The Health Edge: translating the science of self-care
“It’s not what we don’t know that gets us into trouble. It’s what we know that ain’t so”.
Will Rogers
We believe the explosion of life science research from many disciplines had catapulted ahead of our capacity to process, integrate, understand, and apply. We are interested in translating all that is out there as news to use. A fundamentally different understanding of human biology has emerged. The implications from the perspective of self-care are profound. We are rapidly moving away from the debate of nature versus nurture toward an understanding that life emerges from a dynamic landscape of nature via nurture.
We are passionate about the science. We are passionate about the implications. We believe in the capacity and possibility made possible by being alive here and now! We are beautifully designed to be on the African Savannah, living fully integrated with our planet, and in the context of social relationship. Our modern environment is not well designed to promote human health and the capacity to thrive. Many are struggling to maintain balance and traction in lives that often feel overwhelming and frightening.The challenge is to better leverage our superb ancestral adaptation for a different and radically challenging modern environment. Everything that touches us today has the potential be be very familiar or totally foreign. The less aware one is of the day to day distance between what we are biologically , as a species, “familiar with” and what we actually encounter, the fewer the possibilities for more effective alignment.
Leaving one’s health trajectory to chance in our modern environment is a very risky proposition. We are interested in holding the science to the light with an open and humbled mindset. Like you, We are intrepid explorers interested in how we emerge in the midst of our relationship with the environmental inputs of our lives…how we eat, how we move, how we sleep, how we navigate the mind fields of conflict in our lives, how socially connected we are, how we manage the burden of environmental toxins in our lives, how much meaning we cultivate in our work, love, play and how we interpret and respond to stress in our lives. We will drill deep, share all that my experiences has taught and do all that we can to create value for you as you seek to find your health edge. We always welcome your feedback.
Mark and John
Episodes
67 episodes
Sun Benefits By Using Sensible Exposure Patterns And Cleaner Sunblock
Sunscreen advice usually comes as a binary: fear the sun or ignore the risks. We take a different path and give you a practical framework for sun protection that doesn’t sacrifice the real health benefits of sunlight. From the start, we separat...
A Practical Guide To Choosing Supplements
Your supplement shelf can turn into a silent monthly subscription, and the scariest part is not the cost. It’s the uncertainty. We sit down to unpack why supplements so often feel like a black box, how isolated nutrients can behave differently ...
Chrononutrition And Biological Aging
Your body keeps time, and your fork might be one of the strongest signals it listens to. We get into chrononutrition, the growing science of meal timing, and why aligning breakfast and dinner with circadian biology may change far more than your...
A 15-Year Study Linking Unprocessed Red Meat To Lower Dementia Risk
A 15-year follow-up study out of Sweden forces an uncomfortable question: what if unprocessed red meat isn’t a brain-health villain at all, and the real risk sits upstream in metabolic dysfunction and refined carbs? Mark Pettis and John Bagnulo...
Fear of Skin Cancer Will Reduce Your Lifespan
Sunlight has been framed as a problem to avoid, but the data keeps pointing in the opposite direction: people who get more natural light tend to live longer and carry a lower risk of chronic disease. We take a hard look at why this topic still ...
How Food And Cold Exposure Can Raise Daily Calorie Burn
Thermogenesis is one of the most ignored levers in weight loss and metabolic health, and it changes the way we think about “calories out”. We talk through how your body generates heat all day long, why resting energy expenditure and basal metab...
How Positive Age Beliefs Improve Cognitive Function And Fitness in Seniors
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking that aging automatically means pain, weakness, or losing your independence, this conversation is a reset. We dig into a Yale study published in *Geriatrics* showing that beliefs about aging are not just “...
Statins, Muscle Mass and Strength: A long-term trade off?
What if a lower LDL comes with a quiet cost to your strength and resilience? We dig into a massive biobank analysis linking long-term statin use with declines in grip strength and appendicular lean mass, then connect the dots to sarcopenia, mit...
Pasteurized Akermansia and Metabolic Health
What if the most effective probiotic isn’t alive? We dive into the surprising science of pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila—how a heat-treated microbe can tighten the gut barrier, steady blood sugar, and spark fat oxidation without needing to ...
Finding The Sweet Spot For Iron And Health
Iron can be the spark for energy or the fuel for oxidative fire—and most lab reports don’t tell you which side you’re on. We dig into what really matters: tighter ferritin targets, how genetics and food shape absorption, and why the “normal ran...
The Quality of Darkness at Night: a major disruptor of metabolic and cardiovascular health
A quiet glow at midnight can echo through your biology like a shout. We dig into new research showing that even modest night light is tied to higher risks of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and coronary disease—and we connect the do...
Rethinking Alkaline Eating: What Really Drives Metabolic Health
Forget the hype about a food’s pH in your glass. What shapes your health is the acid produced after digestion—and how your kidneys manage it all day, every day. We unpack the science behind dietary acid load, explain the difference between DAL,...
Hidden Metabolic Danger In “Healthy” Adults
Feeling “fine” with normal labs can hide the earliest signs of metabolic trouble. We dive into a revealing study of young adults that compares sedentary people to those who simply meet activity guidelines, and what it uncovers inside their musc...
Uric Acid, The Hidden Metabolic Signal
A quiet lab number is telling a loud story about modern health. We dig into uric acid as a powerful signal of metabolic strain, connecting the dots between rising sugar intake, sodium overload, dehydration, and that stubborn fatigue and weight ...
How Exercise Intensity Shapes Longevity, Heart Health, And Metabolic Resilience
A minute that leaves you breathless can rival eight minutes of comfortable effort. That’s the eye-opening takeaway we unpack as we dive into fresh UK Biobank data showing how vigorous activity dramatically outperforms moderate and light movemen...
Coffee, AFib, And What The Science Says
Coffee and heart rhythm don’t have to be enemies. We dig into a new randomized trial across the US, Canada, and Australia suggesting that caffeinated coffee may lower the risk of recurrent atrial fibrillation compared with abstaining, then conn...
The Delicate Balance Between Oxidative Stress And Antioxidants
Most wellness advice tries to stamp out oxidative stress. We make a different case: the right dose of stress is the signal that builds resilience. From the first snowfall chat to a deep dive on electrons, mitochondria, and energy flow, we walk ...
How To Love Holiday Food That Loves You Back
The table can be joyful and nourishing at the same time. We open the season with a simple promise: keep the flavors you love, swap the parts that don’t love you back. From a resistant starch gravy that boosts your microbiome to a mushroom-forwa...
If Light Is A Language, What Is Your Body Hearing?
What if your lighting is sending the wrong message to your biology? We dig into the science of light as information, showing how specific wavelengths trigger opsins in the eyes and skin to set circadian rhythm, shape metabolism, and influence m...
Is Coconut Oil A Villain Or Just Misunderstood? Spoiler: It’s Complicated
Curious why coconut oil can raise LDL for some people yet still show up in diets that improve metabolic health, cognition, and body composition? We get clear on what coconut oil actually is—a family of saturated fats with a rare abundance of me...
Your gut can turn ellagic acid into urolithin A—and that shift may protect muscle, brain, and metabolism
If pomegranates, raspberries, and walnuts could whisper a secret to your cells, it might be this: the right microbes can turn plant defense into human resilience. We dive into the journey from ellagic acid to urolithin A, mapping how polyphenol...
Four Days to Metabolic Flexibility: What a Danish Crossover Trial Reveals About Carbs, Fat, and Fatty Liver
A 35% drop in liver fat in under a week sounds impossible—until you see how a simple macro shift can redirect your metabolism. We dive into a Danish crossover study where calories stayed equal, protein held steady, and the only real change was ...
Childhood Night Light Exposure and the Hidden Cost of “Junk Light”
The clock isn’t just on your wall—it’s in your cells. As autumn settles in and daylight wanes, we dig into how light acts as information for your biology, shaping sleep depth, hormone timing, and metabolic health. A standout 15-year cohort of 2...
Forest Bathing: Nature Heals Our Disconnect
Nature deficit syndrome is silently affecting millions as we spend over 95% of our lives indoors beneath artificial lighting that disrupts our biology at the most fundamental level. Dr. Mark Pettus delivers a compelling exploration of this mode...
Nourishing the Mind: Food, Light, and Lifestyle for Better Mood
At a time when anxiety and depression rates are soaring across all age groups, Dr. Mark Pettus cuts through the noise with revelatory insights into how our daily choices shape our mental landscape. This compelling exploration connects the dots ...
