Primal Blueprint Podcast

Elle Russ chats with Shawn Wells (MPH, RD, LDN, CISSN, FISSN) -  a Registered Dietitian, Certified Sports Nutritionist, Fellow in the international Society of Sports Nutrition, and practiced over a decade as a Chief Clinical Dietitian in acute (hospital) and skilled nursing settings.   He has formulated for over 2 decades and speaks all over the world, and he is a weekly expert on a national radio show (One Life Radio weekly on iHeartMedia), and he will be in a documentary yet to be released internationally on dietary supplements. Shawn has also been on the ketogenic diet for over 20 years. He was featured in the documentary, the Skinny on Fat that released in 2018 and was most recently on Fox News television talking about 2019 health trends.  Overcoming and suppressing numerous conditions with keto, paleo, fasting, and supplements such as Epstein-Barr Virus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Depression, Insomnia, Obesity, and a pituitary tumor is part of Shawn’s passion and journey leading him to help

Elle Russ chats with Susan Bratton - considered the “Dear Abby of Hot Sex” to fans around the world, Susan’s fresh approach to sex techniques and bedroom communication skills help millions of people—of all ages and across the gender spectrum—transform sex into passion.  Susan’s straight-forward lovemaking advice is rooted in her personal experience of watching her marital intimacy wither as she and her husband pursued dynamic careers. When her relationship hit a crisis point, Susan made a fierce commitment to do whatever it took to hold her family together and revive the passion in her marriage. Today, she and her husband have the kind of dream relationship most people stopped believing was even possible—until they discover her practical tips.  After 15 years and over 30k hours of research, practice, teaching, and testing, Susan distilled the six simple essentials that ignite passionate lovemaking into her latest #1 international best-selling book, Sexual Soulmates.  A serial entrepreneur who was named a Sili

Host Brad Kearns gets deep into the world of fat adapted endurance training and functional medicine for holistic healing with ironman athlete and nutrition expert Debbie Potts. Debbie and prominent exercise physiologist Paul Laursen are holding a free seminar in Kona on the subject during the Big Show in October. In this episode, Debbie and Brad talk about the importance of taking care of your health as you pursue ambitious endurance goals. Debbie mentions the functional health approach of HIDDEN: Hormones, Immunity, Digestion, Detox, Energy and Neurotransmitters. Don’t make the mistake of a narrowly focused approach that gets you fit and unhealthy. Also learn some ideas about optimizing carb intake for endurance training, including sorting out hype from legit strategies and how you can customize your approach for best results. 

Elle Russ chats with Dr. Andrew Weil MD - an internationally recognized expert on medicinal plants, integrative medicine and wellness. As the founder and Director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, Dr. Weil is leading the global effort to develop a comprehensive integrative medicine curriculum. Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he also serves as a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health as well as the Lovell-Jones Professor of Integrative Rheumatology. Dr. Weil has traveled the world collecting information about medicinal plants and alternative methods of treating disease. The author of 15 best-selling books and many scientific articles, Weil is a renowned expert on alternative plant-based healing. Matcha is the latest in his array of natural, plant-based options. Use the

Host Brad Kearns welcomes Dude Spellings for an episode that goes deep into the world of personal growth. Listen if you dare to Dude baring his soul and discussing the life-changing experience of his five-day intensive retreat known as “Training Camp For The Soul”. Once the heavy stuff is out of the way, Dude regales the listener with an account of how he did a rim to rim to rim crossing of the Grand Canyon (49 miles) without food! And how, when he finished with his crew and was welcomed at the South Rim with a stack of pizzas to celebrate, Dude instead decided to fast overnight in order to speed recovery. Yes, Dude is the first person to utter the transformational insight that fasting may just be the most efficient way to recovery from strenuous workouts! After all, we know that inflammation, immune function, and cell repair are all optimized when you are in a fasted state. Hard to imagine when athletes associate food with celebration after workouts, but these cutting edge insights will really get you think

Elle Russ chats with Tony Gaskins, Jr. about his new book MAKE IT WORK: 22 TIME-TESTED, REAL LIFE LESSONS FOR SUSTAINING A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP.  Tony is a husband and father first. In his spare time he’s a bestselling author, international speaker, and celebrity life coach.  It all started after he lost his full football scholarship after 3 seasons of poor performance on the field. At 22-years-old he used his gift of writing to start writing books based on the wisdom he’d gained from life. At 25-years-old he went on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Tyra Banks Show, and the 700 Club telling different portions of his life story. He exposed his mistakes and turned them into lessons. Everything from being toxic in relationships to living the street life with his cousins. Tony allowed his pain to birth his purpose. Then at 26 he was called on by the NBA, NFL, and NCAA to speak to athletes about life, love, and responsibility as young adults.  As a result of of Tony’s message going viral online, he’s amassed 3 million supp

Brad tackles some interesting and varied Q&A, including concerns about fueling with carbs during long workouts, how family high cholesterol concerns jibe with feeling great while eating paleo/keto, and much more fun stuff. Email [email protected] to ask questions or give feedback on the show.

Mark Sisson chats with Matt Wallden - Mark’s co-writer on two medical papers on the concept that the notion that chairs – a mainstay of most industrialized cultures – were only invented by the Mesopotamian’s 4,000 years ago.  This means that for more than 99% of our bipedal evolution our ancestors were using the floor as their place of rest.  Indeed, still in many cultures today where chairs are not available or practical indigenous groups still use a definable set of ground-based sitting postures, which are known as “Archetypal Rest Postures”.   If you, or someone you know has experienced connective tissue injuries, such as Achille’s problems, tennis elbow, jumper’s knee you’ll know that these can be persistent challenges which can be difficult to resolve. Similarly, blood sugar handling can be a stubborn challenge which may even resist diligent attempts to manage through diet alone.   What if there was an ingredient of your daily routine that our ancestors (and therefore our evolving physiology) partook in

Host Brad Kearns welcomes Dude Spellings back to the show. Dude is a high performing endurance athlete and extreme health enthusiat who has an interesting and progressive take on many aspects of endurance training, peak performance, biohacking, and living a healthy, happy balanced life. In part 1, Dude and Brad discuss one of their favorite subjects: cold therapy. Learn the comprehensive benefits for both a physical/hormonal boost as well as how cold exposure builds focus and psychological resiliency. Jumping into cold water (or cold shower) every day transcends the fickle attribute of motivation and becomes an automatic patterned behavior - a healthy habit. 

Host Brad Kearns fields some unusual questions, including two people who complain about losing too much weight on keto. Other topics include a heartwarming military success story (with a reminder about the difficulties active duty and veterans have with mental and physical health and access to quality medical and preventive wellness care). We also hear about the benefits of a HIRT style (High-Intensity Repeat Training) workout or MSP (Maximum Sustained Power) instead of the typical template of an exhaustive workout marked by cumulative fatigue and cellular depletion.    

Elle Russ chats with Bela Gandhi - a dating/relationship expert, founder of Smart Dating Academy and a weekly media correspondent. She is a dating expert on the Steve Harvey Show, Relationship Insider for Match.com, a regular contributor to the TODAY Show and Good Morning America, and appears frequently on ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN, and more.   After she graduated, Gandhi worked in mergers and acquisitions for Arthur Andersen in Chicago for a year before joining her family's chemical and manufacturing company - where she divided her time between Chicago and Europe helping to expand the business. When the Gandhi family sold its business to Akzo Nobel, she was asked to remain its leader, and became Akzo Nobel Non-Stick Coating’s Global Vice President of Housewares. But even as she quickly climbed the corporate ladder, Gandhi had a feeling that her career would one day be taking a sharp turn in a different direction – because she discovered her love of matchmaking and providing dating advice.    She launched her Smart

Elle Russ chats with author Robert A. Glover Ph.D. about his new book Dating Essentials For Men.  Whether you want to create a loving long-term relationship (LTR), get married and have kids, or just hook-up... Dating Essentials for Men will teach you how.  This in-depth guide helps men identify their goals for dating and how to achieve them - along with helping men face fears and soothe anxiety, talk to women with confidence, create powerful sexual polarity, break up with integrity, and much more. On a previous podcast episode (#322), Dr. Glover spoke about the “Nice Guy Syndrome” and his related book No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Proven Plan for Getting What You Want in Love, Sex and Life.  He is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and has been featured in numerous local and national publications. Through his books, online classes, workshops, podcasts, blogs, consultation, and therapy groups, Dr. Glover has helped change the lives of countless men and women around the world. Dr. Glover lives in Puerto Vallarta, M

Host Brad Kearns fields an assortment of interesting questions, including SIBO, functional medicine, afternoon blues, optimizing electrolytes and minerals with keto, why tracking blood ketones is less important than you might think, acid reflux challenges, how not to get carried away with eating fat on keto. A question about cornivore and Brad elaborates on the rationale and intended benefits of nose-to-tail style carnivore eating. 

Elle Russ chats with Paul Robinson about his latest book The Thyroid Patient’s Manual.  Paul is a thyroid patient who became ill with hypothyroidism in his late 20s. He was eventually able to recover using T3-only replacement therapy. He has written 2 other books: Recovering with T3 and The CT3M Handbook.  At first, Paul, was put on the most common thyroid treatment - Levothyroxine (also known as Synthroid or T4-only). However, the majority of his symptoms remained, much like they do for many on T4-therapy. Over time he became even more ill, with both low cortisol and low thyroid symptoms. Paul saw many endocrinologists and doctors as he got more desperate and worried. During this time, he was told, "You will have to live with it”, “You have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome", "You cannot have a thyroid issue, as your thyroid results are within range".  Even though  these statements were nonsense, Paul was written-off by the medical profession. Eventually, he realized that he had to figure out what was wrong himself. 

Host Brad Kearns follows up the high impact headline with some interesting commentary about the rationale and benefits of a carnivore style eating pattern, the concept of hormetic stressors and how they benefit our health, and what do to if you were suddenly diagnosed with cancer--featuring insights from cancer survivor Alison Gannette (alisongannette.com) and Dr. Cate Shanahan (DrCate.com).   

Elle Russ chats with KETOGAINS co-founders Luis Villesenor and Tyler Cartwright.   Luis has always been passionate about fitness due to a personal interest in improving his own physique. Always curious in learning the “whys and how’s” of how it all works, he has been studying and researching nutrition and strength training since he was 17.Upon discovering ketogenic diets in 2001, Luis has been on a low carb regime ever since, which he has used to favorably recomposition his body and improve his health.   Luis decided to develop KETOGAINS to share his experiences and knowledge and help people attain their health and fitness goals. Luis is regarded as one of the most experienced and knowledgeable persons on Low-Carb / Ketogenic dieting, and is the “go to guy” when applying a Low-Carb diet for Bodybuilding and Strength Training by well-known and respected insiders, leaders, influencers of the low carb/paleo and general fitness community. Tyler Cartwright has a fascination with learning, reading, and self-improve

Host Brad Kearns welcomes favored recurring podcast guest Andre Obradovic from Australia. Andre is a life coach, endurance coach and elite amateur triathlete with a fresh perspective on peak performance and goal setting, including the important lifestyle admonition: "Don't be a muppet, mate." A muppet is someone who follows along in the pack, content to be mediocre. In this wide-ranging show, Andre asks Brad and the listener some tough coaching questions, "What's important to you?" and why aren't you making it happen. The pair talk about the value of putting structure, discipline and patterned systems in place that help you succeed. Brad talks about the relevance to fat reduction goals and shares his recent journey from fat muppet boy back to fit. Indeed, when we allow for too much freedom and flexibility in the context of comfortable and decadent modern life, we can set ourselves up for failure.    This show will give you a general framework from which to operate as a peak performer, then you can apply the p

Elle Russ chats with Josh Perry - a former professional BMX athlete, motivational speaker, and certified holistic health coach who is fighting 4 brain tumors with a ketogenic diet. His passion and motivation for living his best life stems from the discovery of a genetic predisposition to accumulating tumors - a realization that sparked his investigative journey into researching the health, performance, and longevity of the human brain. As a result, Josh follows a ketogenic diet - and since adopting this lifestyle paradigm, the growth of his tumors have ceased and he feels better and more fulfilled than ever before! Josh launched a health coaching business to inspire and help others to improve their brain health so they can transform into the most successful versions of themselves. Josh also teamed up with the Athlete Recovery Fund to raise awareness and funds for a nonprofit BMX/wellness event called the Brainy BMX Stunt Shows that focuses on raising direct funds for direct patient care through education, sp

Host Brad Kearns welcomes newly anointed University of Washington professor Dr. Tommy Wood to help us make sense of the exciting new health trends that can really get confusing when we hear disparate expert opinions. Dr. Tommy is one of the most sensible and highly knowledgeable voices you will hear in the ancestral health scene, and this show hits some hot button items that you’ll love to learn more about. Dr. Tommy explains the common ground among whole food plant based and carnivore, how we might be overselling the importance of diet and many of the popular biohacking practices. We talk about striking a healthy balance between the benefits of fasting and caloric efficiency and eating nutritious foods to fuel workouts and promote recovery. This show offers an elegant blend of sensible, actionable advice and scientific commentary that will help you learn more to the story than the screaming health headlines. Enjoy Dr. Tommy Wood and follow him on Instagram @DrTommyWood

Elle Russ chats with Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. - a graduate of Harvard Medical School who completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, founding co-director of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, founding co-investigator at the UCLA Center for Culture, Brain and Development, and executive director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions, and communities. Dr. Siegel’s psychotherapy practice spans thirty years, and he has published extensively for the professional audience. He serves as the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which includes over 70 textbooks. Dr. Siegel’s books include his five New York Times bestsellers: Aware: The science and practice of presence; Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose o