← The Dr. Hyman Show
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- [00:00]
David Beckham
When I retired, I thought that my body needed to just recover and I stopped working out. My body fell apart. I'm aging exactly the same as everybody else is aging. It's really about how I want to feel when I'm 80 years old, not right now.
- [00:14]
Mark Hyman
Let's switch over you, Don, because your story is quite amazing.
- [00:17]
David Beckham
It's more than quite amazing.
- [00:19]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It was just a few weeks into medical school that I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And they said, you have three months to live and you'll never be able to have children. Ultimately, I, I had a heart transplant.
- [00:27]
Mark Hyman
You were the first one to run a marathon within a year of having a heart transplant.
- [00:30]
Dr. Don Mussolum
When I took my first step, I thought, I think I made a big mistake. I was so decomposated, my calf muscles were literally indented. I had a three person assist and a rolling walker.
- [00:39]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
David Beckham is a global icon whose name is synonymous with elite performance. Over a 20 year career at the highest level of professional football, he redefined what longevity looks like for an athlete. Now at 50, he is applying that same world class discipline to a new mission. Joining him is Dr. Don Mussolum, previously a Mayo Clinic physician who survived stage four breast cancer and a heart transplant only to run a marathon one year later. Together, they are stripping away the confusion of the wellness industry to reveal what it actually takes to stay elite at any age.
- [01:08]
Mark Hyman
So kind of walk us through a day, the life of David Beckham in terms of your health routine.
- [01:12]
David Beckham
I still want to live and feel like an athlete. Every part of my life I treat as if I'm still playing.
- [01:19]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I think you should have him talk about his time in nature with his farm.
- [01:22]
David Beckham
This cockrell is the most handsome cockrell you'll ever see.
- [01:26]
Mark Hyman
So how do you define health now for yourself? Foreign.
- [01:34]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Most people hear the word red meat and automatically think of beef. But venison sits in a completely different nutritional category. It's the cleanest, leanest, most nutrient dense red meat available. If beef represents old ideas about red meat, venison represents the future ideal. Incredibly nutrient rich, anti inflammatory, metabolically efficient and naturally aligned with human physiology. Venison is high in protein, low in fat, and has a fatty acid profile that supports metabolic and cardiovascular health.
- [02:00]
David Beckham
It's.
- [02:00]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
It's loaded with highly bioavailable B vitamins that power your mitochondria, energy production, brain function and detox pathways. And when you look at minerals like magnesium, iron, copper and potassium, venison consistently outperforms beef. These are the nutrients most people are deficient in today. Just as important is what venison doesn't contain. Because it's not an industrial feedlot product, you avoid the inflammatory fats, antibiotics and many other contaminants found in conventional beef. And when harvested responsibly, venison tests far below safety thresholds for heavy metals, making it one of the cleanest animal proteins available. Best source for Wild Harvested Venison and the company I get my venison from is Maui Nui Venison. So if you're looking for a protein that supports longevity, metabolic health and clean eating, venison is one of the smartest choices you can make. The best source for wild harvested venison and the company I get mine from is Maui Nui Venison. To learn more about the health benefits of venison and how to get yours, head over to maui nuivenison.com HYMAN Again, that's M A U I N U I venison.com HYMAN to learn more Cooking isn't just about nutrition. It's a daily ritual that helps me slow down, reconnect and nourish both my body and mind. That's why I cook with Made In. I personally choose their stainless clad and carbon steel cookware, time tested materials that professional chefs have relied on for generations. They're beautifully made, perform incredibly well, and don't rely on synthetic nonstick coatings. Stainless steel is the backbone of my kitchen. It's durable, non reactive and versatile enough for almost anything I cook. And when I want something that develops a natural nonstick surface over time I reach for carbon steel, especially for higher heat cooking. Made in Stainless clad cookware is built with true five ply construction, five layers of premium metals layered together and it's the gold standard in cookware design, delivering fast, even heating, consistent performance and durability that's made to last a lifetime. High quality cookware really does make a difference. It supports better cooking, more intentional meals and a healthier relationship with food. Made in is what I use and trust in my own kitchen. You can explore their cookware@madeincookware.com and use the code Dr. HYMAN for 10% off your order. That's madeincookware.com with code Dr. HYMAN get yours today.
- [04:04]
Mark Hyman
David Don, welcome to the podcast.
- [04:06]
David Beckham
Thank you very much.
- [04:07]
Mark Hyman
Well it's so great to have you both here. You both have health journeys and stories to tell you as an athlete, you as a survivor of breast cancer and heart transplant and also talk about how the average person can learn from the things that You've learned in ways that are remarkable. Both your stories are extraordinary. You know, one, you as an elite athlete who's learned how to take care of his health from the beginning and then continually improving even at this age. I think you look better now than you did in pictures when you were like 20.
- [04:34]
David Beckham
Now you sound like my wife. She says the same thing to me and I don't believe her.
- [04:40]
Mark Hyman
So kind of a scrawny little kid though. I saw those pictures.
- [04:44]
David Beckham
That's very true. That's very true.
- [04:46]
Mark Hyman
And you know, you, you came back from two impossible things, which is stage four breast cancer and a heart transplant. And you look fabulous and glowing. So everybody's going to want to know what, what have you both done? David, let's start with you. You, you obviously everybody knows who you are. You're an elite athlete. You're football player or as we say here, soccer player. And you, you were chatting earlier, you're saying you've always been sort of paying attention to your health, but you kind of also grew up on crap food like pie and mash and chips and the, you know, east end of London and like it wasn't a thing. And you know, you would go to Cheesecake Factory when you were playing, get your pre game meals and they gave you a few bucks from the team to play. Tell us about how you've kind of thought about your own health as a, as a player. Because, you know, most athletes when we're chatting about this, don't pay much attention to what they're eating. You know, some high performance Olympians obviously do, but the average people in major league sports, you know, football players, basketball players, soccer players, baseball players or other football players, you know, don't really pay attention. They're eating crap. And I've seen it. I, we were chatting, I've seen, you know, what players eat. Friends of own basketball teams or football teams. And I'll go in and after the game and like they're just eating like fried chicken and pizza and pasta and you know, crap and burgers and hot dogs. And I'm like, if you have a, you know, million dollar racehorse, you're not going to feed it McDonald's and Coke and fries and a milkshake for, for a pre game Kentucky Derby meal.
- [06:18]
David Beckham
It's funny you say that though because, you know, being an owner of a team, you know, I want my players to be healthy. I want them to be doing the right things, eating the drinking, the same things or the right things and each player has to be treated differently. I learned that when I was playing in, in A.C. milan, you know, each player was treated differently after a game. You'd go and get, you know, you go and have a blood test that tell you exactly how you, how much you run, what you need to do in the next few games. So, you know, every, every, every player gets treated differently these days. It wasn't the same when I was playing, but I walked into our locker room, you know, last season a couple of times, and players are eating pizza.
- [06:59]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [07:00]
David Beckham
And I'm like, is this the right thing? And they're like, well, players just want something, something they don't want something healthy. They don't want something that's that good for you. They just want something. And pizza is the kind of food of choice on most of the players. And that's right after the game. But going back to my upbringing.
- [07:19]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [07:20]
David Beckham
You know, I grew up in the East End of London. My mom was an amazing cook. You know, my dad worked from 6am till 9pm every single day. So my mum was the one that was home looking after me and my two sisters. Now my mom, like I said, she, without knowing, prepared me for my career. Yes, we ate fish and chips. Yes, we ate pie and mash. But that was really a kind of a treat at the weekend or a Friday night. I don't know whether you know that, but on a Friday night it's tradition that you have fish and chips.
- [07:54]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [07:55]
David Beckham
And I always used to go on a Sunday morning with my grandma and my granddad. Not my granddad, because he was, he was working, but my grandma. And we'd always go to our local pie mash.
- [08:05]
Mark Hyman
But what is pie mash for Americans?
- [08:07]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Because I don't.
- [08:08]
David Beckham
Okay, so pine pie mash. I'll explain it. So pie mash is. It's like a mince meat pie. It's a very basic mince meat pie with pastry. And then you have a mashed potato, but it's not your whipped, creamy, you know, milky mashed potato. It is a mashed potato that is just mashed. It's just potatoes and salt.
- [08:29]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Yeah.
- [08:30]
David Beckham
And then here's, here's the part where everyone goes, that's so bad. It's called liquor and it's a kind of gravy. But it's made out of stewed eels and parsley and it's mixed together and it's this green sauce that is,
- [08:46]
Mark Hyman
I mean.
- [08:46]
David Beckham
Yeah.
- [08:47]
Mark Hyman
Like, like a sick thing.
- [08:48]
David Beckham
And then you. And then you pile like pepper and salt and like chili vinegar, which is, it's my favorite Meal that was. That. That would be my last meal to me.
- [08:58]
Dr. Don Mussolum
So.
- [08:59]
David Beckham
So in all honesty, you know, those were treats, we understood that those, those are treats. But during the week actually, and the night before I would play on a Sunday morning, my mum would always make me like a piece of steak or a piece of grilled chicken and pasta. So that really prepared me for, you know, probably gave me the longevity in my career. You know, from a. From a really early age, I was eating good things. You know, I might have the odd pie, mash, fish and chips, but majority of the time I was eating good things. So that really has completely changed now, you know, in the world of football or soccer. Completely change. You know, the scientific part of, you know, eating and looking after yourself and wellness now is completely gone, you know, full circle, in all honesty, because like I said when I was, when I first joined Manchester United, we, at lunchtimes we used to have steak and chips or pie and chips, baked beans and for dessert we'd have a chocolate pudding and chocolate custard. Every. Every single day? Yeah, every single day.
- [10:09]
Mark Hyman
There's no vegetables in there.
- [10:10]
David Beckham
No vegetables. No vegetables. I mean, when you've got beans on your plate and chips, you know, we were like, not worried about the vegetables and the fact that I continued, I went on and played Till I was 38 years old. So my. I had a long career.
- [10:26]
Mark Hyman
What's the average football players at that time?
- [10:29]
David Beckham
It was probably 32, 34, if you were lucky.
- [10:33]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Yeah.
- [10:35]
David Beckham
But nowadays, obviously, with all the science that's in with the teams now and the players, players, the longevity of their careers now is going. Some players are playing till 38, 40, 41, 40. So players are longing their careers because of what they're doing to their bodies now.
- [10:53]
Mark Hyman
And did you, did you change over time in terms of what you were doing to maintain your health as you're playing?
- [10:58]
David Beckham
No, I was honestly pretty consistent. A lot of players obviously had to change because I've not talked about going for a pint on a Wednesday or a Thursday afternoon. I didn't used to do that. But players used to do that before a game on a Saturday. They would go and have 10 pints in. In the pub on a Wednesday or a Thursday before a game.
- [11:20]
Mark Hyman
Wow.
- [11:20]
David Beckham
You know, so I mean, I'm talking about 30, 40 years ago. I'm not talking about 10 years ago, I'm talking about that time. So it was a different. And players were still performing.
- [11:31]
Mark Hyman
Five quarts of beer, I'd be like on the floor.
- [11:33]
David Beckham
I know, but that's really, how I was able to. I did adjust, of course, I adjusted because I had to, but I was pretty consistent through my whole career. You know, players used to go away after the end of the season, come back, and they would be heavy, heavy, you know, and, and I was never like that, you know, throughout the summer. I always looked after myself. I never overate, I never drank. I was never a big drinker in all honesty, anyway, so I was able to go away for four or five weeks in the summer, eat what I wanted, but I always looked after myself. You know, the, the coach would always turn around to us and say, take four weeks or, or just take two weeks and do nothing. I never did any nothing. I always did my training throughout those four weeks.
- [12:20]
Mark Hyman
And that's how you stayed so long in the game?
- [12:23]
David Beckham
I think so. I think so, yeah.
- [12:25]
Mark Hyman
And how do you sort of navigate this now? You know, being 50 and like you're.
- [12:31]
David Beckham
Yeah, 50. 50 last year.
- [12:32]
Mark Hyman
That's a big year, right?
- [12:33]
David Beckham
It was a big year. A lot happened last year for me. So it was a special year last year. Yeah. Turning 50 was a big milestone. But to be honest, everyone made, you know, I think my mate, my wife made a little bit more fuss about it than me turning 50. She turned 50 the year before me, which I always remind her about, obviously, but she turned 50 the year before me. But I was excited about, you know, I just treated it like any other birthday. I don't feel any different. I don't, I don't think I look any different, but. Few more gray hairs, but apart from that. No, it's.
- [13:11]
Mark Hyman
It hasn't made you think differently about your health because, you know, we're going to talk about a minute, but you created a new company, I am eight, which is about helping people create health on a simple daily regimen. And you recently launched the longevity product, which we're going to talk about, which I love. What made you sort of want to think differently about your own health? That led to kind of this, like
- [13:31]
David Beckham
I said earlier, the, you know, early on in my career, no one talked about the scientific part of looking after yourself, or the wellness part, or the supplement part or the vitamins part. No one. No, no one talked about it. It wasn't really a thing that really got talked about. We didn't, we weren't sat down and said and told to take certain things. But I always looked at the market as something really interesting, you know, and I always looked at what was out there, you know, and even before the end of my career, I started Looking at things and what I could do to make my performance better, you know, on more on the holistic side than, than any other. So I was always looking for things, I was always looking for supplements. I was always looking for different vitamins and things and, and, and different smoothies and what I could do to kind of keep myself as healthy and keep, you know, on that, that level of, of play and also level of professionalism. So when I started coming towards the end and after my career, I then started to focus, okay, I've been an elite athlete for 22 years now. I'm not an elite athlete. I still want to live and feel like an athlete. I still, you know, every part of my life I treat as if I'm still playing. Yeah, you know, I wake up, I have a schedule, I'm very regimented on what I do every single day, what I take every single day, how I look after myself. If I've got, if I've got an important day, you know, one day I'll still go to bed at the same time as I, as I did when I played football. So I continued to treat myself and treat my body like when I was playing. But I looked at what was out there and, you know, I had so many people come up to me and say, it's just so confusing. What do you take? What do you do? What do you put in your body? And I'm like, well, I want to be able to turn around to someone and say, okay, this is what I take. And I want it simple. And it's one of the things that I spoke to Danny Young about when, you know, when we first started the conversations, I said, all I want is simplicity. I don't want to be taking 17 to 20 tablets every single morning. I want to put it in one drink and I want to put it in water and I'll mix it up and I want to take it and I want it easy. And I wanted to taste it, to taste good. And that, funnily enough, that was one of my things.
- [16:02]
Mark Hyman
Well, it does actually. I'm having some right now.
- [16:04]
David Beckham
It's got to taste good and I want to feel, I want to feel an instant, like impact. And, and I must admit, it's the one thing that people say to us every single day, like the day after that week, they feel an instant impact.
- [16:22]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
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- [18:15]
Mark Hyman
So when you turn 50, do you think about your health differently or are you just like I'm on the same regimen. I'm going to act like I'm 20
- [18:22]
David Beckham
and keep I don't think what's your
- [18:24]
Mark Hyman
like daily regimen that you I don't
- [18:26]
David Beckham
think of my time at 50. I want to think of my time at 80.
- [18:30]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, that's what I mean.
- [18:31]
David Beckham
And that's really why I'm doing the things that I'm doing now. It's why I'm I'm looking to the future rather than looking at 50 because I've done what I've done I'm aging exactly the same as everybody else is aging. You know, I might have been an athlete for, you know, a long time, but I'm still aging the same as what you're aging, what everyone else is aging. So, you know, it's really about how I want to feel when I'm 80 years old, not. Not right now, because I've done what I've done to get myself to this point. I feel good, and that's what I want to continue.
- [19:07]
Mark Hyman
Amazing. Let's switch over you, Don, because your story is quite amazing.
- [19:11]
David Beckham
It's more than quite amazing.
- [19:12]
Mark Hyman
Yeah. It's kind of like I don't think I've ever met anybody who's had your story. And I also don't think I've ever really met anybody who looks as good as you, who's had a heart transplant. You're a physician. You trained in sort of integrative medicine. You work at Mayo Clinic in, you know, teaching women who are going through breast cancer how to do that in a holistic way. You have been a patient, and that's led you on a health journey for yourself and made you so passionate about bringing this to so many people. And I think a lot of us who are in this field are like that. We've had some horrible thing happened to us. Regular medicine. Didn't figure it out, and then we had to figure it out for ourselves. So maybe you could share a little bit about, as a patient, survivor, like, what was. What was it about your health journey that helped lead you to where you are now and this mission that you're on, to bring help to so many and. And tell us a little bit about, like, what you went through.
- [20:05]
Dr. Don Mussolum
So thanks, Mark. And thank you, David. I know you're having to listen to this again, but it's powerful. And, you know, so often I almost, in the beginning, was embarrassed and a little quiet about sharing my story, but then I was getting so much feedback about how inspiring it was and giving individuals hope. And I really want to help move individuals beyond hope to knowing that they, too, can attain their vitality without pause and flourish beyond massive healthcare adversity, which is what I did. And much like you, David, I lived a very healthy lifestyle growing up because my mom was at home. She cooked these healthy meals, and that's a big part of it. When you have, I think, a solid foundation of health and wellness, you have much better outcomes. And so this is a big shout out, because when I work with women, a lot of times, they're very inspired to want to make change within themselves. But then quickly the next thing they say is, yes, but my husband's not going to want to do this. What about my kids? And this is really a big shout out that the earlier we start, the more likely you're going to have a flourishing life, regardless of whatever may come to you. Because we don't have total control over health adversity. Even if you're living a healthy lifestyle, it's not to blame yourself. These things sometimes just happen.
- [21:14]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, you didn't get breast cancer because you're eating crap or something. We live in a toxic environment. And who knows, you know, I have
- [21:19]
Dr. Don Mussolum
so many women that come in and they ask that question, why me? And that was one thing I never did. I never felt like I was in a battle or I was fighting this. I just trusted, you know, I looked for lessons and I really felt it's like amor fatih. Like this was really happening, you know, for me, not to me, but it was just a few weeks into medical school that I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And it just.
- [21:38]
Mark Hyman
And you were held.
- [21:39]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I was 26.
- [21:40]
Mark Hyman
That's crazy.
- [21:41]
Dr. Don Mussolum
So it was just really quite surprising that this was the diagnosis that had happened. And you know, they came into the room, this was the year 2000, Thanksgiving weekend. And they came in, I had actually collapsed. They had to take me to urgent surgery. I was in cardiogenic shock. 16 centimeter mass wrapped around my chest because I was misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosed. Doctors really didn't think anything was wrong with me. But with the fast paced medicine that people don't just pause. And this was starting back in the 2000s when healthcare was really starting to shift. Even back then, no one ever listened to my lungs. So I ended up getting diagnosed at a very late stage. And so I had this massive tumor wrapped around my heart that was compressing the great vessels and that resulted in cardiogenic shock. They did a thoracotomy the next day.
- [22:28]
Mark Hyman
That's when they crack open your chest.
- [22:29]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, just big, massive surgery. And you know, the next day they came in my room and they said, you have three months to live without chemotherapy, 20 months to live with chemotherapy. You have stage four cancer and you're gonna need to drop out of medical school and you'll never be able to have children. It was like all these absolutes. And I thought, wow, you know, that's
- [22:46]
Mark Hyman
a lot to hold.
- [22:47]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It was interesting, you know. And I remember just feeling very sturdy, though, and steady. I'd always had faith in God and belief in something bigger than myself. And I just trusted. You know, I was in medical school, so there was this element of curiosity, which was kind of an interesting psychology, but I never fought it. I knew I needed to do the conventional therapy. So when I do chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant, radiation therapy, stayed in school the whole time. But when I had my knowing, the great question you asked is, how did you know you wanted to do what you did? Is. I remember during my bone marrow transplant, my oncologist was very special. He had a bicycle in my room. I sat down.
- [23:22]
Mark Hyman
You had surgery, you had chemo, you had radiation, and then you had a bone marrow transplant.
- [23:27]
Dr. Don Mussolum
And a bone marrow transplant. This was in 2000. So this was back when they just really gave you high doses of treatment to just totally deplete the immune system, and then they gave it back to you. So it was pretty powerful.
- [23:38]
Mark Hyman
Just for people listening. Don't understand what a bone marrow transplant is. Essentially, they. They destroy your own immune system. They. They kill your bone marrow, and then they give you somebody else's bone marrow, which rebuilds your immune system and then hopefully will help you survive. But it's a lot.
- [23:54]
Dr. Don Mussolum
That's exactly right. You know, and this was with the City of Hope. This was in a research study because they knew that, you know, otherwise there's no way really to cure this cancer. And so that's what they did.
- [24:03]
Mark Hyman
The Hail Mary.
- [24:04]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It's exactly. It's a Hail Mary. And so it was so fascinating, though I kept my life the way it always. I always wake up at 4am I would ride the bike that was in my room. There was also a bicycle that my oncologist had at the nurse's station so I could sneak out. And it was in that. Sneaking out to watch the sunrise, to go ride my bike at the nurse's station and everyone in the other room.
- [24:23]
Mark Hyman
Wait, wait. You brought a bike into the nurse's
- [24:24]
Dr. Don Mussolum
station that the oncologist did? He was so cool.
- [24:26]
Mark Hyman
Like a stationary bike.
- [24:28]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Two stationary bikes. I had two bikes, one in my room for. On the days that he really didn't want me to leave. And he said, most mornings, everyone's tucked in the rooms. You're fine to come out. And I'd ride my bike and watch the sunrise every day for about an hour. I mean, this is when my hemoglobins were like six. You know, it was crazy. It was really nice.
- [24:44]
Mark Hyman
Okay, wait a minute. You have to understand what she's talking about, because I recently had surgery, and my hemoglobin went to 7 and I could barely sit up in a chair. And here you're saying you're riding your bike. That's when you have no blood in your body. It's like a third of the blood that you're supposed to have in your body.
- [25:00]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It is true, but, you know, I'm a smaller stature individual. I was very much into cardiovascular exercise, but you are too. And we each have our different reserves. But I was very fit prior to my cancer diagnosis. I would do Camelback Mountain in Arizona twice. I go up, come down, go up, come down, and then I'd even run after that. So I was very fit. I had a high VO2, so I had a lot of reserve. So when my hemoglobin was low, I would even climb Camelback with like hemoglobins of seven. It was crazy. I just was very blessed to have this high vitality. But you know why? It's because I showed up for myself. I ate right mindset, I exercised regularly. And we know exercise during chemotherapy is incredibly powerful. We know it improves outcomes. And recent colorectal cancer studies, like, on par with the benefits of chemo. It's really important exercise, you know, exercise medicine. Yeah, exercise is just so, so important that we move our body. But I just remember looking out and seeing everyone else in the rooms and they were dying in an effort to stay alive, you know. But I describe it as I attained my vitality without pause. And it was the lifestyle that made the difference. And I really do attribute that to why I'm here today. And unfortunately, those treatments were, you know, ones that we really didn't know what they would do to someone. They cured the cancer. What a blessing, right? Because otherwise I wouldn't be here. But they caused advanced heart failure.
- [26:10]
Mark Hyman
So we carry the disease, but the patient died.
- [26:13]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Exactly. It's another testament to the importance of exercise. Because when I was found to have advanced heart failure, my ejection fraction, I don't think I've ever heard of one lower. It was 8%.
- [26:25]
Mark Hyman
And you were walking around?
- [26:26]
Dr. Don Mussolum
No, I was actually ready to collapse. I was in cardiogenic shock again. And this was in the year 2003. So it was about three years after my omer.
- [26:33]
Mark Hyman
That's like, that's like, for people, in plain English, it's like basically about a seventh of what your heart should be pumping. If it could only beat and pump a seventh of the blood. That's what she had.
- [26:43]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It was really hard. And I had lived with heart failure for 18 years.
- [26:46]
Mark Hyman
That's insane.
- [26:47]
Dr. Don Mussolum
You know, And I remained in. I finished residency, did a hospital fellowship, and heart failure. You get better, you know, you get worse because you overdo it. You get better, you get worse. There was a lot of procedures along the way and different interventions that they kind of would patch me up. You know, I'd work a little better for a while, then I'd kind of decompensate.
- [27:02]
Mark Hyman
And the chemo is what destroyed your heart.
- [27:04]
Dr. Don Mussolum
You know, it's really fascinating. Well, this is super cool science. So, you know, ultimately I had a heart transplant. And they are investigating the heart and the genes in the heart and how this could have happened. And they identified something called the Titan gene. And this Titan gene is a gene that makes the myocytes, the heart cells, very sensitive to chemo and radiation and childbirth. And I was actually able to have a baby. And so I went into this end stage heart failure right after I delivered my child. So it was kind of like a triple hit. So most individuals, if they have chemo, they're okay.
- [27:40]
Mark Hyman
Wow, you had a baby and a heart failure.
- [27:42]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Fit all three now.
- [27:43]
Mark Hyman
Are you still smiling? It's so impressive.
- [27:45]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Well, it's just such a blessing. And, you know, that's the beauty of post traumatic growth, right? When if you have adversity and you rise above, you know how hard life can be. And now it's like, I live this seamless, just truly blissful, glorious life. Just a life without resistance is so easy. Life is so easy now.
- [28:03]
Mark Hyman
But you had a heart transplant in 2021, right?
- [28:07]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It's the ultimate longevity hack, I must say, because I have a very young heart in my body, so I'm not recommending anyone else do it, but.
- [28:14]
Mark Hyman
And you were the first one to run a marathon within a year of having a heart transplant, or were you the only one who's had a heart transplant who's run a marathon?
- [28:22]
Dr. Don Mussolum
No, there's been, there's been other men, actually. I don't believe that there's been a woman that's actually run it. I think there was one woman that walked one, but it was many years after her heart transplant. So this is exactly one year after my heart transplant. And after I said I was going to do that, I thought, oh, when I took my first step, I thought, I think I made a big mistake. I was so decomposing. My, my calf muscles were literally indented. I had a three person assist and a rolling walker. And I was just thinking, oh, I may not be able to do this. I was like, I've got to try. So I applied all Those pillars, lifestyle medicine.
- [28:52]
Mark Hyman
After the surgery, you're on a walker.
- [28:53]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, after the surgery, on a walker. I was on life support.
- [28:56]
Mark Hyman
But not during the marathon. You were not on.
- [28:58]
Dr. Don Mussolum
No, I ran that hard, man, I shined. That was pretty cool. Yeah. But, yeah, we have a cardio sports medicine specialist who's a cardiologist at Mayo, and they ran races with me leading up to the marathon. I trained very smart. The truth is, I actually ran a marathon at the 11 month because we wanted to run one marathon just to make sure I would be safe in terms of public because we didn't want the cameras on me. And she like dies.
- [29:22]
Mark Hyman
Well, this sort of speaks to the really next question for you, which is you went through all this, which almost killed you. And these are serious diseases, you know, stage four breast cancer, heart failure. They're not really lifestyle diseases. I mean, heart failure was from chemo. How did it change how you think about your own health and investing in your health and your own sort of regimen for creating health? And then how did it affect, you know, you're thinking about what you're doing in the world.
- [29:44]
Dr. Don Mussolum
It's been so inspiring to be able to figure out how important lifestyle is. And I always was really fascinated with food, so I've always really invested in eating healthy. But sometimes it was a little too restrictive and it wasn't balanced and it wasn't with harmony. There was a little bit of turbulence. Maybe I was doing it out of fear. Where now I really, you know, eat to live and I embrace that in a way that it's. It's enjoyable and it's something that individuals should really try to do the same. I don't think that we should use fear tactics to inspire others to eat healthy. This is just what fuels our body. You know, you don't put. We've heard these analogies. You don't put junk in a car. You shouldn't put junk in your body. I mean, getting rid of the ultra processed food and David, that's what you said was so important is your mom was there cooking dinner for you. You didn't eat fake food.
- [30:27]
David Beckham
I was lucky.
- [30:28]
Dr. Don Mussolum
That's the most important thing.
- [30:29]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Ready?
- [30:29]
Mark Hyman
Fish and chips and pie and mash actually sounds pretty healthy to me compared to what most people eat today.
- [30:33]
David Beckham
But I'm talking about fish and chips and pie, mash. And then we've got dawn telling her inspiring story.
- [30:41]
Mark Hyman
It's okay.
- [30:42]
Dr. Don Mussolum
We'll just really bless. In exercise and movement, I always move my whole, you know, life, and I continue to do that. So I think I was really blessed that I had this very healthy childhood that my parents really believed in. And it just set the stage for this to be just very natural for me in this entire transition. The one thing that I would say I really have to work on is sleep. I'm not very good with sleep. I'd rather be alive. Sleep is really hard. I sleep good, but I don't want to sleep. I want to live. So that's my goal, is I can replace sleep. There is a gene, and maybe we all have this, that you just don't require as much sleep. We think that these individuals can get restorative.
- [31:16]
David Beckham
I definitely have that gene.
- [31:17]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Do you? I think I do too.
- [31:19]
David Beckham
I must have that gene.
- [31:20]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, I'm happy with four hours.
- [31:21]
David Beckham
I feel like I'm missing out when I'm sleeping. I feel like I'm missing something. Yeah, I know something's going on that I want to be part of.
- [31:28]
Mark Hyman
So the idea of you sleep when you're dead, life's too fun.
- [31:31]
David Beckham
Yeah, you're right.
- [31:32]
Mark Hyman
But you do, but you do need to sleep.
- [31:33]
David Beckham
You do need to sleep. It's important.
- [31:36]
Dr. Don Mussolum
You do need to sleep for metabolic health. And you know, so I think that this is actually a very important thing that we have to focus on. And when I was running that marathon, that was one thing I really was mindful of. And you said another really important thing, David, is that you're very regular with your sleep and you have sleep consistency. Because there's research now that says, yeah, that's important. 10pm to 2am you need that sleep. That's like the critical hours if you can be really regular, especially over a lifetime. But, you know, there's no magic bullet. But you know, we all know in my background was in exercise physiology. And so I did a lot of research early on and we called it ergogenic AIDS at the time and that was nutraceuticals to support. Support sports performance or peak performance, human existence. And so I really do believe in supplements as an adjunct to a healthy lifestyle. It's never going to replace a healthy lifestyle, but even the healthiest of lifestyles just isn't enough anymore. You know, there's a lot of nutrient gaps, you know, the NHANES data. You know, you talk about this often. It's hard to get what you need, even if you're eating what you think may be an ideal diet.
- [32:38]
Mark Hyman
You know, the. What she's talking about, don't talk about in English is this study that the government puts on called the National Health and Nutrition examination, combination surveys. Essentially, it's a big study that's been going on for decades that tracks everybody in America and what they're eating and their health and their blood tests, their nutrition levels. And this studies find that over 90% are deficient or insufficient in one or more nutrients at the level not that's optimal for health, but at the level that you wouldn't get a deficiency disease. So how much vitamin C do you need to not get scurvy? I think 10% of Americans are deficient in vitamin C at the level that would give them scurvy. Or 80% are deficient in sufficient vitamin D. Or 93% are low in omega 3s and you know, 50% are low in magnesium and zinc. And, you know, it's like, it's a lot. And we're seeing this, you know, at Function Health, which is the company that I co founded to help people track their own personal health data. It's shocking. 70% are low in the quest reference range, which is the standard reference lab we use. In 70 are low in one or more nutrients at the level that's not the level I think is good, or you would think it's good. Like vitamin D of 30 is not good. It should be 50. Or a ferret in their iron stores is 16 is not good. It should be 45. Just between, you know, lower than 45, you'll get hair loss and fatigue and all kinds of sleep issues and other things and, you know, omega 3 fats and vitamin D. And it just, it's amazing to see the, the problems in a, in a population that actually is pretty health forward because they're actually going to do proactive things about their health. So what about the rest of the population? You know, so I think, I think providing basic nutrients is so important, but I, I kind of, I want to kind of loop activity because what you said kind of struck me was, you know, you're not doing what you're doing now to stay healthy at 50. You're doing what you're doing now to stay healthy at 80. So kind of walk us through a day. The life of David Beckham in terms of your health routine and, and what are the foundational things?
- [34:18]
David Beckham
It's actually not that interesting. But I will tell you, but I will tell you, Obviously I have four children, so I have one, my daughter, who's 14 years old. She's still obviously at school every single day. So my mornings really revolve around getting her out of bed, downstairs, breakfast inside her. I wake up at probably 6:15, 6:30 every morning. Because I like to go downstairs, make sure everything's set up. Breakfast. The fire's on, lights are on, music's on. You know, radio's on, the radio station that she loves. So. And then she comes down around 7:30. Victoria's up by then as well, so she's a kind of an early riser as well. So she comes down around the same time as me. And then we wait for Harper to come down. She comes down, she has breakfast. Most of the time she has scrambled eggs or some cereal or some fruit. And then I drive her to school.
- [35:20]
Mark Hyman
You're the chauffeur. Do you wear a hat?
- [35:23]
David Beckham
I should get a hat, because I am. She likes to sit in the back sometimes when she's got her friend. But no, most of the time, my
- [35:31]
Mark Hyman
daughter was like, don't talk to me. You don't know me. Just drop me off like 100 yards from the door. School.
- [35:37]
David Beckham
I'm actually not there yet. She's, like, embarrassed of me at the moment. So. Yeah. And even if she shows any of those kind of sides, I'm all over her. Like, I'll walk in, I'm kissing her, I'm telling her that I love her in front of her friends, her teachers. No, but. So I. But I love that time in the morning. I love. You know, Victoria goes into the gym. She starts her session quite early, so she does like 45 minutes before me. And then we go in and we work out together. But I'll get to that. So I take her to school, I drop her off, and then obviously I drive back to the house, I go into the gym, and that's like my time with Victoria to. To work out and laugh. I love to work out and laugh. And that's why I actually work out with my wife, because she makes me laugh. And I make her laugh, apparently, but she's laughing at me rather than anything else. So we do about. She does about 30 to 40 minutes on the stair climber first before I get there. And then we work out with one of my close friends who's actually an ambassador for ima, Bobby Rich. So he works us out and, I mean, he loses his mind working out with me and Victoria because I'm very. I. Victoria always says that I. Procrastinator. Yeah, she. She says I'm always trying to, like, talk to him about something to slow the session down. But I'm always taking the right, like, time in between each. Each. Each set. But she's like, okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. So she's always jumping onto. So we work out together for an hour, we laugh a lot at each other and that's part of the routine, in all honesty.
- [37:21]
Mark Hyman
Family connection.
- [37:23]
David Beckham
Exactly.
- [37:23]
Mark Hyman
Laughter exercise. You're already like. You already got like five really big health points.
- [37:28]
David Beckham
Yeah. You know, and then obviously before you
- [37:30]
Mark Hyman
even have breakfast, before.
- [37:32]
David Beckham
Before we've had breakfast. So then we're working out. And actually there's one exercise which she actually cried once through this exercise because she found it so difficult. And every time I try and get Bobby to do it at least once a week because it makes me laugh. It makes me laugh to watch her go through this painful, like, exercise. But she does the same. There's exercises that I'm not very good at as well, so.
- [37:56]
Mark Hyman
And what is that exercise that makes you cry?
- [37:58]
David Beckham
It's just, it's a pull up, up. But like, you have to slowly let yourself down. And I don't know what. She was having a moment during, during that session and all of a sudden I was like, you're not crying, are you? You're crying. And I made a big thing of it. So. But we laugh about it. So we work out together, we have a lot of fun. And then I go up to. She goes up to shower and then I go up to make us a smoothie. We both have like, a smoothie, each with iron mate in it. And she's obsessed with it it. And, and she's not easy to like, change, supplement whatever she's taken. She's like, very loyal to that.
- [38:36]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [38:36]
David Beckham
But then when we started the IMA, you know, I think it was 20, 24 that I started taking it. She was, she was very curious, but she was like, well, I've got my thing. It can't be as good as my thing.
- [38:48]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [38:48]
David Beckham
And I was like, well, you're gonna have to change at some point to show some loyalty to me. So. Yeah, so she changed finally. But. But then. So we have a smoothie, I go up and shower, and then I head into the office. I. I always eat at 1:30 every day. I have grilled salmon, brown rice, vegetables. Then I have full day in the office. I go and pick my daughter up every day at 4 o', clock, which I feel very blessed to be able to do that because not every parent gets that opportunity. I drive her home and then we prepare dinner and then, you know, put her in bed and then do exactly the same the next day.
- [39:26]
Mark Hyman
Amazing.
- [39:27]
David Beckham
So that's it. That's.
- [39:28]
Mark Hyman
That's good. You're eating healthy, you're with family, you're laughing, you're connected. I mean, that, that's it really. I mean, I think, you know, people don't understand that, that it's not that hard, that it's just, it's just a consistency. It's their daily habits. It's building your routine and, and, and your sleep stuff is also important. So tell us.
- [39:45]
David Beckham
Sleep stuff is really important because I think, like me and dawn just said, you know, I, I've not really been. I'm not great at sleeping, you know, Like, I always, I, I just want to be awake, to be honest. But throughout my career, I was pretty good. You know, I always went to bed, like 10 o' clock was the latest. I went to bed the night before a game and the games would always be at like either 3 o' clock in the afternoon or 4 o' clock or sometimes in the evening. But I would always go asleep at the same time every single night. And I always slept pretty well unless it was a big game where I was a little bit nervous. Not nervous or anxious, just excited. You know, I was, I was not one of those nervous players. I was kind of excited about the game. So, you know, my, my, my sleep these days is a lot better than what it was when I was playing. And that's down to Victoria. Victoria is always like, you were in bed early, we're sleeping early because we're up tomorrow early. So I always try and get, get, you know, at least 7. 7 hours at least every night. And I know you need a little bit more than that, but that's, that, that's pretty good for me. So that has really been, you know, part of my kind of thing that I've really worked hard on because I, when, when we talk about balance, you know, in people's diets, in people's lifestyle, it's not just about, you know, what you take, it's about everything else that you do. Like we've just said, you know, I laugh throughout my workout. You know, I walk my dogs, I take my daughter to school. I do have pie mash every now and again. You know, it's, it is about balance and we have to get that right. It's about a number of things that we do, and sleep is a big part of that, you know, and I have worked harder at that. Like, I've worked harder at drinking more water. You know, I was never great at drinking a lot of water, but now I'm great at it, apparently. But, you know, you get up a Few nights, a few times during the night, obviously, but if you drink too much water. But I.
- [41:48]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
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- [43:32]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I, I think you should have him talk about his time and nature. This farm.
- [43:36]
Mark Hyman
Oh, yeah. Oh, that's right. You're a beekeeper. You're, you're, you, you're a gardener.
- [43:41]
David Beckham
Part of my life. Life. Yeah, it's a big part of my life.
- [43:44]
Mark Hyman
Nature is also medicine.
- [43:45]
David Beckham
Yeah, yeah.
- [43:46]
Mark Hyman
Is this in the uk?
- [43:47]
David Beckham
You got a, this is in the uk. It's in, in the Cotswolds, down in the countryside. And I started, I, I, you know, throughout lockdown, after lockdown, I was like, okay, I want to create our own, like, I want Our own food, I want our own vegetables. I want to be able to grow things that we eat every, every weekend. So that's what I do. So I created this farm that's grown and grown and grown. And then we started obviously with the bees. The bees was the first thing actually. The bees was the first thing which me and one of my children came to me throughout lockdown and he was like, dad, have you seen these beehives on online? He said, let's get one. So we bought a, it was a flat pack beehive. We stayed up till four in the morning building it. And then I was like, did the bees. I had no idea. This was my first time even thinking about bees and honey. And I was like, do the bees come naturally? And obviously they don't. You have to buy the bees. So you buy the bees and a man comes up in a white van and he gets out with a cardboard box and he says, there you go, there's your bees. And you're stood there holding this box of bees.
- [44:59]
Mark Hyman
And you don't have one of those suits on yet.
- [45:01]
David Beckham
No, because they're all in the box still. So you've got this box of bees and there's 5,000 bees in each box.
- [45:08]
Mark Hyman
5,000.
- [45:09]
David Beckham
5,000. There's one queen bee and there's 5,000 bees. So I'm stood there. So then I contacted a local beekeeper and she's amazing. So she came around and her name's Helen, she's unbelievable. She came round and she said, okay, this is how it works. We put the beat, we put the bee suit on, we put the bees, transferred the bees from the box into the hive and, and that's really how it, it all began. But I must admit I post a lot with my, with my, my, my, my stuff that I do in my garden because I have this amazing cockerel and I have this, these amazing hens. This cockerel is the most handsome cockrell you'll ever see. I'm going to show you a picture. So handsome. And he struts around and he's gorgeous. He's so handsome. But one of the things that is that I, that I, I get a lot of comments from, I like to walk around my garden in bare feet, you know, not when I'm planting. But I, I once was planting a rose and I was digging with, yeah, obviously I was digging with no shoes on and no socks on and it didn't go down very well. So everyone was, had a lot of comments about the roses because of the roses. But I love it. You know, it's one of those that I always go down to the countryside for a day and just walk around in bare feet, Walk around my garden, walk around the, the vegetable garden. And it's, it's one of my big passions.
- [46:36]
Mark Hyman
Being in nature is something we're all organic deficient in.
- [46:39]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Yeah.
- [46:39]
Mark Hyman
And eat it and eat the food.
- [46:41]
David Beckham
And I eat the food.
- [46:41]
Mark Hyman
Chickens. Eat the eggs.
- [46:42]
David Beckham
Eat the eggs. We have, we have seven, six hens, one cockerel. I have seven ducks. So we have duck eggs.
- [46:52]
Mark Hyman
Duck eggs, duck eggs.
- [46:53]
David Beckham
We have, we have some amazing apple juice actually at the house now as well. So we have apple juice. We have jam, plum jam from there.
- [47:02]
Mark Hyman
From the trees.
- [47:03]
David Beckham
Yeah, yeah. We have so many plum trees that I was just like, what am I going to do with all these plums? So one weekend Victoria came down and the table was like covered in these plums. She was like, what are you doing? I was like, well, I'm gonna make some jam.
- [47:16]
Mark Hyman
I love it. I love it. Wow. And Don, how about you? I mean in terms of your, your routine? I mean you're been, you're in your early 50s, you've had two major illnesses, you know, that mostly would have killed people. And you look like you're just starting your life. So what, what is, what is your sort of routine and non negotiables that you've kind of come to understand that are part of, you know, essentials for your life?
- [47:40]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah. You know, I wake up at 4am every morning. I love, I start my work early. That's when my mind is nice and clear and I exercise in the morning. So I try to get a 60 minute run in the morning. I eat a whole food plant predominant diet. But for the most part I've that most of my life. When I'm traveling, I'll add in some fish here and there just because it gets hard to do whole food plant based. But I really stick to a healthy nutritional pattern, getting lots of vegetables and fruits. I really focus on that food diversity for the gut microbiome. I don't have a garden. I wish I did. I'm just so inspired by that story. It's just very hopeful. It's something I think I want to do in 2020.
- [48:13]
David Beckham
You should.
- [48:14]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, you've inspired me. I don't know if I can get roosters, but yeah, this is pretty, our hands. This is pretty exciting. So I really live by what I speak to my patients about in my own lifestyle. But I have such meaning and purpose in my career. My Work is not work. It is my love and my passion, truly. So I start my day typically about 8 or 9 o' clock with patients. And I have pretty long days, I go pretty late. Research projects, you know, keep me busy. And I started the lifestyle medicine residency curriculum at Mayo Clinic and I'm medical director for employee wellbeing where, you know, it's so meaningful because they're people that saved my life. So to help them be their healthiest version of themselves, they're caring for our patients. So really to help them learn how to cook healthy, started a fitness center at Mayo Clinic. So our staff at Mayo actually have access to a gym that's open 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and no charge. So it's pretty cool. So they can go and exercise right on site. And you know, this is really cool. So part of that employee wellbeing, we're actually doing a 100 person randomized controlled study with the IMA. This is a high stress group of individuals. So it's going to be fun to look at those nutrient deficiencies that you know, there's nutrient.
- [49:26]
Mark Hyman
So you're testing them before.
- [49:28]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yep, we're large panel of testing and Danny Jung has really invested appropriate. I mean, I don't know of any other nutraceutical company that dedicates resources to having a scientific advisory board as well as the research. So we're really excited about doing this study at Mayo Clinic. And we actually brought IMA on to Mayo Clinics, Mayo Clinic Ventures because we're not allowed to collaborate with outside industry. But in this realm where we're building product and helping to advance the science, we're able to do this. So it's really exciting and it's fun to do it in the staff and the staff are really excited about it. So we actually sell IMA in the Mayo Clinic pharmacy. A lot of my patients do really nicely with it. They love the flavor, they love the convenience like we talked about. But it's really fun for me to be able to not just care for patients, but help to optimize staff as well. So it's been.
- [50:17]
David Beckham
Yeah.
- [50:17]
Mark Hyman
Because healthcare workers are among the sickest in the country.
- [50:20]
Dr. Don Mussolum
They really are, you know, and they're role modeling this behavior which is so, so critical. And you know, I guess, you know, for me winding down the end of the day. My daughter is in College now, she's 22, so, you know, it's easy to kind of work a little bit later and I try to go to bed by 10 o', clock, you know, I don't get my seven hours sleep but I just don't feel, I wake up, I like spring out of bed, I don't get up.
- [50:40]
Mark Hyman
So you gotta bed at 10, wake up at 4.
- [50:42]
Dr. Don Mussolum
That's a, I love my 4am Sometimes it's like 3:22. Like this morning it was 3:22. But I'm on California time so we're allowed. It's really 6:22 my time.
- [50:51]
Mark Hyman
Let's dive into some rap fire questions. What's one habit that is sort of non negotiable that you would never give up or that you maybe a bad habit that you like that maybe is
- [51:01]
David Beckham
the one non negotiable habit that I, to be honest, it's working out. It's working out because when I retired I thought that my body needed to just recover and I stopped working out. I just sat and did nothing for I, I planned to do nothing for six months because I thought my body has been through everything. It's been through surgery, it's been, you know, beating it up over the, the, that, that time. But it was the worst thing I could have done. So from that day I was like, I'm always doing something whether it's.
- [51:35]
Mark Hyman
Did you do nothing for six months?
- [51:37]
David Beckham
I did nothing for six months.
- [51:38]
Mark Hyman
And what happened to you?
- [51:39]
David Beckham
My body fell apart. My body fell apart. I thought that, you know, my back would feel better, my knees would feel better, my ankle. I ruptured my Achilles through my career. I thought that the body needed to just recover and it was the worst thing I could have done. So, so gradually I started getting back into, you know, cycling. I started, you know, boxing. I tried everything. I tried everything and then I found a workout that worked for me and, and that's my non negotiable. I will work out every single morning and if I, if I'm traveling, I'll be doing press ups in my room. I'll do something, I'll always do something to just get my. Because it's not what I don't, it's not that I don't care about what I look like. It's not all about that. It's, it's actually what mentally and how I feel. So that's my non negotiable.
- [52:25]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, I agree. For me too. You know, especially you know, the, the older you get, the more non negotiable it is.
- [52:30]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Yeah.
- [52:31]
Mark Hyman
Like when you're younger you can get away with it and you know, I've had many back surgeries and to Me, it's just a foundation for feeling good. If I don't, my back hurts and so I know I have to do it just for keeping myself going and it makes me feel good and it's just good for everything.
- [52:48]
David Beckham
Exactly.
- [52:49]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [52:49]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
If you don't move, you won't.
- [52:51]
David Beckham
It's true.
- [52:54]
Mark Hyman
How about you, Dawn?
- [52:55]
Dr. Don Mussolum
My non negotiable is waking up at 4am Because I just have so much I want to do, including move. I have a lot of. So it is my quiet time. So it's just so peaceful. But my non negotiable is 4am earlier, actually.
- [53:08]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
I mean, I love that if you
- [53:09]
Mark Hyman
go to bed early enough.
- [53:10]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, yeah, I do. I try.
- [53:12]
Mark Hyman
Yeah. I mean, I love getting up early and I love the quiet and I love that, like, nobody's bothering me. It's like, you know, wake up at five and four or six, you know, it's like the world's still asleep and you can have this moment. It's great. So what's a food you could eat every day?
- [53:27]
David Beckham
Oh, my goodness. A food I can eat every day.
- [53:31]
Mark Hyman
It could be pie and mash if you want.
- [53:33]
David Beckham
It could be pie and mash, but it shouldn't be pie mash, but it can.
- [53:36]
Dr. Don Mussolum
That's okay.
- [53:37]
David Beckham
Oh, my goodness.
- [53:38]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I mean, when you do everything else right, it doesn't have to be about perfection.
- [53:42]
David Beckham
So a food I could eat every day. You know what? And it's quite controversial. A radish.
- [53:48]
Mark Hyman
A radish.
- [53:49]
David Beckham
I love radishes.
- [53:50]
Mark Hyman
Spicy radishes.
- [53:51]
David Beckham
Spicy radishes.
- [53:52]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
From the garden.
- [53:52]
David Beckham
From the garden?
- [53:53]
Mark Hyman
Yeah.
- [53:53]
David Beckham
Yeah, in the garden. I. I pull them, I clean them a little bit. And then I. I love radish.
- [53:59]
Mark Hyman
Leave some of the dirt on because then you get some more probiotics.
- [54:01]
David Beckham
There you go.
- [54:03]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, you'll a good adjunct. Your ima.
- [54:06]
David Beckham
Yeah. So radish.
- [54:07]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I like that. That's good. Oh, mine is easy. The purple sweet potato. I just love those. They're glorious. You had them?
- [54:14]
David Beckham
Yeah.
- [54:14]
Dr. Don Mussolum
They're so gorgeous.
- [54:15]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, yeah. Those are the Okinawan sweet potatoes. And in Okinawa is one of the blue zones where people live a very long time.
- [54:21]
Dr. Don Mussolum
So they have 150% more anthocyanins than blueberries at powerful.
- [54:26]
Mark Hyman
I eat them almost three times a week. Like I. They're in my house all the time and if I can't find them in the grocery store, it's very upsetting.
- [54:34]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, you're right. Or they'll sell out. Or they're a little bit out of season. So there's a way you can grow them. You should.
- [54:39]
David Beckham
I should grow them?
- [54:40]
Mark Hyman
Oh, you should grow them.
- [54:41]
Dr. Don Mussolum
I get messages from people in the uk. Where can I get purple sweet potatoes? David has them.
- [54:45]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, those are great. That's a great.
- [54:47]
David Beckham
I'm gonna have a long queue outside my house.
- [54:50]
Mark Hyman
How about recovery? What's your most important recovery tool you use?
- [54:54]
David Beckham
Ima. Ima actually is. You know, I've had a couple of things in the last couple of years where I've had to have, whether it be nasal surgery or you know, dental surgery. And the one thing that I took every single morning and it helps me recover quickly was ioma. Other than that, an ice bath. I love ice baths. It helps me recover from. Actually it clears my head. It clears my head. You know, even if I've not worked out, I'll go and sit in an ice bath for 10 minutes.
- [55:24]
Mark Hyman
10 minutes. What temperature?
- [55:26]
David Beckham
Well, I go in and it's, it's like two, two degrees.
- [55:32]
Mark Hyman
Damn.
- [55:32]
David Beckham
Yeah, so it's cold.
- [55:33]
Mark Hyman
You're like Wim hofing.
- [55:34]
David Beckham
It's cold.
- [55:35]
Mark Hyman
Holy cow. I got like, I don't know, like somebody said I had like 6% body fat and if I, if I did that I'd be like shaking for an hour.
- [55:43]
David Beckham
Yeah, you have to, you have to have a shower close to, to warm your bones up. But, but, but ice bath, ice bath seem muscles, you know, my muscles and you know my aches and pains and I love it. I love ice bath.
- [55:57]
Mark Hyman
I have what I call a tribathlon. It's a sauna, a hot tub and a cold plunge on my deck.
- [56:05]
David Beckham
That's good. I like that.
- [56:06]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, you can come over and do my tribathlon. How about you, Don? What do you do?
- [56:12]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Oh gosh. You know, I feel like my life is a little bit complex. I feel like sometimes I get just so busy that and I recover really quick because of my nutrition. And so I find that my whole food plant based nutrition just has such powerful anti inflammatory properties that I can really just keep going. But I would say for me it's not necessarily something I do every single day, but every three months I do a five day fasting, mimicking diet with Prolon. I really, and I'm not sponsored by them, but I really love that. And I use that fasting, mimicking diet for my patients during chemotherapy actually for their seven, you know, their 72 hour fast. So I'm a, I'm a big advocate for that. I, I'm not a good faster like daily I like to eat as soon as I wake Up.
- [56:51]
Mark Hyman
Yeah. Well, you're a little and thin. So if you didn't fast, you like me, you kind of waste away.
- [56:55]
Dr. Don Mussolum
And I need energy. As soon as I wake up. I am intuitive. I listen to my body. Like I would never get that cold, like in the hot, you know.
- [57:01]
David Beckham
Now you're sounding like Victoria. Victoria's never got it. Actually. She got in the ice bath once.
- [57:06]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Oh, good for her because I love it. That was love, by the way.
- [57:09]
David Beckham
It was love. Different.
- [57:09]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Perfect.
- [57:10]
David Beckham
It was. Well, I, I actually told her it tightens skin. I was like, it tightens your skin. She was like, okay. She was like, I'm in. I mean, so, yeah, she only did it once. She didn't need it.
- [57:23]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Bring on the wrinkles. Yeah, so, so the fasting is what I would recommend. You know, I think that trying to get that 12 hours each night is great, but I just, I'm not good at that.
- [57:30]
Mark Hyman
Yeah, it's hard. You know, it's, it's what you said. I think I want to just double down on the anti inflammatory diet. Diet, it should be a sort of a non ecosal recovery tool because whether you're a professional sports or whether you're just a human being wanting to live up and feel good, it's so important. And I, and I think with my patients see how much inflammation plays a role in their health or disease actually, and how much an anti inflammatory diet can actually help them feel better. And I created something called the 10 day detox diet, which was just, you know, just the name of what I did with my patients in elimination diet, as it adds in all the healthy foods and the anti inflammatory foods and takes out all the inflammatory foods and you do it for 10 days. And people's lives are changed. I mean, not just they lose weight, but they, the inflammation goes out of their body, their skin clears up, their rashes go away, their joints feel better, their headaches go away, their digestion gets better. And it's so simple. It's not, it's just basically taking out the bad stuff, putting in the good stuff. And it's, it's. In 10 days we've done thousands of people, there's a 70% reduction in all symptoms from all diseases in 10 days. And it sounds like, like, like I'm hyperbolic, but actually that's what people find and it's, it's so quick. And I, I just, I would say people don't believe how, how they can feel better. They don't realize how close it is if they just change a few habits. So hopefully this inspires them, do some habit change. So anti diet. I don't know about the 10 minute cold plunge, but the workout for sure. What, what are you more strict about now in your 50s than you were when you're 18, that you're. You're sort of like doubling down on
- [59:04]
David Beckham
sleep and drinking water? You know, I'm definitely stricter with that now. You know, I think that that's almost a non negotiable. It's almost sleep and water.
- [59:15]
Mark Hyman
When you started, say, drinking, I was like drinking.
- [59:18]
David Beckham
Wait, I had to correct that really quickly.
- [59:22]
Mark Hyman
Sleep and drinking water.
- [59:24]
David Beckham
Okay. There was a little bit too much of a pause between drinking and water. Definitely not. 10 points.
- [59:32]
Mark Hyman
How about you, Dawn?
- [59:33]
Dr. Don Mussolum
You know, for me it's sleep too, and I really work on that. I'm very intentional because I found out when I wasn't sleeping, my metabolic house was more deranged. It wasn't because I had a body composition. I wasn't sleeping. So we really do need to honor our sleep. And you know, a unique thing I find in my patients is so much sleep apnea that would have otherwise been not detected. That's not necessarily my situation, but this is just a shout out. Sleep hygiene is something really to focus in on. So for me, it would be sleep too.
- [59:58]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
Sleep.
- [59:58]
Mark Hyman
I agree. Sleep is important. All right, so how do you define health now for yourself, both of you? David, start.
- [60:05]
David Beckham
How do I define health? To be honest, I want to obviously look after myself, but I want my family to be.
- [60:12]
Mark Hyman
What does health mean to you? When you think of health, what does it represent?
- [60:16]
David Beckham
I think it represents everything that is in my life at the moment. And that really wasn't. I'm not saying it wasn't as important when I was playing because when you're an athlete, you're surrounded by doctors, by nutritionists, by people that want to look after you and have to look after you. But now, obviously, for a long time, I've been looking after myself in a different way purely because I've had to, you know, of course, I have an amazing wife that does everything for me. She makes my smoothies when I'm not making them for her. So I have an amazing wife that does that. But my health, I've noticed how important it is for me because there's nobody else doing it for me other than myself. And I have to do that. I have to do that.
- [61:03]
Mark Hyman
How about you, Don?
- [61:04]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Yeah, I think that's just so important for me. It would be, you know, especially going through healthcare adversity is just to wake up each morning and feel good, you know, and not have any resistance and impediments and things that are pulling you down, whether it's aches or pains or reduction in energy, shortness of breath, chest pain, whatever it may be, but just to live that life without those ailments. And you know, I just find even in my patients during chemotherapy when they're taking good care of their bodies, that they're able to attain that vitality and then to use that vitality to really, you know, go after your meaning in life and then share that with others and it just fulfills this beautiful purpose driven life.
- [61:42]
Mark Hyman
I think that's really important, Donna. I mean, you know, a lot of people walk around with what I call FLC syndrome. You know, that is, that's when you feel like crap and that and that,
- [61:52]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
you know, that's something people think they have to live with.
- [61:55]
Mark Hyman
And you know, the work both you're doing, you know, with support things like ima, healthy diet, exercise, sleep, it's not that hard. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for doing the work you do in the world and making a little bit better place.
- [62:06]
Dr. Don Mussolum
Thanks Mark. This is a lot of fun.
- [62:08]
David Beckham
Thank you so much, Mark. A pleasure. Thank you.
- [62:11]
Mark Hyman (Narrator/Host)
If you love this podcast, please share it with someone else you think would also also enjoy it. You can find me on all social media channels. R Mark Hyman, Please reach out. I'd love to hear your comments and questions. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the Dr. Hyman show wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel at Dr. Mark Hyman for video versions of this podcast and more. Thank you so much again for tuning in. We'll see you next time on the Dr. Hyman Show. This podcast is separate from my clinical practice at the Ultra Wellness center, my work at Cleveland Clinic and Function Health where I am Chief Medical Officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my guests opinions. Neither myself nor the podcast endorses the views or statements of my guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided with the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, please seek out a qualified medical practitioner. And if you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, visit my clinic, the Ultra Wellness center at ultrawellnesscenter.com and request to become a patient. It's important to have someone in your corner who is a trained, licensed healthcare practitioner and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health. This podcast is free as part of my mission to bring practical ways of improving health to the public. So I'd like to express gratitude to sponsors that made today's podcast possible. Thanks so much again for listening.