Transcript Of James Swanwick - Bulletproof

Bulletproof RadioJames SwanwickThat was really my motivation. I didn't know how long I was going to go for when I started, butI'll tell you what happened. After 30 days, I'd lost 13 pounds of fat, my skin got a lot better, mysleep improved, I had more energy. I started attracting a higher caliber of person into my life, ifthat makes sense. I just started associating with people who were more health-conscious. Istarted waking up on a Saturday and Sunday morning wanting to go to the gym, wanting to goand exercise. All of a sudden I started reading about things like paleo, that I didn't understandbefore, or the benefits of good fats that you're a big proponent of obviously, with yourBulletproof diet. There were all these things that just opened up to me because I just quit thedrinking for 30 days.At the end of 30 days, I went, you know what? I feel so damn good, let's see if I can keep going.So I did. I ended up . I went to 40 days; I went, I wonder if I can do 50? I went to 50, I said, Iwonder if I can do 60? And after 90 days, I was like, oh my god, I just feel like a superman. I'menergetic, my relationships have improved, I'm sleeping better, people are complimenting meon my looks for the first time in a few years, and I was like, I'll just keep going.I got to one year, I was back in Austin, I went into the Lustre Pearl bar, and I ordered aBudweiser to celebrate this one year without alcohol. I took a . I took a smell of it, rather, and itsmelled really good. I was going to take a sip, but something stopped me. I just put it back, and Isaid, you know what? Give me a water instead, and I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since. It'sbeen almost six years now Dave:Wow.James:- that I haven't touched alcohol.Dave:I have a rule, I'll drink it if it's older than me, usually. Like I will pay probably more than theaverage person. Some of the unfiltered yeast in wine causes an immune reaction in me, so Idon't feel that great, but if it's really good wine, all right, I'll do it. I'll do it once every 60 days,max, and I'll take a bunch of supplements like the Bulletproof Activated Charcoal andGlutathione, and I can generally manage my body's response to the alcohol. It's quite enjoyable.It tastes delicious. But I'm not getting antioxidants that are worth a crap, because I take 100mgof Trans-Resveratrol every day, which is approximately like 10,000 bottles worth of wine. I haveno idea if that number is right, but it's on that order of magnitude. There's no self-deceptionthat I'm doing myself any favors there. It was better than going to McDonald's and eating theircrap fried french fries and whatever other stuff they have there, but it wasn't a favor.There was a time in my life where I wouldn't have even done that. I went several years withoutdoing that, because I would feel like crap for three or four days if I did it, because my immunesystem was overactive.That said, I know guys who are like, "I could run a triathlon, I'm super strong, I could drink sixbeers and eat pizza and I feel great! Gluten is only for celiacs, and ." and they go on all thisstuff, but then they're still not anywhere near what they're capable of doing. They're holdingthemselves back nutritionally and with alcohol, but they don't know it.6

Bulletproof RadioJames SwanwickHow do you get people to see that they're doing what you were doing to yourself?James:I actually gave this talk at your conference in Pasadena, the Bulletproof Conference, which was -Dave:Yeah, it was awesome.James:Thank you. Which was, is one drink a day holding you back, or is one drink a day slowly killingyou? Here's the thing. Even if you consider yourself just a social drinker, okay, and you just haveone drink a day. Just say you come home from work, you have a glass of wine just to take theedge off, maybe you have a beer, maybe you have a couple beers. Here's the thing: That'senough to disrupt your sleep just a little bit. When your sleep is disrupted just a little bit, youwake up just a little bit irritable. When you wake up just a little bit irritable, you're more inclinedto snap at your husband or your wife or your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your kids, so yourrelationships start to suffer just a little bit.If you leave home just a little bit later because you're just a little bit irritable, then maybe you'renot showing up at work on time. Maybe you're not doing your job to the best that you can. Ifyou run a business, maybe you're not as energetic and as focused and as clear-minded as youcan be, than if you didn't have that one drink the night before. That's costing you money. Maybeyou don't get a promotion at work, so it's costing you money. Maybe you don't make sales inyour business, which is costing you money. Maybe because you're just a little bit irritable, andyou're just a little bit foggy after that drink the night before, you're more inclined to have acrappy breakfast. Maybe you duck into Starbucks and have a cookie, or you go to McDonald's, ormaybe you have a sugary food. That is enough to just give you a little bit of extra pounds overyour waist, which makes you just a little bit fatter, which makes you sleep worse, which makesyou earn less money, which makes you more irritable, and it's just this perpetual cycle.One drink is all it takes for you just to be a little bit off, and that can affect your finances, yourrelationships, your health, your looks. Alcohol is a poison, and when you put that poison intoyour body, you look weathered, like the crow's feet or the lines on your skin start to be morepronounced.Again, I'm not saying that alcohol is the devil and you should never drink alcohol, ever, but if youhave a habit, just the habit of just one drink a day, or a few drinks on the weekend, then maybeyou're not living your life at an optimum level.Dave:I gave an interview for a big tech magazine a while back about anti-aging. A lot of people don'tknow this, but I've run an anti-aging research group for more than a decade as its chairman orpresident, and met a lot of the people who taught me biohacking who are looking to heal aging.This age-old quest for immortality thing. A lot of the trans-humanists . I'm an adjunct professorat the Singularity Institute, which has a lot of this kind of thinking there, and I believe very firmlythat aging itself is death by a thousand cuts. There isn't one giant cause of aging, there's manylittle things that kind of chip away at your resilience and at your biochemical pathways. Whatyou do is you try to have less of the things that make you weak, and try to have more of thethings that make you strong.7

Bulletproof RadioJames SwanwickIf some marketing company has told you that alcohol — or someone who just has wishful selfdeception, there's a lot of that out there — they're going to . "Oh, well, I want alcohol to begood for you, so I'm going to torture the data until there's a way to say it's good for you. I'mgoing to make up this antioxidant thing in alcohol and I'm going to find this one study that says itshifts your gut biome," or whatever. You can justify whatever behavior you want, includingslavery and wife-beating, if you want to torture the data enough. It's called self-deception.You're going to go out there and you're going to promote this message, but then what'shappening there is you're teaching people who believe in doing things every day to move theneedle in the right direction, that they're moving the needle in the right direction when they'reclobbering themself over the head. Softly, but still clobbering themself over the head.James:Right.Dave:I made a commitment when I started Bulletproof. I'm like, look, here's what different alcoholsdo to you. Here's why they're bad for you. Here's the biochemical pathways. Then on theBulletproof Alcohol Infographic, here's what to do about it, so if you're going to do it, at leastdon't deceive yourself that you're doing yourself a favor by having a drink. It's just not that way.James:Yeah. I created a program called 30-Day No Alcohol Challenge -Dave:It's a good one.James:I teach people in this about how the liquor companies and the beer companies are actuallymarketing to us to try and get us to drink their product, right? You think about all the TVcommercials you watch when you're watching a football game, for example, Dave, right? Theyportray these happy, beautiful people having fun, or acting cool and sophisticated. If you'rewatching an NFL game you'll have Coors or Budweiser commercials where you've got goofy guyshaving fun, and then these really beautiful girls in the ads, and it's portraying this image that ifyou want to be part of the tribe, then you're going to drink our product. If you want to have fun,then you're going to drink our product.They've got these ad campaigns now with Hollywood celebrities. I mean, George Clooney ispushing this tequila now, and there's a big billboard on Sunset Boulevard with George Clooneyriding a motorcycle, and he looks very cool and very sophisticated, and very handsome, but thewhole imagery behind it, what's going on there is if you want to be cool and sophisticated andhandsome like George Clooney, drink this product.Dave:I totally missed it. I thought it meant you have to be drunk to ride a motorcycle. I totally had itbackwards. Okay, cool. Anyway .James:I see what you did there, Dave. Very clever.These companies, they're pushing this idea, like that champagne should be associated withcelebrations like weddings. Who ever actually invented the idea that to celebrate you have to8

Bulletproof RadioJames Swanwickdrink champagne? I'll tell you who invented it, a marketing company behind a champagnecompany. Who says that you have to drink beer to watch sporting games? Well, the beercompanies, of course. Who says that you have to have a bottle of wine over a romantic dinner?The wine companies, that's who.The truth is, you can enjoy all of these activities without the alcohol, and you can live a life filledwith celebration and joy and energy and clarity, without the alcohol. When you drink, you're notactually drinking for pleasure. You're actually drinking just to relieve you of your alcoholwithdrawal. Alcohol is a highly addictive drug, and when it passes out of your system, it leavesyou wanting more, like hunger. Then you feel like you're craving a drink. You're not actuallycraving the drink for pleasure, you're craving it to relieve you of your craving.Dave:It's funny, I remember going back, jeez, almost 20 years. I was at this company called ExodusCommunications. This was the company that hosted Google's first server when Google was justlike a baby company, and a bunch of Yahoo's stuff, kind of the foundational big brands you knowon the internet. Facebook, all that, they all used our stuff, and it was a cool time. We had thebest month ever, so the sales team went out to the local Mexican food place to celebrate, and Iwent by and I got a triple latte. I still drank milk in my coffee, I didn't know any better. I wasdrinking coffee every two hours so I'd keep crashing. I walk in there and the head of sales goes,"Oh! ." He goes to take my coffee to hand me a beer, and I'm like, "Are you kidding me? I wantmy coffee!" Like, what the heck?Even back then, I recognized that I enjoyed beer and wine and all, but it takes it out of me thenext day. I was running at such a career pace that I was kind of . I felt socially awkward,because they're trying to say don't drink what makes you feel good, drink this! There was peerpressure there, especially among salespeople. Salespeople just drink themselves under thetable, usually. What do you do in a situation like that, where you're like, okay, I'm not going todrink, or I'm going to choose something else? How do approach that now?James:Yeah, it's the biggest question that I get, funnily enough. When people learn about the fact that Idon't drink, when people come into the 30-Day No Alcohol Challenge, they're always saying,"Hey, how do you socialize without drinking? How do we do this? I just feel uncomfortable outin a group of people, and I'm the only person not drinking."Here's what I do: First thing, I just commit that I'm going to have the most fun and be the mostpersonable person at whatever social function or gathering I'm about to attend, and I'm going todo it while sipping on soda water, or water, ice, and a piece of lime. I just make a commitment.It is as simple as that. I'll walk in and I'll go, "Dave! How are you doing? James Swanwick. Nice tomeet you. Have you met my friend, Tina? Tina, meet John. John, meet Chris. How are youdoing? Tell me your story." And I'll start to just take a very genuine interest in other people. Istart to initiate people skills, if you like. I'm not relying on the crutch of alcohol to loosen up andto feel free, and to feel like I belong in the conversation. I'm just relying on people skills, selfassurance, confidence, to be able to engage people.The first thing is very much a mentality. It's I'm going to have the most fun here. Let me tell you,Dave, I go to parties . You and I have been at a party. We went to Jim Kwik's party a year ago.9

Bulletproof RadioJames SwanwickThere's an open bar, people are drinking. A lot of times, people actually think I'm drunk becauseI'm just having a good time, I'm energetic, I'm having good conversations with people, I'msmiling, I'm laughing. People don't even know that I'm not drinking. It's so, so simple. First thingis just commit.The second thing is that whenever anyone asks you, "Can I get you a drink? What would you liketo drink?" just repeat these words: "Yes, please. I'll have a water, ice, and a piece of lime,please." That's it. Or, you can just change it to whatever your favorite non-alcoholic drink is, like,"Give me a soda water with a splash of cranberry." Whatever. Just repeat that, because whenyou go into a restaurant and you sit down, what happens? The waiter comes over, or thewaitress, and says, "Hi, can I get you started with some drinks?" And of course, they're trying tosell you their alcoholic product, right? They're trying to get you to guy drinks Dave:Which is going to double your tab, right?James:It's going to double your tab. I smile, and I say, "Yes, please. I'll have a water, ice, and a piece oflime, please." And they'll say, "Okay, sure. No problem." And they bring it over to me. Guesswhat? I haven't committed to paying for a 15 cocktail, I haven't bought a bottle of wine, my tabis going to be half or two-thirds less at the end of the meal, and I'm drinking something that'shealthy for me.The other thing is, make a joke about the fact that you're not drinking. If someone actually seesthat you're not drinking, or starts to mock you or makes fun of you, first of all, that rarelyhappens. Even if it does, just make a joke about it. Just say, "Yeah, I'm going to get drunk on thiswater tonight. I am going to swing from the rafters tonight! Look out, I am going to go crazy onthis soda water tonight." Just make a joke about it. When people see that you don't care thatyou're not drinking, and that you're confident, and you say it with a little cheeky smile and alittle cheeky grin, no one can make fun of you. Nobody cares.So, three things there: Commit to having the most fun; two, always, when you walk into a bar,just go up and order a water, ice, piece of lime. It's a delicious drink. Third, when anyone everpoints out that you're not drinking, just make a joke about it. Just say, "Yeah, I'm not drinking atthe moment, but I'm going to get drunk on this water instead." When you do that, people justrelax. People don't care. It's an absolute fallacy that people are judging you for not drinking. Itjust doesn't happen.Dave:There's a line that I find works really, really well. I just tell people that I'm really looking to avoidbenign, alcohol-induced testicular atrophy. It takes people, especially who have had a coupledrinks, it takes them a minute to unpack that. When they unpack it, they just realize that youkind of just insulted them to their face because they're drinking. But it took them long enoughthat they feel stupid.James:But look, you just cracked a joke. You just cracked a joke, you made a light-hearted comment.Nobody cares. People are all like, "Oh, I'm going to be ostracized from the group if I don't drink."Nonsense.10

Bulletproof RadioJames SwanwickWhat I like to do sometimes as well, and I teach this to people in my 30-Day No AlcoholChallenge program all the time. I say just point to your head and go, "I'm too strong in mind. I'mtoo strong in mind." And just say it with a little cheeky grin.Dave:You have to have the cool accent, too, because it sounds cooler when you say it.James:Let me hear your Australian accent, Dave. I want to hear it. Let's see what you got.Dave:I don't think I can do Australian. "I'm too strong in mind." I don't think I have it down.James:I mean, that was an excellent Sri Lankan accent, but could you do an Australian accent now?Dave:I don't think I . I can say Ameriker. I've got that down. Other than that, I don't think I quite havethe Aussie thing down.James:My Australian friends, when I go back to . I was actually back in Australia for Christmas justgone, and they accused me of having an American accent because I start to pronounce my R's alittle bit more. I'll say things like, "Sure," or I'll say things like, "There you go," or "You knowwhat?" This is how Australians mock Americans a little bit. We say these phraseologies, like "Youknow what? You know what?" I'm like, "What?" Every american loves to say, "You know what?"And the other thing is like, "Sure." And the other thing is, "There you go," like there's all this kindof encouragement, like "There you go, nice. Nice. You're doing it. Nice."Americans are probably listening to me now, going, "This is just the worst impersonation of anAmerican accent." Anyway. May I just stress as well that I am a dual citizen, so I am Americanand I love this wonderful country, and I appreciate America wonderfully. I'm just making a littlejoke at my naturalized country's expense.Dave:My brother-in-law is also from Australia, and when he puts on his American accent it'sscreamingly funny. I don't think any American's going to doubt . Besides, what is an Americanaccent? There's the surfer, "Hey, dude," all the way down to South Carolina, so we're a mixingpot. Always have been. There's more than a few criminals here too, so it's cool.James:I see what you did there, yes.Dave:All right.James:We're all . I'm descended from convicts, yes.Dave:Exactly. We've got no problems with that. Now, I think we talked about alcohol pretty well, butthe sort of elephant in the room, especially

Bulletproof Radio James Swanwick 3 Audio: Bulletproof Radio. A state of high performance. Dave: Hey, this is Dave Asprey with Bulletproof Radio. Today's cool fact of the day is that it turns out that alcohol doesn't actually make you forget anything when you're blackout drunk. Instead, your brain temporarily loses the ability to create memories.