Jon Stewart Asks Joe Rogan About Health and Personal Responsibility

You did those episodes on the Game Changers, the James Woods. And that was it was fascinating to watch because I watched that movie and, you know, nutrition is also like diet is such an important part of what we do to ourselves that we that we don't think and especially in a time of covid where so many people, like you say, like when you see what this does to people with type one diabetes or with other kinds of, you know, conditions that might be caused from either poor diet or lack of access to, you know, healthier options and things like that, you realize, like, shit, we've put ourselves in a very vulnerable position. Yeah, very vulnerable. Andrew Schultz had a really good point. He said this this pandemic highlighted the vulnerabilities both in our economic system and in our health system, like the way we are as human beings, what who is vulnerable, the obese people, people with diabetes, older folks. I mean, it highlights all these issues where, you know, we we really need to concentrate on for the future. If you want more people to survive this, there is there are strategies that can be implemented and we really we really need to talk to people about just being normal stuff, being dehydrated, being well hydrated, making sure you're not dehydrated, well rested, teach people meditation techniques. It's not hard to learn some breathing exercises that have been actually proven to increase your immune function. It's not hard to teach people about vitamin D and supplementing it if you can't go outside. So how do you get people then to take action? Because here's the other thing you remember, like people's lives are hard. Yeah. You're doing when you're talking about, like we talked about earlier, like economic inequality, you know, it's hard to go into an area where they feel like, shit, I don't know where my next meal is coming from and be like, so here's what we're going to do. We're just going to sit and breathe quietly for five minutes. And we're going to know it's a really difficult. It's like hierarchy of needs. You know, how do you how do you work into the idea that those types of theories are actually important to. The betterment of like in the stability of the larger part of their life when they're fighting so hard just to stay afloat. Yeah, it's that's an interesting point. And I think what you have to do is it has to be, first of all, told by people who are doing it successfully. So people that are doing it that like maybe were struggling with their immune system and turned it around and got healthier. Like those people are the ones that the people that are in a bad position right now, they really respond to when it comes to there's an emotional connection. So if you see some guy is on the cover of Men's Health magazine, he's ripped and he starts talking about fitness, you're like, get the fuck out of here. I can't relate to you. I'm never going to look like that. But if you see someone who is in the situation that you're in currently and they turned it around, you already look like that. Well, not me. But listen, I've been working out my whole life. I've never stopped. But if someone is fat, I'm talking from their perspective and they see some guy who's really thin and chiseled, then it's not going to make sense to them that they could ever be like that. But if they see someone, there's a lot of really fantastic photos and Instagram and Facebook pages online where you can get inspiration from someone who actually stuck to a diet, actually stuck to an exercise routine, and then speaks really well about how much it improved the way they feel their emotions, their depression, all the aspects of their life. And that's, I think, one of the more like David Goggins is a great example of that. I use him all the time because he's this incredibly inspirational guy who is a Navy SEAL. And at one point in time, he's 300 pounds. He was drinking milkshakes. And he puts those pictures of himself on Instagram all the time just to let people know, hey, I'm not some alien. I'm a person who is weak just like you. I was lazy. I got fat. And then I figured out how to train my mind to be disciplined and I figured out how to be happier. And I think that that's really important for people to see that it's we're not in a static state. We're all in a constant state of improvement and growth, hopefully, or deterioration if you're not careful. But does that, you know, the thing that I worry about those sometimes is similarly to economic distress. Does it make a person's health be a function of their virtue? Does it does it take something that is beyond a lot of people's control? That isn't that a little bit of like, and that if you just pull your pants up, you could do it like no, it's not. It's not what it is. All the way. I know what you're saying, but it's not. It's I did this and I can show you how I did it. And maybe you can do it, too. That's what it is. We don't have to look at every success as somehow or another thumbing in the face of people who can't achieve a similar goal. But there are enough people out there that can that we should concentrate on that because I think it'll have a significant improvement on the overall health of us again as a community. And I think this is really how we have to look at the United States and human beings on Earth in general. We have to look at each other as a bunch of people that could very well be neighbors. We're community. And if you're my friend and you were fat and you were willing to listen and I used to be fat, too, and I can tell you, hey, man, this is what I did. I stopped drinking soda. What's there are people that are there are people that are I mean, I understand the point there and I'm look, I'm an advocate for plant based stuff. I think that's it's a healthy way to do it. But obviously eating is such a personal experience that I hesitate to ever impart that in any other way. But I just feel like sometimes for people, it's almost more debilitating for that mentality of this is how you do it. You just got to get your shit together and go through this way. I do think you have to present more options, but know that it's maybe more complicated and people can be overweight or whatever and be healthy. It's not necessarily, you know, something that's corrosive to them, but well, it is though being overweight is necessarily corrosive. It's not healthy for anybody. It's less healthy than being at an optimal weight. That's what's important. It gives you some sort of a burden. Whether that burden is sustainable is debatable. Maybe for some people it is for some people it isn't. Look, some people can smoke until they're 90 and they're fine. Other people get pancreatic cancer like Hix and die in their 30s. It depends wildly on the person, but the idea that you can be fat and you can be healthy, I think is a dangerous narrative because you're telling people, listen, don't improve. You don't have to. You can be healthy and be obese at the same time, but the medical science does not really support that. The more weight you lose up to a certain point, you know, but if you get to a healthy body mass, your body works better. It's really simple. It doesn't tax your immune system as much. Doesn't tax your heart as much. It's better for you. It's better for your joints. It doesn't mean that we should ignore people that are overweight and pretend that they're not worthy or they're not good folks. I have a very emotional reaction to that because I feel protective. You're nice. Over people and I just, yeah, I think I just. You're a sweetheart. It's great. That's a good thing. No, it is. It's the reason why you're thinking like this because we're talking. We're talking about people doing well and you're like, fuck, what about the people who can't do well? Let's reach out to them and offer them an olive branch. And yeah, I get it, man. I guess you're right. You're right. Look, I have very good friends that are morbidly obese and they don't want to listen and there's nothing I can do. I just hug them when I see them. And I hope that one day they come to grips with it and they change, but they don't have to, you know, you live this life for a certain amount of time. And if you want to live it eating cake and drinking beer, that's you. You do whatever you want. We're all on the end. In the end, we're all going to be in the ground. It's all pointless. Wait a minute. We just had an hour long conversation. It's true. About optimistically taking this country and turning it around and very fatalistic all of a sudden. Well, that's true. The end, in the end, we're all dying. That's how the story ends. We're all dead. So the story, what I don't want people to do is suffer and I want people to feel better while they're alive. And I think that's something that's missed in the message of health improvement. It's like you will actually have a better experience on earth and it'll help you mitigate stress. It'll help you, uh, it'll help you have better relationships because you won't be burdened down with a lot of like anxiety and stress that literally comes from a physical release of energy. I look at the body like a battery and I think that some people's batteries just overflowing with corrosive material because they never exert it. They never blow it out. And a battery, a battery is a bad analogy, but there's, there's a certain amount of physical requirement I think your body has to has. And if you don't give that, that body, that physical exertion, it doesn't feel good where we've evolved to hunt and gather and build homes and survive from predators and we carry around all the burdens in our body of this past. And there's no getting around that and you can either deny it and just deal with all the tension or you can exert your energy, find some way to calm your mind and live a life that's better.