's too late a lot of times. So I'm just trying to really get the word out about health because I feel like a lot of the stuff can be caught early. And when people are young and get into it.
B
Yeah, they're golden. Wow. Dude, that's so interesting. So why does she get away with it? Why does she get away with the blood tests? And, like, the average doctor doesn't.
A
It's billed out of pocket. It's unfortunate. And this is the thing. I do a good amount of content about the functional.
B
Oh, wait, that's why she does this, because she's not charging the insurance.
A
Yeah. She's not billing insurance. Gotcha. Okay. So, like, already, unfortunately, healthcare has sort of started to have a split between the elite and the poor. And this is just a fact. And I'm so willing to talk about it, because I don't care. It helps people. It's not like I sell any of these tests or do any of this. I just tell people what's out there. If you have, you know, five grand to spend, you can go get so many lab tests done, interpret the results with a functional medicine doctor, and they will put you on, most likely herbal and supplement and diet protocols, and. And you can retest, and you will solve health issues that you never even thought possible.
B
I've heard that my life coach even told me about that because I. When I was three months into my health journey, and then I got sick for an entire month, got sick for two weeks, was healthy for like, a few days, and got sick again. And he was just like. He literally told me about that. You can pay for blood tests and then the doctor will create. Basically create supplement or medication.
A
Yeah.
B
For your specific blood issues, which is wild to me.
A
That's.
B
That's pretty crazy.
A
It is crazy.
B
So. So there's one of my favorite videos of you, which I just think is funny. I think it's funny is you paying people a hundred dollars not to eat crumble cookie.
A
Yep.
B
Where did that come from? Why are you paying people not to eat crumble cookie?
A
You know, it started, we were just doing videos in the grocery store going over some products of, like, what are people buying out there? And those started to go really viral because a lot of times just Pops through people's algorithm. And they don't. They're just drinking their soda mindlessly. Oh, it's soda. It's not the best thing. But they don't really know what is this doing to me? Right? Am I addicted to this stuff? And I don't even know? Yeah. And then it just turned inosis with my videographer one day and I'm like, what if I just offer this dude a hundred dollars to quit soda for 30 days? And that's how those videos started.
B
Yeah.
A
And then we thought, what if we go to crumble Cookie? What if we go to McDonald's? And the reason I do those videos, people say, oh, that person. They might go back there. That might be true with a good amount of people. But what I know for sure, because I've gotten thousands of messages, is that cracks through people's day to day routine, and they see that video and they go, why? Why is this guy willing to give somebody $100 to quit Crumble? Is crumble really that bad? Then they start looking into it, and then they start getting more health videos. And like you were saying, like, now that you've been healthy, when you go off your routine a little bit, you really feel it. Most people out there don't know how good they can feel. That's the issue. And that's one of the main things I'm trying to correct in this world. Give yourself 30 days of eating only real food, focusing on good sources of protein. Drink clean water. Don't overdo it with anything. Work out, do your mobility, do your breathing, do your prayer. Do it for. Give yourself 30 days. It's 30 days of your life.
B
Yeah.
A
I'm not. I'm not asking for some crazy thing. Give yourself 30 days of real strict, real discipline. And if you want to go back to, you know what, Brennan, I got in really good shape, and I sometimes have this food or this food. That's fine. You don't need to live like me. But if you don't even know how good you can feel, then you're not gonna know how bad you feel on a normal day to day basis, which is where most people are functioning.
B
Yeah. And I noticed. I noticed you like the glass bottle of water.
A
I do.
B
I'm drinking out of a plastic bottle.
A
Yeah.
B
Is it bad to drink out of plastic bottles of water? And why do you choose the glass bottle? And why do you choose the type of water?
A
Yeah.
B
I personally can taste the difference between purified water and alkaline water and spring water. But I grew up On Dasani. I grew up on that stuff, the purified water, like the big name brands. And so it's not that I don't like the spring water, the alkaline water. Just I grew up with a purified. I like it purified. Is that bad? Like tell us about water.
A
For sure, drinking out of plastic in general is bad. Now you travel a lot, man, you know, you'll see me in an airport sometimes we're in Vegas, you know, at this jujitsu event. There's no other water to buy. Yeah, you know, I'm not gonna go so hard on people in those instances. Yeah, but I will go hard on you. You shouldn't have that. There's no reason to not have a hydro flask or a glass bottle.
B
What is bad about this though? I don't understand.
A
So what happens is when that plastic is exposed to light and heat, it leaches something called bisphenol A or BPA into that water, which has been clearly connected with endocrine disruption. So your hormones, your testosterone for men, it basically imitates estrogen. In our body it's called a xenoestrogen and our body doesn't really know how to react to it. It's been connected with immune system flare ups. If you want to look at it very simply, we have not lived with plastics as much as we have in the last 60, 70 years. Before 100 years ago, 120 years ago, there really wasn't plastic. So it's a new thing for our body. Our body, hey, maybe in 3,000 years we'll be more adapted to it, but right now we're not. So when I can avoid plastic, I do. Usually I'm just filling up one of these with reverse osmosis water type of filter and I put in a scoop of electrolytes and that's what I drink 95% of the time.
B
Nice.
A
Yeah.
B
And so, but for example, like if I was to go into the gas station, right, And I get to choose between the plastic and the glass bottle of water.
A
You should go.
B
Obviously there's a big price difference. A tote, like a, like a few dollar difference between. Yeah. These, these two bottles right here, this might be a $2 bottle of water right here, that might be a $5 bottle of water. But do you think, do you think that's worth $5 for the sake of the plastic?
A
For me, yes. I'm, I'm totally down to spend a bit more for my health. I invest a lot into my health. But what I see so much is People buying packs of those. Right. And we've done the cost analysis. What people should go get is it's called a reverse osmosis water filter. They are $300. They last forever. You just need to change the filter, which is like 30 to 40 bucks once every six months. You install that underneath your kitchen sink. They make countertop ones for people that live in apartments and don't want to mess with the bottom of their sink. These things used to be thousand fifteen hundred dollars. Now they've come down in price. You get a five stage reverse osmosis filter. Any good brand, they sell them at Home Depot, they sell them at Target. Now you install that underneath your sink, you're going to save money. You're going to filter out pesticides, you're going to filter out, there's birth control in our tap water. Now anybody can go, anybody right now Google EWG tap water and something will come up. You type in your zip code. Comment below on Bryce's post your city and how many contaminants are independently lab tested in your tap water. It's a lot. And we're not even just talking. We're not even talking. Like, I'm not even. I don't go too far down the fluoride and chlorine rabbit hole because I don't think it's a conspiracy. I actually do not think the government is trying to poison us and some elaborate hoax. They are looking at it like we have to get water to hundreds of millions of people. We need to chlorinate it a bit. But ingestion of chlorine can cause kidney issues. So reverse osmosis filters out that chlorine. It's a good thing.
B
So it's not necessarily that purified water is bad. It's more. So the microplastics in this thing.
A
Yes.
B
That's making it bad.
A
That was sitting in a truck in San Diego. Okay. It was exposed to heat. Yeah. So that's leach some plastic in there. And you're basically consuming small amounts of plastic when you drink that. There's no way to completely avoid microplastics. Something people should know is hard plastics leech far less microplastics than the softer plastics. So the plastics, like a plastic bag are going to leach more than, you know, a harder plastic. So like people make jokes like, oh, I just touch microplastic. Like it's, it's, you know. Yeah.
B
Like touching receipts.
A
Yeah, I try to. I, I always am joking. Like, I'm like, I can't touch that receipt. You know, like look, if, if someone, if I really need to hold a receipt, obviously I'll do it. We don't, we don't proceed with fear. We're not, we're not scared. People go, you're scared of crumble, you're scared of. No, I just like feeling my best. And if I can do something as simple as I wake up in the morning, I walk to my water filter, I fill up one of these bottles or two of these bottles and I'm hitting the road. That was so easy. And it saved me money because a pack of those are going to be 40 something bucks. You buy a few of those, you've already gone over the cost of the RO filter.
B
Yeah.
A
So when something's easy, I just do it. And it's not out of fear, it's out of self love.
B
So because you live such a healthy lifestyle, if you just touch a receipt with microplastics, like, it'll mess you up.
A
No, you don't, you don't, you won't feel that.
B
Oh, okay, okay. I was like, I thought, I thought I was like, oh, my gosh, that's crazy. Like, like, that's like, that's a wild.
A
Ruins my day. I'm just like cooked. Like, it's done.
B
I just crumble. Can't even walk.
A
Yeah, yeah. So no, like, stuff like that, it's, it's kind of funny. There's like certain things I've gone really viral in health. Red 40, you know, the food dyes, the seed oils, the touching receipts and.
B
Yep.
A
These things. Well, I think it's actually a really good segue to get people to learn about health because I think like the red 40 thing, like, look, if you have a little sip of red 40, is it going to cause tons of health issues? No, we get health issues from overconsumption of stuff. Too many calories, too much processed sugar, lack of physical activity, bad sleep. But Red 40 is a very good vehicle to get people tuned into health because they go, why is this bright red? Yeah. What is going on here? Why are they trying to imitate the colors that we find in nature of fruit which God put on this earth for us to consume? Yeah. Why are they trying to imitate this? Oh, because it's deeply embedded in our biological reward mechanism to seek out bright colored fruit. Is why the cereal? They put fruit on the COVID of their, on the box of their cereal?
B
Yeah.
A
They put fruit on the COVID of the sodas, on the label. Why? Because your brain knows that that's what it wants, but it's just going to trick you. Whoa.
B
Holy smokes, bro. This is like crazy stuff. But not a lot of people know about it. Do you? So what's the last time you ate crumble cookie?
A
I've never had crumble cookie. Never, never in my life I ever had crumble cookie. It started when I was already obsessed with health.
B
When's the last time you had like something sweet?
A
Oh, I mean I have like sweet stuff often where it's like a coconut water or a honey, you know, something made with honey, something made of the maple syrup. I had a birthday and this like organic cafe brought out a little like the like gluten free baked dish with some, you know, maple syrup and probably some almond flour in there. And it's sweet. It satisfies my sweet tooth. Look, if you can't eat dates, you know the fruit, dates, honey, pineapple, mango stuff that God put on this earth. I mean it says in the Bible it tells you what to eat. I gave you permission to eat meat, eat fruit. And people have now cooked their taste buds so much that I've interacted with influencers on the show. I do locked in where I try to get streamers and people healthy who go, I don't like fruit, it doesn't taste good. And honestly, like, now that I'm getting back into faith and seeing some of the stuff that you put out and seeing some of the stuff that forest puts out and other creators, I do think there's a bit of a demonic energy there and I worry about it because I'm like, you now don't like what God put on this earth. As sweet as to taste good.
B
Yeah.
A
For you to enjoy. You don't even like that anymore. Yeah, it's concerning.
B
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean I, I grew up, my grandparents, one set of grandparents, they grew a lot of fruit. They had a garden, like they grew, they were growing squash, green beans. We would plant green beans. Had a blueberry tree, strawberries. And I love fruit and it actually does kind of. It's weird. Like it's not, it's not a donut. Yeah, it's not a donut.
A
It's not a donut.
B
But like the strawberry somehow. Strawberries I love. Yeah, I love them and they're great and I think you're right. It's just hard to, I guess it's hard to, I want, I want to try to like get like the guy or girl listening to this, like hit their heart right now. It is hard to rewind a lifestyle that, that you've been Hardwired to live for a majority of your life.
A
Yes.
B
So like if someone was like the first step I want to take and just doing something healthy.
A
Yeah.
B
What's the easiest first step to do something healthy? To honor God with your body.
A
Absolutely. So one of the very interesting things when we're focusing especially on sugar addiction and people have these cravings for these foods, like I know I need it, there are bacteria in our body, like Candida is one that actually lives off sugar. And everybody has a little Candida, but almost everybody now in today's society has Candida overgrowth. And there's literally a bacteria now in your body that's overgrown, that is craving sugar. It's sending direct messages to your brain, to your neurochemistry to make you buy sugar and consume sugar. You aren't just your brain, you are your gut, you're your immune system. And so what I would say to people is try a 24 hour fast. Bible talks a lot about fasting. I think fasting can have its downsides if done too much, if not done properly, people need to be careful with it. But a 24 hour fast while staying hydrated with some electrolytes is doable for just about everybody. You don't have a medical condition, whatever that is something people should do because you'll get hungry, you'll get, you will start to know that you can choose to eat something or not. People on a four hour flight, I need to eat this right now. I need to eat this horrible food. No, you don't. Sit. Yeah, you're going to be fine.
B
Yeah.
A
It's four hours. Drink some water. You will be okay. You don't need to eat the bad thing. Yeah. So that gets people some self control back in their hands.
B
Wow. Yeah. I mean, you know, I've, I never knew the, the physical benefits until I started seeing like Gary Breca talk about fasting and huberman talk about fasting. But though fasting has changed my life, like even from a spiritual sense because it's like, because I'm starving myself physically is sharpening myself spiritually. And the only thing I can be full of is not a bunch of junk. I'm full of the spirit. Because when I get hungry, I'm supposed to consume the word of God and pray and seek him. And so I think that's like, man, I just love that it's such a practical. I think the practicals are so good. I love practicals.
A
Yeah.
B
And your electrolytes. Zero calories.
A
Yes.
B
And that's if you don't know this out there. Seriously. A water fast is just zero calories. So you can do a water fast with electrolytes, and it's. It's legit.
A
Yeah. It'll make you feel better.
B
You'll.
A
You'll have less of those headaches, and you're getting sodium, potassium, magnesium. Your kidneys and your body is just always trying to create electrolyte bounce. So we have the right ratios in there and stuff, and it's good stuff.
B
And I'm not even. I'm not even seriously, if you're listening or watching this, I'm not doing a shameless plug. I've had a lot of electrolytes, but Santa Cruz's electrolytes is the best electrolytes I've ever had. And I'm not just saying that as, like, a shameless plug.
A
I appreciate that.
B
Seriously, I had probably. I've never been the type of guy to like electrolytes because it's grainy, because it clumps up. Like you said earlier, it clumps up and it doesn't taste good, and it's, like, weird. Well, I had, like, four scoops in one day and four different bottles of water with your stuff when I was. A few weeks ago when I was a forest. And so I'm serious, like, you guys should definitely go check out Santa Cruz's website and get some stuff.
A
We put a lot of love and effort into our products. It's been. It's been fun.
B
Well, I think that's what separates you from a lot of people. Right. Because when it comes to something like medicine, there's a lot of doctors out there that care about people.
A
Yeah, absolutely.
B
There's also a lot of doctors out there that care about money.
A
Yep.
B
So they're willing to sacrifice people's health for the sake of a bigger paycheck. What I love about you is you're willing to care about people. And I know it's not cheap to do things the right way.
A
Yeah.
B
So I just want to say I'm grateful and people are grateful that you are choosing people and health over. Over paycheck. Like, that. That's important, and we. And we need that.
A
Yeah. And what's really interesting and I wanted to talk to you about is getting back into my faith. You know, I started to get back into it when my dad died, so. My dad died five years ago, and it was brutal. It was tough. He struggled with alcoholism at the end of his life and eventually passed away. And what I started to notice in some of these times when it Was the brutal times. You know, family's in there, he's going through intense alcohol withdrawal, hallucinating, like, all the bad stuff. People prayed, like, prayer. Even my brother prayed, like, okay, I just did this piece on posture. Different postures. Humans go into little kids, and they score a goal in soccer. They go into this. It's just instinctive across all cultures, across anything. You go like, this is like, a winning posture. What is this? Like, sad?
B
Yeah.
A
And people during difficult times, during some of their darkest times, go into praying posture. It's just something that, like, the body does. I started to notice that, and that just, like, kind of tuned me back into getting back into my faith a lot. And at this time, I had started my company, but we were doing our thing. I was still working other jobs, you know. You know, it was like. Yeah, it wasn't so viral. It was. It was just doing its thing, you know, it was a side hustle in my mind. After my dad passed away, I really took it upon myself to, you know, put more effort into my company. And it's one of the reasons that this brought me back to my faith is I just started to go extremely viral and reach so many people, and the two things have been sort of aligned, and I just. I don't even. I don't have an explanation for that. I don't know why or how, you know, but, like, you know, for me, like, on a psychological level, I was like, okay, I couldn't help my dad, so now I. But I can help other people. Yeah. It's one of the reasons I have, like, a deep, passionate thing for this is, like, I had to see my dad. I tried to help him, you know, like, trust me, I tried. And it's instilled, like, this deep passion for that that'll never go away.
B
Yeah.
A
You take away all the money, all the company, all this, and I would still be talking about health to people.
B
Yeah.
A
I do it off camera. I do it on camera. You can ask Caesar. Like, it's doesn't matter.
B
Yep.
A
But, yeah, that was just really fascinating for me. And I just feel like somehow I've been able to go so viral, especially amongst the youth with a message of real health. I've had people come up and just like, it. Like, it doesn't even make sense. Like, somehow I'm in this world of just like you are. You know, you walk down the street and people go, oh, that's the guy. Somehow I've been able to break through that with a real good message, and so have you. And that's just, that's wild to me because what usually breaks through is negativity.
B
Yeah, it's the junk. I think this is what I was telling you earlier that I was going to open up with was I'm so grateful for your knowledge and wisdom because we live in an information age where there's an abundance of information, but there's a lack of clarity. And people, especially Gen Z, are getting sick and tired of the fake stuff because they're always fed. Fake.
A
Yeah.
B
The Internet feeds you fake, the media feeds you, like everything feeds you fake. And so people's getting tired of the fake. And so what you're bringing to the table, what I've been learning through my fitness program at Zela, what I'm learning when, when I just use the brain that God has given me to research and actually look into things, I, I realized that there is a lack of clarity. But where the clarity is, there's a lot of freedom for sure, in like a whole lot of different things. Like what you're saying is like, man, like a lot of people's moods, like they might struggle with mood swings, but that just might be correlated to the food that they're eating. And if they just change the food that they're eating, they might not have mood swings. It was like these practicals and things. And so you bringing this clarity to a lack. Everyone's got a lack of clarity and you're bringing the clarity to it. Yeah, that's what I think. That's why people are drawn to what you're doing, is because you're getting into the specifics and you're authentically, you doing things that the average bear isn't doing. What is 99.9% of America doing? They're pushing the processed food.
A
Yeah.
B
You're the 1% that's standing out. You're fighting the current. You're saying, actually, look, I mean, if you eat it every now and then, do your thing. But if you're worshiping this processed food, like I'm like, everyone's telling you to do it, you're doing something wrong.
A
Absolutely.
B
That, that, that's the wake up call that people are getting. And it's inspiring and encouraging to be a consumer of that and to be blessed by you. To say, like, man, I want to do that. And yeah, again, it's just, I got in that point in my faith journey where I'm just like, man, I'm honoring God with everything except my body.
A
Yep.
B
I'm either, I, I'm either being a hypocrite or I can do something about it right now that's just kind of where I, I was faced. It's like I can either be a hypocrite or I can do something about it. And I just tried to. I had this thought that kind of really changed my perspective about health. It was, if I'm willing to cut corners in what I eat, if I'm willing to cut corners in a workout program, oh, I'm tired, I'm not going to fish the workout program, then what else am I willing to cut corners on in life?
A
Absolutely.
B
On a extreme level, like, would I be willing to backstab friends? Would I be willing to do things for the sake of money and not integrity? If I'm willing to cut corners here? And so that was a big wake up call for me, was like, this is deeper than just food. Yeah, this is, this is a heart issue. And like, I want to get to the root. And so, man, again, it's just like, it's so encouraging and inspiring.
A
Your body is a temple.
B
It is a temple.
A
The Bible says this and it's, it's why it's really frustrating for me to see Christians treating their body bad. But then they'll focus on other stuff in the Bible. They'll be like, well, that you're ignoring something that comes up over and over again in the Bible. And there's a lot of stuff about health in the Bible. It's, it's astonishing really, that people, like I was saying we'll leave church and they might be £500 and they'll go to crumble cookie. And I just, I want to see less of that.
B
Yeah.
A
In, on the earth in general. So, yeah, it's pretty wild. And like, like you're saying like a lot of the young generation deals with depression, anxiety.
B
Yeah.
A
The rates are skyrocketing, adhd, all these things. And your health is directly related to that. It's what you eat directly affects that. And like if people just want something simple, it's like your actual neurotransmitters use nutrients from food. They use amino acids, B vitamins. That's how they're produced. So like, it's not just like you are what you eat. It's like if you eat a bad meal over and over again, you're not going to have the capacity to feel happy because there's certain neurotransmitters that you need to feel happy. If I could an imaginary. Just tinker with your brain right now and just dopamine. Let's Go, serotonin, let's go. You would feel all types of ways right now. You'd be just like, oh my, what am I feeling right now? And this is what people are doing with the things that they ingest. And they just don't, they don't view it as so bad. This one's don't even make the connection. So I'm really trying to get that light turned on people's head of like, they don't realize that they drank the Coca Cola and oh, sweet, it was good. And then two hours later they have a headache, they don't feel good, they don't feel like their best self. And sometimes they don't even make that connection. It happens all the time.
B
Is diet soda better for you than is what's better, diet soda or zero sugar soda?
A
Zero sugar and diet soda are the same thing. So diet soda and zero sugar soda are one full sugar soda is made with corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup in the United States. Overall, I do think diet soda and zero sugar sodas, if you are trying to lose weight, are a better option. I'm not the biggest fan of some of the artificial sweeteners. I like to say the jury is still out on them. But if somebody is trying to lose weight and they're like, I'm going to drink a full sugar corn syrup soda, hundreds and hundreds of calories in that, versus a zero calorie artificially sweetened, which are all the diet sodas, that diet soda would be a better option for them. Luckily today there's a lot of cool options out there, like zevia, which is sweetened with stevia, which is a plant that grows in the ground. I prefer to go that direction with it. A sparkling water. You know, they have the flavored sparkling waters now. I would prefer somebody to go that direction, but I used to hate on diet soda back in the day. Then you really look at the research and you're like, if somebody's quitting normal soda and they're losing weight and they're drinking diet soda, I can't hate on that too much.
B
I heard something one time where someone said. I didn't read it from an article, I just heard someone say it. So I wanted to ask you about it. I heard someone say that eating a large fry from McDonald's is like smoking a pack of cigarettes.
A
Yeah, I saw that clip.
B
Is that true?
A
I disagree with that.
B
Okay.
A
Smoking cigarettes is worse.
B
What? How bad? Compare, compare a large, compare a large fry then to something that would damage your body. If Bryce Ate a large French fry from McDonald's. What would be the equivalent of that?
A
I could see it like smoking one cigarette. You know, a pack is. It might get a little egregious, but I could, I could see having like a one cigarette. I think it could be up there. You know, McDonald's fries use an anti foaming agent called dimethyl polysiloxane in there. And this is used to basically make like jet fuel, not like a foam or like when they, when they're putting out a fire and they want an anti foaming agent. Dimethyl polysiloxane is in there. McDonald's fries used to be beef tallow and potatoes and salt. Okay. That's what the recipe used to be. And now for the sake of convenience, it's a long list of ingredients. And while I personally would never eat those, I just don't. My body's a temple. I choose to not eat those. I have the ability to not eat those. Well, obviously if you eat them occasionally, it's not going to ruin your health. I would definitely go the option of getting some potatoes and looking at beef tallow french fries. Make those at home and see how you feel. You'll probably feel a lot better.
B
Do you eat those? Yeah, they're great. Yeah, Yeah.
A
I love beef tallow french fries. I have a restaurant I want to send you guys to in L. A that I own part of. And that's one of the things we have on the menu is beef tallow french fries.
B
Dude, I would love to go there. I. I would love to go there.
A
Yeah.
B
Do you, do you think that it's better to air fry food than deep fry food?
A
Thousand percent in general, yes. So, like, having more dietary fat in your diet, like, is for most people. You don't want to have an excess of saturated fat. So deep frying will add some saturated fat. Well, I don't fear saturated fat. I think we were in general wrong about butter. You know, butters demonized. Eggs are demonized, red meat is demonized. I think that's very wrong. It was done off. Flawed science. We know that our ancestors ate butter, drank dairy, ate red meat. The bible says to eat meat, it's totally fine. Interesting. The bible says basically to eat remnant animals. Remnant animals are ones that feed on grass. So it talks about, you know, lamb, cows and stuff like that, which ends up being some of the healthiest meat you can have, grass fed steak. But as far as air frying versus deep frying, I would go air fryer.
B
Okay, can you explain to me like what's so bad about regular beef versus grass fed beef? What's so bad about it?
A
So I don't think regular beef is bad. I think it's a really good source of B vitamins and protein and it's accessible for so many people. I think it's an amazing thing to eat. Now once you get into this state where you're able to be a bit more optimal, I think going grass fed beef is better. It's gonna have a better fatty acid profile. So you'll actually see more omega 3 fats in grass fed beef than corn and soy fed beef.
B
Wow.
A
Now grass fed grass finished beef is also better for the environment. So when you have cows that are out to pasture, just like cows have always been doing their thing, it is better for the environment for sure. Now it's a bit more expensive. Sometimes it's tough to access for people. So while I'm a huge fan of grass fed beef, in that restaurant Tallow Organic that I was talking about in la we serve grass fed grass finished beef because that's just the way I like to do things. But no, if you just go to the store and you just get a regular steak, awesome. I'm going to New York and I'm going to eat a, I'm going to order a steak at a steakhouse probably that cows probably finished off feeding them corn to fatten them up.
B
Yeah.
A
It is what it is.
B
Yeah.
A
Yeah.
B
So going back to the fast food thing really quick, I want to ask you this as well. What is the healthiest fast food someone could get?
A
That's a really good question. I would say Chipotle and In n Out are my go to's.
B
Okay. I thought In n Out too because they, they do everything fresh, right. You see them chopping the potatoes, you see the way that they fix the meat. Do you get the lettuce wrap when you go?
A
Yeah, I get protein style. So I'm wondering like that I usually get two when I'm hungry, like three by zero. So protein style, no cheese. The cheese does have some artificial food dyes in there that I'm not a big fan of. It's not the worst, the worst thing in the world. If you like the cheese, go for it. I think they're gonna phase out those artificial food dyes in that In n out cheese, which I'm excited to, to see that. I like to get grilled onions in there, ask for it mustard fried and that's what I get it. In and out. I think it's absolutely amazing.
B
I love that. I seriously eat the, the double, double protein style.
A
Yeah.
B
But just the meat cheese. I like the cheese.
A
Yeah.
B
And then the, the lettuce wrap that to me going back to like eating something sweet that feels like my sweet. So good as a dinner. It just was like, it's just different, you know, and it kind of. And it still has that fast food feel.
A
I just want my friends in Las Vegas right before the CGI Jiu Jitsu tourname. It's so fun. We go on like road trips with my buddies and it's a place where I can go and I can eat and is it perfect? No. But is it a good option? Yeah. But I would really recommend that protein style because the problem is I think if someone wants a simple 30 day thing to do, if they just want to dip their toe into the water of health, don't eat gluten or bread for 30 days. I'm not anti gluten or bread. I'll sometimes have some sourdough. I do not think gluten is this thing we should fear different people are going to have different ways that they can tolerate it. But for many people, they're over consuming bread. They're eating it at every single meal. You're waking up and having cereal. That's gluten. And then for lunch you're having a sandwich. That's more gluten. And then for dinner you're having pasta. That's more gluten.
B
Yeah.
A
You are going in on gluten. A lot of the wheat in this country is sprayed with glyphosate. There's other issues with it. So I would just recommend people really limit it for 30 days, see how they feel and then integrate it back in and just control how you feel within.
B
Yeah. So in the morning you said that you drink water.
A
Yeah.
B
You know, I've always seen a basic thing anywhere on social media it says, susie, wake up. Drink a glass of water.
A
Absolutely.
B
What does that do for you?
A
Absolutely. So water gets your bowels moving. I've done some posts on this. If you're not pooping, okay, this is the thing. This is how our body gets rid of waste. He's not. You're not pooping. Pointed at him.
B
You need to eat some prunes, boy. If you're not, you're. If you're not pooping, you need some prunes like this.
A
This is how our body detoxifies. And a healthy person should poop once to twice per day. Okay.
B
Wow.
A
And so many people. I did a post in it and it was astounding to me. Sometimes I get a little in my bubble of health. Everyone around me is pretty healthy and locked in, and people are like, no, I poop once every four days. What is going on? You are dehydrated. You are not consuming enough fiber. Something is off there.
B
What about girls? They don't really poop.
A
They never. Yeah, yeah.
B
So is that. Is that normal?
A
So, like, the problem is now we have in young people a massive, massive rise in colon cancer. Like, in astonishing.
B
What?
A
Oh, yeah. Cancer researchers right now today are probably in some rooms where freaking out because this is something that is skyrocketed and they don't really know why. Now, obviously, there's some things. There's a lack of fiber in our diet. There's a lack of hydration. There's way more processed foods. There's stuff like all these kids are doing all this nicotine now. And we don't really know. We don't fully know the effects. If somebody's doing it to quit cigarettes, okay, you're doing the pouch to quit cigarettes or vapes.
B
But it's like cigarettes. Back before the early 2000s, everyone was smoking cigarettes. They didn't know the effects it had on people. And now we're in the vape and.
A
Nicotine world, where we're in the Zen world. We're the world.
B
We're the. We're the test right now, which I.
A
Am extremely skeptical of. All of the propaganda, I would call it, of nicotine being this magic nootropic for our brain. I'm very skeptical. I really question people. Come on. You saw big Tobacco, we saw the cigarette documentaries. Oh, my God, they got everybody to smoke cigarettes. You think that just went away? You think that isn't involved right now in all these influencers promoting Zins everywhere? You, you think they just left? No, they're here and they're going to. They're intelligent, just like they were back then. Just like they got our parents generation smoking cigarettes. You think our parents were dumb? No, no. That we had doctors recommending cigarettes. Then we said, oh, they aren't that bad and cool movie stars smoked them. I think that's just going towards Zins now. I would totally agree that the science does show that. The smokeless oral pouches. If someone were to say, what's better? I have to smoke cigarettes or a vape or I have to do the nicotine pouches. Nicotine pouches are going to be a better option. That's what the science shows for sure. However, there's concerning stuff about Them, if you just want to look into the basics, they really ramp up your dopamine, your adrenaline, your neuroprenephrine. And this is why people like them. They take it and they go, oh, Bryce, I take that thing. I'm locked in. I feel good. I feel focused.
B
Then is that anything to do with.
A
The neuro gum or, like, Neurogam is just caffeine.
B
Okay. Yeah, I want to ask you about that in a second.
A
Yeah, we'll get into caffeine for sure.
B
Now, cigarettes, I've noticed in LA have become an aesthetic piece now.
A
Oh, yeah, they're cool.
B
Which is weird to me. It's like. It's like cigarettes were popular before the 2000s. And then I remember growing up, it was like the DARE program. Don't do drugs, and, you know, don't smoke cigarettes. And then vaping became a thing. It started with the box vapes, and then it turned into the puff bars. And then now it's the Zins.
A
And.
B
And then now I'm, like, walking around in LA and I'll, like, hear out at a restaurant. I'm gonna go smoke a cigarette outside. And it's not an older person, it's a young person.
A
No, it's coming back. And 90 of the time, when I talk to those people, they go, well, what do you think about the nootropic effects? Nootropics are basically compounds that boost our brain function. Right. And there's a whole class of them. You can take stuff like Alpha gpc, You can take stuff like Bacopa, stuff like green tea has, like, nootropic effects like amino acids and nootropic effects like L theanine. Okay. I think, given that there are some studies showing tobacco has effects in our brain and nicotine has effects on our brain, that Big Tobacco has climbed onto this to push this narrative as tobacco as a nootropic, when the reality is, while it might have some nootropic effects, it's very stimulating. It can disrupt your sleep. So people are doing Zins at 9pm and then they're going, I don't feel tired at 12. How do you think you just cranked up your norepinephrine, your adrenaline, your door? You're cranked up. Yeah. What do you do? So, like, it's wild to me that people don't see that connection. I have concerns about nicotine potentially causing colon cancer. Studies need to be done on that. There's some cell culture studies showing that it can maybe increase oral cancer cells, but these are not studies. Done in humans yet. So I would be extremely concerned. I don't do any of that stuff.
B
Yeah.
A
You know, so.
B
Yeah. Okay. Caffeine.
A
Yes.
B
If there's a vice in my life that is the worst, it's gotta be caffeine.
A
Okay.
B
Now, I'm not a coffee drinker. I'm an energy drink guy. Yep. But I don't drink the energy drinks for caffeine. That's the weird thing. I like flavor bomb.
A
Yeah.
B
So I like. I like a nice little strawberry lemonade or something like that, which I think is why I like your electrolytes, because you got some great flavors there.
A
Yeah, we got some good flavors there.
B
So you hit a sweet spot with me right there.
A
Good.
B
Now, I. I have some personal rules when it comes to, like, my caffeine intake. I don't drink caffeine when I work out because I don't want to rely on it when I'm working out. I want all my lifting just to come from natural, pure strength.
A
Yep.
B
I don't even take a pre workout powder. I don't know with B. And I've never taken. I've taken two pre workouts before, and it didn't even have beta adeline in it. And I literally threw up. It was so strong.
A
Some of them are gnarly.
B
It was so strong, I threw up. I was. I just parked my car in the middle of the street and was dry heaving out of my. It was crazy.
A
It's happened to a lot of people.
B
So that was crazy. And a lot of times I don't finish the Celsius.
A
Yeah. I.
B
Again, I told you I'm not a sweet guy. So, like, even though I like me a Celsius or an energy drink or whatever, I might sip on it a couple of times. Now, about two months ago, we were working really hard a lot, and I drank. Minimum one a day.
A
Okay. Was it one a day or was it.
B
It might have been two a day. Could have been two a day.
A
Yeah.
B
And I'm saying when, and I'm just being honest. It could have been two a day. Minimum one a day for sure. But there were some days I definitely had two a day. And we were just. I was grinding day and night, working and working, and so I. I just kind of want to run down. Is caffeine bad for you? If someone's gonna drink caffeine, what should they drink? How much caffeine should they have? What are the. You know, just give us the rundown.
A
Absolutely. I. I love this topic. Caffeine is not bad for you, I'll say that right there. In general, that's a general fair statement. Caffeine is not bad for you. It's the timing, the dosage and how people use it. That is having people cooked, bro. It, it's, it is a problem and we'll get into it. So caffeine has a half life of about five to six hours. Depends on genetic factors. Depends on how much somebody weighs different things, right? Let's just call it five to six hours. What that means is that those amount of milligrams of caffeine are going to break down half in those hours. Okay, so the problem I see with so many people is they bust open that Celsius or that last coffee and maybe they're going to have it at 2 or 3pm, let's say. Okay, now it comes 10pm, let's say, and they want to go to sleep. 10, 11. They're like, yeah, getting tired, want to sleep. What is happening is that Celsius had, let's say, 150 milligrams of caffeine. So around the time they are trying to go to sleep, they're still going to have. And some very person to person, let's just call it 75 milligrams of caffeine in their system. 50 to 75. Okay, let me ask you this. Right before you go to what time do you usually go to sleep?
B
It depends. I probably say on average about 11 o'.
A
Clock. Okay, so it's 11, right? Let's say you had that Celsius at 2 or 3. If before bed, I said, hey, Bryce, I lean over, I'm in the room. Knock, knock, knock. Do you want a 50 milligram pill of caffeine? You would go, get out of here. I'm not taking a 50 milligram pill of caffeine. I'm trying to go to bed. Yeah, you've basically just done that to your own body by having caffeine too late in the day.
B
Whoa.
A
And it does disrupt sleep. There are people that say, oh no, I can fall asleep on caffeine. They've done studies on that. There was a study where they're like, oh, yeah, people, they say they report good sleep, but they actually measure their sleep. They're not going into the same deep stages of sleep like the REM sleep.
B
And all that stuff.
A
Their sleep architecture is messed up. Caffeine can mess with sleep architecture. I drink coffee, I like caffeine. I'm very disciplined about when I have it. So for me, it's like 9 to 11am So a few hours after I wake up, many hours after I wake up, I like to have a small amount of coffee. A normal cup of coffee is going to be about 80 milligrams of caffeine. Stronger ones get into 100. And so I'm letting that burn off throughout the day and I don't feel like it's affecting my sleep in a negative way. Yeah, Celsius energy drinks, very popular now. Yeah. I have issue with an ingredient in there, and it is an artificial sweetener.
B
Okay.
A
There's many different types artificial sweeteners, but I want everyone out there right now to grab their monster energy drink, Celsius, whatever it is, and look at the back and you will see an ingredient called sucralose. They did a study on young, healthy teenagers where they gave them sucralose for six weeks. The amount they gave them was often way less even that's in one can of Celsius. Okay. So just a little bit of sucralose and one group drink that they had a double blind placebo controlled, really well done study. They had other people drink water or whatever. In the group that drank the sucralose, they saw a significant reduction in a bacteria in our gut called acidophilus. Acidophilus is one of the main bacteria that help our immune function, our brain function, our skin health because you actually have like this skin microbiome. So it led me to be like, okay, sucralose. While it's not some like, oh my God, this is some evil thing. If you have it once here, I'm like, well, people are drinking two or three Celsiuses a day and sucralose in so many things. It leads me to be very concerned for somebody's gut microbiome. If they're consuming that.
B
Yeah.
A
Could they then supplement with some acidophilus? Eat some Greek yogurt? Sure. I could see that as maybe being a way to mitigate some of that damage, but that gives me some concern. So timing is everything. If you miss the window and it's maybe after 12, I would just not have the caffeine.
B
Gotcha.
A
Yeah.
B
Are you, are you a runner? Do you run?
A
I. I've gotten into running at certain times of my life. But me and my buddy, we love Jiu Jitsu.
B
Yeah. You guys stay pretty active on the juice.
A
Yeah, for sure. I feel like Jiu Jitsu is a way for me to get that. You get like that hard 45 to 60 minutes of cardio. Yeah. You Know, so I like to run sometimes, but yeah, it's great conditioning.
B
Like no one will ever. There's a lot of athletes out there that do a lot of sports outside of any martial art. But if you just get a two minute round.
A
Yeah, yeah.
B
You're looking at the clock and you don't realize there's still.
A
And especially, you know, I suck at it. We always joke we suck. We're not absolutely horrible, but in the rooms we're in, we're getting beat up. And when you're getting beat up, it's tiring. You have to get the fight and it's, it's exhausting. But I, I like running sometimes I think running is great.
B
That's great. Well, one last question for you before we close. And I think this is, you know, you've shared a lot of health info, which I think is very important. And I think we highlighted a lot of things that our generation is struggling with and have questions about. You said you're getting back into your faith.
A
Yep.
B
Where are you at with Jesus right now?
A
I mean, I actually have a really interesting question for you.
B
Okay.
A
So I'm fully getting back on board. Jesus is in my life. God is in my life. I'm opening my Bible every single day while I'm doing my red light therapy. You guys might have seen on my Instagram stories. I have it right next to my red light. I'm like collecting cool, like Bibles now. I was looking up like, I kind of want to buy. That's like really expensive, but like a really old Bible. That's a sidebar. So I'm getting really interested in it. In it again and actually studying the Bible.
B
Nice.
A
What I have, like, I don't know, like an issue with or just a question is like one of my buddies, Tahir, he's Muslim, would. Do you have friends that are Muslim?
B
I have Muslim friends, I have atheist friends, Mormon friends, everything.
A
Do you think that because my friend is Muslim, like, he will not make it to heaven? Okay, that's a deep question. It's caused me some struggle because, like, just like you, I'm sure you love these people. So how do you, how do you deal with that?
B
So Jesus makes a bold statement in John chapter 14 where he says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Big deal right there. Because there's a lot of religions out there that say, yep, everyone's going to heaven. They're just on their own path. You know, if you're just a Good person do this. My issue with every religion is every religion, it's how good can you do to make it to perfection? It's work your way to perfection. Even for example, in Islam, right? Like from a basic standpoint, they have five pillars, you know, give alms to the poor, pray five times a day, a whole lot of different things. And there's a lot of Muslims that do things better than Christians are doing. A lot of Muslims are more generous than Christians. A lot of Muslims pray more than Christians do. A lot of Muslims know a lot more facts about the Quran than Christians know facts about the Bible. So that's what I respect about my Muslim friends. But when it comes to the foundation of Christianity, it's significantly different than Islam. Every religion references Jesus in some way, shape or form. Most of the time him just being a good teacher or a good man. Like you said about science, science even acknowledges that Jesus was a real person.
A
Absolutely.
B
Christians worship Jesus as he's God. So that's a really big deal. Islam would say, don't worship Jesus, worship Allah. Jesus is not Allah. Christians say Jesus is God. There's a really big difference there. So if all the differences are there, that means they all can't be the same. They can't coexist. That means there can only be one way if they all contradict each other. And Jesus makes it very clear, if you put your faith and trust in me, you'll be united with me for an eternity. If you do not, you'll be separated from me. So if anyone does not put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I have to look at the Bible and say they're not going to be united with God in eternity. That's just how I have to lay it out there.
A
That's fine.
B
But that idea right there motivates me to tell everyone about Jesus. That's why I want to tell everyone about Jesus. Because Penn Gillette, one of the most famous magicians in Las Vegas, Penn and Teller, he's an atheist and he says, you know what, if you're a Christian and you believe that Jesus is the only way and you're not telling people about him, I have a lack of respect for you. Because if you believe he's the only way to get there and you're not telling people about it, I have a lack of respect for you. And that hit home for me. Because if I believe that Jesus is the way, then I'm going to do my best to share Christianity, the Bible, Jesus Christ with my Muslim friends, the same I would the Agnostic. The same I would Bill Gates. The same I would the homeless man. Because that's what I just love that about Jesus.
A
I really like that. And I think one thing we can definitely agree on and something I can do and something you can do is I think health goes right into that.
B
Absolutely.
A
So I think, like, you, you already are, but I think you should preach the message of health. And I think you're doing that. I think that's amazing. And something I definitely do. Like, you're saying, like, if I know how good I feel and how the transformations I've seen in people and I don't talk about health, then I'd be evil. So what I can do for you is talk more about Jesus and learn more about Jesus, and I want you to talk more about health.
B
Deal. I think, you know, I think the easiest thing for me about the health thing is my health is stemmed from doing it for Jesus.
A
Yeah.
B
Because when I tried to do things for myself before Jesus, I would get burned out. It was easy to quit. I had nothing to lose. Oh, I can quit. No one will know that happened to me. When I got sick, I was three months in and got sick for a month. And I was like, I can quit and no one can know I'm going through a body transformation. And then I thought for a second, I was like, sure, I'm doing this for myself, but I'm really doing it for Jesus because I want to honor God with my body. And that changed it. So the fact that Jesus is my macro goal, where if I lost everything, he's still my everything. If I lost everything I had, I still have everything I need in Him. Like, that has made my health journey significantly easier. That has made my. My everything I do, my actions. Serving like people are inherently selfish. But the reason you gave me in a gift is because you've been loved by God, whether you, you know, you've been loved by God, so it's easy for you to serve and love other people. I've been loved by God. It was easy for me to say, hey, you like raw honey? Let me get you raw honey. Hey, what's your shoes? You see what I'm saying? So, like, that has been for me, a big deal. So I'll start diving more into health and talking more about health and you start having more.
A
Awesome. I want to just share one thing and then I know you'll do closing prayer.
B
Share it.
A
The one thing that I didn't get to share is Proverbs 23, 2021. Don't be a heavy drinker or stuff yourself with food. It will make you drowsy.
B
Yes.
A
I think for people right there, this is what, this is my message, one of my main messages to people. If you want to be a good Christian, if you want to honor God and honor Jesus, you should not be unhealthy and pursuing unhealthy things. And you don't have to live like me. I'm a bit strict with my diet. I get it. But you do have to make a conscious effort for health and to pick people if you are healthy. Watching this, you have to pick people up around you to help them. Because it's clear in so many places in the Bible that this is what God wants and he's saying in the Bible. So I think, yeah, we really need a less, less crumble cookie runs after church maybe once a year if it's like a special occasion or whatever. But it shouldn't be a really normalized thing, you know.
B
Sorry, one more thing. I want to talk to you about alcohol.
A
Yes.
B
Because you brought it up. There was a Bible verse I wanted to talk to you about. It's in Proverbs as well. He says the drunkard and glutton come to poverty.
A
And I remember I used to read.
B
I read Proverbs every month. So I recycle through it every month. And I remember reading that over and over and I was like, what does that mean? What does that mean? And then I saw it with my own eyes. People I knew getting extremely drunk. And when they got extremely drunk, what did they do? They got hungry.
A
Yeah.
B
And they started buying a load of food. Door dash in the McDonald's. Door dash in the whole nine yards. And then I saw those same people complaining about their bank account, complaining about their health, complaining about their sleep. And it was like, I'm watching that proverb unfold right in front of me.
A
Yeah.
B
Later on in Proverbs 31, King Lemuel, a king. A king. His mom tells him, hey, if you're a leader or someone of high respect, it's probably wise that you stay away from alcohol. Now the Bible doesn't say that drinking is a sin. It says drunkenness is a sin and to stay sober minded for it's a waste. Isn't it crazy how when you get drunk, you get wasted?
A
Yeah.
B
And not being sober minded is a waste. Crazy correlation there. So would love to hear like just about the, the bad benefits of, you know, I could tell you family stories like distant relatives getting they having alcohol addictions and like their brain shrinking and things like that. But just give the rundown on alcohol, because even in college students 18 to 25, it's the second you go to college. Let me drink as much as I can as fast as I can every night. Like, just give us a rundown on alcohol.
A
Oh, man, there's a perfect one. We were just at San Diego State University yesterday, okay, Getting somebody's dorm all healthy and dialed in. And, you know, those kids are gonna drink a lot and do their thing. I don't drink personally. I've just let it go maybe once a year. Once every other year, I might have a sip of something, but I don't drink. Alcohol is one of the worst things you can put in your body for your health. No doubt about it. You have your body's master antioxidant called glutathione in your liver. It protects your skin, it protects your brain. It's amazing. Alcohol depletes that like nothing else does. It ruins your skin health. A lot of people are, you know, vain. They want to look good for Instagram and stuff. Well, you're. You're going to drink and ruin your skin health. Okay? It ruins your gut microbiome. It's horrible for you. There is new evidence coming out that even having a few drinks per week significantly lowers your brain volume. Okay? So, like, a lot of people have been pushed this narrative by the alcohol industry that, yeah, you know, drinking a lot's bad, but actually having a couple drinks is good for your stress levels. It's not true. Your actual anxiety goes down very short term when you drink, and it comes back more. You actually ex. You actually basically build the capacity to have anxiety through drinking. You build a higher capacity for anxiety. When you experience a hangover. You're actually going through alcohol withdrawal. So I would really urge people to. Dude, so many young people are addicted to weed, addicted to alcohol. It's insane. And, like, you know, if you're young and I can't, you know, when I was 19, 20, 21, like, I messed around with these substances and stuff like that. And you really need to look at how you use them and at least know what is good and bad for your body. Because people get into this thing of, oh, well, I drink in college, but now I just. I need to have one drink per day because it's good for my stress. Yeah, it's not. Don't do that.
B
No, I love that you said that, because I think the same reason people turn to an unhealthy lifestyle could be the same reason they turn to drugs.
A
Yeah.
B
Same reason they turn to alcohol is because they're. They've got this hole in their heart and they're trying to fill it.
A
Yeah.
B
And I just shared last night with a group of young adults in Georgia. I said, if you want to know what you worship, look at the things you turn to when you're going through it.
A
Yeah.
B
And for a lot of people, that could be food, a lot of people that could be drugs, a lot of people that could be alcohol. And I just love how you just kept harping on that point of, like, you don't know how good you can really feel physically.
A
Absolutely.
B
If you just honor God with your body and your health.
A
Get addicted to good stuff. I'm. I'm addicted. I'm like, I need to go surf. I haven't surfed in a few days. I'm like, I cannot wait to surf. I'm addicted to it. I might put off some work that I need to get done to go surf, but guess what? It's something that connects me with nature, connects me with God. I feel great, and it's healthy.
B
Yeah.
A
I'm addicted to working out. I'm addicted to eating. Well, these are things that benefit me, though, and benefit other people. So we have addictive personalities. Like our. Our human instinct, our biological reward system does, like, reward that type of behavior in a way. So you better find stuff that you love that's healthy. You're addicted to what you do.
B
Yeah.
A
If someone told you that, one of the worst things I could do right now and be like, you can't go preach, you can't go film, you can't go put out this message. That would be one of the worst things I could tell you.
B
Yeah.
A
You are addicted in a way to that. And luckily, you're not addicted to stuff that harms you and harms others. Everything that you do uplifts people. So, yeah. And I know we got to close. I just want to say a sincere thank you because, like, do what you do is so beneficial for people. It's unbelievable. And I don't think people like you and I really can grasp how many people. We can't see all the messages. You know, it's like, whatever. We just can't see it. How many people really struggle with deep stuff, and through your content, they get out of that hole. And that's amazing. So thank you, bro.
B
I appreciate that. Thanks for the encouragement, bro. Let me pray for us. Thanks for coming on the pod.
A
Of course.
B
I mean, I'm like, I can't wait to listen back to this because there was so much. I love it, man.
A
Yes. Go get healthy people.
B
Let me, let me pray for us. Jesus, thank you so much for today. God, thank you for Brendan. Thank you for his wisdom and his kindness and his goodness. God, would you just bless him? God, we just just ask that you had soften the heart and the ears of each and every person watching or listening to this episode. Would you allow the beautiful practicality and wisdom of health and discipline to seep into people's hearts and not allow it just to be a moment, but allow it to affect their lifestyle in a healthy way? God, we thank you. We love you. We praise you. God, thank you so much. In Jesus name. Amen.
A
Amen.
B
Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. If you guys like it, subscribe to us on YouTube. Follow us on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok. Bless you guys and see you guys next week. For the next episode. Today we'll attempt a feat once thought impossible. Overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing. A SoFi personal loan. With it, you could save big on interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment.
A
Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan loan.
B
Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more. Loans originated by SoFi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply.
A
NMLS 696891 Marketing is hard, but I'll.
B
Tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.
Podcast: The Bryce Crawford Podcast
Episode: Santa Cruz Medicinals Confronts Bryce About Gluttony (EP 148)
Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Bryce Crawford
Guest: Brendan (Santa Cruz Medicinals/Santa Cruz Paleo)
This episode is a deep dive into the intersection of Christian faith, health, and practical wellness. Bryce welcomes Brendan, founder of Santa Cruz Medicinals, to discuss physical health as a neglected but key element of honoring God, the problem of gluttony, practical steps to improve wellness, and the synergy between faith and discipline. The conversation blends personal stories, scriptural references, actionable advice, and honest questions—including a challenging discussion about faith, other religions, and the universal need for clarity and wholeness.
Dishonoring the Body: Brendan expresses concern that many Christians ignore health, equating post-church visits to places like McDonald’s or Crumbl Cookie with spiritual compromises.
“Going to a Crumbl Cookie or McDonald's after church... is not much different than going to a liquor store or even going to a strip club.” – Brendan (04:14)
Biblical Mandate: Multiple references to scripture stress that honoring God includes honoring the body:
Bryce’s Journey: Four and a half months into his fitness transformation, Bryce shares struggles and victories, linking discipline in health to spiritual discipline.
Morning Routine:
Actionable Tips:
Brendan’s Story:
“All of our ancestors died at age 30. That's not true at all... that's just data that's skewed because western medicine's amazing.” (18:15)
Design & Faith:
"There is no way scientifically that this... is not intelligent design." – Brendan paraphrasing a mitochondrial biologist (19:44)
Sugar & Processed Foods:
Notable Viral Moments:
Water & Microplastics:
Artificial Sweeteners:
Healthiest Fast Food?
French Fries, Coca-Cola, and Processed Foods:
Soda:
Caffeine:
Alcohol:
Nicotine (Vapes, Zyn, Cigarettes):
Integration of Health and Faith:
Evangelism and Realness:
“People are getting sick and tired of the fake stuff because they're always fed fake... what you're bringing to the table... is clarity.” – Bryce (43:29)
On Gluttony vs. Other Sin:
“If you’re worshiping the processed food, like I'm like, everyone's telling you to do it, you're doing something wrong.” – Bryce (44:35)
On Intuitive Eating:
“Now that I'm getting back into faith... I do think there's a bit of a demonic energy there... you now don't like what God put on this earth.” – Brendan (35:37)
On the Power of Small Changes:
“Give yourself 30 days… If you don’t even know how good you can feel, then you’re not gonna know how bad you feel on a normal day to day basis.” – Brendan (27:43)
On Caffeine and Sleep:
"Let’s say you had that Celsius at 2 or 3... at 11 [pm], you still have 50 milligrams in your system. If before bed... I said, 'hey, Bryce, do you want a 50 mg pill of caffeine?' You would go, 'get out of here!'" – Brendan (62:48)
On Faith and Motivation:
“If I’m doing this for myself, I get burned out. It was easy to quit... [now] I want to honor God with my body, and that changed it.” – Bryce (70:26)
On Alcohol:
“Alcohol is one of the worst things you can put in your body for your health. No doubt about it.” – Brendan (74:02)
On Substance Use and Worship:
“If you want to know what you worship, look at the things you turn to when you’re going through it.” – Bryce (76:17)
| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:09 | Introduction of gluttony, health neglect in Christian spaces | | 06:03 | Scriptural references on honoring God with your body | | 09:25 | Brendan’s daily health routine: hydration, prayer, stretching | | 13:32 | Brendan’s background, faith journey, and struggle with addiction | | 17:14 | Anthropology, ancestral diet, and real vs. myth health data | | 19:44 | “Intelligent design” – scientists returning to faith through study of biology | | 21:40 | Medicine, cancer, and holistic health approaches | | 26:17 | Viral “$100 not to eat Crumbl Cookie” challenge | | 28:18 | Water filtration and the dangers of microplastics | | 36:37 | Gut health and cravings; practical first steps (fasting) | | 41:21 | How personal family tragedy led Brendan back to faith and service | | 48:02 | Soda: comparing sugary vs. diet/zero sugar vs. alternatives | | 54:41 | 30-Day bread/gluten challenge | | 61:22 | Caffeine: half-life, timing, energy drinks, and sleep | | 66:01 | Checking in on Brendan’s faith; heavy question about salvation across religions | | 70:19 | The motivation behind health: doing it for Jesus | | 71:34 | Proverbs on gluttony and drink; tying scripture to practical health | | 74:02 | Alcohol: the physiological and spiritual downsides | | 76:17 | “What you turn to is what you worship”—how addiction and faith interrelate |
The episode is a call for Christians and the broader audience to see health as an act of worship and responsibility. Bryce and Brendan blend frank discussion, biblical wisdom, and practical expertise, creating a genuinely motivating conversation. Both encourage stepping away from the typical American cycle of overconsumption and seeking clarity and discipline—for both body and spirit.
Action Step:
Take 30 days to radically prioritize health—real food, water, movement, prayer—then notice the difference.
Final Blessing:
Bryce closes in prayer for listeners to apply wisdom, discipline, and health for the glory of God and personal wholeness. (77:58)
For More:
(All timestamps in MM:SS format. Summary intentionally excludes ad reads, intros/outros, and non-content segments as requested.)