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The Tim Ferriss Show

#350: Dr. Andrew Weil — Optimal Health, Plant Medicine, and More

The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig

Lifestyle Design, Business, The 4-hour Workweek, Productivity, Timothy Ferriss Show, Startups, Tim Ferris, Entrepreneurship, Longform Interviews, Tools Of Titans, Timothy Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show, Tim Ferriss

4.617.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2018

⏱️ 103 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Andrew Weil, M.D. (@DrWeil) is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine.

Dr. Weil received a degree in biology (botany) from Harvard College in 1964 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1968. After completing a medical internship at Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco, he worked a year with the National Institute of Mental Health, then wrote his first book, The Natural Mind. From 1971-75, as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Dr. Weil traveled widely in North and South America and Africa collecting information on drug use in other cultures, medicinal plants, and alternative methods of treating disease. From 1971-84 he was on the research staff of the Harvard Botanical Museum and conducted investigations of medicinal and psychoactive plants.

Dr. Weil is the founder and Director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, where he also holds the Lovell-Jones Endowed Chair in Integrative Rheumatology and is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health. Through its Fellowship and Integrative Medicine in Residency curricula, the Center is now training doctors and nurse practitioners around the world.

A New York Times best-selling author, Dr. Weil is the author of 15 books on health and well-being, including Mind Over MedsFast Food, Good Food, True Food, Spontaneous Happiness, Healthy Aging, and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health

Please enjoy this wide-ranging (and often hysterical) conversation with Dr. Weil!

This podcast is brought to you by Audible. I have used Audible for years, and I love audiobooks. I have a few to recommend:


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This podcast is also brought to you by Athletic GreensI get asked all the time, "If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?" My answer is, inevitably, Athletic GreensIt is my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body and did not get paid to do so. As a listener of The Tim Ferriss Show, you'll get a free 20-count travel pack with your first order — valued at $100 — at AthleticGreens.com/Tim.

***

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

optimal minimal.

0:02.0

At this altitude I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

0:06.0

Can I also hear a personal question?

0:08.0

Now I just sit in the perfect time.

0:10.0

What if I could be out there?

0:12.0

I'm a cyber nanny organism living this show with metal-in-possilers.

0:16.0

Need to Paris show.

0:24.0

This episode is brought to you by Audible.

0:26.0

Audible provides an unbeatable selection of audiobooks including bestsellers,

0:30.0

how-to, mysteries, thrillers, memoirs, and more.

0:32.0

I've used Audible for many years and I have a few audiobooks to recommend right off the bat.

0:36.0

Number one, Ready Player One by Ernest Klein.

0:38.0

So listen to the book that caught the attention of Spielberg enough to get made into a major film.

0:44.0

The writing is fantastic.

0:46.0

The Tao Senica by Senica the Younger.

0:48.0

This is a collection of letters.

0:50.0

My favorite compilation of letters of all time that I've recommended the most of all the books I've read.

0:54.0

And the Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman.

0:56.0

This is the fiction book that I used to convert nonfiction purists into fiction lovers.

1:04.0

I like the version that Neil reads himself, but that's just me. He is a hypnotic voice.

1:08.0

I also recently enjoyed nonviolent communication by Marshall Rosenberg,

1:12.0

which was recommended to me by bestselling author Neil Strauss.

...

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