Everyday Ancestral with James Barry

What Bren Smith is doing with the ocean is what we’ve been trying to do on land. He’s reanchoring our food system to something alive, something real. And the wild thing is, he’s growing food that doesn’t require any freshwater, fertilizer, or land.

Bren’s a former commercial fisherman who’s now leading the way in regenerative ocean farming. He’s got this deep blue-collar wisdom and a whole lot of practical invention. We talk about w...

Do you ever feel overstimulated, disconnected, or out of sync? Debra Joy joins me for a powerful conversation about nervous system regulation, spiritual alignment, and the importance of honoring natural rhythms. We explore how media and modern noise disrupt our sense of safety, and how small, intentional shifts can help us reconnect, calm the body, and move through the world with more presence and peace.

Debra is a Leadership and Pe...

Seventy-six percent of Americans are living with chronic illness. That statistic alone tells us we’re facing something much bigger than personal health struggles. In this conversation with Dr. Chris Turnpaugh, we explore what’s broken in our current medical model and why so many people with complex symptoms are being overlooked. Dr. Turnpaugh brings decades of experience in functional neurology and systems-based medicine, with a tr...

You’re a college student at UCLA, juggling five jobs, running an aerobics studio, and training clients before personal training was even a profession. Then one morning in Brentwood, someone follows you out of a coffee shop and pitches a shady modeling gig at the Hotel Bel Air. That moment could have gone sideways. But JJ Virgin had already learned how to set boundaries, read a room, and trust her gut. That instinct shaped everythin...

What if plant medicine isn't an escape, but a return? What if our modern fear of altered states says more about our trauma than it does about the medicine itself?

I sat down with Sitaramaya Sita, someone who has spent decades walking the path between science and spirit. She’s deeply trained, trauma-informed, and rooted in multiple healing lineages. We explored the misuse of language around plant medicine, how ancestral traditio...

What if your body fat could be your fuel? What if food was the key to mental clarity, fertility, and real healing?

Maria Emmerich is known around the world for her work in the keto and carnivore space. What makes her message powerful is how personal it is. She shares her own story of moving through depression, body image struggles, and infertility, guided by ancestral eating and a deep understanding of what the body actually needs.

W...

What if your path to healing is already built into your body?

I sat down with Nathalie Niddam, a holistic nutritionist and longevity educator who knows how to walk the line between ancestral wisdom and cutting-edge science. Nathalie has this grounded, practical way of looking at things. She's been working with peptides, light therapies, and bioregulators long enough to see what actually works and how it all ties back to the way...

Forget trail mix. What if survival food wasn’t junk? That’s what my guest Phillip Meece set out to change. Phillip is a former combat medic who served in Afghanistan and when he got sick in the Army, it put him on a lifelong mission to figure out nutrition that actually supports health. Out of that experience came The Carnivore Bar, a shelf stable nutrient dense version of pemmican made from meat, fat, and salt.

Phillip and I dig in...

Have you ever heard of Microbiome Magic or thought about kids as the canaries in the coal mine? My guest today is Dr. Elisa Song, a Stanford, NYU, and UCSF trained integrative pediatrician and mom of two thriving kids. She’s on a mission to revolutionize children’s health and to bring a practical, whole-child approach to families everywhere.

Dr. Song and I talk about the rise in chronic disease in kids, the role of the microbiome, a...

What if the anxiety, burnout, or fatigue you are feeling is not in your head but in your biology? In this conversation, Dr. Aimie Apigian breaks down how trauma gets stored in the body and what it really takes to feel safe, energized and alive again.

Aimie shares her own story of becoming a foster parent and later adopting during medical school, and how that experience opened her eyes to the limits of traditional approaches to traum...

Alcohol has been with us since the dawn of civilization woven into ritual and community, yet today, it has become something else entirely. In this conversation with James Swanwick we look at the smiling assassins that keep us drinking and why an alcohol free lifestyle is gaining ground.

James is a former ESPN SportsCenter anchor and the author of CLEAR. He is also the founder of Project 90, a neuroscience-based program that helps hi...

What happens when the mind spirals, the body breaks down, and every conventional path leads to more despair? Emily Penton found herself at that breaking point, facing both bipolar disorder and multiple sclerosis. Instead of giving up, she discovered a way forward by embracing a meat-based diet, nervous system regulation, and a commitment to radical honesty.

In this conversation, Emily shares how ancestral eating brought her clarity ...

Emergencies are happening more often, and they’re hitting closer to home — floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. September is National Emergency Preparedness Month and I could not think of a better guest than Mira Dessy. Mira has lived through Hurricane Harvey and the Texas snow apocalypse and she brings a grounded perspective on why being prepared is essential for both health and peace of mind.

Mira explains why a preparedn...

How many times have you heard me talk about the power of meal planning? I think it is one of the most underrated tools for health and family life. In this episode I sit down with Allison Schaaf, founder and CEO of Prep Dish. She is both a trained chef and a registered dietitian, and she has built her life around the connection between food, nourishment, and simplicity.

Allison shares how she first got into cooking as a teenager, ins...

Struggling to stay consistent with your health and fitness goals? The problem might not be your workout plan or willpower, it could be how you see yourself.

World-renowned fitness coach and entrepreneur Dan Go shares how to make health and fitness part of your identity. With over 20 years of experience in personal training, weight loss coaching, and fitness mindset transformation, Dan has helped thousands of professionals and parent...

Fertility is not a problem to solve. It’s a mirror reflecting how deeply we’re connected to ourselves, our lineage, and our choices.

Mandy Muenzer joins me to share her journey of coming off birth control and reconnecting to her feminine wisdom. We explore how somatic movement, emotional healing, and spiritual psychology can help us recover what modern life often asks us to ignore.

Mandy is the creator of “The Dance of You”, a healin...

What if true health isn’t about getting more flexible or pushing yourself harder, but about starting each day with presence and purpose?

In this episode, I sit down with Doron Hanoch, a former monk and experienced yoga teacher, to explore the real origins of yoga and how those teachings can apply to modern life. Most people think yoga is about stretching or physical poses. Doron explains that yoga began as a practice for training th...

HPV is one of the most common viruses in the world, yet so few people are given real answers or real options when they test positive. Most only find out they have it through a routine test or once it becomes something more serious. It’s confusing and often leaves you feeling powerless. But there’s a different way to understand what’s happening in your body, and it starts with stress, immunity, and healing.

Dr. Doni Wilson is a trail...

What if healing chronic pain was less about suppressing symptoms and more about teaching the body to remember how to heal? In part two of our conversation, I go deeper with Dr. Adam Gavine, a practitioner whose approach bridges physiology, movement, and energy in ways I’ve never seen before.

Dr. Gavine shares how the Wasabi Method, a system he co-founded with Dave Asprey, uses shockwave therapy and deep tissue communication to bring...