Should You Eat Dirt? The “Healthy” Foods Destroying Your Gut – Dr. Josh Axe : 1289
The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey
Dave Asprey
4.6 • 7.3K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You’ve been told to eat clean, but what if your “healthy” foods are wrecking your gut, crushing your hormones, and aging you faster? This episode exposes the nutrient-depleted truth behind modern diets, soil erosion, and why regenerative farming might be the key to reversing chronic disease, boosting mitochondria, and rebuilding your biology from the ground up.
Watch this episode on YouTube for the full video experience:
https://www.youtube.com/@DaveAspreyBPR
Host Dave Asprey sits down with Dr. Josh Axe, a trusted pioneer in functional medicine, bestselling author, and co-founder of Ancient Nutrition. Dr. Axe bridges the gap between biblical farming, ancestral nutrition, and modern science to explain how your food and even your supplements may be harming your human performance, digestion, and brain health. With clinical insights, personal stories, and science-backed tools, he shares what to eat instead if you want real longevity, energy, and healing.
They dig into the collapse of soil nutrients, how monocropping damages the microbiome, and why organic food standards may be outdated. You’ll learn how regenerative agriculture rebuilds the earth and your gut, and why biohacking starts with dirt, not pills. Plus, they explore the hormonal chaos caused by seed oils, plastics, blue light, sleep disruption, and even birth control, especially in relation to testosterone loss in men and women.
This episode also touches on biblical nutrition, fasting cycles, natural nootropics, testosterone-supporting peptides, the dangers of synthetic vitamins, and the future of real-time self-quantification. From poop-powered farming to smarter sourcing, it’s a wild ride into how food, faith, and farming affect every part of your biology.
This is essential listening for anyone serious about biohacking, neurohacking, longevity, Upgrade Labs, Danger Coffee, Smarter Not Harder, and understanding the real root of disease and dysfunction.
You’ll Learn:
• Why regenerative farming beats “organic” for health and the planet
• How depleted soil is linked to hormone imbalances and chronic disease
• What birth control is doing to testosterone, fertility, and mitochondrial health
• Why your supplements may just be “expensive pee”
• The truth about biblical farming and why dirt still matters
• How to support testosterone naturally with diet, peptides, and habits
• Why sleep optimization, mineral balance, and circadian alignment are key for healing
Dave Asprey is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, and the father of biohacking. With over 1,000 interviews and 1 million monthly listeners, The Human Upgrade is the top podcast for people who want to take control of their biology, extend their longevity, and optimize every system in the body and mind. Each episode features cutting-edge insights in health, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, hacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living.
Episodes are released every Tuesday and Thursday, where Dave asks the questions no one else dares, and brings you real tools to become more resilient, aware, and high performing.
SPONSORS:
- BON CHARGE | Go to https://boncharge.com and use code DAVE for 15% off.
- Zbiotics | Go to https://zbiotics.com/DAVE for 15% off your first order
Resources:
• Dave Asprey’s New Book - Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated/
• Josh Axe’s Website – https://thehealthinstitute.com/
• Josh Axe’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjoshaxe/?hl=en
• Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com
• Dave Asprey’s Website: https://daveasprey.com
• Dave Asprey’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/daveasprey
• Upgrade Collective – Join The Human Upgrade Podcast Live: https://www.ourupgradecollective.com
• Own an Upgrade Labs: https://ownanupgradelabs.com
• Upgrade Labs: https://upgradelabs.com
• 40 Years of Zen – Neurofeedback Training for Advanced Cognitive Enhancement: https://40yearsofzen.com
Timestamps:
• 00:00 Trailer
• 00:52 Intro
• 01:01 From Medicine to Farming
• 02:21 Regenerative Farming
• 03:36 Fixing Modern Agriculture
• 05:43 Biblical Farming Meets Modern Science
• 08:23 The Truth About Organic Food
• 12:41 What’s Causing the Testosterone Crash
• 18:07 Hormonal Birth Control
• 27:37 New Hormone Replacement
• 29:58 The Future of Health Tracking
• 32:00 What Is Biblical Farming?
• 33:38 Biblical Principles of Nutrition
• 33:55 Foods Most Mentioned in the Bible
• 35:17 Pork, Parasites, and Dietary Laws
• 37:29 Chinese Medicine’s View on Pork
• 39:36 Did the Flood Shorten Human Lifespan?
• 42:26 Biodynamic Farming and Spirituality
• 54:27 Fatherhood and Words That Heal
• 56:21 What Josh Feeds His Kids
• 01:03:41 Mental Health, Faith, and Healing
• 01:05:36 Final Thoughts
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | If you've been listening to the show, you know that I just came out with my new book, |
| 0:04.8 | heavily meditated this May. It's the fast path to remove your triggers, dissolve stress, |
| 0:10.1 | and activate inner peace. Go check it out at Dave Asprey.com backslash books. |
| 0:18.0 | When men are around women who are ovulating, our testosterone goes up. When testosterone goes up, dopamine goes up. And dopamine makes you care about pursuing your mission. What are those things from your past that still bother you today? I think as society, we have become more energetically feminine. 30% decline in 50 years of testosterone and men. Testosterone levels |
| 0:40.5 | in men have dropped by 33%. This dramatic decline of testosterone that's been happening. That is |
| 0:46.3 | mind-boggling. Men today in their 20s have the same testosterone levels than men did in around World War |
| 0:51.8 | 2 that they had in their 60s and 70s. And then you combine |
| 0:55.2 | that with female fertility and we're having less kids later on in life. What do you think is causing |
| 1:01.3 | the collapse of testosterone and men and women? You're listening to The Human Upgrade with Dave |
| 1:06.7 | Asprey. Josh, you're a chiropractor, you're a nutritionist, and you're also into regenerative |
| 1:16.5 | agriculture, which is an unusual combination. How did you go from medicine to farming? |
| 1:22.4 | Yeah, so, you know, I've always had a passion for food. And in fact, the reason I |
| 1:26.5 | originally went to chiropractic school was I was so |
| 1:28.4 | into nutrition. You know, I had a mom who had cancer, and I saw how devastating that was. And I started |
| 1:35.6 | thinking when she went through cancer, I thought, as she went through chemotherapy, I thought, well, |
| 1:40.2 | there's got to be a better way, there's got to be a more natural way. So that led me into starting to just be curious about nutrition and health. |
| 1:47.4 | And I knew if I got my chiropractic license, I'd be able to also practice nutrition. |
| 1:51.0 | And so started learning that. |
| 1:52.9 | And then my mom got cancer again. |
| 1:55.1 | She was able to heal completely naturally following Gershian therapy and Budwig protocol |
| 2:00.6 | and some of the ketogenic, some of these |
| 2:01.9 | therapies. And seeing the results there just kind of continue to lead me down a path of, |
... |
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