Beat Your Genes Podcast

In today's show, the Dr's discuss these questions: 1. Ive been following Geoffory Millers twitter during the past couple months and noticed that his worldview is trending to become a little more conservative and traditionalist in light of the unprecedented level of social conflict we are experiencing. This is something that resonates with me. Once I began to understand the principles of Evolutionary Psychology, I began to see the hidden wisdom in tradition. I notice that Dr. Lisle does not seem to place much value on traditional behaviours and I always thought this was curious. Can you ask him to speak to this? 2. What is the best way to deal with sadness of grief? Are there some basic things to do? Specifically, my mother died. She was old. It was time. I am still very sad and it has hit me harder than I expected. 3. Why is everyone so divided in today’s climate? All the protests. Upset over wearing a mask. Politics. Media hype. I’m having a hard time just being me, being pressured to choose sides.

1. I have come to some confusion reconciling the Selfish Gene's central ideas and Plomin's description of genetics. The confusion though comes from trying to understand how the notion of self selective pressures at the individual gene level would be possible when so many traits of the phenotype are the result of the interaction of several genes within the genome. How can individual genes "compete" when each individual gene is reliant on how it "correlates(?)" with the rest of the genome. 2. Whenever I don’t orgasm during sex, I feel guilty. This may be because I fake the orgasm. I am not sure whether this is my internal audience censuring me or whether I am simply empathising for my guileless husband. Or, maybe, something else. Why can’t I be honest about my inorgasmia? I don’t always have a problem orgasming but around half the time I fake it. It’s not fun. What say you? 3. What would you recommend for a stay at home Mom who has two small children and is constrained by time and energy to pursue her individual goals?  I am experiencing low mood on a regular basis and don't want to turn to medication.  Overall, I don't have a strong sense of self-efficacy and feel like my best way forward is accepting my situation and letting go of personal goals for the foreseeable future.  My husband and I are not in a financial position to use money as a way to provide child care or outsource other tasks.  I wonder if I am going through a recalibration process of lowering my goals and expectations, which is the source of my low mood.  Am I constrained by time and energy to not feel good until my children are more autonomous? 4. Why of why do many of us seek entertainment over sleep even though we're really tired? How could our minds possibly be so convinced that this is a worthwhile thing?

In today's show, Dr. Lisle discusses: 1. I know you propose that personality is 100% genetically driven. But Dr. McDougall has shown that genes can be turned on and off by diet, and that even the DNA of twins may diverge over time if each twin is raised separately on different diets. Might the same thing be true of the genes behind our personalities? That certain genes could be switched on or off by environmental impacts. And if so, wouldn't that mean that nurture (along with nature) does in fact affect personality? 2. Though parents don't shape their children's personalities, that time at home can leave all sorts of lasting outcomes including anything along the spectrum of wonderful to terrible memories, respectful relationships or bitterness and resentment toward one another, great financial inheritance or debt, and generally, the set of examples and information made available or limited for the child can heavily influence their life choices and performance. After can't a child and emerging adult only work with the ideas they have available to them, and can't they get set into certain ruts of ideologies and perspectives including their religious beliefs? 3. I am sold on your lucid explanations of how behavioral genetics shapes personality.    So doesn't if naturally follow that by going back in time to study differences between the ecological/ political /religious influences in different areas of the world throughout our history,  that we can use these differences to speculate as to how these differences have shaped personality in different areas of the world.  The question is, can you identify or speculate on historical factors that may explain statistical differences in personality between different peoples.

Q's 1. I'm a hyperconscientious nutcase but I don't relate at all to Dr Lisle's statement that HCNCs are more likely to be over the top with wearing masks, washing hands, etc.. I find myself getting so irritated with other people's compliance that I now make sarcastic comments in public whenever I see people wearing masks or dutifully standing on crosses in supermarket queues. What is happening to me? Is this situational disagreeableness, or is there another explanation? 2. Dr Lisle has spoken in the past about how the way to bring people over to a whole-foods plant-based way of life is to evince humility in the way you present the benefits ("seems to be working for me"). How do esteem dynamics operate between a perceived exemplars and their spectators? Is posturing like a Pyrrhonian sceptic the most effective way to get people to listen to (and follow) your example? 3. Do you have any advice on the gentlest way to break up with someone? I entered into a secret, long distance relationship with another woman close to seven years ago when I was 23 and she was 30. We both haven't told our families about our relationship because we are related - we are cousins-once-removed and our families are very close. 4. I am a 30 year old male and I honestly don't feel a very strong connection to my family. I grew up in a fairly toxic environment of alcoholism and the whole experience has left me jaded toward the mainstream view of family.  I have a very sweet girlfriend, but I recently told her I was hesitant about the idea of marriage because it seems like too big of a risk and not essential to have a meaningful relationship with someone. Her response to this and the feelings about family has been to suggest I go to therapy to deal with my childhood issues. How do I tell her that would be a waste of time?  

In today's show, the doctors discuss: 1. Looking at a list of the foods with the most AGEs in them (fried or high temperature cooked high-protein/fat/sugar foods), it almost seems as if humans can in fact taste AGEs specifically. Why should the products of cooked fats and protein, especially in combination with each other and sugar, taste so much better to humans than those same products mildly cooked or uncooked. 2.I understand that adopting a WFPB diet is a way of "beating our genes" that haven't caught up to our hyper-stimulated modern environment. If we were to continue forward without adopting the diet, wouldn't our genes eventually catch up? 3. I teach WFPB nutrition to women in recovery. The program teaches self-esteem based on the work of Nathaniel Branden and they have merged this approach with nutrition.  There are always some women who are completely closed to the concepts, but I focus on those who are curious.  My question is around the self-esteem content and the best way to integrate the two topics. How to support their development of self-esteem given their history of addiction? How do the doctors feel about Dr. Branden's work, if they have any suggestions for supporting women in recovery, and thoughts about how to best integrate the topics 4. I'm highly conscientious, fairly introverted, open and agreeable, but a bit unstable. In my short life I've been a metalhead drummer, a skateboarder, have studied classical piano and physics and am now a doctor. Unfortunately, I have now been finding it increasingly difficult to relate to the people around me, and I have been floundering in social situations. I don't have a relaxed, easy-going attitude and can't fake it either.  What advice do you have for improving my social situation? I know Dr. Lisle recommends fishing where the fish are, but I'm struggling to find my fish.

In today's show, Dr. Lisle briefly discusses the current events in the USA and then discusses these q's: 1. I come from a family of low lifes, junkies, and drug addicts. I was able to be the first in my family to get a college degree of any kind and would like to pursue a Phd. I am willing to believe this might be reaching on my part and I might fail, but it seems worthwhile to try. If I were to look at my genetics it makes me think I’m doomed to become a drug addict who accomplishes nothing. Wouldn’t it be more useful to have a growth mindset about your abilities and let the environment tell you where you are reaching out of your league. If I’m being honest the genetics perspective just makes me feel very hopeless, where my lived experience does not. How can I more usefully incorporate this perspective to help fuel achievement, rather than a fixed mindset of my own abilities as determined by genetics?  2. I'm noticing that despite the evidence that is widely available, people who should not be personally overly fearful of the coronavirus are in fact quite fearful.  You have discussed many possible reasons for this, including a reason for opting out of competition and the like, but I'm curious if what we're seeing is nervous systems intentionally generating personal levels of fear in order to obtain/maintain status. 3. I am wondering what advice you have for people that may have inherited a lot of money, or won the lottery. How can this affect the self-esteem mechanism and what's the best way to handle the money to achieve happiness?

In today's show, Dr. Lisle and Dr. Howk discuss the following:  1.  How does withdrawal and Tolerance In drug usage compare to eating foods with addictive properties in terms of trying to quit? For instance, Would planning a strict day and time for a specific portioned unhealthy meal once a week then after get straight back on the wagon aid in keeping tolerance low and cravings at bay? or is complete abstinence the key to lifelong success in ending the addiction? I’ve been trying for about 3 years to be WFPB  but I’ve never made it more than 30 days and when I cave into crap foods each time it’s making me doubt I could achieve this success. 2. It seems so far that calorie restriction might not offer the degree of increased longevity benefits for humans as is found in mice and other animals. If you took an evolutionary perspective on this, what might you guess could explain why humans don't get quite the boost that other animals do? Do you think humans and perhaps some other animals have physiology that might expect to go hungry fairly often, so it's required for a normal lifespan rather than causing an abnormally longer one? 3. I recently celebrated my 30th birthday during this time, as fun and different as it was, the classic questions have now come to my mind about dating/settling down. I am single, and have not been on a date in 2 years! I know my chances are decreasing by the year of "finding a mate", and I am worried that males will be able to tell I am not as young as is ideal. Is there any way of avoiding this/giving off the illusions/impression that I still have value on the market as much as a twenty something? 4. Is following your lust just another pleasure trap that will leave you dissatisfied long term? Should a person who is not pair bond oriented try to work towards this for long term happiness or is this like trying to change your personality?

In today's show, Dr. Lisle gives our audience an update and some reflection about the coronavirus pandemic.  In true fashion, what was intended to be a few minutes of finalizing the coronavirus stats discussion followed by listener questions, ended up being an entire show about coronavirus stats & updates.  Next show, we resume listener questions.  

In today's show, Dr. Lisle & Howk discuss these questions: 1. Do you see any big long term changes coming as a result of the shut down and isolation that will last more than a few months?  Will this cause any long term evolutionary pressures for habit change or will we revert back to the same norms? 2.I'm disagreeable and fairly low conscientious and don't respond well to authority. If I get told to do something I don't want to do, it just makes me not want to do it even more. During the pandemic, how can I stop getting annoyed and getting into arguments with people and other jobsworths making pointless and unreasonable demands beyond the legal requirements of social distancing? Sometimes it feels like some people are in a competition to be seen as doing the pandemic better than others and love to point out all the faults, real or imagined, of others. 3. I am a hyper-conscientious nut case as Dr. Lisle would say. I've been running tech startups for over 25 years but my latest one has really burned me out. My life and my office are in disarray. I'm normally a very organized person but now I have piles of things everywhere and I can't seem to dig myself out. I can't get motivated. The only thing I'm very conscientious about now is my diet and exercise. Is there a way to kick start my natural tendencies and get organized again.?What do you suggest for recovering from burn out? How long will it take to recover? 4. How do you help someone to get the right help?  A colleague of mine recently opened up to me about struggling with what seems to be a deep depression and suicidal thoughts.  Of course anything I say is only a drop in the ocean.  Knowing what I now know, this is really frustrating to me.  How can you help someone get the right help? What advice do I best give to someone who I know is on the wrong track?

In today's show, Dr. Lisle and Dr. Howk discuss the following questions: 1. HELP! Am I going to lose friends over the virus? Most of my friends are overwhelmed with fear and are just bossing everyone around. Seems like if I don't agree w/ their demands (i.e. wear a mask, even when outside and 6 feet apart) or if I don't show as much fear as they do, I get the strong impression that it could have a negative and permanent impact on the friendship. I've had to lie to my close friends and I don't like being put in that position. I honestly am starting to feel harassed. How can I manage this? 2. My issue is on conflict. In my situation I always want to run away from conflict and get away as fast as I can. I would like to know how I can stop feeling this way and just deal with the conflict without going into a downward spiral.  3. Does the fear that has gripped the US qualify as clinical mass hysteria or since it has been driven by poor health statistics and media reporting is it justifiable? 4. Hi there, very interested to hear about some of the theory around self-esteem; it resonated very strongly with me in the current situation as I definitely struggle without “meaningful” work. I was wondering if you would be able to develop on this and perhaps, the role of status in an anxious mind.

In today's show, Dr. Howk and Nate discuss life during lockdown.  Dr. Howk comments on those struggling to accomplish a particular task because the lockdown has disrupted their normal routine whether it's escaping the pleasure trap or other such tough task.  We also discuss the psychology behind finding yourself delaying action on something important due to the disruptive effects of COVID-19. 

In today's show, Dr. Lisle and Dr. Howk discuss new data that has been released in the last week indicating an even more favorable direction. 

In today's show, Dr. Lisle & Dr. Howk clarify some of the data & math behind the coronavirus pandemic currently dominating government policy and news discussions. 

On today's show, the Dr's discuss the ongoing coronavirus situation with some pointed questions regarding lockdown loneliness, the economy, libertarian angst during a pandemic, and the different responses of different countries as it pertains to personality differences. 

In today's show, Dr. Lisle and Dr. Howk wanted to make a video podcast so the audio has been uploaded here but you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/x40WWoUpeds